Unifor’s assessment of the Conservative’s proposed Auto Strategy

Hon. Pierre PoilievreLeader of the Official OppositionHouse of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6RE: Unifor’s assessment of the Conservative Party of Canada’s proposed Auto Strategy

Unifor

Early Spring 2026 Grab Bag o’ Humour

I’ve gotten 3 furniture things over the last 10 years and I have noticed a trend. Each piece needed some assembly. As a result an Allen key was provided. That’s not what was interesting.

What was interesting was that each successive Allen key was smaller than the last. These were all the same size of key for the Allen Key. But the Allen key in each case was shorter in each of its lengths.

Is the company telling me that they are saving cents for having shorter Allen keys? Is this worthwhile to even change? Apparently.

But each successive Allen key has less torque because the length of the long part is shorter. If this trend continues, not only will I need smaller hands with which to grip the Allen key, but my strength will have to be even greater.

Maybe this is an attempt to engineer a change in shape to the human body. I’m just not sure I will approve of this change,

*

Remember when everyone had different ring tones for their phones? This is not true on the bus anymore. When someone’s Samsung phone rings, everybody looks at their own phone. But everyone is wrong except the person whose phone it is.

A similar looking about happens when either of the other tones for a text or a notification occurs. Maybe some in the herd ought to pay for a different phone. Perhaps an iPhone or a Pixel phone. Or perhaps people should pay for a ringtone, like they used to have in the olden days.

But people on the bus are usually trying to save money anyway they can. Perhaps they cannot pay the inflated costs of those other phones. Perhaps they haven’t budgeted for the cost of their own ringtone.

But even more likely, is that people don’t want to bother with the ringtone when they are getting a new phone every two years via their plans.

Regardless, we on the bus are left looking whenever anyone’s phone goes off.

*

I thought we had an agreement with CUSMA. The agreement about the deals may still stand but how to pronounce this as a word still seems up in the air.

I thought it had been agreed in the news agencies that it would be pronounced KOOZ-MUH. But lately I have been hearing news anchors calling it KUHZ-MUH.

Then again it might be my local news. I live in southwestern Ontario where the largest two rivers are the Grand River and the Thames River. The young news people aren’t told how to pronounce Thames and say the THAIMZ river.

But anyone in the know knows that London, Ontario is on the the Thames River Just like London England is on the Thames River there. So we should pronounce it like the British do. They pronounce it TEMMZ.

So all you bright news people, you aren’t anglicizing the word by saying THAIMZ, you are de-anglicizing it.

This also goes for Thamesville and Thamesford which are also on the Thames.

#AllenKeys #budgeting #busPeople #CUSMA #eachSuccessiveAllenKeyIsSmaller #furnitureWithSomeAssembly #futureAllenKeyUsersWillHaveSmallerHandsAndStrongerMuscles #howToPronounceThings #iPhone #lessTorque #London #phones #PixelPhone #ringTones #SamsungPhone #savingPennies #Thames #Thamesford #Thamesville

"What [the deal] ultimately says to the Americans is, 'If you keep treating us badly, if you keep slapping tariffs on our key sectors like steel, aluminum, cars, lumber, if you refuse to renew the #CUSMA deal, you're going to push #Canada into the arms of countries you don't like.'"

#tariffs #tradewar #trump

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-tariffs-canada-trade-negotiation-cusma-usmca-9.7132301

ANALYSIS | Canada has leverage in tariff and trade talks with the U.S. Here's a list | CBC News

While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

CBC
Republican bill takes aim at Online Streaming Act and threatens retaliation
The legislation from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker would launch a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into whether the Canadian law unfairly burdens American commerce.
#Canada #Politics #USNews #cusma
https://globalnews.ca/news/11738344/cusma-online-streaming-act-us-bill-tariffs/
Republican bill takes aim at Online Streaming Act and threatens retaliation
The legislation from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker would launch a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into whether the Canadian law unfairly burdens American commerce.
#Canada #Politics #USNews #cusma
https://globalnews.ca/news/11738344/cusma-online-streaming-act-us-bill-tariffs/
Republican bill takes aim at Online Streaming Act and threatens retaliation
The legislation from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker would launch a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into whether the Canadian law unfairly burdens American commerce.
#Canada #Politics #USNews #cusma
https://globalnews.ca/news/11738344/cusma-online-streaming-act-us-bill-tariffs/
Republican bill takes aim at Online Streaming Act and threatens retaliation
The legislation from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker would launch a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into whether the Canadian law unfairly burdens American commerce.
#Canada #Politics #USNews #cusma
https://globalnews.ca/news/11738344/cusma-online-streaming-act-us-bill-tariffs/
Republican bill takes aim at Online Streaming Act and threatens retaliation
The legislation from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker would launch a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into whether the Canadian law unfairly burdens American commerce.
#Canada #Politics #USNews #cusma
https://globalnews.ca/news/11738344/cusma-online-streaming-act-us-bill-tariffs/
Here are Canada's biggest points of leverage in tariff and trade talks with the U.S.
While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-tariffs-canada-trade-negotiation-cusma-usmca-9.7132301?cmp=rss
Here are Canada's biggest points of leverage in tariff and trade talks with the U.S.
While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-tariffs-canada-trade-negotiation-cusma-usmca-9.7132301?cmp=rss