Equal treatment in Canada

 The Editorial "Alberta just wants equal treatment in Canada" was an interesting read. With the highest salaries in Canada it will be hard for Alberta to be equal in terms of overall wealth (they are wealthier and do not pay the high Provincial Income Taxes that are paid in other provinces or the extra Health Tax which we pay in Ontario). In terms of representation in parliament, Ontario continues to be the most under represented in Parliament. I still think the original idea of the founders to think in terms of region (the Senate is based on this principle) has merit. Each region has specific interests and when the Western Premiers gathered to meet I thought that is really a good idea. They are a large region land wise and potential untapped value in these areas is huge so looking towards the future as a co-operating group is a really good idea. Alberta and Saskatchewan are basically landlocked areas depending on passage to the east through Manitoba but also through the Northwest Territories or to the west through British Columbia but also the Yukon with its access to the Arctic Ocean. So the co-operation between the western provinces/territories is really very important (which the Founders clearly noted and planned for in the original drawing up of borders in the Prairie provinces). In the east we have my province Ontario with its huge population, Toronto forms the centre in terms of business (used to be Montreal but talks of separation caused that city to lose hugely at the time as the race to be in Toronto began and is still ongoing). Toronto is ideally placed within Canada with its access to the Great Lakes that can take it west to Thunder Bay (and we await the Trans Canada being widened!) or east to the Atlantic via the St Lawrence Seaway which we built ourselves in the 1950s as the Americans were not interested in building that with us; for a small country we have pulled our weight on this continent quite remarkably until the mid 1960s which was a mistake that we are rectifying. You can tell we are moving back into that direction because of the heavy use of the Bridge between the United States and Canada at Sarnia since the bridge at Detroit/Windsor has been inadequate for quite a while. Hence Canadian taxes paid to build the new bridge at Detroit/Windsor in its entirety (using 50% Canadian and 50% American materials) so that there was better access between the two highways for the truckers and they shouldn't have to make that huge detour all the way to Sarnia to go back and forth. Sharing the tolls with Michigan once the bridge is repaid to Canadian taxes is a good sharing between two friendly nations - the benefits huge for the population of Michigan. The needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few because trickle down economics is a failed idea. It takes one back to the Dark Ages in the history of Homo sapiens in the Eastern Hemisphere. 

But I digress from Alberta. Certainly as a Canadian and an Ontarian I appreciate Alberta very much. The founders knew very well what they were acquiring with the acquisition of Rupert's Land and did due diligence in seeing that the original inhabitants (First Nations) were properly recompensed then and into the future. Billions of dollars have been poured into Alberta (particularly during the Great Depression as well as the explorations to use the oil in the oilsands) from Canadian taxes and Canada deserves to be recompensed in a reasonable way for that huge expense (the value of Alberta must be 30 trillion and likely more to purchase).  Since this is about Alberta I will not dwell on the other regions of Canada which include Central Canada (Quebec and Ontario) and the Maritime Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island which were joined by Newfoundland in 1949 when they joined Confederation and we linked Labrador with the new province). Each region has its own specific needs and one must always bear in mind that Quebec using the French language has been a challenge within Confederation however the use of the French language and culture has expanded far beyond the borders of Quebec and other provinces are now officially bilingual. It has enlarged our intelligence speaking two languages for sure. 

So yes we appreciate Alberta within Confederation; we are not jealous that you have the highest salaries in Canada. After all in Ontario we have lived in the shadow of Toronto all of my life where if it involved Toronto it got done and if it didn't then you waited and tried to work Toronto into the estimate! I lived in London until I was thirty and when we moved to Ottawa 51 year ago one could see how much that city has suffered from inadequate funding because it wasn't Toronto. The 416 was basically a two lane terror trip home for many many years having already driven the 401 for most of the way from London to Ottawa until finally a Premier from the north changed that and we have a four lane highway 416)! However that Toronto centralization is changing a little perhaps as I see the mine in the north that has been wanting to happen is going to happen at long last after more than two decades and the road apparently is finally going to be built according to Premier Ford. Thank you. 

So yes we want to see Alberta prosperous and will continue to pour money into future projects from the taxes of all the people of Canada. Just wanted to write that down in case anyone doubted how much Alberta is appreciated within Confederation. But personally if the First Nations are not satisfied with events in Canada then I think that is wrong; they have been at our side from the earliest days helping to make Canada great and we should respect their knowledge of the land. Am I descendant of the First Nations, no I am not simply an appreciative Canadian noting the great contributions that have been made by the First Nations and continue to be made. Helping them to re-establish their villages/towns with the same excellent conditions which we enjoy in our cities/towns/villages is very important. We were meant to walk together in this country just as Tecumseh walked (read that as worked together) with Brock to save Canada more than 200 years ago. 

As for Senate representation that is purely decorative but helpful on a regional basis which was the whole purpose of the Senate - to keep everybody happy within Confederation. With proposed unbalanced number of senators in the Western Region we might miss seeing something needed/revised in one of the four provinces or two territories. The presence of six senators in each of these four provinces is essential in order to know what is happening in these provinces. The Senate is large enough unless one is adding for the Territories. The voting in the Senate is not really consequential because eventually when the regions are satisfied with bills then the vote of the House of Commons will prevail. At the moment I do see Yukon and the Northwest Territories very under represented considering the role these two territories will play in the expansion of trade by Canada and the desire to work the valuable deposits within these areas over the next decades.  

Not what I planned to write at all. Today is a work day and will run my Copilot program to look at the Blake matches. Should be interesting. One item to note is that the files which Copilot produced for me had stripped out the formatting that I had in the Excel document.  Now that isn't a big deal as I can just put it back in by column but it is interesting to note that. Plus the file that was produced was out of order but I had a column which lets me restore the original order. Little items that are not consequential but would require me to have extra lines in the program in order to have the perfect file that I now have. The tradeoff though is excellent as producing the files myself would have required my writing a python program which takes time and has to be trialed taking up even more time. Eventually AI will have protocols perhaps that can be readily called upon but will probably always need the human eye to regard the file and ensure that what one has thought will be produced is produced. 

Like the advance into the computer age (I was into computers back in the mid 60s and watched as the world caught up) saving money wise/time wise is unlikely. What was promised as a time saver was certainly not that as the size of companies swelled in order to make use of all the advantages of computers. I think the same will be true of AI in the long run and sudden changes will be upsetting to the systematic flow of work in industries that try to convert overnight. 

 Solitaire puzzles are next.