May you all have lots to celebrate and be thankful for!
Political Correctness: Out of Control
John Cleese, the English actor and comedian of Monty Python fame, has a theory on why political correctness is getting out of hand. This theory was originally published by Jon Miltimore on Intellectual Takeout.
He’s hardly the first comedian to say so, of course. Funny men such as Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks, and others have complained that political correctness is killing comedy. Cleese, like Seinfeld, says he no longer performs on America’s college campuses, where political correctness enforcement is particularly strident.
In a recent monologue with Big Think, Cleese said the effort to protect people from negative feelings is not just impractical, but suffocating to a free society.
“The idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is one I absolutely do not subscribe to,” Cleese says.
Cleese, who spoke to psychiatrist Robin Skynner about the phenomenon, posited an interesting theory on why many people feel compelled to control the language and behaviors of others.
“If people can’t control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people’s behavior,” Cleese says.
You can watch the entire monologue below. What do you make of Cleese’s theory? Is he right?
I agree, political correctness is getting way out of hand in our culture, and not just comedians are noticing.
For example, it is ridiculous that in our children’s sporting events everyone gets the same award, just for participating. No winners and no losers, everyone must be treated the same. Competition can be healthy and should not be discouraged, especially if a child shows interest in an activity. Kids should be taught that some people will be better than others in all of their endeavours. This includes sports, scholastic abilities, job skills and any other activity. You excel at some, others not so much. You learn to win graciously and accept defeat just as graciously. That is a healthy skill that all kids need to learn.
My three sons were (are) very athletic and good at any sport they chose to play. Were/are they the best? No, but they learned to recognize and respect those that were/are better, more successful than they were/are. This is an important life lesson and important for developing self esteem. Sadly, it appears that this valuable lesson is low on the priority list these days.
It is no small wonder that more teens today suffer from anxiety and depression than ever before. Teen suicide too is rampant, doesn’t it make you wonder if there is a connection to our current excessive demand for political correctness and the rise of anxiety and depression?
Donating Used Household Items
Cleaning out our double garage recently so we can fit at least one vehicle in there this winter, we realized we have lots of gently used household items that could be donated. From bikes to furniture to garden supplies, donating these items is easier than ever. I googled each item to find out where to drop them off, discovering lots of options for each.
Bikes
Three sons and two adults can accumulate a lot of bikes over the years. These bikes have been in our garage for many years although I’m pretty sure we didn’t purchase all of them. So now we are donating other people’s used items too. All to a good cause.
I learned there are several places in the Ottawa area that accept donations of used bicycles. They repair or recondition the bikes then sell them keeping them out of the landfill sites. Check out their websites for donating rules and hours of operation.
- Cycle Salvation is located at 473 Bronson Avenue at Gladstone
- Heartwood House is located at 404 McArthur Ave.
- Recyclore is located at 275B Britannia Rd.
Furniture
Gently used furniture is another popular item for donating. I discovered Matthew House, a wonderful initiative offering furniture, support and even shelter and a sense of community to refugees. Their furniture bank is located at 340 Leggett Drive in Kanata, door #53. Check out the website for hours of operation, drop off and pick up schedules and other ways to help.
Other Donating Options
Previously I donated most of my used items to CP, CDA or Value Village. Recently though I have found both CP and CDA frustrating in that they never picked up my items on the scheduled days. There was always an excuse, but after a while I gave up. When I decide to donate (or my husband agrees to part with) an item, I want to do it in a timely fashion, before either of us change our minds.
Another place I have donated items to previously is Value Village. Mainly because they have a drop off location conveniently close to our home. However, my brother recently pointed out some suspicious details regarding their business, so I thought I would look elsewhere.
Regardless of where you choose to donate your used household items to, it is easy to do and beneficial to many.
Please take an extra minute to visit my other blog where I make everything garden related my business.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Many of my blog posts here are inspired by things that happen in my daily life. For example, yesterday I was reminded, by my 21 month old granddaughter no less, how actions speak louder than words.
