No, it is not too early. Consider the prices out there, stocking up ahead of the game is the best way to go. I REFUSE to buy American – I’m sorry to Americans who hate Yam Tits and his bootlicking titties, but buying anything American is simply not in the cards.
So, doing some research into any candy that is not manufactured in the U.S. Hershey is not the epitome of confectionaries.
There is also Cadbury. Cadbury creates a conundrum as they were bought out by Mondelez International…yeah, Amurican….Cadbury’s head office is still in the U.K. So, up to you if this is arm’s length enough. I am not sure yet.
I used to make candy for Halloween but we get over 250 kids on average, that night, currently. I just don’t have that kind of energy anymore. I would love to do this, the homes that gave us homemade treats were always my favourite as a child, but the time required for the amount and the cost of ingredients? I don’t think it is feasible. But hey, if you don’t get many kids, this is a tasty alternate, I would suggest an ingredient list be attached, allergies etc.
I would LOVE to be able to give out Purity ( https://purity.nf.ca/confectionery/ ), a Newfoundland company but the shipping costs? I would have to mortgage my house….
If anyone has any other suggestions? Please post here and give a girl, a hand!
I have to confess, I have been anti-American government since the early 1970’s. As a Canadian and having a Dad who was a news junkie, I was exposed to American media and propaganda from an early age. I watched the Vietnam war, watched the riots, watched the National Guard shoot down innocent students, protesting a criminal war, Stonewall. The list goes one.
None of this is to say, Canada didn’t have its own share of civil unrest. FLQ and the Oka crisis come to mind.
I saw and actually made friends with young folks fleeing the draft. Leaving their homes, their families, their friends, in protest over risking their lives, in a foreign land that posed, absolutely, no threat to the U.S. Instead, it was a ruse to improve corporate profits.
The U.S. realized, during WWII, the Korean conflict, Vietnam that war was a great way to enrich that 1%. Easy money. Easy blood money, because you best believe few of the offspring of that 1% fought. Case in point: president Bon Spur.
I was so happy to see Barack Obama win in 2009. I truly thought that there was hope for the U.S. Then he was re-elected and I thought, for sure, this meant the U.S. was heading toward a successful future…I was sorely disappointed.
I knew, early on, that I did not want Canada to mirror the U.S. I wanted Canada to be better, to welcome diversity and inclusion. We have our own culture Nazis – most in Alberta and my own province of Québec. Behaving as if their own ancestors simply popped out of Canadian soil…Spoiler Alert! They didn’t.
I don’t buy “American” and rarely, ever did. Not a difficult thing, as most goods, thanks to American corporate greed, once again (cheap labour and materials), are not made in the U.S.
I don’t vacation in the States. For the past 30 years – since ’95, when we did vacation, it was here, in Canada or Cuba.
The U.S. is bound to implode, not due to diversity or inclusion. Not due to immigration but due to corporations that run that nation. People go bankrupt for the want of healthcare. Rights of workers to a balanced life. The overt racism. And again, the move of manufacturing from the U.S. to foreign lands where workers were cheap and would have no protection from exploitation, augured the demise of their economy. They are dependent on foreign lands yet, Dementia Donald felt it necessary to further tax the American people, through tariffs. Either he has no understanding of how they work or he is relying on the ignorance of his base supporters to further the nonsense that tariffs are paid by trading partners to the U.S. THAT. IS. NOT. HOW TARIFFS WORK!!The buyer pays the tariffs, not the importer, the costs are, then, passed down to the consumer.
Canada has long needed to move away from American dependence. We can import our own goods from the nations manufacturing those goods, instead of the American-Middleman economy.
As for national defense? Defense against whom? The only enemies to our sovereignty currently, is Putin and his sock puppet, Diaper Don. We will build our military, we will maintain and foster our alliance with Europe, with Asia.
They are not the global leaders they claim to be. It is propaganda. They are a nation in debt, a nation that has lost its identity and worse, the respect of the world. By the way? This song came out in 1970….
