Canada’s Fighter Jets, Erin O’Toole on Canada Post, the King’s Speech

Monday, June 2, 2025

This week from The Walrus:

What Would It Take for Canada to Build Its Own Fighter Jets Again?

Carney throws a grenade into the F‐35 defence deal as the US becomes a less reliable ally

BY WESLEY WARK

A Gripen E aircraft painted with a Canadian flag against a wintery background.

Our current fighter, the CF‐18, was originally designed as a US navy plane (the wing tips fold up for non‐existent Canadian aircraft carriers). None are built in Canada.

It’s a tale of the long‐term hollowing out of Canadian military jet aircraft production and the attendant loss of innovation. But what if we could roll back this history? What if we could go back to Canadian‐built planes like the CF‐100 or the abandoned Avro Arrow? What if we ceased to rely on US fighter designs? What if we diversified our defence purchasing practices, looking to European‐built planes as we once did with the long‐ago Vampire?

Read or listen to the story

New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh, right, poses for a selfie while greeting supporters at an event during the NDP caucus retreat in Halifax on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

Can the NDP Rebuild—or Is It Time to Start Something New?

A leadership race won’t solve the party’s identity crisis

BY CARMINE STARNINO

Canada post mail box in front of a fence and trees.

The Political Stunt That Killed Canada Post’s Last Chance at Relevance

The Crown corporation was ready for the digital age. Then came the jackhammer

BY ERIN O’TOOLE

A photo illustration featuring a black-and-white portrait of a woman smiling in a hijab. Parts of the image are blocked out with pieces of paper.

Bilingual, Educated, Qualified—and Still Not Welcome in Quebec

As the province seeks to expand on its controversial Bill 21, critics warn of deepening discrimination

BY TOULA DRIMONIS

A photo illustration of King Charles wearing a large crown in front of a red background.

What King Charles’s Historic Speech Means

Amid sovereignty scares, Carney is leaning on big symbols

BY JOY SPEARCHIEF-MORRIS

Today's Quiz Question

With letter mail continuing to decline and more and more parcel delivery work being taken up by independent contractors for e-commerce companies like Amazon, Canada Post is on the brink of collapse. Since 2017, how many pieces of letter mail have declined annually?

Yes, I know the answer

A black-and-white photo of Galen Weston Jr. wearing a red vest against a red backdrop.

Loblaw: What You Need to Know

Last year, David Moscrop wrote about how the grocery chain is now involved in pharmacare, financial services, and real estate

BY DAVID MOSCROP

A photo of a dusty crowd of people holding pots and pans in the hopes of receiving food.

Is the Joint Statement on Gaza Too Little, Too Late?

Canada, the UK, and France have threatened “concrete actions” if Israel doesn’t curb its military campaign against Palestinians

BY SAMIA MADWAR, JON ALLEN

Afghan boys, wearing long white robes, sitting on benches with a few school books in front of them.

The Taliban Are Turning Boys’ Schools into Jihadist Training Grounds

Afghans worry their children are doomed under new curriculum enforced at gunpoint

BY SORAYA AMIRI, SAMIA MADWAR

A film still from docu-series The Rehearsal. In frame, Nathan Fielder is in frame as a pilot with his co-pilot beside him in a plane's cockpit.

Nathan Fielder Lifts Off into a New Reality in The Rehearsal

Recreations, replicas, and staged role‐playing exercises are the key to the bizarro TV series

BY ADAM NAYMAN

Social Norms and the Path to Entrepreneurship Success

How do gender, religion, and community shape who succeeds in business? In this episode, Dr. Kylie Heales unpacks how social norms and institutions influence entrepreneurship—especially for women and marginalized groups. Drawing on research from Tunisia to Haiti, she explores how cultural expectations can empower or constrain success, and what it takes to build more inclusive economies.

Listen now

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become a highly contentious issue, facing significant challenges and rollbacks in both private and public sectors. With US president Donald Trump issuing executive orders to dismantle DEI programs, and corporations responding by scaling back or rebranding their initiatives, DEI has become a flashpoint in broader cultural debates.

Join us online at The Walrus Talks at Home: DEI, as we explore pressing questions about this topic and examine how Canadians can hold the line on inclusion and equity work and go beyond to make the promise of DEI a lived reality.

Register now

More from The Walrus:

This week on What Happened Next, host Nathan Whitlock is joined by artist and illustrator Sid Sharp. Their most recent graphic novel, Bog Myrtle, was published in 2024 by Annick Press and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. It has also been nominated for the Eisner and Doug Wright awards. Sid and Nathan talk about how they originally had no plans to create work for children, about the fun but very exhausting experience of meeting young readers in the wild, and about how they need, in their words, to “draw some weird, sad stuff for grown‐ups” before tackling another kids’ book.

Listen now

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Thank you for your support.

Claire Cooper
Managing Editor, The Walrus

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