(0:00 - 0:27) Good evening, I'm Will Dove and these are the top stories for Tuesday, April 22nd. Mark Carney has announced a dramatic increase in military spending, pledging $30.9 billion over the next four years to bolster national defense. The announcement comes as part of the Liberal Party's election manifesto ahead of the April 28th vote, with Carney framing the spending as necessary protection against what he describes as America's threats to our very sovereignty. (0:29 - 3:16) The defense spending boost arrives amid escalating tensions between Canada and the United States. Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has imposed punitive tariffs on Canadian goods and has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada as the 51st state, although many analysts have pegged Trump's statements as nothing more than a negotiating tactic. Carney's defense plan consists of three key components. The first focuses on strengthening military personnel through recruitment, increased pay, and housing construction on bases. The second component funds new equipment, including self-propelled artillery, air defense systems, and early warning radar developed in partnership with Australia. The third invests in cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence to support military innovation. It should be pointed out that those last two also just happen to be what is needed to enforce social credit scores via digital IDs and central bank digital currencies. Half of the total spending is earmarked for major hardware acquisitions, including submarines, icebreakers, and drones, with a particular focus on bolstering Arctic defense against potential Russian and Chinese threats. The plan would see Canada exceed NATO's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense by 2030, two years ahead of its current commitment, and marking a significant increase from the country's 2024 defense spending of 1.37% of GDP. Beyond military spending, Carney outlined an economic strategy to counter U.S. tariffs by breaking down trade barriers between Canadian provinces and establishing new business links with Europe and Asia. The Liberal leader's plan to increase overall spending by $130 billion has drawn criticism from opposition leader Pierre Polyev, who called it shocking and accused Carney of planning even bigger inflationary deficits than Justin Trudeau had already budgeted. The Conservative leader has also promised to increase defense spending if elected, including plans to upgrade NORAD and establish a permanent Arctic military base in Iqaluit, though detailed spending figures have not yet been released. Despite the increased defense spending, Carney has promised to reduce expenditure in the federal public service and consultant use, pledging to balance the operating budget by 2028 while protecting essential services such as health care, pensions, and employment insurance. This contradicts statements made recently by Carney that he would continue deficit spending. A viral video showing a Canadian woman explaining her 13-month wait for an MRI to check for a brain tumor has sparked renewed debate about waiting times in Canada's health care system. (3:17 - 4:37) According to recent data, the median time between referral by a general practitioner and receipt of treatment has tripled since 1993, with most provinces now reporting wait times close to or exceeding 30 weeks. So it's not like it's 10 months from now. It's 13 months. It's a 13-month wait to see if I have a brain tumor. Health care economist Vincent Galosso explains that this problem stems from Canada's socialized health care system, where rationing services becomes a necessity. Canadian health care is not free, and it has two prices. The taxes Canadians pay for it, and the wait times that make Canadians pay in the form of service rationing. The situation has deteriorated significantly over the past three decades. In 1993, most Canadian provinces reported median wait times of less than 12 weeks between referral and treatment. (4:38 - 8:13) Today, all provinces approach or exceed 30 weeks, with New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island reporting median wait times exceeding 69 weeks. For specialized procedures such as neurosurgery, the wait time across all provinces exceeds 46 weeks. Galosso argues that this rationing is an inherent feature of Canada's publicly provided health care system. Because services are offered at no monetary price, demand exceeds the available supply of doctors, equipment, and facilities, he explains. To contain costs and keep taxes manageable, the system relies on rationing through waiting times rather than prices. The economic cost of these wait times is substantial. A 2008 study by the Canadian Medical Association estimated that waiting for just four major procedures—total joint replacement, cataract surgery, coronary artery bypass graft, and MRI scans—cost the Canadian economy approximately $14.8 billion in 2007, representing about 1.3% of GDP. More recent studies have placed the cost at $10.6 billion for 2023, or $8,730 per patient waiting. Beyond economic costs, waiting times can have serious health consequences. One study found that each additional week of delay between GP consultation and surgical procedure increased death rates for female patients by 3 per 100,000 population. Canada's health care system also lags behind other developed nations in key metrics. Among 30 comparable countries and adjusting for population age, Canada ranks 28th in doctors, 24th in care beds, 25th in MRI units, and 26th in CT scanners. Despite these poor rankings, Canada is the highest spender among the same group of 30 comparable countries when adjusted for population age structure. Klaus Schwab, the founder and longtime executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has resigned from his leadership position. Schwab, who established the organization in 1971, has been a prominent and often controversial figure in global economic discussions for decades. Schwab gained particular notoriety in recent years for his promotion of what he termed the Great Reset, an initiative launched in 2020 that advocated for significant economic and social changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. His 2020 book COVID-19, the Great Reset, co-authored with Thierry Malleret, argued that the pandemic presented an opportunity to reshape global economic systems. The WEF, under Schwab's leadership, has been influential in bringing together political leaders, business executives, and other prominent figures at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The organization describes itself as committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. Critics of Schwab and the WEF have expressed concerns about the organization's influence on global policy and its promotion of ideas like stakeholder capitalism, which some view as a departure from traditional free market principles. The phrase, you will own nothing and you will be happy, which appeared in a WEF video about predictions for 2030, became particularly controversial and was widely circulated as representative of the organization's vision. (8:14 - 8:54) Schwab's resignation marks the end of an era for the World Economic Forum, which has grown from a small European management forum into one of the most recognized international organizations for economic discussion, policy development, and one world government. The WEF has not yet announced who will succeed Schwab in the role of executive chairman. Those are the top stories for today, Tuesday, April 22nd. Please check out Reggie's latest rant, released today, and share it to your social media accounts using the convenient buttons on the page. While Trudeau was a globalist puppet, Mark Carney is a globalist. Canada is in serious trouble if he is elected next Monday.