Canada now Hangs in the Balance

 As the European Union has reached a deal with the Trump administration, imposing a fifteen per cent tariff across the board, Canada's fate now hangs in the balance. Trump now has the upper hand, and he knows it.  

Trump has never wanted a trade deal with Canada. He set his objective out very clearly from the outset, which was the fifty-first state solution. This was his baseline, and that has not changed. The danger here is that Trump now knows he can economically starve us out, and unless Canada moves swiftly to umbrella itself within the European Union, any notion of our sovereignty will disappear.  

Some believe that Canada can continue to address its challenges, but there is an underlying economic issue that governments have not addressed since the 1980s. The country's financial foundations have eroded to the extent that creating the magical and mystical recovery both the Liberals and Conservatives want to achieve would take many years and trillions of dollars to rectify. None of which Canada has now. Leaving Carney in a position where he is acting tough but in reality, running scared and walking his way through a minefield where he can do nothing more than step on mines. He is trapped, and he knows it, and although he tries to put on a brave face, it is clear by his tone that he is about to give in.  

In a previous blog, I suggested that Canada should protect its sovereignty by joining the European Union, and I think most readers laughed or scoffed at my idea. I tell you this without the strength and numbers behind the European Union, we are pretty much going to take a ride on the Titanic, as the American administration puts a stranglehold on our resources and capital exports. 

Canada cannot capitalise on the economy, and this is where the destruction of the economic foundations of our country comes into play. This issue is the high levels of both national and consumer debt combined with the massively increasing numbers of working poor and those now living in a much more abstract poverty. This makes up now well over 25 per cent of the Canadian population, with many more falling into this category every day.  

While the Government and opposition discuss housing for purchase, they say little about the real and more pressing issue of decent, affordable, income-geared rental housing. What is the point of giving money to the private sector that Carney and Poilievre keep touting as our saviours to build houses that the demographic to which they are promoting this fantasy cannot afford? These are but wasted words in the apocalyptic race to the bottom. Even if it could work, he does not have the vast amounts of capital at his disposal to even get this off the ground. First, it is due to the erosion of the tax base, and second, it is Canada's lack of education and promotion of the building trades or working with the provinces to provide Canadians with the opportunity to educate themselves without the high student debt load they must carry for years afterwards. 

As most economists will tell you, a structured economy requires a solid foundation upon which to build itself. The foundation of course is its people. Consumers drive the capitalist economy, without the consumers' ability to buy the goods and services we produce; more people will continue to fall into this never-ending spiral of indebtedness. When a nation's citizens must borrow from banks and credit card companies to make ends meet, they have shattered the foundational aspects of the economy. 

Our politicians must take a firm stand, and the need to make these changes is now. Canada has run out of time, money, and political leverage to maintain its sovereignty against the economic starvation about to be imposed on us by the Trump administration. Mr. Carney, you have run out of time, and with the wolf breathing down our neck, what's your next move, and do you realize the urgency this now takes on? 

Reflections of a Writer and the road less traveled

 As I pass through this life, I often reflect on those who I know and those who, by some fluke of circumstance, only briefly crossed my field of vision. It is often easy to write about those whom you have known and to whom a relationship has developed over time. Their stories, for the most part are known and easily put to paper.

The ones that intrigue me are those that cross into my life if not even for a few seconds, on the bus, streetcar, or subway. Everyone has these at times, and I often wonder if they often dwell on the character they met, or what their story is.

As a writer, it is often difficult to put a story to the person who dashed on through your vision, but to the world around us it takes on a much larger significance. People want stories, fictional or not. If they didn't, no books would ever be published, and the timeless world of the Daily Newspaper and magazine publications would never exist.

To the journalist, these chance meeting stories are the lifeblood of the industry. I might interview a person for a story, and then never see them again, only the time spent doing the research before and the moment the interview takes place to its publication. After that, unless it is an ongoing event the story dies and gets' put in the endless archives of the paper of periodical. To a novelist, playwright or poet, these meetings are pure gold and the mysterious backbone of any excellent story. Why? Because you turn to your own imagination, and although a fictional image represents why this meeting stuck in your brain and flowed to your pen.

Creating a story about a virtually unknown person is one of God's gifts to those who use words to bring joy, fear, love, and adventure to a world that can sometimes be void of the ability to process any form of critical thought and expression.

Writers are the entertainers and sewers of seeds in a world starving for answers to questions, or candy that fuels the imagination and sends it soaring into the vast unknown. Without writers, where would this world be? No language, history, books, or movies. No songs to lift our spirits or make us cry tears of sorrow. A life with no writers is that of sheer existence and drudgery.



Next time you see that face, the one you can't let go of while attending on a corner or taking the transit, write about them. You might not know their story, but you can give them one. The first story I ever wrote in Toronto was about a Streetcar driver that I met as he gleefully announced each streetcar stop with funny little anecdotes to entertain his passengers. When published, I took the story, had it framed as well as my written notes, hopped onto the streetcar and gave it to him. We have never met again, yet he gave me my start in the business and showed me what being a writer was all about. It's about Life!

If I die needing to say anything to everyone, it's that we are all writers, each and every one. We all have stories to be told and need to be told. So, everyone who tells me I can't do it I say rubbish, you can. It just takes practice and imagination. We might not all become Pulitzer Prize winners, successfully published or achieve any notoriety at all. What we will have done is provide a written record of a life well spent.

When Robert Frost wrote about the two roads and taking the road less travelled, his words were for us as writers as a call to the pen and let our words tell the rest of the story.

Retail Changes Here to Stay

 The concept of retail has changed so dramatically over the past four decades that it is often hard to keep up with the constant changes. As consumers, it is often hard to track where our dollars go and into whose pockets they head in a globalised financial system. 

That is beginning to change with the Buy Canadian Buy Local movements that have begun to flourish in worldwide popularity in response to the ever-confusing world of American policy initiatives, and a president who continually resets the bar, creating vast amounts of global market instability.  

This is a positive development, as it encourages Canadians to engage in discussions about the country’s future direction locally, nationally, and internationally. 

The main question is where this leaves the retail sector and what challenges it will face in the looming presence of the new GIG economy. The orderly storefronts of what used to be prime retail spaces, for the most part, have been replaced by "for lease" signs as we walk down our city streets or enter shopping malls to shop for our needs.  

The Gig economy is everywhere, whether it be groceries, eating establishments, Motion Pictures, News Sources, transportation and a vast array of goods and services, which were necessary spin-offs of the retail environments of the late twentieth century. Now, the stores in Major Malls, such as the Toronto Eaton Centre, Yorkdale, or West Edmonton Mall, are mostly corporate-owned showcase stores that usually sit empty, but are there as a reminder by the companies that they are still in operation. 

The problem facing retail is that there is no turning back. Consumers have gotten used to point-and-click shopping. They may come to the mall to look, but 9 times out of ten, the money will flow online. Again, this affects all retail from the clothes on our backs to the food that we eat.  

With the High overheads to which most retailers are subject, survival is next to impossible. This has given rise to a new retail experience, known as pop-up markets. They are not new.. Yonge Street was famous for its pop-up shops along the sidewalks, which were banned in the nineties because most did not have city vending permits to sell their merchandise. Mainly, I think to protect those businesses on the commercial strips, or as just recently, the Kensington Market. 

I like the idea of the pop-up store most are specialized and offer consumers a choice without the extensive overhead attached to the item you are buying. The great part about them is that those profit dollars go to support local people as individuals rather than large corporations. 

So, when you're thinking Retail take a wander over to all these Pop-Up shops usually at Farmers Markets or major street events. You may very well surprised at what you can find!