Gardening and Royal Visits

Tags

Camilla, Canada, jubilee, Newfoundland, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth

Well on this long weekend of the Official Birthday of the Queen, the weather has taken a turn for the warm to really warm. Which is very nice because it gives nature a chance to push out the leaves on trees and flowers everywhere.

I was shopping for spices and herbs at the grocery store and noticed how the package stuff is very expensive now. Per example 100 gr of black pepper is $10. any other spices start at $9.99 for 80 gr which is nothing, and goes up from there some of it as much as $17. this makes no sense at all. So I got an idea, there are certain herbs we use all the time so why not buy them in little pots and plant them in planters on our terrace. This is what I did, I got 4 different herbs for $10, Italian parsley, thyme, mint, chives. They will grow all Summer long and no need to buy them again and it smells very nice. I will look at flowers later but will buy something simple.

This past week we had a visit to Canada of the Heir to the Throne HRH Prince Charles and his wife HRH the Duchess of Cornwall.

There was a lot of news articles in the papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post who got the visit all wrong, which showed that their reporters are not well informed or prefer the same of platitudes instead of facts. It is also tiresome to hear about the dead Diana, she is dead and she is not coming back, that was 25 years ago and frankly who cares. The constant harping on how nice she was etc is nonsense. She was no saint so let’s not get all teary eyed about it. Prince Charles is now married happily with Camilla and that is it, she is also very much appreciated for all the good work she does and is a sensible person, which is a hell of a lot more than can be said about the late Diana.

The other line used by the media and the media in Canada is also guilty of that, is the line that Charles in not popular and will not be king. Really? how do you arrive at that conclusion. The line of succession and the British Constitution does not care what the popular press may think or what Mrs Boopsy in Buttfuck Kansas may like or not like. The reality is that popularity has nothing to do with it. This was the fatal and silly mistake Meghan M. made, thinking that her popularity at the beginning would make her Queen one day. The fact that some people in Canada may not like Charles because of Diana, does not change a thing. When HM Queen Elizabeth dies, he automatically becomes King on that very moment, Camilla will be Queen Consort and that is all there is to it. The new Heir presumptive will be HRH Prince William and then his son HRH Prince George. Harry Meghan who?

In this photo taken in Newfoundland, we see HRH Prince Charles receiving the Royal Salute, behind him is his ADC an Royal Canadian Air Force Officer, and the fellow in Red is a Ranger. The Flag is Prince Charles Royal Standard while he is in Canada.

Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy and this is enshrined in our Constitution, it is impossible to change our Canadian Constitution, because in 1982, the father of our current Prime Minister, Pierre E. Trudeau and the Premiers agreed to an article on amendments and then the Supreme Court made a ruling on the amending formula. So if Canadians wanted to become a Republic with an elected President, we would need unanimous consent from the House of Commons and from the Senate and the consent of 10 Provinces. So as you can see, it ain’t going to happen. Some Provinces who would oppose such changes, Quebec, PEI, Ontario, the Native people of Canada, all have a stake in keeping things the way they are. Since 1982 some Prime Ministers tried to amend the Constitution on various points, they were unable to get unanimous consent and in the end their own government fell. So no an intelligent Prime Minister stays away from such talk.

Yes, Prince Charles one day will be King of Canada. The only way this would not happen would be for him to die or decide like his Uncle to Abdicate, we all know what happen to Edward VIII and Miss Simpson. Why the press continues to weave this silly story, I do not know, I put it on their lack of intelligence, education, knowledge about our Constitution or care in general. It’s cheap and it’s easy to write drivel when the public knows little.

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories, CANADA – MAY 19: Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales waves goodbye from the Canadian Government Plane before departing for the UK at the end of their Platinum Jubilee Royal Tour of Canada on May 19, 2022.

