You originally said, incorrectly, that Canada hadn't got shipyards so could not have built up its anti-submarine capability. Now you're saying correctly that the RCN had teething problems when building up its capability.
Have a look at the Wikipedia conclusion, which correctly states that Britain and Canada sorted out the convoy problems without significant US help;
"The disastrous convoy battles of October 1940 forced a change in British tactics. The most important of these was the introduction of permanent escort groups to improve the co-ordination and effectiveness of ships and men in battle. British efforts were helped by a gradual increase in the number of escort vessels available as the old ex-American destroyers and the new British- and Canadian-built
Flower class corvettes were now coming into service in numbers. Many of these ships became part of the huge expansion of the
Royal Canadian Navy, which grew from a handful of destroyers at the outbreak of war to take an increasing share of convoy escort duty. Others of the new ships were manned by Free French, Norwegian and Dutch crews, but these were a tiny minority of the total number, and directly under British command. By 1941 American public opinion had begun to swing against Germany, but the war was still essentially Great Britain and the Empire against Germany."
Matilda IIs were reliable, and would have been moved up on tank transporters and/or by sea before the Stukas arrived in Sicily. Note what the Russians said;
"In the USSR, the first Matilda arrived in autumn 1941 – just in time for the beginning of the battle for Moscow – and come at an opportune moment. During the 1941-1943 period of the Red Army received 1,084 tanks of this type. The Soviet tank crews appreciated the heavy armor (same as in Soviet KV) and high reliability of the power plant “Matilda.” British 2-pound cannon to armor penetration in no way inferior to the national 45-mm and up to mid-1942 could affect all types of German tanks".
source: http://socyberty.com/military/infantry-tank-mk-ii-matilda-ii-a12/
I don't think you have yet justified your accusations of "fits of fantasy". The British Army was on its way to Tunis to kick the Italians out of North Africa when Churchill ordered it to Greece. The Army and the Chiefs of Staff were sure they could do it, and no one has questioned this judgment, before your posting here that is. The British Army had just destroyed the Italians in Egypt in a clear demonstration of their complete superiority, and the Italians saw the writing on the wall - hence their desperate appeal to Hitler to come and save them. But if the British had gone straight to Tunis, Hitler would surely have "missed the bus" (which is, by the way, what the same British 'peace in our time' politician said about Hitler in the Norway campaign).
Tony