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    • Don Martin: Life in Trudeau's brain defies imagination

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    Getting inside Justin Trudeau's head these days requires a vivid imagination.

    The prime minister's bizarre statement on the Middle East war this week reflects a distorted view that human-shielded resistance by Hamas terrorists can be overcome with "maximum restraint" by Israel's military.

    How a conflict where civilians, foreigners and sick patients are being held hostage by terrorists in and below Gaza hospitals can be resolved by passive soldiers using bullhorns instead of bullets is a tactic that would never have made it into Sun Tzu's Art of War.

    But that's Trudeau's simplistic thinking as he struggles to straddle many fences only to find himself impaled on the polls. 

    Now, spare some empathy for a prime minister governing a country seething with antisemitism and Islamophobia. He's holding a stick of diplomatic dynamite with a fuse lit at both ends.

    And as he tries to find a way to extinguish the fires, he's being personally hounded and chased. 

    Consider what happened when he did one of his which, instead of the usual star-struck handshakes, triggered a screaming chorus of diners and protesters demanding the ceasefire Trudeau can't possibly endorse without giving Hamas a public relations victory. 

    JUSTIN TRUDEAU'S TROUBLES COMPOUNDED

    And things are just getting started as pro-Palestinian organizations disseminate guidelines to successful "bird-dogging" of Trudeau and his MPs at public events while ensuring every encounter is filmed and widely shared.

    Trudeau's troubles are compounded by having his totally-over-her-head Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly regularly flying off script. She diverged from Trudeau's lines to say there must be a "humanitarian truce" leading toward a ceasefire when Israeli negotiations can begin with Hamas. Chances: zero.

    And over at the United Nations, Canada's twisting itself into a diplomatic pretzel after abstaining on a vote to protect civilians in the conflict and then voting against condemning illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

    TRUDEAU'S UNPOPULARITY SURGING

    But the prime minister's unpopularity is surging on so many other fronts, it's hard to keep track. 

    He heads to an Asia-Pacific summit this week which, fortunately, India will not be attending because any encounter with the leader of the country Trudeau accused of orchestrating a state-sanctioned assassination on Canadian soil would go beyond severely awkward.

    China's president will be there and is meeting with the other North American leaders. No chinwag with Trudeau has been scheduled nor expected.

    One might think Trudeau's annus horribilis couldn't possibility get any worse. But it will.

    His controversial carbon tax break has only accelerated his death slide in the polls, even in Atlantic Canada where the tax pause was designed to save the furniture from fires engulfing the Liberal brand.

    He now faces a gang-up of premiers demanding more carbon tax breaks to replicate the heating oil carve-out and heat pump subsidies he bestowed mostly on Liberal-dominated Atlantic Canada. 

    Trudeau also faces the likely approval of a private member's bill that would carve out another farm exemption from carbon taxation, a move Steven Guilbeault says won't happen as long as he's the environment minister. That sounds like there's a cabinet resignation or reassignment in the offing. 

    Then there's this month's fall economic statement, which will be a confidence vote. 

    There are rumbles some NDP MPs will refuse to vote for it without government-declared support for a ceasefire in Gaza. If enough New Democrats rebel, there will have to be a big blink from somebody if Canada wants to avoid an election 鈥 and nobody should be striving to avoid that more than the Liberals.

    But, incredibly, this multitude of messes doesn't seem to faze the eight-year prime minister as he continues to plan for his fourth election victory even with polls speaking in one voice of a looming Conservative landslide. 

    That's why it's so fascinating to watch this government-in-denial skipping along in Trudeau's happy world.

    It's a world in which Hamas will free hostages and let humanitarian aid flow in the aftermath of Trudeau's call on Israel to use maximum restraint, setting the stage for a ceasefire and two-state negotiations with Hamas.

    It's a fiscal environment where the deficit's size still doesn't matter even as the economy slides into recession; a place where a few billion dollars will end the affordable housing crisis and where a billion dollar cut from the armed forces budget won't hurt our military's reputation as a global laggard.

    It's a world where India will suddenly forgive Canada and co-operate in investigating the murder they stand accused of ordering. 

    And,of course, only in Trudeau territory will voters soon see things differently and send Liberal approval numbers surging to re-election just in time for the 2025 vote.

    Yes, it's still all sunny ways inside Trudeau's brain. Trouble is, it defies imagination.

    That's the bottom line.

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    • Thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Vancouver on Monday to observe the city鈥檚 100th Remembrance Day ceremony.

    • A man who was critically injured in a police-involved shooting in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon has died in hospital, says the province鈥檚 police watchdog.

    • Toronto is expected to see an economic boost to the tune of nearly $300 million thanks to Taylor Swift鈥檚 upcoming Eras Tour, which will be making a stop in Canada鈥檚 largest city for a six-show run later this month.

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    • A pair of 105-mm howitzers bark constantly as they turn plywood tank targets into kindling kilometres away on the windswept landscape of one of Canada's largest military bases.

    • Two semis were among the vehicles involved in a multi-vehicle crash that brought westbound traffic along Stoney Trail Northwest to a standstill on Sunday.

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    • After months of controversy surrounding a dog park in Ottawa's west end, a solution has been reached to divide the park in half.

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    • Six deer were struck by vehicles in six different locations in a six-hour period on B.C. highways on Saturday, according to the transportation ministry.

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    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • The Southern Alberta Recreation Association is officially announcing the Town of Taber as next year鈥檚 host for the Southern Alberta Summer Games.

    • The Lethbridge Hurricanes broke open a close game with three goals in the first two minutes of the third period as they defeated the Warriors 7-3 in a game played Friday night in Moose Jaw.

    • There might not a lot snow just yet, but many southern Albertans are still itching to get outdoors.

    • Police have arrested a 15-year-old in connection with a break-in and $50,000 in damage done to the Centennial Arena in Elliot Lake in September.

    • Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.

    • Residents in the Sault expressed concerns ranging from vandalism to privacy invasions during recent consultations on the city's plan to install automated speed enforcement cameras.

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