She loves to sit at my desk where I keep track of the paper part of my gardening business. You know, a computer, files, pens, receipts, articles for new ideas, and elastics, lots of elastics. You see elastics are perfect for organizing the receipts from the plants I purchased for clients. These receipts are important for warranty and income tax purposes.
Back to the elastics and how they apply to the actions speak louder than words theory. You may remember from pictures of my son’s wedding that my daughter-in-law has the most beautiful, long, thick and wavy hair. Well, she often wears this glorious hair tied up in a pony tail, bun, or braids. What she may not realize is that when she does wear it down, she often gathers it up and twists or knots it. Sometimes she secures the tie up, sometimes she just lets it fall back down. She always seems to have an emergency elastic on her wrist for this tie up purpose. Well, guess who picked up on that habit? You got it, my granddaughter, the elastics she found on my desk immediately went around her wrist. Then she pulled one off her wrist and tried to put it in her hair. The cutest part was she does not (yet) have the volume of hair her mother does, so the elastic just wouldn’t stay put. A fact that I just couldn’t explain (to her) with words.
Another, not so cute, example of how actions speak louder than words is the fiasco with Don Cherry and Hockey Night in Canada. Everyone (well apparently there are a few people that are not aware) knows that Don Cherry’s actions over the years prove that he is a caring, kind and compassionate man both in and out of hockey arenas. Yet, a few unscripted words were his downfall last week. His life time of actions should have spoken louder than his ill-fated words. In no way should he be labelled as a racist. Maybe an old man, incapable of getting his point across in the (overly) politically correct environment we find ourselves in these days, but not a racist.
Many people, believing Cherry’s comments to be inappropriate and racist, were quick however to defend and forgive our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his inappropriate and racist actions over the years. Why is that? Because Trudeau has apologized profusely for every and any action he has offended anyone with and then some, just in case he missed anyone. The problem (in my opinion) is that one can only apologize so many times before the apologies become hollow and insincere. Words can be cheap, glossed over, forgotten; actions are much more lasting.
Actions speak louder than words, good and bad!
Please take an extra minute to visit my other blog where I make everything garden related my business.
Sweet with Me Christmas Baking Auction
It’s almost time for the annual Sweet With Me Christmas Baking Auction! Anyone in the Ottawa area can participate as a baker, bidder or both, so no excuses! Please feel free to share this event with all the baking buffs and Christmas goodie aficionados in your life, not to mention the dog lovers! All proceeds go to Sit With Me Shelter Dog Rescue.
If you are interested in donating Christmas baking or homemade goodies please send a personal message to the Sweet with me Christmas Baking Auction Facebook page. Click on the blue “send message” box at the top right side of the page and send the following information :
- A description of what you will be baking/making and the amount (eg. one pan or one dozen)
- A list of the ingredients (no measurements necessary)
- A picture of what you plan to bake/make. This can be from a cookbook if you don’t have your own picture.
The process is pretty simple:
- offers of donated goodies will be accepted until November 30th by private message to Sweet With Me Facebook page (link above) This is just a promise to donate, actual baking is not necessary until later. Of course you can bake ahead and freeze for later.
- the auction will go live on December 1st on the Facebook page
- To bid on an auction item, scroll through the available items on the Facebook page. When you see something you are interested in, type the dollar amount you are willing to pay for the item as a comment.
- A word of warning; comments are not always in order so keep a close eye out for the highest bid. And remember, the bids can (and do) change right up until the last minute!
- there is no limit to what items can go for. So, keep bidding to raise money for a great cause!
- the auction will close on Thursday, December 19th at 7pm
- winning bids must be paid for via etransfer or paypal through Facebook messenger, ASAP after auction closes (before delivery)
- all items must be baked and ready for pick-up by December 21st
- please choose a sturdy, disposable container with a tight fitting lid to pack your donated goodies in. You will not get your pan back and drivers are not responsible for flimsy containers that wont hold up in transit.
