Trade Policy

Courtesy Arlene Dickinson: "Donald Trump just called Canada 'a very difficult country to trade with.' He falsely claimed we impose 400% tariffs on U.S. dairy. He accused our Digital Services Tax, a policy used around the world, of being a “blatant attack” on America. And then he threatened to terminate all trade talks and impose a new tariff. All in one breath. 

Frankly, it’s disturbing. And I think it’s because he knows we do not stand alone in the world. Canada has always been a strong, fair trading partner to the United States. We’re their closest ally, their largest customer, and a vital contributor to their economy and national security. Our dairy system is built on supply management, not subsidies. It supports rural communities and food stability just as the U.S. supports its own farmers in different ways. The claim of 400% tariffs is false. Our Digital Services Tax is consistent with global efforts to ensure multinational tech companies, many valued in the trillions, contribute fairly in every country they operate in. This isn’t an attack. It’s tax fairness. Period. As someone who has spent decades building and working with businesses that trade goods and services across this border, I think his take is ridiculous. Canadians don’t take the importance of this relationship lightly. But we won’t be bullied about it either.

We believe in partnership. But real partnership is built on respect, facts, and a shared commitment to prosperity on both sides. I know and trust that our leaders in Canada are acting with fairness, dignity, and good faith and will not be bullied into anything that doesn’t serve our country and our citizens well. Americans cannot say the same and I feel badly for them. Threats are not negotiations. And tweets are not trade policy no matter how much attention people do or don’t pay to them."

The Whole Family!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We have relocated via La Rivière Rouge, on to Lake Wascana, and finally settled on the North Saskatchewan in Prince Albert. This has allowed contact with our whole family in the course of the week, and included a visit with Tom & Mariette in Winnipeg—what a great week! We arrived in Regina on Monday afternoon, and settled in for a couple of nights with Erin and Kristian. I was able to get her drip irrigation functioning properly. I think the only issue was that the batteries were failing and with it being two hours out of whack, it wasn't running when Erin had programmed it to. Once it had fresh batteries and the time set, it began operating as expected. Kali made her acquaintance with Erin's cats. She and Luci established a non-aggression pact, while Elly determined to stay as far away as possible! We drove up to PA with Kristian on Wednesday, as I'm counting on his Lego experience to put together a Tent-Shelter Garage. We have looked over their request for demolition and development of the main floor bathroom, laundry room and the relocation of the kitchen. It's a big project for an old couple, even with the support of a young couple! We'll see how far we get. On Friday, Eric and I took part in a charity golf tournament for the new health centre here. It was a beautiful course that I have not played before. Eric and I managed to navigate our way around the course quite well, playing a 2-person scramble and scoring 81-more good fun! Finally today, Kristian began assembly of the frame for the shed, and we others began the demolition of the current kitchen/dining area where we will build the new bathroom. We schedule to get the demolition completed on Monday, and begin construction on Tuesday, but it's not easy going on a 1912 house—a lot of those pieces have been together for a long time! There are always some surprises that crop up to demand some of our time and energy—and both are in short supply! 

Big help in packing!

but she enjoyed travelling!

Elsewhere in the world, the Orange Felon continues his disastrous regime of terror. The markets struggle forward and the USA indices are finally in the green since January 20th, despite his machinations. The USA GDP has fallen into the red after Biden left him an economy growing at 2.8% rate. Unsurprisingly, Trump's approval rate has fallen below 40%. This weekend the self-proclaimed, Great Trade Negotiator, admitted that he could not even conclude a trade deal with us in Canada, and that despite already having one before he broke it! Elect a clown, expect a circus! 

The CFL season included another strong showing by the Riders as they eclipsed the BC Lions to move to 4-0 on the season. The Blue Jays are not playing as well, but are in a good position all the same. 

Anyhow, that's enough for this week! 

Kristian building the frame

Erica and Dad Demolition!

