It’s rare that I wake up to an invitation to a surprise dinner theatre. Yet, there it was, within minutes; a three-course meal complete with an impeccably dressed table, beckoning me to sit down and enjoy an exceptionally questionable show.
First course: salade de mots de la viande rouge, or, word salad featuring the Chef’s special of red meats
The first course began with a twist, here in 2026; the Conservative Party of Canada apparently convened its own COVID inquiry, called the Allison Inquiry, and a doctor— who apparently believes in the many-times debunked respiratory virus healing properties of parasitic worm-killing medication— holding a press conference to claim that he has the evidence that a vaccine delivered to 67 per cent of the world’s population harmed more people than the virus itself.
He noted, with incredible confidence, that fewer people were affected during 2020 than after the vaccine became available in 2021.
I heard the record scratch in my mind and my head twitched slightly.
Can anyone think of a single reason that might be?
Just one.
One little thing that not only set certain people off to fight against “government tyranny” by marching in the streets and joining a convoy to Ottawa to complain about what the provinces were doing. Something that may have played a tiny wee role in stopping the spread of a pandemic in 2020 that was not in place consistently in 2021?
That’s right; “lockdowns”.
There’s some selective memory taking place when a guy whose participation in a ‘prove we were right’ inquiry ignores the reason he’s even been given the opportunity to be there.
Lockdowns are what pissed off the people who are apparently still living in the moment of having their provincial governments choose to protect hospitals and healthcare workers (and, you know, anyone who needed them) over their individual needs.
And what did widespread release and uptake of the vaccine promote?
That’s right, “back to normal”!
Send the kids off to school, get the parents back to the office, open the bars, and bring back packed stadiums for hockey games and concerts.
I’m not an MD, mind you. It was just, like, the biggest story of my lifetime for a solid two years and I had to pay attention to what was going on. Except I chose to get my information from actual scientists instead of the Danielle Smith Show on 770 CHQR.
My first reaction to the video was “when is this clip from??” I checked the date three times.
Lots of things trigger my memory and bring me back to another time; songs, movies… writing the word “Facebook” can remind me how my Nana called it “space book” like, all the time.
Hearing Phantom of the Opera can give me a lovely reminder, visual and auditory, of sitting in the back seat of my late uncle Jack’s car, and watching You’ve Got Mail takes me back to our condo in Kansas City. And this video took me back to March 622, 2020.
Except it was from today; August 13, 2026.
I realize that the pandemic was traumatic for some people. I would say the mis and disinformation was more traumatic, as evidenced by the fact that they’re still stuck there; though it certainly doesn’t help that they’re relying on people who do shoddy research for answers.
Excluding variables that may have, let alone probably had, an effect on the results is shoddy research. Sorry, not sorry.
As with Alberta’s inquiry led by the once-respected Preston Manning, I will try to read whatever comes out of it but I will not torture myself by slogging through illogical reasoning. It’s the real bonus of being independent, let me tell you.
Second course: aged American-style turkey, served with a maple sauce and a variety, one might even say ‘party’, of tea
I was assaulted first by the caption on Stockwell Day’s video. Yeah— Stockwell effing Day is still alive; who knew??
“Are illegal immigrants raping Canadian women,” it asked. Too early for turkey, I thought. Far, far, far (far, far), too early.
In the video, the confused former leader of the Canadian Alliance (who Stephen Harper succeeded before “merging” with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada) repeatedly referred to the “Liberal Minister of Education” claiming she defended an immigrant in Canada who was brought up on charges of sexual assault, again, from being deported. This decision, he said, obviously came directly from the Prime Minister, and then proceeded to state he knew what had been said by the PM. It’s… not easy to sit through someone gobbledy-gooking.
After calling her the “Minister of Education” three or four times (and not using a name, which made it impossible to try and figure out who he was actually talking about), he finally slipped into a moment of lucidity and said “Minister of Immigration”, which gave me something to go on. Not that I could find any evidence to support what he was saying about the elected officials anyway; but it was a start.
Turkey.
The story has a foundation in reality, despite what Mr. Day did to it. Apparently that guy has a podcast, too… how alarming.
The political story is that Canadian judges have determined sentences in criminal cases that would not trigger a deportation. I chose my phrasing carefully there on purpose because as much as we would like to believe this is a political decision, it is not.
In addition to not being an M.D., I am also neither a lawyer nor a judge. I am aware, however, that politicians should not be attempting to insert themselves into the judiciary. At all.
Those who have tried, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (sure, his former Chief of Staff Gerald Butts took the fall but we all know that Chiefs of Staff don’t act on their own volition in that role and if they do, it’s still their boss’ failure) and Premier Danielle Smith (who just made the call herself like someone who has far too little experience being held accountable for their own actions) received letters of tut-tutting from their respective ethics commissioners.
