Elbows Up Canada

 

Ever since the Americans have elected their wackjob, extortionist, President Trump, Canada has had to deal with his threats, reneging of agreements, and bullying. Fortunately we have elected a Prime Minister who is the exact opposite in terms of temperment, intelligence, and respectful standing with the rest of the world. And while Carney charts a badly needed diversification path for our country, the rest of us also need to get serious about how we can do our part to reduce our reliance on the U.S.

The most obvious thing we can do is boycott American products and buy Canadian or other country brands instead. There is no shortage of beer, wine, and hard liquor to choose from around the world and they are all, without a doubt, of much better quality. The same goes for food, whatever we don't produce ourselves (and we should be doing even more) we can buy fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. In fact there is probably nothing we need that we can't get from somewhere else that's better and cheaper. Appliances and electronics already come from Asia, the same for clothing and other textiles, and the list goes on.

The second thing we can do is avoid visiting the U.S. When it comes to travel it's more than past time for Canadians to start exploring their own country. We have sights and scenery that are just as magnificent as anything in the U.S. and the exchange rate is fantastic. If we want more sunshine, Mexico or the Caribbean are right on our doorstep, and for something completely different there is always Europe or Asia. It's also time for all the Snowbirds to put on an extra sweater and say goodbye to spending all their time and money in the U.S.

Contrary to Trump's assertion there is nothing the U.S. needs from Canada there are at least two essential products we supply. Their farmers wouldn't be able to survive without fertilizer and we supply 85% of the magic ingredient in fertilizer which is potash. Crude oil is another product that has become increasingly important to the U.S. refineries who until now have been able to source it at a discount because we didn't have enough pipeline capacity to ship it elsewhere. These are two products which should have an export tax on them to make them more expensive for Americans and provide us with a revenue stream to offset their own tariffs. Better still we should be refining the oil ourselves and building fertilizer plants instead of exporting the raw material.

But the biggest reset we need to work on is our trading relationship with China which goes all the way back to our dumb arrest of the Huawei executive that led to the two Michaels incarceration. Stupidly we sided with the U.S. and we've done it again by putting a 100% tariff on Chinese automobiles (the cheapest and most advanced electric vehicles in the world) to show support for the U.S. auto industry and to try and protect our own auto workers. Not surprisingly China then put a 100% tariff on our canola which effectively throws all our farmers under the bus.

Yes the Canadian auto industry is an important contributor to the economy but when you compare it to the farming industry it's a different story. Instead of trying to be part of a diminishing U.S. auto industry maybe we should be trying to assemble Chinese cars. Or better still putting skilled tradespeople to work in an expanding nuclear power industry that is facing a shortage of millwrights, electricians, boilermakers, pipefitters, welders, sheet metal workers, and control technicians amongst others.

And while the Americans are putting tariffs on our steel exports maybe this is the time to keep it in-house for use in pipelines, high-speed railways and other neglected projects that would boost our productivity. We could also use it for all the tanks, planes, and ships we are supposed to start building as part of our expanded defense budget.

With regards to defense spending the first thing we have to do is cancel the planned order for the American F-35 fighter aircraft and buy the rights to the Saab Gripen which we can manufacture here in Canada. The same goes for all munitions, guns, and tanks, jeeps, and other combat vehicles we could easily build in our neglected auto plants. And now that we've got our naval shipyards back in production after years of neglect there is no reason we can't speed up construction of all the ice-breakers and other ships and support vessels we need. We used to be world leaders in aircraft and shipbuilding capabilities and now the stars are aligning for us to get back in the game and restore our reputation.

And finally there is Canada's North. Here we have the most to gain by investing in ourselves. In addition to military bases we need more roads, upgraded airports, and infrastructure investments in the communities already established. There are also tremendous resources waiting to be extracted including oil & gas, critical minerals of nickel, copper, zinc, and cobalt, deposits of iron ore, coal and uranium, and of course gold. It's almost overwhelming how much there is to do and how much potential this country has but there's never been a better time to roll up our collective sleeves and get our elbows up.

FIFA Vancouver - A $700 Million Circus

 

If anyone ever needed an example of how mixed up Vancouver and the Province of B.C. have gotten with their priorities, never mind their math, you only need to look at the FIFA sponsorship they signed up for to really give your head a shake. The cost to host a portion of the 2026 games has ballooned from an initial estimate of $260 million 3 years ago to $700 million and rising. This works out to $100 million per game and there is no way of getting out of this ludicrous contract.