Due to the last minute candidate in my riding, someone I felt was, absolutely, ill-equipped for this election, I felt it was vital to watch the debate. I was on the fence, it was either the Liberals or the B.Q. (due to the highest respect I have for our current M.P, a BQ member). I do resent the rush job for the Liberal candidate the L.P.C. seems to have done. I still resent it and I’m pretty angry but right now, there is too much at stake and after listening to the debate? There’s no question, Liberal it will be.
Carney spoke well, explained positions and answered the questions clearly. He remained dignified and sincere, I was impressed with his answers and his overall demeanor. I can’t lie, I was praying for him to tell Poilievre to suck an egg…
Blanchet? I was sorely disappointed, he came off as a one-trick-pony with a tenuous grasp on the current political/socio-economic threat from the south. Yes, Yves-François – we all get it, as a Québeçoise, I fully understand the importance of protecting French and Québec culture however, it is time to remove your blinders and that elitist attitude you seem to possess. We are under attack from the pseudo-dictator to our south. Serious attack. It was time for speaking out for unity against a common enemy and he failed…miserably. I do owe him a “Merci” for helping me decide what to do on the 28th. He is not qualified to represent Québec in a crisis situation.
Jagmeet Singh…wow, that was a colossal failure. He came off as whiny and unable to grasp the whole platform. He had talking points but little, if not nothing, in the way of solutions. I could not see him in negotiations with you-know-who. He was a non-starter for me anyway. While I am not, a Liberal as a rule, the way he turned on an agreement with the Liberal party made me seriously question his ethics.
P.P – nothing but word salad. The same talking points, lots of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs but he proposed nothing. There was a lot of garbage about the Liberals dividing Canadians when, in fact, he aided the division on more than one occasion, was seen chummy with alt-right wingnuts, the Klown Konvoy and those are things, many Canadians, myself included, will never forget. His proposed use of the Notwithstanding Clause should fill everyone with horror. This whole ensuring mass murderers stay in jail is a scam, a lie, bullshit. It is nothing more than a test run; if it works, then abortion will be outlawed, women and healthcare professionals will be under threat. Best believe gay rights will be next, the LGBTQ2S communities will be decimated.
So, I guess Liberal it will be. I will not live in a country governed by a man who caters to misogynists, homophobes, anti-immigration, pseudo-Nazi trailer trash.
Pierre Poilievre is a 43-year-old Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, is the current leader of the Official Opposition, and has served as a Parliament (MP) member since 2004. Poilievre is a compelling, sharp speaker who has a considerable social media presence and is idolized by Conservatives across the country, particularly among the younger set which currently represents the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton. He is a relentless questioner in Parliament who sometimes gets the better of Justin Trudeau. Perhaps most importantly, Poilievre receives a lot of play in the media and has been floated as the leadership favorite in multiple publications. Assuming personal concerns do not derail Poilievre, he could very well be the Conservative leader by this summer or fall. Poilievre looks young, but he is an unreformed Conservative activist who looks up to Margaret Thatcher and Jordan Peterson. He’s not a “compassionate Conservative” like O’Toole or a “tepid populist” like Doug Ford. Poilievre is a reactionary austerity zealot like Jason Kenney. He will fight unions, suffocate the public sector, and cut welfare, even if these policies are very unpopular.
With Patrick Brown kicked out of the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, it became a one-horse race, making the coronation of Poilievre as CPC leader all but a done deal. This is particularly scary when you remember that a part of Canada just doesn’t vote in elections.
Additionally, the pattern in Canada has been that the party that has been in power for a long time (like Trudeau’s liberals) often is ousted, making the next CPC party leader a severe contender for the next Prime Minister of Canada.
A little background about Mr. Poilievre
Support for Poilievre picked up during his endorsement of the early 2022 Freedom Convoy – which he took to heart, running for leadership with the claim of making Canada “the freest country in the world” (**peak Trump 2016 energy**). And this is where we need to be concerned: Poilievre has expertly capitalized on a clear and meticulously crafted populist platform, which has been nothing short of political catnip for Conservatives. Poilievre’s supporters are done with the “Progressive” part of the Conservative agenda and are looking for a drastic, right-wing change to Canada’s political landscape. Listen, if we’ve learned anything over the past few years, the horrific bullshit that goes on in the US always seems to mirror itself here in Canada just after we convince ourselves it can’t get that bad. From an alt-right President
To the Capitol riots: Pierre Poilievre and his supporters are no exception to this rule.
