Opinion
Election 2017 is a week old. What do candidates say about our high crime rate?

Election 2017 is one week old with three weeks remaining. A big issue and resonates with everyone is crime. There is evidence of increased crime every where and facts can be found at Statscan and other reports.
You can watch it on CBC or read about it in the Red Deer Advocate, the Huffington Post, and Maclean’s magazine.
Tara Veer our mayor and candidate has well articulated platform on her website;
Red Deerians have identified crime and public safety as their priority concern, so it is imperative that additional strategies are undertaken to ensure crime prevention and enforcement efforts are effective to respond to the safety challenges Red Deer is faced with. If re-elected as Mayor, Tara will continue to actively work to:
Ensure that local community policing priorities are established and enforced through the RCMP’s annual policing plan.
Strengthen the integration between municipal enforcement units and the RCMP to ensure common objectives, efficiency, and quality of service in all delegation of duties.
Prioritize reduction of organized crime, persons crime and property crime in the policing plan.
Identify consistent service standards for non-emergency calls to police.
Reduce the case load per officer and improve officers to population ratio by supporting the addition of new officers.
Reinforce enforcement allocations to foot patrols downtown and in the parks system.
Support the safety continuum from crime prevention through to emergency enforcement.
Increase citizen reporting to help inform crime analysis, intelligence-led policing and patrols.
Establish a strong local and regional regulatory response to the Federal Government’s legalization of marijuana.
Advocate for additional Crown Prosecutors to prevent criminal charges from being “stayed” because of capacity issues at the Red Deer Courthouse.
Hold the Provincial Government accountable for drug needle debris causing general community safety risks.
Quite a large stand on the issue but several candidates think it is not enough or possibly in the wrong direction.
Jason Habouza was informed enough to direct me to the Huffington Report on the 10 safest cities in Canada. These are based on Statscan Crime Severity Index, a new tool for measuring police-reported crime in Canada that for the first time tracks changes in the severity of crime, not just volume.
The report also examines how crime is measured in Canada, as well as recent improvements to statistics on crime that are gathered from the police.
The ten safest cities though of various sizes are all located in Ontario and Quebec and do not solely rely on the RCMP. Ontario and Quebec have provincial police departments.
#1 Quebec City, population 800,296 CSI-41.8
#2 Barrie, population 135,711 CSI-43.3
#3 Toronto, population 6 million, CSI-45.7
#4 Ottawa, population 1.25 million, CSI-46.5
#5 Guelph, population 131,794, CSI-48.4
#6 Sherbrooke, population 161,323 CSI-49.2
#7 Hamilton, population 747,545 CSI-50.5
#8 St. Catharine-Niagars, population 406,074, CSI-52.2
#9 Gatineau, population 276,245 CSI-53.6
#10 Saguenay, population 145,365, CSI-53.8
Then we have Canada, Population 36.29 million, CSI-70.96
At 5,224 incidents per 100,000 population, the police-reported crime rate, which measures the volume of police-reported crime, was virtually unchanged in 2016. This rate was 28% lower than a decade earlier in 2006.
Then we continue down to the second highest city in Canada and you guessed it.
Red Deer, population 99,832 CSI -182.03. Which translates to about 13,400 incidents per 100,000.
Alberta, as a province, did experience the largest increase (+18 per cent), which was largely attributed to more reported incidents of breaking and entering, theft of $5,000 or under, and motor vehicle theft. Grande Prairie Alberta is the city with the highest CSI in Canada.
Canada’s CSI-70.96, P.E.I. -48.52, Ontario-52.71, Alberta-102.49, Manitoba-114.44, Saskatchewan- 148.84 but Northwest Territories with a population of 41,462 had a CSI – 291.72. Which translates into 21,476 incidents per 100,000 or or 8904 incidents in 2016.
Red Deer under the current model has gone from 15 position in 2011 to the second highest Crime Severity Index across Canada in 2016. Do we look at other models.
Councillor Buck Buchanan has been advocating for looking at a more hybrid model. He encouraged Councillor Dianne Wyntjes to propose a Notice of Motion this last term regarding a Hybrid. Unfortunately the Vote went 4-4 hence lost.
What the hope was, was to get the Response Policing taken over by the Municipality and Contracting the Specialist & Federal Policing Contracted by the Force (GIS, Drugs, Intelligence etc, etc). right now we have (160) one hundred and Sixty members (80) eighty of those do Response Policing (Responding to Calls) and the other (80) eighty do other jobs. They have always said they are 12-15 short in the Response area my solution, take (110) one hundred and ten or so and do Response Policing and contract for the other 40-50 for what he called Big City Copping.
