Context: The Confederation Report
Host: Steven R. Martins
Language: English
This is The Confederation Report, a flagship podcast of the Cántaro Institute providing analysis of Canadian news and culture from a Biblical worldview.
Excerpt: The Confederation Report returns after a brief hiatus to examine major political and cultural developments—from the fall of Nicolás Maduro to Canada’s Bill C-9 controversy—while reflecting on these events through a distinctly biblical worldview.
Opening Words (00:00-00:35)
Part I: It Has Been Awhile (00:35–05:31)
After a brief hiatus, The Confederation Report returns to reflect on major developments—from Nicolás Maduro’s removal and the national backlash against Bill C-9 to the Cántaro Institute’s acquisition of the 171-acre Worldview Campus—while considering these events in light of God’s providence.
Part II: Bill C-9, Clinton, and Allie-Beth Stuckey (05:31–10:19)
Bill C-9 raised serious concerns among Canadians—especially Christians—about the potential criminalization of biblical teaching, prompting a rare nationwide backlash that forced the government to pause the legislation while the cultural debate over truth, empathy, and political coercion continues.
Part III: Drugs, Cartels, and Puerto Vallarta (10:19–13:20)
Following the death of cartel leader “El Mencho” during a Mexican military raid, violent reprisals erupted across western Mexico, exposing the deep instability surrounding cartel power and prompting Christians to pray for justice, repentance, and gospel renewal in the region.
Did You Know? (13:20 –14:04)
On June 2, 1866, Canadian militia forces clashed with Fenian insurgents at the Battle of Ridgeway—the last foreign invasion fought on Ontario soil—an engagement that left nine Canadians dead and later helped inspire the tradition that evolved into modern Remembrance Day.
Recommended Resource (14:04 –15:32)
This week’s recommended resource is authored by yours truly, The Seven Woes: Christ’s Indictment of False Religion and the Call to True Religion.
Closing Words (15:34)
Transcript:
This is The Confederation Report—one of the flagship podcasts of the Cántaro Institute. My name is Steven Martins, and I’ll be your host, bringing you incisive analysis, cultural commentary, and thought-provoking interviews on the issues shaping Canadian life and beyond—all through the lens of a biblical worldview. Because Christ is Lord—over Canada, over culture, over all of life.
Part I: It Has Been Awhile (00:35-05:31)
It has been some time since our last episode of The Confederation Report, and quite a lot has transpired in the interim. Since our last episode, we have witnessed the extradition of Nicolás Maduro from Caracas, Venezuela, under the Trump administration. We’ve seen a temporary pause placed on the Liberal government’s Bill C-9 following significant national backlash—particularly from overtly religious Canadians, with Christians playing a leading role. We’ve watched Hillary Clinton publicly take aim at Allie Beth Stuckey and her Christian book Toxic Empathy, criticizing her approach to cultural engagement. We’ve also seen Prime Minister Mark Carney strengthen ties with China, followed by a sudden and rather telling backpedal as President Trump threatened further tariffs. And finally, we witnessed Pierre Poilievre’s decisive and triumphant victory at the Conservative convention in Calgary, securing his position as party leader.
There is much to address—and certainly more that has slipped through the cracks of time—but before we do, a question needs answering: why the sudden break from The Confederation Report?
Our last episode aired back in December, and here we are now in March. The reason is both straightforward and significant. Over the past two months, the Cántaro Institute completed a most substantial property acquisition: the former Robert Land Academy in Wellandport, Ontario—now officially named Worldview Campus. Shortly after our press release, the story broke through Pelham Today and The St. Catharines Standard. This marks a new chapter in the Institute’s growing history, and as you can imagine, stewarding a 171-acre property with approximately 60,000 square feet of buildings is no small undertaking.
We are confident that the Lord has great purposes ahead as we steward this land and its assets for the advancement of His Kingdom. Stay tuned for updates as we begin preparing the Paideia Study Center, alongside several other ministry initiatives. Already, Rose City Kids is on site preparing to run programs for children in their surrounding communities, and Niagara Classical Academy is preparing to launch its elementary school year on-site, with potential plans for a future high school. This is only a small glimpse of what is yet to come.
We ask for your prayers as we move forward—and if you are able, that you prayerfully consider supporting the work of the Cántaro Institute through financial partnership. As for The Confederation Report, we’re going to be moving away from a weekly release format at this time, and move toward a monthly to bi-weekly schedule as time permits. This will allow us to focus our attention on preparing Worldview Campus while also not compromising the quality of our resource offerings.
Now then—what have we missed?
Ah yes. Nicolás Maduro.
Remarkably little has been said by most of Canada’s political parties regarding Maduro’s removal. The clearest and strongest response came from the Conservatives, who openly welcomed the removal of a tyrant from power. Venezuelan Canadians, for the most part, were celebrating—and I must admit, so was I. Being of Ecuadorian descent, and therefore part of what was once known as the Gran Colombia, I am well acquainted with the region’s history. From the era of Simón Bolívar onward, dictatorial governance, at least the tendency, has repeatedly plagued the peoples of Latin America.
