As of this writing, we are still in a national rail shutdown.
The cost of such will pass through the millions quickly and rocket into the billions before you can punch the numbers into your calculator.
The government thinks it can have this stalemate over in days, others say it could be a lot longer than that. Based on the response from the Teamsters Union, the path forward might be more complicated than Minister MacKinnon was betting on.
Here’s the latest from Canadian Press:
Teamsters challenge minister’s move to resume rail service as shutdown drags on
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I like to think of myself as someone who has been lucky enough to have travelled everywhere in Canada.
Lucky is the right word too, as having been a journalist for almost sixty years now, I’ve seen every province and every territory. I’ve been along all three coasts. I’ve stopped in dozens if not hundreds of small towns and big cities. Yes, I’ve been very lucky. But “everywhere” is not the right word, because there will always be new places to explore and discover.
This has been one of those times, as I’ve been in western Newfoundland for a few days and it is no less spectacular than so many other parts of the country. I landed at Deer Lake and drove the forty-five minutes to Woody Point, where the great Stephen Brunt had asked me to drop into the Woody Point Writers Festival for a few sessions with some guys named Rick Mercer and Elamin Abelmahmoud.
In the meantime, you see amazing vistas like these dotted through the Gros Morne National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site):
And the local craft shops offer up terrific examples of art like this:
So lucky I remain, as I amble through my sunset years still travelling and seeing this remarkable country in areas I’ve never seen before. And there’s still lots more to see.
Shortly after I retired from the CBC in 2017 and stepped down after almost thirty years as the Chief Correspondent of CBC News and anchor of The National, there was a knock at my door at our home in Stratford, Ontario.
It was a quiet autumn Sunday afternoon. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see a well-known, senior member of the Justin Trudeau cabinet standing there. She said she’d just happened to be in town and was walking by with her sister who mentioned that this was the house where I lived. She said she had an idea and wanted to put it forward. What are you going to do? Slam the door in their faces after telling them to hit the road? Of course not, I asked them in. Cynthia made some tea, and we got down to the “idea.”
It was the Senate. My surprise guest thought I’d make a good senator and suggested I apply, which is supposedly the way it’s done these days. I have no reason not to believe the “just walking by” theory and therefore no reason to believe it was premeditated.
But it doesn’t really matter because I wasn’t interested, I’d always thought former journalists hopping into a cushy seat in the Senate wasn’t a good look. And I knew there would be a certain backlash from some that would be nasty for me and no good for the CBC. I’ve seen some journalist-to-Senate success stories like my old friend Jimmy Munson who used a Chretien Senate appointment to do some exemplary charitable work and promote that cause, but I had a hard time thinking it would work for me. As a result, it was a short but pleasant conversation and then the sisters continued their walk. I never heard anything more about it.
All this came back to mind this week as I watched the fallout from a Manitoba broadcaster being appointed to the Senate. Take it away Cameron MacIntosh of CBC:
Broadcaster Charles Adler wants to meet with Manitoba chiefs after calls to pull Senate appointment
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One more piece on this and it’s an interesting look back on how we got here.
Tasha Kheiriddin had this opinion piece in the National Post:
Tasha Kheiriddin: Trudeau's 'independent' Senate is a sham
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Every once in a while, you’ll hear about an ad on television that seems to have gone to the wrong photo library to get some of its visuals.
It’s either an accident or just really sloppy work. But as we say, “sh*t happens,” and you move on. Correct, apologize and then scrap the ad or fix it.
Enter the Conservative Paty’s mega-dollar (I assume it’s mega-dollar cause they sure are shaking the bushes and getting lots of cash donations) ad machine.
Turns out, they couldn’t be more sloppy than this. Check it out with Irish Mae Silvestre of the Daily Hive:
Poilievre’s Canadian dream ad deleted after visuals revealed to be non-Canadian
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So, it’s official now. Kamala Harris has accepted her party’s nomination and the Democrats’ seemingly flawless summer rolls on.
It is remarkable how error-free they have been because every campaign makes mistakes along the way. Mind you, there are still many weeks to go.
Remember way back when Joe Biden was running for President? Seems like ages ago now but really it wasn’t that long ago. He had a one-word theme to his campaign. It was “democracy.”
Well, in the seven weeks that Kamala Harris has been the Democratic nominee that word has changed. It’s now “freedom.” You could argue they’re pretty much the same, but no, there’s a difference and Harris is making the most of it, as the Washington Post points out:
How Kamala Harris shifted Democrats’ message from ‘democracy’ to ‘freedom’
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Time now for the trashy, gossipy part of The Buzz.
Come on, we can’t be highbrow every week. I couldn’t pass up this piece in the Daily Mail where we are asked to believe that the royals spend as much time gossiping about others as we do about them:
Queen Elizabeth II said Donald Trump was 'very rude
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Ok, that aside, I think there’s been a lot of good, important stuff in The Buzz this week. But trust me, this next story is the only one you’ll remember six months from now.
For it, we go back across the pond to this gem from the Daily Express:
'Face of Jesus' unveiled by AI using Shroud of Turin after astonishing discovery
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Okay, time to head for the airport and the flight home from these gorgeous sights in western Newfoundland. I leave Woody Point with music still ringing in my ears from a concert with the Newfoundland folk band the Dardanelles headed up among others with Tom Power. Yes, that Tom Power:
