The 2 Last Week Events

It was a tough week last week. Or at least it was for me anyway.

First, I had a session set up with the people who look after my furnace/air-conditioning and water systems to make sure they are working properly. I have to admit that I was hoping that everything was fine considering all of the miseries I had in the past with one of their subcontractors who put in my new systems when we moved to our new home. With all of the problems that we had, it took a very long time with lots of discussions before everything was resolved including payments given to them and what we owed to them. So it seemed anyway.

Secondly, I had a meeting set up on the same day with the group who looked after me physically for the difficulties that I had as I recovered from the terrible illness that I suffered over 2 years ago. Yes, over 2 years.

I had trouble understanding about my illness then because an illness such as this one has never affected me to such a degree. It was so scary for a person like me because not many people in this area have ever suffered from the disease that I did so that very few doctors here know anything about it and what to do about it.  In addition, death could have been a possibility of occurring right away. Moreover, I was troubled by some of the actions being proposed by the people who were looking after me because, as far as I was concerned, what was being suggested made no sense at all and I felt would cause me a great deal of difficulty.

Of course, there were news stories that I had just read and about which I wanted to comment in an article on my website.  It would just be difficult for me to do that in this web story because of the concerns that I had on the personal matters that I knew that I would have to deal with first.

Let me try and do an article now on the first 2 items and then add in some comments about other news stories. I will take the latter steps if I don't use up too much space talking about the other ones. If I do have a lot to say about the first 2, I will do a separate article on the news items. I don't want to give you, dear reader, too much to read!

The first matter---checking over some recently installed internal home equipment---was supposed to be a positive one I was hoping. After all, I did have a firm put in new equipment when we purchased our condominium townhouse home. If you remember what I posted on here, that operation by their subcontractor was a horrific mess that caused us one huge difficulty after another right after installation for quite a period of time. It was so bad…well, I really don't want to repeat it because I am sure that you should remember all the gory details that I posted about on here. In the end, I dealt with a number of the senior people in the area who had a number of their employees fix everything up.

All that I was going to do now was have the Company do their annual examination of my equipment to make sure that everything was fine now that the cold winter weather was just about finished and that everything would be fine with the equipment now that the hot weather was about to hit. I really could not face more problems similar to the ones that we had experienced in the past.

Fortunately for my wife and I, we had established a great relationship with one of their service people who had been involved in the past fixing up the messes that we were involved in and was making sure that everything was working properly subsequently. He had been involved in previous equipment examinations and I hoped that he could be involved again to make sure everything was working properly. What I did was call up one of the more senior managers in the firm to help set up such an appointment rather than doing it through the normal telephone service. The gentleman I contacted was relatively newly hired and I had spoken with him several  times in the past but had not yet met with him personally. I wanted to do that also so that he would know the miseries I had suffered so that I could continue to receive the excellent assistance that was now being provided to me whenever I ever called in.  Just in passing, the Company had given me access to their very special head office service to contact if I ever had a problem rather than calling up their local branch. However, because this seemed to be a normal operation, I figured I would contact the local office.

I was amazed when I made the phone call to the local gentleman! He remembered exactly who I was and what my problems were that he helped solve.  I asked him to set up the session and he promised to do so immediately. In addition, I asked, if he was available, whether we could meet just so that I could form a relationship with one of the senior managers in the area. I was surprised. While he could not promise to do so, he told me that he would try and come over at the same time that the service employee was here so that we could talk but more importantly, so that he could confirm that everything was working perfectly.

The annual maintenance meeting time came. The specific service person that I wanted came, checked over everything and was able to confirm that we had no difficulties and that everything would work extremely well.  Oh sure, that is what I hoped we would get and what my wife and I did get. However, I was somewhat disappointed because the more senior manager had not confirmed that he could come. Until I heard the doorbell ring! He had arrived and wanted to speak with us to make sure that everything was just perfect. He made sure that he had solved all of the other issues that he was dealing with first so that he had sufficient time to meet with me and my wife who really bought our house.