- all items will be delivered to successful bidders on December 22nd and 23rd
Gluten-free baked goods are welcome and popular, but be sure to include a disclaimer with the ingredient list. Here is a good example of such a disclaimer:
“As a gluten intolerant baker, I bake with gluten free ingredients. However, I do not bake in a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, so I can only provide a 99.9% gluten-free product.”
Sweet With Me Christmas baking auction is a terrific upcoming fundraiser for Sit With Me Rescue Dogs in the Ottawa area. In the meantime, a fall auction is currently underway with hundreds of items up for grabs. Please read the rules BEFORE bidding on this fall auction. lt closes Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. All the proceeds of both fantastic fundraisers go to Sit With Me Shelter Dog Rescue!
Please check out my other blog called Gardens4u about all things garden related. And my business website with the same name.
Don Cherry, racism, and freedom of speech
Anyone in Canada and hockey lovers elsewhere in the world know who Don Cherry is. By now you have probably heard that he was fired from his Coaches’ Corner role in Hockey Night in Canada by Sportsnet for his comments during last Saturday night’s NHL game.
The rant went like this…“You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”
Many people found the comments discriminatory, divisive, racist and over the top. Even though he never said the word “immigrants” that’s who it was assumed he was referring to. To me, the people offended by the so called racist remarks are the worst racists. If Cherry had backtracked, confessing to merely defending veterans and what they stand for, his rant might have been swallowed more smoothly. Instead he stuck by his words.
Others (those with thicker skin who are harder to offend) feel that he was indeed just defending veterans and voicing his opinion. We do live in a nation where freedom of speech is accepted don’t we? Don Cherry has always been (on and off the show) supportive of veterans, even visiting them overseas. Although his cohort Ron McLean gave a thumbs up at the end of Cherry’s rant, McLean was quick to apologize when the complaints started piling in, some say throwing Cherry under the bus.
We should remember too that Don Cherry is 85 years old. It is not unfathomable that Canadians (and others around the world) of that era might be more sensitive to the sacrifices veterans made (and current soldiers continue to make) for their country.
At almost 60 years of age I have vague memories of older relatives and heard stories of ancestors that were directly affected by war. My children and grandchildren don’t though. We try to explain the horrific times, especially around Remembrance Day, but I have to admit the memories are just not there and so hard to envision. That doesn’t mean we don’t wear a poppy every November or don’t respect those that have “paid the price” as Don Cherry said. That’s because I was taught otherwise, from my parents who (like Cherry) do/did have the memories. Some people never had that respect instilled into them.
Although speaking his mind is Cherry’s claim to fame, especially in the hockey world, it appears that these days (especially in some media, CBC in particular) you have to choose your words very carefully. He has been reprimanded for his choice of words many times recently, although some claim that was his charm on Coach’s Corner. Once again I think that goes with advanced age. The older we get the less we care what others think of us and our opinions. Unless we need the paycheck. In that case we turn the thumbs up to thumbs down and apologize to those we (possibly may have) offended.
The fact that he never apologized for the wording of this rant was his (final) downfall. After all, one politician in particular has been (well) known to make insensitive, foolish, politically incorrect errors in judgement. But he gets away with it because he apologizes (charmingly and sheepishly) when called on his actions, regardless of how he really feels. Don Cherry does not have the acting skills necessary to do that. Nor does he care to or should he have to!
So much for freedom of speech!
Please check out my other blog called Gardens4u about all things garden related. And my business website with the same name.
Regenerative Agriculture
This post is an excerpt of the story by Gosia Wozniacka, produced in partnership with Civil Eats, a nonprofit news organization focused on the American food system. Read on to put regenerative agriculture in your vocabulary…
More than 20 years ago, Will Harris was a cattle farmer who relied on common industrial tools like pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and antibiotics. Today, his 2,500-acre ranch in Bluffton, Georgia, is a holistically managed, no-waste operation with 10 species of livestock rotated to graze the rolling pastures and fertilize the land without chemicals, resulting in rich, healthy soil.
