Looks like a money maker to me, Eb.

HEY, I have an idea. Is there any chance you could get Alaska to invade Alberta? We'll get yer troops here and because of the exchange rate, sell 'em all kinds of stuff: prime rib, apple sauce from the Penticton area, potatoes from PEI, dry meat from the north, stuff like that. (The guns gotta be left at the border. Sorry to be demanding like that, but we have lots of wildlife that doesn't do well with loud noises.)

Anyway, after the invasion (which we hope would last about five years or so) we will sell the guys and gals Canadian beer, although we will import Coors for the people who want that. I wouldn't want to be greedy on this, so here's the deal. We charge $97 dollars per meal. It's unlikely anyone in Washington will notice, and our House of Commons will convene an emergency session of the House just as soon as their vacation is over, so there NO RUSH to hide the fact we'll be making about a hundred million a month on the meal charges alone. We ain't even started with the beer yet.

OK, so I'm a bit shaky on the details. I have never proffered an invasion invitation before (I am getting more and more like the UN all the time). But we could get rich, bail Newfoundland out of the doldrums, get some neat housing projects going, and when the troops return home we'd have some well-built housing available for people who'd never be able to have a home otherwise. Hell, this is a win-win situation.

Anyway, maybe see what you can arrange and let me know, OK? Make the code word "moose". That way, no matter how eliptically you talk I'll KNOW what yer talkin' about.

Signed,

Well, I'd better not sign, huh, otherwise the whole thing could go down the tubes.