>Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is presenting a major strategic shift for Canada: build more at home, depend less on the United States and deepen ties with trusted partners — especially the European Union.
In his “Forward Guidance: A Stronger Canada” address, Carney argues that four decades of growing economic dependence on the U.S. have reached their limit. His message is blunt: “That time is over.”
Carney says Canada must diversify its trade, strengthen domestic industry and build closer relationships with reliable partners across Europe and Asia. He insists this was never a backup strategy. It was “Plan A from the start.”
Europe is already becoming one of the most visible parts of that strategy. Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been rapidly deepening the EU-Canada relationship through what both sides call the New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future. The partnership now covers trade, defence, energy, critical minerals, climate, digital technologies and secure supply chains.
Canada has also become the first non-European country to join the EU’s SAFE defence procurement initiative, giving Canadian companies new access to European defence contracts. Carney highlights this directly in his speech, pointing to Montréal-based Marconi Technologies securing a European contract for tactical radios as evidence that diversification is already producing results.
The political symbolism is powerful. As Canada’s relationship with Washington becomes more confrontational, Ottawa is simultaneously moving closer to Brussels. At their June meeting, Carney, von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa described the Canada-EU relationship as rapidly expanding across security, trade, technology and energy.
Carney’s wider argument is therefore not simply about tariffs. It is about economic sovereignty. Canada wants to ensure that no single country can dominate its trade, energy, defence or strategic industries. And Europe is increasingly emerging as one of the partners Carney believes can help Canada achieve that independence.
The next major milestone comes on 29–30 October 2026, when Canada is scheduled to host the next Canada-EU Summit — another opportunity for Carney and von der Leyen to push the relationship even further.
Details include:
🇨🇦 Canada and the EU seek to build a new alliance to "offset the global power politics dominated by the US and China"
🇪🇺 The partnership is expected to be announced on September 16th during Ursula von der Leyen State of the Union Speech
🇨🇦 EU membership, the EU and Canada want to "get as close as legally possible"
🇪🇺 Canada was also the first country outside of the EU to join the EU's $175 billion military procurement fund
We are together.
Decades of pronatalist policies have failed to reverse falling birth rates. Demographers say governments must remove the barriers to starting families — and prepare for a smaller, older Europe.
Another important study, this one from Vanhuysse, Medgyesi and Gál (Royal Society Open Science), looks at a major economic imbalance in modern pension systems. The authors calculated citizens' full contribution to society's future by adding up taxes, private spending on children, and the unpaid time spent raising them. European parents turn out to put in about 2.66 times more resources toward the next generation than people without children.
On paper, the system looks family-friendly: over a working life, parents pay about 73% of a childless person's net taxes, thanks to deductions and benefits. But that discount doesn't come close to covering the real cost. Pension and healthcare systems only work because new taxpayers keep showing up. Parents raise them mostly with their own money and their own labor, yet public pension funds then split future payouts equally, including with people who never contributed to raising anyone.
This pattern holds almost everywhere, regardless of what kind of welfare state a country runs. In Spain, parents put in 2.95 times more than non-parents, in France 2.85 times, in Germany 2.61, in the UK 2.43, in Poland 2.32. This points to a structural feature of European pension systems, not a one-off quirk in a single country.
The authors frame the core problem this way: the current system effectively discourages people from having children, because the costs of raising them stay private while the benefits of the next generation get socialized. Against that backdrop, falling birth rates and the growing share of childless households in Europe look like a fairly logical outcome of the existing economic rules.
Hi. Just a brief question, we used a much more powerful trigger this time. One out of 4 retrieved fertilized and did not go beyond two-cell stage.
Is it possible that the powerful trigger overbaked the eggs? What is the clinical evidence versus clinical practice views on this?
10k units of hCG, that is.
Here's an interview by Dr. David Reich to illustrate a cultural point:
To me, one of the most wonderful aspects of parenthood (outside of the everyday joys like hugs, small kid babbles, and just being called "dad" by an incredible kid) is the idea of passing on the torch of humanity. These aren't my genes, they're OUR genes, and it gives me a great sense of purpose and wonder to be a part of the miracle of humanity.
Our great^(great) grandparents broght us from caves to the current day when we explore the depths of the ocean and space. Who knows what our children will be capable of?
