Great Success!
No Jack Daniels For You!
Predictably, Doug Ford has decided that the best way to deal with Trump’s decision to make Canadian products more expensive than they need to be for Americans is to deny Ontarians access to American liquor products completely. It’s none of the government’s business where you buy your liquor, but hey, in an “emergency” no measure is off the table.
American alcohol will disappear from liquor store shelves in Ontario and B.C. as the provinces add their own ammunition to a federal plan aimed at getting the U.S. to back down from tariffs.
Michelle Wasylyshen, president and CEO of Ontario Craft Wineries, said she saw Ford’s move as a particularly helpful way to ensure Canada’s retaliatory measures pack a punch.
The legally sanctioned obliteration of competitors might be viewed as helpful to a particular business, but it’s not so helpful to consumers who face vastly fewer choices.
Diversity Is Our Strength
If it wasn’t for government where would we get all our multicultural, tik toking, drug lords from?
Meet The New Boss
Same as the old boss.
What Emotional Sobriety Looks Like
The Food Professor- I Won’t Boycott the U.S.—Here’s Why.
Canadian Exceptionalism
Canada’s basic problem is not Trump; rather, it is that the inmates are now running the asylum.
The collective response of Canada to the expected Trump tariffs was then, predictably, declared to be a negative one involving the imposition of counter-tariffs.
Premier Doug Ford stated that counter-tariffs would be Ontario’s primary response, even before it was known what specific tariffs Trump was proposing. Premier David Eby of B.C. hysterically proclaimed that his province was preparing for “economic war” with the U.S. And Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland — the former finance minister who left the country with a $60-billion deficit and whom Trump most likely regards as the Canadian equivalent of Kamala Harris — trumpeted that she was the best person to lead Team Canada in its future relationship with the U.S.
Wise Words
Some serious self-reflection is in order, according to Jordan Peterson, before Canada embarks, panic-stricken, on the path to economic and cultural suicide. I hope enough people are listening.
Such behaviour is, sadly, a Canadian norm, particularly wherever the country is left-leaning; particularly wherever everyone believes axiomatically that we have all the virtues of our democratic compatriots to the south, and then some; particularly wherever everyone is inclined to point self-righteously to the wonders of our now-dreadful and even oft-murderous “free” health-care system and its associated highly dysfunctional, expensive and increasingly unsustainable social safety net…
That combined attitude of essentially socialist sentiment and moral superiority was exemplified above all, perhaps, by former Prime Minister Trudeau — … [the père] who dallied so self-aggrandizingly with the Chinese Reds and the dictatorial communist Fidel Castro and rubbed the Americans’ noses in it, moralizing intellectually and oh-so-fashionably all the while.
All You Have To Do Is Ask
Free Trade Between Provinces? That’s Crazy Talk
The Food Professor- Trump’s 51st State Taunt Underscores Canada’s Internal Trade Mess
Canada’s fragmented trade policies often make it easier to do business with the United States than with other provinces. Interprovincial trade barriers have been a longstanding issue, and provinces frequently prioritize the U.S. market, drawn by its ease of access and substantial economic returns.
“Homeless”
Team Players
Basically, we’ll pretend to be on Team Canada if you fork over enough protection money. After all, you want to avoid “conflict”, don’t you?
First Nations also need to be partners in protecting and growing the economy in the face of Trump’s potentially devastating tariffs, the leadership council stressed.
“There can’t be a ’Team Canada’ [approach] if you don’t have a strong contingent of First Nations leadership sitting at that table with you,” Casimer said.
To avoid conflict and to craft a unified response, First Nations must have a voice at the table when decisions are being made that affect their lands and resources, she said, noting the council hasn’t been approached to be part of the tariff strategy.
It’s Probably Nothing
Dispatches from the Maple Gulag Truck Stop
Gord Magill weighs in on the possibility of pardoning of Trudeau’s political prisoners.
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
It’s not a stretch to come to the conclusion that Canada has essentially become a zombie economy over the last nine years.
“Very simply, for 30 years, Canada has been using outdated thinking in its economic and security strategies, and this is what’s caused the erosion of our prosperity and security,” Balsillie said. “What Donald Trump has done is laid bare the inattention by our economic policy community in that time.”
“A responsible nation would have built a house of bricks, and we built a house of sticks,” Balsillie said. “The big bad wolf has shown up, and everybody’s running around freelancing, saying, ‘What do we do now’?”
Best Healthcare System In The World
City News- First of two children from Gaza to get medical treatment in Manitoba arrives
Province of Manitoba- Manitoba Government Providing Medical Care to Palestinian Child from Gaza
The province will host the young Palestinian child from Gaza with complex medical needs who is unable to receive proper health-care treatment due to the war. The medical care will be led by volunteer pediatric surgeon Dr. Melanie Morris.
Meanwhile…
CityNews- Winnipeg man among 40,000 facing surgical delays amid Manitoba’s healthcare crisis
CBC- Manitoba judge upholds decision denying sisters out-of-country care funding for chronic illness
CTV- ‘Significant number’: Doctors Manitoba concerned about surgery backlog
How Do We Loathe Him?
[Trudeau’s] declaration that Canada has no core identity and is a “post-national” state was the catalyst for a steady decline in the pride of being Canadian.
The white-hot anger now being directed towards the prime minister is the result of a cultural backlash from people who feel like they have become strangers in their own land, abandoned by progressive values and policies they don’t share or understand.
And somehow manages to avoid the words “Chinese” and “corruption”.
Crisis? What Crisis?
If the Canadian government decides to go ahead with plans to shut off the supply of oil to the United States, the bigger crisis will be a financial one, not a national unity kerfuffle. Companies facing bankruptcy when forced to abrogate their contracts will have to be compensated by taxpayers and that bill will be big enough to send us begging to the IMF.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says that if the federal government imposes an export ban on Alberta oil going to the United States as a retaliatory measure against expected U.S. tariffs it would precipitate a “national unity crisis.”
In addition, the United States is probably aware that the petrochemical supply runs both ways in some regions.
In 2023, Canada imported 16.9 million metric tons of crude oil from the United States, which was the largest quantity Canada imported from any country.
Hammer Time!
Here’s a suggestion for a replacement headline: Canada Prepares To Drop Hammer On Itself. In response to Donald Trump’s pledge to hike taxes on American consumers, Canada proposes to do exactly the same thing to its consumers. In the end, will Florida orange juice factories even notice?
CTV News is reporting that the Canadian government is planning a series of retaliatory tariffs that would hit American-made orange juice, which is a major export of Florida.
It gets worse, if the following is true. Someone needs to tell Doug Ford about the bi-directional nature of the cross-border power grid.
“Blocking exports of Canadian oil, electricity and critical minerals is another option on the table, according to one senior government source in Washington, DC,” reports CTV. “Last month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off energy exports from his province if Trump followed through on this threat.
The Peril of “Professional Tenants”
Being a landlord in Ottawa these days is often not enjoyable:
“I can’t believe this was the place I used to live, this was my family home. It just smells like a zoo, even a zoo smells better,” Salter said.
The 29-year-old takes in the damage she says was caused by her previous tenants. Salter says they only paid rent for three months of their 13-month tenancy, owing her more than $35,000.
She invited CBC for a tour of the property just minutes after she got the keys back following a lengthy battle at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).
The tour revealed damaged baseboards, holes in the walls, broken lights and faucets, a clogged toilet, broken banisters and carpets covered in stains.