Rod McQueen's Blog, page 3

The former Great One

What’s all the fuss about Wayne Gretzky and how Canadians feel betrayed by his apparent preference for things American. In his birthplace of Brantford, Ont., they’re particularly up in arms after naming a parkway and a sports centre after him. Just because he moved away to California and seems to have forgotten his home and native land.
Thousands of Canadians have moved to California annually for decades. Some have even become famous in movies: Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen, Ryan Gosling, Donald Sutherland, and Christopher Plummer.
There are also singers who come to mind such as Shania Twain. Plus my favorite actor on Friends, Matthew Perry, aka Chandler Bing. Born in the U.S., he was raised in Ottawa by his mother, Suzanne Morrison, press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The California gold rush all started years ago with Mary Pickford, born in Toronto in 1892 who had a five-decade-long Hollywood career.
And look at Neil Young. His father, Scott Young, was a columnist for the Globe and Mail. He’d split with his wife who took the kids. Neil eventually ended up on a California ranch making such hits as Old Man. “Old man, take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you, I need someone to love me the whole day through.” Despite not seeing or talking to Neil for decades, Scott thought the song was about him. In fact, it was about a worker on Neil’s farm.
All these folks entertained us and we were proud of them. Which takes us back to Gretzky, who used to be known as “The Great One.” Number 99 with the Edmonton Oilers. His presence at an election night party with Donald Trump started the slide that picked up speed when he attended Trump’s inauguration. And Trump promoted him as governor of the 51st state. 
But none of that really bothered me until he showed up at the Canada-U.S. hockey game and seemed to favour the U.S. team over his Canadian brethren. There have been other turncoats in history: Benedict Arnold, Judas Iscariot and the man who gave his name to such betrayal: Vidkun Quisling.
Now Wayne Gretzky joins their number as the first Canadian turncoat. Too bad he’s about to lose his all-time NHL goals record of 894. And to a Russian, no less, Alex Ovechkin, who’s only three behind. I’ll be cheering for the Russian. Let’s make him an honorary Canadian.

An open book

Where does the love of reading come from? It begins with parents who read bedtime stories aloud and after a while encourage the young listener to do the reading. As early as six I also read more complicated comics like Our Boarding House and Walt Kelly’s Pogo. I still know the words for their annual Christmas carol, “Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash. and Kalamazoo.”
At noon hour, I’d be home from school for lunch then listen on radio to Bing Whittaker and the “The Small Types Club.” I think his stories only lasted fifteen minutes and would end at 1 p.m. with Whittaker telling all of us to hurry back to school, saying “Sssssscoot!”
My joy for books continued with high school teacher Isobel Cowie who I have previously cited. She once lugged to class a record player so we could listen to Dylan Thomas reading his work, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” I still play it, sometimes not even at Christmas.
My love of language was further burnished by organizations like CBC back in the day when they had stars like Peter Gzowski who used the English language with aplomb and excitement both at the same time.
For an author like myself, reading a book continues to be a part of most days. I can read a newspaper online, but not a book. While traveling by car we recently listened to “War” by Bob Woodward. His topics skipped from one to the other so car rides were the perfect way to proceed.
But I prefer reading a published book. I like the heft of it in my hand. I like turning the pages. I like postponing errands to read just one more chapter. I like using the bookmark made by my grand-daughter and leaving the book near my chair ready to open at the very spot I left off whenever I want.
I also like re-reading books I previously enjoyed such as any volume about Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. I find myself reading too many American books but I just finished the new biography of Ronald Reagan by Max Boot and recommend it highly. My favourite Canadian authors include Robertson Davies, Roy MacGregor, Marian Engel, Michael Bliss and Ian Brown, to name just a few.
Does Donald Trump read books? Hard to imagine. He seems to have no attention span for more than a few words uttered. His words only, of course.

 

 

Tall order

So Mark Carney has put all his holdings in a blind trust, as the law dictates for a prime minister. So what? The problem with blind trusts for rich people like Carney is that he knows what’s in it and the folks who supervise these things aren’t likely to change the contents very much. This issue matters in the case of Carney because I would assume that the value of his blind trust is something like $25 million. That’s got to be far more personal wealth than any previous Canadian PM.
Some of that will be invested in bonds and other such assets that anyone would just hang onto. No problem there. Other holdings, however, are likely in equities where values can go up and down. But blind or not, he knows what he holds. His trustee isn’t likely to eliminate shares held in a blue-chip Royal Bank, if he holds them, and he probably does. Will such a holding change his government’s stance towards Royal? Or other Canadian banks? Maybe not, but who knows? 
There must also be future payments due to Carney from Brookfield, his former home. Top executives tend to set up payouts that extend over a long period of time, just like New York Mets slugger Juan Soto who recently signed a 15-year $765 million contract that could outlast his playing career. We’ve already seen Carney “forget” a Brookfield activity during his time seeking office. Will there be more such moments?
To my mind, a blind trust is a deaf-and-dumb idea.
So, what’s the answer? I say, let’s do away with blind trusts. Instead, a newly elected prime minister must cash out as much as he/she can at the time of assuming office. In addition, they must reveal any and all future payments that can’t be collateralized immediately. That way, we voters know when prime ministers are acting in their own best interests and when they might not be.
But Carney has another shortcoming, and I use the word carefully. To my mind, he’s a little short to be a leader. When he met recently with King Charles as well as the British and French leaders all the photographs showed him pretty much an equal in height. Carney is 5’9″ while the King and the two leaders are both in the 5’8″ to 5’10” range.
But what happens when Carney visits the White House? At 6’3″ Trump will tower over him by 6″ – half a foot – and stand a good chance of dominating the conversation as a result. Maybe that’s why Trump is last on Carney’s call list of leaders. 

