Keeping it Real…

A week ago a Norwegian friend of mine asked if i had noticed the total medal count at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

“No,” I replied. “No one will remember any of it a few days after the Games end … except the hockey.”

That’s what hurts, will hurt for some time … and not be forgotten for decades … from coast to coast to coast, in Canada.

The Gold Medal hockey games … both the Men’s and Women’s … between Canada and the United States, during the Milan Olympics, were much more than just sports competitions: many, many Canadians REALLY wanted to beat the AMERICANS!

With enmity! With vengeance in mind! Even humiliate them if we could!

Not something I detected similarly from American sports fans, who, of course, wanted the US to win, but to whom the issues involved didn’t go much beyond normal national pride. Like at any Olympics, any World Cup, any World Series, any FIFA, or any Rider Cup.

For Canadians, this was different: much different.

It shows, in no uncertain terms, how far Canadians have now distanced ourselves from our southern neighbours … repulsed by not only Donald Trump’s insults, threats, lies, tariffs, thickening border controls directed against our country, but also widespread Canadian disgust and revulsion for Trump himself as a person.

Figures have shown for some time now that huge numbers of Canadians have avoided visiting/vacationing/wintering/shopping in the US.

USA Today reports in 2025 “4 million fewer visits from Canadian travelers, a 22% drop from the previous year.”

Air Transat and WestJet have announced cuts on routes to several U.S. cities, while Las Vegas visits by Canadians are reportedly down 20 to 50%, depending on the month.

“Canadian air travel to the U.S. drops for the 11th straight month,” read the headline earlier this month in the Financial Post. (Read the full article here: https://financialpost.com/transportation/airlines/canadian-air-travel-us-drops-11-straight-month.)

Most Canadian provinces have removed American booze from our shelves … costing the US industry hundreds of millions, while boosting Canadian and other foreign suppliers’ sales.

And now, there’s a new indicator of how serious Canadians have become in sending a message to Americans.

“Canadian consumers are quietly pulling U.S. products off their grocery lists, and the impact is measurable,” says Sylvain Charlebois, a Canadian professor and food researcher.

“Multiple industry sources relying on scanner data from major grocers suggest that volumes of U.S.-sourced products have declined by double digits since last March. That represents a material shift within specific categories, including packaged foods and produce where U.S. imports traditionally hold significant shelf space,” Charlebois reported in a column in the Asia Pacific Post. (Read the full article here: https://asianpacificpost.com/article/10531-us-consumer-boycott-exposes-local-problem.html.)

“For many households, the grocery store has become one of the few places where they feel they can register disapproval of the Trump administration’s posture toward Canada,” Charlebois noted.

Amen!

Beating the US hockey team(s) would have soothed the soul, but for long-term satisfaction, the power of the pocketbook can also feel good … and do more for Canada.

🇨🇦🇨🇦 Buy Canadian 🇨🇦🇨🇦

Harv Oberfeld

(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new topics on this blog up for discussion.)

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BC is not only broke … it’s going further into debt this year … and says next year will be even worse!

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey predicted in her 2026 BC Budget the province’s deficit (spending more than it takes in) will hit $9.6 BILLION … and next year, she plans to overspend by another $13.3 BILLION!

So much for the NDP promise that BC’s deficit would “come down year over year.”

The current projected deficit will swell BC’s total debt in 2026 to $183 BILLION!!

(Yes, I’m SHOUTING these figures, because BC taxpayers must WAKE UP!! The province’s debt has skyrocketed 178 per cent since the NDP became BC’s government in 2017 … and that includes a 49 per cent jump just since David Eby became Premier, and now there’s an admission/prediction by the Finance Minister the debt will go up ANOTHER 50 PER CENT in the next three years!!!!).

Holy Bankruptcy, Brenda!

No one could ever run their own/business finances like that.

Maybe the BC Government should just call Sands and Associates and file for one of those “Consumer Proposals” they tout on BC airwaves as a solution for those drowning in debt?

What makes the 2026 BC Budget even more depressing is that these terrible deficit/debt figures are projected, DESPITE the government saying it will also: raise Income Taxes on the middle class and higher earners; expand the Provincial Sales Tax to more goods/services; increase school tax on high-end homes; cut 15,000 government jobs; cut the BC Training and Education Savings Grant, end the rural and northern homeowner grant; and, freeze adding any more $10-a-day child care spaces.

So where is the money going?

If there’s any news in the Budget to help calm taxpayers, it’s that the government plans to spend: $2.8 billion more over three years for health care; $634 million more on K-12 education; $330 million morebfor child care fee reduction; $139 million more on community safety; and, $5 billion is set aside for contingencies, “such as wildfires and other emergencies that require the province to help out financially”, according to The Vancouver Sun.

(You can read the full article here: https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-budget-2026-how-it-will-affect-you.)

BC clearly is in a financial mess … and the future looks bleak as well.

The BC Real Estate Association says the Budget will “burden the development sector with tax increases, imperiling the ability of the province to meet its own long-term housing supply targets”.

BC Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar called it “is an assault on seniors, working families and the small businesses that drive our economy.”

“Any cut to front line services, any cut to unionized employees, that provide critical services to British Columbians, is not just going to hurt people that need those services right now, it is also going to hurt the economy.” said BC General Employees’ Union President Paul Finch.

“What we are doing is protecting the gains that we’ve made over the last year,” explained the Finance Minister. “We’re protecting the gains that we’ve made in child care. We’re protecting the gains that we’ve made investing in new hospitals and in education. We’re protecting those gains, but we’re not adding new things on that we would like to.”

Bailey blamed US tariffs and falling resource revenues for BC’s tough financial situation.

She did not mention Indigenous land claims, opposition to pipelines, coastal traffic, the implications of the Cowichan lands decision; or Eby’s insistence on just amending, not repealing DRIPA.

Scary to even imagine what impact those current problems handicapping BC will have on next year’s BC Budget!

Harv Oberfeld

(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this Blog.)

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