The government trots out all sorts of rosey predictions of how this will pay for itself in the end with a boost to the economy by all the people staying in the city to attend the games plus the increased future tourism the games will generate as a result of Vancouver being in the world spotlight. What a load of bunk. Vancouver is already well known in the world thanks to Expo 1986 and the 2010 Winter Olympics with the main result being a lot of high-rise construction and overheated property values.

Contrast this with Taylor Swift's recent appearance that didn't cost the city anything and generated a $157 million economic impact. There was $97 million in direct spending for hotels and restaurants etc. and 70% of it was driven by fans coming from outside Vancouver. And to top things off Taylor Swift ended up raising over $2 million for local charities while donating $100,000 to the food bank.

In 2022 voters had to approve a capital borrowing plan of $495 million but strangely there was no voter approval required for the $700+ million for the FIFA event. Already the projected cost of the Aquatic Centre replacement project has gone from $140 million to $170 million and the pool size has been cut in half but at least the money is for something that will last 50 years as opposed to only 7 nights. While the visiting soccer players will have practise fields at their disposal during the games, the swimming community will have to do without a pool for over 3+ years while a new one is being built because the city couldn't come up with the money or the plan to build one in a different location before tearing the old pool down.

Meanwhile TransLink, the Metro Vancouver transit authourity providing bus and Skytrain service is projecting an annual $600 million deficit. A referendum to fund the transit service with a tiny increase in the sales tax was defeated so now the various levels of government are trying to find some other way of squeezing the money out of the taxpayer's pockets. This is on top of the $1.5 billion dollar capital budget for expanding the bus and rapid transit corridors. Transit is an essential service, unlike soccer, yet how is it $700 million magically appears for FIFA but there's no money for our overcrowded bus/Skytrain service? 

Probably the biggest problem facing Vancouver is the Downtown Eastside with its estimated 7,000 drug addicted and mentally challenged street people that have infested an area of approximately 30 square blocks. A new healing centre has opened on the site of the old Riverview Hospital where these people used to be housed but it only has 100 beds and it cost $100 million to build. That works out to $1 million per addict and a potential bill of $7 billion if we want to ever clean up the mess that has been made by closing the original Riverview. Still $700 million would go some way to getting started on a long term problem rather than for just a few nights of entertainment.

Our taxes keep going up but we can't seem to maintain what we already have. Nor does it seem that we know how to prioritize what's important. The Roman Emperors knew that in order to keep the people in line all you needed was bread and circuses. $700 million for FIFA is nothing more than a very expensive circus and as long as everyone has enough bread to eat I guess that's all we're going to get.

Lost City

Vancouverites could be forgiven if they have started to wonder what has happened to their beloved city these days. It all started with Expo 86 of course, when we were all so anxious to show off our magnificent location to the world and embrace the spirit of boosterism that went with the cleaning up of False Creek and the inauguration of a new driverless transit line called Skytrain. And sure enough the world took notice.

Before we knew it there was a construction boom and high-rise apartment buildings were going up all over the place. Overseas money was pouring into developments that were grander, richer, and more fantastic than anything ever constructed before. And property values started to skyrocket.

New high density neighborhoods were popping up in areas like Coal Harbour, the River District, Yaletown, Olympic Village, and the Cambie Corridor, with many others in various stages of planning. This didn't even count the even bigger developments taking place throughout Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley not to mention the North Shore. And in spite of all this supply the prices kept rising.

With all this new housing, traffic on the main roads is at the breaking point and the transit system can barely keep up with the demand. The original Skytrain line from Surrey to Downtown continues to expand with routes throughout Burnaby and Coquitlam, and out to Richmond and the airport. Construction has now started to bring it out to UBC in the west and Langley in the east with planners now looking to find a way to the North Shore. And of course everything is already years behind.

Then there are the unsexy, hidden parts of the city that have to be expanded to handle all of this development. Clean water, a sewage system, and other utilities like natural gas, electricity, and Internet connectivity. With this comes endless disruption as streets are repeatedly dug up and patched. And of course everything goes hopelessly over budget.

From approximately 1.5 million in 1986 to 3 million now, the Metro Vancouver population has doubled since Expo 86 and Vancouver itself has gone from 430,000 to over 600,000 residents. The neighbouring municipalities have also seen rapid growth with Surrey projected to pass Vancouver in population in the next few years. Where all these people have come from is a mystery.

