Tag Archives: Don Farrell

Allies? Friends?

That is what it looks like for me, where are the friends of Canada, where are its allies? The media exploits anything they can lay their fingers on for the mere setting of creating clickbait, but where is the news? There is some news and it was given to me by the BBC yesterday (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4r4lxx25o) the story ‘The US-Canada trade war in 5 charts’ gives me the goods, but it leaves me with a whole range of other questions. We get the first chart where we see ‘Trade war hits Ontario hardest’, which gives is a chart where we see that British Columbia is hit hardest with 13.8%, then we get Quebec with 11% and then Ontario with 9%, but Ontario being the largest population with Toronto and Ottawa and several smaller ones taking care of almost 5 million people, giving us a little over 12% to the Canadian population. But where is the outrage of Commonwealthians? Where are their allies? Who stood up for Canada? If not what is the meaning for the entire Commonwealth if they cannot rely on their friends, all for the sake of an orange joker in the form of the President of the United States? Even now the White House is giving us “In the biggest oil deal in world history, President Donald J. Trump has secured U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela – vastly expanding our current U.S. territorial proven reserves of roughly 46 billion barrels. This deal secures our energy dominance for the next century—all at zero cost to the United States. The deal, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, gives the U.S. government powerful governance rights, economic ownership, and guaranteed low-cost off-take from a new private Venezuelan oil champion, which will be the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world:” So where is that payment into the coffers of Venezuela? It only shows us that the right of the bully is the only one seemingly to count. And whilst I believe that this is the one of the final steps of a nation insolvent as ‘****’ (that stuff that makes the grass grow in Texas) and the lightly sprayed setting of “all at zero cost to the United States” so far I see AI training data bases stealing my IP at zero reward to me by allegedly (unverified) parties at Google, Anthropic, Grok and OpenAI, but zero cents in my bank accounts (let alone the minimum required setting of $25 million). So is that what the United States amount up to? Take it all and send them nothing? OK, lets also see that allegedly Sber/Yandex was also participant in getting my data at no expense to them, but that is merely the setting that Russia and the United States are both equally no good. So at which point can we see open support for Canada from Commonwealth nations like the United Kingdom, Australia, India and New Zealand? I a lacking that view, or it might be that the media isn’t willing to show that their is more than a circus of media setting whilst none off them express the old saying of “A wise man can play a fool, but a fool can’t play wise.” And we got one mortal combat styled video like that

Weirdly enough, there is no image where we see that Carney won (massively) none of those images made it into Google Search, I searched all over Google and I saw one image where the opposite is given, that is the amount of image manipulation we see. So as I see it, there is too much media acting against Canada. 

Then we get the ‘Impact of Canadian counter-tariffs on US states; Value of US exports to Canada to be affected by tariffs (in billions of C$)’ where the states are hit with return tariffs from $77 million up to $3.2 billion, and that chart looks less menacing. And the ‘added’ setting is that “According to data by the Royal Bank of Canada, the average effective US tariff rate on Canada in June was 2.9% – the lowest among major US trade partners. It has now nearly doubled to 5.7%.” Which could be true, but the setting of cost is there. So where is the outrage, where is the media giving us James Murray that he is improving import of Canadian goods, optionally replacing the United States? Where is the the Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism stating that he is giving preferential treatment to his peer Canada over the United States? Because that is what a true ally does. And apparently we seemingly get nothing.

Or is that the media playing it coy with the true settings of the Commonwealth? It might be me, but that is what I see. So, whilst I understand that we are given “Bank of Canada statistics suggest that Canadian firms are exporting more to countries other than the US since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.” So why do we get ‘suggest’, all whilst there should be data? Just a little consideration for you readers. I get that we are given “Canada’s exports beyond the US have risen sharply since tariffs were introduced”, the chart does not show clearly that it has been reduced, only up to April 2026 ad it is now almost at the old stage, the only thing is that there is more export, if that is true the tariff should bite as much, because that would show and then there is the power and water setting. The United States is highly dependent on Canadian power. So as we are given (by someone) that “Canada supplies electricity to roughly 1.5 million homes and businesses in the United States, primarily from provinces like Ontario and Quebec to neighboring U.S. regions including Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and New England” we hear that Doug Ford (Premier of Ontario) whistles a fine tune, but where are the invoices? According to AP News, where we see: ‘Could Canada leave US cities in the dark as part of the trade war? Not likely’, so where is the return tariff hitting the United States? I merely see Venezuela hiding its tail and the AP News gives a decent response here with:

But the truth of the matter is that other sources give “Canada exports a significant amount of electricity to the United States, providing power to millions of American homes, though recent trade tensions have sparked political debates over these exports” as such there is the setting of AP News “U.S. has enough other sources of electricity” against some stating “Canada exports a significant amount of electricity to the United States” and apparently missions of homes are in that mix, so where is that dollar for dollar bill? I am merely asking, because I truest most of the media as little as social media. 

