7/14/25
You know, sometimes being a Canadian is exhausting.
It’s been months since Donald Trump began declaring his intention to make Canada a 51st state and calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Governor Trudeau”.
It’s also been months since Justin Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister and subsequently gave up his seat in Parliament. He’d led the Liberal Party of Canada for twelve years and had been our Prime Minister for the last ten of them. But by 2025, Canadians had pretty much totally tired of him and lost their faith in his ability to lead our country forward, particularly in the face of Donald Trump’s second Presidency and all the economic challenges and nastiness that went along with it.
So Justin Trudeau stepped aside and in came Mark Carney to lead the Liberals and ultimately become Prime Minister. His credentials were diamond-solid — Economics degrees from Harvard and Oxford, former Governor of The Bank of England, former Governor of The Bank of Canada, thirteen years at Goldman Sachs, Canadian Associate Deputy Minister of Finance, Chair, Bloomberg L.P., Chair, Brookfield Asset Management.
His Master’s thesis was titled ‘Competitive Advantage and The Advantage of Competition – a theoretical analysis of national champions, learning-by-doing and spillovers’.
His Doctoral thesis was titled ‘The Dynamic Advantage of Competition’
As someone recently said, “He’s got a rolodex as long as your arm and when he calls, people answer the phone.” The list goes on and on.
It was all exciting and inspiring and spirit lifting for Canadians while Donald Trump continued to pummel us with tariffs and 51st state comments.
We all jumped on the Carney “Elbows Up!” bandwagon. We read every grocery label and tossed back anything from the U.S. in favour of goods from Canada and around the world. We removed all U.S. wine and spirits from our alcohol retail shelves, refused to travel to the States, sold our American holiday homes, and looked for as many ways as possible to avoid contact with a country we had called a friend all our lives.
With Mark Carney at the helm of a team that was travelling the world discussing new trade corridors and markets for each other’s goods and resources, we started to feel more confident in Canada’s ability to forge and expand economic paths both beyond the United States and also with new trade cooperation between our provinces and territories.
We listened to Donald Trump’s claims toward leniency on some of his policies and sometimes even believed him. Foolishly. Some of us let our guards down, bought the U.S. blueberries, dared to dream about sunshine states in the winter. Maybe it would all work out after all. As if.
Because here we are, staring down the barrel of a 35% tariff as of August 1, realizing that if we fall into the sinkholes of naivitee again, the clowns will honk their toy horns at us and we’ll be screwed once more.
So, exhausted or not, we’ll keep trudging and planning and believing and supporting each other as we climb our Canadian economic and cultural hills.
It will be decades before Canadians trust America again… before we spend our personal dollars there, before we consider the possibility of what should be a no-brainer friendship. And no amount of “Come back! We love you!” from south of the border will matter.
It is very possible that long after Donald Trump’s presidency ends, enough Americans still will be touting the MAGA mantra – that the United States is a victim and has nearly been ruined by the trade practices of other countries and oh, those immigrants who seem to be blamed for everything these days.
All this from the most powerful country in the world with money and privileges and the capability for a future the majority of the world’s people can‘t even imagine in their wildest dreams.
I would like to go to sleep and wake up to news that this is all just a bad dream.
The thing is, it is a bad dream, but it won’t go away in the morning or with a hug and a hot chocolate from our Mums.
We’ll just have to keep those elbows up!
Kicking Horse Coffee anyone? Damn straight.
I’m just saying.
6/12/25
I was at Lakefield and I’m here to tell you it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life.
It was raining. It was muddy. The laneway from the county road into the venue was about a mile long. School buses shuttled back and forth between a distant parking lot and the drop off point. From there, the hundreds and hundreds and more hundreds of people walked the rest of the way, a good portion of another mile, again in the rain, to take their seats at the outdoor theatre. When they got there, not a hundred yards away over their shoulders, stood the Northcote farmhouse and its cabins, the main reason behind the benefit concert.
The farmhouse was built in 1878 and still stands as a beacon on its 160-acre farm, all donated to Lakefield College School in 2007.