Halifax and back

Tags

Canada, Club, Halifax, J.S.Bach, Jubilee Dinner, Leipzig, life, N.S., Public Gardens

I heard a little story tonight taken from the 1723 City Council Meeting of Leipzig in Saxony where J.S.Bach made his career and where he lived with his family. The City Council was looking to hire a new Cantor (music director) and they had their sight on Georg Philip Telemann who was at the time the most famous musician in Europe. The other candidate was J.S.Bach, the job was offered to Telemann but he turned it down, he had better offers elsewhere. So in the minutes of the meeting you can read that the job was then offered to J.S. Bach though the City Councillor thought he was a mediocre choice.

Last Saturday was the Platinum Jubilee Dinner to celebrate 70 years in the Reign of HM Queen Elizabeth, I was on the committee to organize this dinner at the Club. It was a great evening and the PEI Regimental Band played during dinner. The food was exceptional and everyone had a great evening, even the weather was gorgeous. Because I lost weight I was able to fit into my wool/silk Italian suit very comfortably. The Lieutenant Governor attended as our Vice-regal Patron and she came with her ADC who is Commanding Officer of the HMCS Queen Charlotte, he is quite young, can’t be more than 35. I told him he had a good resemblance like a young Tsar Nicholas II, the Lieutenant Governor laughed, she said, Oh Laurent only you would think of saying such a thing.

Here I am with the two members who worked on this evening for 4 months, I was happy to be able to assist.

On Monday I drove 3 hours in fog and rain to Halifax and because it was Monday lots of big trucks on the road. I was tired when I got to my destination. I picked up the 6 Oriental carpets from the shop Tabrizi who had cleaned them following the traditional method.

Stayed in downtown Halifax one block away from the Provincial Legislature just below the Citadel. Halifax is a big city and it has loads of history and great heritage buildings. It was the first City the British created in 1745 in their war of conquest against France. So the City has this garrison appearance with its great citadel at the top of the hill, forts in the islands defending the approaches to the City. Many old cemeteries to British Officers and soldiers, many in the Royal Navy. The street names are reminders of the old alliances between Prussia, German Principalities and the UK, like Dresden Row, Coburg. Many of the early settlers were also German and Dutch mercenaries brought over from Europe by Britain to fight the French.

The abundance of stone gives the city a great appearance with its Georgian architecture. One place worth visiting in Halifax is the Public Gardens first designed in 1837 and then enlarge and opened to the public in 1875, the designer was Richard Power and this is one of the rare surviving Victoria era garden in Canada. Bedding patterns, exotic foliage, the serpentine, favourite Victorian era flowers, trees, and bushes, there is also the old bandstand, benches, statuary all original of the period. It is a delight to walk in this garden situated along Spring Garden Road.

The Diamond Jubilee Fountain erected in 1897 in the Public Gardens for Queen Victoria.

Shopping in Halifax is also fun, they have quite a variety of luxury products and other items simply hard to find or not available in Charlottetown, we are a very small town. I did stop at IKEA, they have 3 of them, I did not realize that until I looked at the map. I had some items to get for the Club and at the same time I bought dishes for the house. They also have a wonderful chocolate shop on Morris street by the new Library. They had Ginger covered in dark chocolate by Roger’s, a Canadian Company. I also found this coffee cup for Will.

Will loved it!

The drive back was fairly easy, the weather was sunny and warm. I hope to return to Halifax in the Fall with more carpets to clean. Though I was speeding on the Hwy and at the first traffic circle entering Charlottetown, the RCMP caught me. The Officer Parsons was nice enough to let me go with only a $130. ticket, it could have been much worse, I was 20 miles over the speed limit.

Forty Years ago today

Tags

Anniversary, Canada, Charter, Parliament, Queen Elizabeth

Here on Parliament Hill 40 years ago, H.M. Elizabeth II Queen of Canada signed the proclamation enshrining the Charter into the Constitution. Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau signed the document as a witness.

The Charter changed many things in Canada, however some people like the Conservatives under PM Harper did their best to ignore the document, to their peril. The Charter was and is a Liberal Government initiative.

The most progressive governments in Canada have always been the Liberal Party, here are 17 measures they introduced into the lives of Canadians. Conservatives to this day oppose all these measures, maybe this is why they cannot win elections.