War Expands!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been great including some much needed rain. The fire hazard has dropped, but some fires continue to burn and we get smoke on some days. Many people are being evacuated from threatened communities; some of these are being housed here. Wendy has completed most of her Sweet Adelines business for this term and passed the audit successfully on Wednesday. I got the rhubarb picked again, cut, packaged and in the freezer. The lawns have been cut, so we're handing the place over to Andrew now—Thanks, Grandson! Wars continue to rage as well, including the Russian attack on Ukraine that Trump said he would solve before even taking office—Putin is openly laughing at him. The Israelis are now attacking Iran, also for no good reason. Trump has similarly said he could end that one, but Bibi is also laughing at him. USA has engaged in a series of meetings with Iran as Trump tried to walk back to the treaty that was in place before he cancelled it in his first term! With the Israeli attack, those negotiations are now cancelled, and Trump has declared that he might bomb Iran, that he could kill their leader whenever he wanted, and that, as usual, this will take "two weeks" to be determined. However, today, he began a bombing campaign against Iran with strikes on at least three sites there—Where's my two weeks?! The TACO trade continues on the markets as more tariffs are threatened and relaxed every week or so. He has also reawakened the 51st State threats against us, so we feel in some kind of war as well. The markets continue to feel the effects as all USA indices are in the red for Trump's term. The TSX is up 7%, but we have a hard time making progress on our own when our big neighbour is doing so poorly. Also, his tariffs against Canada are resulting in much less buying by USA businesses from us, and our country is suffering as well, even though we are finding new trading partners. The Blue Jays have cooled off a bit, but are still doing well and in a playoff position as we near the All-Star break. The Stanley Cup playoffs ended with heartbreak for my Oilers as the Panthers prevailed for the second year running. The Riders are doing pretty well, while showing some problems that need to be addressed. Still, they won again last night in Toronto to improve to 3-0 in the first weeks of the season. 

Erica writes, "We are planning for Mom and Dad’s visit, finalizing our renovation plans and rearranging our home. It has also been busy at work and Mystery Train is practising for a gig at the World Men’s Softball Championship. That’s about it for this week." Eric and I are scheduled for a charity golf tournament on a nice course while we're there. I've only golfed once this season, so I can't say that I'm ready for it! 

Erin and Kristian are enjoying the arrival of summer in Regina. Kristian is planning to travel to PA with us to assist with the projects up there. Maybe we'll manage a round of golf for us as well! The vegetable garden is doing well. I'm looking forward to checking it out next week. I hope I can get the drip-irrigation system working. 

Travis and Joanna celebrated Fathers Day with us, and passed along some more gifts. Thank you, my children for the golfing blessings that you have prepared for me this summer, and for the continuing blessing you are to me each day. They were over this evening to say farewell, provide some coffee and wish us a good trip. Thanks guys! 

And that's about it for this week. 

War!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued to be great and we've enjoyed that. Kali drags us out for walks, sometimes more than once per day! She sometimes even brings me her collar to announce her wishes! I have finished work on the last two high panels in the side fence, so that goal has been reached. I picked my first batch of rhubarb, and got that cut up and frozen; I plan to get another picking done before we leave. I got out for golf on Tuesday and experienced tiredness, but no back or rib pain, so that was a good sign. My +13 result? Not such a good sign! Our travel plans keep getting tighter and tighter as Wendy wants to remain here until after the 19th, and we want to be in Prince Albert on the 25th, so it's not looking promising for any golf along the way. I got the car serviced yesterday, so that part is ready to roll. Now that we have a dog, travelling is considerably more complicated. Wendy had her main Spring concert on Monday–that went well. She has much end-of-season business to take care of and another sing-out scheduled for next week that I was hoping we could skip! World affairs remain chaotic as Trump's Trade War is estimated to take a trillion dollars worth of business out the global economy—we hope he'll change his mind! The Russian war in Ukraine seems to have escalated again, and now Israel has extended itself further by starting a war against Iran. It's a mess, and the markets took a hit as a result, so it was not a good week for investments. The NHL playoffs continued, now through five games with the Oilers trailing 3-2. The Jays remain hot, moving in to second place in their division! The Riders played again tonight in Hamilton and improved to 2-0 in the young season. 

