We usually run our Authors and Artists posts on the weekend, but this one with Vicki Delany will be the exception. We have featured Vicki twice here on Balloon Juice, and she is a member of our Balloon Juice community. (Links to those posts are just below.)
Vicki is Canadian, so as you can imagine, she has some things on her mind.
Elbows Up
by Vicki Delany
I am a Canadian, and in the 20 years since I became a full-time author, I’ve travelled to the United States many, many times. I love meeting readers and fellow authors. I love listening to their stories and talking books and brainstorming promotional efforts. Of the three major mystery conferences (Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, and Bouchercon) I’ve gone to at least one every year, many years all of them. (COVID years excepted, naturally). I’ve been to smaller festivals and conferences, to libraries, to bookstores. I’ve done a signing in a bowling alley and one in a gym and have been a guest speaker at the Pennsylvania Tea Festival. I’ve toured with wonderful American authors many of whom I now consider good friends, and I’ve spent before and after event time enjoying a vacation.
Is all that over? Possibly. I posted the following to my Facebook author page in February.
With much regret I wrote to the Malice Domestic Board today to tell them I will shortly be cancelling my registration and hotel booking. As a proud Canadian, I can not in good conscience travel to the United States as long as the President continues to insult our Prime Minister and our country and is threatening Canadian sovereignty, either by destroying us economically, or invading militarily. I will miss getting together with my many American friends and readers. I hope, but do not expect, that the situation will change and we can meet again.
I believe Canada, and the entire democratic world, is at an existential crossroads. The current regime in the United States is determined, for whatever demented reason, to eliminate Canada as an independent country, by whatever means necessary. The insults from the President and other members of the regime against our Prime Minster personally (and yes, Governor is an insult and meant as such) as well as the country as a whole are relentless. The tone and much of the wording is exactly the same as used by Russia prior to its invasion of Ukraine. (Trump: Most Canadians want to be 51ststate. Peter Navarro: Canada has been taken over by Mexican cartels. Elon Musk: Canada is not a real county).
We don’t for a minute believe, even if this comes to pass, we would be a “51st state.” We wouldn’t be a state, with voting rights and government investment, but a colony, a vassal to be exploited for resources. We believe this intended exploitation is the entire purpose of this out-of-nowhere threat.
In 2019, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico negotiated a revised free trade treaty called CUSMA (CanadaUSMexicoAgreement). This treaty is up for renewal in 2026. 2026. Not today. Showing that the word of the President of the United States is meaningless, Trump has overturned the agreement and slapped steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
The pretext Trump is using to impose tariffs on Canadian goods (in violation of a treaty he himself signed) is that supposedly Canada is allowing fentanyl to “pour’ across the border. That is an out and out lie.
According to the CNN on Feb 3, 2025 : Fact check: Canada makes up just 0.2% of US border fentanyl seizures | CNN Politics
Federal statistics show US border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2%
Only a month later, on March 4, 2025, then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quoted data from US customs and border protection:
“..fentanyl seizures from Canada have dropped 97 per cent between December 2024 and January 2025 to a near-zero low of 0.03 pounds seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
Near zero. Down from a very low figure to begin with.
Therefore, there is literally nothing Canada can do, as the PM pointed out, to fix a problem that does not exist. (As an aside there are no customs and immigration checks upon leaving either Canada or the US for the other country. Is it not, therefore, the responsibility of US customs to stop illicit goods coming in? Never mind attempting to solve the fentanyl problem in your country yourselves.)
Why then does Trump keep repeating the lie? Because it isn’t about making trade ‘fair’ or fixing problems that don’t exist, and thus cannot be fixed, but creating circumstances to permit the annexation of Canada’s Arctic, natural resources, and water.
Trump and some of his sycophants keep repeating that Canadians want to be taken over by the US. (Again, echoes of Putin to Ukraine). It’s a lie. Here’s a poll reported March 12, 2025 by the respected Canadian pollster Angus Reid. The categories are by voters of the federal political parties.
This isn’t a trade dispute; it is an outright attack on our sovereignty and Canadians are coming together in a way they haven’t since WWII. We are well aware that a trade war hurts everyone, but the Government of Canada believes appeasement will accomplish nothing, so Canada has imposed tariffs on a wide range of US goods.