There were 2 issues that were concerns that may have led to motion being lost.
1) another Union/Association
2) having the Capacity to do same Recruiting, Hiring, Training, Equipping.
The other thing that concerned the City is a Police Commission which comes with a Municipal Force.
The hopes and plans may have led to a better Service Delivery (more control locally) and (2) two may have gotten us into the game in regards to cost, if we get much bigger manpower wise we will not be in a position to afford to have any other option, other than the Force.
The big issue initially would be the start up cost as there will be a cost associated with same.
Remember this is the biggest Municipal Detachment. the Force has outside of B.C. and for the Force it is about positions in a lot of instances.
So the incumbents and challengers are starting to formulate different positions and the voters need to look at all and decide which way to go. Should we advocate for a provincial police force, a municipal police force, a hybrid model, or stay with the RCMP? Should we study this?
2025 Federal Election
Neil Young + Carney / Freedom Bros

Trish Wood
and bad news for our actual Freedom Fighters
On the same day I confirmed my worst fears about the Crown’s intentions for Tamara and Chris — Neil Young, one of the leading freedom fighters of my generation has made an ass of himself, yet again. But first, Chris Barber confirmed last night that the Crown is seeking two years in prison for both he and Tamara.
I spoke to Chris briefly and he is stoic but concerned. Chris and his family are blue-collar working people/farmers who live on the remote prairies. The possible dismantling of this truck feels vindictive to me. Never forget Mark Carney’s Op Ed calling for the financial destruction of the protesters and their supporters.
The Crown’s position seems over-the-top and believe me, he would not being doing this without approval from people higher up the food chain. Guess who?
I haven’t been a Neil Young fan since his tantrum in 2022 in favour of vaccines. While the great Eric Clapton was speaking out over his own vaccine injury — Young was firing missiles from the safety of his compound in California at those of us demanding scrutiny of an untested shot that didn’t even work. Specifically Neil’s target was Joe Rogan.
Until this morning I’d nearly forgotten about this absurd move by Young, along with Joni Mitchell, who also erupted — from her LA mansion to weigh in on a subject she knows zilch about.
Back in BC, in the 70s, as a young musician and poet, I was inspired by Joni’s earliest music and open-tuning guitar idiosyncrasies that were both enchanting and frustrating. Neil and Joni — two humans I’d believed all my life were actual rebels showed themselves to be Big Pharma shills, captured by propaganda and The Man in ways I’d never expected. I always believed Neil, whom I took my son to see on his sixteenth birthday — with Oasis — what a show — was perhaps the one person from my era who would remain eternally cool. But to quote my mother — we can’t have anything nice.
Here is the world-salad, fact-free, non-granular statement from Neil Young endorsing Mark Carney. It could have been written by Meghan Markle.
The full statement was not without a warning about Terrible Trump — as if Young has drunk every bit of Liberal-talking-point Kool-Aid down to the last drop.
So now, here we are again. Canada is facing threats to its very existence, incredibly from people we thought were our friends. They want our resources, they want our land, they want our fisheries, they want our water, they want our Arctic, maybe they want our souls. I know the US president could use a soul.
It takes more than bravado to fight this kind of a threat. It takes brains, deep economic knowledge of how the world works, it takes strong, intelligent strategies, and the ability to recognize and seize opportunities both at home and on the world stage, opportunities that can bring a new level of prosperity and safety to people…..people who right now may be paralyzed with fear as they look to the future of Canada and the world.
The PEACE sign-off was at best, ironic. Mark Carney is the very emblem of a globo/cap, bellicose, anti-human, pro-censorship agenda.
Carney thanked Neil in an X post for his support, invoking off course “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World” — an anthem that represents the opposite of Carney’s plans for the country. We are not free now and will be less so should Neil’s current man-crush make it through. Carney is already hinting at more censorship.
The clip below captures how far political discourse in this country has fallen. Watch Carney ginning up more Trump hatred and fear on a day it looks like the polls are turning against the Liberals over Button Gate and his tepid response to the fraud committed by his campaign staff.
When in doubt, trot Trump out.
Something something Trump. Something something 51st state. Something Something – I will save you.
Hey, Neil and Mark — this is what Rockin’ in the Free World looks like in Canada today.
We were bound to end up here.
Former Yippie and activist Jerry Rubin started the trend when he tossed his beliefs to become a stock broker.
