“I’m great!  Okay, enough but me. So what do you think of me?” In my mind that’s how the conversation went between President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau at last week’s State Dinner at the White House. I’m sure trade issues, environmental concerns, and Canada’s military support in the Middle East all came up in conversation; but I can’t help but think that at some point the two leaders exchanged winks and knowing head nods. The body language spoke volumes, like, this is really cool. Sure, we might have economic issues to deal with, a refugee crisis, security concerns, an obscene amount of national debt, but that should never get in the way of having a good party; and what a party they had.

In fairness, a state dinner at the White House is not a common occurrence for Canadian PM’s. If I’m not mistaken the last time the head of state from Canada was the guest of honour at the White House was in 1997. President Clinton warmly welcomed Prime Minster Chretien for an evening of Pomp and Circumstance. Let’s see, Clinton and Obama, Democrats; Trudeau and Chretien, Liberals. I find it deliciously ironic that the intelligentsia always campaigns on helping the impoverished, working for the middle class, saving mother earth, but would never dare using photos of a state dinners when campaigning to the masses. That would be too difficult to square. The all-knowing and chosen ones are best fit to suspend reality. There’s no point trying to square the lavishness because it is too complex for simpletons to understand.  It’s something that’s always done, and that should be enough. Oh wait, Prime Minister Harper never had a state dinner in his honour. I’m sure it was simple oversight and had nothing to do with political ideology. (more…)

So far the New Year has a theme to it. Headlines suggest that we’re at a precipice, and good lord, don’t look down.  And yet millions of people every day leave their homes to experience the joys of riding on overcrowded buses and subways and other forms of less than adequate public transportation.  The roads are jammed during rush hour, which now seems to be extended into Saturday and Sunday.  I’m assuming all these people taking public transit in the morning, and those navigating city streets in the hopes of getting somewhere, all left their house for a reason. Like maybe, a job?

God bless the millions, and millions of people who say to themselves, every day, “the four horsemen of the apocalypse may be on the way, but I have bigger things to worry about”.  GDP growth forecasts being lowered, what do you think about that? Interesting, but I got to get Precious to daycare on time.  Price of oil crashes?  My fuel consumption costs just went down because I have to take the kids to hockey, indoor soccer, jazz lessons, piano lessons, Chucky Cheese, to see grandma and grandpa, acting lessons (strictly for my child because he/she is special) and all this by Wednesday of every week.  Stock market takes a beating in 2016? Yeah, that’s bad but I don’t have time to think about it because (more…)

I can only imagine what our newly elected prime minister’s schedule looks like. Given the scope of his responsibility it must be challenge to prioritize his time. Managing to attend summits in Turkey, Paris and Davos, Switzerland, while still tending to the nation’s business, must be taxing. The PM also has to balance the competing needs of the constituents in his riding, as well as every other Canadian in this country. Then, there’s the attention he has to pay to the party base, as well as to those who contributed financially to his campaign.  And then of course there’s the need to find time for legacy issues; the ones that get you into history books, and sometimes burned in the public’s psyche. The thing about legacies is that they are not necessarily created by design. Sometimes it doesn’t work out. For example, our prime minister’s father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canada’s 15th Prime Minister.  

Many Albertans still seethe at the mere mention of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. They think back to the early 80′s, and Trudeau’s National Energy Program, which laid waste to a good portion of Alberta. When you combine the words Alberta and Trudeau, you expect some form of combustion. It’s for that reason I was intrigued to see how our newly crowned Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, would do when visiting the beleaguered province. I suspect it must be a tough pill for Alberta to swallow, asking a Trudeau for help. But ask they should, and must.

I’ll say this about Jr.; he comes across as having far more empathy than his father ever did. That being said, his father was a man of depth; an intellectual, with an extraordinary wit and a sense of timing. He was the smartest guy in the room, and if you needed convincing, he relished the opportunity to prove it. What Alberta doesn’t need right now is a visit from an eastern elitist with an all knowing attitude. I think what they need is to hear some honesty, and to let them know their government won’t make things worse.

For all intents and purposes, the prime minister said all the right things when visiting Alberta. Frankly, there’s not much that neither he nor Ottawa can do at this time. It’s not like they can snap their fingers and set a new price for oil. Saying Ottawa is there to support Alberta is nice, but it can’t be just talk. There is something that could be done right now. (more…)

I came across an article that truly made me burst out laughing. It was an article from the Telegraph. The headline read as follows: “Islamic State forced to halve its jihadist’s monthly salaries in tough times”.  ISIL’s SLT, Senior Leadership Team, (honestly, I’m actually laughing while writing this) in Syria and Iraq released the following statement, “because of the exceptional circumstances that the Islamic State is passing through, a decision was made to cut the salaries of the mujahideen in half.  No one will be exempt from this decision, no matter of his position”. There was no clear explanation as to why terrorists would be forced to take a pay cut. Did the price of suicide vests go up? Was there a run on virgins in paradise, thus increasing the virgin acquisition costs? There was also no mention how those most impacted would respond.  No word if front line terrorists planned on withholding their services.  I guess they could all vote to strike or take some kind of work to rule action. So many unanswered questions.

There’s nothing funny about terrorism, and the ridicule, contempt and derision these mass murderers receive is justly deserved. Now they’ve earned the right to be mocked as well. The absurdity of the article should help all of us put things into perspective. (more…)

Not long ago CAAMP’s Chief Economists, Will Dunning, said to me that economists base their forecasts on their personality.