morten paulsen

Government and public relations consultant with more years of experience than I care to admit. My tweets are my own, not my clients'.

[Mike Werry @mjwerry]

I was born in Calgary. I've spent my whole life in Toronto.

Over the past two years, filming the documentary Broken Country, I've spent more time in Alberta than I have since I moved east. And I've come away seeing the separation debate very differently than I did going in.

I met a lot of separatists. Almost none of them were who I expected. They weren't angry cranks with a flag. They were farmers, nurses, oil workers, small-business owners, grandparents. And the thing that surprised me most: most of them want nothing more than to remain in Canada. They just can't see another choice.

Think about what they've lived through. The National Energy Program. Pipelines approved, then cancelled, then litigated into the ground. A tanker ban on one coast. Hundreds of billions sent east through equalization, returned as lectures about how the industry that pays for Canada's infrastructure and provincial shortfalls is something to be ashamed of. A federal government that has gone to court to argue Alberta's own resources aren't Alberta's business. And through all of it, a Parliament where their votes are a rounding error.

You can disagree with every policy position Albertans hold and still see the pattern: a province that built one of the most productive economies on Earth, asked over and over to apologize for it.

The people pushing for a referendum aren't traitors. They're patriots. They are standing up for what they believe in and fighting for a better future for their kids, a future their own federal government keeps telling them they don't deserve. That's not a tantrum. That's what citizens are supposed to do when nobody in power is listening.

I'll say it plainly: I want nothing more than for Alberta to stay in Canada. This country is not whole without it. If Alberta leaves the country I love and am fighting for will cease to exist.

But maybe a referendum vote is exactly the wake-up call the rest of us need. Not because Alberta should leave, but because the rest of Canada has to finally decide whether it wants to be a partner or a landlord.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@Saturnsehun @fearlessfella7 @grok Solid healthcare? You're joking right? Worst in the OECD.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@steps_xyz @fearlessfella7 @grok Safe, chill, affordable and the people are lovely. Tough language though.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@jkenney Why are you celebrating war Jason?

[Natasha Montreal @NatashaMontreal]

Tyler Black is a Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.

Black described Dr. Peter McCullough as, "...a disgraced unlicensed physician who will go down in history as an antivax buffoon," and "...beyond disgraced. He is a tarred and feathered loser who has no credibility, his retraction rate better than most MLB players' batting average, and his legacy will be 'he wore stupid suits which matched his stupid words."

Let's compare their qualifications and careers, since the basis of Black's criticisms of Dr. McCullough are ad hominem and appeal to authority-both logical fallacies.

Dr. Peter McCullough is a distinguished medical academic and clinician specializing in cardiovascular and cardiorenal medicine. He also has a Master of Public Health (MPH).

He is a veteran internist and epidemiologist, a prolific researcher and publisher, and was a respected cardiologist and internist for decades. He has published over 1,000 papers.

Before he became a victim of the regulatory regime, he was Vice Chief of Internal Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center and a professor at Texas A&M University. He still holds multiple state licenses.

Tyler Black is a Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. He has authored 16 papers.

Black is also a participant in a federally-funded Covid-19 vaccine initiative for ScienceUpFirst. It is unclear if he receives paid compensation for his role, or if he volunteers his time.

Some of the substantive funding that ScienceUpFirst received was specifically earmarked for promoting the Covid-19 vaccines and increasing uptake.

PHAC lists ScienceUpFirst/CASC as having received $2,590,682 for the 2020–23 COVID project.

The Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) also made two $1.5-million awards to ScienceUpFirst.

There was also a subsequent $225,000 Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for a vaccine-misinformation grant explicitly carrying the ScienceUpFirst name, as well as a $365,000 CASC project for 2024–26 to prevent vaccine misinformation (i.e. to promote Covid vaccines) and to increase vaccine confidence.

This works out to over $7M in funding for so-called experts to push the uptake of novel pharmaceutical products-which, as it turned out, have seriously injured and caused death in some people.

It seems Black stopped being a hospital inpatient psychiatrist at BC Children's in 2024.

Black publicly dismissed warnings about the effects of pandemic restrictions on children's mental health and suicidality as part of a “
"moral panic," and testified to Parliament that suicides had declined.

It's worth noting that PHAC said young people experienced significant psychological distress, loss of social connection, decreased physical activity and increased screen time due to school closures, stay-at-home orders, social distancing, cancellation of sports/activities, remote schooling and related restrictions.

According to the OECD, Canada's 2022 mathematics and reading performance was lower than in any previous PISA assessment.