“Poilievre, who was given the nickname “Skippy” as a very young MP, has been one of the most prominent figures in the House of Commons since he was elected in 2004, largely as a result of his rhetorical abilities and his gleeful compulsion to engage in any partisan fight and fight to the death for it. He has been described in media stories over the years as “probably one of the more generally infuriating individuals on Parliament Hill” and someone who “savagely attack[s] opponents without regard to nuance, or even the basic facts.
Now let’s discuss seven things why I think Canadians should be afraid of Pierre Poilievre.
1 FREEDOM CONVOY
Poilievre supported the unlawful blockades and openly opposed the vaccine mandates that provoked the protests for the entirety of the convoy. Poilievre criticized Prime Minister Trudeau at a rally for supposedly attacking truckers, who he said were the “heroes” of the pandemic. Even though freedom of thought and expression are pillars of our democratic democracy (which all Canadian political parties fervently embrace), it is essential to recall that the Freedom Convoy was a white supremacist campaign and city occupation that lasted for weeks. We know that many well-meaning Canadians became involved in this, including people on the left and people of colour, but that doesn’t change the fact that the organizers are members of the far-right white supremacist organization.
2 POILIEVRE ON COVID-19
Poilievre’s position on the COVID-19 epidemic has centred on a severe lack of scientific data, the promotion of individual interests over collective needs, a white privilege belief that inconvenience is oppression, and a whole of anti-government mandate crap. At the height of the pandemic, Poilievre gave a speech to a conference room of over 250 unmasked individuals while the Quebec government still had mask and capacity mandates in effect. He breached the law and showed off about it. In addition to his absurd anti-mask, anti-mandate, and anti-government beliefs, Poilievre was openly against vaccines and has admitted that he believes that Canadians from systemically oppressed communities, such as those who are low-income, racialized, disabled, or homeless, have not experienced a different side of this pandemic. We do not know whether this is an act of deliberate ignorance or a political ploy to mobilize bigots. Still, regardless, this individual cannot be the leader of our country because just picture what his policies would be.
3 ON TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
Our government already does not do enough to address the systemic injustices and brutality it has historically inflicted against Indigenous peoples and continues to inflict upon them in the present day. However, our government has at least acknowledged the harm it has previously caused. Although that isn’t sufficient, it is much more than Pierre anticipates or thinks the CPC can do under his leadership. Even Harper said sorry for the bad things that happened in residential schools. What did Poilievre say?
“Canada’s aboriginals need to learn the value of hard work more than they need compensation for abuse suffered in residential schools. Poilievre defended the tip line that allowed people to report “barbaric cultural practices.” This tells us that his policies will further oppress indigenous and marginalized people while giving white nationalists a visible, outspoken, and racist rationale for their actions.
4 ON ABORTION RIGHTS
Poilievre claimed to be pro-choice during his debate last month, but his record with abortion laws has been inconsistent. He previously supported Motion 312 (a review of when a child becomes a human being under Canadian law) and a bill increasing the criminal penalty for the ‘murder of an unborn child.’ He’s giving us “tell us you’re pro-forced birth, without saying your pro-forced birth” energy.
5 ON BILL C-36:
Before I talk about Poilievre’s stance on it, let me tell you briefly what BILL C-36 is about. On November 6, 2014, Bill C-36, also known as the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, was given royal assent. Bill C-36 says that prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation that affects women and girls more than men. Its overall objectives are to: Protect communities from the harms caused by prostitution, especially minors; protect those who sell their own sexual services and reduce the demand for prostitution and its incidence.
