Lanny

He needs no last name.  Lanny McDonald is a legend.  We met him in a Calgary restaurant the other day -- well, not exactly met.  We spied him enjoying his lunch and naturally went over and introduced ourselves.  "That's Lanny McDonald," I said to B.  "Go over and say hello," I urged him.  "Should I?"  Of course!  So he did and I followed.

We literally interrupted and him and his lunch-mate mid-bite, but Lanny immediately got up and extended his hand.  "Good afternoon, sir," he said so respectfully to B.  Could not have been more polite and accommodating to a couple of ancient fans, as he asked our names and immediately suggested a selfie.  Here we are:

The great Lanny McDonald.

"Thanks, guys," he said.  "I gotta go pick up my grandson."  "How many do you have?" asked B.  "Nine," said the devoted Grandpa.  Shamelessly trying to impress him with my past glory days, I told him about my two NHL boyfriends, both now deceased, and he said he had known them both well.    

Lanny is one of the greats.  He played for the Leafs, the Colorado Rockies and, of course, the Flames.  When he was traded to Colorado, fans set up a protest in front of The Gardens.  After three years there, he ended his sterling 16-year hockey career with the Flames, where he co-captained their last Stanley Cup in '88-'89.  That was the Flames pinnacle and swan song.  It's been crickets and disasters ever since.

If ever there was a great ambassador for the game, Lanny is it.  Before we let him go, he took off his HUGE Hall of Fame ring and suggested I try it on for another selfie.  What a great guy.

Me with my Hall of Fame memento.

 

Why does no one -- except me -- cover this corruption?

This appeared in my facebook feed and it needs to be shared, in my opinion, so I'm blogging it. By the way, I swim with an Indigenous woman from Stoney Nakoda who reads my blogs. "I completely agree with what you write about us and our leaders, but I can't comment because I'm Indigenous and we just stick together -- even when we know there's corruption going on."

So, folks, that's the problem right there and it's so dishonest. Here's the feed:

"Chief Allan Adam is the lead voice of the First Nations coalition that brought the legal challenge that killed the citizen-led Alberta separation petition. He went on CBC to celebrate the ruling. He called it a 'great win for Canada and for democracy.'

"But here is what CBC didn't ask him about:

"Chief Allan receives foreign interference money. The Tides Foundation is a left-wing lobby organization based in San Francisco who wired $55,000 directly to Chief Allan Adam's bank account to oppose the oil sands.

"Shortly after receiving that money, Adam flew to Toronto to sit on a stage next to Neil Young to publicly demonize Canada's energy industry.

"CBC themselves reported that various American funders contributed an estimated $40 million to Canadian environmental and Indigenous groups with one specific goal.... to landlock Alberta crude by blocking pipeline construction. Researcher Vivian Krauss attributed the cancellation of Northern Gateway, Energy East, Keystone, and Trans Mountain directly to this coordinated American-funded campaign.

"Chief Allan Adam was part of that campaign. He gladly took the money. This is real foreign interference in Canada's energy economy. And the same man who took American money to block Canadian prosperity is now the man leading the charge to block Albertans from having a democratic vote on their own future.
Meanwhile he REAPS the benefits of tax payer money from the very same industry profits.

"The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation's own audited financial statements tell a story that Chief Adam did not mention once during his CBC interview.

"Combined with existing assets and real estate holdings, the band is sitting on close to $300 million. And the registered population of this band? 1,567 people total.

"With only 33 people living on reserve, that works out to roughly $9 million per person on reserve and Canadian taxpayers are still sending them $10 million a year plus a $100 million lump sum payout.

"Meanwhile this reserve has no public accounting of money spent since 2021. That's five years of missing financial disclosures. No accountability. No transparency. And the money keeps flowing.

"Chief Adam has been doing this for years:

"2018 — The National Post reported his complaints were complicating the Liberal review of the Frontier Oil Sands mine. The Alberta government publicly stated his concerns were about money, not environment.

