J Smith

Former accountant exploring a world in tech. Mostly here for the politics.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@ABDanielleSmith for Prime Minister?

I'm in Ontario, and can only wish to have a Premier as great. She explained her reasoning clearly, didn't resort to cheap attacks, and gave a solid path forward.

If our politicians could be half as strong, we'd be a much better country.

[Danielle Smith @ABDanielleSmith]

Tariffs and counter-tariffs are harmful. They disrupt businesses, threaten jobs, drive up inflation and strain the relationship between Canada and the United States.

Threatening to cut off or tax Alberta’s energy is not the answer. It would devastate Alberta’s economy, hurt workers and businesses across Canada and risk losing our largest energy customer. There is a better way forward.

We need to support Canadian workers and businesses being hurt by these tariffs, double down on diplomacy with U.S. lawmakers and governors, break down interprovincial trade barriers, buy Canadian wherever possible and strengthen relationships with international trading partners to open new markets for Canadian products.

We need to move projects forward, starting by approving the pipeline to the west coast immediately to get construction underway as soon as possible. It is integral to reaching more markets for Alberta oil and strengthening Canada’s economic independence.

Canada will not win this battle through brute force. We will win by being smarter, more strategic and more agile.
Less talk. More action.
That is how we win.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@DrDebraSoh This is exactly what the real fake Debra would say...

[J Smith @smith1095]

@peterboghossian Reality:
Cdn: How ya doing, bud?
You: Fantastic!
Cdn: That's great.
You: My life is awesome!
Cdn: Happy for you, bud.
You: I'm American!
Cdn: Still happy for you. Our politicians a bunch of hosers, eh?
You: ...why aren't you made at me?
Cdn: Sorry, did you want me to be?

[J Smith @smith1095]

@MJ3556619476583 @Hammerofvulkan @TheBlooch The US can attempt to impose whatever they want. We don't have to agree. But it doesn't mean we should trash talk or retaliate, it just means we should keep negotiating.

We don't know exactly what was asked either. Asking that we not deal with Iran, as an example, could be fine

[J Smith @smith1095]

@oliver1371473 @cfishman As a Canadian, I wish there was something more to this, but it's really just stupidity.

The reality is that Canada has restricted development for a decade to try and be green, and now we're struggling. Carney is using 'Trump bad' to keep the voters attention away from bad policy

[J Smith @smith1095]

@mathieu733 @iToldYa_TheApp @Martyupnorth Labels in QC might be bilingual, but certain tax forms are French only.

I support French as our second language, but adding French to each label and forcing companies to communicate in French has a cost, which is passed onto the consumer. It's not always needed in Canada.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@mathieu733 @iToldYa_TheApp @Martyupnorth I accept that Canada is a bilingual country. I support French being taught in school.

I do not see the need to label products sold in Alberta in both English and French.

I do not see why Quebec gets away with having French only rules while the rest of Canada must be bilingual.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@iToldYa_TheApp @Martyupnorth When I travel to Korea, they don't have English on their labels. I used technology to ensure I knew what I was eating/using

Alberta has a handful of French only speakers, do we really need the government to enforce labeling in French for a fraction of the population?

[J Smith @smith1095]

@michaelokdey You're new, so Hinge is both going to give you an early boost so that you feel it's working, and there are also people who have already swiped everyone that will basically only see you now.

It will die down a bit, but those are good numbers!

[J Smith @smith1095]

@Jonnymgonzalez @DatingByMHG It's a dating profile, not social media. You sign up with the expectation that only local people looking to date will be seeing your information, not for it to be used as a means to (badly) promote a business.

And you should especially remove it if asked.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@moderategengar @DatingByMHG Sometimes people suggest doing the right thing because it's the right thing, not because they are trying to get something.

This dude is trying to promote a dating business. These posts show you should do the opposite of what he says.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@kbro1912 @DatingByMHG Except she matched with this guy, who has his location public.

But even so, there are creepy people online who will go looking. He should be blurring the name and face at a minimum.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@vanillasansa @Meelky_f It did. The leader Eternal knew that a high population lead to the destruction of earth, so didn't do anything about it. And since they are all technically robots, they were unaffected by the snap themselves.