The new criminal law system is meant to protect the dignity and equality of all Canadians. It does this by condemning and outlawing the purchase of sexual services, the exploitation of the prostitution of others, the development of economic interests in the sexual exploitation of others, and the institutionalization of prostitution through commercial enterprises like strip clubs, massage parlours, and escort agencies that offer sexual services for sale. In addition, it attempts to encourage victims of violence to disclose violent incidents to the police and exit the prostitution industry. To that purpose, the federal government has allocated an additional $20 million to assist people in leaving prostitution.
Now back to Poilievre’s stance, he wants to repeal Bill C-36, which protects us from hate speech that is considered by courts to likely lead to hate crimes. Why in the hell would we need a PM who’s openly against the safety of systemically oppressed communities at higher risk for experiencing violence?
6 ON THE LONG-GUN REGISTRY
Poilievre wants to eliminate the Long-Gun Registry, which keeps guns from getting into the wrong hands by requiring all restricted and banned guns to be registered. BTW it’s why there are so few mass shootings in Canada. In an era when tight gun regulations are vitally necessary to safeguard civilians, Poilievre wants to do away with this. (are we going to have a Canadian Texas sometime soon? Hopefully not.)
7 ON THE CARBON TAX
One of the first things Poilievre would do in office is repealing the Carbon Tax, a policy instituted to mitigate climate change. Could we also say that our next prime minister will have the last chance to decide our future regarding the climate crisis? Vote as if your life depends on it because it does if you’re under the age of 45.
The piece below, echoes the feelings of most of Canada and NO, I AM NOT SORRY FOR THE LANGUAGE, it is deserved. Every. Last. Word. Of. It. We’re done. Masks are off and elbows are up.
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Letter by, Jim Elliott:
Dear 77,301,997 Trump-Loving, Conspiracy-Huffing, Rage-Addicted Americans (And the Canadian Dumbfucks Who Worship Them)
Oh, hey there. Sit down. Read this. Try not to cry.
Listen, I get it. You think we’re just a bunch of polite, snow-loving, maple syrup-chugging pushovers up here in Canada. You’ve been misled. We’re polite, sure. But only until we get pissed off. And you, dear MAGA cultists, are testing our fucking patience.
Let’s clear up a few things about who we actually are, because you seem to be confused. We’re a country that gives a shit about our elders, our kids, and our most vulnerable. We actually value education instead of treating it like some left-wing brainwashing experiment. We don’t get all horny over billionaires hoarding wealth while our neighbours die in poverty. We don’t fantasize about returning to the 1940s, and we sure as hell don’t think the most corrupt sack of shit on the planet was personally chosen by God. Who does that? Oh right—you.
But let’s go deeper.
We’ve Always Been Your Best Fucking Neighbour—So What the Hell Happened?
Time and time again, Canada has been there when the U.S. needed us.
World War I? We were in the trenches before you even showed up. World War II? We were storming the beaches of Normandy while you were still debating whether or not to help. Korea, Afghanistan, peacekeeping missions—you name it, we’ve had your back. We sent our firefighters to help when California burned. When Katrina wiped out New Orleans, we were there. And on 9/11? We fucking welcomed thousands of stranded Americans into our homes, because that’s what decent people do.
And what did we ask for in return? Nothing. We didn’t demand groveling gratitude or threaten to “never help again” if you didn’t kiss our ass. That’s your toxic, transactional bullshit—not ours.
Enter Your Mango-Coloured Messiah: A Convicted Criminal With a Cult.
So after all that, what do we get? Your country elects a spray-tanned sociopath with the vocabulary of a Grade 3 dropout, and suddenly we’re the bad guys? You’ve got a convicted fraudster leading your country—a man who insults war heroes, mocks the disabled, and jerks off to the thought of authoritarian rule—and we’re the problem? You’ve got a Party foaming at the mouth to gut democracy, roll back civil rights, and turn the U.S. into a theocratic shithole, but we’re the ones who should shut up?
Nah. Fuck that.
And to the Canadian Trump Bootlickers—Sit the Fuck Down!