Known as regenerative agricultural practices, those methods have not only improved the land of his ranch, they also have led to the land becoming a carbon sink, pulling carbon from the air and storing it in the ground. As a result, Harris’ ranch has been able to offset a majority of the emissions related to its beef production. A key supplier of General Mills’ EPIC Provisions brand, the ranch has become a model of how to transition to a form of farming that the company says can provide a solution for climate change.
“I’ve literally bet the farm on it working,” Harris said.
General Mills, the packaged food giant, is one of several Big Food corporations jumping on the regenerative agriculture bandwagon, escalating the buzz around the idea that capturing carbon in the soil could reverse climate change. The company took the lead when it announced this spring that it would apply regenerative agriculture to 1 million acres by 2030 — about a quarter of the land from which it sources ingredients in North America.
Undisturbed soil naturally contains carbon and microbes, but once it’s tilled for farming, for instance, the carbon is released into the air. Regenerative agriculture, a term that is often used synonymously with “carbon farming,” is a set of practices that builds organic matter back into the soil, effectively storing more water and drawing more carbon out of the atmosphere. Examples include applying compost and employing managed grazing, as well as planting cover crops, which protect the soil in winter and prevent erosion while adding nutrients. Though scientists generally agree the practices, especially when used together, work to draw more carbon, there’s an ongoing debate on how much carbon can be stored that way and for how long.
General Mills has since rolled out a pilot project for oat farmers, as well an open-source self-assessment app available to anyone interested in implementing regenerative practices. Soil health academies and individualized coaching for farmers are in the works, as is the conversion of thousands of conventional acres into organic production.
“We’ve been looking at these farmers as the examples of what is possible in terms of soil health, diversity and farmer resilience,” Mary Jane Melendez, General Mills’ chief sustainability and social impact officer, said. “Imagine what you could get if more farmers were implementing these practices. It could be revolutionary.”
Danone, Kellogg, Nestlé, and a dozen other companies are not far behind. At the recent United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City, they announced the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) coalition to advance regenerative agriculture, rebuild biodiversity and eliminate deforestation. And Land O’Lakes, the dairy and animal feed behemoth, is also touting its soil conservation efforts, including a new initiative to help bolster sustainability on 1.5 million acres of U.S.-grown corn.
It’s Pretty Magical
The focus on regenerative agriculture is just the latest in a slew of climate-related strategies coming from Big Food, which also include efforts to minimize food waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on land by offering plant-based meat alternatives, and marketing organic or non-GMO product lines.
About 50 percent of General Mills’ greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, Melendez said. So after a decade of investing in various sustainability practices, she said, the company realized there was a better approach. The epiphany came in 2015 at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, when her predecessor heard farmers talk about the impact of a changing climate on soil health. “What they have seen on their farms, how they’re getting economically resilient…we thought it’s pretty magical,” she said.
The company acquired the well-known organic brand Annie’s in 2014 and faced criticism that it was watering down the mission-driven company in its quest for growth. Then, in 2016, General Mills supported The Nature Conservancy in developing a Soil Health Roadmap, which made the case for investing in building healthier soil on U.S. croplands.
It later commissioned research on Harris’ ranch. The assessment, which has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal, showed that the ranch offsets a majority of its emissions by capturing and storing soil carbon through the application of compost and use of rotational grazing, which moves cattle between paddocks of pasture for short periods of time, stimulating the growth of carbon-storing perennial grasses.
To expand such practices, Melendez said, General Mills decided to focus on its North American brands and key ingredients, including oats, wheat, corn, dairy feed and sugar beets. The company will provide farmers financial assistance to change their practices, including paying for monthly one-on-one coaching, soil sampling/testing and the creation of a custom transition plan. It is betting that once regenerative principles are implemented, the farmers will save money on fertilizers and pesticides, making them more profitable.
The first pilot project, which spans 50,000 acres of farmland, began this spring with a group of 45 oat farmers in North Dakota and Canada. A second pilot program, with 35 large-scale Kansas wheat farmers, will kick off in November.