"2018 — Despite publicly criticizing fossil fuel developers and hosting anti-oil activists including Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam signed a benefit agreement with Teck after what he described as positive negotiations. His opposition was for sale.

"2020 — Adam was stopped by RCMP outside a Fort McMurray casino for an expired license plate, resisted arrest, and publicly accused the officers of "racist" treatment. The RCMP was cleared. No evidence of misconduct was found.

"Chief Allan Adam did not vote against Alberta separation. He did not organize Albertans to vote against it. He went to court to make sure Albertans never got to vote on it at all.

"Over 300,000 Albertans signed that petition. They followed the law. They used the exact democratic mechanism the Legislature created for them. And a judge threw every one of those signatures in the garbage.

"A man taking money from foreign interference organizations who also massively benefits from Alberta prosperity is taking democratic rights away from Albertans. Yet he thinks this is a 'win for democracy.'

"Canadians you are being scammed in every way possible."

The chief after an altercation with the RCMP outside a casino.  Wonder what that was about?

Daughter's take on sports

This was posted by my daughter.  She has been an elite athlete for 30 years and her kids are getting there too!

"Life-long sport. This is where I’m sure I have succeeded. Here’s a bit of a reflection…

"Consistency, variety, fun, listening to your body, hard work, winning some, losing lots, go fast, but also take it slow and did I mention consistency? Over 30 years of high performance sport, it’s not glamorous, it’s not a secret, there are many ways to skin a cat (as I had followed many types of training along the way) but you have to keep at it.

"I once had a running coach tell me, my super-power was never being too far away from my top form. But that’s consistency! In all the sports that I’ve battled in, training hard to toe the line… swimming (varsity), water polo (provincial selection) triathlon (elite/pro carded) running (some pretty fast times across all distances) and now cycling (multiple disciplines and doing alright as a masters athlete), it has taken a good five - 10 years dedicated to that sport, to get to a point where I could say I was proficient and at a level that jived with my pride.

"This win @thesaltydogenduro was about me being 47 years old and needing to play to my strengths, (I can go long and strong like nobody’s business now) along with listening to the science on older women athletes.

Her fourth win in the Salty Dog Endurance Race in Salmon Arm. The winner is the one who does the most laps in six hours.  

"I’m like a dog with a bone, stubborn and driven! @c4xc_p_team families know that I take “life-long” sport as our ultimate goal! Although I call it my “spirit-training” it’s really about a lifetime of listening to my body and being consistent. I love to compete, but I’m truly loving sharing my knowledge with my athletes and seeing them grow and achieved!! #hardwork #consistencywins #lifelongsport "

____________________

Tanya's at it again

'Globe and Mail' columnist Tanya Talaga was once again on about how hard-done-by the Indigenous are.  Never mind that she's half Polish and raised in downtown Toronto, Talaga nevertheless has gone full native about how they should be "economic equals" in this country.

How can that happen, Tanya, when Indigenous funding comes from the Canadian taxpayer -- no strings attached?  Last year, we handed over $32 billion for a total population of 1.8 million.  That's our money, so how can you be major players and partners when it's our money?

"Indigenous tokenism doesn't cut it any more.  That's not partnership, it's dominance with a smile," she wrote.  Well, don't take the money and then you can be full partners.  We all know that won't be happening.  Ever.  

And you know who's standing in the way of resource development?  You know who's blocking oil and gas extraction -- the revenues from which fund the entire country?  The Indigenous.  "If Canada and its governments want to put their elbows up against the United States, they won't be able to do it alone.  They will need the more than 600 First Nations (make that 1,200 when you add in the hereditary chiefs) that can be found from coast to coast to buy in," she says.

Does anyone actually think 1,200 chiefs will ever agree on anything?  Fat chance.  

