I’ve mentioned a few times in recent articles that I am politically homeless. I did give the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservatives an opportunity and while I’m hopeful they get their act together, that turned out to be a fruitless exercise. I don’t see them being ready to be taken seriously as they still have too many old-timers happy with being in control and satisfied with 1% of the popular vote. I hope that turns around soon. I took on the role of Treasurer but it was short lived, as I quit upon learning an Executive vote that passed three motions (related to what I attended yesterday) was going to be overturned (and previously purchased Party memberships would be revoked) for reasons they can explain if you feel like digging into it further. I guess the thought of several thousand new, instant members wasn’t appealing but I digress.
What I’m about to detail are some random quotes and comments I gathered from what took place yesterday and it gave me hope that there are enough people in Saskatchewan that are ticked off with the status quo and are ready to spark an impactful and meaningful change. The biggest challenge will be to get what appears to be a whole bunch of smaller groups working independently to come together as one big unified movement.
A couple of impactful statements:
“For evil people to succeed, it takes good people to sit by and do nothing.”
“We used to watch the news to find out what is happening in the world. Now we watch the news and wonder what is happening in the world.”
The crowd was very appreciative of each speaker, as they all got standing ovations. The event was kicked off by giving the perspective of the Ottawa Freedom Convoy from the trucker side of things. This has been a highly divisive issue and you are either with them or against them and no real amount of writing is going to persuade a person to see the other side, unfortunately, but the proof is in the pudding. No violence. No terrorism. No weapons. Very well organized. A major threat to government tyranny. Zero attempt from the federal government to talk, only name calling. What I will say is that the convoy inspired a lot of people to come out of hiding and be more outspoken against the crushing of our rights. It also sped up the provincial process of removing mandates. Give them credit or don’t. I do.
For me, the first bit of impact came from two ladies who are behind the Sask Alliance project, which is something I’ve been wondering about how to tackle for over a year and I’m glad there are people organized and already into the process. In a nutshell, these folks are filing legal challenges with the intent being to ensure the infringements on civil liberties that we’ve experienced for the last two years never happen again.
The reality is that there is nothing stopping the Saskatchewan government from reversing course at a moment’s notice and they don’t have to show any evidence to back up their tyranny so we need to create change so that this never happens ever again. There are lawyers working on this effort and while it remains to be seen if they’ll be successful, it’s encouraging to know there are people fighting, one of which is an attorney who has an ancestor who was directly involved in the Nuremburg Trials.
Forget the Covid aspect of this. To me, the precedent has been set. If the government wants you to do something, they can exclude you from participating in society if they want. Pro-Covid restriction people may be applauding today but you will end up on the wrong side of this at some point. I will guarantee it.
When it comes to change, if it’s not ‘now’, then ‘when’. If not ‘us’, then ‘who’?
It’s noted the left wing organizes very well and they get involved in community groups. They sit on committees and make a big impact because they dominate these Boards. The example was given that people on the Right tend not to be bothered with this stuff because who really wants to tell a condo owner how many plants they can have? But, those on the Right need to be more involved in order to prevent others from being so bossy and dictatorial. I didn’t know this, but members of the general public can get involved with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. You can bet it’s infiltrated, just like School Boards, with left wing radicals. This needs to change or we will continue to see the erosion of parental rights and informed consent.
Coercion - the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.
Were you coerced to get the vaccine? I was. I wanted normal back. At no time did I think I needed these shots to keep from dying nor do I believe the silly notion that your vaccine only works if I get it too, but unless Saskatchewan hit 70% vaccinated, we were going to be faced with continuing restrictions. So get the shot or continue having the government’s boots on your throat. That’s coercion to me. Then there was Scott Moe’s comment that he can’t come back from, although he really should apologize for, and that’s the one where he said he was out of patience for those who were unvaccinated and he was going to make life very difficult for them. That’s not ‘choice’. In fact, it’s division in its highest form. It goes even further than that when you take into account how our youth were blocked from participating in any form of activity unless they got their two shots. Two shots, which I may add, they never ever had a need for. Covid has not, at any time, been a serious threat to our young people unless they are medically fragile (and this would apply to a miniscule number). My own kids were faced with the prospect of losing friends as their parents had said, “You won’t be allowed to hang out with any unvaccinated peers.” For me, that fits the coercion definition.
I won’t get into Dr. Eric Payne’s speech too much but he has real facts that show being triple boosted actually makes you more susceptible to future variants than those who aren’t vaccinated at all. He cited that Alberta’s current ICU Covid case count is 40% made up of people who are triple boosted. It took 18 months before a single child passed away from Covid and when it happened, the death was weaponized by Alberta’s top medical official and she was forced to retract her words when it was revealed the child died of brain cancer but also had Covid. To date, five kids have died ‘with’ Covid and all of them were seriously sick with another health issue.