The training is led by Gabe Brown, a North Dakota farmer, regenerative no-till pioneer and author of the 2018 book “Dirt to Soil.” Rather than prescribe a single approach to regenerative agriculture, Brown stresses that every farm is unique and requires its own set of solutions.
For Harris, whose White Oak Pastures began making the transition two decades ago, the support of a large corporation has been critical.
“The difficulty for any farmer trying to step out of the industrial model … is the risks they take,” Harris said. “A company like General Mills is in the position to mitigate some of the risks by guaranteeing a market for their product.”
Even with rebuttals posted by several critics, this initiative for regenerative agriculture appears scientifically sound. I am not a scientist, but solutions to our climate change problem do not have to be rocket science. Every initiative helps. These farmers should be offered financial support from our governments to initiate such programs instead of risking their own savings and livelihood.
Most scientists will agree that burning fossil fuels is still the biggest culprit of climate change. I don’t believe a carbon tax or carbon credits are the answer either, especially as the worst offenders of harmful emissions are not held accountable. Carbon taxes should be regulated so the biggest offenders are taxed the heaviest. What a concept!
As well as sponsored initiatives for these farmers practicing regenerative agriculture, governments should be willing to fork out financial help to generate clean energy methods and practices. University students and the like are our future, give them incentives to solve the problem and fix the mess we find ourselves in.
Banning plastic straws just wont cut it!
Please check out my other blog called Gardens4u about all things garden related. And my business website with the same name.
A Real Job, What is Yours?
What does a real job mean to you? I read this powerful message on Facebook the other day…
The other day, someone very dear to me said, “Charlotte, promise me this. Promise me you won’t go back to waiting tables, frothing coffees or tending bars. When you graduate uni, you’ll get a real job, won’t you?”
Hmmm. ‘Real’. What does ‘real’ look like? Does it wear a suit? Boast a briefcase? Does it drive a ute? Fly a plane? Is its hands dirty, or clean? Does it save lives, or suck the life right out? Does it do your dry cleaning? Keep our streets clean? Your coffee cravings at bay?
So many people chase ‘real’, the ‘real’ that seems to be etched into our skin by society’s blade, and find that they don’t belong to their own life.
The way we have been conditioned is a travesty. The pressure I am under, as a 25-year-old, to make decisions that will supposedly ‘make or break me’ is crushing. The truth is, there are no rules here. Success is highly subjective. It’s traumatising to measure your success against someone else’s, yet we do it to ourselves every day.
The person who said the above said it out of love, and I love them for that. I get it. They want to see me succeed, but under whose guidelines? They want me to move up in the world, but who sets the bar?
Whether you’re a barista or a barrister, university graduate or world traveller, business owner or garbage collector. It doesn’t matter! What matters is that you make the rules. It’s your life.
Take it back!
Charlotte May McLeod (@lottiemaymcleod) posted these words of wisdom in Australia in frustration for the situation she is in. Well said Charlotte, good for you for recognizing that a real job can be anything we want it to be. Students and parents alike today (over) focus on the pursuit of the perfect education in preparation for the equally perfect job upon graduation. The problem is that a job deemed perfect for one person is often not even close to perfect for another.
Education is important, that will never change, but keep in mind that there are all kinds of education available to prepare you for your very own real job. Remember that every job you take on is an education of sorts, even those that are not considered real jobs. Many of these so called not real jobs open doors for exciting and lucrative opportunities. By lucrative I mean both financially and emotionally rewarding. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time.
As Charlotte so eloquently stated, a real job can be anything you like these days, don’t settle for something that will please or impress anyone except yourself.
Please visit my other blog Gardens4u about all things garden related, including my business.
Brainwashing our children, practice what you preach!
Are our children victims of brainwashing? Some people believe overzealous climate change activists are filling children’s heads with doom and gloom causing unnecessary stress and even depression. Children are the unwitting targets of this brainwashing in this blatant form of emotional blackmail. What parent, grandparent or any adult for that matter, can resist emotional and passionate pleas from young children?
