Drives me nuts

There are two signs at the Spray Lakes Pool, where I swim, that drive me nuts.  One says:

"Please swim in a lane with swimmers at a similar pace as yourself."

You don't need ".....as yourself."  The period goes after "pace", but I have to look at it every time I hit the end of the lane.  We know it's you the instruction is for!

Then, when I am leaving, the sign on the exit says, "No re-entry through this door."

The period should go after "re-entry".  We know the door you are talking about, for Gawd's sake!

So, that's off my chest.  But I will run through the insufferable Andrew Coyne's column tomorrow and bore you with his ludicrous and unnecessary verbiage.  As I have said, I would give anything to edit his copy!  How he has risen to the heights he has when he is such an atrocious writer beggars belief.  And listening to him on 'At Issue' is torture.  The guy takes himself soooooo seriously!  Sense of humour?  Non-existent.

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But here's the latest Alberta outrage:  The equalization formula.  Here, Alberta has been royally screwed for decades.  Since 1957, when the formula was conjured up, Alberta has reaped not a single penny since 1965 -- the only payment in the past 60 years!  60 years! 

Alberta contributes $246 billion in payments every year, but gets not a penny back.  Instead of crapping on Alberta, Carney should be kissing our ass-s. 

Premier Smith is on this big time.  Why, she wonders, has Quebec received $129.9 BILLION in equalization payments in the last 10 years?  Why indeed?!

Even wealthy Ontario receives $576 million this year and $546 next.  These are preposterous handouts to Canada's largest economy by far.  Smith says it's a farce huge payments are given to provinces with big, wealth-generating economies.

She's right, it is.

This is the reality of equalizations payments.  It's a scandal.

The whole thing is solely to placate Quebec and keep separatism from raising its ugly head.  No wonder rumbles of secession are so loud here.  Frankly, I have become an Albertan when it comes to equalization payments, but not to secession.  That's a no-go for me.

Notwithstanding the fact that both my birth and adoptive fathers were Americans, I am a proud Canadian.

 

That's why so few come forward

Reading about the grotesque trial of five former junior hockey players charged with raping a then 21-year-old girl they met at a bar, I was once again reminded of why no woman ever presses sexual assault charges.

They don't because they end up being charged with luring, "wanting it" and "asking for it".

This is what is happening to the women named "E.M." in a London courthouse, as she is subjected to seven days of intense grilling by defence lawyers for the accused -- right down to the "sexy" shoes she was wearing that were brandished about and waved for all to see!

It is ludicrous.

Apparently, she had consensual sex with one guy, but then he invited all his buddies to come in and have a go.  To this, she claims, she did not agree -- although her texts apparently belie this.  As for the truth, no one will ever know.  Her reputation, however, lies in tatters for the rest of her life.

That's why no woman ever presses charges.  The consequences are too grave.

I can relate to her predicament.  When I was 13, my orthodontist sexually assaulted me, but as my Mother was sitting in the waiting room, I did not make a scene.  I mean, that's how so many of us were reared.  "Don't make a scene, dear," she would say if a situation became heated or uncomfortable.

So, I said and did nothing.  Actually, I thought it had been my fault for being too cute -- that he couldn't help himself!

Reading his obituary a year ago, I was tempted to add a remembrance of those horrible days trapped in his chair of horrors.  I didn't, because I still didn't want to make a scene.  But maybe I should have?  I could not have been the only young girl he assaulted; there must have been many of us.  Why did no one ever report him?  For the same reasons I didn't.  But reading his glowing obituary about how Dr. Braden was such an upstanding member of the community and president of the Britannia Yacht Club....yadda, yadda, yadda.........I have kept on speaking about him to friends and family -- although never to my Mother.

Not always a safe seat.

Ever heard of "date rape"?  Ya, that also happened to me when I was 20 and visiting a friend's cottage with my cousin and her boyfriend.  Again, I said and did nothing because his parents were in the next room and, "I didn't want to make a scene".  It got uglier, but I will spare you the sordid details. 

