suds

Sounds reasonable to me bud. These 'killer drones' are going to completely change the ways in which wars will be fought. Interesting times we live in, eh?

I can understand your concerns. But, for example... under DARPA initiatives, Northrup Grumman has developed the Manta Ray drone. An uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) with almost full autonomy. A 'fire and forget' weapon that has only one task... to try and sink its target whether ship or submarine. If unsure about it's target, it communicates near the surface via satellite with a controller that gives it the ok. After its task is completed its usefulness is terminated. Israel is also working on something quite similar known as the 'blue whale' system. And this I'm afraid is only the beginning.

I've always supported the procurement of decent submarines to protect Canadian waters. But lately, I'm not so sure anymore. In 5 or 10 years once AI really kicks in, what risk will be assessed to manned submarine crews against underwater killer drones? Even today, Hamas has some sort of them at their disposal. Will they be effective enough to make manned submarine crews obsolete? Maybe we could become leaders in anti submarine drone warfare technology and fill our waters with hundreds of them. Something to consider in my opinion.

The old lady with COPD would be exempt from the $100 charge..... "Those exempt from paying the $100 fee include health-care workers; residents of continuing-care homes and senior living accommodations; home-care clients; individuals with underlying medical conditions and compromised immune systems; individuals experiencing homelessness; and seniors (65 and older) who receive the Alberta Seniors Benefit." 401,000 doses wasted at a cost of $44.1 million is a bit of a gut punch. Waste is always a prime concern especially in healthcare where dollars are stretched to the limit. Taking into account the short shelf life of covid vaccine, and not having at least fairly accurate figures of the number of people who want to get vaccinated.... are there no other avenues to try in eliminating much of that waste? I can think of a few but they themselves involve cost.

The most basic definition of democracy is mob rule, so let's not go there. As a rights issue, all rights are not absolute. Especially when one's rights, or a group's rights, interferes with the fundamental rights of others. I'm not saying that's what's happening in this case, but it could be. Church goers may feel intimidated by their presence. Since they've been there praying and protesting every Sunday for the last 7 months, nobody can say their rights have been violated. At least so far. In Quebec, I believe you require a permit to protest in public places. When I made the statement of this being 'not good', I was referring to the involvement of the protesters and the counter protesters with the probability of the situation getting out of hand. In general I agree with your post but in certain situations there are limitations (on rights) and that's for the Courts to decide.

For the last 7 months, Muslims have been holding Sunday prayers and protests outside Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica. I would imagine the protests are largely anti Israel. Quebec politicians are calling it 'intimidation'. Are they right? Or is there some other significance for this particular location? The prayers and protests outside the Basilica are being met with counter protests by Quebec Nationalists. This is not good.

Canada, and plenty of other countries can also go on printing sprees but risk inflation. Since the USD is the world's largest foreign central bank reserve holding (followed by gold btw), when the US goes on a printing spree the inflation created is more spread out when exported to those other country's USD reserve holdings. It's a good place to be, just don't screw it up by printing too much and have those foreign banks start losing confidence in the dollar and start dumping USD's. Because if that ever happens, all those USD's will likely end up back in the US if there are no buyers. And then you'll witness inflation like you've never witnessed before. Some refer to it as when the chickens come home to roost.

Yep! Excellent article. Australia has 10 LNG terminals. The U.S. has built 8 since 2016. For being one of the world's largest natural gas producers, Canada has 1 on the west coast that opened only a short while ago. Europe comes to Trudeau pleading for our natural gas and other resources after Ukraine war begins. Trudeau says.... sorry, no business case. We're just a bunch of schmucks getting what we deserve. I hate to say this but it's true.

I would say a union similar to BLM and Antifa in the States. Which I thought was a mistake on BLM's part. I can always support a group standing up for their rights, but not if they're tied to another group that wants to bring down the U.S. government for example. The LGBTQ community might be better off keeping their distance from Q4P, because that's where things get far more complicated and all of a sudden it's not all about rights any more. Just my opinion.

Can anyone explain what Israel has to do with a pride parade? I question this because from what I understand, the LGBTQ community is treated a hell of a lot better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East. As for Carney and the Liberals there's a saying.... when you stand for everything it always ends up that you stand for nothing.

Ok, I'll take one more shot at this. In the last 25 years (according to Statscan) it's unusual to see a drop in total number of small businesses in Canada. And the few times it's happened it's generally only in the thousands and not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. But now it's being predicted 20% of small businesses might go under which is close to 200,000. I hope this helps.

I agree fully with your statistics but you're fixated on startups. The opening post refers to 'small businesses' which the total amount of small businesses in Canada outnumbers startups by about 20 to 1.

In 2023, there were 1.07 million small businesses in canada (a small business being defined as having between 1-99 employees). Approximately 50,000 startups are established each year. Going by your 21.5% figure, it means about 10,000 new startups will fail. Now compare that 10,000 figure to 20% of 1.07 million which is approximately 200,000 small businesses expected to go under. You're comparing apples to oranges.

I agree. My point is that none of this had to happen. It could have been prevented.

Interesting possibility as even Russia has shown interest in the past concerning membership. Things would have to get back to normal first but it's worth discussing.

Well bravo! That is quite a bargain for $10B. But at what cost though in terms of lives lost, overall destruction, loss of food production, energy shortages, the hundreds of billions spent on munitions? I'm sure we could add to that list. And as I've already tried to explain it's a little more than defeating the Russians in Ukraine. It's what the world looks like afterwards.

Biden's ineptitude in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is likely one of the reasons that led to it. His remark about turning a blind eye to a Russian 'minor incursion' in Ukraine was also a major mistake. The man was just plain incompetent.

Of course! I was reading a column just this morning by Conrad Black. The key to these talks is to 'not antagonize Russia to the point of it becoming a client state of China'. And that what is needed 'is a non-aggression agreement between Nato and Russia, with a general guarantee of Ukraine's revised borders'. What we don't want or don't need is forcing the Russians into a Russian-Chinese alliance against the West. I doubt that Russia would feel too comfortable with such an alliance either. Trying to cool down hostilities between Russia and the West is not traitorous but good statesmanship.

Those are wise words. Especially for those who take our rights and freedoms for granted. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

One simple question I'd like to ask these western leaders who so matter of factly support recognizing Palestinian statehood is what they'd do if they were in the Prime Minister of Israel's position. When you carry the weight of a nation's security on your shoulders it certainly could change your perspective.

That's basically the way the system is designed to work. If you don't like the Nova Scotia ban (or even certain parts of it), or if you believe your rights have been violated, or the government has overreached with its authority, you have the right to challenge it in the courts as some individuals and groups have already done. And that's about it.

I'm not so sure if this country can afford another 4 years. We've already squandered a decade.

Over the centuries there has been enough hostility 'over there' to fill volumes. Hostility isn't exactly something that the Jews introduced. In this particular case there was a clash between Zionism and Arab nationalism. By far not the worst thing that ever happened but it sure gets the most ink.

You're right that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all share their spiritual roots with Abraham. But I wouldn't go as far to say that they have more in common than differences. It's interesting that praying Muslims initially faced Jerusalem instead of Mecca. It's believed they did this to try and get the Jews to join their faith. The Jews of course declined which created a certain amount of hostility between the two.

So the UN will soon recognize this new state of Palestine which will be a predominantly Arab state (which goes without saying). And the Arabs will recognize the state of Israel but never as a Jewish state. The Right of Return will see to that. The new state will be demilitarized, Hamas will be no more, and there will be free and fair elections. Right. Can't see anything going wrong here.