Malicious Compliance
The government in Alberta is nothing if not entertaining. This creates countless opportunities for hilarity. Jason Kenney, the last premier, established the Citizen's Initiative Act and the Recall Act. Someone might have told him that CIA was taken? In both cases, it became easier for voters to generate a petition to table new provincial legislation or even trigger a by-election riding by riding. What could go wrong? Fast forward to 2025.
Daniele's United Conservative Party (UCP) has some dyed in the wool separatists. Ignoring the fact that Albertans do not own the land they are on, or that Ottawa would never allow BC to be isolated, they want to use these two laws to force a vote. So she even further loosened the rules to make that easier (and shut them up).
Enter the former deputy premier who has volunteers all over the province collecting signatures. Bus stops, grocery stores, they are like hot dog vendors ... everywhere. Not to leave Canada but collecting signatures for the opposite purpose. "Alberta is now and will always remain a part of Canada!!" Oops. Can't wait for that legislation to be trotted out? He has 404,000 signatures.
Next, their minister of education issued a real live MAGA inspired book ban. Any book with explicit sexual content is to be removed from school libraries immediately! The Edmonton Public School Board responds enthusiastically. They box up and ship copies of The Handmaidens Tale, Brave New World, Jaws, and hundreds of other classics to Calgary. Wait, we didn't mean those books with explicit sexual content; we meant the other ones! You know ... the gay ones.
While all this is going on, Alberta is having a public health meltdown and a teachers strike? How might pissed off nurses and picketing teachers spend their time this summer? I know ... recall petitions. First it was the Minister of Education. For his riding, they needed just 16,006 signatures. Done. Next it's the Deputy Speaker and UCP firebrand Angela Pitt. Bye bye. Nineteen days later ... another one ... and on and on. Currently, recall petitions are pending for almost a quarter of all sitting MLAs in the province! They have had to add 6.7 million to the elections administration budget to cover costs. Of course, none of this will amount to anything. The UCP is now furiously undoing the tweaks they made to the two pieces of legislation so as to allow the separation bullshit to get through, while blocking everything else. Laws and sausages share one similarity: Usually ... no one wants to see how they are made. Not this time. Savvy Albertans have made popcorn, reclined in their Lazy Boys, and are eager to watch how hypocrisy is done when you have absolutely no shame.
Decluttering
Happiness in retirement is about decluttering. Or as I like to put it, removing things that disturb my karma ... with extreme prejudice. The Olympics fall into that category. It started with skating. My ex and I were figure skating fans. We followed the Regionals and Nationals in multiple counties, the Olympic trials, the Worlds and the Olympics. When the French judge admitted he traded the Russian judge for votes, denying the Canadian pair (Pelletier & Sale) their gold medals at Salt Lake, the first nail went in the coffin. Then, in no particular order, Ben Johnson, NBA players getting seventy point wins for the gold in basketball. Americans boycotting Russians, Russians boycotting Americans, and the Munich terrorist attacks. Of course, every city wants to look its best. For accomplish this, they raze neighborhoods, bulldoze subdivisions, move shelters, and round up homeless people to stuff them under an overpass somewhere. Wouldn't it be nice if Olympic villages became homeless shelters as soon as the speed skaters fuck off home?
Just the general premise that national pride will be based on what a pre-pubescent girl can do on the balance beam (and all the horror that comes with that little paradigm), should be reason enough to question what we are doing. Am I the only one who thinks Simone Biles looks strange? Anyway, for however many days it goes on, I actively conduct my own little Bread Not Circuses campaign. I avoid the TV coverage and flip the channel as soon as the talking heads start to breathlessly report our on medal tally. If I get a chance to not buy Dominos Pizza or Sketcher shoes or who ever is flogging the Olympics to sell whatever shit they are selling ... I take it. Just try to keep in mind the actual game that is being played? Billy Bragg wrote: “No mortal skin and bone can live on bread and circuses alone." That's what the Romans were doing, and it continues to this day. They gave everyone a loaf of bread and gladiatorial games, hoping that average people folk would overlook the elite taking for themselves that which they will not give those beneath them. Go ahead, eat it up. I don't mind. I just don't have to watch.
