FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Sep 2

Where Has All The Humility Gone?

by bcurry

For those who are not familiar with the meaning of “humility”, the Oxford Dictionary describes being humble as “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.” Thus, humility represents a “humble view of one’s importance.”  This characteristic used to be a desired or appreciated one in Western cultures.  Not any more!  Today, world leaders, sports and entertainment celebrities, rich people, etc. are anything but humble about themselves or their perceived achievements.  This is not to say that one should not be proud about one’s achievements, but there is a limit to how much one should brag about them.

Today more than ever, social media unfortunately puts on display a ton of bombastic, narcisstic and macho personalities. We tweet out how great we are and how much we should be admired and replicated. While men tend to be pompous the most, many women in order to get ahead in their profession appear to be under the impression that they have to be just as macho if not more so than men.  Being humble is not seen as a strength but as a weakness.  I’m sure that all of us can think of persons who display these traits.  Indeed, most Western cultures now openly promote these characteristics, often leading to mind-boggling confrontations among such people.  The “mine is bigger than yours” mentality.

Why then is our lack of humility a bad thing? For one thing, believing that we are always right can lead us to ignoring other contrary facts or opposing view points.  We become selective about what we accept as facts and only select those facts which support our positions — also known a “confirmation bias”. Unfortunately, this can lead to bad or misguided decision-making.  The defence of our biases can also lead to a lack of “civility”.  “Humility” and “civility” go hand in hand.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time that we bring back an admiration for those displaying humility. One should never be afraid to declare that one is or was wrong and be stigmatized by society as showing weakness.  Instead, as a society we should be promoting humility as a good quality to be encouraged and praised.  In every stage of our lives, a lot of people have contributed to forming who we are in beneficial ways.  One should never forget to recognize these past contributions and those of the people around us today.  This is what humility is all about.  Our role models in the public eye need to lead the “humility” way for the sake of future generations.

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Aug 26

Companies Are Suspected Of Targeting Youth For Products Containing Nicotine

by bcurry

A number of new products containing nicotine have come on the market in recent years. Many are flavoured and are more or less marketed at young people as well as older smokers.  These products include pellets made of finely ground tobacco with mint or cinnamon flavoring, e-cigarettes and various battery-powered devices. They are packed with nicotine, and studies have shown that they can poison children and lure young people to start using tobacco. As we know, nicotine is a highly additive substance.  A 2017-18 study, led by Professor David Hammond of the University of Waterloo, found that among those 16-19 years old, vaping increased by a stunning 74% from 2017 to 2018, from 8.4% to 14.6%. In Canada and the US the use and sale to older adolescents and adults of e-cigarettes and vaping products is legal.  In most cases, it requires the purchaser of such products to be at least 18 and does not permit buying them for anyone less than 18 years of age.  However, it is evident that younger people are obtaining or are being exposed to these products.

This August, it was reported by American public health officials that a patient in Illinois was the first to die of a mysterious lung illness linked to vaping. The death occurred as doctors and hospitals nationwide report an increasing number of persons suffering vaping-related respiratory illnesses this summer, most of whom were adolescents or young adults. To date, 193 cases have now been reported in 22 states, including 22 cases in Illinois.

The companies argue that e-cigarettes and vaping devices using nicotine help exiting tobacco smokers to cut down on their smoking. However, we know that such products are also being marketed as safer than tobacco products, a selling feature which is attractive to youth.  The recent outbreak in vaping related deaths and illnesses tends to support the concerns of health experts that these products contain other harmful ingredients besides nicotine, comprised of potential irritants including “ultrafine particulates” and some heavy metals such as lead. The health effects of long-term use are not currently known. We therefore need to study whether their use tends to lead young people to eventually become tobacco smokers.

The Canadian Cancer Society and American Cancer Society are calling for immediate government action to address a significant and troubling increase in youth vaping in both countries and recommend that every effort be made to prevent the initiation of e-cigarettes by youth.  The American Cancer Society encourages the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate all such products, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices, to the full extent of its authority. It wants the FDA to determine the absolute and relative harms of each product, and to assess whether e-cigarettes really help to reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Most importantly, both societies are asking governments for an extensive study of the impact of marketing of e-cigarettes on consumer perceptions and behaviour, especially among youth.  It is now time that the companies marketing these products are fully held accountable by governments in both countries.