But in all this the lack of support I see even now in Australian supermarkets and booze shops where American goods are reduced to lower shells and Canadian goods are on the visible shelves. And why is that? Is Canada not a Commonwealth brother (or sister)? Even places where we expect to see it first (namely New Zealand) I see nothing in the media (I can’t afford to take a plane to every setting I expect to see, which requires the yanks to pay for my training data and my  bank account is below $750, so yes that has not happened. (I would casually ask Sergey Brin to look into the matter as the has two hundred and fifty thousand million in his accounts), unless Gemini is utterly innocent in the matter, which I could question. But the 2,100 an hour for several days make me wonder that and as I am not showing the naked goods of a Hollywood star and I am not that good or famous (like Nicky Minaj, or MrBeast who has over 550 million followers) takes care of that part of the equation.  

And you might wonder why I put myself in the mix, the simplest setting is that we often take care of number one first (that would be the me part) and then the rest and the rest (mainly Canada) is too much ignored and they are left to fight for themselves, which I find distasteful and utterly unacceptable as a Commonwealthian. As such these questions are raised, where is the media, where is the outrage and where are the clear supports for Canada?

I let you figure that out and consider what happens when you get the pressure from the United States (like Venezuela), I think I am already feeling the brunt of that (through my empty bank account) but as we see this happen, were should we look? It is a fir question because as I have given other (non-US) nations options. It is not assurance that others will listen, so where is the outrage where a bully gets the frontline, the media, the limelight and seemingly the revenue? So are Canadians continuing the looks on Lake America, are Mexican ships still fishing on the Gulf of America? Are oil tankers passing through the strait of America? Just simple questions that seemingly have little or no answer.

Have a great day today and Sergei, I will be keeping an eye on my bank account (actually it also means that I need to same question from Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk) its mean to single out little Sergey for all this.

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Looking back in anger

This is where I am now and I am livid. So whilst the CBC gives us (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-trump-tariffs-trade-deal-negotiation-sectoral-relief-lumber-auto-steel-9.7309039) the story of ‘Negotiators fear U.S. tariffs will be imposed, as provinces and Washington dig in on demands’ where the setting is dictated by “United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said there are ‘a lot of issues’ with Canada, after being asked by a CBC reporter if there were particular areas the two countries couldn’t find agreement on. Greer said that for the U.S., the current situation ‘is not a trade war,’ but if a country retaliates, ‘we’re obviously not going to tolerate that” in me there was laughter and anger ‘Retaliate’ is not the proper word that orange person in the White House (sometimes) called ‘the Pimp of the United States’ needs an education on keeping his mouth shut. Canada will not now, not ever be regarded as the 51st state and for the other settings. I think it is nice of Canada take a page from Disney business. Should the setting of dairy products be pushed, it will be in the Disney terms that they have pushed settings. The United States will produce all goods and services on THEIR dime the means stocking and removing the dairy products. So when Jamieson Greer learns the hard way that Canadians have had enough of goods from the united states and they are left on the shelves, within two weeks they will reconsider their stupidity. In the meantime the US Alcohol is still in a setting that these diners need to come at a much cheaper price, because they take up shelf space and that costs too and when the people are not buying it, the second phase starts. So in this case I call on Jonathan Reynolds (United Kingdom), Don Farrell (Australia), Cameron Brewer (New Zealand), Piyush Goyal (India) and Jam Kamal Khan (Pakistan) with the urgent request that they talk to Canada (Mélanie Joly/Mark Carney) to see what goods can they take off the list of the United States and hand these options to Canada. It will not cover all goods and it is likely a mere trickle, but after that have the same conversation with the EU and after that the Gulf States and optionally China, but I reckon it would be possible to get over 80% transferred. This is what an angry person does and Jamieson Greer forgot about that. I reckon the air force never taught that flyboy that lesson in the JAG corps, but not to worry. I know several people who read the Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli) and the Art of War (Sun Tzu), as such they can figure out what I am up to. You see, the United States has a debt now surpassing $40,000,000,000,000 as such the interest due every year is now surpassing $1,500,000,000,000. And you don’t want to play golf in a china shop, the stock doesn’t last long and in this case it will last less and less time. So whilst the American Administration is wondering where that golden horned calf named AI is, they learn the hard way that there is no reprieve until at least 2035 and when that becomes an actual revenue stream it is already too late for the United States. 

And in all this, the freedom of speech (and expression), lives in the Commonwealth and as such we can reject the goods and services from the United States, it is our right. And I can suggest whatever I can to enforce the wellbeing of Canada, which might not be something Jamieson Greer likes, but I am not American, as such I don’t give a hoot for his likes and dislikes.