Erica writes, "Eric and I are back on our own, Liam returned to Caronport on Monday. He has since heard from a contact for the new medicine and we hope that gets implemented soon. He also finished up the shelving in the spare room. Now, it just needs paint. We have been discussing our ongoing renovation plans for the summer. Mom and Dad will here at the end of June. We hope to do some work on the car park, and then move the bathroom on the main floor and gut the kitchen. We will see—I don’t want to be overly optimistic! We are coming to the end of the busy time at work. So, I will hopefully have more time for other work. :)"

Erin and Kristian are enjoying the summer weather in Regina, and some welcomed rains in northern Saskatchewan have brought some relief from the forest fire and smoke situation. Erin is caring for her garden area and anticipating adding some more plants. Erin was fretting about getting her financial reports completed, so naturally, she got those in a day ahead of time and enjoyed a relaxing Friday. She is now having a relaxing weekend with the hockey playoffs, her Jays playing great and there's an F1 race in Canada! Kristian has been working with youth group trying to organize more events. He getting ready to join us for the project in Prince Albert. 

Travis and Joanna joined us for supper and cards on Sunday. That was fun. Trav and I have worked hard all week to get our Oilers back on track in the playoffs, but to this point we're coming up short. Tonight, we enjoyed an outing to Boston Pizza for a Father's Day celebration, including Andrew. Andrew is getting ready to move into our house for the summer, which will also ease our concerns about taking care of the place while we're away. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Frenemies!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful, and only a little bit too warm, so we've been able to keep the house open most of the week. I have continued to work on the side fence. Just two more of the high panels left, and then I will move on to the shorter ones. My repair/replace system is going well, but now I'm running into interference from my raised garden beds. I have been over to the course to practice some golf, my back/ribs are feeling much better, so I'm able to swing harder, and hit much worse!! I plan to play next week—my first round of the season. Wendy keeps busily preparing for her final concert of the season. She had a concert on Monday, and also plenty of work on the business side of the chorus. Kali keeps us walking, and sometimes brings her collar so we remember to take her out—very smart little dog! The fox was around one night this week with some piteous yowling which made Kali frantic, and roused us from our sleep. USA continues in a state of turmoil. This week's feature was the breakup and public battle between Trump & Musk. Musk called Trump's tax bill an abomination because it adds $2.4 trillion to the national debt, he called Trump a criminal who was in the Epstein files, and that he should be impeached and replaced—can't disagree with him there. Trump replied by calling Musk an insane Nazi who should be investigated for his drug use, lose all his government contracts, and possibly be deported. You know, just the old, "he said"/"he said" stuff! Trump also claimed he'd completed a trade deal with China, but then China chimed in to correct the lie, and submit that while there was no deal, they had agreed to further meetings. At least the markets continued the May winning streak with another green week, and I enjoyed that. The football season has begun, and the Riders opened with a win—yay! The Jays have picked up the pace, winning 9 of the last 10, and moving into a playoff position. Well done, now keep it going. The Stanley Cup final is under way with the Oilers and Panthers tied at one game a piece. C'mon Oilers! 

Erica writes, "Liam has been visiting this week and it has been wonderful for us. It has been less wonderful for him as he was sick last weekend and then he had to prepare for and undergo a colonoscopy. Fun times! Our city has experienced a population increase with the fires up north. Several thousand people have evacuated. It will be a bit crazy as we support our clients and others who are currently homeless."

Erin and Kristian are enjoying the early summer in Regina, except for the forest fire smoke from northern Saskatchewan. We even get air quality warnings from those down here in Thunder Bay. Work is quite busy as her new assistant is out on medical leave for knee surgery, and what with her own recent vacation days, she has a bit of catch up to do. Her drip irrigation is not working yet, so it may wait until I get there to solve that problem. In the meantime, she is watering by hand, and the plants are doing very well. 

Lotsa Roma tomatoes soon!

Trav and Joanna had us over for supper on Sunday, and we look forward to returning the favour this Sunday. One of the aluminum welds has come apart on their deck settee, but we haven't settled on a repair solution. I tried to put a screw in it, but the aluminum is just too soft to hold. Aluminum welding (MIG, TIG) is a bit of black art, and one which I've never tried, as we did some carbon arc welding on the farm, but I only did hard metals using welding rods. I guess brazing would be similar to MIG welding. Maybe pop rivets will hold things together. Otherwise work remains steady for Trav and as per usual for Joanna. They have five foxes in their neighbourhood as the three kits are now looking almost grown up. 

Broken Weld

And that's about it for this week.