On YouTube

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Canada, Judge Brown, NATO, Russia, Ukraine, US Senate, US Supreme court, war

Yesterday I decided to watch for a short while the hearing in the American Senate of Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson for the position of Supreme Court nominee. The American process is very different from the Canadian one for Supreme Court Justices.

In Canada there is no confirmation process, Justices are selected from a list prepared for the Prime Minister by various bodies like the Law Society of Canada and consultative committees who will recommend a list of people and one will be chosen after vetting by the Privy Consul of Her Majesty. A name will then be given to the Prime Minister who will announce who is being nominated. That is it, no partisan nonsense. Judges in Canada are all politically neutral and if they want to keep their jobs better keep to that. The only time you hear from them is when they render a judgement. The Supreme Court in Canada is the Third pillar of our Constitutional Order, independent of any political interference or pressure. A few years ago Conservative PM Harper was unhappy with some judgement of the Supreme Court and made a point of criticizing openly the Chief Justice of the time Beverly MacLachlin, Harper said that the Judges where activists and rewriting laws, etc…

Not only is this totally inappropriate for a PM to do that as head of Government but it creates sort of an American atmosphere of trying to pressure the Court. The Chief Justice never replied to him, kept silent which only reinforced her hand and he looked foolish. PM Harper lost 16 cases at the Supreme Court because the Laws being contested were unconstitutional and poorly written. He was not happy about that, thus his criticism of the Court. He also lost despite trying to name people who he thought conservative and would see matters his way, that backfired and he realized too late that you cannot control the Supreme Court.

In this case I watched Judge Brown being questioned by Senator Cruz, Cotton, Graham, what fools. Cotton implied that she was rewriting laws, his questions were poor, confusing, he did not seem to understand that Laws are written and directions is given by Congress and Judges must abide by the Congress wishes, this is what Judge Brown reminded him time and again. Nope, Cotton did not get that at all. Cruz apparently went to the same Law school as Judge Brown and he raised the whole Race Theory agenda and the Child pornography laws, trying to give the impression that Judge Brown was an activist and soft on crime. As for Graham, what a clown, in an underhanded way, he called her a skunk, saying he had heard that from another senator, he asked her about her religion and if she went to Church, often, how many times in a year, was she some kind of religious freak. He also attacked Biden and his past record and without saying it implied that Biden was not a good choice for President. The abuse the poor woman had to put up with was unbelievable and had nothing to do with her record as a judge. It was a partisan attack to smear her. For someone watching from a foreign country it really does not show the USA in a good light. The Republican are also fascinated with pedophilia, this topic came back time and again. Graham went on and on about it. To the credit of Judge Brown she kept her composure, she spoke very clearly and well, level headed, not taking the bait, not getting angry at the terrible comments and the abuse. She has a superior intellect and that is clear. I stopped watching it, it is simply a disgrace to watch.

More important things are happening at NATO HQ in Brussels this week and our collective fate is in the balance. NATO is a 30 member States, it was revealed today by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, that battleships from various nations including Canada are gathering in the Baltic and Black Sea, NATO nations have readied their Air Force, Canada has sent our F-18 to Poland and armies are being massed in Eastern Europe, the USA has 100,000 troops, all on high alert. Tomorrow Thursday a Special Meeting of NATO is taking place and we will know what measures will be taken to stop Russia. From listening to various European experts and from our own Canadian Ambassadors, something is going to happen Thursday.

China has also been implicated now as complicit with Russia in this war and may face severe economic sanctions.

We are now at a very dangerous moment in the history of the World. We can only hope that Putin can step back, can save face and make a compromise. Putin has refused despite repeated demands by NATO that he not use Nuclear Weapons or chemical or biological weapons, if he does, well the response will be very strong from NATO.

On the map below not shown is Canada and the USA as NATO members.

Best Birthday Gift

Tags

Canada, Concert, Liberal, NDP, Parliament, PEI, Singh, Trudeau, Ukraine

This morning in the news some unexpected developments in Parliament in Ottawa, the NDP and the Liberals have reached an agreement which would allow the current government of Justin Trudeau to stay in power until 2025 for the next election. The NDP would support them on supply votes (Budget) which is very important on the condition that the Liberals would push for implementation with the Provinces of a Pharmacare and Dental Care for all. This is how we got the medicare system for all in 1964. At the time Prime Minister Pearson supported Tommy Douglas the leader of the NDP. The opposition you guess it was the Conservatives who preferred the American system fend for yourself approach, they still do 57 years later.