Environmental threats are (and should be) a concern globally. As intelligent humans we need to address the threats using proven scientific solutions and compromises. The problem arises when big companies or wanna be scientists on both sides of the argument get involved by throwing big money or their famous face into the pot trying to sway the general public to their side.
Mega-rich oil and gas companies are fighting to keep their businesses afloat so deny that many of the suggested solutions will help, without attempting to compromise. Activists like David Suzuki and Jane Fonda crave the spotlight, earning their own mega-bucks in appearance fees, flying around the world in fossil fuel powered jets.
Hypocrites, all of them. While it is important to teach our children to respect the environment and reduce our carbon footprint, brainwashing them to preach unproven opinions without understanding what they are preaching is morally wrong.
Perhaps we should be teaching them to practice what they preach!
Please check out my other blog called Gardens4u about all things garden related. And my business website with the same name.
Alberta appeals to Ontario and Quebec
I saw this on Facebook this morning and thought it was quite well written, explaining the importance of the energy sector in Alberta and Canada in general.
On the eve of our Canadian Federal Election, I feel it is prudent to share with our fellow Canadians in the East how pivotal this election is for our Country. I recognize a strong disconnect between the regions and believe I have a responsibility to share our feelings, perceptions, and fears with the men and women of these provinces. It is no secret that the election is decided before the first vote is counted in Manitoba. 199 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons are held by your two provinces. Your votes decide our election. This is why I am appealing to you. The fate of Canada and our incredible province of Alberta rests in your hands. We’ve had a rough couple years out here. Since 2015 unemployment has soared, the price of our most valued resource has plummeted, and our access to foreign and domestic markets has been blocked by federal Liberals. While this industry thrives south of the border in the US, Canada’s energy sector has been plunged into a ‘Legislated Recession’ thanks in part to the cancellation of 2 crucial pipelines and the poorly handled expansion of a third. These projects are crucial, allowing access to foreign and domestic markets and closing the gap between the price of Canada’s oil and the oil produced elsewhere in the world. The newly passed Bill C-69 makes new interprovincial projects nearly impossible to complete, and Bill C-48 restricts domestic tanker traffic on Canada’s West coast, while US tanker traffic navigates the same waters unimpeded. We’ve been put in a box, and the lid is slowly closing. Our Federal Liberal government is the architect of this disaster. You may ask why this should matter to you? It is simply a matter of economics. According to the Alberta government and World Bank websites, Alberta’s economy accounts for 20% of our Nation’s GDP. In this province of 4.7 million, it means that 11% of Canada’s population produces 20% of our GDP. From 2000-2014, we contributed $200 Billion to equalization, all of it travelling East. On its own, Alberta is the 7th strongest economy on the planet. We’re the core of this country’s economic engine. We’re being told our money is OK, but the oil, our largest economic driver is not. Hell, we can’t even wear our T-shirts on Parliament Hill. Alberta’s oil is Canada’s oil, and there are a few facts I would like to share with you about it. We are at the forefront of the sector’s clean technology and everyone in this country should be proud of this industry and the highest environmental standards in the world. During this election I’m sure you’ve heard about O&G subsidies and how everyone intends on stopping them, so I feel it is important to break that down. Last year, there were $1.4 Billion dollars given to clean tech by our government. O&G received 75% of that. Rightfully so. That money has been used to increase efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of production significantly. A recent study showed that if every country around the world produced their resources to the same standard as Canada, the carbon intensity of production would drop 26% worldwide. Suncor, Canada’s largest producer, just announced a co-gen project that will reduce their carbon footprint by a further 30%, and we’ve championed cutting-edge carbon capture and storage technology. We would love to displace dirty foreign oil in the East, but we are told there is no social acceptability for a pipeline. We would love to know why there is social acceptability for Saudi tankers in your waters, but none for us? Last I checked, Saudi didn’t contribute to equalization. The environment has been a big topic in this election, and there have been some strong assertions from the parties, some of which may be a little out of reach. 