[J Smith @smith1095]

So productive.

Seriously, our elected officials are ridiculous.

#onpoli

[Colin D'Mello | Global News @ColinDMello]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls US President Trump a "dictator", "bully," and the "king of bankruptcies," and tells him to "kiss my ass."

#onpoli

[J Smith @smith1095]

Thank you, @KimGCMoody, for putting into words exactly how I felt about this trade negotiation news.

[Kim G C Moody @KimGCMoody]

I’m trying to make sense of where I land on the collapse of the Canada-U.S. trade talks. It’s not a simple place.

Trump’s approach toward Canada - aggressive tariffs, the 51st-state nonsense and “we don’t need anything from Canada” rhetoric - is genuinely corrosive.

But I’m also uneasy about how little verifiable information critically thinking Canadians have to work with. Saturday’s press conference gave us Carney’s characterization of the U.S. position - not the actual terms, and certainly not enough information to independently assess what was on the table. The U.S., unsurprisingly, tells a different story.

If this really is a “war” moment, as the PM’s own language suggests, then Parliament should be the venue for making the case to Canadians - not simply a podium. Extraordinary moments demand more scrutiny, not less.

I also think many Canadians underestimate just how lopsided our economic dependence on the U.S. remains. More than 70% of our merchandise exports go to the United States. Trade in goods and services represents roughly two-thirds of Canada’s GDP. Exports alone support nearly 1 in 5 Canadian jobs.

That’s the economic reality that “elbows up” rhetoric needs to reckon with. This isn’t a fight between economic equals. Pretending otherwise doesn’t change the math.

Take the booze bans. Sure, they apparently annoyed the Americans enough to become a bargaining chip. Carney encouraged provinces to put American alcohol back on shelves as part of getting a fair deal done. But “annoying enough to negotiate over” and “meaningful leverage against the world’s largest economy” are two very different things. It’s a rounding error masquerading as resistance - while Canadian consumers are the ones giving up a nice glass of wine or bourbon.

Rather than pretending symbolic retaliation gives us economic leverage we don’t have, Canada should concentrate on the things we can actually control. We can control whether Canada is an attractive place to invest, build businesses, take risks and deploy capital. And one of the biggest levers is entirely within our own control: our tax system.

Our current system is horrifically complex and inefficient. It discourages investment, entrepreneurship and competitiveness at precisely the moment we desperately need more of all three.
Real, comprehensive tax reform - not another pre-budget “consultation” designed to validate decisions already made - should be an urgent national priority.

Because ultimately, economic sovereignty isn’t created by vacuous slogans like “elbows up” or “Canada Strong”. It’s created by economic strength.

And Canada has a lot of work to do.

[J Smith @smith1095]

@DatingByMHG You went with: "Every week I find a new hot girl on Hinge. This week it's you."

I'm glad it worked this time, but this is a horrible opener and should be reserved for hail mary attempts when you can't think of anything else.

You should basically ignore roses, in my experience.

[Joseph Steinberg @jbsteinberg]

Hard to know what happened last night, but one thing in do know is that further retaliation by Canada is totally counterproductive.

Just as Trump's tariffs are taxes on American consumers, our new tariffs are taxes on Canadians, and they will have no material effect on the US.

[J Smith @smith1095]

I'm tired, boss.

I get that sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal, but can we please get some sort of stability? Do we really need to go dollar for dollar? Tariffs hurt us too.

Trump is a known factor, how have we not learned to work around his ego yet?

[Mark Carney @MarkJCarney]

My statement on Canada-U.S. trade negotiations:

[J Smith @smith1095]

This is a great take away. No deal is better than a bad deal, but what was the bad deal offered that we had to say no to?

A lot of the chatter from the US side (which is our only source in Canada) actually seemed promising for Canada, so I'm surprised with this turn.

[The Hon. Tony Clement @TonyclementCPC]

As I process last night’s about trade talks, most people on my feed are saying “no deal is better than a bad deal.” I agree!! However as of time of writing no one knows exactly what the deal is!