This agreement is leading to announced progressive policies which will be beneficial to so many people, this includes the national daycare for kids at $10 a day. Now many of these policies will not benefit me but the point is that it will benefit society as a whole and make life more affordable for all including seniors in the case of pharmacare reducing to a minimal amount or $0 the cost of medication. Same with dental care, meaning better health care for all. The NDP and the Liberals have all the votes they need now in Parliament to push all those policies through. Also in this agreement there will be no more run around the bush committee meetings the Conservatives love to attack none stop the Government inventing scandals that do not exist and waisting parliamentary time and money.

Immediately the leader of the Conservative Candice Bergen jumped denouncing this agreement and saying this was illegal and a power grab, you cannot trust Trudeau and Singh, two dangerous socialists. It’s the end of the world, lost jobs, debts, etc… She also called it a coalition, which it is not. The PM did not offer any Cabinet seats to the NDP, it is an agreement to work together in the House. Of course this agreement throws a monkey wrench into the Conservative’s narrative and now they have to come up with a better plan or argument. PM Trudeau has a minority government and such arrangements are feasible in our Parliamentary system. It showed Ms Bergen as disingenuous in her criticism. The Conservatives for years now have always fallen back on how Trudeau is a crook and cannot be trusted, blah, blah, blah. It works with their base, remember the truckers occupying Ottawa, yes that bunch, the white supremacists and the Trump supporters.

So it is all good and will ensure stability in Government for the next few years, allowing for the progressive agenda to move forward including the Green Agenda to deal with climate change.

Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the NDP and PM Trudeau in his Office in Parliament today.

Please keep Ukraine in your thoughts.

Recurring dream

Tags

Canada, dreams, life, nuclear war, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, work

In the last 3 years I have been having this dream which at times is very real and vivid. It is always the same scenario, I am not retired from work but on some kind of vacation or leave. I get a call to come back to work, a special assignment abroad, which is various regions of the world and where there is a lot of work to do and experience is needed. No one wants that job, I am happy to do it and volunteer for it. I go through the preparation and meeting prior to a posting. I see people and have conversations with them. Reminiscing about past years and other postings.

I never actually leave for the post in question but it feels like I am back at work and happy to do it. Then I remember that I said I would retire but luckily I did not or did I, some confusion but it seems that all that is overlooked, I can re-integrate my work unit. It seems the dream has a lot to do with crisis in the world. During my career, I often went on assignments or took postings in difficult areas, I always enjoyed them and felt I was helping or making things happen. It is almost as if my brain still thinks that this part of my life is not really over, despite the fact that I have now been retired 10 years. Strange how one’s brain and memories come forward and dreams opens the door to the past and to fantasies.

Right now I am focusing on Spring and how many days are left before it officially arrives, the sun now sets at 6:25pm a month ago it was setting at 5pm and around new year at 4:15pm. Soon in a few days the clocks will spring forward and one more hour of daylight will happen instantly. To me this means Winter is definitely on the way out.

Strangely COVID wise in the last 24 hours the artistic and musical community has been hit all of a sudden in large numbers. Many shows have been cancelled. People still wear their masks and many are saying they will keep their masks even if it is no longer mandatory.

Despite the very bad news coming from the war in Europe, life here on the Island continues, people are worried but not overly so, there is a feeling that all this is very far away, but tonight French President Macron said after his 90 minute phone call to Vladimir Putin that the war was going to get much worse in the days to come. Are we slipping into a disaster? It looks like it and frankly like a lot of people I have no idea what to do. Will anyone stop Putin? I don’t know, he appears totally isolated in the Kremlin. His advisors can only see him via Zoom. If this war is about settling scores with the USA and humiliating America we are in for a very rough and dangerous time, it is not going to end well.

