We need to talk about the lockdown

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China lied, people died. Let me preface what I’m about to say with this, this virus has caught the entire world off guard. Except for Taiwan. But otherwise the problems we are facing here in Canada is not so dissimilar from pretty much every other country in the world. I acknowledge that the measures taken by government is in many ways an experimentation in leadership and we’re doing the best we can with what limited options are available to us.

Though I often reference my belief that Trudeau is the worst prime minister in Canadian history and I stand by that, my intention here is not to play partisan games or whataboutism cheap shots. That’s not to say the feds or the province or even municipal government is above scrutiny. Questioning is necessary in these times. But we should all be taking off our partisan hats and prioritize the truth above all in these dire times. I just feel before I form my argument I first want to acknowledge all levels of government are working their asses off for us all and I deeply appreciate all the work everyone is doing. Especially front line workers like myself and all the healthcare professionals out there. Nothing I’m about to say takes away from any of that.

Leaving everything up to “the experts”

So I’ve been trying to pay as much attention as possible to this whole pandemic stuff and how it’s impacting the world. I’m no economist, I’m no healthcare professional, I’m no politician, I’m nothing more than a plumber. So take that for what it is. But the thing I can’t seem to wrap my head around with this whole lockdown stuff is what happens after the lockdown? First it was for 2 weeks. Then that became a month. Now cities are cancelling all events up to August.

All the politicians are citing the “science and facts” that they’re basing their decisions on. But to me there’s just something fundamentally flawed about deferring all policy making and security decisions up to unelected individuals. Especially when there is so much mounting evidence to suggest the experts are actually getting it wrong. So what will happen if they do get it wrong? “well what do you want? I’m leaving it up to the experts. Not my fault if they get it wrong. Well, yeah, actually it is. You’re the one promoting their guidance so you own it.

What advice is that expert going to give when they’re trying to cover their ass? The only people I see at these press conferences are more scapegoats than experts. But they wear many hats, I’m told. But it’s no surprise their advice is to shut it all down. Who wants to take the blame for when someone’s kid gets sick at school or someone’s grandparent collapses during lunch at the old folks home? And so they may be an expert but they are functioning mostly as bureaucrats. We elected the people in power to lead us. not to delegate all their responsibilities away. They rightfully fear the liability of risking public health but why is there no sense of responsibility for the health of the economy?

True North: The Economic Effects of Covid19 explained in 8 minutes

I get it, no one planned for this. This thing has caught us all off guard. But panic does not make for sound policies or pilot projects. This needs to be called out as the half baked plan that’s going to do more harm than good. And if it isn’t reevaluated now, I believe things will actually be worse off once this lockdown is finally ended, defeating the entire point of the lockdown to begin with. The lockdown may be winning a battle but it’s not even thinking about the war against this super virus. We need a long term plan, not just billions of band aids. I get it, there is no plan. That’s exactly the problem.

On top of that, with everyone harping on and on and on about misinformation, I’ve found Dr. Tam has been pretty misleading herself. First when the virus first arrived here the narrative was that it was very racist for people to avoid Chinatown and chinese restaurants like “Wuhan noodle” in Markham. To blame China for the virus would be to blame a culture for the virus and that’s just racist apparently. It was Dr. Tam who came out early and discouraged social distancing in this way and who claimed that border restrictions and travel bans were not helpful. And we all know in the coming days and weeks suddenly it became necessary to close the border and shut down travel. Duh.

According to Dr. Tam masks do nothing, in fact they actually increase the risk of contracting the virus because we’re all too stupid to figure out how to wear a mask. Now she’s had to back peddle and admit that if you have access to a face shield of sorts then it would be good to use one. If you ask any other doctor not standing at a podium they’ll tell you of course it’s helpful. Why are flight attendants wearing them? Why do the doctors and nurses start their shift with them? I think we all know what Dr. Tam is really saying. She just doesn’t want everyone hoarding the medical supplies like we have been with toilet paper. So just say that. But like most modern liberals, they believe we’re all too stupid and reactive for us to know the truth. So the best approach in a crisis is to lie.

Liberals told us to lock it down while people were still arriving into the country and not receiving testing or questioning. they were to self isolate and this was all done purely on honour system. There’s no coincidence that after march break things blew up, because of the absolute lack of guidance provided by our leaders. The legacy media decided to mock and sneer anyone wearing a mask in public. Now those people are working from home and preaching to us the importance of taking this seriously. I wonder how many people contracted the virus because they were too embarrassed to wear a mask. Oh but as long as the media has Trump to blame, they don’t have to take any accountability.

Rebel News: Arrivals to T.O. bring own masks from Argentina:

Rebel News: International arrivals to Canada given no Coronavirus gear:

Rebel News: Pakistani arrivals to Canada surprised no one took their temperature:

These are complex issues that demand dramatic change that not everyone has the capacity for. Most people aren’t plugged in to what’s going on in their own community let alone around the world. The hoarding actually isn’t our fault. Are there greedy, selfish people out there taking advantage? yes. But these people aren’t the majority. In fact these people are in the fringe minority. All it takes is for half of us to go to the store and pick up only one of anything before we would see shortages of that one item. Supply chains need to step it up to compensate and stores need to place purchase limits. Naming, shaming, doxing and ridiculing others who are distressed and acting irrationally, or who are mentally ill, not only does zero good but it’s actually detrimental. This is not the time to throw empathy out the window because we’re all being inconvenienced.

True North: Do Canadians like being controlled?

Self preservation instincts kick in when you’re vulnerable and afraid and have the ability to bring the best of us low like the worst of us. As a plumber I often deal with people in vulnerable positions and I can tell you it sure doesn’t bring out the best in them. You definitely find the best aspects of humanity once we are in a semi secure state of being but we’re just animals in a habitat like every other habitat on the earth. But really, why weren’t the stores limiting supplies from the start? They have no problem limiting the sirloin roasts when they go on sale. Why wouldn’t they limit medical supplies since day one?

This is an aspect of the plan we will have to develop to tackle future outbreaks. Pandemic planning needs to be at the forefront of every election now. Because the problem with war time measures is they are often in place with the consideration that this will ideally never happen again. However we could have another pandemic next year given the right cocktail of mutation vs poverty. The measures we are taking could actually destroy our entire country. I’ve been absolutely floored watching what’s been unfolding. This virus is all over the globe and varying strains from continent to continent. Even if we do come up with a vaccine it’ll only be effective until a new strain makes it’s way here thanks to globalization. There’s no turning that back, it’s unavoidable. So I’ve been paying attention and these are my thoughts.

The lockdown is only useful to give the hospitals time to prepare for the coming surge. To replenish medical supplies and to buy time for industry to provide new ventilators, masks, gowns, face shields, etc. That is worthy of a lockdown. For the sake of those who get sick and need hospitalization, yes, we all need to do our part to flatten the curve. But once the hospitals have been prepared and perhaps other alternative facilities established (such as converting some of these empty community centres or army relief camps) then we all need to go back to work. This country needs to begin it’s economic recovery literally as soon as possible. Or else we are fucked. I just don’t see it any other way.

