Bait and Switch

To get elected, Mark Carney pulled off one of the greatest 'Bait and Switch' cons in recent memory.  And it worked -- at least for the gullible Canadians who didn't do their homework on what this guy was actually all about:  A green, net zero zealot in banker economist's clothing.

Carney's phony stump slogan.

Yep folks, we were had and now we're starting to see just how devastating the economic destruction he is wreaking is.  He's still conning people into thinking that losing the US trade relationship is no big deal because, "Look how much trade we're doing with Europe!"  

Actually, no.  Our biggest trading partners are China and India, but even that doesn't amount to a hill of economic peanut beans, in comparison with what we have lost with the US.  And as for Europe, we do about four percent of our trade with them.  So, Canada is basically going down the tubes.  Fast.

James Moore had an interesting analysis on what $65 billion -- the projected deficit -- looks like in layman's terms.  Apparently, it would buy all of Canada's sports teams, as well as Air Canada and a number of other multi-billion dollar companies.  It was shocking!    

So, "Elbows up" has become "Knees down", as Trump continues to punish Canada because, frankly, he doesn't like the cut of Carney's jib.  Simple as that.  Just to drive Carney's agenda home, he has stock in 567 companies.  Know how many are Canadian?  Three!!!!  That tells you everything about where his confidence is:  Not in Canada!

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A lot of Koolaid was drunk and orange shirts worn yesterday on 'National Day of Truth and Reconciliation'.  You'd think Indigenous women were being killed by evil Caucasian men all-day-every-day, but in reality, a quick check of the RCMP stats (readily available online) shows they are actually being killed by their own kith and kin.  It's not hard to figure out what "reconciliation" means.  

It means money.  

Carney's speech was pitiable.  I thought he was going to burst out Trudeau-crying, as he apologized for giving natives an education, while they were being tortured daily in boarding schools.  Remember, folks, every single Indigenous leader went to one -- often at the request of their parents to save them from starvation and disease on the reserves.  And also remember the majority of assault was perpetrated by older students on younger, not by teachers and priests.  Those are facts.  (Google Judge Brian Geisbrecht for the truth on this file.)

So, another con has been baked into the Canadian identity.  People need to do a little research and wake up because billions are at stake.      

What??!!

"The problem isn't the UN, it's the member states," said soon-to-be ex Canadian Ambassador Bob Rae on 'Question Period' this morning.

What the h-ll, Bob!?  The UN is its member states.  So, ergo, if the problem is the member states, the problem is the UN itself because without the member states, there is no UN.  So duh, yes Bob, the UN is the problem.  It's moribund, ineffectual and incapable of doing anything to solve any conflict anywhere.  And if it can't solve anything because of its own charter and members, why does it even exist??!!  I'm with Trump on that one.

Bob has always been the master of "word salads", hence his successful transition from an NDP Ontario premier who destroyed the province's economy to a guy who landed a cushy $250,000 job in New York.  Not a bad gig, Bob.

Bob's brain at work.

(Just had to jot this down, but now back to the brilliant David Starkey on YouTube.)

   

Insufferable

I just have to put it out there, in my opinion, Andrew Coyne is insufferable.  He's there, on the inside front page of the 'Opinion' Section of 'The Globe and Mail' every Saturday in all his stupefying verbosity with four columns of superfluous opinions and thoughts that go on forever.

A typical Coyne column -- never-ending!

Reading him reminds me of the stream-of-consciousness novels by Virginia Woolf I studied in university.  Every thought that comes into his head he puts down, yet he never gets to a point.  Sometimes, in the very last paragraph, he'll make one, but boy, you have to really hunt to stumble upon it!

He's also a fan of unnecessary words and complicated punctuation.  Here's a perfect example:

"The ruckus began, you'll recall, over the federal government's intervention in a case now before the Supreme Court of Canada involving a legal challenge to Bill 21, Quebec's infamous law banning the wearing of religious symbols across much of the public service, which for some religions is tantamount to a hiring bar."

Phew!  That was one sentence!!  The italics are mine, where these words are not needed.  But he loves to add them all over the place as they pop up in his tumbling head!  Here's another:

"To be sure, it would have no legal effect."  What's with the "To be sure"?  Just make your point.

I learned tight editing when I laboured under the ruthless red pen of the late Mrs. Jean Portugal at Maclean Hunter in the early seventies.  Back then, we used hot type, so every word cost money and Mrs. Portugal (never Jean!) cut out so many.  She was always correct and the work she handed back was much better than what I had submitted.  It was tight, clear and concise and I imitate her when I read columnists today who stick words willy-nilly into every piece. 