We had a great time together, speaking for over an hour about many of the matters that we were experiencing in our home with his firm's equipment, the service we were receiving from his excellent technicians and all of the miseries that we suffered before he joined the firm.  It was just so wonderful speaking with a person whom I believed to be an excellent person and with whom my wife and I would be dealing if we had any problems.

Let me talk about the 2nd issue now, the one dealing with my physical health.

As you know, I have been quite fortunate in not dying right away once I had picked up my illness. That is something that happens to very many people in quite a short time after their body absorbs it or, if they recover, they are not in a good health position afterward. I believe that I entered the Hospital Emergency Department literally a few days before my death would otherwise have happened if I had not done so. Moreover, I was very fortunate that one of the doctors there believed that he knew what my problem was and started treating for it immediately.  He was right and received confirmation several days later that I had the illness.  Few doctors anywhere know about that illness or how to treat it.

Let me leap forward to the weeks in May that just took place. I won't go into all the ridiculous details about what happened starting May 1 but will talk to you about the mess I had with Government people with respect to the very serious illness difficulties that I have been trying to overcome.

Without going into the matters that took place and why, I just need to tell you that I was told that my treatments were going to be reduced from 3 per week to 2 starting in the beginning of May and then from 2 treatments to 1 starting on May 29. This was something that apparently I knew about and had agreed to previously. As far as I was concerned, this was entirely incorrect and I was flabbergasted by it since I was certain that I had never spoken to anyone about this at all.

Eventually, I was so upset that I contacted an official in the Ministry in this Area and complained about what was happening. One of the civil servants who deals with people like me in a situation such as this spoke with me for almost one hour over the telephone and was going to get back to me quickly once she had examined everything.

I never heard another word from her!

I waited for about another week or so and then got fed up. One of my alternatives was to commence an appeal at the most senior level about what had happened to me. I would be ignoring the appeal system for people in my area by doing so. Initially, I thought about doing that because I was so upset about how I had been treated. However, in the end, I contacted the Head of the group in our region and spoke with her about the problem I had and how concerned I was about it. She immediately had another senior person in the area call me to discuss this matter and to try to resolve it.

The official came to my house right away and we talked about what was going on for about 2 hours. It was in that much detail. I presented her with information that I believe convinced her immediately that I was right in what I was saying. She wanted a copy of the note that I had that supported what I said. We agreed that another employee in the Department involved would come and interview me and then there would be another meeting shortly thereafter to discuss the results and to decide what happens next.

Another employee came out to talk to me for some time about what went on again so that he could come up with a solution to what my problem was. Another meeting was set out subsequently and I agreed again to meet with the 2 new Ministry people involved.

This new meeting was a very good one to be direct about it. It lasted for about 45 minutes. The conversation that we had was quite forthright as far as I was concerned. There was no fooling around but we were all trying to come up with a solution that worked for both sides based on the exchange of information that we had.

Gratefully, both sides agreed to a solution that makes sense for both of us. That is exactly what I wanted and was happy to achieve it with the people in my area.

To be direct, I was feeling so much better and did believe that my arrangement with the Government Department would end sooner but not in the time period or in the matter that was imposed on me. Frankly, what had happened caused me difficulties and hurt the positive position that I was in at the time. I went backwards in how I felt.

I can only say now how pleased I am in what was achieved as a result of the positive steps taken by the Governmental people that I met. I do believe that my recovery will take longer because of what happened but I also believe that what we agreed to will still help me to do so relatively quickly. After all, I always told the Government people that it was my desire to end our relationship as quickly as possible because that meant that I was now living in a satisfactory fashion all over again.

Hmmm.  My stories went on for quite a bit of space in giving you the information about what happened to me. I do not think that there is any space left for me to write about other matters about which I wanted to do some news articles. Oh well, that means that I will have to do some writing for a new Blog that I will have to post ASAP. I better start doing that right away.

Thanks for coming by again.

Mother's Day contest entry for Property Mom

Here is a great note I received from my daughter about a contest she entered that was run by this terrific Real Estate firm in Windsor!

Congratulations for her winning.

