Barris Beat

Steaming to meet the existential threat

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Anson Northup, an American real estate broker who posed an existential threat to Canada.

Sometimes politicians in Canada and the U.S. have described the economic struggles between our two countries as trade wars. More recently, observers on both sides of the border have recognized international tariffs as a form of economic erosion.

But if you think current trade hostilities across the 49th parallel are new, nothing could be further from the truth. A newspaper published in St. Paul, Minn., once encouraged American mercantilists to invade Canada and they were offered money as an incentive to do it.

“The St. Paul Chamber of Commerce will award a cash prize to the first enterprise to establish commerce in the British Northwest Territory,” reported the newspaper. “One thousand dollars to the first to arrive.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Tariffs and sentiment change

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I think I first recognized how serious this Trump tariff stuff was when my sister called from the southern U.S. For the past couple of winters, she and her husband have driven south to escape the toughest part of winter.

But when the president of the United States first hinted at absorbing Canada as a 51st state, almost overnight my sister and brother-in-law responded.

“We don’t like where this is going,” she emailed. “We’re coming home.” And within a couple of days, they’d crossed the border and texted, “Home, sweet home.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Repair over rhetoric

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Water everywhere, but nowhere common sense.

One day about a week ago, I’d risen early to feed the dog. Next, I’d turned on the coffee machine to help kick-start my day. Then, I’d fetched the newspaper from the latest overnight snowfall on the driveway and I’d read the headline that Trump had called Polish President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator.”

“What the…?” And I was about to sit down to find out more over that cup of java when I noticed a wet spot on a carpet in our bedroom and reacted out loud. “Did I spill something here?”

Then, I felt a drop on my head, looked up and realized the ceiling light fixture was dripping water. And based on the length and breadth of the wet spot on the carpet, I concluded this had probably been going on all night. (more…)

Barris Beat

Pay more attention to the man behind the curtain

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Like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, told to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” Ontario voters & media have little or no access to the leader of the Conservative party during this election.

It was Jan. 29, I believe, the very first day of the current provincial election campaign. The London Police Service hosted an appreciation and awards banquet. And wasn’t it convenient for the premier that he was invited to speak to what Mr. Ford considered his peeps.

I guess he decided to take the opportunity to slam federal lawmakers and judges for being soft on criminals such as home invaders. And according to the Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park Bureau, Ford went way off script.

“God forbid they kill an innocent person,” Ford mused in front of a thousand police personnel and guests at the banquet, adding that he’d prefer that judges simply send home invaders found guilty of murder to the electric chair. (more…)

Barris Beat

Cut college funding at your peril!

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Ontario Legislature shut down by winter election, in 2025

Like most, I received my “convincer cheque” from the provincial government a few days ago. It says it’s from the Ministry of Finance. But it couldn’t be plainer that its point of origin is Conservative Party HQ. It’s dated Jan. 29, 2025, exactly 24 hours after the premier visited Lt. Gov. Edith Dumont to dissolve Ontario’s 43rd Parliament for a general election Feb. 27, even though the premier doesn’t need to call an election until June 2026.

“Ontario Taxpayer Rebate,” the cheque is called.

Of greater importance to me that same week, however, I learned that Centennial College, where I instructed for 18 years, had permanently cancelled 49 programs, including 16 programs in its business school, seven at its engineering school and 14 communications courses at the Story Arts campus in East York. (more…)

Barris Beat

O say, can you see…

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They did it in Ottawa. They did it in Calgary. Then, in Toronto. And then Monday night, in Nashville, Americans did it back. First, Canadian spectators booed the The Star-Spangled Banner north of the border. And so American fans in Tennessee booed O Canada right back when the Ottawa Senators came to Nashville this week.

Shouted one irate Predators fan, “You gotta pay!”

Then, Nashville coach Andrew Brunette (who is a Canadian) told the U.S. Daily Mail. “I don’t like it. The NHL has been around 100 years and the U.S. and Canada both share this game. I don’t think there’s a place for booing the anthem.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Vigil over Pickering lands continues

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Brian Buckles speaks at Land Over Landings meeting in 2018.

Brian and Jane Buckles had only lived on their property in Pickering between Concession Roads 7 and 8 for about four years, when, in 1972, the federal government expropriated their land for the proposed Pickering Airport.

Overnight their country dream home – with an old Ontario farmhouse on 20 acres of land – became one of the hottest political potatoes in the GTA. Brian Buckles, however, would not go quietly.

“Days after the announcement, (farmer) Lorne Almack and I became the technical committee for People or Planes. I talked to officials with Air Canada and De Havilland preparing the technical case against the airport.” (more…)

Barris Beat

The gift I’ll never forget

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I had just completed my final public-speaking event of 2024. I had presented the same talk on my latest book nearly 70 times in three months, and that mid-December day I was looking forward to the holiday break.

The best present, I thought, would be a few days’ rest over Christmas and New Year’s. I was wrong. As I packed up my laptop, one of the aviation enthusiasts in my audience said he had something to give me.

“Come on over to the officers’ mess,” he said. “It’s there.”

After a short, chilly walk across the outdoor parade square at the Canadian Forces College in North York, I caught up with the man who’d invited me. “You might find this of interest,” he said and handed me a cardboard portfolio with red, white and blue lettering on the cover; it read: “RCAF: The War Years … Commemorating 40th Anniversary Battle of Britain.” (more…)

Barris Beat

“I swear allegiance…”

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Candidate Donald Trump in Orlando. Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Some say our current troubles with the U.S. can be traced back to 2016, during the presidential campaign of that year. It happened at a Republican rally in Orlando, Fla., where candidate Donald Trump called out to his supporters:

“Raise your right hand,” and then prodded them to recite, “I do solemnly swear that I … will vote on or before the 12 (of November) for Donald J. Trump for president.”

Candidate Trump didn’t describe it as such, but when critics chastised him for demanding unconditional allegiance to his campaign, that is, invoking a loyalty oath, he responded, “They started screaming at me, ‘Do the swearing!’ I mean, they’re having such a great time. … Honestly, I didn’t know it was a problem.” (more…)