As such (I am decently certain minister Li Lecheng will applaud my action and optionally President Xi Jinping as well). This is a simple setting to cut down to size and I am happy to do so, because I am a Commonwealthian, so I will have the back of Canada whenever possible (except in Cricket, then I support Australia) We all have our priorities and whilst I prefer NHL (Toronto Maple Leafs) as such I say “No grit, no grind, no greatness” and I reckon the United States are about to learn this lesson the hard way, because if we get over 90% saved and Canada rejects any offer for water and energy the United States becomes a disaster area, one that they made themselves. 

So whilst I am feeling good as I come to the defence and in support of Canada. Jamieson Greer better learn the lesson he was unable to learn in the Air Force (a presumption he learned something there) that the Commonwealth holds a population of 2.5 billion and as I see it, there are 1.9 billion muslims not to happy with the United States either, that gives un now more than 50% of the planet who is now tainted with anti-US feelings and I know just how to direct that and I have chosen the goods and services that will no longer bear the seal of the United States. So how is the debt coming along Mr President? And when the European Union is setting the field to data sovereignty the options for Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Google will also take a dive. I cannot predict how much, but it will be in the billions as such another avenue for paying interest bills will fall away. So whilst we see that the CBC has a few issues with the story they brought, it was not up to them as I see it, so they get a pass. As for cars? I have no real idea, but Canada can levy as much tariff as they can, counter the Trump levy and Canada has cars, optionally better suited for Canadian weather and the USA? They can rely in Colorado on Texas built cars and see how they get through winter. I merely addressed a few settings and I already addressed the weapons setting a few months ago for the UAE and Saudi Arabia. More money in their own coffers and optionally rejecting whatever US weapon manufacturers brought to the table. There is only so much I can do, but I reckon I have done enough to give Canada a few ideas and optionally other Commonwealth nations as well. So whilst some a Chinese danger. I think that the bad press that Trump gave them is showing now that players like Huawei has enough to bring to the table to warrant a setting to consider. 

Have a great day. Hopefully in 15 hours I will be a little less angry.

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News to me

That happens. I do not know everything and it is not my business to know everything. I learned that early in life, before I know thought I knew everything, I learned as I took the oath of a radio operator, that there is a price for knowing too I much and as such I tried to ‘calm’ the need to know too much. When it is in my business to know, I try to know the materials pretty thoroughly. I tech support there was one program I had to know, but I had to know it on dozens of systems and  for the most I knew the goods. This is not some spreadsheet or a presentation program and you know the in’s and outs of the program (not dissing these software solutions) but in one program know the issues on IBM MVS, DEC digital VMS, AS/400, Sun systems, Unit systems, Windows Systems and a whole lot more, and every mainframe had its own coordinators handbook. For the most it was OK. The dealers could help its own customers but when working deeper they came with questions on installation, data cleaning, syntaxes of the system and of course the limitations that existed per system. In an age where there was no system (it was promised, but was always a month away) I kept my head above water. So what does this have to do with the current issue?

It was given to me in the Conversation (at https://theconversation.com/trumps-trade-war-is-forcing-canada-to-revive-a-decades-old-plan-to-reduce-u-s-dependence-248433) where we get ‘Trump’s trade war is forcing Canada to revive a decades-old plan to reduce U.S. dependence’ it is here that we are given “After threatening Canada and Mexico with illegal tariffs, and Canada with annexation, United States President Donald Trump has agreed to hold off on imposing tariffs on Canada for at least 30 days. This decision came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Trump and committed to strengthening border security” with the added “Early responses seem to have coalesced around two policies: for Canada to trade less with the U.S. and more with other countries and to strengthen the internal Canadian economy.” This implies that the free trade agreements were signed up with that in mind and to ‘diverge’ Canada to go that way. It seems weird that the ‘councilors’ of this US administration did not hammer on this, or seemingly did not hammer this. You see, as I see it President trump shot himself in the foot here. And then watered all over himself. Two distinct settings that could have been avoided. Now America faces tariffs themselves and come to boot Allies of Canada are signing up deals on all markets which will cost America dearly. It also means that the Commonwealth will become stronger as one together. I don’t know (at present) where India stands, but in retail and pharmaceutical solutions there is every chance that Canada will seek solutions in that field. So as we see “But it will impose significant costs on Canadians and require a fundamental readjustment in how we think about our economy and society.” This might be fair, but that all depends on what India could help save Canada costs, if that is achieved (though pharmaceuticals mainly) the net savings for Canada are a lot greater then expected. There will be cost in the beginning yet in the end it might work out cheaper (not easier) for Canada.