Already, Northcote serves as a regenerative education farm for Lakefield students, emphasizing sustainability, wellness, and outdoor studies. Its huge transformation project includes the development of a fully operational organic farm, including total soil restoration to bring it to internationally recognized organic standards, plus the additional task of restoring the farmhouse and its cabins to their original state.
It takes an amazing amount of money and resources to accomplish that kind of change. In the eyes and hearts of Neil and Daryl and the School, that’s why we were all there.
We can’t say they were wrong, but we can add to the story.
All they asked was for those of us who were able, to throw our donation hats into the ring as well. What they offered in return was a remarkable gift.
At about 8:30 pm, greeted by a thunder of cheers and applause, Neil Young walked out onto the stage, took up his guitar and opened with “Sugar Mountain”. From there it went on and on. For an hour and a half, in the rain with not one umbrella in sight, we were literally blessed by an acoustic playlist that spanned nearly sixty years. We sang along, we cried, we waved our arms, we hugged each other, even as strangers.
He said goodnight to us with “Old Man.”
On the walk back to the buses for the drive back to the cars, while there was some humming and singing, mostly everyone just savored the evening in quiet reverence. We remembered how he captured our hearts way back when and were reminded in real time that he has a lot more for us coming down the line.
It is a wonderful thing to see people of immense influence lend their voices and their talents and yes, their resources, to make the world a better place.
Change for the good happens one project at a time. Thank you for letting us be a part of this one.
5/17/25
A FEW SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS IN TIME THIS WEEK
IN POLITICS:
– Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Cabinet has been sworn in. Canada now has twenty-eight front line Ministers, plus ten junior Ministers, to be known as Secretaries of State. Focus on Canada’s economy is obvious in
Mr. Carney’s choices.
– U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told the National Post newspaper that the Trump administration is ‘done’ with the notion of the U.S. absorbing Canada.
Later in the week, Mr. Hoekstra gave a speech in Ottawa at the B7 Business Summit, essentially a meeting of G7 country business groups. His theme seemed to be ‘We can all get along and be friends’.
IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
I add these because they are the first things Donald Trump has ever done that I respect. I genuinely hope he’s found his heart.
– President Donald Trump announced a plan to lift all U.S. sanctions against Syria, saying he wanted to give Syria and its new President Ahmad al-Sharaa a chance for peace and stability after nearly fourteen years of civil war against the Assad regime.
– Last Sunday the last American-Israeli hostage in Gaza was released with no strings after a deal was struck between Hamas and The White House, with no input or perhaps even prior knowledge of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
– Later in the week, President Trump indicated his wish to get food aid into Gaza, acknowledging its people are starving.
A BUSINESS MILESTONE… JUST BECAUSE IT’S STILL INTERESTING
Thursday, May 15 was the 85th Anniversary of Dupont marketing nylon stockings to America’s consumers. On that day in 1940, 800,000 pairs were sold. Later that year, Dupont released four million more and they sold out in 4 days. The rest is history…
5/5/25
I am not naïve when it comes to any religion being perfect. We all know that grave sins have been committed in the name of God. But last week when Pope Francis died, I was still sad for Roman Catholics in particular and humanity in general.
Here was a man, not perfect by any means, but who spent his life serving his God and trying to make sure the poor souls of the world were not forgotten.
And when I think of someone like that, Donald Trump doesn’t spring to mind.
So when I saw this post, I was gobsmacked at the gall of it.
And most certainly I did not laugh.
I’m just saying….
—
ELECTION DAY IN CANADA
4/28/25
By Steffi Fillingham
In Canada, this is usually just another day, except there’s an election going on.
This time, it’s all so different.
First and foremost, Canada is cloaked in the sadness of a tragedy that happened on Saturday night in Vancouver. It was Lapulapu Day, an annual celebration of The Philippines’ first hero, Lapulapu. In 1521, Lapulapu and his warriors defeated Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish forces at the Battle of Mactan in what is now The Philippines. Magellan was killed and Spanish occupation of the region was thwarted for another forty years. In Vancouver, The Filipino community is about 134,000 strong. Every year they mark Lapulapu Day with a festival of music, dance and traditional food. It’s a happy time for all, in a small corner of our wonderful country that welcomes and celebrates cultural diversity.