I can already hear the Canadian MAGA muppets shrieking, “Mind your own broken country!” Oh, sweetheart. If Canada were actually broken, it would be because of dumbass conservatives like you who take marching orders from a foreign conman.
Is Canada perfect? Of course not. But unlike you bootlicking clowns, we don’t rally behind leaders who openly admire fascists and flirt with the idea of rounding up immigrants. We don’t foam at the mouth over the idea of a “war on woke” while pretending climate change isn’t real. And we certainly don’t suck off billionaires while pretending trickle-down economics isn’t a scam.
You morons scream about freedom, but what you really mean is the freedom to be an ignorant, unvaccinated, gun-hoarding dipshit. The moment someone else—be it a woman, an immigrant, or a person of colour—wants the same freedom you enjoy? Oh no, suddenly that’s tyranny. Fuck off with that hypocrisy.
Canada Isn’t Broken—You Just Can’t Handle Reality.
What do we actually have in Canada? Universal health care. Sensible gun laws. A social safety net that, while imperfect, at least tries to keep people from starving in the streets.
Meanwhile, in your MAGA utopia, you can literally go bankrupt because you got cancer. You send kids to school in bulletproof backpacks because you refuse to do anything about mass shootings. You’re so brainwashed by billionaires that you think raising the minimum wage is worse than cutting taxes for a corporation that made $100 billion last quarter.
And you have the fucking gall to call us broken?
Mind My Own Business? I Fucking Wish!
Oh, I’d love to. Really, I would. But here’s the problem—when you share a border with a country of over 300 million people, and that country elects a conspiracy-loving, anti-science lunatic to power, it becomes my business.
When your president guts economic, military, and trade alliances that help keep the world stable? That’s my business. When your leader openly muses about invading sovereign countries—including ours? That’s definitely my business.
And when a bunch of dumbfuck Canadians start acting like America’s the blueprint for success, despite all evidence to the contrary? That’s all of our business.
We’re Watching, and We’re Not Impressed.
So, dear Trump cultists, both American and Canadian: we’re onto you. We see your bullshit, your hypocrisy, your complete detachment from reality. And we’re not buying a single second of it.
We’re your neighbours, your allies, your friends—but we’re not your doormats. We’re polite, but we’re not fucking stupid. And right now? We’re watching. Closely.
I did not write this, my brain has been fogged since Monday night; some kind of plague but this is worth sharing due to the plethora of ignorance fueled misinformation swirling the internet’s bowl.
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For those who didn’t pay attention in social studies at school.
How ElectIons Work in Canada 101:
Lots of fake information going around about our new PM and the process.
No, Canada Didn’t Just Become a Dictatorship—Calm Down and Read This.
The short and long answer: No, we are not living in a dictatorship.
But judging by the internet meltdown, you’d think Mark Carney seized power in a midnight coup while riding a moose.
Let’s get one thing straight: this is exactly how our democratic system works.
How Canada Actually Elects a Prime Minister
You don’t vote for a Prime Minister. You vote for your local MP. The only people who ever saw Justin Trudeau’s name on a ballot were the folks in his riding.
Everyone else voted for their local Liberal, Conservative, NDP, or other candidate. The leader of the party with the most seats becomes Prime Minister.
So when Trudeau stepped down and the Liberals picked Mark Carney, it wasn’t some shady backroom power grab. It was democracy in action.
But Carney Wasn’t Elected! Isn’t That Undemocratic?
Nope. And it’s not even unusual. Here’s a quick history lesson for the outrage brigade:
• Sir John A. Macdonald
• Sir John Abbott (took over after Macdonald died)
• Mackenzie King
• John Turner
• Kim Campbell (Remember her? 1993. Became PM after Brian Mulroney stepped down.)
None of them were elected as an MP at the time they became Prime Minister. It’s happened before. It’s completely legal. It’s just how our system works.
“But Trudeau Shut Down Parliament! That’s TREASON!”
Ah yes, proroguing Parliament. That sounds bad, right? Well, let me introduce you to Stephen Harper, 2009.