Wow, I am really touched that my entry about my mom was chosen as the big winner! She won a lovely gift certificate for Piccolo's here in Windsor, Cineplex movie tickets and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

This was a great contest that Property Mom set up.  I decided to do a written entry and so if you're curious, here it is! Many tell me that I really have a way with words. I am really proud of this.  Enjoy!

My Mom

We call her SuperMom. It’s not because she can pull off wearing a cape and still look amazing in tights, but for the simple reason that she embodies so many wonderful qualities that have graced us over the years.

During the hardest times of my life, my mom still has the ability to make me laugh when she tells me zany tales of her youth. Like the time she wore two completely different shoes on her way to a job interview by mistake because she was nervous or the embarrassing moment when she was walking and didn’t realize she was wearing over-sized underwear and they fell right down in the middle of the street.

My mom is like a best friend to everyone she meets. Her smile is contagious and she holds no judgment because she knows what it’s like to be different.  

The devotion over the years to her husband shows that vows still truly mean something with the words “in sickness and in health,” as she has been by my father's side without a moment of hesitation.

True love between partners can last a lifetime, but the love given from a mother certainly does deserve a lifetime of love.

It's That Day Coming Again

Yes, dear reader, it is that day approaching me again in a very few days. Actually, a couple of important events are taking place at this time of year.

Naturally, the most important day, to me anyway, is my next birthday coming up shortly! Number 72 for me is going to be here this time around. To be direct, I am very fortunate that this has happened considering that just over 2 years ago I came literally within a few days of dying with an illness unknown to most medical practitioners at the time. I have been looked after very well by so many people since that time especially my family that I am in such a good state these days. I am so appreciative as well of so many people who have supported me who have become my friends.

The other incident that took place around this time as well is our sale of our house in Windsor a couple of years ago and our move to Tecumseh and into our fabulous condominium townhouse. Our new home in this kind of a unit was a rather dramatic move for my wife and me considering where we lived ever since we moved to Windsor from Toronto. We had not lived in such a place for so many years.

Our new residence turned out to be just a fantastic location that we purchased in an area of so many wonderful people who live nearby. It is just built so well also. Our Condo Complex is a great place to live with all of the care being taken to make sure that we live well. 

 

I have to admit that my life has changed so much since I have recovered so well from my illness. Of course, the illness that I had took away some of the powers that I had in my mind and body before and which presumably I can never replace. It has caused severe difficulties for me that has deprived me of some of my better qualities in life. What I have to do now is to find alternative ways to carry out what I was doing before and then learn how to do it. That is what I have been doing, am still doing now and will have to do in the future.

I am sure that there is a lot more than I could chat about in this article. However, I do not see the need to do so at all. I just wanted to let you to know, dear reader, how happy I am in the life I am living now. I am so pleased with all of the people who been so friendly to me for so long and who have helped me out so much. I am obligated to those professionals who have used their skills to help me recover so well.

However, dear reader, I need you to know this. Most of all, I am honoured to be so supported by my family who have helped me survive so well!

I truly will have the most happy birthday this year!

Brrrr It's Cold Out

I had better check my calendar. Here I was thinking that it was the warm month of May.

I expected that I would be able to go out now at different times of the day to do a walk to give me some of the exercises I need. Instead, I saw forecasts of quite cold weather in this area overnight on Saturday and into Sunday. It will also be cold Sunday  night.  I must admit I am having difficulty in this kind of weather. I thought that winter was over already and we should be anticipating quite warm weather for this area. I just hope it changes soon so that I can go out and enjoy myself.

Until then, I will stay inside and have more time to write a Blog that I hope you will find interesting. It is my desire to give you some interesting reading because I suspect that you are going to have to stay inside too for the next little while and so I should give you something pleasant to do.

RUSSIAN PARTNERSHIP

Will this area be able to do some different economic work compared with other regions in North America? Who knows but I think there is that opportunity if it makes sense to do.

