Here’s a reminder that we have once again come to that one night of the year when humanity comes together, stands in solidarity, and participates in the ultimate show of mankind’s common love of the planet.

Tonight, at the behest of several well-known Green Messiahs such as nutjob David Suzuki and with the encouragement of the public relations departments of multinational corporations, humans all across the world will get in touch with their inner Gore and soothe their eco-guilt by finally solving the climate change problem…

…by turning off lights?

Alright, I will try this once again.

To the Head Greens, or Gore, or whoever is running the charade environmental movement: we believe you. We agree that, at least to a certain extent, the global climate is changing.

While I admire your stubbornness to refuse to acknowledge that this has been happening since Earth Day One - way before humans ever walked the face of the planet, or that the sun could be the real culprit, I must say that your methods are beginning to damage your (snicker!) credibility.

Shtick like Earth Hour does what for the environment, exactly? How much carbon does it vacuum from our atmosphere? How many plants does it save?

My family practices common sense year round. We always turn the lights off when we leave a room, never leave the car running (except on a cold Alberta winters day. Screw the ozone when it’s -38c.).

We do it because it is costly not to, and because it is the proper thing to do. We don’t turn off a light because the Green Police will charge us.

Not yet, anyhow.

So in the interest of global unity and common sense, my family will be proudly lighting it up at our house tonight. Every light will shine bright, the television will be showing its usual horrible, yet power-sucking, fare.  The PC will be on.

Hell, I may even dust off and plug in the Christmas lights.

In the meantime, if you folks in charge of the Movement stand behind your claims, if you really believe in the crap you are always spewing at us, how about coming up with some actual solutions instead of gimmicks?

Earth Hour. The light's off and nobody's home.

There is an event scheduled to occur in Calgary on May 22 & 23 that is, in my opinion, imperative for all members of the Wildrose Alliance to attend.

The Canadian Leadership Institute is sponsoring the conference which is going to feature some of America’s most knowledgeable and successful conservative political trainers. The focus of the weekend will be primarily fundraising, and will include vital techniques and methods that will be invaluable to all who are involved in constituency associations, as well as to party members overall.

There will be five areas of importance covered: Candidate Development, Campaign Management, Fundraising, Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV), and Grassroots Activism.

Of course, there will be a Gala Dinner to finish off the event. (If the rumours of who the speaker at the Gala Dinner will be are true - WOW!)

Check out the information below.

Friends, while this event is open to all conservatives/libertarians, it is an golden - and extremely rare - opportunity for Wildrose members to gain valuable knowledge and techniques from some of the best conservative minds in the world.

These experts are the real deal.

Fundraisers, campaign staff, current or future candidates, activists, volunteers, or other organizers who don’t jump at this chance are doing a disservice to themselves and to their association. To miss out would be foolhardy.

We have done a wonderful job ‘talking the talk’ for the past couple of years. With this conference, the CLI is giving us the means to be able to walk the walk.

I strongly encourage all conservatives/libertarians to attend. I will see you there!

Canadian self-described intellectuals, ... university administrators, ... those poor, soft-headed, misguided politically-active yet politically-stupid folks called 'students', ...they may reject and hold in contempt the concept of 'free speech' in Canada, but I believe it must prevail.

Part one


I won't go much into the issue of the Ottawa university elbow-patched savant who issued the famous 'watch it' letter to Coulter before she even set foot across the border. Her labelling the letter as an example of discrimination against a recognized group - conservatives - is not only genius, but is dead-on. And I can't think of a Canadian rightwing pundit who would have the gonads to suggest such a thing.

Could we ever use an Ann Coulter up here.

Part two



I can't be too hard on those who succeeded in shutting down Ann Coulter's speaking engagement in Ottawa. Whereas I once held anger towards them for not bothering to do any kind of background check on their facts (ie. any of the alleged controversial statements attributed to Ms. Coulter...), I have now come to understand that it isn't a matter of laziness per se.

They are our university and college students, which by definition makes them illiterates who cannot think for themselves.