However, in the midst of all this construction there is one thing the City has not kept up with and that is the Parks & Recreation facilities and Community Centres. Vancouver hasn't built a new community centre or swimming pool since 2009 and most of the inventory is more than 50 years old. There a total of only 8 indoor swimming pools of 25 metres or more in length and, with the exception of the Hillcrest pool, they were all in place before 1986. 

In 1986 there was one pool for every 55,000 residents and now in 2025 there is one pool for every 75,000 residents. With the planned closing of the Aquatic Centre in 2026 this will bring it down to one pool for every 85,000 residents. Not only has the City failed to keep up with the facilities required for a growing population they have also failed to maintain the ones they have. There used to be 9 outdoor pools in Vancouver and now there are only 4 with one of them, Kits pool, chronically out of service and 2nd Beach pool is still waiting for the showers and changerooms they were promised 30 years ago when the pool was built in 1995. In contrast Montreal has 74 outdoor pools and Toronto has 57.

The Community Centres and Recreation Facilities are what gives the various neighbourhoods their identity and provides a measure of human scale amidst the concrete jungle. For many folks these facilities are their church, and provide a source of both mental and physical health. In their absence the city becomes increasingly impersonal and residents lose their connectivity with where they live. Of course money is always the issue but with all the money being made by developers there was supposed to be something called Community Amenity Contributions that would go towards providing pools, parks, community centres, improved transit, and other services for an increasingly congested city. 

With every new development the City continues to grow but it's also been slowly losing its soul. Rising property values are pushing out the small merchants that provide character to a neighbourhood and drugs and homelessness are everywhere you look. With many apartments owned by absentee investors, buildings are dark and there aren't the expected number of people living in a given area to support the shops and restaurants. 

Yes times have changed, and we have gotten what we indirectly asked for but one can't help but feel nostalgic for less crowded streets, streets that were free of homeless people hunched over in drugged out oblivion, and well maintained streets and public facilities. Never mind housing and rental prices that are within reason. Vancouver has certainly been discovered but, for those who live here, it's in danger of becoming lost.

Looking Out My Back Door

 

Imagine my surprise the other day when I looked outside my window and saw a rather strange looking ship sitting at anchor in English Bay. Wondering what type of ship it was, a quick search identified it as a first of its kind ship-to-ship refuelling vessel, owned by Seaspan, that instead of diesel it supplies LNG. With LNG now coming into its own as a transition fuel for the shipping industry, this is a welcome improvement to the dirty bunker oil most ships are using. 

And in keeping with cleaner, low carbon solutions for the shipping industry, Vancouver is now one of the few places in the world to have electric tug boats operating in its harbour. With a fleet of over 200 tugs SAAM Towage is the largest tugboat operator in the Americas, and adding electric tug boats is a big game changer for the industry. Quiet, pollution free, and providing instant power when needed, tug captains are singing their praise.

But they weren't the first electric tugs to appear in Vancouver. The first electric tug in Canada, and the world, was the Haisea Wamis, owned by HaiSea Marine, a collaboration between the Haisla Nation and Seaspan. HaiSea now has a fleet of three electric tugboats and all of them are up in Kitimat where they are providing escort towing services for the LNG industry.

Both the HaiSea Marine and SAAM Towage tugs were built in the Sanmar shipyard in Turkey where most of the world's tugboats are made. Designed by Robert Allan Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and powered by Corvus Energy, two innovative firms, both founded in Vancouver, that have become leaders in clean marine technology.

Of course what links all this together is the new LNG facility in Kitimat that, after 7 years of negotiations with First Nations and various levels of government, followed by more than 7 years of constructing pipelines, processing units, tanks, and marine terminals, is finally getting ready to open. While still considered a fossil fuel, natural gas is viewed by many as a transitional fuel source for the world as it slowly shifts to nuclear, solar, and other sources of renewable energy. With some of the world's largest natural gas reserves and being the world's 5th largest producer of natural gas, Canada is well positioned to take advantage of this transition.

While the Haisla peoples in and around Kitimat have partnered with the LNG Canada consortium to provide employment opportunities for the community at the facility itself, the actual construction of the 670 km. pipeline by Coastal GasLink was considerably more complicated. Agreements had to be signed with all 20 bands along the route from Fort St. John to Kitimat and this exposed the decision-making challenges that had to be addressed between elected and hereditary leaders. There were numerous protests and court challenges but eventually the work proceeded and the pipeline was built. 

