The forecast just keeps changing, with expected warmer temperatures going down and down.
This is what we were at, this morning.
The -22C/-8F isn’t too bad, really. Not for February. That -32C/-26F is the killer, though. As I write this, coming up on 10:30am, the only thing that’s changed is that the wind chill is now -29C/-20F.
Oh, it just changed. The wind chill is -30C/-22F now. 🫤
I did short rounds, this morning.
The yard babies seem to be handling it well. I counted “only” 26 this morning, though.
The Grink (first image) and Fluffy (second image) are pretty calm about being kept in the isolation shelter. Fluffy still keeps out of reach, while The Grink will sniff at my fingers when I reach out to him, but doesn’t allow pets.
I do wish they would both figure out the litter box, though. I can see it’s been used, but someone – I suspect Fluffy – has been using a corner of the cat bed they cuddle up in! As well as the corner behind the water bowl. And the hammock.
It’s a good thing I built the isolation shelter with access in mind, so we’ll be able to clean it in the spring!
The last image is Patience. What a fluffy boy!!!
Today, he was very accepting – even demanding – of pets, but not as much as Collin. I was trying to get a picture of Patience, but Collin kept pushing himself in front, because I was holding my phone instead of petting him!
Patience was not amused.
Looking at the weather, I’m not sure that I’ll make it to Costco today. The driveway never got done yesterday, plus we are expecting “snow showers” – right now, apparently, but our skies are clear, so I’m not sure what that was supposed to be happening. It’s not showing on the weather radar.
Hopefully, this afternoon will be better and we’ll get at least the plow ridge on the driveway done, and I’ll be able to head out, tomorrow. We’ll see.
I debated whether to talk about this here, since this topic is not what this blog is about. It is something that will affect us at some point, and there is a lot of bad information out there right now, so I’m going for it. TDS suffers be warned.
Starting tomorrow, Canadian exports into the US will be hit with a 25% tariff. Our Prime Dictator plans to “retaliate” with 25% tariffs on US imports.
It’s a stupid situation that is going to hurt Canadians far more than the US. The mistake, however, is that people are blaming Trump and calling him a “bully”. This could not be further from the truth.
Canada currently has the most corrupt government in its history, and T2 has been “undiplomatic”, shall we say, towards the US for his entire time in office. Actually, since before then, now that I think about it. He hates the US almost as much as he hates Canada and Canadians. Oh, sure, he’s saying pretty words to the media, trying to portray himself as this great defender of Canada, and how we’re such a great country. We were, until he devastated us on all fronts. He is, if nothing else, a master at gaslighting and manipulation. This is the same guy who frequently insulted Canada and Canadians since before he was installed in office, saying, among other things, that Canada has no culture (except Quebec) and how he plans to replace “old stock Canadians” (a term referring to multi-generational Canadians of European descent), not to mention the many divisive things he said about Canadians during the illegal lockdowns. He would mouth platitudes to Canadians in English, but in French, to the Quebec media, he would say the opposite. Anyone who doesn’t agree with him is a Nazi, a white supremacist, misogynist, anti-science; all the usual insults that have become meaningless, they’ve been used so often.
His constant comments about “misinformation and disinformation” are particularly hypocritical, since he and his party have been the greatest purveyors of both, but they are using this to justify their attempts to be able to censor and control social media (they already control the legacy media in Canada). They were even trying to push through a bill that would make wrong-think a crime. Seriously. It’s like something straight out of The Minority Report. People would literally be charged for things they *might* do, and for expressing their thoughts in private conversations. No one has been more divisive of Canadians than T2 and his illegitimate NDP/Liberal coalition government. He’s the most hated PM in our history, and the only reason he’s still in power is because the NDP and the Bloc keep supporting him.
The reality is, our Prime Dictator has been busily destroying our economy (plus our military and our few functioning institutions) for the past 10 years. In fact, yet another 20% carbon tax is kicking in on April 1. This is on top of several other carbon taxes that have been implemented, plus high inflation due to his printing more and more money. Him complaining about a 25% tariff on Canadian exports is such hypocrisy. Our current high prices, our housing crisis, our border crisis… all of these can be laid at the feet of our corrupt government.
Here’s the thing.
Trump’s condition was for us to secure our border and start pulling our weight with NATO. Both things we should already be doing. He is not making unrealistic demands, here.
The NATO problem predates T2, but can still be laid at the feet of past Liberal governments. The border problem right now is completely the fault of T2. His actions – or lack of them – has made Canada a threat to US security. T2 claims the border is secure. It’s not. In reality, investigation by other countries has found that Canada is basically involved in human trafficking into the US. And, yes, the fentanyl problem is very real. We make that stuff. It does have legitimate medical uses. Lots of it just somehow ends up being smuggled into the US through our porous border.
When it comes to the border, the only demand Canada should be making is for the US to do the same, because we have plenty of illegals, guns and drugs coming in from the US. This could have been a win-win situation that made both our countries stronger. Instead, our Prime Dictator is playing like he’s some sort of hero, claiming to be standing up to a “bully”, with “retaliatory” measures and engaging in a tariff war.