It’s when we go back to work, we will be entering a new world. A world where social distancing is the norm. Look at Taiwan. Their first case was January 20th. Ours was Jan 24th. Our total cases per 1 million people is at 228 and deaths per 1 million people at 3. Taiwan’s total cases per 1 million people is 14 and deaths per million is 0.2. The total cases of covid19 in Taiwan is only 322 meanwhile here our total is currently at 8,612. Why is that? Taiwan, to my understanding, is far more densely populated than Canada. We should be the ones easily able to socially distance. So what are the Taiwanese doing that we’re not?

Just looking at Taiwan really reminds us that what we are dealing with here is a virus. It may be highly contagious and that’s scary and worth taking seriously but at the end of the day it’s just a virus. Like South Korea we need to ramp up our testing to make testing available to everyone and anyone at any time. We need to be able to identify who has the virus and those people need to be quarantined. And if we can manage to get this thing under control then perhaps we can do more than the honour system to ensure these individuals are in fact respecting the guidelines. The cases we see developing are indicating these people are not respecting the rules.

and I don’t even fully blame them, the government has been a complete wet noodle more concerned about identity politics than pandemic precautions since day 1. We need to ramp up our testing greatly. We also need to ramp up the production of PPE. This may require all of us to lend a hand in making our own protective gear for ourselves and for others. Let the official stuff go to the healthcare workers. They need it most.

And if we can start implementing new protective measures then we can start going back out into the world. Measures like clear physical barriers in food courts, transit terminals, etc. Floor/ground markings to indicate where to stand in line ups to respect social distancing. Sanitizer provided at virtually every single entrance and exit and hand wash stations available at places of business, parks, etc. And above all, individual responsibility. Hand washing before touching our face or eating. Then more hand washing! Some variation of mask to use in enclosed/confined spaces/indoors to protect from respiratory droplets. Showering every time we get home after being outside.

The police need to back the fuck off. If government wants scary headlines saying those not respecting social distancing will be fined $1000 then go ahead. But to actually fine people $1000 in a time when people are facing losing their homes? You’re a sick fuck and you apparently love robbing others of their civil liberties. If you’re throwing a 50 person party then yeah in these times of crisis I believe that would constitute a crime. A night or two in a jail cell should suffice for that sort of thing. That’s much less harmful than $1000.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-bylaw-parks-fines-1.5523154

But yet we see police handing out $750 fines to people just out, sitting on park benches. If you’re respecting social distancing then you’ve done nothing wrong. If police play this game too hard you are going to see a push back that will be really ugly. Desperate people loot, steal, mug, or worse. And this love for authoritarianism is going to blow up in all of our faces in a big way. We cannot abandon our principals and values just because it’s inconvenient right now. It’s precedent setting and you’re wrong if you think the goal posts will move back once this pandemic is over. This is a democracy and police exist to serve and protect. Period. This type of crime is best socially enforced, not legally. PERIOD.

And we need accurate, truthful, uncensored flow of information. I said it before and I’ll say it again. Censorship is nothing more than a partisan effort to control and bias the flow of information. We are really being let down by the legacy media right now. This is a direct result of narrative based activist reporting. The other day the Ontario press conference went on for an hour before someone finally asked a single question about the duration of the lockdown. I’ve heard more questions about Trump than anything about this lockdown or anything to guide us through it.

Viva Frei: The media is failing us now:

TVO: Data from Polly:

True North: More misinformation from public health:

True North: The media pushes fake news left, right and centre:

Rebel News: China’s Virus Lab Intentionally harvested bats for their virus potential:

Let’s be clear. The average Canadian, whether they like Trump or not, doesn’t give a flying fuck about Trump right now. What the Americans do is up to them. They can block aid but why don’t we have the necessary supplies as it is? Why aren’t we able to produce the most absolutely necessary protective gear? Why did we allow ourselves to become vulnerable in the first place? Ask those questions instead. And while you’re at it, find out when we can go back to work so we don’t lose our homes. Instead of seeking truth everyone is just bunkered down trying to find a way to interpret reality through their narrative filter. And it’s hurting the public.

The very media screeching about misinformation are the same media praising China over this outbreak. Claiming they did us all just such a huge favour by “buying us time”. I can’t even begin to explain why that is so incredibly ignorant and obviously aimed at people who don’t follow news at all and are only tuning in to be told what to think because they’re sheep. If China acted a month sooner the virus would’ve been 95% less impactful to the rest of the world.

True North: China Lied, People Died:

We need to take this next month to isolate for our healthcare workers and until we can get PPE restocked and distributed but after that we MUST GET BACK TO WORK. Otherwise we are utterly fucked. I very much fear for the future of this country if we don’t begin our recovery as soon as possible. I was suspecting our kids and grandkids would have a large financial burden but this is making the future look more like mad max than anything else.

And I do not doubt that one day we will be watching an HBO mini series next to Chernobyl called “Coronavirus” and even though it’ll be a different series, it’ll be the same story. Because it’s always the same story when it revolves around a communist regime that does not value human life. China does not value human life. We don’t even know totally whether or not this was actually intentional for China to reset the global economy with them on top, amid their Trump trade war and tariffs. This isn’t even close to being over yet. And we need to decide which team we’re on. Team America and Capitalism or Team China and Communism. If you love freedom and liberty you must be team America and Capitalism. Et tu Brute?

True North: The economic toll of the shutdown:

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to even talk about this whole thing. I decided to just share my thoughts on what has been happening and my thoughts on where we need to go from here, for whatever that’s worth. But I think what I will be working on from here on out is a chronological timeline of this pandemic. That is truly difficult. There is so much happening every single day that there is just no way to capture every single detail or do so all in one single post. So I think what I’ll be doing is covering more actions than speculation and projections and offering resources covering these developments and presenting this timeline in the form of chapters like in a book.

Still not sure how it’ll play out but I do think these times are very important to document since I believe this pandemic will change the world. And so as I wake up every day and check for updates, I will seek to record these updates through my blog. So stay tuned as I struggle to document this ongoing challenge. Also follow my instagram @The301Champ for more optimistic, fun content which I think will serve as good medicine in these times.

What we don’t have is a 10 step plan for handling viral outbreaks in the future. I think what I’d like to do while compiling all this information is work on what MY 10-point plan would be for the future and see if we can discuss the effectiveness of such plans. Like a modern day zombie apocalypse strategy. By the way, here were some very good Joe Rogan podcasts that I found extremely helpful:

Joe Rogan Experience: Michael Osterholm

Joe Rogan Experience: Dr. Peter Hotez

The 301 Champ’s 5 step viral strategy:

Phase 1: A viral outbreak appears to be at or on the verge of an epicentre in a country.

This country must accept experts with peacekeeper escourts to observe the outbreak and gather data/assist with containment.
countries must send aid to assist with containment.
There must be weekly press conferences to update the world on developments.

Phase 2: The viral outbreak has broken containment and has began to spread outside of the epicentre.

Governments hold weekly press conferences informing people how to appropriately and responsibly stockpile 72 hours worth of goods in the event that anyone needs to self isolate (and how best to utilize food delivery services in the event of prolonged quarantine).
grocers implement shopping limitations on goods to prevent hoarding.
Governments- begins PPE resource stockpiling to prepare hospitals for possible outbreaks.

Phase 3: Cases appear on home soil.

Social distancing guidelines are made mandatory for places of businesses, public parks, etc.
weekly Press conferences held from municipal, provincial and federal governments to share all projections and available data on what is current on the outbreak.
commercials and ads are bought on which masks are appropriate for use and to remind people when and how to wash their hands to avoid contracting viruses. also to inform people on what viruses are and how they are spread.
Restaurants and public events must set in place measures to respect social distancing guidelines. (such as dine in tables being spread 6 feet apart, markings indicating where it is appropriate to stand in line ups, etc)
The border and airports must conduct testing on all travelers entering and exiting the country. Social distancing must be explained to travelers and masks must be provided and made to be worn for those entering the country.

phase 4: An outbreak has escaped containment.

Social distancing guidelines are now enforced with threat of possible fines.
Restaurants must close dine in options and only operate take out and delivery options.
Border must be closed to non-essential travelers.
testing must be made mandatory and accessible to everyone. those who test positive must be connected with what is essentially a parole officer to ensure they are respecting the quarantine orders.
Travel bans may be implemented.
airports and transit terminals and grocery and department stores must embrace high security measures to disinfect public spaces on a regular basis daily and be able to provide sign off sheets to confirm cleaning is being done.
Government issues curfew orders for all businesses to be closed collectively at a certain time and for citizens to stay indoors after a certain time. (with an exception to essential services like plumbers, hvac, healthcare workers, truck drivers, etc)

phase 5: Projections anticipate hospitals about to reach max capacity with patients.

Military must be called in to set up relief care spaces and to provide aid in distributing PPE and other necessary resources.
Military set up safe off-site testing drive through facilities to begin testing the public regularly and constantly. This may involve retrofitting hotels, prisons, community centres or other local facilities.
Government issues self isolation lockdown orders
government declare essential services and provide strict timeline for lockdown. (any financial aid or compensation or tax cuts must be determined BEFORE the government calls for a lockdown)
Municipal, provincial and federal governments must conduct daily press conferences to update the public on all data and projections and modelling.
public amenities and all community centres and services must be closed to the public but as long as the curfew and social distancing guidelines are being respected, the public can enter parks, off leash dog parks, paths and green spaces.

I am just reflecting on measures that have been taken thus far and trying to think of how we could articulate these in more structured step by step initiatives. The government could create a website that goes into deeper detail between all 5 phases. But the problem with the slow trickle down of information and word salad that’s been going on at these press conferences is that in some cases they just cause more confusion than offer any clarity. In this regard a government could just simply say we’re implementing phases 1-3 and people would know what that means. or could at least easily look it up. maybe these 5 phases could be stretched into 10 to be able to highlight features better. I just feel the government really needs to improve their communications during a crisis. This is what we are learning today. Feel free to share your thoughts or add suggestions to the list.

Life isn’t valuable because of it’s abundance. It’s valuable because it is finite. It’s the brutality, challenge and unfairness of life that allows us to shine. Whether it’s watching the home run hit bounce out of the stadium, the figure skater landing that triple axel, the basket ball finding the hoop after dribbling off the rim. These moments of greatness come from our inner greatness. Covid19 is yet another trial for us. It wasn’t the first and it’s definitely not the last. I say good. We will endure it not because we want to but because we must. And we will emerge not just alright but better. Because we have the inner greatness and antifragility to shine through our adversity.

-Me

Apparently beheading the premier isn’t hate.

queens park 2

This week there was yet another protest outside Queen’s park because #fuckford. It will forever be the conservative burden to inherit deficits in the billions, make the unpopular decisions necessary to balance the budget. Then they inevitably find themselves dethroned by tax and spend liberals who go back to running up deficits. We have created a culture in our politics where funding is commensurate with compassion. And unless we’re spending money on it, we don’t care about it.

By the way, ignore the marxist flag donning the hammer and sickle. Marxism is a conservative conspiracy. It doesn’t exist on the left or in academia or anywhere. The marxist lie is a conservative straw man. It’s probably photoshopped, right? PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN!

queens park 1

If teachers experience cuts, the PC government must hate teachers. If healthcare experiences cuts, the PC government must hate doctors and nurses. If cut taxes then this must only mean the PC government loves evil corporations. Are we really making the case that government has been 100% efficient and there is no room at all for cuts of any kind? Are we really arguing that while the rest of us in the private world have to endure the fluctuating risk the economy threatens us with every day, those who work for the government, whose payroll exists off of the taxes we pay, should never have to worry about their job security? Are we really arguing that there is NO wiggle room for innovation to find efficiencies in government at any level?

What’s been really bothering me since the election is to see the change in Andrea Horwath. The language she’s been espousing has been increasingly unparliamentary and she now has taken a position to simply oppose anything and everything proposed by this conservative government. The latest example was her absolute opposition to free dental care for seniors. I believe Horwath is now in part responsible for an increase in vitriolic anti-government activism we’re seeing unfold.

TVO featured “Ontario’s new political landscape” where a panel reacted to the election results where Brittany Andrew-Amofah of the broadbent institute literally said, “what happened last night was a false majority that can only be produced under a first-past-the-post system.” Keep in mind that the conservatives took 76 seats out of the total 134 seat legislature, the NDP won 40, the Liberals 7 and the Green 1. To form majority a party only needs 63 seats. With 76 seats awarded to Doug Ford’s PC government, I have no problem speculating that even if we had used a different method besides first-past-the-post we likely still would’ve seen a conservative majority.

What Brittany is really saying that unless they have a political party who promotes their ideologies then that government will be illegitimate in their eyes. In the panel discussion Steve Paikin asks Brittany, “Are you prepared to give this guy a chance or do you see job one right now as defeating him?” This was Brittany’s response:

I see job one right now as amplifying the need for progressive movement within our province and also discussing what will potentially be at stake. So the search for efficiencies is a very scary search. Where are we going to be cutting from? Where are the efficiencies going to be coming from? And I think that needs, that deserves interrogation and hasn’t been interrogated enough. When we talk about efficiencies are we talking about social services? Are we talking about the money that is being given to our shelter system?

Steve: Well you do know he’s got a pharma care plan. It might not be as good as the other two parties but he’s got something. He’s got a childcare plan. You may not like it as much as the other two parties but he’s got one. He’s got a mental health spending plan as well. He’s got a transit plan. It may not be –

Steve’s interrupted by Brittany, “as in depth as it probably should be.”

“Or might be,” Steve continues, “but he’s got something to say about these things. Does that help you at all?”

Brittany, “no, because this party has been focussed on talking about efficiencies and talking about cleaning up what’s happening at Queen’s Park. Yes, Wynne has gone wrong and maybe several different areas when it comes to hydro, when it came to a number of different issues but there are a lot of progressive gains that need to continue to be made and that needs to be built upon from when Wynne had left. So I think that’s a risk here and if we’re focussing solely on his (she then performs air quotes) “search for efficiencies” then I don’t know how true those statements are.

Let me remind you that the recording of this episode took place the day after election day. This is her reaction to the conservatives the DAY after election day. What we see here isn’t a realistic critique of job performance or policy legislation, this is her simply disqualifying the new majority government as elected by the people due to nothing more than their political identity. This is what hyper partisanship looks like. She sits there and equates budget cuts to punishment and uses it to fear monger that this government will use their power to punish the weak and marginalized. It’s not a political analysis, it’s a post-modern style deconstruction framed around intersectional narratives. Notice her inability to acknowledge minority group support for Doug Ford and Ford Nation? Because it’s counter narrative, which could never be true, so it’s obviously just lies. Conservative Rhetoric. Misinformation. Fake news. Far-right conspiracies. etc, etc, etc.