 

Faking it

Artificial Intelligence is ruining our lives. Everywhere you turn, someone is talking about it. Here’s a warning: don’t use the words in full, only the initials, AI, if you want to sound in tune with the times.
The dictionary definition of AI is the ability of a machine to perform tasks usually carried out by humans such as learning, reasoning and problem-solving. I guess that means AI is of no help with other more mundane human tasks such as singing in the shower or making a BLT.
AI now has so many enthusiasts that conference organizers have gotten into the act. I recently saw an advertisement about a conflab later this month entitled: Finding the ROI in AI. If you don’t want to look stupid, you can attend virtually. Here’s a typical line from the ad: “What roadmap are early adopters using to avoid the pitfalls and tap into AI’s upside?”
Doesn’t. That. Sound. Exciting. The blurb atop the ad doesn’t say what ROI is. (It’s return on investment.) There, I’ve saved you a full day of tedium. Beyond gatherings, other AI services will help plan your holiday trip. But be prepared for some mistakes like sending you to a Broadway matinee that doesn’t exist.
University professors were among the first to face AI. From their point of view, a student using AI to write an essay is the equivalent of asking help from a not very bright friend. Essays produced using ChatGPT, the most popular AI search engine, give themselves away because they cite fabricated articles or book titles. If the prof asks for sources and the student can’t produce them, such falsification receives a mark of zero on that essay. A second offence likely means failure in that course.
My worst fear is by now probably obvious. What if my role as your favorite blogger and as a bi-weekly contributor to the Saturday Toronto Star was taken over by some infernal machine. My only protection is the drivel you might read by a novice AI machine opining about the new Liberal leader Cark Marney. And could AI properly spell Pierre Poilievre? I always have to look it up myself and then type the name carefully. Otherwise he might show up on my doorstep with that axe he carries everywhere. But didn’t I read that someone recently took that tool away? Or maybe that was just another erroneous outburst by AI.

Ballot boxed-in

When Mark Carney declared he was running for Liberal leader, I liked him. He certainly came with a potent resume. I voted for Justin Trudeau in 2015, the first time I had voted Liberal since 1968 when his father, Pierre, swept into office. I thought Carney had the potential to win the next federal election. I even toyed with the idea of voting Liberal once again.
But during Carney’s first public appearance, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, Carney was so smarmy that I quit watching halfway through the twenty-minute interview. Ever since, whenever there’s a news clip of Carney, he looks scrawny, with his neck poking out of his shirt like a chicken about to get its head cut off.
As for Chrystia Freeland, I haven’t liked her since I saw her speak to several hundred high school students at an event in her Toronto riding four years ago. When question time came, the first at the microphone were two young girls, maybe 11 and 9, who wanted to know how to become a Member of Parliament.
“The prime minister asked me,” Freeland replied haughtily. “I said ‘No.’” Justin called again. Freeland replied “no” again. Finally she said “yes” despite the fact that her family was against the idea. She dragged them back to Toronto from New York where they’d been living.
All Freeland had to do when asked that question was to congratulate the two young people on thinking about such a contribution to society, tell them to join clubs at school, be active in the community and, over time, seek leadership roles.
In the French-language television leaders debate last night, Frank Baylis and Karina Gould each had an excellent command of French. Carney and Freeland both spoke using a level of French that was so basic, even I could understand them. Freeland at least was lively. Carney was stiff and tended to run out of steam after three sentences.
Henry Kissinger once offered some wise words about leaders. He said that leaders do not grow in office because they can’t find any time to learn amidst the crush of crises. Rather, said Kissinger, they come into office with what they know and proceed to use it up. In this coming election I don’t see any great depth of leadership talents that exist to be used up, either Liberal or Conservative. On election day, for the first time in my life, I may just stay home and not vote.

