1:39 P.M. Let’s make it a GOOD New Year !!! …

This year end article from the Edmonton Sun …

Maybe 2019 will be a better year than 2018, politically and economically.

When our editors asked me to write a column about the biggest stories of the year just past and predict the ones that will be big in the year ahead, I came up with two.

In Alberta, of course, pipelines dominated most people’s lives in 2018 and will do so again in 2019. That’s Story No. 1.

The second big story of 2018 is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s clown-show tour of India. The fallout from that tour might turn out to have as profound an impact on Canadian politics as any other story this year. Millions of Canadians who admired Trudeau and his “sunny ways” saw him, finally, as the lightweight Mr. Dressup he is.

The India trip shook Trudeau’s credibility to a depth no other faux pas or policy failing has.

A lot of opposition attention has been focused on the cost of the trip (nearly $2 million) and the fact Canadian officials included a convicted Indian terrorist on their invite list for an official reception.

But what voters remember and care about is how ridiculously embarrassing Diva Trudeau’s constant costume changes were.

If the India trip awakened voters from their Trudeau daydream and helps the Libs lose the 2019 election, it will be worthy of Story of the Year.

Let’s hope so !!! …

11:43 A.M. 40 % Freeloaders !!! …

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be making a New Year’s resolution to compensate Toronto properly for the costs of accommodating the flood of asylum seekers his decisions helped to create.

Whether they’re called “illegal” or “irregular” migrants — and the federal Liberals have used the terms interchangeably — isn’t the issue.

What’s relevant is now that they’re here, they have to be sheltered and accommodated.

Dumping the costs of federal immigration policies on Toronto property taxpayers is unfair.

It’s not the purpose for which municipal taxes are intended.

As Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy reported last week, 40% of the city’s emergency shelter system is now occupied by refugees or asylum seekers.

That up from 11% in 2016, 25% in 2017.

The city’s total cost of caring for them in 2017 and 2018 was over $64.5 million, with the city predicting it will need $43 million more in 2019.

While the Trudeau government says the number of illegal/irregular border crossers coming into Canada is dropping, the city says 18 to 20 new refugees claimants are still entering Toronto’s shelter system every day.

Until now, the Trudeau Liberal government’s response to demands from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government to pay its fair share of the costs has been to falsely portray them as racist and fear-mongering.

This has become so typical of the Trudeau government, which routinely and falsely accuses its critics on the immigration file of being everything from part of the alt-right to neo-Nazis.

It’s an obvious ploy, it’s utter nonsense and it’s become boring.

6:15 A.M. Appreciation …

Blessed are those that can give without remembering and take without forgetting.  

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you, I’m doing community service this week.’  
   
The florist was pleased and left the shop.  
   
When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.  
   
Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you, I’m doing community service this week.’  
   
The cop was happy and left the shop.  
   
The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.  
   
Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’  
   
The Congressman was very happy and left the shop.  
   
The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.  

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.  
   
As Ronald Reagan said: “Both politicians and diapers need to be changed often and for the same reason.”