Now, Canada and the US already have tariffs on things we import from each other. That’s not new. We’ve also had tariff wars before. The softwood lumber tariff war being one I particularly remember. Again. Not new.
What is new is that we have a Prime Dictator that should have been turfed back in 2016, when Elections Canada found that the results of the 2015 election has been influenced by registered third parties (legal) funded by foreign interests (illegal). The last election – the one called early during the illegal lockdowns – was also found to have been influenced by the CCP. He should have been turfed many times over the past decade.
Oh, and for all the talk, no, T2 did NOT resign. He stated his intention to resign once a new Liberal leader is selected, then got the Governor General (who is supposed to be neutral and represent the Crown, but is one of T2’s cronies, just like the House speaker) to shut Parliament down.
In Canada, we don’t vote directly for our Prime Minister. During federal elections, we have elections in 338 ridings across the country, for individual MPs (Members of Parliament). The party with the most MPs elected wins, and the party leader then becomes the Prime Minister. The party with the next highest number of MPs elected becomes the Official Opposition.
The Prime Minister, however, must also be an MP. If they didn’t win their own riding, someone in that party who did win can step down and the leader would move to that riding and become the MP there. So there is no reason for Parliament to be shut down during the Liberal leadership race.
Right now, the Liberals are setting up a guy named Carney to be the next leader. This is someone who holds three passports and hasn’t even lived in Canada for the past decade or so, but has been busy ruining the UK economy. So he’s not an MP and barely a Canadian. Should he be installed, I suppose some legitimately elected MP would just step down so he could have that seat, instead.
With Parliament shut down, T2 has more power than ever, and can rule by the equivalent of executive orders, with zero checks and balances. Shutting down parliament meant avoiding another non-confidence vote which the NDP said they would vote in favour of this time (they kept T2 in power the last couple of times by voting against it, even when the motion used NDP leader Singh’s own words). There’s a court challenge going through now, because the shut down did not meet requirements, but who knows if that will even rule in time to make any difference.
Meanwhile, they are now using the tariff war to try and prevent another election. The NDP are already backtracking and saying they will likely vote to prevent an election, once parliament resumes. Whoever gets installed as the next PM can use the tariff war to not only prevent a vote of non-confidence from succeeding, but could delay the regular election. That would be happening this coming October, but could be delayed to September, 2026, because of the early election called during the illegal lockdowns. Our elections are supposed to happen every 4 years, but can be delayed to a maximum of 5 years from the last election.
So what does this mean?
Well, for people like us, it means prices will go up. Again. Not just because of the retaliatory tariffs T2 will be imposing – those will hurt us far more than it will hurt the US – but because we’re going to be slammed with another 20% carbon tax on top of everything else.
All because our Prime Dictator refuses to do his job and secure the border. Trump is not the “bully” here. Our own government has brought this on us, and is now making it even worse. The real question should be, why is T2 refusing to secure the border?
Being on a fixed income, this is probably going to hurt us a lot. Canada hasn’t been “open for business” for many decades, and is over reliant on the US as a trading partner. The US will be mildly inconvenienced.
There are, of course, increased calls to “buy local” and “buy Canadian”, which we should have already been doing. It’s hilarious to see the side that argued against Canadian self reliance to now play the hero by saying we could support Canadian businesses. We don’t actually make all that much. Most of our manufacturing has moved to other countries because our government makes it almost impossible to do business here in Canada. Canada could be the most productive and prosperous country in the world, but our own governments have prevented that. Instead, we are almost entirely dependent on the US.
As for the whole “51st state” thing, that is actually something a LOT of Canadians have wanted for many decades. More so now that we haven’t been able to get rid of our corrupt government. Canadians who haven’t had their head in the ground for the past 10 years aren’t angry at Trump. They are angry at our own federal government. Our own government brought this on us, and are now making it worse.
The tariffs are supposed to kick in on the 4th. Tomorrow. That shouldn’t affect prices on inventory already in the country; just on newly imported goods. However it’s entirely possible that the next time I get to Costco, the prices will have already increased again. I imagine places like Costco would be absolutely insane with panic buying right now.
What we really need is a new federal government, but the chances of finally having an election are very low.
It should be interesting to see how things look, the next time I go a stock up shopping post.
The Re-Farmer
Update: well, we have a reprieve. Our Prime Dictator has suddenly decided to do his job with the border. He said he will secure the border and designate a “fentanyl czar”, so the tariffs will be postponed for 30 days. Which is wise, since T2 has a habit of making grand promises and not following through with them.
He didn’t have to think hard to come up with a border plan, since it’s almost identical to what Premier Danielle Smith proposed a while ago. That would be the Premier of Alberta, the province T2 and all the other premiers were ready to throw under the bus. The one they insulted repeatedly as being un-Canadian for not being part of “Team Canada” (ha! What a misnomer) and throwing her own province under the bus.