I saw that there was this meeting of the City of Windsor recently with the Russian Ambassador to Canada. In a CTV story that I saw, it was said that this was the first time that the Ambassador from this country had come here. Here is an advantage for this region:

"The Russian Ambassador to Canada says Windsor is a place his country might want to do business in…

Darchiev arrived in Windsor for the weekend. He spent the day Friday touring the Chrysler Minivan plant on Tecumseh Rd. E and Drouillard Rd. with Mayor Drew Dilkens.

An experience Darchiev described as, "impressive."

"It's my first time in Windsor, in this part of Ontario and I'm very happy to be here. We're looking at exploring opportunities for having more ties,  more regional ties, more business ties with regions of Russia," Darchiev says. "Windsor has a great innovation potential. In Russia we also have a high tech experts, so this might be a real venue for having economic business ties." (Gord Bacon, am800, May 6th 2017) 

Of course, decisions will have to be made at some time about whether or not Canada should be doing business with Russia. This region of Canada will also have to decide whether it is prepared to do so or not.

WHAT IS REAL ESTATE REALLY DOING HERE

I am so confused.

I thought everything was going really well here with prices going up remarkably. Yet, maybe I am to think now that our prices are going to crash. In other words, it may be too late if you have not sold your house yet and you will lose out with the lower prices.

I just wish that I knew what was going on here. After you read parts from these 2 stories, perhaps you will understand what I mean. Here is the first one:

"Windsor housing sales slump

Fewer houses were on the market and fewer sold for not as much money.

That describes April, according to statistics from the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors.

The Association says it saw a 10% drop in houses sold year-over-year, from 679 in 2016 to 607.

The average sale price was around $227,000 in April, while in 2016 that number was $283,000." (Mike Vlasveld, BlackburnNews.com, May 6, 2017)

That is pretty bad I think. However, take a look at this story:

"Housing prices jump 20% in Windsor over past year: report

CTV Windsor

Published Friday, May 5, 2017

The number of sales have dropped, but prices for homes in Windsor's red hot real estate market continue to go up.

The Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors reports housing prices have jumped an average of 20 per cent in the past year.

The average price of a home is now just over $283,000. That is $56,000 more than last year."

Here is the material that I saw that tells us what is really going on here and which media report is correct. 

"WINDSOR-ESSEX COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Residential Stats President's Report for APRIL 2017

So sales have decreased but look at what has happened to prices.  I wonder what will happen next and whether people will not now buy homes to resell if they are afraid that  prices are no longer going up.

"A CAPITAL PROJECT: BUILDING CANADA’S NEW INFRASTRUCTURE BANK"

That is the title of an article by the law firm, Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. It is an article on Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabling of Bill C-44 in Parliament. $35 billion supposedly is going to be available for new construction projects.  The Liberals stated on their website:

"We will establish the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to provide low-cost financing for new infrastructure projects.

The federal government can use its strong credit rating and lending authority to make it easier and more affordable for municipalities to build the projects their communities need.

Where a lack of capital represents a barrier to projects, the Canada Infrastructure Bank will provide loan guarantees and small capital contributions to provinces and municipalities to ensure that the projects are built."

Hmmm.  That did not seem as if the Federal Government is necessarily going to put up its own taxpayer money to build the new infrastructure projects. Presumably, it could be done by 3rd parties as well.

In any event, here are some of the interesting comments that I saw in the Blakes' article:

"CIB… will operate under a mandate to “invest, and seek to attract investment from private sector investors and institutional investors, in infrastructure projects in Canada or partly in Canada that will generate revenue and that will be in the public interest”. The inclusion of the “partly in Canada” language seems intended to grant the CIB the ability to invest in both domestic and cross-border infrastructure projects."

Does that mean, for example, that CIB might be involved in financing a new Governmental bridge for Windsor/Detroit using both its money and that of private sector investors?

"Accordingly, while some degree of separation is envisioned between CIB executives and the legislative branch of government, the institution itself will not retain a significant degree of independence from government."

In other words, let this mean to me is that these projects will really be Governmental ones but structured in a much different way than these projects are being done today. After all, the Federal Government apparently does not have its own money to finance projects and this is the way that it can partner with private firms.

