Karilee Orchard

Marketing Coach, Trainer, and geek in Vancouver, BC. My business is to get more business for YOUR business. The first step is a website and SEO that works.

[Dr. Raj Sherman @RajSherman]

Dear Fellow Albertans,

This letter is written not as a partisan, but as an emergency physician who has cared for more than 100,000 Albertans, a former MLA, and someone who has devoted a working life to this province.

Across Alberta, the strain is obvious. Housing is scarce. Emergency rooms are overcrowded. Schools are stretched. The cost of living weighs heavily on families. Anxiety about the future is real and justified. This is not anger. It is concern, because moments like this demand leadership.

When people are under pressure, leadership is not just about solutions, but about direction: an honest explanation of what is actually going wrong, and reassurance about who we are as a society while we fix it.

In recent weeks, Alberta’s challenges have been framed by the Premier, Danielle Smith, in a way that has left many people angry, not at systems or long-standing policy failures, but at immigrants and other governments. That is deeply troubling.

The frustration people feel is understandable. But much of that anger is being misdirected at immigrants. With the exception of Indigenous peoples, all Albertans come from families that arrived here seeking opportunity.

Immigrants did not break Alberta’s healthcare system or tear up family doctor contracts. They did not close hospital beds or cancel planned hospital capacity. They did not under build housing, assisted living, long-term care, or schools. They did not dismantle community care. Politicians did.

Every day in emergency departments, the consequences are visible: acute-care beds occupied by patients who should be at home or in long-term care; ERs functioning as inpatient wards; and population growth encouraged without matching investments in primary care, continuing care, and hospital capacity.

In 1992, Alberta had approximately 11,700 hospital beds. Today, with nearly double the population and a much older demographic, we have roughly 8,800. This is not an Ottawa or immigration problem. It is a planning and capacity problem.

Many of the people caring for seniors, staffing hospitals, and holding the healthcare system together today are newcomers themselves. Blaming them delays real solutions and divides communities.

That lesson is personal. Growing up as a newcomer involved violence, black eyes and broken bones, and learning early what happens when fear is tolerated and adults look away. Home was not always safe either, shaped by alcoholism and domestic violence. Those experiences leave marks.

What mattered most was a mother who taught that anger shrinks a life, while forgiveness, discipline, and service strengthen it, and that opportunity carries an obligation to give back. That belief led to decades in emergency medicine, the training of thousands of doctors, and public service at personal cost.

Those experiences lead to a clear conclusion. Albertans deserve leadership that lowers the temperature, not raises it. Leadership that fixes systems, not finds scapegoats. Leadership that takes responsibility for planning failures and invests in capacity to match growth.

For these reasons, Alberta needs a change in direction and ultimately, a change in leadership, so the province can unite around practical fixes rather than division.

This is not about racism. It is about judgment, competence, and the ability to govern responsibly during difficult times. Alberta needs leadership that brings people together and focuses on solutions, not blame.

Premiers Lougheed, Klein and Stelmach have led through very difficult times and would not take our province to this sharp edge.

Albertans are much better than this.

I am a Canadian, an Albertan and I am an immigrant.

God bless Alberta.

Dr. Raj Sherman
@ABDanielleSmith @nenshi @FreeAlbertaRob
@PfParks @NightShiftMD
@Alberta_UCP @UCPCaucus @albertaNDP @TheBreakdownAB @ryanjespersen @cspotweet
#yeg #yyc #ABleg #cdnpoli

[Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @jkenney]

Late to this. When I saw it last week I just dismissed it as random slop from some juvenile MAGA account.

I just learned that the President of the United States himself posted this image of a map with Canada as part of the USA. He did so *before* PM Carney spoke at Davos.

Our sovereignty is not a joke. Those who went before us overcame huge adversity to build Canada as a proud, distinctive, albeit improbable country. A country that, despite its real flaws, is regarded as a beacon of opportunity & ordered liberty around the world.

I cannot understand the attitude of some Canadians - especially some of my fellow Conservatives - who are indifferent to this constant mockery and belittlement by the head of state of what used to be our closest ally.

In any normal time, this👇alone would be a major diplomatic incident that would result in démarching the US Ambassador, possibly recalling our own Ambassador for consultations, international and congressional condemnation, etc..

