I’m back. I did a laminate floor in my office room, and the result was I threw out my back, so little things like walking upright and sleeping well trended downward, so to speak. It’s Saturday night and I haven’t had any beer, which certainly puts this last day of the week in a select company. Normally, unless I have been hospitalized or laid out with a severe illness, I am having a few pops. It’s a cycle of work and self-abuse I got into as a millworker and have never seriously sought to change. My intention was to write a short story for a contest coming up, but, as usual, I’m searching for an idea. I decided to trade beer drinking for productivity, but sadly I don’t have either. I found the contest I want, and I have met the guy who is going to judge it, so I thought I might have a teeny advantage as I (very slightly) know my audience.
The Canadian general election is coming up in 8 days, and it is an important one. We have to decide as a nation who is going to stand up to the madman, the Child King of Washington. I won’t go into great detail because anyone interested could find a better source of election info than me, and also I have family members who don’t vote the way I do, and who I’d rather not argue with, as it makes get-togethers awkward. Anyway, the tidbit I want to share is about the two main combatants in the race: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, and Liberal leader Mark Carney. Either will make a competent Prime Minister. I looked at their resumes – by which I mean I looked at Wikipedia – and found a rather striking contrast in their work histories. Carney studied at Harvard on a scholarship, and later got a PhD in economics from Oxford. He worked for Goldman Sachs before he rose to be the governor of the Banks of Canada and England, guiding Canada through the economic downturn of 2008, and England through Brexit and the Covid years. He was appointed as a special envoy for climate action and economics to the United Nations. He was keeping busy, and along the way he avoided being partisan as he worked for Prime Ministers of both the main parties. Poilievre started by selling memberships for the Reform party as a teen. Then, bless his heart, he got a paper route and then a job with a phone company calling businesses. Other than that, he has been a politician. People can vote for whomever they like, but when it comes down to 20 years of managing national economies versus the local paper boy, their qualifications seem a little unbalanced. The fact PP gives off angry Peewee Herman vibes is just a sad accident. To be fair, his political career has been marked with a lot of shit disturbing, which many people find appealing.
My mom came by for a coffee this morning and told me a little story that relates to Trump and the dictator aura developing south of our border. A couple she knows goes down to the US all the time to buy gas and groceries which are cheaper there. On a recent trip, an American border guard asked them “What do you think of our president?” and the lady said something unflattering. The guard turned them around and barred them from entering the US for five years! Local merchants in those border towns are already struggling to stay afloat with Canadians staying away in droves, so having GI Joe forbid them entry is another blow to business. And, by the way, how’s that whole free speech, ‘Freest Country in the World’ thing coming along? Yikes.
As I write this, it is only minutes away from being tomorrow, which is Easter Sunday. I had a Catholic education, but it really didn’t stick with me. For me, Easter was more about chocolate bunnies than the son of God cheating the grave. More practically, it is a time for the family to get together and have a big meal and hopefully not argue about politics. If Easter has a deeper meaning for you, that’s great. It’s like country music, in a way. I don’t like country music, but it’s me who loses out. If I enjoyed it, my life would contain a little more joy than it does. And I’m all about maximizing my levels of joy. Same with Easter and most of the religion stuff.
Anyway, whether it’s off to church, or hunting for chocolate eggs, or gorging yourself into a mashed potato coma, have a happy Easter!