The peerless Mrs. Portugal on one of her exotic travels with her husband, Felix.

Coyne seems to be trying to show off his education and many degrees.  Doesn't work.  Ever seen him on 'At Issue' on Thursdays?  What a bore!  Talk about taking yourself inordinately seriously!  And to boot, he has no sense of humour, a sin in my world.  If you can't laugh at yourself, you're hopeless.

He can't.

He went to the London School of Economics and obtained an MA in Economics.  B got an MA from there too, but he went on a scholarship; Coyne didn't.  Guess from whom I take my economic advice?

So, that's my take on Coyne -- just my opinion, so don't sue me, but what I wouldn't give to be his editor!  His columns would go from four to one or two at the most.  Now and then I toy with the idea of sending him an edited version of one of his, but since I have many letters in there, I don't want to upset the apple cart.  

Andrew, if you're reading this, for Gawd's sake red-pen yourself!   

 

I agree with Poilievre

Carney is proving to be worse than Justin Trudeau, if that's possible.  Poilievre said it would be unfair to Trudeau to compare him to Carney because, "Carney's even worse," said the leader of the Opposition.

So far, that's correct.  He was elected as some sort of economic guru who was going to be the only guy capable of bringing Trump to heel on the tariff file, but so far that has backfired spectacularly.  Did he think going to Mexico to unilaterally cook up some deal with them just ahead of CUSMA negotiations was a great idea?  If so, dumb and if so, fail.

Did he think going to Poland and Ukraine on his own was a brilliant move?  If so, dumb and if so, fail.  Did he think recognizing a Palestinian state was going to stop the war?  If so, dumb and if so, fail.  

Hamas real purpose in continuing the war is to make Israel a pariah state and on that, it's winning handsomely.  Canada did not have to join this charade.  Most European nations are not granting recognition, including Germany and Italy; neither are Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

Every time the guy makes a move it's to stick a fork in Trump's eye.  That's a recipe for disaster, as Trump outlined in his tirade at the United Nations yesterday.

Carney's foreign policy.

Trump's right, of course.  The UN is an unmitigated disaster, incapable of settling anything on any file in any country.  It was long ago taken over by Arab countries, with an agenda to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.  All the aid the UN sends to Gaza is highjacked and never reaches those who need it.  Now he's musing about sending troops to Gaza and even Ukraine.  Why?  That would be another disaster.

Carney said Canada will conduct its own foreign relations policies, "For the benefit of Canadians."  Of course, he doesn't say what those policies are because so far they're not turning out too well.

So, another brilliant move by our wonder boy prime minister.  Hang onto your hats.

He's a despot

A rogue prime minister.

I'm talking about Carney.  He has just announced that Canada will officially recognize a Palestinian state.  Really??!!  On what authority?  Certainly not Parliament's.  He just unilaterally announced Canada will formally recognize Palestine as an official state.

Firstly, what is Palestine?  It currently is not a state.  It's a territory stuck in between Israel and the Jordan River to the Mediterranean sea.  It's not actually a country or a state, it's a territory with a terrorist head, so, how can it be recognized?  Hamas runs Gaza and Hezbollah the West Bank.  What exactly would he be recognizing?  He'd be dealing with terrorist organizations.  Brilliant!

Carney earlier said he would only recognize it as an official state (which was ludicrous) if Hamas agreed to immediate elections and that no Hamas leaders would be in the government.  As I have blogged, the guy running Gaza has not had elections since 2005, so obviously won't hold any now.  But Carney jettisoned that condition today by recognizing it.  Abas is head of an officially-recognized terrorist organization!  And Carney recognized him as Head!!!!

Right after Carney's announcement, Hamas executed three people in the public square for alleged ties to Israel.  Wow, so civilized!  Then Trump tweeted that it would be very difficult to get a deal with Canada, now that Carney has done what he's done.  Remember, dealing with Trump was Carney's hallmark position?  He was going to handle Trump.  WTF!  Now that's definitely off the table.  

How dumb!?

Who is advising him?  He is a rogue prime minister doing whatever he wants with absolutely no Parliamentary oversight.  Remember, 40 percent of Canadians voted Conservative, but Carney went ahead and announced he would recognize Palestine anyway??!!

This is criminal and he has to be stopped.  Now he's off to New York and the UN, which is why he made the announcement he did when he did.  He had no authority to do this.  He has been acting as a despot and it has to end.  As an aside, why does his wife tag along on every state visit?  No one voted for her, yet there she is beside him on panels blabbing away.  Please.      