Leftist Marxism has left a devastating mark on the region—one whose consequences remain visible today. I have heard the stories, and I have seen it firsthand, particularly among Cubans living in severe poverty. Venezuela, though far larger than that petit island, has fared no better. There was hope that democracy might return with the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, but Maduro ensured that such hopes were extinguished.
Whatever one’s opinion may be concerning the legality of Maduro’s seizure, the fact remains: a tyrant who held Venezuela in chains has been removed from power. What happens next lies in the hands of the Venezuelan people—but above all, in the providence of God, who raises up kings and rulers and brings them down, sometimes for blessing and sometimes for judgment.
May God have mercy upon the people of Venezuela. And may Maduro face justice on the one hand for his crimes against the people, and—on the other—come to repentance and faith in the gospel, that even he might be redeemed. As he remains in custody on U.S. soil awaiting trial, we should pause to pray both for him and for the nation he led into further ruin.
Part II: Bill C-9, Clinton, and Stuckey (05:31-10:19)
About Bill C-9, Canadians have known that this tabled legislation, which was meant to combat supposed “acts of hatred,” went as far as to raise concerns about the potential criminalization of certain texts of religious books, including and most importantly the Bible. The bill would add a definition of “hatred” to the Criminal Code for the existing offence of wilfully promoting hatred and would introduce new related offences, including prohibitions on certain hate symbols and conduct affecting identifiable groups.
I can’t remember the last time Christian Canadians rallied together in unison on such a grand scale that it forced Carney’s government to hit the pause button and offer concessions to the opposition. It didn’t help, of course, that they are a minority government. How long might that last?
There are already rumours of a potential spring election, and reports that Elections Canada may be preparing to hire workers again. Those rumours have not yet been confirmed, but with polling jumping up and down and all around, public spectators and commentators are wondering just how accurate polls are, because at the end of the day, polls are not as neutral as you might think. Polls can be biased based on who you select to poll.
Back to the point: We need to remember, Bill C-9 was meant to enforce novel government-defined norms. Critics have noted that the proposed definition of hatred will actually lower the bar for the offence of promoting hatred, and that the new stand-alone hate crime provisions would create additional legal confusion. But ambiguity is precisely what is intended. If you want the public to follow along relatively quickly, punitive measures are often the way to go. Gee, I wonder what other countries have employed this authoritarian strategy? It doesn’t seem like something from the land of the free. No wonder Canada has been cozying up to China these past few weeks.
Changing gears here now, let’s talk about Allie Beth Stuckey. Stuckey is someone my wife and I have enjoyed listening to on her show, Relatable. She’s a prominent Christian conservative, an itinerant speaker who has appeared at the Founders Conference not that long ago, and the author of the book Toxic Empathy, a New York Times bestseller.
Most plainly, Toxic Empathy argues that the progressive movement has learned to exploit Christian compassion in order to advance its political aims. In other words, what we are witnessing in our day and age is emotional manipulation—and of course we know that manipulation does not originate from God. Darkness often operates according to its own designs while presenting itself as light, even dressing the part.
Stuckey’s central thesis is bold: when politics are driven by untethered empathy rather than truth, innocent people ultimately pay the price. We are constantly told that empathy is the highest virtue—the key to being a good person. But is that really true? Or has “empathy,” like so many fashionable terms in our day—“tolerance,” “justice,” and “acceptance”—been co-opted by activists who weaponize compassion for political ends?
In Toxic Empathy, Stuckey contends that empathy has increasingly become a tool of coercion, used by left-wing activists to pressure Christians into adopting progressive positions under the banner of love. She examines five of the most contentious cultural battlegrounds where this dynamic appears most clearly: abortion, gender, sexuality, immigration, and social justice. Catchy slogans such as “abortion is healthcare,” “love is love,” and “no human being is illegal” are framed as morally self-evident appeals to compassion, yet, Stuckey argues, they often obscure the full moral equation. For instance, abortion is presented as compassionate toward the woman—but what of the human life that is ended in the process?
Importantly, this book is not a call to abandon empathy. Rather, Stuckey urges Christians to subordinate their compassion to God’s revealed standards of love, goodness, and justice. Her aim is to expose the logical pitfalls and moral consequences of what she terms “toxic empathy,” while equipping believers with research-informed, biblically grounded responses to some of the most pressing cultural debates of our time.
And you know you’ve struck a cultural nerve when figures such as Hillary Clinton take public aim at your work in The Atlantic. Well done, Stuckey.
You can pick up a copy of Toxic Empathy at your major online book retailer.