As well as retaliatory tariffs, Canadians are fighting back in other ways. Stores are posting stickers on shelves indicating Canadian goods. Apps are being created to indicate the nationality of companies and the source of their product, and Canadians are taking those apps shopping. The world’s largest purchaser of alcohol is the Ontario liquor stores – all US products have been removed from the shelves and the same thing is happening in other provinces. The province of Ontario (where I live) announced a 25 percent surcharge on exports of electricity to the US (now on ‘pause’ pending further developments.) Substantial numbers of Canadians are cancelling holidays to the US, or, like me, forgoing optional business trips. The list goes on and continues to grow.
Ontario Liquor Store – March 2025, photo by Vicki Delany
We’re not interested in the game of ‘on-again, off-again, on-again’ Trump is engaging in. As long as the threat exists, Canada will retaliate.
Our new Prime Minister, Mark Carey, has been very clear. “We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US,” he said on March 14, 2025.
It has been said that Canadians are prepared to sacrifice much in this fight and Americans nothing, so we do have the upper hand. Which of course, considering your President, might not matter.
We will see how things pan out, but I am encouraged by the solid and vocal support we are getting from our many American friends.
There isn’t much I can do, as an average Canadian citizen, to resist these threats, other than make my position public, shop mindfully, and refuse to grace the United States by my presence, definitely not spend any money.
Others have different opinions. Some say it’s important to engage Americans, and point out that despite propaganda from the US leader and members of his party and administration, the overwhelming number of Canadians are firmly against any take-over. I’d argue in return, we have social media on which to present our case and a substantial number of my American friends approve of my choice to make this clear stand.
I will admit the decision to forgo travel to the US is easier for me than it might be for self-published or small press authors and particularly for writers just starting their career. I have a solid social media following, I have a strong reader base, I’m active in two prominent online cozy mystery groups, I’ve been building my newsletter distribution list for twenty years.
It’s up to each of us to decide what’s best for us and for our country. I’ve made my decision.
Elbows up.
Protect yourself and your teammates.
***
Vicki Delany is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than fifty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, the Tea by the Sea books, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates).
Vicki is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the CWC Awards of Excellence. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Let’s have a chat with Vicki in the comments. I, for one, would love to hear her thoughts on what her American friends here on Balloon Juice can do. Elbows up!
WaterGirl
Welcome, Vicki. Please let us know when you get here.
H.E.Wolf
Here’s to Canadian self-determination, and to Canadians! May peace and good order some day be achieved south of the 49th parallel.
Vicki Delany
@WaterGirl: Thanks so much for letting me have my say.
Vicki Delany
@H.E.Wolf: “Peace, order, and good government” is our motto. We sometimes fail in the latter, but we do try.
Vicki Delany
Watergirl asks what Americans can do. Continue doing what the Balloon Juice community and so many others are doing: Don’t accept any of this as normal. Don’t accept the lies, and look beneath the stated reasons for the real reasons (which are not hard to find)
Professor Bigfoot
<stands and applauds> Welcome, Ms. Delany, and “Hear, hear!!”
ANYONE who’s watched an NHL game understands that Canadians will fight, period.
And anyone who knows anything of WWI history knows not to fuck with them people, however nice and kind they may be.
They will drop gloves and throw hands in an instant. Part of what makes them such excellent friends and really shitty enemies.
Vicki Delany
I should have attached the link to the poll. It covers some other interesting things too. 51st State: Canadian resolve in saying ‘no’ continues, while a massive gap between Trump & Americans is revealed –
pieceofpeace
Having lived in the PNW, time spent in Canada endeared me to all Canadians and their beautiful country. Always wanted to visit the eastern part, but that became part of the narrative “Someday…,” so hoping there’s time and opportunity!
Plus all that H.E. Wolf said.
Welcome neighbor….
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: We’ve got that part down! :-)
But what can we do?
Vicki Delany
@Professor Bigfoot: We have a reputation of being nice. Not always warranted, but we can be un-nice pretty quickly when threatened.
Vicki Delany
@WaterGirl: Buy Canadian at the grocery and hardware stores if you can. Come visit us. Spring in on its way and we are very nice in the spring (and the summer, and the fall, and the winter). Canadian dollar is low now compared to the US so your money will go a long way.
Old School
That’s an impressive stack of books. Thanks for the guest post.
And sorry for what the United States in making Canada go through.
Trabb’s Boy
This was all awesome. Off to order your books through my local bookstore here in beautiful Uxbridge. Elbows up!
Vicki Delany
@Trabb’s Boy: Thank you so much!
Trabb's Boy
@Trabb’s Boy: Oh, they have your latest in store, but I’ll start with Game is a Footnote. Blue Heron Books is great and their Book Drunkard Festival with Canadian authors is fun — get in touch with them and maybe I’ll see you in the fall!
The Crimson Pimpernel
It should not even need saying that these threats and insults to Canada are flat-out crazy, as well as ignorant.
I’m about to head out and offline, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to say that I just recently read and enjoyed The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime and to thank you for a great read.
Betty Cracker
@Vicki Delany: Thanks for linking the poll that illustrates the gap between Trump’s demented insults and threats to Canadian sovereignty and U.S. public opinion of same. FWIW, it tracks with what I’ve heard from other Americans during discussions about this issue, including with people who definitely or probably voted for the orange creep.
The only misgiving those conversations gave me is that most people here aren’t taking this seriously enough. Trump is a liar, so they figure he’s just babbling nonsense again. But absolutely no one I’ve talked to thinks what he’s doing is okay, and every one expressed dismay that Trump would threaten Canada, of all places. We LIKE Canada.
Vicki Delany
@Betty Cracker: We are definitely taking this seriously, to the point of debating about cancelling military contracts with the US and buying elsewhere and talking about joining an EU defense pact. No one does that, if they don’t think it’s necessary.
schrodingers_cat
@Vicki Delany: That’s what I was wondering, how safe is it for Americans to visit? I was thinking of a late spring trip to Quebec.
arrieve
Thank you for a great post. I just ordered some maple butter from Quebec.
And I’m looking at your novellas for adult literacy right now. I teach English to adult immigrants and I will recommend your books to them.
J.
@Vicki Delany: So nice to virtually meet you! I was unfamiliar with your books but just put you on my TBR list. As for your stance on the U.S., I support you. What Trump and Musk and their cronies are doing to Canada and this country is shameful and terrifying. I only hope that when (hopefully not “if”) Trump and his cult no longer control the levers of power here and some sanity is restored, you will visit the U.S. again.
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: I would be afraid the US would not let me back in! :-!
If only our grocery stores would label US or Canada!
But if you guys happen to have a nice list of Canadian food products, I would surely share it here on BJ and I’ll bet folks would share it on social media.
WaterGirl
@Trabb’s Boy: Oh, duh!
We can order Vicki’s books. :-) Is there a Canadian place we could order rather than Amazon?
WaterGirl
@Trabb’s Boy:
Welcome! I should tell you that WordPress does not like screen nyms with apostrophes (like yours) and so every single comment has to be manually approved before people can see it.
But this includes instructions for a fix that LOOKS LIKE an apostrophe but is actually a different character that WordPress is fine with.
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes
*with thanks to Steeplejack for finding that fix a few years ago. sigh.
Betty Cracker
@Vicki Delany: Those measures are serious and also a sensible response, in my opinion. I sure wouldn’t ever trust the U.S. again if I were Canadian. I don’t trust us, and I’m American. I’m deeply sorry our demented fascist president is doing this and that his cult and hangers-on are going along with it.
p.a.
No evidence to support my thought, but I think a “join Canada” vote here in New England would do better than the “join u s ” poll. Not saying a majority, but better.
p.a.
@Betty Cracker: The rest of the world is learning what the Kurds already knew. And any ethno/religious groups used by the CIA during the Cold War.
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: I hope for the good of the world that Canada does that. Hoping this will finally be the year that the orange cretin comes to understand the concept of consequences.
arrieve
@WaterGirl:
That’s a great idea. I love maple butter, and the Canadian version is better than Vermont’s. https://bistreauderable.com/boutique/en/maple-butter-p75/
I would happily buy cheese as well.
Vicki Delany
@Trabb’s Boy: Is that Blue Heron in Ontario? I do know them although it’s been a while. Thanks for reminding me.
Vicki Delany
@schrodingers_cat: I simply can not say. So far there’s no personal animosity toward Americans, that I’ve seen. Everyone says they like going to the US, but… not right now. I wouldn’t wear a MAGA hat though.
Vicki Delany
@WaterGirl: Chapters/Indigo is a Canadian owned chain. Indigo – Chapters – Coles | Canada’s Biggest Bookstore. But, I’m happy if you support your independent American bookstores.
Vicki Delany
@arrieve: Thank you.
Old School
From the Atlantic:
I see a bunch of Vicki Delany books, articles from Dorothy A. Winsor, books from Richard Roberts, and I’m sure other authors here might be thrilled to find their works.
schrodingers_cat
@Vicki Delany: You must not know me if you think I would be wearing a MAGA hat, or be with someone that does.
