Oasis, Castle Law, Danille Smith, Ford's booze ban and sweet old pick-up truck...

It's been a while since we sent out the newsletter so there is a lot to talk about.

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And we’re back…

It’s been a while since I posted here, longer since I sent out a newsletter. For the last few weeks I’ve either had house guests or been a house guest and it has been busy.

That meant that while I was able to do my day job, getting the newsletter out was a bit more difficult.

Still, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I took my youngest nephew to his first Blue Jays game, got him and my mother-in-law into batting practice ahead of the Jays vs Brewers game and of course there were trips to Canada’s Wonderland and Niagara Falls. One thing I never take for granted is how blessed I am in terms of access to incredible experiences. People can trash talk Toronto all they want - and politically I often do - but Toronto is a great city if you want to experience life to the fullest.

Did I mention that I went to see Oasis?

I never thought Oasis would get back together, but all I can say is the concert was awesome and so was the venue.

Don’t believe the hype, Rogers Stadium is fine, the amenities are better than many established venues.

One of the knocks against the place is that it takes too long to get too and is too far away. I live about 6 kilometres from Budweiser Stage and about 14 kilometres from the new Roger’s Stadium but I can get home faster after a show at Roger’s Stadium than I can from Bud Stage.

There are also more food and beverage opportunities meaning shorter lines and the restroom situation is better and cleaner.

Anyway, you come here for the politics, not the concert reviews, so let’s get to it.

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Castle Law is Canadian Law…

As I wrote in my column in the Toronto Sun - it was the front page on Monday - Castle Law already exists in Canada, it always has. We’ve been having what I find to be a frustrating debate in this country ever since the story of the man charged for fighting back against an intruder broke a few weeks back.

We’ve had claims that we need Castle Law legislation and claims that Castle Law is not the Canadian way. Both sides miss the mark because Castle Law is and always has been part of the English Common Law system that we derive our own legal system from.

Sure, there are plenty of police and prosecutors who don’t like that this exists, but too bad for them.

Self-defence, be it to protect your own life, the lives of those in your home or even your own property, has always been part of Canada’s justice system. That doesn’t mean you can kill someone who is unarmed who steps on your property, but no system allows for that.

On the Full Comment Podcast I spoke with criminal defence lawyer and law professor Solomon Friedman about what the law says versus what people think it says. It was a fun and fascinating conversation if I do say so myself.

Sit back and have a listen and make sure to subscribe and share it.

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Carney offers some action, but not enough…

On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney offered up some measures to adjust the way the Canadian economy works but not enough. He also isn’t going at the speed that he promised during the election.

Remember when Carney would tell voters that we need to move at “a speed not seen in generations” to boost Canada’s economy?

Well, aren’t up to speed yet even as Carney boasts about how fast he’s going. He did so when he announced the Major Projects Office and he did so when he made his announcement last week.

Except, we aren’t exactly moving at warp speed.

Even Carney’s announcement that he would pause the zero emissions vehicle mandate is a half-measure. The law still states that starting January 1, 20% of all vehicles sold in Canada must be zero emission.

Pausing that and calling for a 60 day review of the policy doesn’t give industry the certainty they need, in fact, it creates more uncertainty. The whole program should have been scrapped given that it is completely unworkable.

Carney is smartly offering support for canola farmers but not saying he will scrap the 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs.

As much as my friends, and some relatives in places like Saskatchewan, would like to see the EV tariffs lifted in the hopes of getting canola tariffs lifted, that is a bad idea. China is a bad trading partner all around and we should be wary of doing any business with them.

The tariffs on Chinese EVs exist because they sell their vehicles to us at about half the cost of production. The people I’ve spoken with say that the cheap EV cars cost about $25,000 USD to produce and they wanted to sell them to us for roughly $12,500 USD.

Why would they do that?

To flood our market with cheap products, undermine our production capacity and weaken our economy long term. That’s the game that China plays, long term thinking for market domination.

As Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pointed out, there are also real concerns about Chinese EVs being equipped with spying or surveillance technology to feed info back to Beijing.

Those are all worrying factors.

The average prairie canola farmer may not care about any of that and may just want to sell their product to China but on that front China is again a bad partner again. From 2020 until 2022, China banned all Canadian canola exports. They also blocked and/or tariffed our products in 2017 and in 2013/14.

China can’t be relied upon and we really should seek new markets in places like India, South Korea, Japan and throughout the Americas.

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Chatting with Danielle Smith…

As I mentioned off the top, it’s been a busy few weeks of travel, or having house guests or being one and that includes a quick trip to Calgary.

The Canada Strong and Free Network hosts events across the country and I’ve been happy to moderate chats with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Ottawa last April and in Calgary this past weekend.

I’ll have the video of our discussion out tomorrow, for now you can see some photos below.

The first time I met Premier Smith was in 2011 when I went to Calgary. We were in town to shoot some promo videos for the soon to be launched Sun News Network and Danielle Smith - then the leader of the Wildrose Alliance - came to an event with her husband David Moretta who headed up our Western operations for Sun News.

We’ve known each other since, been on each other’s radio and television shows and not always agreed but that is the fun of politics and media.

Doug Ford needs to calm the hell down…

I heard a lot of people bashing Ontario and Doug Ford when I was in Saskatchewan and Alberta over the past week. I’d really like us to get over this habit of bashing each other in different regions, especially because I heard people complain that we bash them, but then they would turn around and bash us.

That said, Doug Ford needs to calm the hell down on Crown Royal.

I’ve written a couple of columns on this but the latest argues that if Ford keeps trying to use his power to punish those who cross him politically then we need to privatize the LCBO. For those that don’t know the LCBO, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, is the prime retailer and only wholesaler for alcohol in Ontario. That means every bar, restaurant and bowling alley needs to buy from them.

Ford has already banned all American alcohol from Ontario over the trade war with Trump. Trust me when I say this isn’t going well and hasn’t scored any victories for Ontario or Canada.

Now he’s threatening to ban Crown Royal and possibly all products from their parent company Diageo over their decision to shutter a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ontario.

As I have detailed in successive columns, this decision has nothing to do with Trump or tariffs, it is a global supply chain restructuring. That hasn’t stopped Ford from going off the rails, threatening the company and sending a chilling message to the business community in Ontario - piss off the Premier and he will punish you.

It’s a horrible message to send, one that Ford would have opposed just a few short years ago.

Betty Blue takes second…

I can’t take credit for this, it’s not my truck, it belongs to my wife and father-in-law but Betty Blue took second place in the Kenaston Show and Shine over Labour Day weekend.

She is a 1951 GMC 9430 half-ton pick-up truck.

Originally built in Oshawa, Ontario the truck was used and cared for in Alberta for several decades. Then Andy bought her in St. Albert and at a family gathering that we just dropped into, the truck was purchased before I could finish my beer.

She’s a four on the floor gal and fun to drive but not something you would want as your primary vehicle today.