Part III: Drugs, Cartels, and Puerto Vallarta (10:19-13:20)
When we first began The Confederation Report podcast, we touched on a number of issues relating to Canada–U.S. relations, one of which was Canada appointing a fentanyl czar to curb fentanyl production and trafficking between the United States and Canada.
Well, speaking of drugs like fentanyl, further to the south of us the Mexican government has taken out “El Mencho,” the jefe of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). According to reports, Mexican special forces tracked him to a hideout in the mountain town of Tapalpa in the western state of Jalisco. A predawn raid triggered hours of gun battles, and El Mencho later died after being wounded in the operation.
Now, a lot of the drugs produced and trafficked by the cartels find their way far and wide. Just think of the covert drug submarines that have been discovered in the Atlantic—remarkable ingenuity, but for nefarious and evil purposes. We should not be surprised if some of the drugs smuggled into Canada trace their origin back to these cartel networks.
But my, what a ruckus the aftermath turned out to be.
Cartel militia poured into the streets in parts of western Mexico. Vehicles were burned, highways were blocked, stores were looted, and tarmacs were threatened. There were even videos of airport passengers seeking cover inside terminals. Flights to Puerto Vallarta were cancelled, schools were shuttered, and authorities urged residents to remain indoors as violence rippled across several states.
The whole nation watched in suspense to see what would happen—whether the Mexican government would yield to cartel pressure. Threats were reportedly made against security forces, and the unrest quickly spread beyond Jalisco.
In the end, the Mexican government appears to have reasserted control, and security forces have been moving to corner remaining cartel leadership. What happens next is still too early to tell. As one of our associates in Mexico, Joe Owen, noted to me, cartel factions may now compete internally to fill the power vacuum left by El Mencho and his organization.
And you can imagine there are many nervous tourists just months away from the World Cup events scheduled in parts of Mexico. Will the country be safe? Will tourists be secure? Those questions remain to be answered.
In the meantime, as we watch what unfolds with bated breath, we should pray for the people of Mexico. We should intercede with broken hearts. Pray for repentance—that many would turn from their Catholic and pagan idolatry and to the true biblical gospel. Pray for the repentance of the traffickers, and for justice, that those responsible for violence, abductions, and countless murders would be held accountable. Our God is a God of grace but He is also a God of justice!
Pray for a renewed Mexico—free under the power of the gospel and guided by the wisdom of God’s Word. Yes, we must pray for our neighbours, not only for our own homeland, for that is what we are called to do in love of our neighbours.
Did You Know? (13:20-14:04)
On June 2, 1866, near the village of Ridgeway in present-day Ontario, about 850 Canadian militia soldiers clashed with roughly 750–800 Fenian fighters—Irish American insurgents who had crossed the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York. The Fenians hoped that seizing Canadian territory would pressure Britain to grant Ireland independence.
The clash became the first industrial-era battle fought entirely by Canadian troops under Canadian officers and the last battle fought on Ontario soil against a foreign invasion force. Although the Canadians initially pushed back Fenian skirmishers, confusion in their ranks—possibly caused by mistaking scouts for cavalry—led to a poorly timed defensive maneuver that exposed them to intense rifle fire. The inexperienced militia soon broke under a Fenian bayonet charge, leaving nine Canadians dead, remembered today as the “Ridgeway Nine.”
In the years that followed, veterans fought for recognition, and their efforts eventually helped inspire Decoration Day, an early Canadian tradition of honouring fallen soldiers that preceded modern Remembrance Day.
Recommended Resource (14:04-15:32)
This week’s recommended resource is authored by yours truly, The Seven Woes: Christ’s Indictment of False Religion and the Call to True Religion. In this book I examine Jesus’ piercing words in Matthew 23—“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…”—delivered in what would become His final public sermon before the cross. There, Christ exposes the corruption of a religion built on outward conformity while the heart remains unchanged. Drawing from the authority of Scripture and the historic Protestant understanding of the gospel, this exposition shows that the dangers of hypocrisy, legalism, and spiritual pride are not confined to the first century but remain present in every generation of the church. At the same time, the passage points us back to the true remedy: not external performance, but hearts regenerated by the Spirit, justified by grace alone through faith alone, and brought into sincere obedience to Christ our King.
Closing Words (15:34)
Thanks for listening to The Confederation Report, this podcast is brought to you by the Cántaro Institute. Visit our website at cantaroinstitute.org for more information. For books to read on worldview, philosophy, and theology, visit our store at cantaroinstitute.store
We’ll meet again next time.
Additional Reading & Documentation:
The Guardian (William Christou and Rachel Hall)
Why has the US captured Venezuela’s president and what happens next?
ARPA Canada
Bill C-9: Combatting Hate Act
The Free Press (Allie Beth Stuckey)
Hillary Clinton Wrote a Hit Piece on Me. Here’s My Response.
CTV News (Chris Dalby)
Could Mexican cartels expand operations into Canada following death of ‘El Mencho’?