Faced with a non-confidence vote, Harper shut down Parliament. Back then, Conservatives called it a “brilliant strategic move.” Now, when a Liberal does the exact same thing, they scream “dictatorship!”
Newsflash: It’s not illegal. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s not even new.
So What Happens Now?
Carney is expected to call an election very soon. Why? Because the Liberals don’t want to delay. They know that dragging this out would hurt them, not help them. So, an election is coming. You will get your say.
Oh, and About Poilievre?
Here’s something else that’s conveniently missing from the outrage machine: Pierre Poilievre still doesn’t have the security clearance required to become Prime Minister.
That’s right. To run the country, you need top-level security clearance. As of now, Poilievre doesn’t have it—and it’s not because of some Liberal conspiracy. Every party leader needs to pass this vetting process. If he can’t, he can’t be Prime Minister. Period.
So maybe, just maybe, the Conservatives should worry less about screaming “dictatorship” and more about whether their leader can legally hold the job he’s campaigning for.
Final Thought: Take a Deep Breath, Canada.
You wanted Trudeau gone? He’s gone.
You wanted an election? It’s coming.
Now do your part. Get ready. Show up. Vote. That’s democracy.”
Canadians and indeed, the world as a whole, owes some backhanded thanks to that Orange Baboon and his co-president, Elonia. My family and my friends are in active “boycott” mode and this has taught me, at any rate, how dastardly an influence media advertisements truly have, in our daily lives.
Commercials on streaming apps, television, radio (Does anyone listen to radio anymore?) and social media have led us to believe their products are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have a happy, fulfilled life, their products show our success to our peers, our society.
The boycott is showing me, in real time, how truly dangerous this mindset is proving to be.
No one NEEDS Starbucks; find a coffee blend you love, fill up a travel mug and we’ve saved yourself time and money. MacDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, ask yourself if your end goal is to look like a beach ball with feet. If you must have a fast meal to go, A&W is Canadian, uses Canadian beef, or Harvey’s – also Canadian, let’s not forget LaFleur if you are in Québec or La Belle Province if you’re hankering after a steamie and poutine.
Walmart is a big old NO; Giant Tiger offers tons of choice and comparable good, they also offer home delivery from their web site. https://www.gianttiger.com/
Costco, now that’s a tricky one; Costco Canada buys most of their products from Canadian sources, the baked goods (YUMMERS!!) are made in Canada. Some of the produce is American, but easy enough to avoid.
You don’t need the latest iPhone/iPAD/Mac – there are plenty of higher quality and less proprietary brands out there, Samsung for example, LG is another one. And if you really want to do a personal F.U. to Diaper Don and his crew of Russian buddies, buy a Huawei.
Clothing – loads of Canadian options out there, https://madeinca.ca/ is a good resource.
Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson – American; look for Canadian options or in the case of cleaning products, make your own. The internet is full of helpful ways to wean yourself off American products.
Jamieson Vitamins are Canadian.
We’re not renewing our Prime membership, it will be a little inconvenient as we do live in a rural area, but inconvenience isn’t an excuse as far as we are concerned.
Can we avoid American products without too much grief? Yes. Getting out of the habit of believing ads and social media hype, buying what you need as opposed to what corporations WANT you to buy, is freeing, it is a boost to the Canadian economy and sovereignty
Let me preface this post with the admission regarding Cuban politics; I know only what I read and what I have, personally, observed since 1995 and our first visit to the country. Conversations with Cubans must be handled with absolute diplomacy. You are warned not to discuss politics. There are ways around this but it isn’t a wise conversational choice.
I love Cuba; I love the people. The dignity, the pride…it is unmatched. In the face of over 50 years of an American Imperialist embargo, they continue to stand up in the face of a most criminal action. Cuba is a sovereign nation, drives American oligarchs crazy. It isn’t that there are tremendous natural resources, it isn’t that it is a country rich in, well…anything really; it is that they have stood up to the U.S.
Cuba is not a terrorist state, it never has been. They haven’t invaded or bombed other sovereign nations, something the U.S. cannot claim. Is it a perfect nation? Hell no. There is poverty, there are stunning shortages, electricity is cut off for the vast majority of the day, for most Cubans but they go on. They survive when they should be entitled to thrive.
