Connect with us
[the_ad id="89560"]

Alberta

Whistle Stop Cafe owner challenging lockdown and authorities

Published

7 minute read

Just a few months ago Mirror, Alberta might have been referred to as UCP heartland.  But things seem to be changing quickly.  One of the hottest spots in the area is Chris Scott’s Whistle Stop Cafe.  The owner, Chris Scott opened The Whistle Stop in the middle of Alberta’s second lockdown back in January.  Still facing legal action from that lockdown, Chris didn’t hesitate to announce he would also be defying Alberta’s third lockdown of indoor dining as soon as that was announced.  Hundreds of supporters showed up on the weekend.  They were treated to music, a beer garden, as well as both outdoor patio, and indoor dining options.
As expected The Whistle Stop was visited by an AHS inspector and RCMP members who noted the violations and informed Mr. Scott of impending legal actions against The Whistle Stop Cafe.  All this hasn’t slowed Scott down one bit.  As of Tuesday morning, the cafe is open and serving customers (who are warned by staff they could be charged for violating indoor dining restrictions) and Chris Scott is planning for another busy weekend.  Scott addresses his massive social media following daily.  His Tuesday morning address shows just how committed he remains despite the obvious impending showdown sure to take place in the coming days between Scott and AHS as well as the RCMP.
In his facebook post, the owner of The Whistle Stop Cafe almost seems to be daring Premier Jason Kenney to make a move:

From the Facebook page of The Whistle Stop Cafe

Good morning everyone! It’s been a busy, stressful couple days for us here. I’m not going into details as they’re irrelevant to our vision of serving delicious food, to beautiful people ❤️ today could be a very big day for us here at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Mirror, Alberta. We’ve got a lot on the go including planning this coming weekends festivities here. Live music, karaoke, and wonderful food prepared with care and attention to detail. All of us here believe strongly in taking every precaution with the way we handle food. As a food “service,” provider our number one priority is ensuring that what we serve its fresh and safe. We also believe in your choice to either venture out in this dangerous world or stay home and limit your exposure to the thousands of risks we encounter every day. Nobody here will ever judge you for making your own choice. As most of you know, Alberta Health Services suspended our food handling permit yesterday, via EMAIL. Now I could have ignored the email and said I didn’t recieved it and made them come out here and deliver themselves, but I didn’t. AHS inspectors are not well received these days. And I’m happy to consider them as human beings and keep them out of situations where they may be subject to abusive language and threats. So I accepted the email as it was written and acknowledge the suspension of my permit. However, as a man and a human being I have the right to engage in commerce. I have the right to Life, Liberty and security. These rights are not conditional on any agency “permitting,” them. We continue to follow best practices in regards to purchase, storage, and preparation of our food. And we continue to maintain a clean environment in which to serve or consume said food. We will not continue to be bullied into submitting to garbage, harmful, baseless restrictions forced on the people of Alberta by those who will never suffer the consequences of their own actions. We are OPEN for business. And we have some great specials today!

Eggs Kenney

Breakfast- Eggs Kenney served with a side of disobedience. 2 eggs poached one way, then changed to whatever we feel like making up at the time. We will give you ham, sausage, and bacon with your eggs Kenney but then we’re going to take back half of it and tell you is for your own good. Comes with hashbrowns on the side, but only if you submit to our stupid rule of clapping three times and saying the word, “knee,” (as in the Knights who say, knee. Because it’s ridiculous and changes nothing.) $5.00 plus a fee of $7.95 for the permit to eat.
Lunch special today is a UCP burger. Our delicious classic burger! But like our government it will be served open and two-faced with an egg on its face. Comes with delicious freedom fries! $11.95
Soup today is Hinshaw chicken noodle. Chicken soup is good for you! And since Dr. Hinshaw seems to think she’s the only person who knows what’s good for us I figured it was an appropriate name.
Supper special is whatever you want. We will prepare you anything you like! Because what you put in your body, and where you choose to eat and do business is YOUR CHOICE!!! Keep in mind our kitchen is small so please don’t go crazy🤣 our supper special is FREE! And if you feel like donating to our cause we would be very happy to accept it. I heard something about “plague rats,” so all donations will go towards cleaning supplies and a consultation with an exterminator because we want ALBERTA TO REMAIN RAT FREE!!!
We’re looking forward to seeing you today!! We NEED YOU HERE. We need your support! We need to push back as hard as we can, knowing that we may get sick but doing OF OUR OWN ACCORD!!
Sending love and freedom from the Whistle Stop Cafe in Mirror ❤️
-Chris

Before Post

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

Alberta

The beauty of economic corridors: Inside Alberta’s work to link products with new markets

Published on

From the Canadian Energy Centre

Q&A with Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transport and Economic Corridors

Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s Minister of Transportation
and Economic Corridors.

CEC: How have recent developments impacted Alberta’s ability to expand trade routes and access new markets for energy and natural resources?

Dreeshen: With the U.S. trade dispute going on right now, it’s great to see that other provinces and the federal government are taking an interest in our east, west and northern trade routes, something that we in Alberta have been advocating for a long time.

We signed agreements with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have an economic corridor to stretch across the prairies, as well as a recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to go north. With the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith, she’s been working on a BC, prairie and three northern territories economic corridor agreement with pretty much the entire western and northern block of Canada.

