Some were noticeable and others never made it to the headlines. Looking forward, I see certain things that might just become reality.
The past year brought us some flicker of hope for our future, as a new trusteeship was established for our $1.4 billion, since the funds had to be controlled reasonably well and also turn a profit. The trustees are all people with non-political and non-business interests, or at least they should be. Seeing that trustees are impartial, unconnected and are in no way in any conflict of interest, to be fair, you know.
A new relationship agreement to decide the use of the offshore islands of James Bay and Hudson Bay allocated the rights to economic and ecological use to the Inuit and Cree of James Bay and Hudson Bay, instead of exclusively for Nunavut, on the other side of the bay, which makes sense.
Would anyone from Churchill – which is in Manitoba by the way, not Nunavut – come all the way over here to harvest a few seals and catch a few fish? Maybe. If the fishing is all that bad over there, I guess some diehard fisherman would paddle the distance over here to cast a few nets.
Nunavik/EeyouIstchee/Abitibi became a new riding, same territory though, and no new candidates from the north either. So who would be able to run against contenders from the south, where a small town of 15,000 could outvote anyone running from up here and blast them out of any riding. I guess that system might work one day.
Polar bears are now on the near extinction list, which is a sad state of affairs. I think global warming will make their lives hard to deal with, what with the disappearing ice and all that. I suggest that the polar-bear hunter should be put on the extinction list too. But plain old economics make it feasible to sell a hunting permit to the highest bidder from anywhere around the world. So who would want to stop the hunt anyways?
For some reason, elections took centre stage in the States, in Canada and in the small country of Quebec (oops, I’ve been listening to too much separatist propaganda lately). Just before the federal elections, a bright future was forecast by Prime Minister Harper, who mysteriously announced a lot of bad news after being re-elected. The first African American was elected President of the United States, then mysteriously, the price of oil dropped to its lowest rate in decades. So what gives there? Did George W. secretly manipulate oil prices to an artificial high of $150 per barrel of crude before bowing out of politics? Could someone throw their slippers at the guy instead?
I predict that a dire future is coming, with stocks going up and down, really down, so it will be worth it to go shopping one day and stay home the next. I predict that everyone will be watching the stock market just to cash in on a sale, let’s say for a vehicle. I hear that you can buy a car and get the second one free, just like a pizza or a dozen doughnuts.
Watch out for rising Bayer aspirin prices, because the economic crisis will cause a lot of headaches. I predict that this winter will see the same amount of snowfall as last year, except just in Newfoundland, which will change its name to Snowboundland.
Whatever the year turns out to be, I’m sure it’s going to be a very interesting one. Happy New Year!