If Canadian’s understood supply management better, Canada’s former Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan would be right up there with Tommy Douglas for having created a brilliant public policy vehicle to sustain the economic health and food security of communities now and into the future. Trump – seeking the support of Michigan and Wisconsin’s dairy farmers – will undoubtedly again call for SM’s head in upcoming tariff negotiations. Why? Cause US farmers are price-takers – at the mercy of large, vertically integrated dairy processors. Losing money, they need to milk more cows to pay the bills. If – under the guise … Continue reading Note to Carney: the TRUTH about SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
A solid minority – but a few seats shy of control. Who will the Liberals naturally turn to for support? NDP and Greens obviously. And what should be the price of that support? Liberal commitment to enact, before the next federal election, an electoral system based on a proportional ballot; joining the democracies around the world who rank far above Canada in the 2024 Democracy Index. According to Sweden’s V-Dem Institute (University of Gothenburg) Democracy Report 2025: The top five democracies in the world use proportional representation. Of the top 20 democracies, 18 use proportional representation. (And of the two … Continue reading NDP should demand proportional voting next election in return for support
In this age of globalism — where rivers of capital move silently through borderless economies, sourcing at the lowest cost and charging back to society its costly externalities – we are adrift on a raft of our own making. Firms today excel at what neo-classical economists and governments have been cheering them on to do since the mid 30’s: make investors richer and the economy will be better for it. But somewhere along the way, communities got left behind. Economic bullies have captured the flag. The question now is: how do communities take it back? As the theory and examples … Continue reading Economic bullies have captured the flag. How do communities take it back?
Canada’s discussion of Trump’s designs on our water has been focused – in the West – on the Columbia. But it is the Peace River that connects the dots to fulfill the long term dream of USACE engineers to bring northern water south to American communities east of the Rockies. Want a selfie of you with THE TAP? Go to Dunvegan, Alberta, just on the border of BC. Future site of the Amisk Dam, designed as the “elbow” that will siphon off water from the north-flowing Peace River and send it flowing south. Conveniently, all the upstream storage capacity is … Continue reading Want a selfie of you with Trump’s tap?
A decade ago, I was asked by Columbia Basin residents to weigh in on Canada’s interest in the future of the Columbia Treaty, ratified in 1964. As negotiations are on pause in the face of Trump’s attack on Canada, I pulled it out to look at some of the implications of terminating the agreement. Click the link below for 60 Years On… Options for the Columbia and the Community at the end of the Treaty Period https://www.theholmteam.ca/60.Years.On.NAKUSP.Apr.2013.pdf Continue reading Columbia Treaty – 60 Years On
Like much of the Cuban experience, Finca Marta, located on the outskirts of Havana, provides a new model for resilient communities. My 2025 Cuba Tour visited Finca Marta and listened to Fernando Funes describe the model he is building. Greatly simplified, a “mother ship” farm like Finca Marta would anchor, inspire, coordinate and provide agricultural extension and marketing support to up to 15 surrounding satellite farms, ensuring the economic and ecological sustainability of local farmers and a steady source of fresh and nutritious food to area households, hospitals, schools, day cares and seniors homes. One farm couple from Ontario … Continue reading Finca Marta
March 2025 Magic sneaks up on you, and all of a sudden you are immersed in it. Like a child in a bubble bath, you find yourself surrounded in and delighted by the magic that happens when good people do good things. Such was my experience taking 13 Canadians to Cuba in January 2025. One traveller brought with them the book Infectious Generosity, which they shared with the rest of us. It quickly began to feel like our theme… Even before we left, there was the spontaneous donation of $1,000 CAD from a dairy farmer couple in Ontario who had … Continue reading Captured by Magic
This page will follow key news reports on Trump’s battle to capture Canada’s water. As you read them, consider this: In the March 18th Tyee article, the author notes “water is exempt from the NAFTA”. NOT TRUE. John Crosbie is the one who first got away with this and it is shocking to see it still trotted out . Natural free flowing waters delivered at the whim of Mother Nature are of course not covered. BUT change in any way the timing or volume of Mother Nature’s delivery to meet the need of the market and water becomes a good. … Continue reading Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting about… Trump’s Interest in Canada’s Most Precious Resource
