Canada is living through a real-life version of The Emperorās New Clothes.
We are increasingly expected to ignore what we can see with our own eyes, deny what we know to be true, and repeat things we donāt believe simply because someone in a position of authority has decided theyāre the correct things to say.
Weāve created a society in which certain subjects are sacred, certain questions are forbidden, and certain conclusions must be reached before the conversation has even begun.
We have data showing us where things are going wrong, but instead of getting angry about the problems, people get angry at the data. Apparently, pointing out that the emperor is naked is now more offensive than the fact that heās walking around without pants.
Our institutions have become increasingly obsessed with policing not just what people do, but what they think. Employers demand approved opinions. Organizations enforce approved language. And mandatory training sessions increasingly resemble ideological re-education dressed up as professional development.
All of this is presented as progress.
But what exactly are we progressing towards?
A society where intelligent adults are afraid to ask obvious questions? Where disagreement is treated as a moral failing? Where facts are only acceptable when they support the approved narrative?
Weāve become so terrified of offending one another that weāve forgotten how to speak to one another.
And perhaps most absurdly, weāve confused disagreement with hatred.
Your political opponents are not your enemies. Someone who disagrees with your ideas is not automatically a fascist, a Nazi, a racist, or whatever other accusation happens to be fashionable this week.
You can believe someone is profoundly wrong without believing they are profoundly evil.
You can challenge a policy without attacking a personās humanity.
And you can acknowledge an uncomfortable fact without endorsing every possible interpretation of it.
A functioning society requires the ability to do all three.
Because the purpose of free speech isnāt to guarantee that everyone agrees. Itās to make it possible for us to discover where weāre wrong, identify whatās broken, and work out how to fix it.
I believe we should be able to stand up and say, āExcuse me, but the emperor has no clothes.ā
And instead of spending the next six months investigating the motives, political affiliations, and moral character of the person who pointed it out, perhaps we could do something revolutionary.
Get the emperor some freaking clothes.
@ProfessProfess I sent an email to Lactalis about the additives in the 10% cream, and this morning I called their customer service department. I was told that the change was due to a temporary production issue and that they are reverting back to the original ingredients - cream and milk.
September 30 - here we go again my fellow Canadians!
We're told today is about Truth and Reconciliation.....
Then let's deal in truth, all of it.
Residential schools existed. More than 150,000 children attended them. Thousands died. Disease, including tuberculosis, was a major cause of death, particularly in the earlier decades. There were documented cases of poor conditions, neglect and some abuse.
Those facts, that are verified and confirmed, belong in Canadian history.
But so do the facts that don't fit today's preferred narrative and agenda being pushed.
The TRC's own work records former students describing friendships, education, sports, recreation and skills they gained. Some went on to higher education, successful careers and major contributions to Canada.
Those experiences don't erase the factual and verified bad ones. But the bad ones don't erase the positive ones either.
Both are history.
Now look at Kamloops.
In 2021, Canadians heard that ground-penetrating radar had identified 215 potential burial locations. Five years later, the investigation remains ongoing.
And the language matters.
Tk'emlĆŗps now describes them as "ground anomalies", with some areas showing signatures resembling burials and others ruled out. Excavation remains only one possible outcome but not being done.
That's not the same as 215 confirmed graves as claimed and may still say and believe until this day.
So ask the obvious questions:
Where is the evidence?
If they're graves, establish it.
If they're human remains, especially children, establish it.
If they're radar anomalies, call them radar anomalies and push for excavation.
If they're uncertain, say they're uncertain.
And if tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were provided to investigate the claims, Canadians deserve to know exactly where that money went, what was done and what was actually established.
That's accountability, not denial.
The same standard should apply to the entire national conversation.
Teach the deaths, disease, poor conditions, and government policies.
But also teach the education, friendships, skills, achievements and positive experiences documented by people who actually attended the schools.
Teach the complete history, including the parts that complicate or contradict the narrative.
Truth isn't selective.
Questioning evidence isn't denial.
Demanding documentation isn't hatred.
Acknowledging positive experiences and stories isn't excusing something negative.
Canada doesn't need mythology, from either side. It needs facts.
If September 30 is truly about truth, then give Canadians the whole record.
The good. The bad. The ugly. The complicated. The documented. And the unknown.
Then let history speak for itself.
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I honestly do not know what to say about the nonsense unfolding in front of us every single day.
People are up in arms about Alberta sovereignty while warning that Alberta is about to become the ā51st stateā, something literally no one is advocating.
Meanwhile, our Prime Minister, who spent much of his career and life outside Canada, appears determined to tie Canada ever more closely to communist China and now an economically struggling European Union. Not exactly something Canadians were talking about or asking for!
And what are closer ties with another continent, or with China, actually going to do for ordinary Canadians?
Will they fix our crumbling roads? Reduce hospital wait times? Make life more affordable? Improve the public services Canadians already pay far too much for?
And somehow, Canadians are still standing around with their āelbows up,ā flapping like chickens while closing their eyes to the mess directly in front of them.