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Aug 6

White Extremism in North America is Very Worrisome and Dangerous

by bcurry

Back in March of this year, I published a blog entitled Extremist White Nationalist Movements Worldwide and the Attack on Mosques in New Zealand following the tragic massacre of Muslims at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand by a self-proclaimed white extremist. On August 3rd, the 22 people killed in El Paso, Texas, extended a series of at least five fatal attacks over the past year directed at targets selected for racial or religious reasons, including shootings at synagogues in San Diego and Pittsburgh. Authorities allege the El Paso shooter posted a racist manifesto online on 8chan, an anonymous message board, prior to the shooting.

The numbers of people killed in terrorist attacks linked to Islamist radicals or the far right in the United States since 2002 are now virtually equivalent. The most recent attacks have involved domestic terrorism committed by individuals influenced by or belonging to groups associated with white extremism.  As a result of the El Paso killings, President Trump denounced the alleged white nationalist sentiments of the suspected killer. But his presidency has come to be defined by policies that are aligned with aspects of the white nationalist agenda and his penchant for fanning racial prejudices and anti-immigrant sentiments. His very racist and long-standing xenophobic phrase “go back to where you came from” was a big hit among supporters at Trump’s rallies.

I became particularly concerned after white nationalists held a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, when the President appeared not to immediately denounce the neo-Nazi marchers. It’s as if the President and the Republicans are avoiding the obvious emergence of groups representing white extremists who select targets based on race and religion.  As in the case of the post-9/11 combined efforts by U.S. national security agencies to defend against Islamist radicals, these same agencies must now work closely together to prevent further attacks by followers of white extremism. It’s time for the administration to recognize this fact and act!

Canada is also not immune to white extremism. On January 29, 2017, a young Canadian white male fatally shot six people at a mosque in Quebec City’s Sainte-Foy neighbourhood.  This was seen by authorities as a hate crime against Muslims. The shooter was influenced one way or another by right-wing extremism portrayed in social media and on the Dark Web.  More frequent attacks involving vandalism of mosques and synagogues have taken place in the recent years.  However, the trend is much older.  Indeed, Statistics Canada reported that the number of hate crimes committed in Canada jumped 35 percent between 2007 and 2008, and black and Jewish people were the most targeted groups for the attacks. Again, I refer you to an earlier blog entitled Right Wing Extremism is a Growing Concern in North American Communities published in November 2018 for more background on Canadian and American white extremist groups.

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Jul 8

Should Canada Get Into a Trade War With China?

by bcurry

Andrew Scheer, leader of the opposition federal part Conservatives in Parliament, has come out on the national campaign trail swinging against China. He has called for placing tariffs on Chinese imports in retaliation for China’s recent blockage of Canadian agricultural products such as pork and canola. Much of China’s actions have to do with current extradition hearings, requested by U.S. authorities, against Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Ms. Meng is being held in custody in her Vancouver mansion awaiting the start of these hearings which could take months. In retaliation, China has charged two former Canadian diplomats with espionage and they are being held in detention.

Next to the U.S., China is Canada’s major trading partner. Canada has been pushing for entry into the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, negotiations for which the U.S. withdrew from under President Trump. The TPP would allow Canada to strengthen economic ties with Asian countries and reduce its reliance on the U.S. markets. Then there is Canada’s current relationship with China’s Huawei corporation which is a world leader in wireless technology. Pressure is being put on Canadians by the Americans to limit the involvement of Huawei in their telecommunications sector due to national security concerns.

Prime Minister Trudeau has to be very careful in his government’s approach to China given the potential negative impacts on the Canadian economy. With respect to the two Canadians in Chinese custody, he has correctly obtained the support of Canada’s major allies to put diplomatic pressure on China. However, getting into a trade war with China would not be advisable at this time given that billions of dollars of trade would be at risk. Canada would be better off looking to diversify its trade with other Asian countries such as Vietnam. Vietnam has been Canada’s largest trading partner in the ASEAN region since 2015. In 2017, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Vietnam reached $6.2 billion, up from $5.5 billion in 2016. In 2017, Canada’s merchandise exports to Vietnam in 2017 amounted to approximately $1.1 billion. India is another country to be seriously considered for trade expansion as Canadian exports to India were over $3 Billion (US) during 2017.