Winter Storms

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Birthday, Canada, Dacshunds, Nora, Ottawa, Politics, Protesters

It seems that the Winter Storms in the Atlantic provinces are getting worse each year. This year so far we had 4 storms over 4 weekends. It is the same pattern, a mix of snow and freezing rain and very high winds in the 70 to 80Km range. This past Thursday night we had very high winds around 100Km and then rain, so much so that severe flooding all over the Island was wide spread, roads cut off, etc..

The rain and wind was so fierce that the windows on the West side of the house were leaking and the wind was pounding our 180 year old house. We did not loose electricity, we stayed in obviously. We could not take the dogs out for a walk, they would have flown away. The snow melted quickly and now we have a lot of green everywhere. Funny to see how in two days big snow banks disappeared. The weather also went from -29C to +9C. The next day it was sunny again but cold. The temperature has been fluctuating wildly from one part of the day to the next.

Today is Nora’s Birthday and next week it will be Nicky, both are 13 years old now. Incredible how time flies by so quickly. They are in good health generally and Nora is as feisty and talkative as always. Nicky has cataracts but he is getting eye medication twice a day and is doing well. With COVID we really spent a lot more time with them and developed quite the routine and I often think that they organized the routine for us to follow, one thing is for sure we cannot depart from it, they give us dirty looks. For her birthday Nora and Nicky got prime rib roast beef, just a few pieces, they also got home made liver treats, they enjoyed it all.

Eleonora di Capena (Nora)

It is true that there is inflation all around but what continues to surprise me is the crazy sale and discount in grocery stores, often prices are slashed 50 to 70% for a week on various items. I know that they are still making a profit, so it is telling. There is no shortage, all this talk of shortages in grocery stores was nothing but pure nonsense, a lot of it spread by the Conservative party who truly hate PM Trudeau.

As for the situation in Ottawa today, well the occupation is over, the trucks are gone, many left on their own but the police made sure to get all their details, name, licence and insurance. They are free to leave but prosecution will follow at some time. Some where towed away. I watch live on CBC and CTV the coverage of the police action to clear the streets, the Media had unfettered access, many journalists commented on that fact, they could go where ever they wanted, film and record. The police presence was massive, including a detachment from the Sureté du Québec in their green riot uniform with steel helmets. Others came from all regions of Ontario and the RCMP also had a big tactical presence. The police were very polite, you heard them ask people to leave and move out, it was a little unreal but it was all very professional. Contrary to what FOX News, Reuters and the New York Times were reporting no one was injured or killed, no guns. The police did not use their guns or shoot at people, the New York Times had to retract that story. The cavalry unit separated the crowd to allow the police to form an inside line, one woman fell but was not injured otherwise. The protesters had lots of diesel and gas jerry cans, some had propane canisters and threw them at the police, they also threw firecrackers which could easily have ignited the fuel. The police responded with pepper spray and smoke bombs.

There is a hard core or protesters, some want to die for the cause and they are delusional. Some parents with small children and one lady with a small baby charged at the police line on Sussex Drive. That was unbelievable that anyone would do that to a child. The police managed to bypass her quickly without injuring anyone. The leaders have been arrested or fled, news tonight is that they are on their way to Quebec City, am not sure that this is a true story. During the police action, protesters, some of them in the USA flooded the 911 line of the Ottawa police with obscene messages. Some one called a bomb threat at two major hospitals in the hope of disrupting the police action. The media followed all this and reported as being malicious action on the part of protesters.

Tonight, Saturday, the streets of Ottawa are deserted, Parliament is still sitting until midnight to finish the debate on the motion of the Emergencies Act. The vote in the House could be Monday and probably in the Senate the next day. The Conservative Party with interim leader Candice Bergen are doing all they can to vote down the E.A. but it looks like the motion will pass with the help of the NDP for reasons not clear to me, possibly because their leader Jagmeet Singh is of Punjabi origin and saw the hatred and racism of the protesters. Many people living in Ottawa from residents to business owners said out loud that they were very afraid of the protesters. Harassment on the street and acts of vandalism against ordinary people and property is one hallmark. We had during the day, Friday 3 Conservative members of Parliament come out from the West Block to cheer the protesters and tell them to keep fighting to get rid of the Government. One Conservative Senator Michael MacDonald from Cape Breton berated on the street the Citizens of Ottawa and the Government, cheering the protesters as good people.

