The Monocle Minute

Those who cheered on Team Canada during the Olympics had some cause to celebrate: the country’s athletes scored its second-most successful medal haul. But is that really enough? Once again, Canada was the only G7 country not to make the top 10 of the medals table. In fact, it has only finished that high once, at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Coming in at 12th place – below New Zealand and above Uzbekistan – Canada missed out on an opportunity to bolster its image abroad. Just look at the reaction in countries such as Pakistan, Saint Lucia and Botswana towards their newly minted Olympic stars. Sporting triumph can amplify a nation’s sense of self-worth and international standing.

Canada has, historically, depended on the Winter Games to show off its sporting prowess. It is not that the country doesn’t have the athletes or the ability to secure top positions. It is simply a case of how much it is willing to push for it. When it comes to investment in sport, either in individual athletes or major events, Canada seems increasingly reluctant to showcase itself. Organisers of the 2026 Fifa World Cup – which will take place in the US, Mexico and Canada – struggled to find Canadian cities willing to host matches. Recent bids to host the Commonwealth Games and Winter Olympics have also been canned. These moves can save cities money in the short term but the soft-power opportunities, and the visitors and investors who would have ridden in on that wave, would have been more than welcome.

This year’s somewhat better showing in Paris could allay this reticence at home. There is already a question mark hanging over the country’s image abroad. Justin Trudeau’s possible successor as prime minister, Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre, has all but vowed to turn Canada’s gaze inward should his party win next year’s election. That would be a mistake. If the voices hoarse from cheering Canada’s Olympic victories at the Stade de France are anything to go by, there is a big international audience ready to show Canada its appreciation.

Tomos Lewis is Monocle’s Toronto correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

During his recent visit to Thailand, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, announced that Beijing would back the Myanmar junta’s plan to hold elections. In 2021 civil war broke out in Myanmar after the military ousted an elected government in a coup. Wang’s statement came just days after he met the leader of Myanmar’s army, Min Aung Hlaing.

China’s involvement in Myanmar’s civil war has been murky from the start. It has occasionally flipped from supplying the military with arms and resources to aiding ethnic resistance militias in their efforts to seize control of territory along the two countries’ border. This region holds vital transport infrastructure, as well as a key oil and gas pipeline. “China faces a dilemma,” Ronan Lee, an academic and Myanmar expert, tells The Monocle Minute. “A weak junta in power suits China but it is becoming increasingly clear that the resistance [an alliance of pro-democracy forces and ethnic-minority militias] might be able to defeat it.” Despite Beijing’s recent statements of support, a transition to democracy might be tougher than it sounds.

The Dutch population has surpassed 18 million, according to the country’s census, and is projected to rise to 19 million by 2037. At a time when many Western nations are contending with the prospect of depopulation, the Netherlands stands out, even though it is already among the world’s most densely populated nations. While some view reaching the milestone as a success story, others have used it as fodder for anti-immigration rhetoric.

“The rising population is the result of a combination of a big baby boom during the 1970s and 1980s, and, more recently, higher immigration,” said Stefan de Vries, European affairs correspondent for Euronews and BNR News Radio, on Monocle Radio’s The Briefing. “The economy is doing well and businesses are asking for more people. Many countries in the West are facing the challenges of an ageing population so, in a sense, the Netherlands is a laboratory.”

For more on the Netherlands’ growing population, tune in to Friday’s edition ofThe Briefing, on Monocle Radio.

When you’re mulling over where to open a sauna, Ibiza is probably not the first place that comes into mind. But that’s precisely where Hollywood actor Jasper Pääkkönen, the founder of popular Helsinki sauna Löyly, has expanded his empire. Monocle meets him on the Balearic island to find out why the Mediterranean was an obvious choice.

For the full article and more sunny finds, pick up a copy of‘Monocle Mediterraneo’, which is available now.

This week on The Stack, we speak to celebrated creative director and graphic designer Richard Turley about his work on Interview magazine and the redesign he did for Rolling Stone. We also pay a visit to The Kyiv Independent newsroom to speak with its editor in chief, Olga Rudenko.