Opinion
Red Deer’s Air Quality debate reminds me of cigarette smoke debate or climate change debate.
Millions have been spent, and years of study by great minds and equipment has been upgraded and replaced to ensure, double check and triple check our air quality.
September 2015, the Provincial Health Minister reported: “Alberta on track to have worst air quality in Canada, Red Deer has worst pollution in province, while 4 other regions close to exceeding national standards”
The permanent monitoring at Riverside Park has been reading the highest in Red Deer and there could be reasons, topography, river, or something else. We are talking about years of data, wide ranging and intricate data. Our air quality is affected by many pollutants, compounds, and elements. Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Oxides, Carbon Oxides, Volatile Organic Compounds, and Particulate Matter, specifically PM2.5.
Concentrate on one element or remove one element and you will skew the data. If you listen to the Health Minister and read the data as a package, the information shows that the Red Deer Region is the worst in Alberta, with 4 other regions following close behind.
Riverside Park has the worst readings in Red Deer, but there are small pockets in other regions that will show worst readings in one or more of the pollutants.
The latest discussion is about downtown Calgary and downtown Edmonton has worst readings than the Red Deer Riverside Park. It is like comparing apples and oranges.
Regionally, Red Deer has the poorest air quality as a whole in Alberta, and yes there are pockets of air throughout the province with higher particulate matter, or carbon dioxide, or VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds.
The fact that we are experiencing a downturn in our economy and the fact that Red Deer has seen a large decrease of about 1,000 in population last year, manufacturing is down, businesses are closing and/or relocating we should see less emissions and therefore cleaner air, but I do not think that is the way we wish to achieve a desired result.
The province stands by it’s reports, will argue against selective interpretations of opposition. The province will study, consult, converse and seek the answers but they will not adjust the readings to accommodate the desires of others.
I would rather know the truth and find solutions than search for those who deny there is an issue. We have seen this with ozones, climate change and cigarette smoke, first and second hand, so it is expected.
From the X account of Andrew Scheer
Mark Carney spent his entire life promoting the carbon tax.
Now he’s trying to scam Canadians out of billions and to do it he’s put a whole crew together.
It could be the biggest con job in Canadian history. Only YOU can stop it! pic.twitter.com/1DyywsynBN
— Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) February 22, 2025
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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