As November ends, the Canadian dollar (the loony) is worth $1.05 US, the highest value it has reached since Canadian troops overwhelmed Washington in 1812. And there is no end in sight as oil prices continue to rise – Canada’s economic trump card as its immense oil reserves become more and more desirable and profitable – and the US economy continues to fall. Impossible super-low mortgage rates in the US, unknown in Canada, have now sent the housing market down south crashing as rates suddenly doubled, and the war in iraq keeps growing as an economic disaster, as well as a moral and military one. The MacKenzie clan had been expecting the US to counter-attack in an attempt to regain some of the prestige that has been lost to a neighbouring economy that had a currency worth $.62 US cents a couple of years ago that has since risen by more than 40%.
But when the attack came it had an unexpected goal, not a grab for oil, but for water. That in itself is unsurprising as Canada’s massive reserves of fresh water must look extraordinarily tempting to the residents of places like southern California, doomed to be threatened by drought and fire. But it was not the fire departments of Orange County that acted but the Disney corporation, attempting to buck up the spirits of the reeling superpower. In its just released video about the wonders of America – which means the United states in Disneytalk – it included that great US icon, Niagara Falls, but avoided the drab US side and showed Horseshoe Falls, or Canadian Falls as it is also known, in all its thunderous glory. Unfortunately this wonder is entirely on Canadian territory, and the Disneyfolk had to apologize, saying it had used mislabeled archival footage, which the MacKenzie clan took with a large gulp of maple syrup. In any case, the Disney Empire promised to correct this misinformation as soon as it had finished having its desired effect