Cuba is an example for Canadians. They have stood strong against the embargo at tremendous socio-economic cost. While Cuba has no real natural resource stockpiles, they are still managing. Canada, on the other hand, has untold wealth in natural resources. We are in a far better position to stand against American expansionism.
The hypocrisy of the U.S. is absolutely stunning; the world has been told they cannot trade/import with Cuba because the U.S. says so….meanwhile? Russia is trading and importing although amounts are down due to Russia’s own socio-economic position. Funny how nothing is said to Russia about the defying of the American embargo.
In all fairness, it is difficult to trade with Cuba as they do have a cashflow problem, payment for goods is unreasonably slow, if at all. This starts to head into a topic that I would be best served avoiding.
Canadians are at the top of the tourist food chain in Cuba; we love the country. Absolutely, the weather and the beauty of the beaches are one reason, the people and the history are another but for many, a bonus is this is a way to quietly send a big old F.U. to the United States.
Bottomline, fellow Canadians, if a tiny nation, 90 miles from the U.S. can stand up to the bully, so can we, with our resources, our reputation and our allies. It won’t be easy but we are more than capable of establishing trade relations across the globe and diversifying reliance on the global bully, a bully who has managed to, in just a few weeks, become a global pariah, a joke and the object of increasingly mistrust. The American reputation as a global leader has sunk, time to set a new global leader afloat. We are not spoiled for choice; there are many global leaders more worthy of our allegiance.
This is not an election to which I look forward. I have to vote strategically in order to help prevent the mini-Maga Pee-Pee Poilievre from gaining office.
I have nothing but the highest regard for Mme. DeBellefeuille. She works, tirelessly, within our region; she champions the causes of the older Québeçois(e). If there is a community event, she is there; quiet, supportive and unassuming. I have voted for her, in each Federal election but sadly, I cannot, in the upcoming one.
Voting my conscience, my ethics have always been my guide with regard to elections;
Who do I trust?
Who will do the most for the citizens and the riding?
Who has a positive track record?
Mme. DeBellefeuille checked all the boxes for me but thanks to that diapered-convicted felon-traitorous thing, inhabiting the oval office? I have to vote strategically. Québec cannot afford to see Pee-Pee Poilievre gain office; he is little more than a Traitorous Trump wannabe. He will sell Canada out, in a heartbeat. He has no real platform, he has no ethics and what is more telling is that he refuses a security clearance. His backroom lackies are busily trying to clean up his rep. Forget it. He was cozy with the Klown Konvoy, he is buddy-buddy with known racists, he has NEVER held a real job. He has no idea what it is to be a Canadian.
So, I have to vote Liberal. I will hold my nose but this is something that must be done, in order to put an end to the delusions of a felonious traitorous swine, masquerading as the leader of a former ally.
I am sorry Mme. DeBellefeuille, but in order to protect the Québec identity, we have to strengthen the Canadian position against the U.S.
It’s an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. To look back on the life I’ve had the privilege to lead. And to reflect on how much this country we all love so much has grown and changed over the course of the nine decades I’ve been on this Earth.
This year, I’ve also decided to give myself a birthday present. I’m going to do something in this article that I don’t do very often anymore, and sound off on a big issue affecting the state of the nation and profoundly bothering me and so many other Canadians: The totally unacceptable insults and unprecedented threats to our very sovereignty from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.
I have two very clear and simple messages.
To Donald Trump, from one old guy to another: Give your head a shake! What could make you think that Canadians would ever give up the best country in the world – and make no mistake, that is what we are – to join the United States?
I can tell you Canadians prize our independence. We love our country. We have built something here that is the envy of the world – when it comes to compassion, understanding, tolerance and finding a way for people of different backgrounds and faiths to live together in harmony.
We’ve also built a strong social safety net – especially with public health care – that we are very proud of. It’s not perfect, but it’s based on the principle that the most vulnerable among us should be protected.
