Miss a little, miss a lot!

You do not write anything for a few months and bam! Canada is at war with the United States. Well, not really at was because as Scott Bessent so directly put it, we have two, dollar store submarines. What exactly could we go to war with?

None the less political expediency requires the leaders of this country to proclaim we are at war! I am certain if there was not several by-elections tomorrow at the federal level, an upcoming provincial election in Quebec where the separatists could take a significant lead and a referendum on having a referendum to separate from Canada in Alberta we would have an agreement and be done with it.

But no! We are Canadaians and we must raise our elbows high! Be damned the consequences. Lake America has been proclaimed do to this political buffoonery. Next there will no longer be a Hudson Bay, maybe Trump Cove or some such frivolity will be foisted on the world through Google Maps.

That Canada cannot truly support itself is beside the point. Let us not look over in that direction where they keep statistics about deficits and such, look over here where the damned Americans are tariffing us into submission. That the addition of tariffs on $28 billion of goods is really laughable in the grand scheme of things.

Losing our automotive manufacturing base in Ontario is much more critical. But alas decisions of provincial libs of the past have turned our once prosperous province into a capital risk for any large manufacturing business. Chrysler has placed the assembly plant in Brampton for sale. If the tariffs on medium duty trucks is not removed Oakville will likely be shuttered by Ford and GM will shut down Oshawa (again) with light duty truck tariffs making manufacturing these cash cows a loser.

And what of the news the other day. Trump has signed a deal for 68 billion barrels of oil from Venezuela! This type of oil from there is basically the same as Canadian heavy crude from the tar sands. So the US administration has been suggesting re-starting the Keystone XL pipeline, I think maybe that was a feint as why would the US want more Canadian oil when the taps of Venezuelan crude are being turned back on.

Premier Smith from Alberta likely saw this coming after Trump took out Maduro the President of Venezuela. She would certainly like the oil to continue flowing south as more pipelines east or west certainly seem as a pipe dream!

Imagine though just for a second if the provincial governments could work together long enough to build a pipeline around the top of the Great Lakes and into Sarnia. And the federal government pulled its thumb out of its environmentalist rectum by securing nationally protected energy corridors to all coasts. Not just British Columbia and its pacific access, but to the Maritimes to send oil and gas east to Europe.

What if we had pipelines to the Arctic and Hudson Bay?

Sure, there would be issues of ice. I am not totally misunderstanding the challenges that would exist with building out ports in Churchill and Tuktoyaktuk. Particularly the latter with the surrounding water in lakes as this is part of the MacKenzie River delta. One would assume there are salt caverns abounding in the area. Which along with Sarnia and the Lake Huron shoreline would make a great place for a strategic reserve of oil.

But let’s get back to this war talk. Linda Hassenfrass points out in a National Post article that the latest round of tariffs only accounts for 5% of our trade with the US. And the 50% tariffs on metals and metal products a further 5% leaving 90% of our trade with the US not at these difficult levels. Which give we export $450 billion a year to the US that means over $400 billion in goods goes at low or no tariff rates.

For political expediency our government seems to want to put this at further risk.Our governments have long ago stopped putting the real needs of the country first. And by country I mean the people of Canada. This ‘war’ with the US does nothing to help the average Canadian. Nor does the climate change war, or the war on islamophobia. The latest is the war on AI infrastructure such as data centres. Do any of these manufactured issues help the average Canadian have a better life?

There are plenty of great idea that would help our country. Tax breaks are certainly one of them. Both for the individual and the corporations. it is remarkable how Ireland has become the country with one of the highest per capita earnings. Norway invested their oil money into a sovereign wealth fund and now so many things are free to the people.

We have an over abundance of riches, from lumber to oil to metals and minerals in the ground. We have a well educated population that yearns to do better than their folks. What we do not have is a government that really cares about its people. They care about their own power and pockets. Any government that suggests an alignment with China is a good thing is problematic.Importing the endless diaspora of the developing world is not an answer to strengthening our country.

How long I it going to be before Canada has he hundreds of sharia courts that the UK has. And the same shut up your beefing laws. The police in the UK have arrested over ten thousand people because of something they have chirped online. We have very similar laws now. Free speech? Not a chance, we have nothing like the 1st Amendment here in Canada. Freedom of expression in our Constitution has a caveat, that it only goes as far as the government likes.

And let’s not even begin to discuss here forward capital gains. We will save that for another rant.