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Opinion

Councillor Harris asked and the city said yes, now the city is taking the lead on Energy Retrofits.

Published

8 years ago

4 minute read

Councillor Paul Harris forwarded a motion asking the city to consider advocating for an energy retrofit program. The city adopted the motion, and is now a leader among Alberta’s cities in this arena.
It was not unanimous among the councillors, and it was not expected to achieve unanimity, actually it was uncertain if it would garner a majority vote.
This motion may not accomplish what it hopes, but it did turn a page. This motion addressed issues like the environment, economics, unemployment, diversity and the future. It expanded our thinking outward after years of looking inward, concentrating on inner issues like downtown revitalization. I am pleased because I have yet to find any successes, where the mayor claims it is due to downtown revitalization.
Paul Harris has been bruised while on city council, he has carried the baggage of issues like the bike lanes and could have kept his head down. He did not, he persevered and took unpopular stances, many of which I argued against, but he kept going and with this latest motion, he can hold his head high.
There are those who believe that this is wrong, it is outside the status quo, it will take away from other issues, it will take attention away from areas like our downtown, and it is different. I would like to see the city concentrate on building a recreation centre and a high school north of the river and develop Hazlett Lake as a tourist destination and staycation paradise, but I also know that we are a region with the poorest air in a province that has the poorest air quality in Canada. I also know that we have an extremely high unemployment rate, and this motion addresses both.
Red Deer’s population is declining, Municipal census says 1,000 fewer residents last year but the Federal census says it was only 400 residents last year, but either one shows a declining population from 2015 to 2016. This may attract new businesses, new jobs, and new residents, I believe so.
The city has been mired in mediocrity and status quo inner circles for too long. All the indicators have shown this, increasing crime rates, population decline, businesses leaving, poor air, high unemployment and lack of serious effort around the neglect of the area north of the river, which by the way had population decline rate nearly ten times per capita higher than the south side of the river.
Perhaps the adoption of this motion may mean the consideration of other issues that have been too long ignored. Instead of diluting our provincial advocacy efforts it might get us noticed, again? I think so.
Rumor has it that Paul Harris may not run in this year’s municipal election. I hope that is but a rumor, because I think Red Deer needs people who have vision and willing to propose different ideas. Besides I would miss criticizing some of his other proposals.
I thank the city for taking the lead on this, It took courage. Thank you.

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Andrew Scheer exposes the Mark Carney Canadians should know

Published on February 22, 2025

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From the X account of Andrew Scheer

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Daily Caller

NEWT GINGRICH: Europe’s Elites Were Finally Told To Take A Look In The Mirror

Published on February 22, 2025

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Newt Gingrich

In an amazing show of courage, Vice President J.D. Vance offered an intervention for some of our European allies.

That is the best way to think of the two historic speeches he made in France and Germany last week.

In Paris, Vice President Vance pledged the United States would do whatever it takes to lead the world in the development of Artificial Intelligence. He went on to assert that Europe’s automatic response to regulate technological change rather than adapt to it was doomed to fail.

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Vance warned the Europeans that the Trump administration would retaliate to protect American high-tech companies from being fined and regulated by the European community.

Then, Vance went to the Munich Security Conference. It is the annual meeting of European leaders concerned about defense and threats to peace. The Vice President shocked the Europeans by launching a frontal assault on the decay of their political system.

As Vance put it:

“But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it’s important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense, the threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor.  And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.”

He then went through a litany of specific complaints about the behavior of different European countries. They ranged from failing to control immigration, suppressing free speech, and Brussels seeking to control and define futures of independent countries such as Hungary and Romania.

The leading French newspaper, Le Monde (their equivalent of the New York Times) asserted that the American Vice President was declaring “ideological war on Europe.”

Le Monde was right. The European elites have been decaying for at least two generations. They hide behind their privileged status and take ideological positions that feel good but are destructive. Europe’s failures are devastating for most everyday Europeans.

I have personal knowledge about this. I have a Ph.D. in Modern European History – and I have lived in France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. As a young Army dependent, we were living in France when the French Army came back from Algeria, killed the French Fourth Republic and brought back General Charles de Gaulle to establish the Fifth Republic.

It is now the longest serving non-royal government in French history.

The European elites value each other’s opinions more than they value serving the people of Europe. The European elites live in a fantasy world of green policies that destroy industries and jobs, welfare policies which destroy the work ethic, and immigration policies which undermine the popular culture. They simply hope for a peaceful world without a strong military.

Meanwhile, state enforced speech codes protect Islamic extremists at the expense of local citizens.

The result has been a steady decline of European culture, economic development, and defensive capacity.

The Afghan Islamist who wounded more than two dozen people and killed a mother and her two-year-old daughter with a car two days before the supposed security conference signals the willful avoidance of reality at the heart of the elite European worldview.

To be clear, I admire European civilization. I believe America is far stronger and safer if Europe is healthy and capable of growing and defending itself.

I hope vice president Vance’s intervention at least starts European elites thinking about what must be done to revive their continent.

For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.

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