We are finally in Summer and the next few days will be just as warm if maybe warmer, we are so lucky. Teeter does not like it so much and walks very slowly. So I am not pushing him to take long walks. He prefers to snooze on our balcony in the sun. Teeter has such a lazy dachshund, but they are, if you let them. Whatever happened to the days of his ancestors hunting in the forest? I have a feeling he does not care.

The new potatoes are in, this is the first harvest of the growing season, I bought some, they are so good, very buttery. When you buy them they need a good scrubbing under cold water, they are simply picked and thrown in a bag, dirt and al. The skin is thin and comes off as you scrub. The fingerlings and Irish cobblers should be next, equally good. All three brands are small potatoes and can be used for many things.

Canada Day party in the garden of The Haviland Club was quite fun and relaxed. I rarely eat hot dogs but they were really good. We have other events tonight and Saturday, a gala opening of the Summer Theatre Season at the Confederation Centre and tomorrow a big fundraiser. This group has already raised $56 million in support for the rebuilding and renovation on this the 60th Anniversary of the Centre.

As the Fourth of July approaches and the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the USA, I note that the Royal French Government of Louis XVI spent some 42 million French Pounds in support of the uprising as a revenge for having lost Canada in 1763. This completely ruined France and led to the French Revolution or Civil War in 1789. Some 34,000 French soldiers and sailors participated in the major battles including Yorktown under General Jean Baptiste de Vimeur Comte de Rochambeau.

I also want to say that this last year the relations between Canada and the United States have gone from bad to worse and I am afraid that the coming year will see more insults from the Trump administration and his Ambassador in Ottawa. We know now that Trump has decided to walk away from the free trade agreement USMCA or CUSMA as we call it here. A free trade agreement 34 yrs old which worked very well for both countries until Trump. I am afraid that Canada has left the USA behind with daily announcements of new free trade treaties with numerous nations. The Prime Minister Mark Carney has made 26 international Trade missions around the world in 14 months and we now have many Free Trade Agreements worth billions with many countries on all continents. New Partnership with Mexico, etc. New Air Force fleet of Grippen jets and a fleet of attack submarines from Korea, armament from Germany etc.

Amongst many items traded between the USA and Canada, we supplies 60% of fossil fuel to the USA and 38 States count Canada has the no.1 Trade partner, all this now is starting to change and the Americans will start to feel the change. All this is most unfortunate and sad. The insults of the US Ambassador Hoekstra in Ottawa against Canada are gross and full of lies, the latest yesterday about the new Gordie Howe bridge, he claims it is a myth, we did not pay the $6.2 billion for its construction. That is not the way to conduct diplomacy or improve relations. Canada also supplies the majority of phosphate for agriculture to the USA, however Trump’s tariffs has significantly cut this trade and now the USA has to buy phosphate from Morocco.

In the USA like my American friends and Family see daily their Constitutional rights erode or ignored on a White House hell bent on increasing the powers of the President at the expense of the people. The Constitution is ignored, the army is stepping in at public events to protect Cabinet members and President. This goes against the most basic principles of democracy.

I remember the 200th Anniversary in 1976 and how very different the climate in the USA was, Nixon had been pushed out of Office, the Vietnam war had ended and the people wanted to celebrate achievements, there was hope. Now it is all about a president celebrating himself and not the people. I am not an American but I feel a sense of sadness and dread at what I see for all my American friends and family.

As the song says, Que sera, sera, what will be will be. Let us all hope for both countries a peaceful and mature ending to all this madness. My best wishes to you all on this 250th Anniversary. Here is a photo taken by a journalist of the CBC on PEI. We have 360 species of birds on the Island from the big ones to the little ones.

A bald Eagle in the forest in Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada.