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Alberta

Man at the centre of lockdown battle urges Premier Kenney to ease lockdown restrictions

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In Alberta’s political theatre, the little Whistle Stop Cafe along the highway at Mirror is punching way above it’s weight.  By opening to sit-down customers when it wasn’t legal to do so, owner Christopher Scott was risking fines and even imprisonment to keep his small business alive.  Other restaurant and business owners have done the same, but perhaps none have communicated as eloquently with the public. Through his facebook posts, Chris Scott has become the epicentre of the battle to ease COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and reopen businesses.
The latest example is from an article Chris posted to The Whistle Stop Cafe Facebook page on Tuesday evening.  In less than three days the post has been shared well over 1,000 times and hundreds of comments are streaming in from across Alberta and beyond.  It’s clear this restaurant owner has hit a nerve in a province full of small business owners who feel they are on the edge.

The post was written as a response to Premier Kenney’s regular Q and A Facebook livestream with Albertans.

My comment on Premier Kenney’s recent livestream. I’m sorry for the length of it. I had more to say but I’m getting angry just thinking about everything i want to write!
“Premier Kenney, you have a big problem on your hands right now. The majority of us have realized, (after hearing you and Dr. Hinshaw speak,) that these restrictions will be never ending. You and the government that we worked so hard to ensure were given the opportunity to govern responsibly have let us down. Our Party, the UCP is supposed to be a grass roots party guided by its membership. We don’t see that happening. As a matter of fact, we’re demanding that recall legislation is put on the table immediately.
How do you feel knowing that Albertans have given up on you and your governance and instead have asked the owner of a small cafe in the boonies to run for your office? Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But it’s very telling. What I see as ridiculous is a government that lives in fear. A government that is hell bent on destroying small business by implementing sweeping mandates that are NOT backed by sufficient evidence. You’re likely to see that once I get my day in court.
I see a government where the Premier is chastising MLA’s for supporting their constituents. That’s completely disgusting. You should never have done that. It shows you wish to silence the voices that need to be heard, to keep your own ego intact.
One of the greatest blessings of being in the middle of a hub like this is that I get to talk to hundreds of people. Just like you do. But I listen. I listen to the doctors, and nurses, and law enforcement people who think what you’re doing is garbage. Do you know how many front line workers I’ve talked to since I put my neck on the chopping block to protest against your restrictions? The repeating information that I get is that it’s BS. Nurses have spoke to me that there was never a concern about COVID like what’s pushed by the media, by you. At first, yes they were worried because they didn’t know what they were dealing with. But not now. Doctors have spoken out to me, (in confidence as they’re worried they will be persecuted for speaking out,) and the common denominator in all the conversations is “this virus is really no different, and in some cases less transmissible and or deadly than previous concerns such as H1N1.” These words come straight from the mouths of those working on the front lines.
Now I’ll concede, of course, that this is a deadly virus worse than your average flu. I’m sure you are aware that most flu strains, common cold etc are of the corona variety. They kill the elderly, every year. Our average death age in Alberta is 82, and remarkably the average COVID death age is 82. What does that tell you? Of course I believe we should protect the vulnerable and elderly. I’m not a monster.
My question is, with the current and ongoing restrictions especially casinos and gaming, you must know that the AGLC is losing up to $18,000,000 PER DAY that would otherwise be funding our healthcare system. That’s a big number and could go a LONG way to protecting our vulnerable. Let’s not even think about the lost tax revenue from small business that will carry losses forward for years.
So who doesn’t care about our front line workers? I’d say the government that shoots AHS in the foot and forces them to enforce rules that HURT our healthcare system! Did you know that in long term care facilities, (which are still being forced to accept COVID positive clients, by the way,) when a staff member tests positive they isolate that wing, test the staff and the staff RETURN TO WORK while awaiting their results? But my cafe of 30 seats will “do irreparable harm to the people of Alberta.” YOU’RE doing irreparable harm with your garbage, sweeping policies that lack evidentiary merit.
I’m growing tired of your veiled, or direct threats. I’m growing tired of your fear mongering and use of the media to peddle this fear. I’m growing tired of hearing heart wrenching tales of the damage to my friends and neighbors from these restrictions. The majority of Albertans are tired of you, and your unwillingness to stand up for us. Our voice is getting louder and louder by the day. We’re becoming organized. We’re listening to each other and we’re taking the time to talk to front line workers, the elderly and frail, and others directly affected or at risk and THEY are supporting our move to lift restrictions as well.
Who are you listening to? Perhaps Ms. Notley’s friend Dr. Hinshaw? We see you’re being led down the wrong path and we refuse to let you take Alberta with you. I suggest you take time to reflect on these words and become the leader you promised you would. If you don’t want to do that, that’s ok too. But in that case, you should get out of the way and let someone else do it.
Respectfully,
Christopher Scott, the irresponsible, selfish Rebel.”

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.

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Alberta

Media melts down as Danielle Smith moves to end ‘transitioning’ of children in Alberta

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From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

After Alberta’s Danielle Smith put forth legislation to protect kids from being gender ‘transitioned,’ the Canadian media went on a predictable melt down, citing ‘experts’ who blatantly lie to advance the LGBT agenda.

