Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza!
However you celebrate the season, the Soapbox family would like to wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday. All the best to you in 2025.
And, in keeping with tradition, here’s a picture of Rudy under our Christmas tree. He’s seven and can’t wait to gobble up that treat that’s just out of the frame.
See you next year,
Susan
Susan on the Soapbox 
Merry Christmas to the Soapbox family and all the best in 2025. Rudy’s a sweetie.
Public Servant,
I told my daughter (Rudy’s “mom”) about your comment. She was delighted. Have a wonderful new year!
Merry Christmas and wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
I look forward to following your posts in 2025! Your comments and views are always spot on. Keep up the good work (fight?š) .
Val Kunn
Val, it does feel like a fight sometimes. Have a great new year!
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
Thank you for your informative letters, I get a good perspective on the issues at hand.
Rudy is adorable!!
Trudy, I’m so glad you find these notes helpful. Take care!
let me just say he has more patience than I have with treats. That treat would have been gone before my butt hit the floor. All the best of the season to the Soapbox family .
Rose, ah yes, if someone was waving a chocolate bar just out of the frame, I wouldn’t be sitting there either!
Merry Christmas Mrs Soapbox look forward to reading your blog in the new year
Jim, thank you. Have a great new year!
Wishing you and your family all the very best for whatever you celebrate!! Thank you for all you do.
ā„ļø
Paula, thank you for being a supporter. All the best.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (Rudy is so cute!)
Thank you Linda, wishing you and yours a Happy New Year too. I know you guys are getting lots of power outages out there. Hopefully they won’t be too disruptive!
Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2025 – I look forward to your Christmas post tosee Rudy. He is looking so good.
Carlos, thank you. And yes, Rudy is a cutie pie. š
Best of the Christmas season to the Soapbox family.
Thanks all you do. Stay well and rest-up. 2025 is going to require lots of energy.
Lausmank55…indeed. 2025 is going to re
Luasmank55. Ain’t that the truth!
Seasons greetings, happy Christmas to the Sandbox family! Thanks for all you do.
Lausmank55: You’re welcome. Thanks for being a supporter.
Many blessings on the journeys ahead Susan. Keep healthy and sharp. Kind regards šæ LCA
Thanks Leo, you too!
Back at you Susan
Doug
Sent from my iPhone
Thanks Doug!
This is for Rudy that I am sure stands up for Canada more than these pseudo-populists in the Conservative party.
Happy New Year Canada
I am a proud Canadian and I hope you all watch this
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsnzmM7bEAU”
I had tp put in double quotes because it would not post otherwise. Make sure to copy just what is in between the double quotes.
Carlos, thank you for the clip. It was bang on and I really wish Trudeau would say something, anything, to push back on Trump who continues to say stupid things about the “state” of Canada and its “governor.” the man is a bully and won’t stop mouthing off until he gets some serious push back.
It is disgusting that no one says anything. Are we so affraid that he will enforce a tariff that we just hide? I cannot understand and I will not accept this lack of patriotism and respect for our country.
Today again he talked about the state but this time for Wayne Gretzky to be governor. The conservatives of course say nothing because Poilievre does not care as long as there is money flowing. Everything is marketable.
To me it is a disgrace and just a pretend joke back explaining that they should rather be our province would make a difference. Trump just poops on Justin Trudeau, is an bully and we say nothing. What a shame.
Unfortunately we are going to put up with this total lack of respect and it will get worse if we say nothing.
Danielle Smith just cannot wait to spend our money to go see this imbecile becoming president again. Not surprising because that is the respect she has for Canada as well.
Carlos: I agree! Trump is a bully. Everyone knows that bullies don’t respect people who roll over without a fight. Denmark, Greenland and even tiny Panama told Trump to take a hike. We should have done the same. I tolerated a lot of missteps on Trudeau’s part (starting with his failure to implement proportional representation) but his failure to push back on Trump finished me off.
Wishing you all the very best for the year ahead!
Eric: thank you. Wishing you the very best for 2025 as well!
Smith keeps on picking fights with an unpopular Federal government because it helps maintain or boost her popularity. For her politically, the Federal Liberals are the gift that keeps on giving. But, unfortunately for her, it is likely Trudeau will soon be gone, one way or another from power, and probably his party too.
However, even despite the current Federal government’s increasing unpopularity, her plan to get her hands on a big pot of pension money was never really very popular with Albertans, particularly with older ones who tend to vote and often vote for more conservative parties. They had reservations that she would manage the monies well and fears their pensions would be less safe.
So the only way she could try offset this was to try to appeal to younger people with the vague promise of lower pension contributions, based on an unrealistic asset transfer figure from the existing CPP plan. Without this, her whole strategy falls apart.
She can cluck all she wants about the actuary’s report, but she is not an actuary and it is also not up to her how much money Alberta might get from the CPP fund. Whoever takes over power in Ottawa will probably put a quick end to her foolishness and if it is a conservative Federal leader, she will be powerless to turn it into a political battle.
Smith’s’ war against Ottawa is almost over and we can see now it is probably one she will lose.
Dave, I agree with you 100%. It will be very interesting to see how Smith pivots in the new world where the feds won’t be the despised Liberals but the “friendly” Conservatives who will “use and abuse” Alberta as much as the Trudeau and Harper governments did in the past.
She’s the master of glib talk, but even she won’t be able to persuade Poilievre to support a policy that benefits Alberta if it hurts Ontario and Quebec.
From the eastern end of mainland Canada, we send you greetings for a happy Christmas and new year. Love reading your perspective and of course wishing that Ms. Smith falls as well as wishing our own DoFo in Ontario falls next year although that seems less likely.
And as long as that cutie Rudy rules the roost as he does, you can almost forget that anything else is wrong outside in the wider world. What an adorable little sweetie!
Liane Sharkey: here’s hoping that by some miracle Smith and Ford lose their footing in 2025 and are turfed out of office one way or another.
And yes, Rudy the cutie pie, does take our minds off these things for a little while.
Wishing you and yours a very happy new year!