Sunday Sparklies

Weed exports, buying Canadian, SNL, and friendships.

Photo by David Gabrić on Unsplash

Note - You can read this as well as other posts here.

Tariff free tokes

The Star had an interesting article, “High hopes: How Canada became the world’s largest cannabis exporter – and rescued a flailing industry”. There was a big boom here a few years ago, with shops in every block, and big grow-ops popping up, such as Canopy in Smith’s Falls. Canopy closed, and some shops shuttered as the boom settled down, with a loss of some $131 billion in the markets. Now, there’s a growing export market overseas. ZenKai, a Canadian medical cannabis company, grows none of its own; it buys from growers and ships overseas to less mature legal markets. At a nice markup of $4 a gram. The top 5 exported to, Australia, Germany, Israel, the UK, and Portugal, accounted for 90 plus tonnes last year. Yes. there’s a local market too, but there’s more competition and high local taxes, so exporting pays. Not to the US though, so no tariff worries there.

Buy Canadian

That seems to be one of the suggestions in these tariff wars. It was not always the cheapest option, so not a choice everyone could afford to make, but that will change as US goods get pricier. Our government(s) will need to ramp up compensation programs for I’m sure we’ll see more Canada flag stickers next to articles in the next few weeks. Or in the case of places like the LCBO - blank spaces where US products used to be. A 100% Canadian product can be more difficult to find, as it may be just packaged here, or assembled with bits and pieces from the US. Maybe a producer, such as a local brewery, uses Canadian hops and grains, but relies on the US for bottles and brewing equipment.

While we’re tweaking our shopping habits, we should buy more locally. Rather than using neighbourhood stores and and salespeople, then buying online from Amazon, flip that around. Do that browsing and reviewing online, and then head for a local store. It keeps more money in your community and can encourage local businesses to expand and keep prices down. I did that with a new canning kettle. There was a nice one on Amazon, but I checked at my local Home Hardware (Canadian owned) and it was less than half the price.

Here’s a local Ottawa Valley newsletter with some local shopping ideas.

SNL catchphrases

Saturday Night Live may have slid lately in quality, but they were responsible for a number of catchphrases. “Candygram”, from the Landshark series. Gilda Radner with her,”Nevermind”. Mr. Bill and, “Oh No!”. And the Churchlady with, “Isn’t that special!”. Great article from the NYT with some video links.

Friendships

And finally, having lost our friends to the south, here are some pointers from the Washington Post, “Six ways to make friendships easier — and more fun.” I’ll summarize but read the whole article.

1. Create rituals - set up a routine for walks or coffee or even just calls.

2. Vacation or day-trip together - even for a day in another city, or exploring some new areas of your own.

3. Communicate—be open about your own hopes and needs. Listen to your friend; don’t use everything your friend says as a segue into yet more about you.

4. Schedule a next meetup. Don’t leave with a vague promise to call sometime or an empty, “We should do this more.”

5. Change it up - try something different together once in a while - getting into a ruy is easy, and also boring.

6. Throw parties that are good enough - don’t worry about perfection, keep things casual and friendly.