Well, looks like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is caving to Trump:
On tonight’s news, Smith said that it was in response to Trump’s threat of tariffs on Canadian goods if Canadians “didn’t do something to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs.” Just my opinion, but I think …
No, I don’t know what to think any more. We’ve already got RCMP, regular sheriffs on highways, peace officers (still no idea what they do), and municipal police. And now, provincial border patrol, who likely will be able to ask “Papers, please” with impunity.
How many illegal immigrants enter the US from Alberta, and how many drugs enter from there? Are we spending $29 million on little to nothing? Is this a solution in search of a problem?
The other provinces are already saying they won’t stop energy deliveries. But at least Ford is saying something. Ford is absolutely right that what has worked in the past is a strategy of selective retaliatory tariffs, standing up, plus plenty of soft diplomacy on why the current arrangement largely benefits all concerned. Some of Trump’s bluster is just that. Visiting the president-elect was stoking ego although probably the right thing to do. But I respect Ford more than Smith. And Trudeau should stop discussing the election.
Ford is just happy that there’s something to distract Ontario from the absolutely shit job he’s doing.
And for sheer hypocrisy, you can’t match Ford proposing to give Elon Musk’s Skynet or Starlink or whatever the fuck it’s called $100 million to provide cell service to northern Ontario. Maybe he was hoping collaborating with Trump’s pet capitalist would somehow get Ontario an exemption from tariffs. Appeasement never works…
It’s all gonna get a lot worse before it gets better, is my prediction.
For we couldn’t leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale
She’d saved our lives so many times living through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
They won’t be laughing in another day
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And, like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
I was coming from a choir rehearsal, so I knew in advance that I would miss the regular sign-up time. As such, I didn’t have my guitar with me.
I think there’s a whole big slice of Stan Rogers, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Captain Tractor, Crash Test Dummies, Stephen Fearing, Ron Sexsmith, and Tragically Hip coming down the pipe for these folks.
Of course, for Alberta in particular, the oil industry is one of their biggest. They’ll never voluntarily limit its sales. Ontario has more diversification, so we can play in the margins a bit.
Plus, cutting off electricity is a bit more immediate an effect. The oil industry is slower-moving, and has a lot more inputs, so any change in oil will have lesser effects that take longer to be noticable. We feed directly into their grid, and they don’t have as much extra capacity to adjust to a sudden shortfall.
The only thing I ‘trust’ about the Toronto Sun is that they will spare no effort to make the Conservatives look good/make every other party look bad, even if it means making shit up.
That being said, in 1985, I hadn’t heard much about the disaster that is our relations with the First Nations and other Indigenous peoples.
With Danielle Smith at the helm in Alberta, I’m sure that they will be based on Trump’s gut feeling. The way Smith has been acting lately, she seems to be seeking a Trump cabinet position.
A little PO’ed at Elections Alberta. We have a byelection here in West Lethbridge on Wednesday, for MLA, and I’ve received nothing regarding it. I’m in West Lethbridge, and Canada Post strike or not, I’ve received nothing telling me where to vote, where early voting occurs, and so on.
An online search tells me where to vote, and when, and on what day; and I’ve got my driver’s license and passport to prove my citizenship, but really. When has an election been so ignored?
Not with a bang, but a whimper. They got a 5% retroactive pay bump… which won’t even keep up with inflation.
Honestly, I haven’t been missing the mail for the most part. We rarely ever get anything in the mail. However, we’re trying to get our PR status, and not being able to easily mail all the paperwork has been making things more difficult.
So this seems a bit unexpected. In advance of the fall fiscal update, Chrystia Freeland has resigned as Minister of Finance (and from cabinet entirely).
Is this a principled stand against some recent decisions by Trudeau? Or is this Freeland cynically seizing an opportunity to distance herself from Trudeau in order to run for party leadership after the Tories win the general election and Justin resigns?