A year after announcing her intention to combat transgender ideology and protect children, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has tabled three pieces of UCP (United Conservative Party) government legislation: 

  • The Education Amendment Act 2024 will require parental consent for “socially transitioning” children under the age of 16 (changing a child’s name or “preferred pronouns”). The bill also gives parents an “opt-in” option for any sexual or content at school. Smith has emphasized that the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission has the power to discipline teachers if they decide to break the law. 
  • The Health Statues Amendment Act 2024 will ban the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, as well as prohibit sex change surgeries on minors. 
  • The Fairness and Safety in Sport Act will ban trans-identifying men from female sports teams.  

Together, these three bills represent the most definitive pushback against gender ideology in Canada by any premier. Smith’s decision to announce her intent to pursue such legislation and then wait has turned out to be politically savvy—it has given the UCP government a good look at the LGBT response, and during that time the U.K.’s Labour government has successfully fought to maintain a similar ban in the courts and publicly rebutted many of the scare tactics used by LGBT activists.

Smith and the UCP are thus walking into this debate with eyes wide open, and are clearly certain that the public is on their side (it is) and that the legislation can survive the court challenges surely coming from LGBT activists. The policies are clearly popular with the UCP party’s base, who handed Smith a staggering 91.5% approval rating in her leadership review at UCP gathering in Red Deer last Saturday.  

The party also passed 35 policy resolutions, including several that indicate the UCP’s willingness to go further in fighting transgender ideology, with resolutions that would restrict “exclusively female spaces” like bathrooms and changerooms to females and designating transgender surgeries as “elective cosmetic procedures” not funded by the taxpayer. The motions received near-unanimous support.  

The Canadian press, unsurprisingly, is working hard to present policies that the vast majority of Canadians support as an attack on fundamental norms (albeit norms that only surfaced in the last few years and were never presented to voters). Global News ran the headline: “Alberta unveils 3 sweeping bills affecting trans and gender-diverse youth.” It is important to note that the press accepts the premises of transgender ideology as the starting point for their reporting, with heavy usage of nonsensical phrases like “gender-diverse youth,” which implies that there are many genders. 

In fact, Global News and other Canadian outlets trotted out talking points that have been definitively rebutted by the U.K.’s Cass Review and multiple medical studies—in fact, even the New York Times has been reporting on the permanent harms of puberty blockers over the past several years. An example from Global News: 

Alberta parents of gender-diverse youth like Haley Wray believe the new laws will give kids less choice — especially when it comes to health-care that is not permanent but instead, gives kids time to work through their identity struggles. 

‘Hormone blockers are a very valuable tool,’ Wray said, explaining they have a very small window of effectiveness to pause, but not prevent, puberty. ‘It is reversible because nothing changes. And what that does is it allows youth and families to have that that pause, that break to explore further, validate, understand what this means and know that permanent changes aren’t happening.’

Wray believes the proposed legislation will make the province a less safe place for tens of thousands of Alberta kids who aren’t straight. It’s why, Wray says, a growing number of families with transgender children are now grappling with whether Alberta is a place they can stay. ‘I know people who have, and I know people who genuinely feel like there is likely nowhere to go,’ she said. 

This is incorrect. Puberty blockers cause permanent damage, and children may be rendered permanently sterile after taking them for a relatively short period of time. Puberty is not something that can be “paused,” and it frequently causes irreversible rather than reversible damage. Smith and her government understand this, which is why they have decided to pass this legislation—not, as nearly every press outlet claimed, to “target trans youth,” but to protect them. 

The CBC chimed in with sentences like this one: 

Terms like ‘biological female’ and ‘biological male’ can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity. 

To translate: a scientifically accurate and precise statement is now an ideological one, but inherently ideological language invented by the transgender movement over the past decade is, in fact, technically accurate. People can identify as anything they want; it is irrelevant to their biology. The CBC presents pointing this out as some sort of propagandistic attack on vulnerable people. 

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National PostNational ReviewFirst Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton SpectatorReformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture WarSeeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of AbortionPatriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life MovementPrairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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Alberta

Alberta calling for federal election! Premier Smith demands feds scrap dangerous oil and gas production caps

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Premier Danielle Smith, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz and Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean issued the following statement on the proposed federal oil and gas production cap:

“This production cap will hurt families, hurt businesses and hurt Canada’s economy. We will defend our province, our country and our Constitutional rights.

“Make no mistake, this cap violates Canada’s constitution. Section 92A clearly gives provinces exclusive jurisdiction over non-renewable natural resource development yet this cap will require a one million barrel a day production cut by 2030.

“The evidence is overwhelming. Three reports from reputable firms have shown that these regulations will sucker-punch Canada’s economy, a million barrels cut every day according to S&P Global, $28 billion a year in lost GDP according to Deloitte, and up to 150,000 lost jobs according to the Conference Board of Canada.

“The losses to GDP mean billions a year will disappear from the economy. Billions that won’t be going towards new schools, hospitals and roads, all for a reckless ideological scheme that will not reduce global emissions.

“Ultimately, this cap will lead Alberta and our country into economic and societal decline. The average Canadian family would be left with up to $419 less for groceries, mortgage payments and utilities every month. Canadian parents and workers will suffer while Justin Trudeau outsources the duty to provide safe, affordable, reliable and responsibly produced oil and gas to dictators and less clean producers around the world. We could be the solution. Instead, Ottawa would rather sacrifice our ability to lead.

“Tweaks won’t work. This cap must be scrapped. Alberta’s government is actively exploring the use of every legal option, including a constitutional challenge and the use of the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. We will not stand idly by while the federal government sacrifices our prosperity, our constitution and our quality of life for its extreme agenda.”

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