She goes on about the terrible living conditions on reserves, neglecting to mention that she's never lived on one herself, but, you know....she knows....  She also neglects to mention the high life enjoyed by the chiefs, while their people sh-t in buckets and live in tarpaper shacks.

"Indigenous knowledge is indispensable for caring for Mother Earth and in making sure the next seven generations know this land, the animals, the water," she writes.  In downtown Toronto, the only animals you'll encounter are racoons.  Here's what great stewards of the land have accomplished:

Your average "pristine" reserve.

Stoney Nakoda reserve, just down the road.

Where's the money, Tanya?  Just ask Charmaine Stick, of the Onion Lake Reserve, about how open the chiefs are to financial accountability.  They shut her down, forcing her to appeal to the courts.  They issued an order to open the books, but the chiefs defied it and nothing happened.  Still closed to scrutiny.

Bob Joseph, Indigenous author of '21 Things you May not Know About the Indian Act and 21 Things You May Not Know About Indigenous Self-Government' said, "It's time to have a serious conversation about colonization and oppression (those old saws again) and work in earnest on an Indigenous-led dismantling of the Indian."

Hello, Bob!  The Indian Act is how the money flows.  And how will you get 1,200 chiefs to agree on anything -- especially if it threatens the money tree?  You won't.

I wrote an email to Talaga yesterday and attached the above pictures.  She didn't reply because they put the lie to her claims about pristine reserves.  Well, of course she didn't.

So there you have it.  Groundhog day on the Indigenous file.

Tree Equity, not bathrooms

"Don't look at me," said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, "I wasn't mayor when Canada bid for the World Cup."

It was John Tory, who undoubtedly assumed he'd be re-elected as mayor by all the soccer-mad immigrants and migrants and lavishly wined and dined by FIFA.  Unfortunately, he tripped over his own willy and that was the end of that.

But Chow's mayor now and she completely bungled the handling of the match between Inter Miami and Toronto FC yesterday.  Overrun with crowds and traffic jams, the city was utterly and completely unable and ill-equipped to handle the crowds.  

Watching footage of this fiasco was a wakeup call for Chow to get her act together for when the actual World Cup starts.  Apparently, bathroom facilities were a disgrace and completely inadequate for what befell the town.  

Chow's priority seems to be something woke and green called 'The Tree Equity Program".  I am not kidding!  Here's the headline from an article by the 'Toronto Sun's' Brian Lilley: 

"LILLEY: Olivia Chow's Toronto adopts DEI for trees with new tree equity policy"

That's how insane it's all become.

“Toronto is the first municipality in Canada to utilize a 'tree equity' approach to prioritize canopy growth at the neighbourhood scale,” Chow proudly proclaimed in announcing the policy.

"Along with their policy, the city has released an interactive website that allows you to see your tree equity score. Bizarrely, there are areas of the city that have more trees, but are given a lower tree equity score and are considered a higher priority than neighbourhoods with fewer trees."  I think, but it's all very confusing?!

This is all based on who lives in the area and if it's mostly immigrants or poor residents, they need to have more trees.  In other words, such neighbourhoods can have a low tree density score, but a higher equity need for more trees.  This program is managed by a woman who is pulling in almost $500,000 a year!

Toronto's trees look in pretty good shape to me.

Reminds me of when Tanya Talaga claimed it was a lack of libraries in prisons that was behind the overwhelming imbalance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous inmates and the former's high rates of recidivism.  In this case, some neighbourhoods are poor because they don't have enough trees.

Huh!!??

Never mind that Toronto's transportation system is completely broken, never mind that crime is out-of-control, never mind that food banks are overrun.  No, Chow and council's priority is making sure all residents have an equally fair green canopy.

I loved living in Toronto in the late sixties and early seventies, when sanity ruled and I feared nothing when riding the "Red Rocket".  But I would not like to live there now -- especially when bedlam will shortly rule during the World Cup.  

Get the toilets ready, Mayor Chow.  The sky will soon be falling and the toilets will need flushing! 