30% reduction in GHG, 60% reduction in GHG. The backbone of these reductions focuses on shutting Alberta’s economy down. There seems to be a huge target on Alberta’s back, and little red dots are starting to dance around the bullseye. Canada contributes1.6% to the world’s total GHG emissions. China contributes 27.2%, US 14.6%. A 30-60% reduction in Canada equates to a 1.8-3.6% reduction in China and a 3.5-7 % reduction in the US. Al Gore once said that CO2 knows no borders, so rather than shut down the economic engine of our nation, why wouldn’t we export the clean energy and technology to the countries that need it the most, boosting our economy and helping everyone on this planet reach these targets? What we do as Canadians to reduce emissions means nothing on the grand world scale. It is these heavy emitting countries that could benefit from Canada’s LNG to replace coal, and clean tech to further drive down emissions. It’s a win-win-win for Canada, the environment, and our economy. The Conservatives have proposed this and it has been highly criticized as ‘not enough’. This is the most viable solution and environmental policy for everyone in this country, and it doesn’t include plunging the entire country into debt and recession. It is ironic that the one country (US) that pulled out of the Paris Agreement has made the most progress reaching that agreement’s targets. How? By doing exactly what the Conservatives have proposed to help us and other nations achieve: transitioning coal to significantly cleaner natural gas power generation. -There is another sentiment out here that likely resonates with our fellow Canadians from Quebec. If you asked the average Albertan if they would support separation 2 years ago, you’d be laughed at. Today it is no laughing matter. At the time of the provincial election only a few months ago, it was estimated that 50% of Albertans were open to separation. A poll of 6000+ Albertans only a week ago yielded the same results. We’ve been beaten into submission by the federal Liberals, and we continue to get kicked. Terms like ‘Western Alienation’, ‘Republic of Alberta’ and ‘Wexit’ have become very common. All too often you see ‘Liberal on Oct 21, Separatist on Oct 22’. This movement is real. I mean, REAL. If another Liberal government is elected, even worse a Liberal minority with the Green or NDP propping it up, Alberta’s energy sector will just board up the windows and go elsewhere. It will be crippling for the entire nation. It is ALREADY crippling for Alberta. We can’t take any more of this. We are the victims of a current Legislated Recession and it will only get worse. Half of us want to leave now. More will want to leave if we continue to be exploited for our revenue and vilified for our industry. Alberta separation would be a crushing blow to this country and its economy, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Albertans are resilient, wholesome, hard-working people that have been happy to help our fellow Canadian citizens maintain a high standard of living. We’re only asking for reciprocation. We don’t want hand-outs, tax revenue, or power. We want the right and ability to do what we’ve been doing all along, without having fellow Canadians standing in our way. We’re a part of the solution, not the problem. Fellow Canadians, please consider this when casting your ballot. There’s a lot at stake for everyone. There is a fragility in this nation that could be fractured with stroke of a pen, and the power rests firmly in the hands of your provinces. Vote wisely. Vote Canadian.
Signed, Alberta
I was at a dinner party this past weekend where the topic of discussion turned (unfortunately) to the bitter and controversial political battle our country is embroiled in. The guests and hosts of this evening are all good friends, so it was especially frustrating to see the discord amongst them when discussing our political leaders, parties and platforms. Thank heavens our campaign only lasts 40 days!
The most disturbing comment (for me) was someone defending the SNC Lavalin issue as “that’s the way business is done. To be competitive globally, Canadian companies have to do anything they can to get contracts. Everyone does it” Yet, conversely, when it was pointed out (as does the letter writer above) that Canada contributes very little to the world’s carbon emissions this same person said “well, we have to set an example to the rest of the world”
I am all about setting a good example, but think we should be consistent. Ethical business practices, effective climate change solutions and compassion for our fellow Canadians. The reason this country is so wonderful is because of its diversity, not just in the people, but the assets and resources each province contributes to the nation.
As I said before, get out and vote, but do your research first and vote responsibly!