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Alberta

Calgary pastor Derek Reimer acquitted of charges related to drag queen story hour protest

Published

7 months ago

6 minute read

Pastor Derek Reimer speaks with a reporter from the back seat of a police cruiser

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Lawyer Andrew MacKenzie noted that while “nothing can give” Reimer “back” the time he spent in jail, there is “some vindication from the thorough and thoughtful decision published by the Alberta Courts.”

A judge has acquitted a Canadian Protestant pastor of criminal charges he incurred for protesting a “drag queen story time” event for children at a public library.

Judge Allan Fradsham ruled Tuesday that Derek Reimer, pastor of Mission 7 Ministries, is not guilty of a criminal offense for protesting a pro-LGBT “drag” event marketed to kids called “Reading with Royalty” that took place at the Seton Public Library in Calgary in February 2023.

“I was obedient to God in protecting children and exposing darkness,” Remier told LifeSiteNews about what motivated him to protest the scandalous event. “I will continue to have a voice and speak the truth in Jesus’ name.” 

In his ruling, a copy of which was given to LifeSiteNews, Fradsham still characterized Reimer’s protest against the pro-LGBT display directed to kids as “disrespectful” and “inconsiderate,” but concluded that “not all actions” of this nature “are criminal.”

For protesting at the February 2023 event, Reimer was charged with causing a disturbance and mischief. The incident drew international attention after he was forcibly removed from the library for protesting the event and pointing out that homosexual acts are sinful.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Reimer doubled down on his innocence of any criminal wrongdoing, sharing the Bible passage 2 Timothy 3:11: “Persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.” 

An ‘important exoneration’  

Reimer’s lawyer Andrew MacKenzie spoke with LifeSiteNews and noted that he is pleased with the ruling, and that his client’s “acquittal does expose what was leveled against him” in terms of his protests.  

In a statement to the media, MacKenzie said that Tuesday’s acquittal “is an important exoneration.” 

“Pastor Reimer has been zealously prosecuted over the past two years for peacefully protesting drag events for children. Today, the trial judge found that the witnesses against him were contradictory and biased, giving testimony ‘bespeak[ing] an animus towards Mr. Reimer,’” he noted. 

MacKenzie noted that while “nothing can give” Reimer “back” the time he spent in jail, there is “some vindication from the thorough and thoughtful decision published by the Alberta Courts.”

“There have been concerns that a guilty verdict could set a precedent effectively criminalizing certain forms of protest. This decision affirms the existing common-sense precedent that Pastor Reimer should be allowed to legally protest.” 

MacKenzie said that Reimer is “thankful for the opportunity to have his day in court,” along with the acquittal, and that this “legal battle inspired such a groundswell of support from concerned Canadians. His fight is not over but today’s result was an unmitigated vindication.” 

While Reimer’s charges from the February 2023 incident have been dropped, he is still facing sentencing for other acts of protests against “drag queen story hours,” for which he has been found guilty of “criminal harassment.” He was also found guilty of breaching his bail conditions, which ban him from protesting at any LGBT-themed event. Sentencing will occur on November 28. 

Reimer is also waiting for a decision in relation to charges of trespassing and violating bail conditions for protesting at Calgary’s Signal Hill Library on March 15, 2023. A decision for these charges will be coming on October 7.  

He faces the possibility of being fined $10,000 for each charge or 6 months in jail.  

As reported by LifeSiteNews earlier this year, trespassing charges against Reimer for praying in a municipal building were dismissed. 

He has been arrested many times for protesting “drag queen story time” and other pro-LGBT events in his city. 

Reimer has also been the target of harassment for protesting these events. Last April, his van was vandalized with an anti-Christian message as well as a satanic symbol while he was in jail following yet another arrest related to his pro-family activism. 

Last year, Calgary passed a new “Safe and Inclusive Access Bylaw” that disallows “specified protests” both inside and outside all city-owned and affiliated public buildings.

The bylaw means that anyone protesting pro-LGBT events at public buildings will be barred from getting within 100 meters of any such location. 

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Alberta

Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on April 9, 2025

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From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.

To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.

Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.

Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.

The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.

This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.

In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.

The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.

Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.

While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Montreal Economic Institute

Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.

“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”

Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.

Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.

An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.

Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.

In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.

“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”

The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

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