Tariffs, Heard Island, federal election

🔦 Our storms have been quite something. Can you imagine doing this work? My friend, in Muskoka, didn't think she'd get power until Friday. Hydro announced that they have reset the power for 800,000 households. There were about 214,000  still without power April 2nd. By the evening it was reduced to 200,000. 

Christine Cooper lives in Midland, Ontario.

 💰Canada was tuned to the TV April 2nd. We were all watching the liberation  liquidation day announcement. People are gobsmacked with the incompetence. We didn't know what 'Golden Age' they refer to. The age prior to manufacturers moving their factories off shore? People want cheap goods, and labour is cheaper in countries without unions or fair wages.

I read about the McKinley tariff. It didn't do what McKinley thought they would do. The current administration didn't read the end of the story. It backfired. They tried tariffs in 1890 and 1930. 

RAND PAUL: “.. When McKinley most famously put tariffs on in 1890, [the GOP] lost 50 percent of their seats in the next election. When [Smoot and Hawley] put on their tariff in the early 1930s, we lost the House and the Senate for 60 years.”

Washington Post

We watched the roll out of the tariff bingo card and laughed so hard. Many are not actually inhabited islands with people who trade with the U.S. One of the targets for tariffs, is Diego Garcia. I'll bet there are rare earth minerals there.

Diego Garcia Wiki

Heard Island has created a BlueSky page. They have a merchandise page, too! It is part of Australia, and doesn't have any human inhabitants. It was hit with tariffs. Someone with a sense of humour is really going to it on BlueSky. There are days when one simply must laugh. 

Heard Island is ready!

We've tariffs on steel and aluminum. Stellantis Windsor (Ont.) Assembly Plant will be shut down for two weeks. There were 3600 Canadians laid off last week from this plant.

"Measles and tariffs, what century is this?"

Now, these products go back and forth between Canada and the U.S. With Canada selling aluminum to the U.S., and beer companies buying back cans for Canadian beer. This is free trade, which falls under the current CUSMA trade agreement (AKA USMCA) the orange felon signed in his first term. He's gone back on that agreement with these new tariffs. He cannot be trusted. This is our warning to Ukraine, Greenland, and the rest of the world. 

CBC article: 'dumbfounded and disgusted'

 📈Federal Election

🗳All this has turned out well for our Canadian federal election, IMHO. Our Conservative candidate, PP, has gone down in the polls. He's still complaining about the previous government and former PM Trudeau. (Does this sound familiar?!) PM Mark Carney is surging in the polls. He is confident, makes sense, has a degree in economics, and knows how to handle the US government. 

not shocking...

This is what we've faced all around us. The 'F* Trudeau' signs are being replaced. There's a lot of mechandise that was all for nought! 

 Hard core, right-wing Conservatives are really upset, judging by the anger. All attacking transgender people, Liberals, politicians (except PP), and any one who is different or poor. They ignore the disabled, and those with mental health issues. This is what they post:

Obviously these are people who have never worked with people from all walks of life. I have. And I've learned to respect their struggles. Too many people are two pay checks away from being homeless. 

OK, deep breath. We've more rain on the way. Joe has curling to watch. I have birds to feed. 

We've been watching the Dark Winds TV series, based on Tony Hillerman's books. There is much in the way of racism, gender bias, and homophobic attitudes. That was the age in which I grew up. I thought we were past that. Not so.