I don’t think this is the end of these protests, the extreme right, the white supremacists are spear heading a movement similar to the Trump Nation in the USA. However despite the lies and their rhetoric and their appeal to the Armed Forces and the Police to come and join them, they are very unlikely to prevail. Some protesters like Dwayne Lich the husband of top organizer Amanda Lich, quoted the First Amendment of the US Constitution in Court during a bail hearing. The Judge asked him what he was talking about, reminding him that we are in Canada and have very different Laws and Constitution. Dwayne was taken aback and then asked the Judge if the Government of Canada was legitimate, the Judge and the Crown prosecutors were in disbelief. Some protesters asked the police to read them their Miranda Rights, there is no such thing in Canadian Law. Truly sad to see so much confusion from people who watch too much Fox News. Dwayne Lich is from Saskatchewan and Amanda from Medicine Hat, Alberta. Both had jobs in the oil patch in Alberta.

Majority of Canadians are disgusted with what they saw in Ottawa and the 3 week occupation of the Capital. The people of the downtown core are proceeding with their Lawsuit against the organizers of the protest, money donated has been frozen in accounts. But what is also apparent now, some so called influencers on YouTube are very well financed. One guy who does videos of Downtown Ottawa got a donation of $40,000 last night (Saturday) from one donor and thank him publicly on his site.

This is what happens when you have a population who does not pay attention, watches to much foreign television and is illiterate in Civics. I feel anxious for the future, something has to give.

What is going on

Tags

Canada, grifters, Ottawa, Protest, violence

In the last three weeks I have been dismayed by the rabid anti-Trudeau reporting from many media outlet like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, The Economist, The Guardian UK, Sky News, Hindustani Times India, etc.. It is very disturbing to see the headlines, Trudeau flees the country, Trudeau has lost control, Trudeau is a dictator, Trudeau is a blackface artists, No one supports Trudeau.

I am like many people cannot understand how American and British news outlets can give such a distorted view of what is going on in Canada at the moment. Canada is the #1 trading partner of the USA and ally. It only shows that American Media has a very uninformed view of Canada. FOX News sent a special team to Ottawa.

To set the record straight, here are some facts; Canada has one of the highest rate of vaccination in the World 90%. So far 50% of Canadians have 3 doses of vaccines.

The economy in general in Canada is doing very well and we have shortages of workers in many fields. Yes there is inflation but only 3 sectors fuel inflation, housing, gas, food prices due to disruption of supply chains. If you are not buying a house or if you do not drive your car, then only food prices affect you. So in general Statistic Canada who is responsible to calculate national inflation says it is 2.5% the other rate of 5% is only if you apply it to specific sector.

Freedoms, this protest is about freedom apparently, Canadians are among the most free people in the world, the reason why this occupation of your National Capital for the last 3 weeks is allowed to go on is because we are free people. If Canada is a communist state or Trudeau a dictator, this protest would never happen.

We have freedom of expression, but we do not have the freedom to impose our views on others nor of occupying streets and neighbourhoods or terrorizing its residents. People in Ottawa are tired and fed up with this occupation and the idling trucks and diesel fumes which have given downtown Ottawa a air pollution level comparable to Mexico City at the moment. Residents of Ottawa complain of constant headaches and the noise of the truck sirens non stop. Kids wonder if it safe to go to school with these bums roaming the city streets. People have been assaulted for wearing a mask, homeless people beaten, the soup kitchen were I volunteered and serves hundreds of meal daily was attacked by protesters and food stolen. So much for Freedom, in this case I spell it Free Dumb.

We are told that this is about freedom to chose to get a vaccine for truckers or not. Fact 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated. You cannot enter the USA without a vaccine certificate. Many of the people protesting are NOT truckers, it is a rag tag group of Christian evangelists, extreme right, white supremacists, who reject any government and who came specifically to Ottawa with the declared intention of overthrowing the freely elected government of Canada and abolishing Parliament.

