PONDERABLES
With Barry Trotz unemployed, is Leaf coach Sheldon Keefe looking over his shoulder?
Mike Keenan has been hired to coach the Italian men’s national team; how long will it take him to wear out his welcome there?
Haven’t credit card fees always been built into prices?
To what extent did the animosity between federal minister of public safety, Bill Blair, and Ottawa police chief, Peter Sloly, (which apparently goes back to when Blair was Toronto’s police chief and Sloly was his deputy) contribute to the length of the truckers’ Ottawa protest?
Why have some Canadian broadcasters begun using the American pronunciation (the accent on the first syllable rather than the second) of the word “inquiry?”
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
With Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre digging up misdeeds from their respective pasts, Parliament’s question period has finally become interesting.
There’s a federal government coverup going on as to how the cost of the the ArriveCanApp (basically a simple form to be filled out) skyrocketed to $54 million.
With thirty-one people running in the Toronto mayoralty race, it’s obviously time to beef up the criteria that have to be met to do so.
As long as Russia has a veto at the security council, the UN is useless.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is the spitting image of Sesame Street’s The Count.
Ray Ferraro’s decision to cut back on his broadcast activity means TSN has lost the second-best analyst in hockey (Kelly Hrudy is the best).
A CHRYSTIA FREELAND PONDERABLE
In a speech last week in Washington, deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, declared that Africans must be “prepared to die for their democracy.” After being criticized for her comments she issued the following lame apology, “If anyone did find my comments to be insensitive, then I’m very sorry.” Doesn’t she realize that any apology containing the word “if” is not really an apology at all? That she was criticized clearly indicates that at least “someone” did.
AND A DONALD TRUMP PONDERABLE
Donald Trump is fond of saying there’s no one in the world as tough as he is. If he’s so tough, how come he’s such a wimp when it comes to admitting he lost the 2020 election?
TRUDEAU’S USE OF THE EMERGENCIES ACT
One thing becoming abundantly clear from the inquiry into Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act during the aforementioned truckers’ fiasco in Ottawa is that its declaration was completely unnecessary. But what the inquiry will not be able to determine is whether Trudeau doing so was a stunning act of bad judgement or a narcissistic attempt to emulate his father.
VIRTUE SIGNALLING RUNNNING AMOK
Public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, is making a big deal over the federal government’s so-called freeze on the purchase, sale, or transfer of handguns having taken effect on Friday. I sincerely doubt the gangbangers in Canada’s major cities are shaking in their boots. They’re more apt to be stifling laughter.
POPPY TRADEMARK
Two veterans of the Afghanistan war, who are running for local municipal councils in Ontario, included images of poppies on their election signs. They were ordered by the Royal Canadian Legion to remove them. The veterans complied with the edict, but strenuously objected to it on the basis that as poppies honour all veterans they should have the unfettered right to use the symbol; but they’re wrong. The Legion’s trademark rights were established in 1948 by a special act of Parliament.