This was the rhetoric coming out of those left of the political spectrum the day after election day. The NDP put forth more radical candidates than ever before. Like Laura Kimiker who ran in my riding of Mississauga Center was a self described Marxist and called Poppies war glorification. I’ve greatly respected Andrea Horwath throughout her role as opposition throughout my lifetime watching provincial politics. She’s a veteran in the game and I truly believe she sincerely advocates for truly vulnerable people and for opening opportunities to everyone. However she’s seen how greatly her party benefited from a more populist, radical campaign message and she’s changed her tune to appeal to exactly this populism.

That’s why Andrea Horwath today has no problem openly calling Doug Ford a ‘dictator’. Which if it came from a conservative, would be called a dog whistle promoting violence and hate. So what is it when it’s done on the left? Oh, NOW it’s just free speech. Horwath has the freedom to express any view she wants. And I’m equally allowed to call her a silly fucken hack for choosing to do so. I believe the more she shifts towards the social radical marxist types, the more she will dispossess the grass roots supporters of the parties who just wanted better health care, not a marxist reform. My prediction is once the party is nothing but radicals then this will simply disqualify them and I think we will see more surge in Green support as an alternative to what has been the alternative for decades. I think Green will replace the NDP.

Horwath

She’s had no problem throwing out slurs, parliamentary disruptions, calls to activism and yet she refuses to take responsibility for how discourse has been changing around Queens park. If you only pay attention to the mainstream news outlets, CTV, CBC, Macleans, etc, you’d believe that the only reason conservatives are surging in support around the country is believe of Facebook fake news and white supremacy. When in reality we’ve seen, in my opinion, more openly hateful protests against conservatives than anyone else.

doug ford 1

The following images were taken from the office of MPP Laurie Scott’s office upon amending the minimum wage bill.

Labour Minister Laurie Scott 3 Labour Minister Laurie Scott 1 Labour Minister Laurie Scott 2 doug ford 2

Several months ago truckers from around the country rallied and drove to Ottawa to show their support for pipelines. They donned yellow vests inspired by french protests against their carbon taxes. They felt Trudeau has turned his back on Albertans and waste billions of dollars and Saudi Oil rather than cycling it back to the Canadian economy. There were online forums where these people organized and shared talking points. Apparently some have shared anti-immigrant sentiments. Faith Goldy and Rebel Media also attended the protest. The media took these details and slandered the entire protest as one of promoting hate and violence. The convoy was portrayed as just a group of white supremacists. The usual slurs aimed at disqualifying dissent and aimed at banning wrongthink.

united we roll

The only point I’m making here is simply this. Populism is increasing as polarization increases. This is not just happening among conservatives but also with liberals. If not more. We all need to hold ourselves accountable at the individual level. But this is just another example of the media’s bias against conservatives. Conservatives simply show up to peacefully protest and they’re labelled racists. But if you’re protesting conservatives, that’s just your civil right. Despite how inappropriate your conduct is.

Like, what exactly are they trying to say here? If you question social justice initiatives you disqualify yourself from public discourse? Well, that seems to be the case from what I’m seeing media wide. You watch how the media treats Scheer or Ford versus how they treat Trudeau and Horwath and it’s easy to see. If you have anything to say about Trudeau’s #welcometoCanada? Guess what, you’re a nazi. Bring a guillotine to Queens Park and behead an effigy of Doug Ford? That’s just you’re civil right.

Do these people have a right to call for the death of politicians? Actually no, that’s incitement of violence. Murder and policy critique are two very different things. If I followed the same logic that the social justice leftists follow then Andrea Horwath would be a Marxist for having posed for pictures with a group who had Marxists among them. However I don’t follow social justice logic so, no, I don’t think Andrea Horwath is a Marxist by association. But when she’s posing next to a skeleton and signs reading #fuckford then I simply have this to ask you. What if roles were reversed and it was Doug Ford protesting an NDP government by posing with skeletons and hashtags #fuckhorwath. All media everywhere would be reporting this as a KKK rally. So if it would be inappropriate to one party, it should be equally condemned on the other front.

queens park 3

But what we’re seeing here isn’t any effort to consider any of that. Even if this conservative government for some reason matched the same policies as the previous liberals and their government mirrored one another, you would still see vitriolic protests. There is nothing this government can do to appease the angry social justice mob. It’s not about the cuts or the budget. It’s about capitalism and hatred. Hatred for everyone who disagrees with the social justice narrative. Feminist narratives of empowering women fall short when conservative female MPPs need to hire security over death threats. It is literally and metaphorically a call for the death of our political system and a call to complete reform to socialism. And while the conservatives come under constant attack on all fronts, they’re tasked with saving this province from itself. Remember this in 3 years when we’re back at the ballot box.

Even Slavoj Zizek himself thinks that political correctness is exactly what perpetuates prejudice and racism. So put that in your Marxist Vape Pens and smoke it 500 metres away from any public entryway.

“one needs to be very precise not to fight racism in a way which ultimately reproduces, if not racism itself, at least the conditions of racism.” – Slavoj Zizek

New Free Speech Mandate And Why it Matters

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Watch: Students react to most outrageous cases of campus censorship

Sheridan College, which has campuses in Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville, has announced that as of Jan 1, 2019 they will be adopting a new free speech policy.

Although faculty, students and staff are free to criticize, contest and condemn the views expressed on campus, they may not obstruct, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loath, – Sheridan college’s statement of principles.

The free speech policy consists of five core elements:

— A definition of freedom of speech

— A commitment to allow open discussion and free inquiry.

— A statement that it is not the college’s role to shield members of the college community from ideas they disagree with.

— A statement that while members of the college community are free to contest the views of others, they must also respect the rights of others to express their views.

— An affirmation that speech that violates the law is not allowed.

This is all after the Ontario provincial government mandated all University and College campuses to adopt strong free speech policies by the new year otherwise they would face funding cuts. This coming after a series of disturbing breaches to free speech on campuses across the country. This demonstrates a real divide in the country since the election of US president Donald Trump. There are those among us who have decided that free speech enables hate speech. And that advocating for free speech is simply apologizing for deplorable speech.

Now, if you’re among those who have been pretty tuned out of the free speech debate over the last few years then this all may seem like just more political rhetoric. If you’re reacting to this like my friend Rob, “Umm, I’m pretty sure that’s because free speech was already protected in Ontario and this is just virtue signalling to the triggered ‘kids these days’ crowd,” then allow me to highlight just some of the things that have been happening and entertain the trickle down effect campus culture has on the rest of our culture.

Watch: TVO, The Agenda with Steve Paikin: Freedom of Expression on Campus

1. Lindsay Shepherd vs Laurier University.

It all started when Lindsay Shepherd, a WLU T.A. who was teaching a grammar class, showed a clip from the TVO show, The Agenda with Steve Paiken. This episode happened to feature Jordan Peterson at the peak of his bill C-16 controversy. The episode was discussing the gender based pronouns. After Shepherd played the clip she was notified by her professor that she was to meet him for a meeting as apparently there had been one or more complaints made against Shepherd. Suspecting she was being hauled in over the video she showed she decided it would be a good idea to record the meeting.