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: Looking at that site reminds me that I always think Canadian TV series are the best. I just finished watching 19-2, and I’m so sad that it’s over.
zhena gogolia
I apologize to all Canadians.
zhena gogolia
Before the election, as we took our walk around the neighborhood and I saw a sign in the neighbor’s yard that said “TRUMP-VANCE Take America Back,” I started screaming, “What are you going to do, invade Canada and Mexico to be more like your hero Putin?”
At the time I thought I was being hysterical.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Hoping this will finally be the year that the orange cretin comes to understand the concept of consequences.
If he hasn’t for 78 years, I’d say that he’s very unlikely to now. Very Unlikely.
No, make that Extremely Unlikely.
And he’s had more than enough experiences to have learned and understand. Way more than enough. But no, not one iota of the concept.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I read Vicky’s The Sign of Four Spirits and really enjoyed it.
As for thoughts on Canada, my father was Canadian, which means half my relatives are. I’m just stunned by the stupid, destructive behavior of the US president.
Vicki Delany
@J.: I would like nothing more.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
The words you are looking for are – exactly what you thought.
Rationality? Nope
Pompous? Yes
Desire? Yes
Concept of consequences? Not in the least.
Geminid
It sounds like Canadians will be going to the polls next month. From Ankara-based Clash Report:
Also from Clash Report:
twbrandt
I said this on another thread, but it bears repeating,
My maternal grandmother was a Canadian who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Her brother, John D. Robins, was a prominent Canadian author, humorist, and professor at the University of Toronto. I’ve been all over – Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver, Winnipeg, skied in Whistler and Lake Louise. I love the country.
That our great neighbor now regards us with hostility and contempt due to the actions of that asshole saddens and enrages me no end. And I can’t blame them one bit.
Trabb’s Boy
@WaterGirl: so sorry. I’ve been here off and on for ages. Probably don’t use an apostrophe usually.
TheOtherHank
My quest to discover if I am Canadian has made its next small step. I sent away for my dad’s birth certificate and yesterday I saw that Manitoba has charged my credit card. So they got the form and have started looking for the info. I hope they find it, all I know about his birth was that it was in a place called Clanwilliam, Manitoba on March 22, 1939. Maybe his birth was certified, maybe it wasn’t.
Raoul Paste
I’m pretty sure that the Indian TV dinner that I get at Trader Joe’s is made in Canada. So we will get more. Let’s have an anti-boycott
Vicki Delany
@Raoul Paste: Excellent idea.
Vicki Delany
@TheOtherHank: That stuff’s always interesting. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That’s where my mom grew up.
frosty
@Vicki Delany: Regarding “nice” Canadians, I swiped this from another commenter a week or so ago:
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: @WaterGirl: @Vicki Delany: I’m planning a trip too. I figured I’d wear my Harris/Walz button crossing the border. I’m a lot more worried about getting back, to the point where I’m seriously considering a burner phone that won’t have any of my anti-Trump jokes to my friends in Messages.
TheOtherHank
@Vicki Delany: I went to grad school at the University of Minnesota. One of my classmates was from Winnipeg. He liked Minneapolis a lot because “the winters are so short and mild.”
brendancalling
@Vicki Delany:
Hi Vicki—I’m the parent of a dual citizen trans kid in Montreal. Due to the unpleasantness—including the detention of Jasmine Mooney—my kid isn’t visiting me in the US anytime soon, and I’m worried that *I* might have problems returning from a visit north, despite being a US citizen. Pro-Publica is reporting that regular American citizens are getting snared in ICE’s border games, and I don’t do well in a cage. I fear that the next time I visit will be my last—immigrating to Canada sounds great in theory, but is a lot harder in practice—but if it’s a choice of indefinite detention or starting over as a bona fide old guy, I know what I’m choosing. Any advice for two 50-something educators—both of who will be certified to teach English as a Foreign Language— is welcome!
The boycott is definitely having an effect. The whisky and spirits companies—who voted for this, I checked—are (pun intended) crying into their beer. The BuyCanadian subreddit is having a field day with the commissioner of Tennessee’s tourism department testifying that Canadian tourists will come back with “better marketing.” As my nym suggests, I have called many of the involved parties—the commissioner, the tourism board’s marketing department, TN’s state reps, the American Craft Spirits people—but I doubt anyone cares what I have to say (and anyway, it’s useless because the marketing problem won’t go away until Trump and MAGA go away, and even then the damage will take decades to repair if it’s even possible).
my phone is a piece of shit and decided to tag you at the end (that’s when it’s not busily trying to put all the text where my commenter name goes). It won’t let me put your name at the beginning where it belongs.