Chinese companies provide Canadians with many affordable goods (just think of Walmart and Dollarama) and trade opportunities. Any move to imposing tariffs would only hurt the average Canadian through increased costs for such goods.  The China-U.S. trade war, which is hurting average Americans, has only further complicated matters.  Yes, there are political and humanitarian concerns with China’s domestic policies, but so are there similar concerns in other industrialized countries. Throwing more gas on the fires is not going to help resolve anything at this time.  As a middle power caught in a dispute between the world’s two largest economies, I would suggest that the Canadian government continue to take a slow, calculated and cautious approach to these issues.

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Jun 2

Now Trump Has Gone Too Far With His Tariff Strategy

by bcurry

U.S. Vice-President Pence just visited Ottawa this week to discuss the ratification of the proposed new North American free trade agreement, which includes Mexico. In order to encourage Canadian ratification of the agreement, the U.S. just lifted its tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum products. Tariffs that should never have been implemented to begin with given the President’s use of ‘national security’ as a justification.  No sooner had these tariffs been lifted, President Trump’s administration placed new tariffs on Mexican imports.  Only this time, Trump is using these tariffs to try to force the Mexicans to do something more about stopping Central American refugees from crossing into the U.S.  Most would agree, including some of Trump’s own advisors, that this tactic will have little effect with respect to the border issue.

Instead, the new tariffs on Mexican products will cause as much economic harm to the Americans as it will to Mexicans. Many goods, including vehicles assembled in Mexico and agricultural goods, will cost American consumers even more. Combined with the recent increases in tariffs on Chinese imports, Americans can be expected to pay even more for consumer products of all kinds.  Remember, at one time about eighty percent of Walmart’s sales inventory involved cheaper Chinese imports.

Recent headlines in The New York Times (May 31, 2019) read: “Things Were Going Great for Wall Street. Then the Trade War Heated Up.” Basically, the article notes that up to now the U.S. economy was going fairly well. However, since the introduction of further tariffs on Chinese goods, the benchmark index of the stock exchange ended down 6.6 percent in May, its first monthly decline of the year and its worst drop since an ugly sell-off at the end of 2018. As well, stock markets in trade-dependent economies such as Canada, Japan, South Korea and Germany also saw steep losses in May. In addition, government bond markets have been sending some of the strongest warning signals.

I have been warning for some time that we could be heading for another major global recession if the U.S. continues its protectionist policies. The President’s use of economic threats and a trade war appears to be unravelling. Many economic indicators in the American economy are showing a growing weakness, despite the current low unemployment rate and high corporate profits. As indicated in the above article, investors are becoming increasingly fixated on any signs that growth is flagging. Consumer debt is high and consumer spending is on the decline in both Canada and the U.S. It just may be that Trump’s tariff strategy has gone too far. There is little doubt that ordinary Americans and Canadians will pay the price under his economic policies.

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May 16

With Friends Like the U.S., Who Needs Enemies!

by bcurry

Well, President Trump is at it again. This time he has launched an all out trade war with the second largest economy in the world — China. As of next week, virtually all of the imports from China to the States will be under increased or new tariffs. In turn, the Chinese will retaliate by placing new tariffs on American imports to that country worth billions of dollars.

What does this mean for Canada? The Bank of Canada predicts that the U.S.-China trade war will shave 0.8 percentage points off the Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Already, various Canadian agricultural exports to China, such as granola and soy beans, are down or non-existent because of an extradition request by the Americans and subsequent arrest in Vancouver last December of the Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou of Huawei Technologies Co. The decision to proceed with the extradition process sets in motion proceedings that could drag on for months and possibly years, inviting further retaliation measures by the Chinese government and costing Canadian suppliers billions of dollars. The American request has also resulted in the questionable arrest of Canadian citizens in China by its government.

As a result of the trade war, it is estimated that the U.S. itself could lose a full percentage point off its GDP, possibly costing some 1.5 million jobs. In turn, due to Canada’s close reliance on trade with its partner to the south, the Bank of Montreal predicts that some 150,000 Canadian jobs could be affected down the road by the resulting decline in economic activity between the two countries. In addition, the U.S. continues to refuse to eliminate the existing tariffs on steel and aluminum coming from Canada and Mexico. To date, U.S. refusal to do so has prevented both countries from ratifying the proposed new North American free-trade deal which would benefit all three countries.