I did, however, get my revenge at a parent/teacher event at my children's elementary school, Rockcliffe Park Public.  Who was holding forth as the president of the association?  You guessed it, none other than Bill Mitchell. himself!  So I sauntered over and greeted him, as he was impressing the gathering.  "Hi, Bill, remember me?  I was the girl you assaulted at your parent's cottage in 1968."  He stopped dead in his tracks, turned red and then white, as a shocked hush fell over the group.  He bolted immediately, laughing to minimize what he had done.  

So, yes, I can relate to E.M.  And don't kid yourself.  It's still happening in doctor's offices and schools all over the world.  Men of authority should be carefully monitored and parents should always warn their daughters about inappropriate touching.  Always.  

 

  

The Emperor's New Clothes

That's what the "new" cabinet was wearing, as the same old, same old, tired, worn-out gang was trotted out and sworn in as Carney's cabinet for "change".

Carney and his minions.

Hard to believe, but there wasn't a new face in the front-bench bunch.  Not one!  Sure, there were a bunch of new ministers of state, but the main cast was still all there.  I was flabbergasted that Freeland was there!  After Trump called her a "horrible woman" and lambasted her in the Oval Office for her bombastic handling of the trade files, Carney has still given her a seat at the table!  Either her riding is key, or she has dirt on him.  Contrariness or stupidity are also possible reasons but there are no other to keep her.  

But the saddest spectacle was Rechie Valdez, the minister of women's something-or-other.  There she was taking the oath and crying.  Crying!  What a great look for the women of Canada!  Strength, force and might did not spring to mind, as I watched her shaking and bawling taking the oath.  Pathetic.

But Evan Solomon was right up there in the ludicrous category.  Here was a guy who was fired from the CBC for having a secret art brokerage business on the side.  Solomon actually brokered the sale of paintings belonging to Mark Carney.  I kid you not!  Then he buggered off to the States to earn the big bucks, but came right back when Carney dangled a juicy, cabinet carrot under his nose.  His portfolio is artificial intelligence.  That just describes the whole cabinet!  Do cynicism and hypocrisy know no bounds?

But there they all were, beaming and smiling smugly as the ceremony unfolded.  You could not find a more self-satisfied, smirking bunch if you hunted all day.  The only positive moments for me were when they all had to swear allegiance to King Charles the Third.  That surely stuck in the craws of all the francophones who had to utter that odious oath.  

Sorry, guys, but The Monarch remains our Head of State, so you have to grin and swear it.  

All in all, it was a dismal display of the future of our country.  Ruined by Trudeau for the last 10 years, the economy appears to be again in peril, with Carney keeping the whole, sorry mess on track for another dilapidated and ramshackle term.

Sigh.............

That went well

Or did it?  Carney looked very weak during his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.  Lots of  "pundits" on the airwaves and in opinion pieces have praised his restrained performance, but I thought he looked less than "in charge", as he sat beside The King.  

I was disappointed at Carney's choice of the henchmen (or should I say, "henchpersons") who accompanied him.  He obviously chose them because of their portfolios (same old same old), not because of their personas.  That was a mistake because Trump judges everyone on persona, not on portfolio or experience. Frankly, I would have walked in there alone.  That would have unsettled them. 

Speaking of personas, Trump really let loose on Freeland and Trudeau.  It was obvious Freeland was a disaster during the free trade mess with the U.S. and Mexico.  As I have blogged, I was part of the original team negotiating the first NAFTA in 1994 with the U.S. and it wasn't that difficult.  We all behaved professionally and comported ourselves as was due the magnitude of the task.  The politicians did their thing, but we did the deal.  I am very proud of my work on that.

Freeland didn't succeed.  She tried to bully everyone because that's her personality.  As for Trudeau, Trump smelled phoniness from day one.  He was not wrong. 

Once again, there was the rumpled LeBlanc, looking like he had slept in his suit for days and had forgotten his comb for his comb-over.  LeBlanc had already travelled to Trump's lair at Mar a Lago and returned with absolutely nothing.  Why Carney dragged him along, I have no clue?!

Then there was McGinty.  Frankly, he looked like the Howdy Doody of my childhood, except that Howdy actually had something to say.  McGinty just sat there mute and dumbfounded.