This year, though, in the early evening, a man slammed his SUV into the crowd. As I write this, 11 people are dead and at least 20 more are injured, some very critically.
Yesterday, instead of traversing the country holding a thrash of last minute bally-hoo rallys, smiling at babies and shaking hands with eager supporters, our political leaders were scaling down or cancelling events and grieving with Canadians in smaller groups. At times, they were all close to tears. Their days were long, though, as they took measured opportunities to make a last pitch to the voters.So here we are on Election Day. Tonight, we should know what political party will have the advantage in our House of Commons for the next four years and who, as its leader, will be our Prime Minister.It is not an exaggeration to say there’s more than usual at stake this time. In fact, there’s an incredible amount at stake this time, perhaps more than Canada has faced in most of the voters’ lifetimes.But that’s a conversation for another day. Today, we’ll vote and we’ll continue to mourn for the people who lost their lives on what should have been a beautiful Vancouver evening. We’ll weep for the victims, the people they loved and everyone who knew and loved them back. And as Canadians, we’ll continue to stand together and hope for a time when tragedies like this never happen again.
HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA AT ITS VERY BEST
4/16/25
By Steffi Fillingham
Tonight, in Montreal, it’s hockey do-or-die time. The Montreal Canadiens will be playing their final regular season game. It’s their last chance to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even if they just tie the game, they’re in. (I could explain the official reasoning of this situation, but I’d have to climb down the Maple Tree to retrieve the rules sheet I dropped to the ground.) Anyway, the game is scheduled to begin at 7pm Eastern.
Also tonight, also in Montreal, Canada’s political party leaders meet for a televised debate. This is the first time in this election campaign that the leaders will be on the same stage for what no doubt will be a hearty display of verbal fisticuffs. Oh yes, and it’s in French. It is of great importance to all Canadians, but especially those who do not speak English. Yes, Canada has two official languages – English and French, but we don’t all speak both. Tomorrow night, the leaders will have a redo in English.
Did I mention the scheduled start time for tonight’s debate? 8pm Eastern.
Oh-oh. What to watch? Hockey? Politics? Politics? Hockey? Do we watch one? Miss the other? It’s a dilemma and could be a heartbreaker, especially in these times. The politics are about our future. The hockey is about our cultural pride. Both are national treasures.
So, here’s the ‘only in Canada’ way to deal with it. Move the debate to 6:00pm Eastern. That way even if we watch the whole debate, we won’t miss the end of the hockey game. Or, some viewers will feel they’ve got a good enough handle on their election choices to feel they can break away and watch the whole game. And tomorrow is another day, with French translation.
A blinding flash of the obvious? Perhaps. But even with politics involved, it’s a done deal.
Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
IT’S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE
4/13/25
By Steffi Fillingham
Hello All… I know you may have thought I disappeared, but it’s not that at all. I’ve just been sitting up here on my favorite branch, watching the days go by in a whirlwind of the unbelievable, trying to figure out what in the god’s name has happened to our world.
It all seemed so silly at the beginning. At times laughable, worthy of jokes. Tariffs in, tariffs out, tariffs sort of, tariffs definitely, tariffs for you, not for them, tariffs for them, fewer for you. Canada, Mexico, please step forward as none of these rules directly apply to you. You have very special tariffs all your own. China, go to your room. No, not that room. The bigger room with no windows.
I’ve stopped laughing now. It’s not funny that people all over the world could lose the businesses, big and small, they’ve worked their lives for. It’s not funny that five hundred GM workers in Ingersol, Ontario are laid off until at least October and maybe more because of market miscalculations made in another country. It’s not funny that hundreds of auto workers and steel workers and retail workers and supply chain workers may experience the same fate. It’s not funny that retired folk are watching the value of their savings tank. It’s not funny that the value of their lost earnings may as well be pocket change around the couch cushions of the people pulling the financial strings.
And although I don’t feel like crying quite so often, I still find it impossible to reconcile how people can be so cruel as to inflict this on those they swore oaths to protect.