This is next paragraph is damning. If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this:
There are 28 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Of those 28, Canada ranks 2nd in healthcare spending per thousand people. Of those 28, Canada ranks 26th in doctors per thousand and 25th in hospital beds per thousand. Not all of them track wait times, but of the 10 countries that do, Canada comes 10th. We all need to demand WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING? This is either the most glaring piece of evidence that we are run by corrupt people or those in charge are so far incompetent that they should all be replaced. There can be no defense for these statistics. Tell everyone you know because this is unacceptable and we must demand better. These people are, literally, stealing from us.
For me, the best speaker was Dr. Francis Christian. The Sask Health Authority has gotten rid of him and it’s easy to see why. He can make them all look like fools in seconds. Dr. Christian says healthcare should focus on keeping people out of the hospital through proper diet and exercise. Focus on keeping well at home, especially our elderly, who aren’t always well and sometimes fall, resulting in lengthy hospital stays. Dr. Christian also noted that qualifications to work in Canada are needlessly strict and we have foreign workers who want to be doctors here and are in other countries but are forced to work in other industries upon arriving in Canada. These barriers need to be removed. A doctor is a doctor is a doctor. This is something I’ve personally wondered about. If a doctor can take care of me in India, why can’t he/she in Canada? What’s different?
Dr. Christian added that there is no shame in making mistakes, but this government has not once issued an apology and they are still poised to do this all over again. “Leadership should not be how do I get elected.”
Justice Centre lawyer Andre Memauri hammered this point home: “The Canadian Charter of Rights is the contract between the populace and the nation. Under the guise of ‘safety’, this contract has been trampled on and tossed aside like a dirty napkin.”
I’ve always said what needs to be challenged is the ‘State of Emergency’, which allowed these governments to ignore the Charter. I believe that at no point were we ever in an emergency situation. That’s evident today where hospital numbers are still stressed but restrictions are gone. Think of how many times over the last two years where we had 50 or fewer in hospital but it was considered ‘an emergency’. Now we have 300 and it’s not an emergency? Explain that.
The level of cover-up in this is immense. Memauri pointed out that many lawyers refused to take on cases where people had been terminated from their jobs for refusing a vaccine yet these same lawyers have no problem representing murderers and pedophiles. Why is representing someone who isn’t sure if their rights have been violated such a taboo issue to tackle?
Unions refused to stand up for their members.
“Bad ideas are defeated with better ideas, not censorship.”
Independent MLA Nadine Wilson noted that Moe maybe didn’t always agree with some of his own measures but that the SaskParty government ‘went along to get along’. Moe may be a good man but he must answer for how this has played out. Many people have seen their good reputations slaughtered because of cheap politics.
Rural voters have been betrayed by the SaskParty.
If private business was run the way governments run provinces, those businesses would be closed and bankrupt. Look at the recent budget where a deficit of over $400-million is viewed as a form of success.
Wilson also pointed out that we pay a tremendous amount of money in taxes but then when we demand to see the books and where our money is going, it costs us even more to have some of it revealed.
These people are supposed to be working for us. We are supposed to be the boss. Politicians and bureaucrats are there for public service. Servants to the public. Not rulers of the public. This model is completely upside down.
The final speaker of the day was Ken Rutherford. I had the chance to meet with Ken a month or so ago. I don’t think he wants to be a politician, but based on what I’ve seen so far….he would be a very formidable Party Leader and I hope he reconsiders. He made it very clear that this ‘new’ Party is not looking to divide factions on the Right but rather hoping to unite all of them. As I mentioned at the start of my article, we have so many different small groups working on similar goals but in order to impact change those groups need to come together as one.
At the moment, neither the Conservatives or the Buffalo Party can be taken overly seriously but the folks involved on the Steering Committee of what I attended yesterday should not be underestimated. Most of them have no political background at all. They just want to live free of interference but there are some long time politicians working in advisory roles in the background to help get this group going.
I can’t help but think the simplest solution to all of this would be a simple ‘sorry’ from Scott Moe’s government and then allow them to take the lead to ensure what they did for the last two years can never happen again. The SaskParty could use a long look in the mirror and if they were honest with themselves, they could be the government for life in this province. But, I think the collective ego is too out of control for that to be any more than wishful thinking.
They are also weak. They made a choice to cater to people who will never vote for them and vacated their leadership roles because going against the grain would have been too hard. In doing so, they’ve lost the support of many who have voted for them over the last 20 years. It just remains to be seen if those people can get organized enough to replace them or not.
If you want to be a part of this movement, all you have to do is send an email to ‘newsaskpartyemail@gmail.com’. Put ‘Sask Political Group’ in the header and then in the body of the email, provide your name, cell phone number, and community nearest to you. Your personal information will not be shared but you will be kept up to date with future communications.
I’m in. I need a political home.
Thank you for the synopsis. We were unable to get up to stoon on Saturday. Nadine Ness and I have recently become aquainted and I believe this group has good goals and an awareness of the nefarious intentions within the sask party. I am here to support in anyway I can. This power-tripping of government bodies needs to stop. Our God-given rights cannot be trampled by elected public employees.
Very well written and informative