"Treasury Board must approve the CIB’s annual operating and capital budgets"

It sure seems to me as if it is a Governmental department although it is not being structured that way.

"the current version of the CIB-enabling legislation grants cabinet a significant degree of control over the governance and operations of the CIB. It remains to be seen what impact, if any, such a degree of control over the CIB will have on the CIB’s flexibility to pursue innovative public-private partnerships and funding solutions for Canadian infrastructure deals."

It seems to me that the Cabinet is still in control although the structure of this project differs from how the Cabinet controls projects today.

Who knows if private parties will find what is being structured as being advantageous to them.

Quite A Storm

I cannot remember a rain storm this troublesome other than that big one last year that flooded my condo house basement and caused damage to my property for the first time ever for me.

This rain storm started a day ago on Thursday, continued very strongly all day Friday and is supposed to storm a bit on Saturday as well. Fortunately, so far at least, our family has not seen or had any serious damage in our home from the rain in this area. Fingers crossed that we won't have any as the day progresses. 

I just wanted to show you some pictures that I took in this area to show you how big the winds were as the storm progressed. The first photos were taken several days ago when a team of people planted about 40 new trees for the house that was built. It seems as if the trees were designed to separate the 2 properties, one from each other. 

To be honest, I just took a few photographs of what was being undertaken when I first saw the changes being made. It really did not seem all that much of a job and was done quite well I thought. The new trees were put to last for a very long time between 2 properties. Or so I thought.

Nice weather though.  Blue sky and sunshine.

Then the storm hit! Here are the photographs that I took earlier this morning that shows a number of trees that just fell over because of the storm that hit:

To be honest about it I was quite shocked that such a thing should happen. Moreover, in the late afternoon, I saw a whole bunch more trees fall over and thought that I would take some photographs of that as well. Here are some of those photos:

I truly hope that the damage will not worsen even more between now and whenever the storm finally disappears.  I also hope that the trees can be put back into the ground and that they were not damaged because of the rain that has fallen. In other words, I am hoping that they don't have to be replaced.

Just one final thought that I was thinking about. I wonder if the owner of the property has to pay the tree company money to put the trees back again in the ground. It is a serious question to ask because I expect that a great deal of work will be needed to be done one more time to put all of the trees back in place.

Here I Go Again

I was quite surprised. It turns out that there were quite a few interesting articles that I looked at in the media over the past few days on which I wish to comment. That is primarily what I do on this website of mine.

Again, I don't think that I can comment in this article about every one of the interesting things I have seen but I hope that I will be able to do comment on some of the others in subsequent ones.  That is my plan after all but sometimes I have difficulty fulfilling it because the media all of a sudden provide new stories on which I wish to make some remarks.

Here are a number of interesting matters that I have read about that I think deserve a mention from me.

FORMER US PRESIDENT FEE

It must be nice to retire from one's job as President of the United States.  While it obviously is very difficult to find a comparable job, nevertheless there are ways that one can still make money to help out on one's life. Take this example from Former President Obama about which I just read:

"Former President Barack Obama has agreed to accept $400,000 to speak at a health care conference this year sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street investment bank.

The lucrative engagement, reported earlier by Fox, was confirmed by a person familiar with the speaking agreement. A spokesman for Mr. Obama declined to comment on the speech.

Out of office for about three months, Mr. Obama has begun the process of cashing in. In February, he and his wife, Michelle, each signed book deals worth tens of millions of dollars. And Mr. Obama’s spokesman confirmed last week that he is beginning the paid-speech circuit.

A $400,000 speaking fee for addressing the Cantor Fitzgerald conference is a sharp increase from the amounts typically paid to his predecessors. Former President Bill Clinton averaged about $200,000 per speech while former President George W. Bush is reportedly paid $100,000 to $175,000 for each appearance." (Michael D. Shear, New Your Times, April 26, 2017) 

It going to be one fantastic speech because he will be doing quite well with it. Consider that "Mr. Obama…was paid $400,000 a year as president."