The Kitimat facility will be the first LNG export facility in Canada. LNG, which is natural gas cooled to a liquid state at extremely low temperatures, is loaded onto specially designed vessels where the gas is kept in tanks at a temperature of -162C for transport. This process reduces the volume of natural gas by 600 times making it easy to store. Since LNG does not contain oxygen it cannot support combustion making it very safe to handle. If LNG is somehow released it quickly vapourizes and disappears into the atmosphere without leaving any residue behind. LNG shipping has one of the best records in the world without a single cargo loss since the first commercial ship went into operation in 1964. Good thing because the Kitimat facility anticipates an LNG tanker leaving every day.

The miles of pipes in the Kitimat LNG facility are enough to bewilder any casual observer and even more amazing is that they come in pre-manufactured modules, 10 storeys high, from China that are then assembled on site. If all goes well a second phase is planned that will double production. But this isn't the only LNG export facility planned for B.C. there is also the Woodfibre LNG in Squamish, Ksi Lisims LNG in Gingolx, Cedar LNG in Kitimat, and Tilbury LNG in Delta that are coming on stream. Of course these facilities also require a tremendous amout of power to operate, whether it is hydroelectric, natural gas or a combination of the two but clearly they represent the future in terms of a net new energy source.

The U.S. has been quick to take advantage of Europe's need for LNG, following the destruction of the Russian Nordstream pipelines during the Ukranian war, but Canada was left out in the cold. So far all of our export facilities are based on the west coast with an eye on the Asian market. A pipeline to the East Coast is needed to open up the European market. Now that we have finally woken up to the threat of the U.S. to our economy and perhaps our very existence, this could be the opportunity for us to get moving on finally building a robust LNG export business. Change is in the air and looking out my back door I'm seeing a lot of LNG.

Let It Be

 

With 2025 already off to a rocky start thanks to governments everywhere falling apart, a psychotic buffoon elected President of the U.S.A., intractable wars in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and the everlooming threat of climate change hanging over the world, there's never been a better time to consider the merits of stoicism. The problems of the world are too overwhelming and unsolvable so, rather than sink into despair, stoicism offers up a different way of looking at things and managing our emotions.

Take warfare for example. For over 2,000 years Europe has been at war with itself in a seemingly endless clash of ideology and religion to establish the boundaries of nations and empires in one form or another. From Greek and Roman empires through to the Middle Ages and then World Wars 1 and 2 it has never let up and here we are at it again with the Ukraine and Russia. Since it doesn't seem likely this will ever end or that the Europeans will ever learn from history why should we worry about it? Even before the Europeans, the various empires of the Middle East have been conquering one another over the ages with the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Ottomans, and ultimately the Europeans trying to take control of the region with predictable results. Once again add a little ideology and religion into the mix and you have perfect conditions for endless warfare.

Global warming is another example of something we may have to examine in a different way. There's no denying we have put more CO2 into the atmosphere as a result of our fossil fuel consumption but unfortunately this is only going to get worse because our energy consumption is growing faster than we can supply it rather than slowing down. Even as we add solar, wind, and nuclear energy we still need the fossil fuels and other energy sources to maintain all of our activities. Energy intensive facilities such as new data centres to power AI and other technologies, are only adding to the problem. As energy historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz points out in his book, More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, evolving high-energy societies incorporate their old energy addictions into new ones to solve more problems and, as a result, consume more energy of any kind. Rather than transitioning from consuming wood to coal, for example, we end up using even more wood to build timbers in coal mines and for building railways to haul the coal. Likewise we use even more coal to manufacture steel and other products to enable us to extract oil and transport it by pipeline.

Guera Mountains in southern Chad

There is however a positive aspect to all this increased CO2 in the atmosphere and that is the planet is starting to get greener. From the semi-arid Sahel region, a 3,900 km area stretching east-west across Africa south of the Sahara desert, to the deserts of northern China and southeast Australia, the world's drylands are turning green and the reason is surprisingly simple. Plants grow by photosynthesis (sunlight, water, CO2) and the high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere makes it easier for this to occur and lets the plants use less water in the process. According to a Yale University study, validated by the University of California, there has been a 12% increase in photosynthesis world wide since 1982 as a result of this CO2 fertilization. So, while the Earth is indeed warming, the threat of desertification is receding and plants are moderating the build-up of gas in the atmosphere.