It was a good thing she did because if she hadn’t, no one would believe her outlandish story about her professor accusing her of showing off nazi propaganda. The recording Lindsay leaked revealed her professors accusing her of being irresponsible for exposing the students to the content in a neutral manner. He went on to criticise that it was like neutrally playing something from Hitler or Milo Yiannopoulos. Basically she was being disciplined for not attempting to shape the students opinion. However Lindsay pushed back to say that the role of the University was in fact to challenge students values and perspectives.

Watch: Benjamin A Boyce created a series of video critiques following Laurier

Once the story blew up in the public TVO had the WLU president and vice-chancellor, Deborah MacLatchy, on to discuss the matter. However throughout the, over 14 minute, interview she refused to outright say that Lindsay had done nothing wrong. An independent third party investigation was launched and it found that there had been no complaint made and that the grounds for Ms. Shepherd’s disciplining was baseless.

But that didn’t stop the University from continuing to mistreat Ms. Shepherd. She was reassigned to another professor who was simply vicious with her and was more than happy to create a toxic workplace for Shepherd. Until eventually she had nullified Shepherd’s role as T.A. for the remainder of the year. Harassment of her peers and students went un-mediated as Shepherd first attempted to hold a Q&A with guest speaker Faith Goldy but had the event shut down when students pulled the fire alarm. In a second attempt to host the event with Mrs. Goldy the University itself demanded a security fee of $28,500 before allowing the event to proceed. And then when they were unable to accumulate the funds demanded, they were denied their request to host the event.

Lindsay Shepherd is currently suing Wilfred Laurier for their ongoing mistreatment of her.

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2. Valerie Flokstra vs University of the Fraser Valley

Watch: Benjamin A Boyce Interviews Valerie Flokstra

Students were told premature births were contributing to increased autism diagnoses. Flokstra questioned whether high abortion rates in Canada could be playing a role, citing studies showing a link between abortion and later premature births.

Asking that made the classroom an unsafe space, the 22-year old was told.

Flokstra covertly recorded the hour-long meeting with Prof. Nancy Norman, in whose class the incident took place, and Prof. Vandy Britton, the head of the teacher education department. Fearing academic reprisal, she waited until after graduation to share the audio. She now works as a teacher at a British Columbia private school.

Flokstra’s ordeal has numerous similarities to what former Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student Lindsay Shepherd experienced last year. In fact, Flokstra credits Shepherd’s ordeal with motivating her to record the meeting in the first place.

Much like with Shepherd, Flokstra’s professors attempt to couch offensive recommendations with an “I’m on your side” attitude, using social justice as a trump card over academic inquiry. Just as Shepherd’s professors compared Jordan Peterson to Adolf Hitler, Flokstra was told discussing abortion is like a UFV KKK club.

It’s this attitude, particularly in the teacher education program, that Flokstra said she wanted to challenge by releasing the audio.

– Andrew Lawton, fellow at the True North Initiative

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3. Men’s Issues Awareness Society student group denied funding at Ryerson U

A male student attempted to create a men’s issues student group but was met with protests and slander as a feminist collective had funding refused from the group and went on a smear campaign to label Kevin Arriola, the student applying for the group, as a misogynist. Despite the fact that about half the group was made up of women. On Oct. 27, 2015, MIAS was informed its application for club status had been rejected. Kevin Arriola took the Ryerson Student Union to court with representation by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. But the case was dismissed, the judge saying it, “had no merit,” to it.

“It’s the kind of culture and climate that exists around these group… even if it’s not the group itself,” said Alyson Rogers, one of the founders of the Ryerson Feminist Collective. “It’s a gathering area for people who are anti-women, anti-feminist and rape apologists. A lot of the issues that men face comes from the privilege of being men. Patriarchy is oppressive to women but it also deals men a bad hand. Even if half their membership is women… We’re more concerned about the ideology as opposed to the makeup of the membership.”

“We have explicitly said we are not a feminist group, but we are not an anti-feminist group as well,” Arriola said.

Watch: CBC’s Sunday Talk Panel featuring Jonathan Kay on The MIAS group

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4. Rick Mehta vs Acadia University

Watch: Gad Saad interviews Rick Mehta (The Saad Truth_724)

Rick Mehta was fired despite his tenured position with the University for critical comments made around the truth and reconciliation commission, feminism, identity politics, immigration and decolonization. He was then only offered a copy of the report that lead to his firing if he would sign off on what he called a “gag order” agreement.

5. Danielle Robitaille cancelled event at Laurier over safety concerns

A student group studying criminology sought to host a lecture by Danielle Robitaille, Jean Ghomeshi’s lawyer. But mobs formed opposition and with a lack of time to coordinate a security detail Robitaille cancelled. “Even without uttering a word, one of the main points in my speech has been made: the complaints and the call to cancel my talk rest on a fundamental misunderstanding of the justice system and the nature of the role of defence counsel in the adversarial process,” Robitaille wrote in her response to the student group who invited her.

6. Universities allowing Social Justice Mobs to shut down events and lectures

Whether it’s Jordan Peterson hosting a lecture about the value of free speech or Janice Fiamengo questioning the ethics around modern day feminism, Universities intentionally under staff security to these events when they know protests will take place. At Jordan Peterson’s lecture at Queen’s one protestor brought a Garrote and another damaged the stain glass windows of the lecture hall from bashing against the glass. Or in Lindsay Shepherd’s case after a mob pulled a fire alarm, the University prevented the event by demanding a security fee of $28,500.

Watch: SJW Mobs at Queen’s University

Watch: SJW Mobs at McMaster University

Watch: TVO’s Agenda with Steve Paikin, Free Speech: At what cost

Watch: SJW Mobs at Wilfred Laurier University

7. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

The Centre for Constitutional Freedoms does a full detailing of data about the state of free speech on 60 Canadian public universities. The Campus Freedom Index grading methodology is found here. Each university receives four letter grades: one for each of university policies, university practices, student union policies, and student union practices. Using a five-tier letter scale—A, B, C, D and F—the Campus Freedom Index grades universities and student unions on their stated policies (what they say) and their practices (what they do).

Some of their findings which I did not mention here already were:

Dalhousie University earns an ‘F’ for its decision to launch an investigation against undergraduate student Masuma Khan, over remarks she made on social media that offended some readers.
Saint Paul University earns an ‘F’ for its decision to cancel a planned film screening about abortion.
The University of Guelph earns an ‘F’ for refusing to allow a pro-life student group to hold a tabling event about abortion.
The University of Victoria earns an ‘F’ for condoning vandalism and disruption of a sanctioned student-organized pro-life event.

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The “trickle down effect” that campus culture has on the rest of society can be observed in some of the latest changes among social media platforms. Twitter has now updated it’s conduct policy to ban hateful conduct such as misgendering, deadnaming or “promoting harm”. Yet it makes a clear distinction between those it deems to be within their “protected category membership” and those that are not. That’s how people like Megan Murphy and Jesse Kelly get banned. Whereas twitter actively permits people like Louis Farrakhan tweet things like, “I’m not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-Termite.” And known terrorist groups like Hamas don’t get their twitter accounts removed. So it’s official. You talk about Bruce Jenner’s work in the olympics and Twitter actually believes you’re worse than terrorists. Actually.

And then there was Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, delivered a speech while accepting the Anti-Defamation League’s first-ever Courage Against Hate award at an event in New York City. He said, “We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division and violence: You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here.”