Gee. I wonder why it keeps happening…
I digress.
We non-lawyers and non-judges may not like the reasoning a judge uses to decide a particular case but we do not want our judiciary to be an arm of political or personal ideology that takes precedence over reason and law. We need only look at the very dangerous precedents being set down south to figure out why that is. One may think it’s fine if they support the ideological boundaries but when we set those boundaries, we also open the door to the alternative being set and eventually overruling the other.
Go after their reasoning— I certainly have— but to wish for a system that is open to political interference is to hope that the law is applied unequally and unfairly, not just for others, but at risk of the same happening to one’s self.
With that being said, this is precisely the criticism that Mr. Day and Calgary-Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel-Garner are levying (at the wrong people, as seems to be their wont, but that is to be expected in the 2020’s, apparently). Their complaint is that one’s immigration status is taken into consideration during sentencing, as if it’s no big deal to deport someone.
It very much is a big deal and I will point to one case in which a person was deported; a person who showed genuine remorse for his role in it not because it was intentional but because it was avoidable: the driver of the rig that hit the Humboldt Broncos’ bus.
Now, the charges that Ms. Rempel-Garner (or the CPC— either, or) are pointing to are not nearly as serious as the one faced by the driver of that truck on that fateful day. They point to a theft “after a violent altercation” and two others that I almost agree with but for very different reasons; one breach of a no-contact order from his former partner, and the other, sexual assault.
The latter two, for reasons that would escape me if I thought that Canadian men received stiffer sentences for putting women at risk, are a product of the fact that women’s safety is not considered a priority— period— in either Canadian law or society. If it was, the CPC wouldn’t be pointing at how “immigrants” are “getting away with it”.
MEN get away with it. MEN get away with a few months behind bars for ruining children’s lives all the time. MEN get away with probation for rape, or an acquittal, because judges don’t want to disrupt their earning potential. MEN get away with this in court and Canadian society CONSTANTLY.
Until that changes, don’t come at me with “but immigrants are getting special treatment”— no they freaking aren’t, they’re getting the same light sentences Canadian men get for the same act.
Fix the home-grown problem and you won’t have to worry about the side effects anymore.
Phew. Guess that course also came with an extra, ahem, serving.
Third course: creme de la creme, with a cherry on top
The separatist dream is that Alberta will be rich, with no provincial tax, but somehow have access to all the money that currently goes to federal tax. I’m not sure exactly how they get around taxes; perhaps by calling it something completely original like a “celebratory independence-building fund”.
Obviously some would buy it— have you seen how much they’re giving to independence TPAs??
Not as much as Danielle Smith hands over to former campaign staffers to build a website, but like, it’s close.
Economists have, I think, struggled to take the independence movement seriously (as have most of us), and so detailed projections of what it would cost are few.
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe did one in July 2025 where he acknowledged that an independent Alberta would be a poorer Alberta generally speaking, but also using recent examples like how Brexit affected the U.K.’s finances, and how Quebec still hasn’t managed to become the economic powerhouse that it has every foundational opportunity to be. He doesn’t directly name the fact that investment in the province has lagged spectacularly since the independence movement’s heyday, but my favourite example is that the Bank of Montreal moved their headquarters to Toronto and never looked back. Ouch.
A recent economic outlook put some tangible numbers to the idea of an independent Alberta (all of these assume the U.S. wouldn’t try to strongarm a teeny new country into giving away our oil without the President authorizing the kidnapping our leader… oh… wait…).
Sorry, I got lost in the decadent flavours there. Where was I? Ah, yes; tangible numbers. While there could be a benefit to every single Albertan who remains in an independent Alberta (and we know it won’t be as many who are currently here) of around $1,075 for every resident, the requirement to replace every position and function that Canada provides (and every independent country that participates in a modern world provides) would cost around $6,996 per resident.
My math isn’t fabulous but that doesn’t seem to balance out to quite the mountains of cash for every Albertan that the separatists are promising. Unless they mean it will cost mountains of cash. Then, they’re totally right.
I don’t know about you, but I could use a nap. Probably all the turkey.
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As Voltaire joked about the Holy Roman Empire being neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, the United Conservative Party is neither united, nor conservative, nor... a good time.
Until I subscribed, I had forgotten how fantastic a word 'snark' is - and even more so its frequent demonstration here.
Great stuff.
I recently read that a pregnant woman who took the Covid vaccination now has a 5 year old who’s losing his teeth! Lol!
It’s a wonder these folks can tie their shoes and manage their own banking. tRunts, the whole of them
Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m positive Day changed his first name to Doris. Maybe that was Marg Warrior Princess who did that!