Alpine National Park in Victoria, Australia

Until we use up all the fossil fuels on Earth we will continue burning them and, as we continue to electrify the grid, our energy consumption will also increase as we mine more and more rare minerals to build the cars, solar panels, windmills, data centers, and nuclear power plants that will follow. We already know the end result of a warming planet is more rapidly melting polar caps, flooding, hurricanes, and forest fires but, because we can't prevent these things from happening, we instead need to learn how to live with these events and build our cities accordingly.

For example in Whitehorse, Yukon a 20 kilometre long fuel break around the south end of the city is being built to help prevent a wildfire from entering. The width of the break is between a few hundred metres to two kilometres. By removing coniferous trees and shrubs from the landscape and replacing them with slower-burning deciduous trees like aspen, the city will have a "living infrastructure" to help with firefighting efforts. Keeping buildings away from flood plains is another obvious preventative measure cities could encourage.

In the end the world's problems may not ever be solvable but there may be steps that can be taken to mitigate how they affect us. Focusing on happiness rather than despair will take some of the stress out of our lives. By practising a little Stoicism we may learn to simply let it be. 

Make Canada Great Again

Now that we've gotten over the shock of a convicted criminal and corrupt businessman being elected by the supporters of law and order, a sex offender and sexist pig being elected by women, a racist and anti immigration champion being elected by blacks and hispanics, and a sacrilegious, spiteful, liar being elected by the Christians, we need to move on and recognize the world is rapidly changing. Rather than wringing our hands in despair Canadians need to embrace the opportunities this change offers us in spite of tariff threats and other sabre rattling. A slap across the face and a kick in the ass is a good way for us to finally wake up.

First on the chopping block should be the dairy and other marketing boards that serve no other purpose except to inflate the cost of milk and cheese while protecting the incomes of the farmers who have managed to secure a quota. The farmers claim that without a marketing board they will go broke. Years ago a similiar situation existed in New Zealand where farmers went from a highly protected market to a very competitive open market and soon became a major exporter of dairy products in the process, thanks to improved efficiency and productivity. We could do the same.

If the Trump administration wants to bring in tariffs on our highly integrated auto industry then its a good time to shut down our subsidized car factories and ask for our money back from those companies who received grants, tax relief, and loan guarantees. With the world Electric Vehicle (EV) market now increasingly dominated by China, which has also cornered the market in car batteries, especially with the recent bankruptcy of Northvolt, we can now cancel the multi-billion dollar subsidies we promised to Volkswagen, Stellantis and others to try and build a competitive battery business. Nobody is going to want or need these batteries and it will save us billions.

Instead of being hewers of wood and drawers of water we should be adding value to our mining, forestry, and petroleum products. Rather than selling cheap crude oil to the U.S. let's refine it ourselves and sell them more expensive gasolene and diesel. Instead of selling raw ore to the U.S. or anyone else let's smelt it and produce the copper, zinc, and steel like we used to in places like Sudbury and Hamilton. And instead of exporting logs and 2x4's why not open up a pre-fab factory and sell pre-made houses?

And with regards to our NATO spending commitments this is a perfect opportunity for us to open up the North with roads connecting some of the communities like the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension, upgrading northern airports with Instrument Landing System (ILS) electronics so they can function in all types of weather, and building deep water ports to service icebreakers and other naval patrol ships. Billions can also be added to the economy by building ships, planes and armoured vehicles in-house which we used to do a lot more of. Remember that at the end of WW2 Canada had the world's 4th largest airforce and navy in spite of our relatively small population.

Best of all we can stop dragging our feet on producing nuclear power. We already have a world leading technology with our CANDU reactors and we should be the leaders in Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) development to power our northern communities as well as providing electricity to mining and other operations in remote areas. Demand for clean electricity is increasing by the day and adding more nuclear power plants to the electrical grid will give us yet another valuable product to export.

For too long Canada has been much too dependant on the U.S. for its economic survival and been all too happy to operate with a branch plant mentality. It's time we shook off those shackles and took advantage of our natural resources wealth to develop the industries the world needs and is willing to pay full price for. If we are going to subsidize anything let it be our own organizations and factories not the subsidiaries of American, European, or Asian companies. It's time for us to pull up our bootstraps and make Canada great again.