Saturday July 4th 2020

To our American family and friends, be sure that your neighbours to the north are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Over the years of sharing the longest international border in the world our countries have agreed to disagree on a number of items some as serious as the war of 1812 when y’all tried to invade Canada when we were still a British colony, right up till the newly imposed trade wars of just last year. Yes there have been some difficult times between our countries but we have always been able to work our way through the tough times.

In fact crossing the border between our countries has always been easy, more just a formality, in fact a few decades a go we would cross the ditch (the Niagara River) for last call at the American bars and some Buffalo chicken wings on a Friday night. Oh things have changed and in many cases not for the better, terrorists have changed all our lives for ever with cowardly acts like 911. But the tough times have always made our countries stronger and our relationship as well, it’s often joked about that if the United States sneezes Canada catches a cold. So any economic difficulties effects us all because at least until recently our countries have been attached at the hip thriving together and being stronger for it.

So to see the borders closed except for essential travel is disheartening, and as we look across the border and see our friends having their butt kicked by an enemy that no one can one can even see, leaves many of us heartbroken. So on this American Independence Day your Canadian friends are hoping you can stay strong and safe, so we can enjoy more great times together soon.

Thursday July 2nd 2020

As we progress through this year, it is becoming more of a possibility than we care to or like to believe, but recent articles are leaning in that direction.

The statistics today are indicating that the United States is adding over 50,000 new cases a day. Now the good news is that the death rate is down because it’s the younger people that are now contracting the virus, you know the ones that were too special to social distance to protect everyone else. So as many countries are getting control of the pandemic the US is finding itself inside of a new virtual wall to keep the Americans in, quite a turn of events from a year ago when the effort was to build a physical wall to keep everyone else out. It’s amazing how the world has changed in less than six months.

So the header for this article goes like this “A pandemic running rampant in the U.S.”

But all complications associated with the current restrictions must be balanced against the significant health risks of reopening the border — and the economic disruption that would occur if there is a resurgence of COVID-19 in Canada.

Furness said his suggestion of 12 months was not meant to be perfectly precise. “It’s a very, very rough idea,” he said. “I just want people to get used to the idea that maybe it’s not going to be next week or next month.”

In these circumstances, it might be hard for any industry or community to argue that the border should be reopened. But accepting that a return to normal is unlikely in the near future could refocus the discussion on what, if anything, can be done to find a new normal that is even just slightly less restrictive.

But his projection is based on a belief that COVID-19 has now spread too far in the United States for it to be contained. “My assumption is that the genie is so far out of the bottle that there isn’t even a bottle anymore,” he said.

It was a very informative piece and backed up with numbers and facts and other than a few states where the governor stood their ground against the stupidity that is the Whitehouse, so Michigan, New York, and a few other states are in good shape as 40 other states are setting records with Texas, Florida, and Arizona being the biggest failures.

Well it’s a good year to look at winners and failures, with a major election just a few months away, it may be report card time. And from our side of the border there appears to be a lot of F ratings … just saying.