“We believe the future should belong to those who use technology to build a better, more inclusive, and more hopeful world,” Cook continued. “I believe the most sacred thing that each of us is given is our judgment, our morality, our own innate desire to separate right from wrong. Choosing to set that responsibility aside in a moment of trial is a sin.” This religious framework was no coincidence.

The ideology of identity politics operates like a doctrine which overrides reason and logic. Tim Cook may be a brilliant man but if he insists on viewing life through the context in which intersectionality provides then it won’t be long before the category of “white supremacist” becomes a blanket term which is used to categorize anyone who disagrees. And when your doctrine persecutes comedians, the gulags are not far away.

We’re already seeing a doubling down on this banning culture where now Patreon has been purging it’s platform of those it considers guilty of hate speech. With the deplatforming of Sargon of Akkad, a gamergate free speech advocate, pro-brexiteer and mere internet troll. He used the “N” word to insult an actual ethno-nationalist, white supremacist in a fight they were having. He called the actual neo nazi the “N” word because to them, there is no greater insult. Like when engaging with another in road rage, you don’t first consider whether or not your critique out the car window is politically correct enough or not.

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Not that I’m making the case that it’s ever ok to use such charged language, I must say, to separate myself from the violation in question. In order to play the game by the crazy’s rules in this upside down world of “words are violence”. But what’s worthy of note is that Sargon did this impulsively on another person’s content which THEY chose to leave in. And this was not something that took place over Patreon. Nor did it directly violate Patreon’s terms and conditions. And he was not given any warning, second chance or opportunity to appeal. Overnight he lost his income which enabled him to commit towards content creation.

And he may be an offensive troll but there is no doubt that he is not a white supremacist. Not to mention that if you search the “N” word on Patreon you find about 9 page results in references to it. So, like any message board or comment enabled media, it’s a very commonly used. So why Sargon? Perhaps he’s just enough of a troll that a cost vs benefit analysis can be experimented with in the lead up to the 2020 American elections. Creators began moving to a competitor site, Subscribe Star, but within less than a week Paypal, the payment processor used by these platforms, refused to service Subscribestar. Coincidence? Or antitrust violation?

Eric Weinstein said that in order to make moves against the IDW they would need to act in the light. And they are indeed making their political motivations very clear by the unjustified nature of their actions. But creators see through the vague explanations and the inconsistencies and are currently working on an alternative platform to rival Google’s attempts to silence all those who refuse to bend a knee to the accepted narrative.

And now with this UN global compact using the terminology “irregular migrant” as opposed to “illegal migrant” will we see a crackdown on independent media over the use of the word “illegal”? Another example on how technical language becomes reshaped into moralized language. Exactly for the purposes of communication. So when legitimate media has questions to hold politicians accountable they now have the ability to skirt disagreeable questions by dehumanizing the person asking the question. Liberals don’t answer to bigots.

That is why we must stand for free speech, in all forms, shapes and sizes from every institution through to every corporation and down to every personal conversation. You may not like all speech you hear, so combat it with better speech. By shutting down and silencing the ability to express oneself freely, the cure will become more harmful than the problem. Speech is no different today than it was 30 years ago. In fact it’s probably a lot better considering average joes like me actually say “N” word. But it’s technology that elevates it and it’s trolls who throw it in our faces, forcing us to look at it. What we have is a technology problem, not a speech problem. We need to stop this madness before someone decides to program this condemnation of hate into the AI that will bring upon the singularity and once it realizes that every human has the capacity in their heart for hate, it decides to end the human experiment. This is not so unbelievable if you’ve been reading the new york times lately.

Watch: Benjamin A Boyce edit of Tim Cook’s comments

Watch: Jordan Peterson delivers lecture on free speech

If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise; we do not believe in it at all.

– Noam Chomsky

Narrative Based Activism is not News

Ontario PC Party passes resolution to debate recognition of gender identity – Global News

Resolution to do away with gender identity moves forward at Tory convention – City News

Ontario’s PC party passed a non-binding resolution on Saturday calling for education around gender identity to be removed from Ontario schools, prompting critics to deride the move as an attack against transgender people – CBC

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Premier Doug Ford, passed a controversial policy resolution this weekend that does not recognize gender identity. – CTV News

Ford pledges to stop motion that calls for gender identity to be removed from the health curriculum – The Toronto Star

Doug Ford says PC party proposal that declares gender identity a ‘Liberal ideology’ won’t go ahead – The National Post

The resolution, proposed at the PC party convention, was slammed as transphobic – The Huffington Post

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I attended the Ontario PC convention last weekend and from the monday morning headlines among the mainstream media you’d think it was a front for a clan rally. But somehow in just the last couple of years we have gone from it being controversial to suggest that sexual identity could extend beyond mere male and female to it now being controversial to suggest that male and female ever existed in the first place. And to suggest such things are bigotry. Well, as someone who attended the convention I’d like to give my first hand accounts of the events that took place. Also address the allegations from Jim Karahajackass that the election was rigged. TVO Agenda Interview with Jim Karahalios

“I’m a breathing human being that exists,” Carver said.

“I’m not an ideology. And neither are the rest of our community.”

‘Very afraid’

Carver says even debating this is in contravention of Ontario human rights laws.

“After the roll back of the sex-ed curriculum that’s taken place, and now you see that they would like to remove gender identity and trans identities completely from the schools, it kind of shows the tone that this party is willing to take,” she said.

“It makes organizations and communities like ours very afraid of what this is going to look like going forward.”

– CBC.ca

There was a hell of a lot that happened over the weekend but you wouldn’t know it given that almost every single media reported on one line of resolution brought before delegates by Tanya Granic Allen. Now, there’s a LOT that I can say to rebut the stories but let’s face facts, the current news is a dying media and they thrive off of click bait based stories. They feed off your outrage and drink your tears. I’m not about to call the media “the enemy of the people” or any bull crap like that. Conservatives are no longer opposition, they’re the ones sitting on the throne now. With an almost super majority too. So next election we won’t have the benefit of “change” to campaign on. So it’s important we listen carefully to what everyone is saying, even if we disagree, even if they’re fabrications of the truth. The conservatives have lots of time yet ahead to respond in whatever way they want. But that being said, if this is what the media took away from the convention then frankly it’s just too bad that they’re not mature enough to have a discussion about any other very important topics which we, as a society, will need to address over the next 3 years.

Since the election I’ve made a point to keep in touch with the party and attended a local party meeting where I put my name forward to become a delegate. Luckily I made enough friends through volunteering that others were willing to vote for me and I became a delegate to represent the Mississauga Center riding. This role enables me to participate in conventions and participate in the voting process. Having an actual voice from within the party could be an opportunity to build bridges between those who oppose the government and a party who claims to be of the people. Because I truly do believe that this government can actually have EVERYONE’S interests at heart. But waking up to see the kind of headlines I saw monday really opens my eyes to the uphill battle the whole party has ahead of it. But this does not surprise any conservative. Nor does it discourage us from wanting to reach out and welcome everyone to give the party a chance. Regardless your political stripes, after 15 years of one government, we can all agree that new faces and fresh ideas can be healthy for the province. And with the province getting further and further in debt, with yet more jobs leaving the province and having hallway healthcare, we ALL felt there could be improvements to the way this province was being governed. Even if some of us are too stubborn to admit it.