WINDSOR REAL ESTATE MARKET

The real estate market in this City seems to be doing extremely well at this time. We are obviously behind the price increase seen in other areas but the price rises these days are not all that bad for people who want to sell their homes here. However, I just wonder how long this price increase will continue. I may be wrong anyway in what I am thinking considering this:

"Windsor’s real estate market has become so hot, sales agents for the majority of listings are restricting bids to one day — a strategy reserved for the nation’s most competitive housing markets in Toronto or Vancouver.

“It first started (in Windsor) about six or eight months ago,” said Denny Laurin, a broker/manager at Re/Max Preferred Realty Ltd. “But now we are in a situation with ample buyers that, for a seller, the best product to serve them is the multiple-offer situation.”

Re/Max Realty released its spring market trend report Tuesday which showed Windsor and Essex County had the largest price jump from a year ago — at 17 per cent — than anywhere in Canada except the Greater Toronto Area and Kitchener-Waterloo." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, April 25, 2017)

I am surprised that the article did not suggest that the prices were increasing because a lot more people were going to be finding much better paying jobs here especially because of the increasing business in the Automobile Industry and that more people would be employed in the future. Rather, here is what was being said as the main reason for the price increase:

"The Re/Max report suggests the housing market is being driven by a large number of retirees flocking to Windsor from other communities.

Frequently, they have sold their family homes elsewhere — often the GTA — at a premium price, which leaves them flush with funds to purchase an equivalent property in Windsor’s more affordable housing market and still have plenty of cash left in the bank."

Oh sure, retirees would like to live here but would they be all that interested in spending so much more money in our area considering that prices have risen so high so quickly? Is our area really so attractive that it convinced so many retirees to spend so much more money to live here? That is a question that we will have to see answered.

ANOTHER AMBASSADOR BRIDGE STORY

I just don't get what is going on. I am not going to get into a long discussion because as far as I am concerned just about everything going on now makes no sense at all to me.

Of course, the Governments remarkably have still told us that 2 new bridges are going to be built across the border between Canada and United States. One is the new Ambassador Bridge and the second one is the Governments new bridge. Naturally, that makes little sense because traffic has declined significantly and will hardly grow large enough to fund the billions of dollars required to build 2 new bridges in the foreseeable future. Moreover, it probably violates legislation that is in place today which would not support legally a new Governmental bridge given that is supposed to be built in Windsor as far as I am concerned. It will make a nice Supreme Court of Canada case if that happens and probably one in the United States as well.

I am sure that you have heard about the new Governments bridge that expects to be built in a year or so and how tough the Governments are and how successful they will be:

"Chairman Dwight Duncan said he's not concerned, especially with the Moroun-owned properties.

"We anticipate they will continue to fight, and we'll fight back," he said. "We have yet to lose anything in the courts. I've been through so many fights on this and we won every one of them."

The timeline for the bridge completion is unclear, and will be determined based on construction conditions, but it could be a four-year project.

"The Morouns are fighting and you know what? We won every battle," Duncan said. "We're going to keep our pedal to the metal and we're going to make sure we're going to get this done and there's not an individual out there that in my view is going to be able to stop us." (Dana Afana, MLive.com, April 29, 2017) 

As far as I am concerned, this is so absurd a position. Nothing has risen giving the legal right to build a Governmental bridge in over a decade since this all started and when I was first got involved in writing news stories about this. If there is such a big need for it, and the right to do so, why wasn't one done already? How long would it take to finish litigation in such a major case opposing any such action considering it has not even been started yet: another decade or more?

Could it be that the Governments know they cannot do so and were hoping that Matty Moroun was going to retire so that they could buy the Bridge from his son and add in another bridge at the existing location.  All the silly things they are doing now just seems to be in my opinion the Governments extending the time until they hope that the appropriate time to speak about buying the Ambassador Bridge with the son arises. To be blunt about it, that is where we will all see that new road system that is being built today really going to go one day. Believe it or not!

I am not going to go into a long discussion about the subject matter because nothing has really changed no matter what the news stories suggest. In addition, when the Ambassador Bridge Company is finally given permission to build their second bridge, and there is no reason as far as I know why such permission has not been granted quite some time ago, then the Governments' position to build a bridge is finished!