(fixed by WG)
brendancalling
@frosty: I would definitely do that. The burner phone that is.
Vicki Delany
Some people have asked how they can support Canada. Here’s an easy way for you readers. The Canadian crime writing community is large and diverse and vibrant. Many of their books are available in US bookstores. You can find them at Crime Writers of Canada – Home.
Vicki Delany
@brendancalling: Such a tragedy when families are divided. My ex-husband and his wife moved from US to Victoria a number of years ago, just to be nearer our Canadian children in their old age. In retrospect a very wise move.
The family situation is complicated in that my children were born outside of Canada but became Canadian at birth, but their father never was.
WaterGirl
@Trabb’s Boy: Oh you don’t have to apologize.
I’m just letting you know because when comments have to be manually approved, we may not notice them for hours, and then no one gets to see what you write.
If you follow the instruction in the link I supplied, it’s a really easy fix.
WaterGirl
@TheOtherHank: Fingers crossed for you. Good sign that they charged your card!
mayim
Tangentially related ~ IMLS, the federal agency that provides funds to libraries and museums was DOGEd last night. Staff late off as of this morning. Status of funding already allocated still in flux. Here in Maine, that money goes to interlibrary loan services, audio books for the visually impaired, book delivery to homebound, Internet access for those who don’t have it at home, and a variety of other services to underserved communities.
Today staff development day for the library I work at hasn’t gone as planned, as about 30% off the staff is federally funded.
So, if you like books/libraries and museumes, please add IMLS support to any contacts you have with legislative personnel.
Sloane Ranger
I like cosy’s because I find them relaxing when I get tense with events in the real world.
My all time favourites are the Wimsey novels, which I reread regularly.
I am currently into “The Queen Investigates” series by S J Bennett featuring Queen Elizabeth II as the detective. The first three are set towards the last years of her reign, but the next two are shortly after she came to the throne.
I know they are total fantasy but I enjoy the banter between her and Prince Philip and the embarrassing, but humorous situations she finds herself in while investigating.
The plots are generally as similar, in that a murder or other crime is committed either involving a royal residence or someone close to her, the police go off on a tangent and the Queen has to find out the perpetrator and then gently lead the police to the right conclusion without making it obvious.
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: Thanks for that, and thanks in advance for any other ideas you might have.
Nelle
My grandfather, a Mennonite writer who was not appreciated by the Reds, left Russia (actually Ukraine) in a hurry and made his way to the United States, probably in 1921 or 22. By the time the rest of the family was able to leave (23 or 24), the Red Scare anti-immigration legislation against admitting people from Russia was in place, so my grandmother and all the children were admitted to Canada. So Winnipeg is where my dad began his North American life. But since my grandfather lived in the States, he was allowed to bring my grandmother and the three minor children (my dad was the youngest) to the States. I’ve been envious of my Canadian cousins all my life, but it is peaking now. The four older siblings initially remained in Canada.
I am hoping to go to Winnipeg this year. I think I need to delete my FB account and take a burner phone if I go. Maybe things will be clearer one way or another by the time I go. But really, I have a history that can easily be googled.
brantl
For one would like to apologize for the fact that our president is a douche canoe and we will do our best to remedy this as quickly as we can. However, we do have a population that is nearly half-idiot. We’re gonna have to get back to the department of education before that gets fixed.
live well and prosper.
brantl
For one would like to apologize for the fact that our president is a douche canoe and we will do our best to remedy this as quickly as we can. However, we do have a population that is nearly half-idiot. We’re gonna have to get back to the department of education before that gets fixed.
live well and prosper.
@schrodingers_cat: you might have trouble getting back in
JoyceCB
Thank-you Vicky Delany for laying out the Canadian position in such a clear eloquent manner, in a way that any MAGA could understand too. Not that any of them are reading this!
Here in Toronto there has been some anti-Tesla vandalism, but I have not heard of any anti-Americanism directed at individuals. Let’s hope it stays that way.
WaterGirl
@brantl: That’s my worry for her, too.
David Collier-Brown
@Dorothy A. Winsor: If your father was Canadian, you’e eligible for citizenship. Especially handy if you find you have to move here.