Part three


How horrible that in today's Canada, it is still acceptable to our universities (and ignored by our MSM) to have an anti-Zionist radical with terrorist affiliations spread his hateful message to our pablum-brained student body, but to dare to have a pro-life, rightwing pundit like Ann Coulter give a conservative point of view stirs riots and threats against Ms. Coulter herself.

Shameful.

Part four


I trust my hometown of Calgary will show a higher level of respectability and maturity tomorrow when Coulter brings her message to Alberta. There is certainly going to be protesters, and that is wonderful (note to those folks: that was a conservative encouraging your show of free speech and free expression, by the way. You can support others' right to speak without losing something. See? It didn't hurt....)

While I was going to throw down the gauntlet and do the usual by challenging any of the anti-Coulter leftists to give me examples of her 'hate-speech' WITH EVIDENCE, instead I think I will keep it more direct and perhaps easier.

Will anyone who actively participated in rallies against Ann Coulter - or anyone involved who honestly believes that she should not be allowed to speak in Canada - show one moment of complete honesty and admit that they believe in 'free speech' only when they agree with the content?

Does anyone on that side have the ability to be truthful and make that admission?

Part five


Thank God for Michael Coren and CTSTV for being a rare voice of reason in the pool of leftwing-flavored censorship against all things conservative that is this country's media.

In their January Budget, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government laid out its fiscal plan for dealing with the national economy's continued slow recovery.

While the Harper Tories should be lauded for continuing to lead the G20 towards the light at the end of the tunnel by moving into year two of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's Economic Action Plan, there are some troubling issues with their methods.

The entire concept of using the 'dig your way out of a hole' concept to battle the global economic meltdown - Western governments agreeing, conservatives and liberals alike, to spend our way out of debt - feels like a situation where short term gain will be paid with a huge, perhaps insurmountable period of long term pain.

As a raving fiscal conservative, I abhor any government that creates huge debt and deficits, particularly one that sells itself as rightwing. However, the Harper government has began to take steps in the right direction, looking to trim wasteful spending put into such black holes as our national long-gun registry.

But there are other, more radical - and in my mind, common sense - cuts that could and should be made in the interest of getting our economy back into good health. Of course, some of these suggestions may not be popular. Some may actually make some heads explode…



1) Privatize the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The most obvious, in my mind. The amount of tax dollars that Canada's most biased media entity sucks from federal coffers would be easier to take if they focused on reporting the news instead of creating it. Never anything more than a government-funded Canadian PBS, the CBC stands as a national symbol to millions of my countrymen, who often cry that our very identity is wrapped in the CBC's broadcast signal. If the network is as good as their supporters say, wouldn't the CBC be able to stand alone without our dollars? You'd think for the money they'd be able to make shows that were somewhat watchable. I mean, $1.1 Billion a year for Little Mosque on the Prairie and David F**king Suzuki?

2) End the Flawed Multiculturalism Policy.

Cultures are not created by bureaucrats, politicians, or governments. Create a new system that puts patriotism and allegiance to Canada first and foremost. End hyphenated Canadians.

3) Bring Back Capital Punishment.

It costs $62 and up per day to keep a prisoner in jail in Canada. For a life sentence, that could mean thousands. Electricity is much cheaper.

4) Drop the GST to 4%.

Shave another 1% off of the federal Goods and Services Tax. Less money for the government, more money for us. Deal.

5) End Official Bilingualism.

Millions of dollars spent to appease roughly 25% of our population, located mostly in one province, so that they feel wanted and special. Spend the money on English classes for Quebecers instead. (Heads now exploding in Rimouski…)

6) Decriminalize and Regulate Marijuana.

Want to make up for the lost funds from GST cuts? Want to make up for the dwindling tax dollars from smokers who have quit/died? Hell, the West Coast could bail us out all by themselves…

I have always been a staunch anti-drinking and driving advocate. Long have I supported stronger laws and consequences for those morons who still get behind the wheel after downing a few pints.