This may not be the “American Way” or “the Trump Way.” But it is the reality I have witnessed and lived my whole long life.
If you think that threatening and insulting us is going to win us over, you really don’t know a thing about us. You don’t know that when it came to fighting in two world wars for freedom, we signed up – both times – years before your country did. We fought and we sacrificed well beyond our numbers.
We also had the guts to say no to your country when it tried to drag us into a completely unjustified and destabilizing war in Iraq.
We built a nation across the most rugged, challenging geography imaginable. And we did it against the odds.
We may look easy-going. Mild-mannered. But make no mistake, we have spine and toughness.
And that leads me to my second message, to all our leaders, federal and provincial, as well as those who are aspiring to lead our country: Start showing that spine and toughness. That’s what Canadians want to see – what they need to see. It’s called leadership. You need to lead. Canadians are ready to follow.
I know the spirit is there. Ever since Mr. Trump’s attacks, every political party is speaking out in favour of Canada. In fact, it is to my great satisfaction that even the Bloc Québécois is defending Canada.
But you don’t win a hockey game by only playing defence. We all know that even when we satisfy one demand, Mr. Trump will come back with another, bigger demand. That’s not diplomacy; it’s blackmail.
We need another approach – one that will break this cycle.
Mr. Trump has accomplished one thing: He has unified Canadians more than we have been ever before! All leaders across our country have united in resolve to defend Canadian interests.
When I came into office as prime minister, Canada faced a national unity crisis. The threat of Quebec separation was very real. We took action to deal with this existential threat in a manner that made Canadians, including Quebeckers, stronger, more united and even prouder of Canadian values.
Now there is another existential threat. And we once again need to reduce our vulnerability. That is the challenge for this generation of political leaders.
And you won’t accomplish it by using the same old approaches. Just like we did 30 years ago, we need a Plan B for 2025.
Yes, telling the Americans we are their best friends and closest trading partner is good. So is lobbying hard in Washington and the state capitals, pointing out that tariffs will hurt the American economy too. So are retaliatory tariffs – when you are attacked, you have to defend yourself.
But we also have to play offence. Let’s tell Mr. Trump that we too have border issues with the United States. Canada has tough gun control legislation, but illegal guns are pouring in from the U.S. We need to tell him that we expect the United States to act to reduce the number of guns crossing into Canada.
We also want to protect the Arctic. But the United States refuses to recognize the Northwest Passage, insisting that it is an international waterway, even though it flows through the Canadian Arctic as Canadian waters. We need the United States to recognize the Northwest Passage as being Canadian waters.
We also need to reduce Canada’s vulnerability in the first place. We need to be stronger. There are more trade barriers between provinces than between Canada and the United States. Let’s launch a national project to get rid of those barriers! And let’s strengthen the ties that bind this vast nation together through projects such as real national energy grid.
We also have to understand that Mr. Trump isn’t just threatening us; he’s also targeting a growing list of other countries, as well as the European Union itself, and he is just getting started. Canada should quickly convene a meeting of the leaders of Denmark, Panama, Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to formulate a plan for fighting back these threats.
Every time that Mr. Trump opens his mouth, he creates new allies for all of us. So let’s get organized! To fight back against a big, powerful bully, you need strength in numbers.
The whole point is not to wait in dread for Donald Trump’s next blow. It’s to build a country and an international community that can withstand those blows.
Canadians know me. They know I am an optimist. That I am practical. And that I always speak my mind. I made my share of mistakes over a long career, but I never for a moment doubted the decency of my fellow Canadians – or of my political opponents.
The current and future generations of political leaders should remember they are not each other’s enemies – they are opponents. Nobody ever loved the cut-and-thrust of politics more than me, but I always understood that each of us was trying to make a positive contribution to make our community or country a better place.
That spirit is more important now than ever, as we address this new challenge. Our leaders should keep that in mind.
I am 91 today and blessed with good health. I am ready at the ramparts to help defend the independence of our country as I have done all my life.
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Wicked Emerald - Live From The Montérégie 