Are the Pawlowski Brothers on the Wrong Side of History?
In accusing Pawlowski of being on the wrong side of something, Justice Adam Germain tacitly claimed knowledge of the right side. Do science and history have categorical right sides?
Marco Navarro-Génie
Demand Fairness from Ottawa and from Edmonton
Albertans would not be further ahead by reducing federal equalization inequities without removing the home-grown liabilities of rampant provincial government spending.
Touted Climate Emergency Seems Deceitful and Undemocratic
Announcing one’s top priority after the election is manipulatively undemocratic. The unstated subtext is that Calgarians need not bother debating the climate emergency Gondek wants to impose on them. She knows what’s best for Calgarians. Even before taking the oath of office, the new mayor gave herself the authority to declare war on the city’s most beneficial industry without a real mandate for “a bold move like that.”
Trust Is the Foundation of Authority, and Governments Are Losing Both
In the first week of October alone, the executive, the judicial and the medical bureaucracy failed Albertans again. The torqued blaming and punishing of the unvaxxed, Justice Germain’s offensive decision compelling speech to preacher Pawlowsky, and the naked attempt to manipulate the tragic death of young Nathanael Spitzer are all bold demonstrations of power still eroding trust.
Trudeau’s Small Gestures Speak Louder than His Great Deeds
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be using Indigenous Canadians as human props to get their votes, and the votes of Canadians for whom better treatment of Indigenous people is important.
Do Harsher Restrictions Save Lives?
…for all that is being said about Alberta today, infected Albertans have so far survived COVID-19 at three times the rate of Quebeckers, and nearly at twice the rate of the average Canadian.
The Endemic Path Is the Way Out
It is not people declining vaccination who are putting us in the gravest danger. It’s those who, perhaps fewer in numbers, continue to dream of, and push for, a global eradication of SARS-CoV-2. They drive the policies that subject us to lockdown cycles. They are far more dangerous than the virus itself.
In Disrespecting Public Officials, We Disrespect Ourselves
People will disagree with public officials and their decisions. In a democratic arrangement, there is an expectation that people will address their differences respectfully, and even in friendship. Frederick Haultain, the founder of Alberta and Saskatchewan, was notorious for his kind and respectful ways. Unlike our contemporary crop of leaders, he never insulted even his most vicious or slandering opponents.
Truth Is the Road to Reconciliation
For generations now, successive federal governments have made promises without delivering. For all the inflated rhetoric, even the present federal government has been incapable of permanently delivering potable water to so many Indigenous children. Worse still, not that long ago, Prime Minister Trudeau openly mocked Aboriginal women at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Toronto when the women demanded clean water for their children. Expressions of solidarity, vacuous electoral promises and virtue-signalling schemes will not deliver the outcomes that Indigenous Canadians need, just as handing out large amounts of unaccountable monies over decades has failed.
Kananaskis User Fees Are Inappropriate
There are two strong reasons for the costs of increased usage of the Kananaskis wilderness areas to be shouldered by the healthcare budget. It is a health matter. Physical activity and social interaction are salutary for Albertans coping with the economic and psychological hardships imposed by their government. Second, a pricing mechanism is wrong because the excess use did not issue from regular market demand. Claiming “medical advice,” the government has locked Albertans down and continues to restrict most options for essential social and physical activities. The excess costs associated with wilderness usage should therefore be medical costs.