Melancholy Jaques
I seem to recall around the time of the Quebec referendum on independence that some people were speculating that if Quebec went independent, the rest of Canada would almost certainly become part of the United States. Some of us NHL fans were concerned how that would affect our favorite teams, but most people laughed at the idea.
Many Americans are like Miranda Priestly: “Everyone wants to be us.” It’s because they don’t travel very much.
David Collier-Brown
@frosty: I have a spare (old) phone and an ancient netbook I’ve used when crossing borders for work on a trade-secret project. I reformat before and download when I get there. That way I can hand both over to customs and not care if I don’t get them back. (Many moons ago I worked in formal security)
David Collier-Brown
@Vicki Delany: A Canadian child can sponsor a non-Canadian parent for permanent resident, once they turn 18
If you need to ask for entry on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, having Canadian children can strengthen your case
For family sponsorship, see https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship.html
For an experimental Parents and Grandparents Program, see https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/sponsor-parents-grandparents.html
S Cerevisiae
I grew up 6 miles from the Canadian border so going up to T Bay for skiing or a movie or shopping was a common thing so all this sabre rattling from Hair Furor makes me sick. I’m also going to reverse boycott and look for Canadian products to buy. As Red Green says, keep your stick on the ice.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@David Collier-Brown: I know. My brother and sister have already claimed Canadian citizenship. My son asked me not to because he’s in a job that requires a security interview every 6 months, and they always ask if someone in your immediate family is a dual citizen. I used to roll my eyes and say, “But it’s Canada.” Little did I know!
frosty
@David Collier-Brown: That reminds me. I have an obsolete Lenovo that works fine. I could reformat it so I can use it in Canada, then wipe it before I come back. That would work.
I still have my old iPhone SE. I might be able to use that too. Easier just to buy a dumb flip phone though.
Torrey
@Vicki Delany:
I’m invariably a late arrival, but I wanted to stop by and say thank you for the information about how we can support Canada, Canadian goods, and Canadian authors. Also to say, re the blockquote, I see what you did there.
@mayim: IMLS is the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of those independent federal agencies that are faring so ill at the tiny hands. (Just a PSA for those unfamiliar with the acronym. Its website is, http://www.imls.gov.)
Steve in the ATL
@brendancalling: in Quebec you could also teach French as a second language.
According to my French friends, anyway….
frosty
@Steve in the ATL: LOL, true. Many years (OK, decades) ago when Railpassing around Europe I spent a little time in France. It didn’t take long before I could tell a Quebecois from a France native just by the accent. A lot more coarse!
While hanging out with Aussies and Kiwis at beerfests I also became an expert at picking out the Californians from the other USAians.
munira
@Vicki Delany: I’m a dual citizen – Canadian and American. Right now I’m back in the US, heavily involved in protesting this horrible administration. I detest basically everything Trump and Musk have done, but nothing has made me angrier than this total insanity about Canada. And I’m sure that poll is accurate. Americans love Canada and strongly support Canadian sovereignty.
schrodingers_cat
@brantl: Why should I have trouble getting back in? I am a US citizen.
WTFGhost
I don’t think Trump could invade Canada. Even if he could, it would take work, which he is not interested in. Economically – damn, I thought that wasn’t possible. I hope things get better.
I have more I want to say – like, how proud I was that, visiting Canada, I was asked what province I was from (no ugly American here), how I’ve seen Canadians handle disputes (polite discussion, – what a concept!), how universal health care shows an actual nation that actual cares about the least of its citizenry (and those non-citizens who get sick too). I swear to heaven, I’d rather see the US culture taken over by Canadian, than to see the beautiful country I love beaten up because some insecure pants-pooper thinks he’ll look tough.
WaterGirl
@WTFGhost: Pretty much. sigh.
Miss Bianca
As someone who grew up next to the Canadian border and have loved Canada and Canadians my whole life, I say, RIGHT ON, CANADA!
Vicki Delany
Thanks so much everyone for your support and thanks again to Cole and Watergirl for hosting me. Elbows up! I’m just back from the mall and I saw lots of those Tshirts and Sweatshirts on sale.
WaterGirl
@Vicki Delany: Thank you again, Vicki!
Suburban Mom
@Old School: Is that sarcasm? Because if a book is available on a pirate site it means the author is getting screwed out of the royalties that they should have earned for their work.
Vicki Delany
@Suburban Mom: I suspect they’re being sarcastic. Yes, being on that list is not a good thing.