Only On The Walters Post

Now, I’m not here to tell folks what to think, I’m just sharing what life has shown me. Take from it what makes sense, leave the rest, but maybe let it sit with you a while.

So there’s this old farm auction out on the edge of town, dusty lane, row of pickups, folks in ball caps and boots looking over used tractors and a pile of split cedar posts.

Up pulls Pierre Poilievre, hops out of a half-ton that’s seen a gravel road or two. He strides in quick, starts shaking hands, asking what the last diesel bill was, and nodding along when someone grumbles about interest rates. He’s got a bit of a sharp tongue, pokes at the auctioneer for charging too much commission, and tells a joke about how the government’s taxes are like raccoons — always finding a way into your bin. Folks laugh, some clap him on the back.

Then along comes Mark Carney. Now, he doesn’t exactly drive in — he arrives with a shiny hired car from the city. He’s polite, soft-spoken, and when someone asks what he thinks about land prices, he talks about “leveraged debt positions” and “macroprudential tools.” A couple of local farmers scratch their heads, wonder what the hell that means, and drift off to check the plows. Carney stands there smiling, checking his watch, thinking maybe he’s got to be on a call with some London banker in an hour.

When the auction starts, Pierre’s bidding on a used stock trailer, saying it’ll help a rancher keep costs down. Carney’s mostly just observing, probably figuring out how farmland fits into global climate asset models.

By the end of the day, both shake hands and head off. Pierre goes off to grab a burger with the locals, Carney back to his next big finance meeting.

Moral of the story?
They’re both smart men in their own way. But if you’re looking for someone who talks like your neighbor about feed bills and mortgage payments, it sure isn’t Carney. He’s thinking more about how Canada fits into the world’s banking puzzle, often with a soft spot for how they do things across the pond in the UK.

Poilievre’s aiming to be the loud voice for the average fellow at the farm gate — though time’ll tell if he truly walks that walk.

Until the next time, keep your minds open and your stories alive. GW

Only On The Walters Post

Now, I’m not here to tell folks what to think, I’m just sharing what life has shown me. Take from it what makes sense, leave the rest, but maybe let it sit with you a while.

You know, I’ve been doing some reading lately on this big push for electric vehicles here in Canada, and I’ll tell you straight. I don’t think we’re going about it the right way.

They’re talking about forcing car companies to hit twenty percent EV sales by 2026, then banning new gas and diesel cars by 2035. Trouble is, no one seems to be asking the simple question: can we even handle it?

As it stands, right now, we don’t have near enough charging stations, or the power grid upgrades needed to keep all these batteries humming. And speaking of batteries, have folks really looked into what goes into them? Mining for lithium, cobalt, and nickel tears up the land somewhere else, and often in places with little to no environmental safeguards. Then there’s the dirty truth about what happens when these massive batteries wear out. They’re not exactly easy to recycle, and that’s a pile of hazardous waste waiting for the next generation.

Meanwhile, here in Canada, we’ve got plenty of oil and natural gas. It’s our bread and butter, puts food on the table for countless families, and keeps small towns alive. Instead of tearing down what we have, why aren’t we putting our heads together to make our traditional engines cleaner? We’ve already come a long way, as modern gas and diesel engines are nothing like the old smoke-belchers. With a bit more effort, we could keep refining them so they’re even easier on the environment.

And let’s not forget, our electricity isn’t all coming from wind or water. Much of it still burns fossil fuels, so pushing everyone into EVs doesn’t magically clean things up. It just shifts where the pollution happens, usually out of sight and out of mind.

Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t look for new tech. But I am saying we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Seems to me, we ought to be improving what we already have, making the most of our own resources, and ensuring Canadians can keep moving without having to pay the folks in charge, for the privilege.

That’s how I see it, anyway.

Until the next time: Keep Your Minds Open & Your Stories Alive. GW

Only On The Walters Post

Now, I’m not here to tell folks what to think, I’m just sharing what life has shown me. Take from it what makes sense, leave the rest, but maybe let it sit with you a while.

There’s been a new poll making the rounds, done by the Pew Research Center, saying more Canadians these days see the United States as a threat. They found that 59 percent of Canadians now think of the U.S. as their biggest threat, up from just 20 percent back in 2019.

But even with that, the same poll says 55 percent of Canadians still see the U.S. as our most important ally. So it’s a strange mix, as folks see them as both a friend and a danger.

Now, here’s how I look at it. I’ve lived here in Canada all my life, over seventy years, and my father before me did too. Folks like us, who’ve been here for generations, are the ones whose say is slowly losing ground. It seems to me it’s not so much long-time Canadians feeling this way, but more the result of having a growing number of people coming in from other parts of the world, bringing different views with them.

Don’t get me wrong, I welcome most folks making a new life here, but it changes how these surveys come out. It’s like our voices, the people who built this country and lived side by side with the U.S. through thick and thin, are getting a bit drowned out.

As for Trump, well, sure, he was abrupt and a some didn’t care for his way of speaking. But to me, he was just calling a spade a spade, telling it like it is. That kind of straight talk may rub some folks the wrong way, yet it’s the kind of honesty I’ve always appreciated.

So when I read that Canada now sees the U.S. as more of a threat, I take it with a grain of salt. From where I sit, most folks I know still see the United States as our best friend and strongest ally. We might not agree on everything, but that’s family for you.

Until the next time: Keep Your Minds Open & Your Stories Alive. GW