But Trump has dumbed down deviancy so much that another threat to annex a free & sovereign neighbour goes almost unnoticed.

And yet we have quislings here who blame Canada for having provoked this unhinged behaviour. Who cannot understand why Canadians are anxious and insulted. Who dismiss as a distraction Trump’s threat to “use economic force” to annex Canada; or his actual use of such force to disrupt our economy; or to insult the honour of our fallen soldiers.

No, this is not the “art of the deal.”

No, it’s not “just a joke.”

No, it’s not “Trump Derangement Syndrome” to be disgusted by constant threats toward and denigration of our country.

To the blame Canada crowd: have some respect. If not for yourself, then for those who built this country, and those who died for it.

[Gene Trevino @GenoVeno73]

This guy magnificently used sarcasm to explain the Republican and MAGA hypocrisy in regards to the Alex Pretti murder.

👇👇👇

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

Do You Remember America Before Trump?

NEW VIDEO! WATCH! TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK.

Let's get this to 1 million views fast.

Please retweet and quote tweet.

[Karilee Orchard @karileeo]

Tiny House Appendix: Act 2 - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/yi577rkyOm via @CdnChange

[Karilee Orchard @karileeo]

@MarkJCarney Don't forget domestic violence.

[Karilee Orchard @karileeo]

I've been watching and testing voice dication since it's earliest products. Now AI is taking it to a whole new level. https://t.co/JZH74yrtSh

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

VON DER LEYEN: Every single child has to go back to its family. This should be one of our main priorities in these negotiations.

TRUMP: I was just thinking we're here for a different reason but we just a couple weeks ago made the largest trade deal in history. Congratulations.

[Aleksandr X @AleksandrX13]

Is there anyone on this entire planet so heartless...

...that they can watch Zelenskyy's face for this single minute in this video...

...and not have the deepest, most heartfelt sympathy for this poor man, trying to keep a straight face in a world gone m@d.

[Karilee Orchard @karileeo]

Josie Osborne: Protect Access to Care for Long COVID, ME/CFS, and Fibromyalgia Patients - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/K60tgkoAh4 via @CdnChange

[MACHIAVELLIST @PulseOfUkraine]

Ukraine once signed guarantees provided to it by russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Everyone simply forgot that one country that signed the guarantees was the first to violate them.

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

Rubio literally ditched a decade of his own beliefs just to shield Trump’s ego when the talks failed.

Today he’s on every network saying Ukraine is “not our war.” Here’s Rubio saying the U.S. promised Ukraine protection forever if they gave up their nukes. Blast this to space:

[Karilee Orchard @karileeo]

Ashes of Creation is hosting a Gleam giveaway! Head over to their website to participate! https://t.co/zk27NJvnft #AOCA2P3

[Steve B @75ThunderRoad]

Anybody can change from being fit and healthy to sick and bedbound.

Anybody can develop chronic health conditions or become disabled or terminally ill.

Anybody can change from being employed to unemployed and unable to work.

These things can happen to anybody.

Anybody.

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

Just figured out where these fake tariff rates come from. They didn't actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did. Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country's exports to us.

So we have a $17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. Its exports to us are $28 billion. $17.9/$28 = 64%, which Trump claims is the tariff rate Indonesia charges us. What extraordinary nonsense this is.

[Richard Woodruff 🇺🇦 @frontlinekit]

French senator perfectly describes the Trump situation.

[🇨🇦🍁Maple🍁🇨🇦 @1414Maple]

Just a reminder my Canadian friends. Many spring projects.

Home Depot is 100% American owned. The owner is Bernard Marcus is a huge Trump supporter.

Home hardware is 100% Canadian owned.

Pass the word repost.

[Mike Pence @Mike_Pence]

Mr. President, Ukraine did not “start” this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.🇺🇸🇺🇦

“Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII” @FoxNews (February 24, 2022) https://t.co/ra8R9PI9oj

[NHL @NHL]

Singing O Canada loud and proud after winning the #4Nations Face-Off. 🇨🇦

What a feeling.

[Tom Kindlon @TomKindlon]

A talented individual (WantedAlive) thought up these cartoons and employed Rick Menard to illustrate them. They said they can be freely shared around to raise awareness and understanding of #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis / #ChronicFatigueSyndrome

#MEcfs #CFS #MyalgicE #PwME #MyE
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