Hewers of wood, drawers of water

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. If you don’t like bad news or pessimistic forecasting, read no further. I have nothing positive to say about the near-term future of the Canadian economy. Despite the homespun efforts of Canadians to buy Canadian products in grocery stores, I see only troubling signs for our economy that will almost certainly lead to a recession later this year. We may already be in one.
Why do you think Ontario Premier Doug Ford called an election way before he needed to? Because he can collar another mandate before the economy tanks and he would have been blamed.
When U.S. President Donald Trump brings in a 25 percent or some other number tariff, how likely is it that Canadian firms will cut their prices to preserve sales or take lower profits by remaining here. Instead, as companies who manufacture items in Canada watch their export sales fall, more and more of them will choose to move to the U.S. where their main market already is.
Job loss will be substantial. As a result of Trump tariffs, auto manufacturers will move holus-bolus from Windsor to Detroit. In the case of auto parts makers, some products go back and forth across the border several times with successive steps carried out in both countries. As costs skyrocket, those parts that now start here will depart to any number of northern tier states.
Other industries are already stressed. For too long we have taken the easy route and shipped everything south with little or no “hand-work.” Typical is aluminum, about to face a tariff. Take Arvida, Quebec, for example, where aluminum is produced that is used by highly paid workers to make a cajillion products for sale to consumers. But all too few of those workers are in Canada. We don’t even have a rolling mill that turns aluminum into sheets that can be used to make other products. The situation in aluminum is repeated as we ship untouched to the U.S. oil via pipeline from Alberta or lumber from British Columbia.
And just to add tragedy to an already calamitous situation, those Canadians who believe it is their right to enjoy an annual winter holiday in Florida or Arizona, are discovering that our dollar is making such a pleasure prohibitive. After all, it costs C$1.50 to buy US$1. If we don’t watch out, we’ll all be freezing in the dark. Jobless.

 

As weird as they come

I’ve been a fan of Elon Musk ever since I first read about him a few years ago in a book by Walter Isaacson. The author did his usual thorough job when he writes about a business leader like he did with Steve Jobs. I was amazed by Musk’s entrepreneurial brilliance in areas never tackled by others, at least not all at once.
Just to remind, he invented and built the Tesla and soon was selling a million cars a year. He also launched SpaceX and sent dozens of rockets into space. There was even one occasion where a select group travelled by rocket to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere and were able to float round inside the rocket in a weightless atmosphere. As a result of all these endeavours, Musk became the richest man in the world. 
To be sure, there was some erratic behaviour, too. He had three female partners, each with several children, all at the same time. Not since harem days had anyone accomplished that. And each child had an unusual name like Tau or something indecipherable in several letters.
Then came the rebooting of Donald Trump, running for president of the United States and winning for the second time. Among the major donors to Trump and other Republican candidates was Musk who gave an estimated $300 million. In the history of U.S. elections, I’m unaware of any other individual who has ever given anywhere near that amount. 
But as we all know, the money didn’t just help get out the vote. The funds have also put Musk in the co-pilot’s seat of Trump’s daredevil plane. And when you see Musk on stage jumping around, waving his arms and generally acting like an eight-year old, you wonder which of the two is more crazy. And what about Musk’s “Roman salute” at the Inauguration celebration? It certainly gave me quivers looking for all the world like Adolf Hitler.
As if all this wasn’t bad enough. Musk now has office space at the White House and has taken it upon himself to eliminate or downgrade entities that seem to be doing good work. Two examples on which he has set his sights are the Department of Education and USAID which provides humanitarian relief around the world.
Even Trump seems to have had enough and actually said, “Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him.” Of all the dumb things the new president has said and done, why he can’t get his way with that excellent idea?

The Fordian knot

Ontario Premier Doug Ford this week called an election for February 27 because he says he needs a mandate. I won’t say that statement is a lie. Instead, I will call it a terminological inexactitude, a phrase first used by Winston Churchill in a Commons speech in 1906.
No, I won’t call it a lie despite the fact that Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party already has a mandate: 79 seats in a 124-seat Legislature. And his current mandate runs to March 2026. Why now? Could the timing of this election possibly have anything to do with the fact that I, along with millions of other citizens of the province, this week got a cheque in the mail for $200. Signed by Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, the money is supposed to be a rebate on the federal carbon tax as well as to offset high interest rates. Such a statement is not exactly a lie either. Let’s call it nonsense on stilts. It’s touching how the Ontario Tories blame the feds for all of our economic woes.
Such political vote-buying isn’t new. My favourite example dates to the 1950s in Nova Scotia when someone running for office would visit a voter at home and leave a pint of rum. His opponent would follow along and replace the pint with a quart bottle, thereby costing that candidate only a pint, but meaning the voter now had two pints.
Behind his bravado, maybe Ford is fearful for his own future. He’s worried that Donald Trump’s threat to hit us with a 25 percent tariff will hurt the Canadian economy. In such case, it’s better for Ford to have a vote now rather than in the fall when the Ontario economy might have become mired in the midst of a recession.
Meanwhile, Ford cared so little about the democratic process that the Legislature wasn’t even sitting. I guess we can assume that Ford had no helpful ideas of his own to introduce for debate. Instead, he’s making two forays to Washington in the days ahead to try and change Trump’s mind about the tariff. Fat chance. From what I can see, Trump pays attention to no one. Why would Trump listen to someone from the fifty-first state?
Now that we have this unnecessary election, what if Ford loses just like Ontario Liberal Leader David Peterson did in 1990 when he called an early vote? In that case, we’ll be no further behind. And what if Ford wins? We’ll be no further ahead.

