iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A choice had to be made at around 1pm between continue watching live coverage of the Sachsen-Anhalt election or taking my two teenage boys to Ontario's West Coast for the afternoon. It was the right one.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Watching the statements of all non-AfD party representatives being completely overwhelmed and repeating the same decade old talking points all over again leads me to one dire conclusion: If the AfD doesn't end up winning the absolute majority tonight, it may very likely happen next time.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There is not a lot left in my "life in a box", but one thing that I did not lose is my second Interrail Pass from 1992. Back then the trains from Lisbon to Lagos traveled at an average speed of 50km/h, and we were able to open the door and sit on the steps while the train was running.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Quickly following up with German news this evening wasn't a good idea. The Land election in Sachsen-Anhalt is on September 6. Latest poll from Infratest, Aug. 26.

Last poll Land election Sachsen-Anhalt from August 26. AfD expands its lead further (42 percent) followed by CDU at 22 percent.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Finding information on Canadian government websites has always been a problem, but we reached a new low point. This is where you land on the PCO's Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat website under "Transparency" - unacceptable.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Transportation is one of the largest emitting sectors that has gained issue salience from the local (e.g. bike lanes) to the supranational EU level (e.g. industrial policy). In my latest publication, I develop some ideas how to analyze the "mobility transition" from a political science perspective.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Excellent column. I have increasingly been thinking about these problems through the lens of this great study/book. German context, but a lot applies to Canada as well. Finally available in English and open access - can only recommend: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monobook-oa/...

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The problem is that the “pipeline” is only a symptom, not the root cause of unresolved issues in Canadian federalism. A short-sighted and costly band-aid solution. @cbreton.bsky.social pointed exactly to this problem earlier this year in The Hill Times:

Since he became prime minister just over a year ago, Mark Carney’s approach has been to focus on big announcements supporting infrastructure and economic growth. Absent so far has been a leadership ingredient other modern prime ministers have spent time on: constitutional vision.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

True, my bad. But the link per se seems rather obvious to me. The explicit mentioning of Canada's ITB suggests this, too.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Driving my son to hockey practice tonight while there is still an orange heat warning in effect feels kind of surreal.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A great long article for Canada Day, worth reading.

Trudeau-style left-leaning Canadian cultural nationalism had gone out of style. In its place emerged a shallow commercialized patriotism of multinational corporations dolloping maple leaves on their logos.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

As expected indeed. "Cooperative federalism" in rhetoric, "competitive federalism" in practice.

Figure displaying two different types of Executive Federalism: Cooperative Federalism on the left, Competitive Federalism on the right

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Cobalt is a true gem. We were always very impressed with the dedicated volunteers at the Mining Museum. Would love to take a tour with @charlieangus104.bsky.social one day.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

In particular Ford's Fortress Am-Can from January 2025 looks pretty much like a template - with respect to trade and beyond (e.g. security). Without capturing much public attention since its release in January 2025, it may become one of *Captain Canada's* most significant historical legacies.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Unapologetic confession: I love Tim's. What a design.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

The great Richard Simeon said it all in 1979 "Federalism and the Politics of a National Strategy": “We are much more likely to continue with a messy, complex pattern in which we have not an industrial strategy but lots of partial, incomplete pieces of industrial strategies, federal and provincial.”

Excerpt from paper quote: "It must be developed as a collaborative exercise of federal and provincial governments together. The question then becomes, is it possible to develop a process and a set of mechanisms to achieve it?"

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

From the heyday of cooperative federalism: primarydocuments.ca/federalism-f...

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

“A great group. Cooperative federalism”. The reality is that cooperative federalism in Canada has been eroding for decades, a trend not only reflected in semantics: 1960s-1980s: First Ministers’ *Conferences* (FMC) 1990s-2000s: First Ministers’ *Meetings* (FMM) Today: Team Canada

Screenshot capturing PM Carney interview with A. Arsenault on the National on Monday pointing to a picture of a First Ministers Meeting

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Or the 1983 Conference Board of Canada distinction between a “dirigiste/interventionist” versus a “laissez-faire” approach to industrial policy.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Excellent and important article in the The Hill Times today by @cbreton.bsky.social on the "challenges brewing on the horizon" in Canadian federalism. I hope contributions like this one (finally) resonate in Ottawa.

"Carney’s mandate letter to his cabinet ministers issued soon after he took the reins mentions a “true partnership with provinces, territories, and Indigenous Peoples,” but what does that mean really? What kind of federation does he want to lead as he seeks to transform the Canadian economy?"