The truck protest at our borders in one case, the Windsor Detroit Ambassador bridge cost over $1 billion in lost trade with the USA and shut down car manufacturing plants on both side of the border. No one has the freedom to impact other citizens in their job, welfare or economic security.

This protest was never about public health, but a much more nefarious agenda aimed at anyone or any ideas the protesters do not like. It also did not help to have 16 US Republican Senators, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Elon Musk, attack Canada and our Prime Minister and to show open support to these grifters.

Today this poll amongst many other polls (see below) published show that the Prime Minister and the Government have the support of a majority of Canadians. PM Trudeau can continue governing because despite it all, he still enjoys the confidence of the House of Commons and no other party wants to trigger an election now. Finally the protest by those awful people took place because the police did not act and miscalculated the danger or the intentions of the truckers. In Canada the Prime Minister nor the Provincial Premiers can tell the police what to do or how to act. The powers are completely separated. The Emergencies Act of 1988 will now give the Police some extraordinary powers for 30 days, Banks will freeze assets of criminals who help this protest and stop money going to them. Important to note that both the Parliament and the Senate must approve the implementation of this Emergency Act, again the Prime Minister cannot do it alone. Some protesters brought young children to the protest sites, The Children’s Aide Society is there to take care of the kids in case their parents go to jail. It is also important to note that parents at these protests have used their young children to form a chain to stop any police action. The Humane society will look after their dogs and cats if anyone is arrested.

NEW: Maru Public Opinion poll: 66% support Trudeau invoking Emergencies Act 82% say 3-week Ottawa protest gone on too long 67% say clear them out 71% say Canada’s handling of it an international embarrassment 54% blame politicians 56% say Provincial premiers caved by lifting restrictions, example Ontario Doug Ford, Alberta Jason Kenney, Manitoba Scott Moe.

Today Thursday the leadership of this occupation in Ottawa have fled the City apparently for New Brunswick to set up another protest, Pat King and Tamara Lich are probably going to be arrested. She indicated as much in a teary farewell message to the poor suckers left in Ottawa now estimated to be around 250. The people of Ottawa living in the area being occupied are suing for $308 million the truck protest organizers. They also organized this past weekend their own counter protest about 1000 people showed up and manage to detain several trucks and occupants and only allowed them to leave once they took down their offensive banners and gave up any fuel jerry cans they were transporting. This was a wake up call for protesters, people do not love them.

Pat King, vagrant, no fixed address. Claims to support the Army and Trump.

Tamara Lich, little is known about her. She claims to be 47 yrs old, has been involved in various extreme causes. A big Trump supporter. A point to remember the protester and their leadership are completely delusional. Along the border with the USA the other blockades have been dismantled, powerful weapons and ammunition has been recovered by the RCMP and several people are now facing charges of weapons possession and attempted murder against the police.

Flag Day

Tags

astronomy, Canada, Flag, Galileo, Rome, science, Trinita dei Monti, universe

Tuesday 15 February is the 57th Anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of the Canadian Flag in Parliament in Ottawa by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Here is a painting of 1671 of a famous spot in Rome. On the left is the French Church of the Minimes, a religious Catholic order devoted to the study of science. Their church is Trinita Dei Monti which today stands at the top of the famous staircase known as the Spanish Steps. In the painting you have a group of trees, the Obelisk of Sallust is also missing, the staircase will come later around 1723. Next to the church is the monastery of the Minimes Fiars which is not open to visitors unless you can make some arrangement to visit privately. Galileo was on good terms with the Minimes Friars and during his trial they offered to keep safe his paperwork and observation notes on the planets and the theory which says that the Earth circles the Sun, if he was found guilty would be destroyed. There is the most fantastic gallery in this monastery where on the walls a Universal clock has been painted, to this day this gallery is kept in darkness except for a little square opening in one window which when it is open to allow the rays of the Sun to hit the wall will show you the exact time in the known Cities of the world in 1600. I saw this phenomenon at work during a private visit, it was fascinating. The rays marked the time and moved like the hands of a clock.