Sometime in the mid-1970s, Rubin reinvented himself as a businessman. Friend and fellow Yippie Stew Albert claimed Rubin’s new ambition was giving capitalists a social consciousness. In 1980 he began a new career on Wall Street as stockbroker with the brokerage firm John Muir & Co. “I know that I can be more effective today wearing a suit and tie and working on Wall Street than I can be dancing outside the walls of power,”[8] he said.
Maybe Rubin was correct. Those of us who “dance outside the walls of power” have none. Our current “banker” whose policies will condemn the working class to globalist feudalism is considered our saviour while Lich/Barber are facing prison for peaceful protests that actually saved lives.
Moral inversion. Legal inversion. Hold tight to your beliefs and the goodness in your hearts. There’s a possibility the judge will stay a prison sentence. But we must prepare for a bad outcome. I don’t even know how to think about it right now. It is indeed unthinkable.
What’s even worse is that people in this country will cheer, including our current and previous prime ministers.
Maxime Bernier confirmed to me last night that he is being interviewed by Tucker Carlson. This gives me some hope.
Live not by Lies….nurture this thought.
Stay critical.
#truthovertribe
Trish Wood is Critical is a reader-supported publication.
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Autism
RFK Jr. Exposes a Chilling New Autism Reality

The Vigilant Fox
Autism rates are exploding. The “experts” say they’re clueless. But Kennedy believes he knows exactly where to look.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. just held a press conference to respond to the CDC’s latest numbers on autism rates in the United States.
The findings were impossible to ignore, and Kennedy didn’t sugarcoat just how dire the situation had become.
He revealed that 1 in 31 American children are now diagnosed with autism.
For boys, the numbers are even worse—1 in 20.
And in California, where data tracking is considered the most thorough in the country, the rate may be as high as 1 in 12.5 boys. According to Kennedy, that figure likely reflects a national trend.
Just two years ago, the national rate was 1 in 36. Now, it’s jumped dramatically—and Kennedy says he’s determined to find out why.
“The ASD prevalence rate in 8-year-olds is now 1 in 31. Shocking. There is an extreme risk for boys. Overall, the risk for boys of getting an autism diagnosis in this country is now 1 in 20.
“And as high in California, which has the best data collection.
“So it probably also reflects the national trend—1 in 12.5 boys. This is part of an unrelenting upward trend. The prevalence two years ago was 1 in 36,” Kennedy lamented.
He didn’t hold back in calling out the media and powerful industries, accusing them of covering up environmental factors that are contributing to the crisis.
Kennedy blasted the “epidemic denialists,” pointing to a 1992 ADDM report as proof that autism rates have exploded nearly fivefold in just three decades. Back then, the rate was 1 in 150. Today, it’s 1 in 31.
“It’s clear that the rates are real,” Kennedy stressed.
“Year by year there is a steady, relentless increase. I want it because this epidemic denial has become a feature in the mainstream media and it’s based on an industry canard.
“Obviously there are people who don’t want us to look at environmental exposures,” he said.
He also took direct aim at the claim that today’s rising autism rates are simply the result of better awareness or improved diagnosis.
To prove his point, Kennedy cited a peer-reviewed 1987 study from North Dakota, where researchers attempted to identify every child in the state with a developmental disorder.
They didn’t cut corners. They analyzed medical records, confirmed diagnoses, and even conducted in-person evaluations across a population of 180,000 children. Then, they followed that same group for 12 years.
If you still believe autism rates are only rising because doctors are “getting better at diagnosing it,” Kennedy said, you’d have to believe that the original researchers somehow missed nearly all the cases—98.8 percent of them.
But that’s not what happened.
“They went back in 2000 and found that they had missed exactly one child,” he said.
“They weren’t missing all these cases. The epidemic is real.”
Then came one of the most infuriating parts of the press conference: Kennedy revealed how autism research funding has been misdirected for years.
He said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has pumped 10 to 20 times more money into studying genetic causes of autism than into researching environmental ones.
That, Kennedy said, is a dead end.
“This is a preventable disease. We know it’s an environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics,” he argued.
That’s why Kennedy says he’s redirecting resources toward the kind of research that’s long been neglected—into environmental factors.
“And that’s where we’re going to find the answer,” he added.
The most emotional moment came at the end, when Kennedy spoke from the heart about what this epidemic is doing to children—and to families.
“These are children who should not be suffering like this,” he said.
“These are kids who, many of them, were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they’re two years old. These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date.
Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
“We have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it,” Kennedy declared.
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