In fact, some have accused me of wanting the law to go too far with my belief that there should be a suspension of a driver's licence for one year after first offence, and a driving ban for life for second offence. No third strike required.

Like so many others, I have lost someone close to me because of a drunk driver. I have seen the damage first hand, including one unforgettable instance of caring for a victim on the roadside until help arrived. That kind of experience shapes your opinion to be sure.

Therefore, I consider my opposition to drinking and driving solid and unquestionable.

However, when I heard that the Conservative government was considering following the lead of countries like Australia by instituting a form of 'random' breathalyser tests, I had so voice my opposition.

With all due respect to those fine folks at MADD, there is a danger here that the balance of personal liberty and community safety will be knocked off kilter.

There are already effective Checkstops that are routinely performed by our police. Usually they are set up during 'peak' hours for drunk drivers, namely Friday and Saturday nights, as well as other not-so-obvious times.

Some would say that the random policy is just an expansion of the Checkstop idea, or that the only ones who have to worry are those who break the law.

Fair enough, but I would suggest that there are other ways to combat the problem, including tougher sentencing like I have suggested. I would think that if someone knows that they will lose the privilege of driving for life if they get behind the wheel after a night at the bar, that would be an effective deterrent.

We need a justice system that holds impaired drivers to account for their actions, and judges who will actually follow through. No spin, no 'good behaviour', no leniency.

That would free up our Finest to deal with other crimes like the rampant gang activity in our cities, just as an example.

The biggest issue that I have with this proposal is in the area of my rights and freedoms, and the slippery slope that this law could send us down.

If it is the middle of a weekday and I am travelling from my home to a different town to take my mother to a doctor's appointment, and an officer of the law pulls me over and demands a breath test, I would ask the officer on what basis is his request. If the response is 'random', then I suppose you would be reading my name in the papers, because I would absolutely refuse.

When a government begins to create policy that essentially forms a 'assumed guilty until proven innocent' mindset, we enter dangerous territory.

That isn't what a free society is supposed to embrace.

Moreover, that isn't something I would expect from a government that calls itself 'conservative'.

I haven't seen this much flip-flopping since a Gull Lake trout hit the bottom of the boat. Or, as an old friend of mine once said, "He's trying so hard to avoid looking at the problem he looks like a tweaking rooster watching ping-pong."

With the Syncrude trial underway and attention focused on recently released April 2008 photos of ducks stuck and dying in tailing ponds, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was asked by reporters if he had seen the pictures.

His surprising 'no' created a buzz. How could the Premier not have seen them?

Questions of honesty and motive arose. The opposition alleged that Ed is playing the 'plausible deniability' card in an attempt to avoid having to answer questions (read: accept any responsibility) on the subject.

Now under fire, Stelmach tried to explain himself in the Legislature.

"The reference here is to the pictures that are evidence in the trial that's before us and I was very frank to the reporter yesterday. I did not see those pictures at all prior to them being delivered to the court as evidence," Stelmach said during question period.

He's seen pictures, but not necessarily these pictures.

It just begs to be a comedy routine, doesn't it?

"Yes, I've seen pictures before. Oh, the duck photos? Have I seen them? Those ones over there, not these ones. Which ones? This one, no, not that one. Maybe that one…I think the ones I saw were smaller. Not those, but these. Let me see that one. I don't recognize that duck at all. This one? Um….You heard I'm re-doing the Royalty thing, right…?"

Yes, Ed. We know that you have lifted yet another idea from your inevitable replacements. Albertans are fully aware that the only unique ideas you and your government have implemented are such overwhelming failures as the Health Care 'superboard' and your economy-poisoning Royalty program.

When erroneous and unpopular policy is delivered by someone whose public image has deteriorated into a mix of one part aloof - one part pathetic, it kills any remaining trust the people have in the abilities of their government.

That is the point Alberta has now reached.

Drop the writ, Ed.