Then we are given “In 1972, then-Secretary of State for External Affairs Mitchell Sharp wrote a paper called “Canada-US Relations: Options for the Future.” At the time, international politics were in a moment of transition, and the U.S. was recalibrating its understanding of its national interest.” It is here we are given (at https://gac.canadiana.ca/view/ooe.b1557737E_001/329) a lot more then we bargained for. It is a 332 page paper, as such the 46MB file is not here, but in its original location. As such I would surmise that American administrations forgot about ‘the U.S. was recalibrating its understanding of its national interest’ it seemingly forgot about this. I prefer to think that the setting of pending bankruptcy is making them knee jerk themselves into the next month and the next and the next. Yet there is a rather nasty hindsight to this (not for me). There is a rather urgent need to reassess criminal behavior. So the settings we see in London and other cities (like Los Angeles) imply that a more Venezuelan setting will come to America (thanks to Steve Inman) his comments are setting a new side to the debate. There is no doubt that these ‘free $1000 thefts’ will result in a need to shoot to kill escalation and for the most no one has a problem with that. This escalation is right on the horizon now. The $1000 misdemeanor setting will  (according to some) take care of the freeloaders and especially shopkeepers are fine with that. So as America does away with its freeloaders we still have an issue in Canada and for the most part I hesitate to consider what made America consider its tariff setting, especially as Canada was considering the paper in 1972, it might have been long, but not too long and in light of current trends this setting was on the horizon as were other options and now that America is feeling its first brunt with BRICS, there was a cautious tale on the horizon. And now that the US administration is setting up a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ with the underlying ““We have tremendous potential,” Trump said while signing the order from the Oval Office on Monday. “I think in a short period of time, we’d have one of the biggest funds.”” (Source: The Guardian) I personally disagree. They HAD tremendous potential and now that they started the tariff wars (it doesn’t matter if it is on hold for 30 days). Canada is now looking at setting additional channels with the Commonwealth, whilst diminishing trade and we now see that there is a 1972 paper who did the hard stuff. The question is how much of that is still valid. I actually don’t know that, but I left the link for your reference. Then there is the options that America left on the floor and now China has an inner track to set a lot more towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I mentioned it more then once in the last two years. As America stifled the sale of their F35, China has been active on at least two weapons trade shows to give rise to the Chengdu J-20 from the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. Did you think that China left a call for a few dozen billion unanswered? At $110,000,000 that implies at least 3 squadrons and guess what, they will not be compatible with whatever Northrop Grumman or Raytheon has to offer. As such there could be a bigger shift in that setting. And as soon as China ‘proves’ that the Chengdu J-20 is at least equal or even superior to the F35, America loses that game too. You see, China only have to prove it is at least equal, a much lower threshold. Add that to the Canadian setting and as Canada can prove goods to the UAE and Saudi Arabia (optionally Egypt and Bangladesh) that are a few more markets where Canada will get slices of pizza that were meant for America. All that for a tariff? So how much more does America have to lose to show its ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ to be close to irrelevant. Yes, others will profit too. Yet Canada never wanted this setting in the first place and that is where short term considerations make some lose ‘their’ war. And just for consideration. Fentanyl is not new. As given by some “Fentanyl was synthesized in 1960 as an intravenous anesthetic and went on the market in the U.S. in 1968. Transdermal fentanyl was developed in the 1980s and was subsequently used for pain management in cancer patients” it was invented by the Belgiums and it has been on the market over half a century. So it is not new, the (speculated) non-actions by America made it an easy drug to score big on. In addition, it is a pharmaceutical  with a boxed warning. So why is it not a controlled substance set to a narcotic? Lets consider that narcotics were ‘outlawed’ in 1914 and went to the American market in 1968. So why was it even allowed? And even as we see in the Conversation where we are given “For the Third Option to be viable today, Canadians must embrace an independent Canadian identity based on respect for democracy, pluralism, the rule of law and human rights. It likely requires consensus that U.S. authoritarianism is wholly unacceptable to Canada.” And this third option point is now reached and so far (as is visible) nearly all the Commonwealth nations. As I see the Australian parties weaseling (my personal assessment) as “Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell is seeking talks with America” (source: News) where we see no clear message to Canada in support as a Commonwealth nation (like weasels as I personally see it). At this setting Scotland shows itself as a much more honorable Commonwealth nation, but the larger issue will be India, as that is where the massive parts of retail goes. I get that India is playing a sensitive game but something must give at some point, Canada needs us now. From a personal note, Canada was there for the Netherlands in WW2. As Dutch born I will stand with Canada on this.

Yet the larger setting is missed. In the end Canada is not the larger play. It will be China and what it can grab from America on the long term from them involving Saudi Arabia, the UAE and optionally Egypt as well.

So have a loverly day and if you are in America try drinking Tim Hortons for a change. It might wake you up faster, stronger and better.

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