There has been a tremendous amount of work trying to get Alberta products to market and to make sure we can build big projects in Canada again.

CEC: Which infrastructure projects, whether pipeline, rail or port expansions, do you see as the most viable for improving Alberta’s global market access?

Dreeshen: We look at everything. Obviously, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and gas, but also rail is part of the mix of getting over four million barrels per day to markets around the world.

The beauty of economic corridors is that it’s a swath of land that can have any type of utility in it, whether it be a roadway, railway, pipeline or a utility line. When you have all the environmental permits that are approved in a timely manner, and you have that designated swath of land, it politically de-risks any type of project.

CEC: A key focus of your ministry has been expanding trade corridors, including an agreement with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore access to Hudson’s Bay. Is there any interest from industry in developing this corridor further?

Dreeshen: There’s been lots of talk [about] Hudson Bay, a trade corridor with rail and port access. We’ve seen some improvements to go to Churchill, but also an interest in the Nelson River.

We’re starting to see more confidence in the private sector and industry wanting to build these projects. It’s great that governments can get together and work on a common goal to build things here in Canada.

CEC: What is your vision for Alberta’s future as a leader in global trade, and how do economic corridors fit into that strategy?

Dreeshen: Premier Smith has talked about C-69 being repealed by the federal government [and] the reversal of the West Coast tanker ban, which targets Alberta energy going west out of the Pacific.

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the federal side. Alberta has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to economic corridors.

We’ve asked the federal government if they could develop an economic corridor agency. We want to make sure that the federal government can come to the table, work with provinces [and] work with First Nations across this country to make sure that we can see these projects being built again here in Canada.

Continue Reading

2025 Federal Election

Next federal government should recognize Alberta’s important role in the federation

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

With the tariff war continuing and the federal election underway, Canadians should understand what the last federal government seemingly did not—a strong Alberta makes for a stronger Canada.

And yet, current federal policies disproportionately and negatively impact the province. The list includes Bill C-69 (which imposes complex, uncertain and onerous review requirements on major energy projects), Bill C-48 (which bans large oil tankers off British Columbia’s northern coast and limits access to Asian markets), an arbitrary cap on oil and gas emissions, numerous other “net-zero” targets, and so on.

Meanwhile, Albertans contribute significantly more to federal revenues and national programs than they receive back in spending on transfers and programs including the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) because Alberta has relatively high rates of employment, higher average incomes and a younger population.

For instance, since 1976 Alberta’s employment rate (the number of employed people as a share of the population 15 years of age and over) has averaged 67.4 per cent compared to 59.7 per cent in the rest of Canada, and annual market income (including employment and investment income) has exceeded that in the other provinces by $10,918 (on average).

As a result, Alberta’s total net contribution to federal finances (total federal taxes and payments paid by Albertans minus federal money spent or transferred to Albertans) was $244.6 billion from 2007 to 2022—more than five times as much as the net contribution from British Columbians or Ontarians. That’s a massive outsized contribution given Alberta’s population, which is smaller than B.C. and much smaller than Ontario.

Albertans’ net contribution to the CPP is particularly significant. From 1981 to 2022, Alberta workers contributed 14.4 per cent (on average) of total CPP payments paid to retirees in Canada while retirees in the province received only 10.0 per cent of the payments. Albertans made a cumulative net contribution to the CPP (the difference between total CPP contributions made by Albertans and CPP benefits paid to retirees in Alberta) of $53.6 billion over the period—approximately six times greater than the net contribution of B.C., the only other net contributing province to the CPP. Indeed, only two of the nine provinces that participate in the CPP contribute more in payroll taxes to the program than their residents receive back in benefits.

So what would happen if Alberta withdrew from the CPP?

For starters, the basic CPP contribution rate of 9.9 per cent (typically deducted from our paycheques) for Canadians outside Alberta (excluding Quebec) would have to increase for the program to remain sustainable. For a new standalone plan in Alberta, the rate would likely be lower, with estimates ranging from 5.85 per cent to 8.2 per cent. In other words, based on these estimates, if Alberta withdrew from the CPP, Alberta workers could receive the same retirement benefits but at a lower cost (i.e. lower payroll tax) than other Canadians while the payroll tax would have to increase for the rest of the country while the benefits remained the same.

Finally, despite any claims to the contrary, according to Statistics Canada, Alberta’s demographic advantage, which fuels its outsized contribution to the CPP, will only widen in the years ahead. Alberta will likely maintain relatively high employment rates and continue to welcome workers from across Canada and around the world. And considering Alberta recorded the highest average inflation-adjusted economic growth in Canada since 1981, with Albertans’ inflation-adjusted market income exceeding the average of the other provinces every year since 1971, Albertans will likely continue to pay an outsized portion for the CPP. Of course, the idea for Alberta to withdraw from the CPP and create its own provincial plan isn’t new. In 2001, several notable public figures, including Stephen Harper, wrote the famous Alberta “firewall” letter suggesting the province should take control of its future after being marginalized by the federal government.

The next federal government—whoever that may be—should understand Alberta’s crucial role in the federation. For a stronger Canada, especially during uncertain times, Ottawa should support a strong Alberta including its energy industry.

Continue Reading

Trending

X