Is there no one else?

Well, here we are.  This woman just keeps getting recycled into yet another Liberal trough post.  Now Louise Arbour has been named governor general.  She has been in every international post I can think of and now she lands as GG.  Nice gig!

She has always been a leftie and when asked if she were a Monarchist, she couldn't even bring herself to say she was.  HELLO LOUISE, YOU ARE THE REPRESENTATIVE OF KING CHARLES III, CANADA'S HEAD OF STATE, AND YOU CAN'T AFFIRM YOU ARE A MONARCHIST!!!!!!!!!!  Shameful!  Had you any integrity, you would have turned the job down.

It's me, Louise Arbour.  Again!

As I said, is there no one else?  The woman is 79 years old, for Gawd's sake! Useless.

Well, O.K., she's bilingual, which was a problem for Simon, who claimed she was bilingual -- just not in Canada's two official languages.  Simon, you will remember, was the GG who racked up more than $100,000 in airline catering on a couple of trips.  She also charged more than that on clothing.  The salary is $378,000 a year and she charges for clothing!!!  Judging by her appearance -- remember the blue and pink hair? -- that allowance didn't do her much good.

Inside reports say Simon was usually "over-refreshed" by 10 o'clock in the morning.  I guess that contributed to the gigantic catering bills she charged to the taxpayer, allegedly, reportedly.

Arbour is a career champion of human rights and mass immigration, so that'll be fun.  She should put her money where her mouth is and open up Rideau Hall and its vast grounds to the struggling migrants she champions -- something the Pope should also do at the Vatican.  We're already awash in legal fights over refugee claims and human rights cases, so expect more of the same from Arbour.  Two of her daughters are NDPers and have run for election.  Guess from whence come their woke politics?  

There are a lot of yahoos on line who say we should abolish the vice regal position.  They, of course, don't know the Canadian constitution.  To do so, the entire document would have to be thrown aside and re-written.  It would also need the approval of the Senate, the House of Commons and two thirds of provincial legislatures, representing at least 50 percent of the entire population.

As I said, never gonna happen.

So folks, we have another rabid, female, DEI, lefty, francophone, Jacobin (look it up) lawyer.  Carney has destroyed the Canadian economy (Note to self:  Never get a PhD in economics), forced millions into poverty and reliance on food banks and continues to weaken, taint and undermine posts like that of the GG.  Welcome to Europe, er, I mean Canada!

Tweedledum and Tweedledee congratulating each other on a smug victory walk.

  

WTH !!??

Would someone please tell me why Carney is in Armenia to meet with European heads of government??!!  We do a measly $24 million annually with Armenia, that's it!  We need deals worth billions with the U.S!

There he goes again, off to somewhere other than the U.S.  Who's he waving to?  The baggage handlers?

His snobbery and elitism will be the ruination of Canada.  He is no more Canadian than the average guy in Timbuktu.  He's a Jacobin (look it up) and a Globalist.  His entire family lives in New York!  He needs to wake up and stay home, or travel to the U.S. and support all the provincial premiers trying desperately to do deals with them.

But, no.  Contrarian to the end, he thumbs his nose at Trump with all his useless trips -- 17 to 25 countries so far, yet hasn't set foot in most parts of Canada!  Time to kiss the ring of the U.S. president for the benefit of our struggling country.

He has ministers who can travel and meet counterparts who can actually make deals.  Why does he have to be the only one travelling?  Oh ya, the hubris of an insecure kid from Fort Smith who loves the limos, the private government plane, the servants and the fawning.

The guy should be run out of town, with Champagne tied to his bumper!

Sorry for all the exclamation points, but this really riles me, while ill-informed Canadians fall for his hijinks!  Show a little pride in this country, renovate the once-magnificent 24 Sussex, move in and stick to your "net zero" pledge by parking our jet for a while.

Gawd help us all!