As a pretty secular person, this feels the closest I have to a sense of mystery and awe. Before becoming a father, I suffered from a lack of a deeper purpose, even as I was engaged in some pretty cool projects and career in my life. At some point, it just felt like those things exhausted themselves. There was no large enough anchor to make them enjoyable anymore.
How do you all feel about ancient DNA living on in all of us? Does that thought ever occur to you as a parent (or as a non-parent)?
Recently been reading this critically acclaimed scifi book by PD James called "The Children of Men".
The book is set in a dystopian "future" (actually our current time, the book was written in 1992!) where humanity faces sudden and total infertilty. It then explores the societal and psychological effects of a society without children and young people. It's pretty brutal stuff, and it does eerily resonate with the current day cultural climate, imo, even though it was written in a time when Baby Boomers where still raising their 2.5 kids.
If you're not into the book, there's also a Hollywood movie available for streaming, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men
Have you read any similar books that you could recommend?
Hi!
I got one blast from our first retrieval this year. It fertilized from a single egg retrieved.
Second one, we tried somethjng different and we got 4 eggs, but only one fertilized and ultimately died on d3. I always have a strong lead follicle, so I think if we go for more retrievals, it’s going to be mini.
The way it works in my country is, we get some financial compensation for the procedures but ONLY if we have no embryos in the the bank at the time.
So the choice is: self pay for more retrievals or transfer now and be eligible for more financial aid for later retrievals.
WWYD?
41 1/2 yo
AMH 0.8
A summary:
"Money & Macro" (economist Dr. Joeri Schasfoort) interviews Prof. Charles Goodhart, who argues that global demographic aging is ending a decades-long era of cheap labor, low inflation, and low interest rates. According to his thesis, "The Great Demographic Reversal," a shrinking global workforce will shift bargaining power back to workers, driving up wages and creating permanent structural inflation. As central banks raise interest rates to combat this inflation, heavily indebted governments and economies will face severe financial strain. Climate change and wars add to the difficulty.
To add: European states ofc have their own difficulties, as pay-as-you-go pension systems are prevalent.
Rahman, M. et al 2025
Our analysis included a total of 61 studies focusing on pro-natalist policies, identifying cash benefit policies—such as payment at birth, allowances, paid maternity and paternal leave, childcare coverage, and tax exemptions—as the most influential.
Unpaid maternity leaves, universal two-child policy, and Assisted Reproductive Technology health insurance coverage also showed potential to boost fertility, although further research is needed. Countries like Australia, Greece, Hungary, France, and the UK allocate over 1.3% of their GDP to family cash benefits, contrasting Japan and Korea, where the allocation is less than 1%.
Our findings indicate that Japan’s current cash benefit policies are unlikely to significantly reverse the fertility decline by 2030 (12% likelihood) and 2035 (29% likelihood).
However, should Japan enhance its cash benefits to levels observed in Australia, Hungary, and France by 2030, the probability of reversing Japan’s fertility decline could rise significantly to 79%, 70%, and 69%, respectively. Even if cash benefit policies are scaled up by 2035, the probability of reversing the decline fertility rate is projected to be around 60 or more.
Cash benefits emerged as the most effective fertility policy in high-income countries, although such benefits in Japan were notably modest. Elevating Japan’s cash benefit scheme could potentially lead to higher TFR.
The Family Federation of Finland (Väestöliitto), a leading Finnish NGO focused on family policy and population research, presents a proposal under which the state would provide every child born in Finland with a €5,000 investment. According to the Federation’s modelling, the intergenerational Baby Fund proposal could at best generate as many as around 15,000 additional births compared with the current situation. This would mean that, on average, Finns would reach their desired number of children, which is approximately two. Over thirty years, the fund’s investment would have time to grow into a substantial sum.
“Just as the maternity package was born out of a Finnish need and went on to spread around the world, the intergenerational Baby Fund could be the next Finnish family policy innovation to capture international interest,” says Tiina Ristikari, CEO of the Family Federation of Finland and a member of the Baby Fund working group.
New euro design proposals are out and ready to be voted for. Im curious what you all think. Upvote your favorite design to have a look what reddit thinks.
And vote officially here: https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/