And as for Mélanie Joly, she looked like she had just rolled in from a boozy night out -- hair a mess and black roots everywhere.  Why will she never tie it back and try to look a tad professional, instead of someone desperately running for Prom Queen?!  

Trump keeps talking about the fake Canada/U.S. border and frankly, he may have a point.  The 49th parallel border was drawn according to the Treaty of 1918 and the Oregon treaty of 1846, but several parts were re-negotiated and are dubious.

Trump's talk about Canada becoming the 51st state is simply bluster.  Any such move would have to be approved by the House and Senate and would necessitate military intervention.  Never going to happen.  But Carney was not forceful enough and only committed to the two percent GDP for NATO in five years.  He also did not vow to bring down the trade imbalance more drastically.  Both would have been sufficient to get Trump to shut up for a while.  

Overall, unless Carney changes course, he laid an egg during the trip.  The aggressive rhetoric he spouted during the campaign didn't manifest itself during the meeting.  He was all thumbs-up and smiles -- totally at odds with his promises during the election. 

Despite the rhetoric, Carney came across as a buddy.

I feel very sorry for Pierre Poilievre.  The poor guy had his entire platform stolen by Carney and was robbed by the votes Singh's supporters transferred to the Liberals.  

Bottom line?  Carney won because he convinced everyone he was the tough guy to deal with Trump.  Didn't work.  Will it?  I doubt it.

Brilliant move

I am not a fan of Mark Carney, but inviting our head of state, King Charles, to deliver the upcoming Throne Speech is a brilliant move on two fronts:  First it cements and reinforces Canadian sovereignty in the face of Trump's 51st state nonsense and second, it one-ups the U.S. president who doesn't have a King or Queen.

Trump is an enthusiastic monarchist, but the U.S. doesn't have a King.  We do and it's about time we invited our head of state to fulfill the role and deliver the speech.  However, the ignorance of the average Canadian was on full and shameful display in 'The Globe' today, in which a letter writer said it was an insult for the King to give the speech, instead of the Governor General.  

How dumb can you be??!!  The GG is the representative of the Monarch -- not the other way around!  The Monarch is the Head of State, not the GG.  The latter gives the speech in the absence, and in place of, the Monarch.  Shows you how desperately Canadian children need to be taught civics.  Gawd!

A Monarch hasn't given the speech from the throne in Canada since 1977, when Queen Elizabeth was invited to the Senate chamber to deliver it.  Pierre Trudeau was prime minister back then and he invited her -- not, however, for the same reasons as Carney.

The last Monarch to deliver the Canadian throne speech.

Trudeau did it to give the finger to the Separatists -- something he loved doing at every opportunity because he was an avowed contrarian.  Carney, on the other hand, is a dedicated monarchist who believes in the Commonwealth.  In fact, he went to Oxford on a Commonwealth scholarship, something he celebrates.

(Note:  One of my offspring also went to a Commonwealth university in Australia to obtain a post-graduate teaching degree, after earning an honours degree at Queen's University.  Special consideration is always given to students from Commonwealth countries seeking entry to universities in other kindred countries.)   

As for his upcoming visit to Trump, I hope Carney has taken careful steps to avoid the kind of ambush the former pulls on every head of state and president who steps under the lintel and over the threshold of the oval office.

Zelensky got a hiding during that turkey shoot, as both Vance and Trump ganged up and mercilessly pilloried him.  Zelensky -- a brigand of the first order -- deserved it, but I don't think Carney should be subjected to the kind of beating to which the Ukrainian bandit and outlaw was subjected.   

But if not the oval office, where else would they meet?  Sadly, it'll be "come into my lair" for Carney.  I only hope his years as a global banker and celebrity will stand him in good stead and steel him during that encounter. 

Hopefully, Carney won't find himself under Trump's heel.

Carney will be a disaster

Read his book, 'Values'.  That'll tell you everything about his agenda.  His economic policies will be much worse that Trudeau's -- if that's possible!  

As I have been saying, he is a rabid greenie and zero zealot.  But Danielle Smith has his number and she will fight back with zeal and vigor!  Alberta is the key to the country's financial health and that means oil and gas.  

This is what's in store.  Replace the word "could" with "will" and that's the picture.