Good political, defence, cultural and economic relationships between Canada and the U.S. are longstanding. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and Canadians work and live on both sides of the longest border in the world.  Together, we have made a robust and viable North American economy, with 70 percent of Canada’s trade being with the U.S.  However, this relationship has been damaged by the recent actions of Trump administration, although hopefully not beyond repair.  Under the current circumstances, all one can do is reiterate that with friends like this, who needs enemies!

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May 9

Ontario’s Conservative Government is Hurting a Public Education System Already Under Stress

by bcurry

The Ontario government under Premier Ford recently announced budgetary cut-backs to the province’s primary and secondary public schools, including an increase in class sizes over the next four years. There will be fewer teachers for students and the continuation of some specialized classes and after-school programs will be jeopardized.  The cut-backs will particularly affect inner-city kids who have a need for special programs such as English-as-a-second language for immigrant children and additional assistance for disadvantaged and lower income families.

I came up through the Ontario education system which once prided itself on being one of the best in Canada and among industrialized countries, readily available and accessible to kids in both urban and rural settings. Provincial oversight and funding of education ensured that children would have equal access to quality public education wherever they lived.  Teachers became well trained, paid and respected under the system, and rightly so.  After all, the ultimate result was a highly trained and educated labour force which served as a major attraction for national and foreign investment in the province, resulting in a higher standard of living for all.

However, over the years there has been some valid criticism of the product flowing out of primary and secondary schools. Post-secondary institutions are complaining of receiving high school students who are not well prepared for university or college, often lacking the critical thinking and communication capabilities normally required at the post-secondary level.  Unfortunately, what they see is an assembly-line approach to education, based too often solely on the use of testing to measure outcomes.  These higher institutions are frequently required to introduce remedial programs to improve writing and analytic skills of new entrants.

Instead of instilling young people with attributes related to imagination, creativity, comprehension and discovery, schools appear to be more interested in meeting provincial testing standards in order to ensure their future funding. Often such performance standards are based on the percentage of kids graduating with a high school diploma, whether or not this piece of paper is a true testament to their actual capabilities.  Of course, this issue is one which exists elsewhere in Canada and in the U.S.  Instead of undermining the public education system because of short-term budgetary considerations, maybe it’s time to step back and examine just what values and qualities will help our children to live full, successful and meaningful lives in the long-term.

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Mar 17

Extremist White Nationalist Movements Worldwide and the Attack on Mosques in New Zealand

by bcurry

Back in August 2017, I had a blog entitled White Supremacists Movements Should Be Outlawed in North America, after the march of white supremacists in city of Charlottesville, Virginia. At that time I argued that such movements have no place in today’s multicultural societies in the U.S. or Canada.  Just as governments target extreme Islamic groups like Al Quaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Western governments should also jointly target white supremacists movements. Failure to do so could result in more attacks on Mosques, black churches and synagogues in the U.S. and Canada.

Today, these groups are increasingly using social media to spread their hateful messages and to recruit new members through radicalization and anti-immigration slogans. One newspaper article called this trend “the weaponization of the internet’s culture of trolling.” Unfortunately, as in the case of the horrendous attacks on the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019, live coverage of the shootings occurred on Facebook. This despite the fact that social media companies have said they would quickly take down content involving the mass shootings, which are posted online as the attack unfolded.  The company is again being scrutinized over its handling of privacy, extremism and political content, but to no avail so far.

Enough is enough. Since coming into office, President Trump has reduced the federal government’s oversight of the surveillance of national white supremacists in the U.S.  Instead, even after the lateness atrocity in New Zealand, the President is simply placing the blame on an individual or lone wolf. On the other hand, Trump does not hesitate to blindly blame Moslems as an ethnic group for supporting radical attacks and violence against Western targets.

Today, we see the emergence of radical right-wing white extremism across borders, especially through social media. Although attempts are being made to deal with radicalization among individuals within our communities, there appears to be no point in debating the issues with such violent groups as a whole.  They are dangerously well armed and relentless in the pursuit of implementing their doctrines against peaceful and non-violent members of our society.  It’s all fine and dandy to express our belief that love can overcome hate, but recent events have demonstrated once again that forceful and proactive counterterrorism is the only way to proceed when dealing with domestic terrorism.  Governments need to act now, not later when more atrocities occur and dozens of innocent men, women and children become victims as a result of inaction on our part.