Sadly, what I hang on to right now is the humor of my cynical side, and so far this is what I keep coming back to:
Does anybody remember ‘The Merry Minuet’? It’s a song written in the late 40s by one Sheldon Harnick, but mainly associated with Tom Lehrer, a Harvard educated math whizkid/turned hugely successful satirical songster/turned back to math as a teacher at Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, then UC Santa Cruz. At Santa Cruz he taught ‘The Nature of Mathematics’ to liberal arts majors and lovingly dubbed the course ‘Math for Tenors’.
I tell you all this because this man, Tom Lehrer, had a remarkable sense of humour, light or dark, but mostly dark. So the lyrics of The Merry Minuet were right up his alley:
“They’re rioting in Africa. They’re starving in Spain. There’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs. South Africans hate the Dutch. And I don’t like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud For man’s been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away.
They’re rioting in Africa. There’s strife in Iran. What nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our fellow man.”
Happily, the lyrics don’t apply to real life so much anymore. After all, now there’s rain in Texas too.
And that, folks, is my rant for the day.
3/23/25
By Steffi Fillingham
And they’re off!
Canada is officially in election mode.
Today at noon, our Prime Minister Mark Carney paid a visit to Rideau Hall, home of the Governor-General of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon. At their meeting, Mr. Carney asked that the Parliament of Canada be dissolved and an election be called for April 28, 2025. It’s always a ceremonial event, because Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy and King Charles III is officially our Head of State and must okay all of this stuff. The Governor-General is his representative in Canada and thus may sign all the traditional consent forms required to end the current Parliament and allow the election of a new one.
Sound complicated? Maybe.
As soon as the paperwork is complete, The House of Commons, our version of what America calls its House of Representatives, is on down time until the election. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet, though, are still in charge of leading the country, under something called the Caretaker Convention. But that doesn’t last for long. In Canada, a federal election campaign can only last between 37 and 51 days, including the day the election is called and Election Day itself. Plus, the election must be on a Monday.
Okay, not that complicated, but definitely fussy. Anyway, we in Canada have got it down to an art.
So by one o’clock, Mr. Carney was out on the Rideau Hall driveway, delivering a televised address and answering questions from the media. Today he announced proposed tax cuts. Over the past week he has promised to strengthen our military and develop our north.
Leaders of Canada’s four other federal political parties spoke today as well.
Conservative Leader Pierre Polievre launched his “Canada First” campaign earlier in the day in Gatineau, Quebec. Mr. Polievre promises economic change for Canada, including incentives for natural resource development. Until Mark Carney came along, he was considered a shoe-in.
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the New Democratic Party was in Ottawa, announcing his “In It For You” campaign. Over the last few years, he and his party have successfully influenced the government to institute paid sick leave and dental care for people who can’t afford it.
Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault, Co-Leaders of Canada’s Green Party, spoke together in Montreal, urging Canadians to “Vote like your country depends on it, vote like your planet depends on it, vote like your life depends on it, because it does!”
Yves-Francois Blanchet was also in Montreal. His Party, the Bloc Quebecois, is the fifth federal political party in Canada and is devoted to Quebecois nationalism and the promotion of Quebecois sovereignty. Their slogan for this campaign – “Je choisis le Quebec” – “I choose Quebec.”
Canada’s House of Commons now has three hundred and forty-three seats, each one representing a separate riding in Canada. On Election Day, an election in each of those ridings will determine the make-up of Parliament. If any party wins over fifty percent of the seats, it will form the government and its leader will be named Prime Minister. If there is no clear majority, we have what is called a Minority Government. In that case, the party with the most seats usually forms the government, but they have to be really careful in their policy choices and must compromise on many of them. Otherwise, the other parties can gang up on them and effectively throw them out of power with a vote of no confidence.
Got it? Now I ask you America… Taking all of this into account, do you really think we’d make a good 51st state? We come with a lot of baggage and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Let the games begin!
*3/20/25
By Steffi Fillingham
Welcome to The Times-Contrarian Canada Desk. Its purpose is to help people better understand how Canadians are feeling and how they are dealing with the turmoil of our times.
This first column is a Maple tree view of my relationship with America, from my roots to the present. I promise I’ll only bore you this one time.