A national study found eating-disorder hospitalizations among girls aged 12–17 roughly doubled during the first year in Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and B.C.

Canadian adolescent emergency visits for suicidal ideation, intentional poisoning or self-harm rose from an average 5,293 per quarter before the pandemic to 6,060 during it, while hospital admissions rose from 1,590 to 1,770 per quarter.

PHAC reported that changes in family dynamics included increased conflict or violence for some children. Poorer and more vulnerable children were hit disproportionately.

Black couldn't be reached for comment, as he blocked me.

References in comments

[Concerned Citizen @CatoAmerica]

@jkenney The problem of socialized medicine is that it promotes mediocrity & sub-optimal outcomes. Let's garner the natural inclination of people, doctors in this case, to strive for greater rewards. The socialized medical system is failing Canadians due to long wait times. #cdnpoli

[Matt Gurney @mattgurney]

Hey. Tired of these updates yet? I guarantee you that I am!

One surgery down. Totally successful, beyond my hopes. Yay! But. Booo: another looms. I hate to see her suffer. But I thank God every day that we got to the surgeries at all. That’s rare. And was impossible when this all started.

On leave again. The Line remains open for business. Some of our podcast content will continue to be published here automatically. But I’m gone for a while.

As ever, your prayers are sought and appreciated.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@josh_wingrove He's insane. I pray for the end of his presidency, and for the world in the meantime.

[Jen Gerson @jengerson]

Yeah, I don't know if it's because the Americans don't get our sense of humour, or whatever. But nobody is mad about this. We're all laughing and then feeling a little bad about laughing because it's unkind to laugh about mental and imperial decline.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@CTVNews Someone was attacking swords??

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@WesternStandard @CalgaryPolice when you fail to name the individual charged, Calgarians will assume you are being woke and that the perp is a minority. Further, that sticks in our heads much more than if you simply name him. It's counterproductive to your woke goal.

[SecondStreet.org @SecondStreetOrg]

The call came six months late. Bruce took it in the car, driving back from the check-up after the heart surgery he had already paid for himself.
It started in April 2024. He kept running short of breath, so he went to his doctor in Manitoba. Then nothing. No call back, no appointment, no answer.
By May he had crossed into Minnesota to have his heart looked at. They found a serious blockage and told him to get surgery soon. He went back in July and had it done.
Manitoba reached him in September, six months after that first appointment, to discuss how serious his condition was and to book him a surgery about six months out. Bruce asked the obvious question. If it is that serious, why am I waiting almost a year? He says he was told to stay on his medication. In his words, if meds were enough to keep him alive, why did he need the surgery at all.
Bruce could afford to pay. Most Canadians cannot, and that is the part a change in policy can actually fix. In the European Union, a patient facing a long wait can get treatment in another member country and be reimbursed up to what their own government would have spent to treat them at home. Canada could adopt the same thing. Even people who never travel come out ahead, because the line moves up a spot every time someone else goes.
Bruce's advice was simple. Don't assume you have health care, and be your own advocate.
Learn more: https://t.co/8WClIh7VaV

Watch Bruce's story: https://t.co/eqPMhwvUdH

[SecondStreet.org @SecondStreetOrg]

Two coffee shops. Inside a hospital. Losing money.
Financial statements obtained through Freedom of Information show Windsor Regional Hospital lost $236,096 running its two government-operated Tim Hortons franchises in 2024-25. Total losses since 2011 now sit at $3,031,173. Those figures do not even include rent or utilities for the space, so the real number is higher.
This is one small line item in one hospital. But every dollar lost pouring coffee is a dollar that does not reach a patient, and it points at how the whole system is funded. Hospitals get a lump sum and are left to stretch it. Better performing universal systems pay hospitals for each patient they actually treat.
Learn more: https://t.co/8WClIh7VaV

Read the full story: https://t.co/pdmOLsFaBx

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

Is anyone else having email problems with @Rogers / shaw today?

[Dave Quist @davequist1]

@TELUS Why has my 89 year old mother’s phone been cut off when you already have her money? Completely unacceptable.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@RickBellwrites @calgaryherald One of your best columns Rick.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@ShaneWenzel Well put Shane. If the family needs anything, I hope they'll ask. Calgary will step up.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@Concern70732755 It's time for Alberta and Saskatchewan to negotiate trade on their own with the US.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@TheRoyGreenShow Glad you are well enough to report this Roy. Take care sir.

[morten paulsen @mortenpaulsen]

@GK_Fellows Dayum. Thanks man. Next time the oil filter in my 440i gets stuck gonna try that!