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

In this role, he raised many students’ interest in Canada, and often facilitated study and research exchanges. I was one of them. For the most part, his publications were in German. Among the few exceptions is a volume co-edited with Les Pal in 1991 – the title is still timely.

Book cover Schultze/Pal (eds.) 1991: The Nation-State versus Continental Integration. Bochum.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

His dissertation appeared as a book in 1977: a comparative-historical analysis of Canada - 466 pages, with lots of data in the appendix (622 pages in total). His approach was influenced by a broad array of scholars such as W.D. Burnham, J. Meisel, A. Lijphart or G. Lehmbruch.

Boo cover Rainer-Olaf Schultze 1977: Politik und Gesellschaft in Kanada. Meisenheim.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

There was a time when Canada's political class was still preoccupied with the craft of policy-making, as opposed to merely deal-making. For example: In 1972, Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce Jean-Luc Pépin provides a textbook definition of industrial strategy:

Screenshot quote:

"Pepin defined the enterprise as follows:

... a strategy is an ensemble of co-ordinated objectives and instru-
ments, i.e. policies, programs and institutions.
Applied to industry, the term means the proper planning by govern-
ment (federal) for the optimum co-ordination of policies and decisions,
on the use of all productive resources, in order to achieve defined (and
accepted) social and economic goals.
The strategy must embrace all sectors of economic activity from re-
sources to services but must emphasize manufacturing and processing."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

I opened a box in my office, filled with articles that I collected when I was at Carleton University as a visiting PhD student from Germany more than 20 years ago. These newspapers crossed the Atlantic twice, and I am still having a hard time throwing them out.

Oped page Ottawa Citizen from August 22, 2005. Headline Western Separatism is Real

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Maybe also indicative of policy priorities: The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources T. Hodgson chairs the Cabinet Committee “Build Canada”. Meanwhile, the Minister of Industry M. Joly is only Vice-Chair.

Screenshot from Government of Canada website overview Cabinet Committees: Build Canada Committee Chair (Hodgson) and Joly (Vice-Chair)

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I found this fine little book by historian Thomas Blampied when visiting the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum in Capreol a few years ago. It details the history of the Northlander and the costly decision of the Wynne government to “divest” in 2012. Worth re-reading.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Developing my 2026 CPSA paper. Fragments of Canada's federal industrial strategy are taking shape. It looks highly asymmetrical.

Figure displaying asymmetrical weight of Canada's emerging industrial strategy - national security, economic security and climate security/decarbonization

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

It does (with a slightly stronger emphasis on critical minerals rather than oil and gas).

From Ontario's "Building Fortress Am-Can": "Complement the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and further enhance Am-Can energy by rebuilding and enhancing America’s Strategic Oil Reserve to protect both countries, businesses and every-day families from the high-cost consequences of global oil price manipulation."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

There was a time when first ministers fully understood the importance of Canadian federalism, and their debates as documented in FMM proceedings (e.g. 1978: 33 pages plus appendix) clearly reflected this. primarydocuments.ca/wp-content/u...

Screenshot Cover Proceedings of the fall 1978 First Ministers Conference

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

From Alasdair Roberts' October 2025 article in The Walrus thewalrus.ca/enough-of-ta...

"The Carney government could easily opt for a two-track approach. The first track consists of items that require immediate action (such as a resolution of trade issues with the US and aid for hard-hit industries) or items where the need for action is generally accepted (such as liberalization of internal trade). The second track is long term. It includes steps to promote a national dialogue, including the creation of something like the Macdonald Commission, albeit with a radical overhaul for the digital age."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I want to be hopeful, but this should be part and parcel of a coherent, encompassing industrial strategy, developed within an institutional framework of cooperative federalism. Unfortunately, we lack both. A problem for a project of this scope to materialize. news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...

Screenshot News Release Ontario Government March 4, 2026: Ontario Secures Groundbreaking National Energy Corridor Agreement

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Ontario provincial government's attempt to square the trade policy circle.

Screenshot add announcing trade diversification to protect Ontario

Screenshot cover Ontario's Building Fortress Am-Can plan

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

I love this view. A little closer, from last March, with two trains crossing, but without the dam.

Iconic train bridge crossing the Grand River in Paris, ON, with two trains.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Very sad news. I think nothing helped us more during the early waves of the pandemic than watching Schitt's Creek, over and over again, almost every night. Still stopping there every time we are in the area.

Picture of the "Rosebud Motel" near Mono in Southern Ontario.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Exactly. The assumption is that once a robust framework for intergovernmental coordination is established, norms create a stronger incentive for cooperation. Not instantly, but over time. The problem is not only the premiers - Ottawa, too, hasn't been eager to put this on the table (past + present).