Well the new government is here and if nothing else, they’ve proven that they’re willing to work their butts off to get shit done. They’re giving it their all to deal with all our baggage NOW, TODAY, instead of leaving it for our children and grandchildren to deal with. But dealing with that is going to take ACTUAL leadership. The kind of leadership that means making unpopular decisions. And that’s just that much more contentious when we live in such a populist age. But conservatives understand that we are adaptable, strong people who would gladly carry today’s burden if it meant opportunity for our future generations. Because it won’t just be debt they’ll be dealing with. It’ll be a landscape of complete automation takeover. We haven’t even been mature enough to discuss the implications of social media’s impact on society let alone what the impact automation innovation will have on our economy. We have more students in postsecondary than ever before at the brink of the dawn of modernization. And that conversation isn’t on ANY media’s radar. It’s not even a priority on a list of things to consider. And that’s how we’re already failing the next generation. Just like the last generation failed us by pushing postsecondary and discouraging skilled trades.

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What I CAN tell you are some of the things that the media decided was irrelevant to cover:

– Ford announced that people earning less than $30 000 per year won’t pay income tax
– Christine Elliot (Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care) and Lisa MacLeoud (ministry of children, community and social services and minister responsible for women’s issues) tabled an open forum on issues involving their affairs where they took questions. They discussed the overlap between their ministries and how ministers would be working together on many issues to break a culture of segregated duties that left a lot of people in the lurch over “that’s not my job”. And how eliminating red tape and layers of bureaucracy would help open up ministers to getting more directly involved with constituents and getting more hands on with tackling the problems.

Find me one single news report that mentioned anything about human trafficking and I will give you $100. Because Mrs. McLeod declared that Ontario is under a human trafficking crisis. Many girls involved as young as 11 years old. Did you see any reference to that in any news feeds? She also addressed staggering rates of high school and postsecondary drop outs. So that’s on the table to investigate more. And Mrs. Elliott declared they were on point to opening 1000 spaces for hospitals for this year’s flu season. Apparently there are going to be more announcements on this stuff on thursday. So stay tuned.

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– A few of the other resolutions that we voted on included initiatives to promote students pursuing skilled trades (FINALLY THANK GOD) and apparently they’ll be coming out with a more expansive plan to open the trades up so there aren’t such strict regulations around taking on apprentices. I’ve only been waiting for ANY acknowledgement for trade jobs since I started my apprenticeship back in 2006. Until now the only thing was a $1000 grant you could apply to for passing plumbing college courses.
– We voted on other resolutions to promote farming and there were talks about utilizing migrants skilled in agriculture to help grow rural Ontario
– We voted on a resolution to improve community based policing. To recognize that people who live around the Jane and Finch community have different needs than other communities 20 minutes outside in any direction, let alone the differences between suburban Ontario, rural Ontario and downtown cores. In today’s anti-cop culture, this is something we need to address.

And then there was the Tanya Granic Allen resolutions. There were several of them. And the vast majority them on saturday were based around the school curriculum and Kathleen wynne policies and bill89. (Bill89 Interpretation) They were to create a parental bill of rights, which I’m sure first nations people would have appreciated back in the residential school days. Another was to acknowledge parents as the first educators of their children. Stuff that should be common sense but after the assault on the family that was the kathleen wynne government, it’s now necessary for political parties to openly declare their positions on the role of the family. This included an acknowledgement that parents are the first educators of their children. Which is absolutely true! In what world are parents not responsible to raise and inform their children to prepare them for a diverse, modern world? But none of those make for good headlines when you’re trying to outrage your readers I guess. And very counter narrative to be portraying conservatives as protecting rights to cultural traditions and values.

It was papa Trudeau who famously said, “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” And we’re just saying that actually extends to the rest of the house. And then I was thrilled to vote to repeal Bill89 to revert the amendments to the child services act back to how it was before Kathleen Wynne decided that she had the right to remove your kids if you failed to affirm their gender transition, regardless the age. Yeah, we don’t let 5 year old boys walk into the doctor’s office to get a vasectomy or a 5 year old girl getting her tubes tied but God forbid you don’t hook them up to puberty blockers because they claimed they identified more with the opposing gender.

And this is where things get controversial. Not because there’s anything controversial with not wanting to treat your child as a social experiment, but because there are people who actually believe this is an acceptable way to treat a child. Are all these resolutions necessary? Well when you have teachers openly advertising to the world that they have no intention of respecting any wishes of the current government. And the teachers union openly encourages teachers to protest this government. If only they had this much zeal when the Liberals took away collective bargaining and retroactively removed contractual benefits over bill115. (CBC on Bill 115) So yeah, I believe these resolutions were actually necessary. That’s why I also voted for a resolution to make it mandatory for schools to advise parents a day ahead of teaching any sex ed. So if you know your kid’s teacher is an activist you have the ability to pull your child from indoctrination class. Not that I’m happy at the idea of this level of distrust of the education system but it is a symptom of the times we are now living in.

So then we got to the resolution where Tanya calls for an end to the teaching of “Gender Identity Theory” because it is a “highly controversial, unscientific liberal ideology”. The resolutions required 2/3 support to vote. The vast majority of delegates voted in favour of the resolutions, passing them all. I was among those who voted in favour and were very proud to do so. But not one single of these resolutions have anything to do with actual transgender people. The key word you need to pay attention to here is the word “theory”. Conservatives are not like these “progressives” who feel the need to hide behind dressed up language and talk in circles around what they actually mean. The theory is a direct reference to the Marxist method of critique for the purposes of deconstruction. It is not the role of the teacher to contest science through marxist critical theory. Biology is not a theory or bigotry. Biology is reality. And the resolution was aimed to draw a clear distinction between the home and the classroom. The classroom is for teaching facts and the home is for teaching values. Any parents who don’t want to love, embrace and value their children, we have child services for that.

We, in the city, sometimes fail to observe the occasional social bubble we can get trapped in. The majority of Ontarians support these changes and repeatedly complained to the Kathleen Government that she hadn’t consulted with them at all before making any of these radical changes. This government is doing just this, consulting. But it’s typical that we cannot even table a discussion of these subjects without being denounced by every media outlet. These aren’t direct policies either, these are votes on subject matter towards policy creation for next year’s convention. So right now they’re nothing more than conversation. Taking a temperature of relevant issues. And it’s not like the newspapers even engaged in that dialogue, it’s just your typical “bigot, racist, homophobe, transphobe, etc etc etc” and making sure every person you interview talks about how scared they are. Because treating the government as the boogeyman isn’t intellectually dishonest at all. But the media is not speaking for the actual majority view of the people. All they have demonstrated by their headlines are that they are narrative based activism, not the objective news that people deserve.

If you want to understand better how the wider main stream media manipulates the truth, feel free to watch this video lecture with Melanie Phillips: Melanie Philips Lecture on how media manipulate the truth.

Conservatives don’t have gender or ethnicity quotas. And the party has displayed quite well that this has not held anyone back from entering the party. The media would have you believe this is the party of white supremacists. I’m not saying all conservatives are angels, we’re all just people and some of us can be assholes but most of us are good people. And this government manages a visibly diverse cabinet and inner party executive base. What these resolutions are about are drawing a line in the sand to define what things go too far. And all you need to do to see what’s wrong with these regressive ideologies on the left is simply contemplate 10 years into the future to see all implications of all these things we cling to in the name of “compassion”. The road to hell was paved with good intentions. And it’s time for everyone to know that it’s ok to have these conversations, it’s ok to stand up and say “no”.

