An update from my sister on yesterday’s post:

Besides the, I think 50, jabs on my back, I had injections up and down both arms. I think I was 10 years old and I cried the entire time. Also, I had a sulfa allergy. I had tonsillitis a lot in winter and that was how they found that I had the allergy to sulfa drugs. But nowadays they don’t use sulfa drugs.

I’ve been meaning to mention that the movie Merrily We Roll Along is now on Netflix, and a few days ago The Moya View reviewed it.

There was an election in Canada recently and it might have implications for this country. 

Carney is the first prime minister to move to a majority from a minority without an intervening general election. This feat has been accomplished through three victories in by-elections (think special elections, American friends) in ridings (districts) in the Toronto and Montreal suburbs. But in reality, it was accomplished by the Carney government attracting five floor crossers in 5 months.

Floor crossings are not particularly uncommon in Canadian history, with one of the more famous, and hilarious, defections being that of Belinda Stronach in 2005. But what is uncommon is the speed with which Carney has plucked away members of other parties, picking up four from the right-wing Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) and one from the left-wing New Democratic Party. Outside of wartime, five defections to the government in 5 months is unheard of in Canadian history (excepting when the Anti-Confederation Party decided to stop existing when they realized Confederation wasn’t going away, back in 1870). But, as (Z) will assuredly concur, weird things happen early in political systems before norms are established.

This has ramifications for American readers in a few ways. First, it indicates the decline of the Trump-aligned leader of the CPC, Pierre Poilievre. Poilievre was, as late as December 2024, assumed to be the next Prime Minister and was well ahead in the polls. But the declaration of trade war by Donald Trump, resignation of Justin Trudeau, and Trudeau’s replacement with former Banks of Canada and England head Mark Carney caused Canadians to re-evaluate Poilievre. By the time the election happened, Poilievre had become so unpopular that he and his party lost an election that four months previous was a “sure thing,” and Poilievre lost his seat outside Ottawa, and had to seek a safe seat in Alberta instead.