No one, and I mean no one, sought my advice this past week.聽
But I continue to give it, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that it is useless and easily dismissed and forgetten.聽
Oops, I stand corrected. One person did seek my advice. His name was Braylon. Braylon, I believe is just on the north side of two-years-old, but he grasped the significance of my advice. Whether he followed it or not, I鈥檓 not sure. I鈥檓 not that great with really young kids. I don鈥檛 do a lot of follow-up on their activities because frankly childrens鈥� play baffles me. It鈥檚 so unstructured and too much fun.聽
Braylon wanted to know whether it was all right to consume 鈥渢wo more gummie bears?鈥� I assured him it was just fine and two, which matched his age, was appropriate. I did not seek the approval of Braylon鈥檚 mom because moms don鈥檛 know anything do they, Braylon?
So, having achieved approval from Braylon, I expand my advisory circle to include the Canadian military.聽
Two gummie bears for our members of the military services, no gummie bears for our politicians, who are toying with their lives due to political expediency and stupid promises. (Boy, do I sound like Donald Trump or what!)
Sunny Ways Sequel finally ordered the halt of our CF-18 bombing sorties in Syria and Iraq. In exchange, we鈥檒l insert 200 or so soldiers on the ground instead of 70 to help the rebels (or whatever they鈥檙e called this week) and a promise of up to $1 billion in aid (whatever that means). It has something to do with the Sunny Ways promises during the campaign that nobody, give鈥檚 a rat鈥檚 patoody about, but him.聽
These troops, may, or may not be engaging the enemy face-to-face, because they鈥檙e just going to be training others to do the real work. But, since they will be on or near the front lines, they will be allowed to shoot back if somebody is shooting at them, which, I expect, they will because ISIS will shoot and kill anybody wearing a uniform (or anyone not wearing a uniform for that matter). They鈥檒l kill each other if it鈥檚 a slow day on the mortality file.
Canadian planes may still be used to fly reconnaissance missions and do mid-air refueling of the planes that are doing the bombing and fighting, but we are not to engage the enemy. 聽
How the $1 billion in aid is going to be dispersed, or even what form it will take, has yet to be decided.聽
So once again, Canada, with a wonderful history of military expertise and accomplishment, is supposed to be content by volunteering to put up the tent and run the beer gardens.聽
I鈥檓 sure Sunny Ways Sequel will be eager to send over some cheerleading teams within the next few weeks, as long as their pompoms don鈥檛 aggravate someone.聽
So on to subject two.聽
Housing price averages across the country were just released. They were up 0.3 per cent over November and December of last year in British Columbia and Ontario. with the highest of just under one per cent registered in the Niagara region. Housing prices in the Toronto-Oshawa region have risen for 11 consecutive months.聽
Prices in Regina went up 0.4 per cent, the largest hike since 2014, but, it was explained, that was only due to increased service and development fees, not the cost of construction. It wasn鈥檛 for any economic reason. Prices were up in B.C. and Halifax for the seventh straight month, and prices were flatlined in Alberta.聽
鈥楴uff said.聽