After 5 years of enduring enjoying my vitally important yet otherwise meaningless ramblings, I thought the time was right for me to sit back and let you have your say.  From time to time, I will pose a question for discussion and debate.  Post your opinions and P.O.V.'s in the comments section.


For your consideration:


Will Obama serve a second term?

Let me begin by assuring you that the following is not completely the fault of the recently completed Vancouver Olympics and the resulting shockwave of pride that swept the nation. I purposefully waited for a while to write this in the event that it was due to the post-Games headache or mirage. Turns out, it's for real.

Believe me, I am as taken aback as you are.

My surprising journey towards my newfound Canadian patriotism started some time ago, as I have explained in past articles surrounding the separatism issue. What I witnessed during the West coast Games just added fuel to the fire, and highlighted what I consider to be some previously lost or forgotten fantastic attributes that make this country great.

I know that many of you are wondering what could have made the once unthinkable possible. After all the deep-seeded issues and grudges, what ingredients could have mixed together to result in such a change?

Fear not, my friends, for I still maintain my pro-Alberta biases. I haven't forgotten about such past crimes as the National Energy Program or the Trudeau agenda of social engineering. Evidence of those and other messes continue to surround every Canadian.

But some things have occurred that, along with time and re-evaluation of priorities, resulted in a new sense of pride in Canada.

First and foremost, the fact that the economic center of the nation has done a monumental shift from its traditional home of Eastern Canada - namely Ontario and Quebec - to the West, with Calgary, Alberta becoming the new economic capital of Canada, gives even the most committed separatist reason to pause.

It is a long-needed power shift, and one that was needed for Canada to mature as a nation.

We have now had a Conservative government for a few years, albeit a minority one. We have had a federal government that has been perhaps the most West-friendly in decades.

That's not to say the Stephen Harper-led government has been without flubs, as evidenced by their doomed foray into political-correctness with Anthemgate. A rightwing government isn't supposed see a lyric such as '…by our son's command…' as a gender issue.

Once in a while we need to give them a slap on the back of their hand, but for the most part the West has been 'in' during the Harper era.

The backlash on the issue was wonderful and unexpected, as was the voices rising up against those idiots who bitched and whined about Canada's unabashed show of pride during the Games.

I've been telling these morons to shut up for years. For the first time, I heard others joining the chorus. One knucklehead was complaining about the celebration of our Women's Hockey team - beer and cigars for everyone! - and used the old and tired 'it's not Canadian' line.

How amazing it was for me to hear others react the way I always have with this by questioning the previously accepted. How arrogant is this clown? What makes him believe he knows what it means to be 'Canadian'?

And that is the point, my friends. I have come to learn that what has long been accepted as fact - that we are a socialist-leaning, progressive, socially and culturally leftwing nation - is nothing but the result of spin. It is, for lack of a better term, manufactured crap.

Libertarian, perhaps. But leftwing? No.

It's kind of like a reverse Matrix situation. Canadians have been fed a program that has repeatedly stated that we must believe in things like forced bilingualism, peacekeeping instead of fighting, forced environmentalism, and that we must be seen as 'nice' on the international stage.

In short, the left has controlled the nation for decades and had their way with promoting their agenda. We must be wimps! We must have socialism! Disagree and we will all become….American!

But some of us, myself included, have taken the red pill. We have realized that we can reject heavy government interference in our lives. We do not have to accept the status quo.

We can support a strong national military, the War on Terror, tough-on-crime laws that favour punishment over rehabilitation for certain crimes, tighter restrictions on immigration, and more autonomy for the provinces.

We have come to learn that it is not 'un-Canadian' to reject bilingualism, unity-damaging programs like Equalization, and the black hole known as universal health care.

And believe it or not, you can disagree with that wingnut David Suzuki and NOT turn into a raving American!

More and more Canadians are waking up to the reality that liberalism does not equal Canadianism. It's about time.

Even though I bask in my newly-uncovered patriotism, I will continue to wear my 'separatist' moniker with pride - Quebec separatist, that is.

As always, anytime they want to go…