Our institutions are failing. Accountability has disappeared. People are divided. Governments spend more, deliver less and blame everyone but themselves, then expect to be congratulated when they manage to do the jobs they were elected and paid to do!
Yet anyone who questions whether this system still serves Canadians is called dangerous or extreme. Anyone advocating for a better future for the next generation is called a traitor.
Are we serious here?
Or are Canadians deliberately refusing to see what is directly in front of them because admitting that Canada is broken is simply too uncomfortable?
You cannot fix a country by closing your eyes, flapping your elbows and pretending everything is fine.
This is me, without a $4-million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign.
This is me using my own words, my own volunteered time, and my own voice to communicate with fellow Albertans and make the case for Alberta independence.
This is me advocating for Option 2 while following the legal and ethical requirements for referendum third-party advertisers. We register, report, disclose contributions, account for expenses, and operate within established spending limits.
The money donated to Let Alberta Decide was voluntarily given by people who wanted to support this work and this argument.
What we donāt have is the ability to reach into the Alberta treasury and use millions of dollars contributed by every taxpayer to promote the outcome we want.
And I wouldnāt want that ability.
If Iām going to advocate for an independent Alberta, I should have to make the case for it, answer the difficult questions, defend my arguments, and persuade Albertans on the merits.
I donāt believe Albertans owe me millions of dollars to do that. And I donāt believe they owe the government $4 million to advocate for its preferred outcome either.
The Premier and this government were never given a mandate by Albertans to campaign for Option 1 or Option 2. We havenāt even had the vote yet.
The appropriate role of government was to remain neutral. Give Albertans accurate information about both options, explain what each means, and let the people speak.
Instead, the government has chosen an answer before Albertans have given theirs and is spending millions belonging to all of us to promote it.
Those arenāt UCP dollars. They arenāt Danielle Smithās dollars. They belong to Albertans.
I know which side Iām on. I support Alberta independence, and Iāll continue making that argument openly and within the rules.
I donāt need the government to finance my argument.
And the government shouldnāt need Albertans to finance theirs.
#Alberta #AlbertaIndependence #LetAlbertaDecide #ABpoli
Mark Warner, one of Canadaās best trade lawyersāand a friendādismantles, one by one, every argument used to defend Canadaās current negotiating strategy with the United States.
A masterclass of an interview.
Watch the whole thing. Oh, and the midterms wonāt make a difference...
Moms, we need to talk. š
I keep seeing videos of women complaining about motherhood, and Iām just going to say it:
Some of you arenāt going to like this.
Feminism didnāt just change womanhood. It helped destroy something essential about it.
Somewhere along the way, sacrifice became oppression.
Your children need too much from you?
Theyāre children. Thatās what they do.
Your husband needs something from you?
Youāre married. Get over it.
You donāt get to do exactly what you want every minute of every day.
Welcome to being an adult.
It is not all about you.
For decades, women have been told endlessly about what we deserve, what we're owed, and what we should never have to sacrifice.
Far less is said about what we owe the people we chose to love.
Now everything is:
My happiness.
My peace.
My boundaries.
My fulfillment.
My identity.
Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.
And I don't think this āMe-First Motherhoodā culture appeared out of nowhere.
For decades, our culture and institutions have increasingly treated the traditional family, and especially motherhood in the home, as something women needed to be liberated from.
Mothers entered the workforce en masse. Two incomes increasingly became a necessity rather than a luxury. Children began spending more of their waking hours in institutional care and schools. Families paid more taxes while outsourcing more of the work families once did themselves.
And at the same time, we were sold an increasingly adversarial view of men and women:
Men vs. women.
Husbands vs. wives.
Career vs. motherhood.
Independence vs. family.
Personal fulfillment vs. sacrifice.
And who loses when the family becomes weaker?
We do.
Our children do.
Because now social media is filled with women publicly complaining that their children are exhausting. That theyāre āoverstimulatedā by them. That they desperately āneed space.ā That motherhood took something away from them.
Having a difficult day is one thing.
Building an identity around resenting the ordinary demands of your children is another.
Imagine growing up hearing that.
Imagine knowing your mother sees you as a burden because being your mother requires something from her.
What does that do to a child?
What happens to a generation of kids who learn not to need too much because Mom is already āoverstimulatedā?
Who make themselves smaller so Mom can āprotect her peaceā?
Who grow up believing everybodyās individual happiness comes before responsibility to the people they love?
What are we teaching those children about love?
Love isnāt always convenient.
It isnāt always pretty.
It isnāt always fulfilling.
Sometimes love requires you to get over yourself.
Motherhood requires something from you.
Marriage requires something from you.
Being an adult requires something from you.
Sometimes you come second.
Weāve become so obsessed with making sure women donāt ālose themselvesā in motherhood that we never stopped to ask whether children are losing their mothers in the process.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Because while Mom is busy protecting her peace, finding herself, choosing herself, prioritizing herself, and telling the internet how exhausting her children areā¦
Those kids are learning:
Donāt need too much from Mom.
Donāt bother Mom.
Donāt become another burden.
And then those children become adults.
What kind of husbands and wives will they become?
What kind of mothers and fathers?
What happens when an entire generation learns that love means prioritizing yourself until someone else's needs become inconvenient?
Maybe instead of serving a culture that continually pulls families apart, we start building our families back up.
We spend an awful lot of time talking about what motherhood costs women.
Maybe itās time we start asking:
What is āMe-First Motherhoodā costing our children?
As I watch this trade war unfold between Carney and the United States, thereās an interesting game of chess taking shape.
One of Canadaās strongest pieces of leverage against the Americans is Albertaās oil.
If this trade dispute continues to deteriorate, Ottawa could eventually look at taxing, restricting or otherwise using Albertaās energy exports as leverage against the United States. The problem is that doing so could inflict enormous damage on Albertaās economy.
And this is where the timing becomes incredibly important.
The most damaging U.S. tariffs threatening Ontarioās manufacturing economy are not expected to fully hit until January 2027. Alberta votes on Option 2 on October 19.
That means the October vote could fundamentally change Ottawaās calculation before the trade war reaches its most dangerous point.
If Albertans reject Option 2 and the threat of an independence referendum disappears, I believe Carney will have far more political room to put Alberta oil on the table.
If Option 2 succeeds, Ottawa has a very different problem.
Suddenly, using Albertaās economy as a bargaining chip risks pouring gasoline on an independence movement that has already demonstrated it can win at the ballot box.
That is why Option 2 matters even if you are a federalist.
You do not have to support Alberta independence today to understand the value of leverage. If you simply want a better deal for Alberta and do not want Ottawa sacrificing our economy to protect its political base in Central Canada, keeping the threat of independence alive forces Ottawa to think twice.
That pressure disappears if Option 2 loses.
Then there is Trump.
Personally, I donāt think Trump has much incentive to publicly boost Alberta independence. We just watched the liberals successfully use anti-American sentiment to rally their political base. Trump openly involving himself in Albertaās independence debate could hand Carney exactly the political weapon he wants.
In fact, this confrontation with the United States benefits the liberals politically in several ways. It creates an external enemy, fuels a sense of Canadian nationalism, gives them someone else to blame for economic weakness and provides political cover for massive new government spending.
Trump does not need to say anything about Alberta.
The trade war itself creates the pressure.
As January approaches, Ottawa may eventually have to decide what it is willing to sacrifice to protect Ontarioās economy and its own voter base.
I do not want that sacrifice to be Alberta.
That is why I believe Albertans should support Option 2 on October 19.
Keep the threat of an independence referendum alive. Keep the pressure on Ottawa. And make it politically dangerous for the Carney government to use Albertaās economy and the livelihoods of Albertans as a bargaining chip.
The only person responsible for Jason Arday's death is Jason Arday.
He was a liar and a fraud who was rightly exposed for what he really was by academics and journalists who were simply doing their job.
No one forced Arday to make up lie after lie about his life. He chose to do that. And he did it for financial gain and to bask in the applause it brought him.
He used those lies to deceive people into giving him a job he didn't merit, a lucrative book deal he didn't deserve, Ā as well as fame and adulation he didn't earn.Ā
And when he was found out, he called in the police and expensive lawyers to shut his accusers up, and his failed students who complained were branded as racist.
Cambridge University and Jesus College enabled this liar by lauding him as brilliant when he wasn't even mediocre. They should ask themselves why they put their DEI religion above the need for fairness in their appointments processes, above the needs of Arday's students and, most importantly, above the truth.
Arday's family and friends should ask themselves why they chose not to speak out to expose his lies which they must have known to be untrue.Ā
The police should ask themselves why they thought it acceptable to investigate an academic and a journalist simply for asking questions about Arday's fraudulent CV.Ā
The BBC and Arday's many other deluded cheerleaders should ask themselves why they were so desperate to believe Arday's outlandish claims in the face of all the evidence.
The thousands of the great and the good in academia, politics, media and law who signed the Good Law Project letter backing Arday should ask themselves why, without any justification, they outrageously branded Arday's critics as racists who just wanted to bring down a successful black man because of the colour of his skin.
All of these people made their own contributions to Jason Arday's life. And arguably all of them contributed in some way to his decision to take his own life when his fantastical claims were finally exposed for what they really were: lies.
The idea that those who exposed Arday as a lying fraudster are to blame for his death is as laughable as it is outrageous.Ā
The idea that Arday was "hounded" to his death is absurd. He chose to tell every single lie himself and he even chose to continue those lies in his resignation letter from Cambridge. He is not the victim. He is the perpetrator.
The claim that Arday's downfall was only a front page story because he was black is also ridiculous. He chose to tell the lies that made him a front page story in the first place.Ā
I feel sorry for those who loved him. It is very sad that he has chosen to take his own life rather than face the consequences of his own actions, which should have resulted in a criminal conviction for fraud.Ā
But actions have consequences. This isn't about right and left. It's about right and wrong.