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S NEGOTIATING APPROACH

The President is very interesting to me. I just wondered what kind of business person the US President is when he decides on what position he should take when he negotiates a deal and how he determined that position.

Does he really get involved in going in depth in a matter in which he has an interest to take a well thought out position before he takes any action? Or, for whatever reason, does he develop his position in a file quickly without doing a lot of work in it and then pursues his position using all kinds of different tactics to be successful? He is prepared, in other words, to change around in his tactics if needed for whatever reason so that that he gets the result he wants in the end.

Perhaps what is going on now in Canada, the US and Mexico with respect to NAFTA might give us a view of how he handles matters.

Who really knows the answer but what was supposed to be done? There were supposed to be friendly negotiations among all 3 countries.  That changed drastically to the US desiring to terminate the relationship very quickly because it was not happy with what was going on. And then this happened, friendliness once again… Maybe:

"One day after his White House floated a trial balloon about drafting an executive order to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump now says he's fully committed to reworking the deal.

At an event in the Oval Office on Thursday morning, Trump explained his decision not to proceed with the order by saying ending NAFTA would be "a pretty big, you know, shock to the system."

"Now, if I'm unable to make a fair deal ... meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA. But we're going to give renegotiation a good, strong shot," he said.

Media reports about a withdrawal appeared Wednesday morning. By the end of the day, Trump had phone calls with both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto." (Janyce McGregor, CBC News, April 27, 2017) 

Oh, the action that could have been taken by the US Government supposedly would have been horrible but for what the President did to keep it open. Take a look at the proposed "Notice Of Withdrawal From NAFTA" that was produced.   Scary isn't it for Canada but we are so grateful now to him that we will give him some of the concessions that he wants. He becomes a big winner in the US that way doesn't he!

Of course that is not correct, right. Supposedly, Canada is so much smarter and understands now how the US President really acts. It must assume that President Trump is nothing more than a "player" who really doesn't spend the time to think about a matter but just moves ahead on what he wants using whatever technique he can think of at the time. One just has to understand that, deal with him and pretend that he is so "dangerous" in his position that one must seemingly give in to him. So we did it and Canada will be the real winner when NAFTA is finally renegotiated but President Trump can pretend to be victorious in the US. Here's what was written in that newspaper article:

"Late Wednesday evening, a White House statement said conversations with both Trudeau and Mexico's president were "pleasant and productive," and the three would proceed swiftly towards the renegotiation.

Trump said it was his "privilege" to update NAFTA and an "honour" to deal with the other two.

Tweets Thursday, however, made it seem like the other two leaders came to him asking him not to terminate, and he consented.

Far from being on the verge of a trade war, as some had speculated after new softwood lumber duties Tuesday and attacks on Canada's dairy industry last week, "relationships are good," he wrote, "deal very possible!"

A Canadian official said they're getting used to Trump's posturing, and the U.S. president is free to portray things as he will."

Of course, in the end, whoever that "Canadian official" was needs to be criticized for going public and opening his mouth. The last line in what I just quoted is disastrous for us. His comment hurt our position drastically. The reason why I can say that in my opinion is simple. Here is what was said on Saturday by the US President all over again:

"President Donald Trump has again raised the spectre of the U.S. pulling out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying America has been on the "wrong side" of the trade pact for "many, many years."

Trump told a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday night that he'll try to renegotiate the agreement with Canada and Mexico, but will terminate NAFTA if a "fair deal" for the U.S. can't be reached…

The Financial Times reported Friday it received a leaked draft executive order that Trump had originally planned to sign on Saturday that would have given five days notice of the U.S. intention to leave NAFTA…

"We have been on the wrong side of the NAFTA deal with Canada and with Mexico for many, many years, many decades — we can't allow it to happen," Trump told Saturday's rally. "If we can't make a fair deal for our companies and our workers, we will terminate NAFTA." (Canadian Press, April 29, 2017) 

Sigh, here we go again.