You call this winter?

“April is the cruellest month.” So begins T.S. Eliot’s famous poem, “The Wasteland.” He goes on to say, “Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow, feeding/A little life with dried tubers.” In 2025, winter is doing everything except keep us warm with temperatures hovering well below zero.
Eons ago, when I was a lad, my father always corralled me to help if he were doing something around the house. Jobs in which I assisted included removing and hanging wallpaper, prepping walls and painting, replacing electric outlets, taking out the ashes from the coal-fired furnace, and once, making and pouring cement for a backyard patio.
But of all my roles, my favourite involved the ashes. Those ashes were carefully saved in a bucket to spread on snow or ice so the car could get from the garage to the street. Seeing such usefulness, I came to see cinders as the solution to any problem. “Put ashes on it,” I would say whether it made sense or not.
My least favourite role was shovelling the snow. In Guelph, where I grew up, the snow was always falling, then got piled high, only to see more fall again. Photos in a family album show me almost hidden behind mounded snow. About the only person who came to the front door, using my carefully cleared path, was Harry the mailman. I hardly ever received mail, except for an annual card from my grandfather containing a $2 bill. But my birthday was in June when the green grass grew all around and there was nary a flake of snow.
Across the street in St. George’s park there was a rink but it was not a safe place for a lad like me. The rink was occupied with older boys who skated as speedily as if they played for the New York Rangers. Nor was I allowed to go into the wooden shack with its pot-bellied stove filled with burning wood that heated the place. No, my mother believed bad things happened inside, unnamed bad things, that made me want to go inside even more.
One amazing winter weekend, it rained, then the water on the ground froze. Streets and sidewalks were covered with ice. Everyone skated everywhere as if we lived beside the dikes of Holland. Oh, that was the best day ever.
Today when I see it’s -10 outside with a daylong snowfall predicted, I fret not, neither do I worry. Nothing could ever top any winter’s day of my youth.

Handicapping the race

The race is on to replace Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party. Who, even a few months ago, would have foreseen such a turn of events? But here we are, so let’s review what happened and then handicap the potential candidates.
For the longest time, the uprising within the Liberal caucus seemed stuck at about twenty malcontents. Then, suddenly, a majority of the Liberal MPs from Atlantic Canada, followed by a similar number in each of Quebec and Ontario announced themselves unhappy with Trudeau.
How the mighty had fallen. Even while Trudeau was jetting around the world, meeting with every group who’d have him, the groundswell was growing. Maybe he sensed the background noise and was seeking a safe landing spot with some international agency.
But once caucus announced its January 8th gathering, Trudeau knew he had to make a decision: get out or tough it out. He wrestled with his choices over the weekend and yesterday announced he’d step down.
Maybe if Trudeau hadn’t treated Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in such a ham-handed manner, none of this would have happened. Imagine telling her she was no longer finance minister because he was bringing in an outsider, Mark Carney, to replace her. Freeland thought about his bright idea, then announced her resignation, saying in effect, “You can’t fire me, I quit.”
Here’s my handicapping for the next leader. On the lower rungs are a few cabinet ministers such as Anita Anand, François-Philippe Champagne and Melanie Joly. None of them are exactly household names. No Liberal premier seems poised to run.
Dominic LeBlanc: A clear number three. As an MP from New Brunswick he’ll be a first-ballot selection for many delegates from Atlantic Canada. I like him. He’d be my choice.
Mark Carney: On paper, Carney is top-rung. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he’s been governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He’s become a wealthy businessman running various aspects of the Brookfield empire. But he doesn’t have a seat in Parliament.
Chrystia Freeland: By far the front-runner. After Trudeau gave her the heave-ho, everyone admired her hutzpah in resigning. But the Liberals, and their new leader, will struggle for airtime.
This roustabout among Liberals helps the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre. There will be a spring election. Nanos polling has Poilievre 26 points ahead. Unless Poilievre blows up, the Conservatives will coast to victory. And likely a second majority in four years.
Meanwhile, let’s not shed a tear for Trudeau. His departing words outside Rideau Cottage yesterday were classy. At 53, he will land on his feet.