In 1610, Galileo published his Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger), describing the surprising observations that he had made with the new telescope, among them, the Galilean Moons of Jupiter. With these observations and additional observations that followed, such as the phases of Venus, he promoted the heliocentric theory of Nicolas Copernicus published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543. Galileo’s discoveries were met with opposition within the Catholic Church, and in 1616 the Inquisition declared heliocentrism to be “formally heretical.” Galileo went on to propose a theory of tides in 1616, and of comets in 1619; he argued that the tides were evidence for the motion of the Earth.

The Inquisition Tribunal was composed of Spanish priests and Cardinals and they were a political force to contend with, even the Pope was afraid of them because they had the support of the Spanish King Philip IV. The Pope at the time was Urban VIII who was well educated and very interested in the work of Galileo, he encouraged him to write his book on celestial matter and observations. However though Galileo’s writing went against Official Church Doctrine saying that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, no one thought it would lead to such a controversy given how popular such new theories were. However they were written during major wars of religion in Europe between Protestants and Catholics, which did not help matters.

The garden next to the monastery was created in the first century AD and was a pleasure garden which belonged to a rich Roman who was told to commit suicide in order for Messalina the wife of Emperor Claudius to get it for herself so she could entertain her many young lovers. This garden today separates the monastery from the French Academy in Rome where Galileo was imprisoned during his trial. The large building with a tower in the background is the Quirinal Palace, which at the time was a summer palace for the Pope, it became a Royal Palace for the Italian Kings in 1870 and since 1946 is the residence of the Italian President. Everything else you see in this painting is as it was then, nothing really changes in Rome, everything is kept, repaired and re-purposed. We often walked in this area, the view of the city is impressive.

Island news

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books, Canada, convoy, grifters, Nunavut

The National Census was out this week and the news was surprising for PEI. The population has grown quite a bit, when we arrived in 2016 the population was estimated then at 150K today the Island population is 165,000. Charlottetown has also grown quite a bit from 36,000 to 40,500 today. Greater Charlottetown if you include Stratford and Cornwall in all is 80,000 people, the greater part of the Island population.

Given the scarcity of housing in general at any price, I wonder how we manage to grow. The rest of the population on the Island is also growing. The provincial government would love to have 200K population. However I wonder how sustainable this can be given the size of this Island and fresh water reserve, constant erosion due to climate change. On average we have lost 30 feet of shoreline in 10 years, the storm have become more fierce.

Winter has gone into a thaw with milder weather which is usual at this time of the year. We had a protest of sorts here today by the anti-vaxers on the Island, no big trucks, more like pick-up trucks and cars. The crowd was not big a few hundred and I only was about a dozen vehicles. Most of the crowd look disheveled and in need of a good bath, men with big beards trying to look tough. The Convoy of the entitled selfish whiners. Community spread exist now in PEI, thanks to these idiots, including 14 dead in 3 months. The Premier Dennis King has announced a calendar to lift all the restrictions by 7 April. As for the rest of Canada, we still have problems in Ottawa and at the major border point of Windsor/Detroit a cost of 400 Million dollars a day. Hopefully this will get resolved this weekend. Fox news is doing quite a number on Canada right now. Also 60% of all the funds given to the protest comes from the USA.

I was listening to Mainstreet which is the afternoon radio show in the Maritimes, in PEI it is hosted by Matt Rainnie, he was interviewing Tomson Highway on his award winning book Permanent Astonishment. Tomson Highway is Cree from what we call in Canada, Nunavut an immense territory 808,000 sq. miles with a population of 39,000 people. Nunavut means our land. I did visit its capital Iqaluit in 1984 in March. You have to fly to Nunavut there are no roads from Southern Canada, so it is very isolated. The majority of the population is Inuit, the Cree people live in the southern part near the border with Manitoba.

Tomson Highway OC is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children’s author. He is best known for his plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award. His book Permanent Astonishment won in 2021 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. It is according to him the first book of his memoirs, he plans to write 5 in total. He speaks Cree, English, French and Italian. I only read one page of this book and I was hooked, it is beautiful writing, the way books use to be written 50+ years ago.