From foreign pickles to nasty pets and funeral home politics

For the life of me I can’t figure out much of what’s happening around me.

Some of it is trivial---like why my jar of pickles comes from India and my beets are a product of Poland. Our own farmers produce stellar cucumbers and beets. 

So, what kind of foolish policies and practices are at play here that make it advantageous for grocery chains to stock produce shipped from halfway around the world?

On a more serious note, why are wealthy and revered sports icons like Wayne Gretsky, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews shilling for companies (and governments) that make billions out of internet sports gambling?

These sports stars appear regularly in internet, TV and billboard promos for online gambling companies. 

Anyone who has experienced the dangers and pain caused by  gambling addiction has reason to fear the impact of this kind of marketing, especially on young people susceptible to the influence of their heroes.

Thankfully, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario acknowledges the problem and plans to soon ban athletes and celebrities from gambling advertising.

But the question remains: why would these much loved and worshipped guys do this? 

Here’s a dilly of a head-shaker that caused me more amusement than concern.

The federal Conservative Association for Kingston and the Islands riding has issued a notice to its members announcing a meeting to choose local delegates to the party convention in Quebec City this September.

No musty church basement or busy public library for these local politicos.

Their meeting will be held at a local funeral home.

It seems to me to be a strange environment to lift Tory spirits and create optimism about electing a Conservative MP after not being able to do so since Flora MacDonald won the riding in 1984.   

Their serious business could well be interrupted by a rousing chorus of “Abide With Me” from a service down the hall.

If they had invited their party leader Pierre Poilievre to be their guest speaker, he was wise to decline. Think of the field day cartoonists and columnists would have had with that.

Every once in a while, I declare a period of abstinence from following the media.

The news or its coverage by the media is either so bad and/or frustrating that I need to dry out for a period before I fall off the wagon and resume my addiction as a news junkie.

One issue that bothers me at the moment is the media frenzy over the Trudeau Foundation and allegations of conflict of interest between this institution and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Surely the whole issue is a distraction from real problems our political leaders should be addressing---things that ordinary people care about such as food prices, inflation, a shortage of affordable housing, homelessness, a health care system in crisis and drug addiction.

The real question about the Trudeau Foundation (created and named in 2001 in honour of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) should be why it was approved by the House of Commons in the first place with a $ 125 million endowment from taxpayers.

One answer to that is that several prominent members of the media, like politicians from all parties and other grandees, have held various roles with the prestigious foundation over the years. 

The government of the day—led by Prime Minister Jean Chretien---certainly could not foresee that Trudeau’s son, Justin, would become prime minister. But surely seasoned politicians knew that in incestuous Ottawa the foundation would attract a gathering of strange bedfellows from various political parties, influencers, academia and the media. Now, we can add to that playlist foreign meddlers in our elections. Ultimately, discord and controversy were bound to strike.  

The foundation had remained under the radar until all hell let loose thanks to the media’s disclosure of a large donation to the foundation from a Chinese business person, release of  intelligence documents on foreign meddling and a reported spike in donations once Justin Trudeau took over the Liberal Party and the government.

It’s fair to ask what and when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knew about Chinese government agents meddling in federal elections---and how he reacted---but at some point parliamentarians should focus on the everyday economic issues that impact Canadians and their families.

Some other issues that puzzle me:

While we face a dire shortage of affordable housing and countless thousands are couch surfing, homeless and living in encampments or on the street, we have a surplus of empty buildings due to the pandemic when employees were sent home to work. Many workers want to stay home and employers are arranging hybrid arrangements or accepting the status quo.

Governments at all three levels are the owners of much of this vacated space as well as acres of unused land. This is especially true in cities like Kingston, which has a large number of government agencies, workers and properties. School board properties should be included in this inventory.

If private developers can’t produce and manage the affordable housing we need because of a long list of gripes including the high cost of land, laws and red tape and opposition from community activists, maybe government has to get back into the housing business in a big way.

This is a major concession for me as a believer in the private sector and limiting the size and role of government but our housing shortage demands action now. 

Another trend that disturbs me is the increased use of self-checkout machines in stores. Not that long ago, it seemed like a pilot project here and there. Today, it has become common and apparently acceptable to customers impatient with lineups to cash out.

It may be faster but I miss having a brief chat with cashiers—especially the ones you get to know and who are friendly. I miss the chatty young man who used to help me at the grocery store when I pulled up to the pickup window. He’s gone, too. 

I worry about all those people, especially the aged, who were traumatized by the pandemic lockdowns and continue out of habit to limit their social contact. Cashiers, salespeople and fellow shoppers in the store lineups provided them with brief escape from loneliness.

The vet tech where I take our precious border collie tells me that since the pandemic there is a significant increase in unruly pets because many were adopted during the pandemic by people inexperienced with animals and they weren’t socialized as in normal times.

It’s bad enough that old people died alone in the pandemic and kids are screwed up because of school lockdowns, home learning and separation from their friends. Now, we learn that even our pets bear the scars of this unfortunate time in our lives.

At least the pandemic is an excuse or explanation for some of the crazy stuff that is happening around us. But we can’t blame it for everything.