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Re: The Crown Royal theatre: Reminder that Fortress Am-Can is still Ontario's official policy approach, released almost exactly a year ago. www.ontario.ca/page/buildin...

Screenshot Building Fortress Am-Can. Government of Ontario.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

A great speech, no doubt. Like Olaf Scholz's Zeitenwende speech from February 27, 2022. What followed though was a huge disappointment. I truly hope Carney proves to be a different leader than Scholz and ultimately aligns rhetoric and action. No more Scholzing, please.

Screenshot The ‘scholzing’ meme featuring German chancellor Olaf Scholz, tweeted by Timothy Garton Ash on 19 January, 2023.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Lol, yes...Some of the books I pulled from the shelf for this year's holiday break ⬇️

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Almost feeling a bit sorry for German Land governments: In today's Bundesrat session alone, they have to cover 87 items. Committee-level meetings already resume on January 12 to prepare the next plenary session on January 30. In addition to governing their own Land.

Screenshot from German Bundesrat website displaying the meeting schedule for 2026

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Should not come as big surprise, or even require insight from intelligence. The NSS openly states many of these threats. But de-risking still seems to be a concept largely confined to China.

"The report, compiled by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS), warns that the US “uses economic power, including threats of high tariffs, to enforce its will and no longer rules out the use of military force, even against allies.” "

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Early in the document, Ontario’s premier also seems to enter the stage:

Screenshot NSS quote: "Sovereignty and Respect – The United States will unapologetically protect our own sovereignty. This includes preventing its erosion by transnational and international organizations, attempts by foreign powers or entities to censor our discourse or curtail our citizens’ free speech rights, lobbying and influence operations that seek to steer our policies or involve us in foreign conflicts, and the cynical manipulation of our immigration system to build
up voting blocs loyal to foreign interests within our country.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

The US also won't accept Canada's aspiration to become an "energy superpower", unless it is to their own advantage. Of course, it also views climate policy as a "threat" to the US. Potentially, a convenient excuse to further scale back existing policy in a CUSMA review (or other trade talks).

Screenshot quote NSS 2025: "Energy Dominance – Restoring American energy dominance (in oil,
gas, coal, and nuclear) and reshoring the necessary key energy
components is a top strategic priority. Cheap and abundant energy will
produce well-paying jobs in the United States, reduce costs for
American consumers and businesses, fuel reindustrialization, and help
maintain our advantage in cutting-edge technologies such as AI."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

To me, this ⬇️ means outright domination. There is nothing to suggest the US views Canada as a "partner", let alone "friend".

Schreenshot quote NSS: "The terms of our agreements, especially with those countries that depend on us most and therefore over which we have the most leverage, must be sole-source contracts for our companies. At the same time, we should make every effort to push out foreign companies that build infrastructure in the region"

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

None of this is surprising, but unsettling to read in a 33 page official document. Without mentioning Canada, it clearly states premises for a potential CUSMA review, or any other agreement. And Team Canada (whatever it is) is incapable of addressing such ⬇️ exploitation and domination threats.

Screenshot quote NSS 2025: "Securing Access to Critical Supply Chains and Materials – As Alexander Hamilton argued in our republic’s earliest days, the United States must never be dependent on any outside power for core
components—from raw materials to parts to finished products—
necessary to the nation’s defense or economy. We must re-secure our
own independent and reliable access to the goods we need to defend
ourselves and preserve our way of life."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

We just need city councilors distributing even more lawn signs kindly asking drivers to please slow down. A powerful tool in the box that surely will help. And makes everyone feel better.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

If the PM was really committed to cooperative federalism, we would be talking institutional reforms right now. Intergovernmental reforms that would incentivize cooperative federalism, because what we're seeing right now is pretty much the opposite.

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Correct, and: This is not cooperative federalism, no matter how often the PM claims it. Step one would require creating the institutional foundations that incentivize multilateral collaboration. Without, we will see the same old competitive patterns recurring. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

"But if I am right, the pipeline will either die — which will give Smith and the separatists an important new grievance — or will be pushed through in a way that is toxic to Carney’s existing coalition and unfair to the formidable Indigenous people of northern BC, who cannot be treated as an afterthought."

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Jörg Broschek 🇨🇦 @jbroschek.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Not the first time the Minister speaks his mind. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

"When asked if it was still appropriate to refer to the U.S. as an ally, he didn’t answer the question directly, but said that Canada is “very hopeful that we can get through this difficult time and we can resume the type of relationship that we’ve had with the Americans for a long, long time"

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