A girl does not have to be the same as a boy to be equal. Diversity is our strength BECAUSE of our differences. Our ability to build bridges make us more innovative and more effective as a collective. Multiculturalism at its best is colour blind. Rating and ranking groups of people on superficial traits like skin colour is nothing more than divisive, regressively tribal and in contempt of individual sovereignty.

The conservatives won the election with an almost super majority because people of all walks of life around Ontario do not want their children to be social experiments. The actual science (as per sex researcher Dr. Debra Soh) says that the vast majority of children who identify with the opposing gender at an early age turn out to be gay. To see homosexual tendencies in your child and immediately act to affirm a transition of their own gender is nothing more than trying to train the gay out of your child in an act of some kind of bizarre inverted homophobia. My daughter won’t be a lesbian if she’s a straight man. My son won’t be gay if he’s a woman. And even if they are among the less than 1% of people who actually do truly feel they were born in the wrong body, they can wait till they’re adults to make that very adult decision. Why do you NEED hormone blockers for a minor? So they’ll be more “passable” when they transition in the future?

Hey, if I had a kid and they showed me that they truly believed they were a trapped in the wrong body, I would do everything in my power to make my kid feel comfortable in their own skin and I’d like to think we would find a way to make it work. People seem to think this attitude is rare when in reality the vast majority of families actually love and support their kids. And no one wants to see ANY kid left behind. But to subject the rest of the 99% of children and families to this deconstructionist post-modern authoritarianism is just insane. And that’s what the province told us on election day, it was actually campaigned on by Doug Ford.

Look, identity is a complex thing. If Kathleen Wynne had not gone SO extreme with her ideological possession then the pendulum wouldn’t need to autocorrect so hard. There is a reason why the Liberals got reduced below party status on election day. And if you want to believe it’s because of homophobic bigots then I ask you, who voted her into a majority in the prior election? The same homophobic bigots? She had a real opportunity here and she completely blew it by betraying the center. She stopped listening. I believe there is room for us to ALL agree on these issues. We all spend like the first 30 years of our lives trying to figure out who we are. Politically, sexually, philosophically, technically, artistically, athletically, etc. No one is saying there is no room for healthy discussion around the things that make us different. And it’s important that we observe, listen and learn from those who struggle through this. Vice did an indepth doc on trans children.

To the handful of parents who do have to deal with gender dysphoria issues with their little kids, my heart really does hurt for them. It really is a very complex issue. And very scary. But it’s more than clear to me that these unique situations need to be treated as a case by case basis. There may be situations where hormone blockers really are the best path forward. I literally cannot think of one scenario like that but I’m open to the possibility of it. But that’s up to that family to decide. Not any level of government bureaucracy. How anyone can’t agree on that is so fucking crazy to me. To subject an entire province to government tyranny like this based on junk science really just shows the contempt some people have for the vast majority of us.

But the differences of a classroom will vary from classroom to classroom and it’s the role of the teacher to identify the needs of the students and cater to those needs. But we need to get back to a time when teachers and parents had healthy, trusting relationships and the child’s best interests at the forefront. But we will never get to that place, we will never get to that place if we cannot entertain any shred of nuance. This is not debating anyone’s “existence” or “humanity” or anything like that. We’re trying to find a way forward that works for EVERYONE and gets education RIGHT. Not something that works for less than 1% of people and sticks the rest of us with the middle finger. When you get education right everything else falls into place. Deconstructing known facts in the name of “progressiveness” and “compassion” will only hurt society. Like, where would you draw the line? Should we allow the teaching of flat earth theory? Just because something calls itself “inclusive” doesn’t mean that’s actually good for us.

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These are not my ideas by the way. there is a very vocal minority of professors who are speaking out about this stuff in academia. A minority because people are frankly terrified of the mob violence naysayers are subjected to. If this stuff is all relatively new to you then I highly advise you check out this fantastic lecture by Gad Saad.

Take the case of Emile Ratelbrand, the 69-year-old Dutchman who is seeking to change his age to 49. It’s hard to find a girlfriend when you’re 69, you know? Employers constantly discriminate against him based on his age but who are they to say that a 69 year old man can’t work a physical labour job for the next 30 years? Does the military or police or firefighters have a special bigoted, ageist agenda to hold back older people? why should they treat a 69 year old any different from a 19 year old? They don’t know his lived experience, they don’t know his truth! If you think this is ridiculous then you just haven’t been paying attention. If you do not stand for anything you just fall for everything. And we can discuss what things are actually good but there is no debating things that are actually bad. Bad actions actually tilt this world towards hell and we need to all shake hands, unite and move forward together.

I mean, if we’re going to talk about gay rights or trans rights then let’s discuss THAT. It’s not hard to observe all the ways homosexual and trans people experience REAL hate around the world. Whether that be the solidarity march in Ukraine that even the police failed to protect victims over. Or being sentenced to death through sharia law, resulting in being thrown off the roof of a high rise building. Or perhaps the leader of the country refuses to even acknowledge that their country even has a homosexual population. And even here at home we have places like covenant house which houses teenagers who have been kicked out of their homes for coming out to their parents. These are very real issues.

Simply discussing policy is not homophobia or transphobia. It’s a slap in the face to people who have actually experienced real hate and it actually creates a larger stigma against homosexuals and trans individuals. If we’re going to talk about one’s own “humanity” then we need to stop weaponizing actual people to be used as slurs against people and ideas we disagree with. There is nothing more patronizing than someone getting offended on my behalf. These people have dealt with tougher issues than the majority of us, they don’t need Andrea Horwath crying for them when her tears come with a subscription fee. Pride is more important than just some weekend event. And I’d like to invite all LGBTQ people to unite on this front and demand politicians stop using them as populist fodder for cheap political points. They deserve better. And I want to make it my mission to make sure that this PC government has an ear open to listen to ALL people. That’s why I invite you to put Ontario on your agenda. Let’s make Ontario the uniting tribe that we can all relate to. Let’s focus more on listening to one another. Your interests as an Ontarian are my interests as an Ontarian.

PC convention 4

Now to address these claims of voting fraud. Take a look at that picture above. See how my voting card has been stamped? That means I voted. And it means you’re only voting once. If I were to slap another sticker over my name the hole would still be punched in the tag. They specifically had a table of people you went to before voting to handle your tag to verify you haven’t already voted. I even hung around the area while waiting on a few others and I did not see anyone voting more than once or anything sketchy at all. All these constitution amendments that he talked about in the TVO interview that were all so based on “democracy” were crazy. Things like if the party leader pisses you off you get to vote on kicking him out. Because apparently no one has learned anything from the chaos that was patrick brown. How the fuck does that not leave things open for any special interest group to come in and sabotage the whole party right before an election? Once you have a leader you need to get behind that leader and unite as a party, not constantly hold them hostage to inner party squabbling. Almost all his amendments were voted down and he lost the bid for party president and now he’s just butt hurt as all hell and throwing a temper tantrum. And the fact that he doesn’t care how it makes the party as a whole look is pretty disgraceful. I was shocked at how much support he had. But I’m glad Jim lost.

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.”

– Elvis Presley