I am a Canadian, born and bred. When I was eight years old, our family moved from Montreal to Windsor, Ontario, right across the river from Detroit. From that day forward, I ate, slept and breathed the culture of The United States.
I grew up watching American Bandstand, loving the Mouseketeers, dancing the Continental and the Stroll, shopping at the amazing Hudson’s in Detroit, worshipping at the alter of Motown.
I wept uncontrollably when John Kennedy died. I was in Grade 10, waiting to write an English exam when the news came in. Canadians were as paralyzed as Americans. He was our President too. Then came Bobby. And Dr. King Jr. And all along there was Vietnam. Agree with that war or not, did you know that Canadians volunteered to fight in Vietnam alongside U.S. troops? When Watergate happened, we were all outraged along with our southern brothers and sisters. We cheered when the American diplomats escaped from Iran due to the bravery of Canada’s Ambassador and his Embassy staff in Tehran.
Over the following decades, both our countries experienced crippling inflation, recessions, the Space Shuttle tragedies and the cruelty of September 11, 2001. One of its Canadian victims lived around the corner from where I live now. As a NATO member, Canada went into combat with The United States and our NATO allies, fighting side by side in the War Against Terror that spread primarily across Afghanistan and then Iraq. The list of our common bonds continued to grow.
When my parents retired, they drove to Elkhart, Indiana and bought a honkin’ Airstream trailer with all the bells and whistles and travelled gleefully all over the States. Eventually they settled every winter in Melbourne, Florida – a lovely, unassuming middle-class city on the shores of the Atlantic coast. I loved going to visit them and they loved showing me the joys of Florida life.
My husband and I retired in 2008 and we went to Florida too. We bought a home, joined a golf course, made new friends and told anyone and everyone we knew in Canada how wonderful it was to winter in the Sunshine State. And you know, a lot of them followed us. Life for us was good and lucky and we never took either for granted.
Then came the Election of 2016. For many people, the world turned upside down.
From Canada we watched in total amazement as the results came in and we realized that our similarities with our American neighbours were perhaps not so solid. But oh well, we respected their sovereign right to choose their own leader. Again, we stood together against Covid and Canadians were grateful for the American-developed vaccines.
Fast forward to the present. Donald Trump is back in office. He has labelled Canada an economic villain and imposed crippling tariffs on our exports to America. At the same time, he has declared our country would be a perfect 51st State.
How do we feel about that? We are insulted, we are hurt, we are furious. Most of all, we are galvanized together across our provinces and political lines. Many of us are turning our backs on the best international friend our country ever had.
We’re selling our American properties, cancelling our U.S. holidays and flights, actively shopping for goods made anywhere else but America.
When I go to my grocery store, there are little Maple Leaf flags everywhere, indicating Canadian products. Also, there are lots more things, especially fruits and vegetables, from countries other than the US. I don’t buy orange juice anymore. I buy Moroccan oranges and run them through my electric juicer. I have an app on my phone that reads bar codes and says whether things are Canadian. I have discovered all sorts of interesting facts. The blueberries from Morocco are lovely and much cheaper. Canadian-made kettle chips are tastier and not as greasy as the American brand I used to buy. Everything Canadian is clearly labelled, from canned goods to breakfast sausages. And it’s fascinating to watch people in the stores, peering at labels and putting things back.
At most liquor stores across the country, there are no American products on the shelves.
It may seem like nothing, but it’s really an indication of the consolidated determination of Canadians across the country. And we haven’t even touched on cars.
None of this is what we wanted. We love our bourbon, California Cabernet Sauvignon, Oregon Pinot Noir, Coors, Florida Oranges, Virginia peanuts, playing golf in Arizona, taking our kids to Disney. Mustangs, Cadillacs, Chevys, Rams, F-150s. All of those are part of who we are too.
It is incredibly sad that our two nations are going through all of this. But Canadians know how to forage and rally and rise to the challenge. Our seatbelts are buckled.
As a last point of interest, consider this. I can still buy a dozen Canada Grade A Large Eggs at a major grocery chain for $3.93 Canadian. Life is good.
And that, folks, is my rant for today.