Thank you for leaving the worst to last as I sit in my doctor's office hoping they can figger out why I nearly stopped breathing last night. I nearly gave up my Tuesday morning to scream at my radio after hearing Evan Fecking Solomon was a freshly minted Toronto MP. Then Sandy & Nora pushed their cabinet revue to the end of their show and I waited on the edge of my seat for them to express their incredulity that Solomon made cabinet. And now the awful yet entirely appropriate truth: ministry of AI. Was failing up ever more ironic? Lucky for me that my esophageal spasm can be controlled with a couple tabs as needed and moderation of citrus/coffee/chocolate/booze. I hope Evan can be controlled as easily.
I am a Canadian but I left Canada over 10 years ago to work in America and now Germany. The reason I left was because Canadian advanced technology industries were being hollowed out (i.e. acquired & moved to the U.S.) leaving no career opportunities.
I follow Canadian news and have been disappointed that federal and provincial governments have failed at economic growth and industrial policy. It is not just the elected politicians. The civil service (deputy ministers and director level staff) were clueless whenever I spoke with them.
The economic gravity of the U.S. is a black hole that, in short, rips off Canadians. It requires visionary leadership to pull away and chart a path to prosperity.
I appreciate the blunt commentary on the Hatchet about the poor quality of cabinet selections. I was for a moment hopeful, but now I see nothing has changed.
Hey Arshy, I've been a fan of your work since Dynasties so over the years I have come to trust and respect your opinion, but how the hell does McGuinty as Minister of National Defence make sense? The man, from what I can tell, has never done a day of military service, and has spent most of his career working in environment-adjacent positions. I'm a veteran, I'm married to an active CAF member, and we're all confused by this pick.
Hey Shari! First off, thank you so much for following our work for so long, it really means a lot.
And as for whether or not McGuinty will be a decent defence minister, I’m mostly basing my very flimsy opinion on my general impression of him as a somewhat serious political administrator. It’s actually quite rare for a defence minister to be a veteran. As far as I can tell, there have only been two in my lifetime (Gordon O’Connor and Harjit Sajjan). But I was mostly trying to say that McGuinty’s appointment didn’t make me immediately see red, like some of his other cabinet picks did.
The main thing I’m hoping to see from any defense minister is greater investment in the people who are enlisted. There’s been a clear need for pay increases for quite a while, as well as for more supports. Whether or not the Carney government will deliver on that is yet to be seen.
Thank you for the context, and for replying. No lie, I fangirled a little when I saw that you had responded.
I joined the CAF when Sajjan was MND and so I thought having a vet in that role was the norm. And then when Anand succeeded him I thought that made sense because the CAF was trying really hard to scrub its image from all the sexual misconduct scandals and the government really likes to put females in charge of those kinds of tasks so that one made sense as well. Bill Blair made sense because at least he was a former police officer so he has some experience with tactical situations and combat, etc. McGuinty though... I'm just not sure what he has to offer especially since it seems like the CAF is going to need to play a bigger role globally and even if we don't stand a chance of repelling any real military threat from our neighbours down south it would be nice to make a show of trying to become more militarily independent. I guess we'll see. And I 100% agree with you about the pay increases, but I suspect you knew I would.
Thank you for leaving the worst to last as I sit in my doctor's office hoping they can figger out why I nearly stopped breathing last night. I nearly gave up my Tuesday morning to scream at my radio after hearing Evan Fecking Solomon was a freshly minted Toronto MP. Then Sandy & Nora pushed their cabinet revue to the end of their show and I waited on the edge of my seat for them to express their incredulity that Solomon made cabinet. And now the awful yet entirely appropriate truth: ministry of AI. Was failing up ever more ironic? Lucky for me that my esophageal spasm can be controlled with a couple tabs as needed and moderation of citrus/coffee/chocolate/booze. I hope Evan can be controlled as easily.
Love the new format for Chopping Block!
I am a Canadian but I left Canada over 10 years ago to work in America and now Germany. The reason I left was because Canadian advanced technology industries were being hollowed out (i.e. acquired & moved to the U.S.) leaving no career opportunities.
I follow Canadian news and have been disappointed that federal and provincial governments have failed at economic growth and industrial policy. It is not just the elected politicians. The civil service (deputy ministers and director level staff) were clueless whenever I spoke with them.
The economic gravity of the U.S. is a black hole that, in short, rips off Canadians. It requires visionary leadership to pull away and chart a path to prosperity.
I appreciate the blunt commentary on the Hatchet about the poor quality of cabinet selections. I was for a moment hopeful, but now I see nothing has changed.
I felt the same way seeing the new cabinet. If Carney's idea is "I'm going to do everything myself" that's not a good idea either.
Hey Arshy, I've been a fan of your work since Dynasties so over the years I have come to trust and respect your opinion, but how the hell does McGuinty as Minister of National Defence make sense? The man, from what I can tell, has never done a day of military service, and has spent most of his career working in environment-adjacent positions. I'm a veteran, I'm married to an active CAF member, and we're all confused by this pick.
Hey Shari! First off, thank you so much for following our work for so long, it really means a lot.
And as for whether or not McGuinty will be a decent defence minister, I’m mostly basing my very flimsy opinion on my general impression of him as a somewhat serious political administrator. It’s actually quite rare for a defence minister to be a veteran. As far as I can tell, there have only been two in my lifetime (Gordon O’Connor and Harjit Sajjan). But I was mostly trying to say that McGuinty’s appointment didn’t make me immediately see red, like some of his other cabinet picks did.
The main thing I’m hoping to see from any defense minister is greater investment in the people who are enlisted. There’s been a clear need for pay increases for quite a while, as well as for more supports. Whether or not the Carney government will deliver on that is yet to be seen.
Thank you for the context, and for replying. No lie, I fangirled a little when I saw that you had responded.
I joined the CAF when Sajjan was MND and so I thought having a vet in that role was the norm. And then when Anand succeeded him I thought that made sense because the CAF was trying really hard to scrub its image from all the sexual misconduct scandals and the government really likes to put females in charge of those kinds of tasks so that one made sense as well. Bill Blair made sense because at least he was a former police officer so he has some experience with tactical situations and combat, etc. McGuinty though... I'm just not sure what he has to offer especially since it seems like the CAF is going to need to play a bigger role globally and even if we don't stand a chance of repelling any real military threat from our neighbours down south it would be nice to make a show of trying to become more militarily independent. I guess we'll see. And I 100% agree with you about the pay increases, but I suspect you knew I would.
Thanks for all your work.