Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend imbeciles— Dostoyevsky

We are continuing our trek across the continent, and so find ourselves in Toronto this week researching our next project, a contemporary history of The Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at St. Michael’s College. Yes, a slight divergence from our new book Deal With It: The Greatest Trades In NHL History and How They Changed The Hockey World. Self-published, it should be out this month (if we can get the website to work).

Toronto also means a return visit with our friend Toronto Mike for his popular podcast TorontoMike’d. The quintessential antidote to corporate media, he operates out of his basement near Lake Ontario in the west end of Toronto. To describe him as prodigious understates the case. Our show this week— the fourth appearance for us— was No. 1464 for the show.

Mike sells his own advertising, produces other podcasts and generally has made himself a must-appear for people in Toronto’s media, film, TV and pop culture from the 1970s to the present. Our penultimate show as a Tony Bennett versus Frank Sinatra showdown with Steve Paikin of TVO. Yup.

The best part is that Mike will talk to anyone without inserting himself into the show, especially if the craic is good. We discussed that at length in Ep.1464 about the current media mania for demonizing people with whom we disagree.

The list of guests is a prodigious snapshot of a time and place, the time being now and the place being Toronto. In any event, this episode we talked for one hour, fifty minutes on a range of topics from Joe Flaherty, our Montreal Expos fandom, Shohei Ohtani, civil war battlefields, PEI’s fabulous East Pointers  and much more.

So for this week, Usual Suspects brings you an audio, not a print stroll through current events. Enjoy and subscribe to Mike or else we won’t get any more Palma Pasta lasagnas or beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Or future considerations from Ridley Funeral Home.

https://www.torontomike.com/2024/04/bruce-dowbiggin-toronto-miked-podcast-episode-1464/

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

‘I believe in freedom’

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith promised to enshrine into “law” protections for people in her province who choose not to be vaccinated as well as strengthen gun rights and safeguard free speech by beefing up the provincial Bill of Rights.

“I can give you my commitment that no one is going to be forced to make a medical choice that they don’t want to,” Smith told local blogger Shaun Newman on his regular “Podcast” show on Monday.

“I just don’t believe that that is the direction that Albertans want to go. I believe in freedom, and so until I can get that enshrined in law, you have my commitment, no one’s going to be forced to be vaccinated.”

Premier Danielle Smith https://t.co/Wg6KaWVfYO

— Shaun Newman Podcast (@SNewmanPodcast) December 18, 2023

Last month, a panel convened by Smith to investigate the previous government’s COVID governance released its findings, recommending many pro-freedom policies be implemented, such as strengthening personal medical freedoms via legislation so that one does not lose their job for refusing a vaccine as well as concluding that Albertans’ rights were indeed infringed on.

The panel was tasked to review “legislation and governance practices used by the Government of Alberta during the management of the COVID-19 public health emergency.”

Notable highlights from the report show a list of what are considered fundamental rights of Albertans that the report recommends the government take steps to protect via the Alberta Bill of Rights.

Newman asked Smith about the panel’s findings and what her government would do with the recommendations. She responded by saying that some work has already been done to ensure that “unelected” health officials do not have sole decision-making power in emergencies.

“We had a health act that essentially gave the exclusive power to one person to shut down our entire economy and if there was any attempt stepped in to moderate those views. That was the part that was considered illegal, which makes no sense,” Smith said.

“What we’ve done is we’ve changed the Public Health Act. So now that the chief medical officer of health gives advice to Cabinet, but Cabinet becomes the ultimate decision-maker, which is how it should be in an emergency.”

Smith is not just talk, however, when it comes to making politicians accountable. She is looking to pass a new law, Bill 6, or the Public Health Amendment Act, that would hold politicians accountable in times of a health crisis by putting sole decision-making on them for health matters instead of unelected medical officers.

Even before Smith became premier, she was not shy in speaking out in favor of the rights of those who chose not to get the COVID shots.

She made headlines in October 2022 after promising she would look at pardoning Christian pastors who were jailed for violating so-called COVID policies while Kenney was premier.

Smith took over from Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) on October 11, 2022, after winning the leadership of the party. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down as well as enacting a vaccine passport.

Under Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

Smith promises to protect gun rights

When it comes to gun rights of Albertans, Smith pledged that she would do what she can to make sure the federal government stays “out” of its lane and keeps its hands off people’s legally purchased firearms.

“We now just have a bill that’s passed through the federal government, which is going to, presumably, start confiscating the firearms from people who purchased them legally or using them for legal purposes, and is that something that we should also be putting into the Bill of Rights,” Smith said.

“So, the discussion about opening the Bill of Rights began because of wanting to preserve medical choice, we’re seeing the need to expand in on the free speech front because free speech rights are under attack. But we also think that there might be other things that we need to look at.”

Smith noted that she has already had a conversation with one of the MLAs and asked him if he would be “willing to take on a consultation to make sure that when we do amend the Bill of Rights, which we will do, that we’re not missing anything.”

The Canadian federal government’s controversial gun grab bill C-21, which bans many types of guns, including handguns, and mandates a buyback program became law last week after Senators voted 60- 24 in favor of the bill.

In May, it passed in the House of Commons. After initially denying the bill would impact hunters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau eventually admitted that C-21 would indeed ban certain types of hunting rifles.

Smith, along with premiers from no less than four additional provinces, are opposed to C-21.

Trudeau’s gun-grab was first announced after a deadly mass shooting in Nova Scotia in May 2020 in which Trudeau banned over 1,500 “military-style assault firearms” with a plan to begin buying them back from owners.

If the ban is enforced, legal gun owners in possession of the federally regulated Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) would be barred from buying, selling, transporting, and even importing a slew of guns the government has categorized as “assault-style” rifles.