Sidebar
Canadian Tire continues to have one of the worst online shopping sites in the free world. Home Depot is not much better. I don't understand? Do they not know they suck? Surprisingly, Home Hardware is pretty good. Not Amazon great, but pretty good. Because of that, I get their monthly flyer delivered electronically. The new one had some monster deals. Look under Clearance and then Housewares? Those high end Mosaic silicone kitchen utensils are 80% off! I got a stainless steel mezzaluna (look it up, suckers) for $3.95. Organic micro-green starter kits (CG) for seven dollars! Add to cart. Pay with PayPal. It was ready for pickup the next day. I got quite the haul for $35.
Our Optimum Week
I got back into the swing of things right after Christmas. My point total has not moved much lately. It's hard to get points when you are huddled away from the world like a troglodyte doing puppy healing. We only spent $600 on groceries in December. We stocked up with two redemption events at the start of the month. For the rest, we lived out of the freezer. We had a twenty-dollar turkey, a thirty-dollar ham, frozen fish and boxed ribs. We also splurged on a giant Chinese food order (which fed us for four days). That's protein for half the month for just over a hundred bucks. Throw in a bottle of Bailey's for SWMBO, beer & cigars for me and bunch of fresh veggies, milk and eggs for breakfasts, we did pretty well.
So, starting off 2026 with 1.2 million points (1,204,066), it would be nice to get to two million by planting season? That's 800,000 points from my normal thousand per month spend on groceries plus a few dribs and drabs that come in from running the phone, Internet access, etc. through my PC MasterCard. Looking back, on a good month, I get just over 150,000. Those of you with children at home who are not doing 300,000 a month are missing the boat. Sorry.
One more piece on the finance side. The process of melting my RRSP funds is almost complete. I took out 48K last week, which keeps me in the 21% marginal tax rate. Those folks who told us to keep hitting those RRSPs all these years really had it wrong when they said we would pay less tax when we retired. SWMBO and I are way low on the income equation when we compare ourselves to family and friends! If you have a million in your RRSPs and a $5000 a month pension, strap on your emotional seatbelt when you file your first newly retired tax return or try to claim OAS. It's a pleasant problem to have. We live in a paradise.
So far in January, we got the spend $40 for 10K at Shoppers, the T&T deal, the Activia yogurt offer, fruit & veggie continuity and ten p9ounds of yelloow onions at Metro for $2.99 That got us to 56K quickly. The Food Basics flyer was good (IFK), but the Freshco version sucked. This week, at Zehr's it's not so much about the flyer as it is about the LT (long term) continuity offers. Have a look at yours? I see several totaling nearly thirty thousand points. It's a lot of everyday items. I gave them to you at the bottom of your list but did not include them in the the totals. You will want to hit these when you see a "double". Last week, the sale price on PC Pacific Shrimp could be combined with the offer for 1500 points per bag. That made them $7.50 instead of $10.99. We bought three bags. This week, I see lots of baked goods in the flyer. Combine that with the LT offer. You score big when you do that. Pick your spots? Here is your list:
We Are Watching
Mare of Easttown - Occasionally glacial, but it continues to impress with gritty location shooting, a great script and a stellar cast. This show deserves a 2nd season.
Shardlake - Monks again? I don't know what the attraction is, but there just seem to be so many splendid shows, movies, etc. that explore the monastic life. Some additional digging into this subject is required? In the meantime, forget Sean Bean; he is there for name recognition. This show is about the two young lead actors, who are brilliant, and a monster supporting cast. It is (of course), a murder mystery.
... and finally
I wrote that malicious compliance piece about Alberta politics a few weeks before Christmas. On Boxing Day, I see this:
Sarah Komadina
Short version? A 44-year-old father of three shows up at a privately managed EMERG clinic in suburban Edmonton. Chest pain. I wonder what it could be? They assess him and advise, no immediate danger. Wait in the waiting room; we will call you. Eight hours later, he collapses and dies right there among the crying babies, weekend warriors who are too old to play hockey and the unvaccinated pickup truck crowd (sick with the flu and afraid they are gong to die). His youngest was eight. Do you need to have a court case, or do you just sell the company and give all the money to his family?
Mitch & Maddie