I told you so

Hate to say it, but I did.  I said Mark Carney would not be able to withstand Poilievre's relentless and brilliant criticisms and interrogation of him in The House and he couldn't.  Off Carney desperately fled to Mexico after just one day -- ONE DAY -- in Question Period.  That was it.  He abandoned his post as "leader" of the country after only a couple of hours of actually doing his job responding to Opposition questions.

Carney in Mexico avoiding doing his job in The House.

I told you it would happen.  The worst of it was his smirking and laughing when being questioned about the shocking loss of jobs and the fleeing of billions in capital from this country.  We get it, Mark, you're a billionaire so you don't care about the millions of Canadians who have to choose between putting food on the table, or paying the rent?!  Hey, what me worry?!

Again, to all of you who voted for him -- especially those of you in the cocooned Ottawa Bubble -- I hope you're starting to realize what a colossal mistake you've made.  He ate the Conservative's lunch the minute he got into office.  That was tragic for the Conservatives, but Pierre is still hanging in there and is on his case.

What has he accomplished in Mexico?  He's signed a "strategic partnership agreement", in other words, NOTHING.  It's going to be a rough ride for all Canadians and it's all our own fault.  And what's to negotiate in Mexico anyhow?  The entire economy runs on only two things:  Tourism and drug cartels.  That's it.  

The only thing he's done that makes sense is dump the odious Freeland, Lametti, Wilkinson, Guilbeault and Blair.  Finally!  I was shocked when he re-appointed so many of the tired, old Trudeau clubhouse gang, but at least they're gone -- to nice, cushy postings -- but out of The House and out of sight.  Now get rid of Anand, Joly and Hajdu -- all disgraces to their gender -- and a few more freeloaders and hangers-on and real progress might be made.  

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A word about Danielle Smith's government and its decision to have drivers' licences include the citizenship status.  If you're a Canadian citizen, you will have a "CAN" stamped on it.  I think it's high time, but, of course, the workery are up-in-arms.  Why, I have no clue?  Why shouldn't your status be readily and visibly available?

I have said for years that currently there is no way to ensure voters are Canadian citizens when they go to the polls.  All you have to produce is a driver's licence, which shows your address -- not proof you are a citizen.  That means you can just go ahead and vote, which is against the law.

"Don't you have to ask for proof of citizenship when people show up to vote?" I asked a scrutineer during an election.  "Oh, no, we trust you."  How dumb!  You have to wonder how many non-citizens have been voting illegally for years in municipal, provincial and federal elections.

Who's voting?  No clue??!!

So, if you're not a Canadian, you can't vote.  Plain and simple.  I'm all for proof.    

 

 

This is the guy who runs the public service

 

Incoherence at its finest.

"The public service's job is to be disciplined and concentrate, resist distractions from the prime minister's missions.  (This is incoherent because what he is saying is "Don't be distracted by the prime minister's missions," instead of what he means is, "Don't be distracted from what the prime minister's missions are."  Who's writing this stuff?) Be organized, but intense.  Be in a hurry, but better organized and done with the public service and not to it," wrote PCO Clerk Michael Sabia to all deputy ministers.

Huh??!!

What does that even mean?  He then goes on to say, "There is always the risk that following the process is so time-consuming that everything slows down at a time when we need to speed up because the world is moving as fast as it is.  (I'd say, "...the world is moving fast," but I digress again on such bad writing.) When standard operating procedures just don't work anymore, rigorous debate is the best path to the best decisions."

Huh??!!

I still have no clue what he is saying?  Is it, speed up, but risk the process will break down?  How would that get anything done?  Will he be playing by Queensberry rules, or is it playoff hockey -- or even a barfight?  

Then he goes onto accountability:  "It is divided into two key elements:  senior-manage-informed structured decision-making and personal accountability based on commitment and initiative."  What the hell does that even mean?  It's totally incoherent.  

Then he closes with this:  "Diversity in thought is certainly important, but is nevertheless a departure from the recent emphasis on the representational aspect of diversity."  Huh??!!  More incoherence.

"Listening to the open and honest debates is what the public service needs in order to capitalize on the differing perspectives of diversity," he concludes.  Complete gobble gook.  His mother, Laura, was insane, so I guess the apple didn't fall far.

Where I a deputy minister reading this, I'd throw up my hands.  It's a no-win mandate.  Do I debate, or do I lead?  Do I have to be open to diversity, but not too open?  Do I follow process, or do I throw it out the window and start a barfight?

It's all bullsh-t.  And this from the guy who is going to lead the charge.  Man, am I glad I'm retired.