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Jan 11

Trump’s Crack Down on Immigration has Foreign Tech Talent Looking to Canada

by bcurry

Back in February 2017, I published a blog entitled President Trump, Please Keep Your Immigration Ban On in which I noted that a Canadian study in 2016 concluded that there would be as many as 182,000 high-paying technology jobs up for grabs in Canada by 2019. Well, 2019 is here and Canada is still looking for more high tech talent. At that time, a research report by Goldman Sachs estimated that 900,000 to a million H-1B visa holders (highly skilled foreign workers) resided in the U.S., accounting for up to 13 percent of American technology jobs. However, today many of those same workers are concerned about President Trump’s vow to crack down on the H-1B visa program, which allows 85,000 foreigners per year to work in “specialty occupations” in the States. Reports indicate that the number of inquiries about Canada from nervous H-1B holders has skyrocketed since 2017. American companies have declared that the inconsistent immigration policies are unfair and discourage talented and highly skilled individuals from pursuing career options in the U.S. Getting U.S. work visas has become a significant challenge.

In the meantime, a number of Canadian recruiting firms have sprung up to attract highly skilled foreign workers to settle in Canada, particularly those from Silicon Valley and other high tech enclaves. As well, in 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government launched the Global Talent Stream. The program is designed to fast-track work authorization for those with job offers in high-demand realms of science and tech. Successful applicants can get a work permit in a matter of weeks, and their spouses and children are eligible for work or study permits.

Canada is doing a much better job at marketing itself, ensuring that foreign workers are given all the right and necessary information they need to realize that a move to Canada is not as bad as some might think. Canada’s cities are among the best in the world, offering all the amenities that a modern society can offer, with excellent infrastructures, schools, recreational facilities and safe environments. Tech types make good money relative to the cost of living and Canada has much better employment standards laws and income support programs than found in many countries, including the U.S.

What is going on in the U.S. with its immigration policies is unfortunate. However, as indicated in my previous blog, Canadian firms would most likely benefit from any increased flow of high tech workers to Canada. If the President’s policies and the lack of certainty continue, Canada can only but benefit even further. Increasingly, Canada will appeal to people who want stability, including perhaps some American citizens.

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Nov 12

Employers Are Using Technology To Spy On Employees In The Name of Security

by bcurry

Back in 2016, there was an interesting article about American companies using new spy-ware on their employees in the form of special badges that hang around one’s neck on a lanyard. These small gadgets have two microphones doing real-time voice analysis, and each comes with sensors that follow where the employees are in the office and motion detectors to record how much they move.  More recently, Biohax, a Swedish tech firm, disclosed that it is in talks with a number of UK legal and financial services firms to implant workers with human chip devices. Apparently in Sweden, there are already some 4,000 individuals who are chipped, including 85 of the 500 employees at travel operator Tui. As well as restricting access to controlled areas, these microchips could be used to buy food from the canteen, enter the building, and access files or printers.  Needless-to-say, such security-oriented devices have raised major privacy concerns for employees in establishments where they are being introduced.

Employers already have vast quantities of data about their workers. Thanks to the internet, smart IDs, smartphones and the cloud, employers can already check who is looking at a document, when employees are working and whether they might be stealing company files and contacts. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will go even further, raising concerns about Orwellian snooping by employers on their workers. Microsoft, the software giant, already offers a programme called MyAnalytics which pulls together data from e-mails, calendars and so on to show employees how they spend their time, how often they are in touch with key contacts and whether they multitask too much.

Most employment contracts in America give employers blanket rights to monitor employees and collect data about them, but few workers are aware of such provisions. Now, some employers are going further, arguing for the need to track every move by employees all in the name of security.  The important question becomes what else they are tracking, including personal information related to mental and physical health issues, family matters and the state of one’s emotions on a particular day.  Some software can even tell whether one is looking for another job.

An additional concern is that there are more companies which now rely on outside firms to collect and crunch employee information. Privacy concerns will increase and employees may feel violated if they do not think they have given their prior consent to sharing their personal data.  It’s one thing to microchip my pet with a locator chip, it’s a completely other issue when an employer does the same for a person.  What does this mean for privacy in the workplace of the future?  Monitoring employees for performance is one thing, but invading their privacy is a totally different matter.  The introduction of such technologies into our personal and work lives is a growing concern.  Begging one to ask whether Big Brother is watching our every move and our state of mind?

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