Going back to the “51st state” thing, I found it interesting to learn today that 60% of Canadians polled by a neutral pollster actually said that’s what they wanted. Not because they hate Canada, but because they hate what T2 and his government has done to it.
So, for now, our prices should stay roughly the same. At least until the new 20% carbon tax kicks in, in April.
Unless, by some good fortune, Liberals finally get turfed before then. If we are allowed an election, I fully expect more shenanigans, so who knows.
At times like this, I am so glad we live in the boonies. We’re not as self sufficient as I wanted to be, by this point, but at least we’re not as dependent as we would have been, if we were still in the city.
The Re-Farmer 
Your political rant was very helpful to this American who doesn’t exactly understand how Canadian Govt works.
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you really should see some of the accounts here that I’ve come across on WP. there are a lot of people that – for whatever reason – hate DJT. I don’t have any disagreement with that as they are within their rights.
but then you have these foaming at the mouth pages from both canada and u.s. that are downright hilarious.
it’s great to see someone take the time to write out why the whole tariff thing is happening against the ocean of hyper emotionalism. i’m glad that, at least in Canada, free speech has not been seriously attacked as it has been in Great Britain. It breaks my heart to see what happened there.
but at least we can all take hope now that Claudia Shinebaum, Mexico’s PM finally relented her stance and will send federales nacionales to their borders to shore up security. will JT relent? only time will tell.
but one thing’s for sure – this stuff, it’s gotta change. we are literally seeing the deterioration of quality of life before our very eyes. by the way, if there is another election, when will it be? Mike
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Thank you.
The hyper emotionalism is quite manufactured. We’re being played against each other, and people are so enjoying being riled up. The psychologist in me can understand it, to a certain extent. I’ve studied enough psychology and behavioural modification to see the markers. The day-to-day side of me, on the other hand, is stunned that so many people are falling for it.
As for free speech in Canada, we’re not as far gone as the UK, but it is seriously under attack. The only reason I can get away with saying what I do is because this blog is pretty unknown, and it’s not a topic normally discussed.
I read about Mexico, and just a little while ago, heard about the shift in Canada. I’ve updated the post, but T2 changed gears and the tariffs are postponed, for now. I suspect enough people blasted him from all sides that he finally relented. It’s hard to know for sure, since on social media, the comments on his official FB page, at least, overflow with people fawning over him.
If his proposed bill passes, people like me who make posts that disagree with him would be put under house arrest and banned from social media, charged with “misinformation and disinformation”, or with a hate crime. That bill is utterly Orwellian.
Canada is supposed to have a federal election every 4 years, in October. Second Monday, if I remember correctly. That schedule would make this year an election year. However, they can be delayed up to 5 years from the last election date. Since an early election was called during the illegal lockdowns, we could be denied an election until September of 2026.
If, however, we are successfully able to trigger an early election, we might have one this coming May. We would have had one this month, if T2 hadn’t shut down parliament.
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The world is on fire, literally and figuratively. I myself have been inexplicably angrier over the last few years and sometimes dread that I may someday leave this world that way. Still, we as individuals can resist flawed yet normalized human/societal nature thus behavior; and if enough people do this and perform truly humane acts, positive change on a large(r) scale may result.
Perhaps somewhat relevant to this are the words of American sociologist Stanley Milgram, of Obedience Experiments fame/infamy: “It may be that we are puppets — puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception [and] awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation.”
… Perhaps a vicious extraterrestrial attack is what we humans collectively need to brutally endure in order to survive the long-term from ourselves. Humanity could all unite for the first time ever to defend against, attack and defeat the humanicidal multi-tentacled ETs, the latter needing to be an even greater nemesis than our own formidably divisive politics and perceptions of differences, both real and perceived — especially those involving race and nationality.
During this much-needed human alliance, we’d be forced to work closely side-by-side together and experience thus witness just how humanly similar we are in the ways that really count. [I’ve been informed, however, that one or more human parties might actually attempt to forge an alliance with the ETs to better their own chances for survival, thus indicating that our deficient human condition may be even worse than I had originally thought.]
Still, maybe some five or more decades later when all traces of the nightmarish ET invasion are gone, we’ll inevitably revert to those same politics to which we humans seem so collectively hopelessly prone — including those of scale: the intercontinental, international, national, provincial or state, regional and municipal. And again we slide downwards.
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i hope the election can come sooner because I can see the Canadian people need it, as badly as the folks in the UK do. again, i am heartbroken that people have to watch what they say on social media. i am astounded that it’s even got to this in the first place. as if the novels of George Orwell suddenly came to life.
so yes, the powers that be relented and will now send manpower to the border. at the end of the day, we all share this hemisphere and there is no reason for it all to be hijacked idealogically. and I know this because I remember what the conservatives in the US did before. we are bouncing from one side of the pendulum to the other and it has to stop.
best of luck to you up there.
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