Opinion

A good paint and bad engine is an easier sell than a good engine and bad paint.

Published

8 years ago

5 minute read

It is easier to sell a vehicle with a good paint job and a bad drive train than it is to sell a vehicle with a good drive train and a bad paint job. Buyers will over look the blue tinged exhaust but worry about the dime sized rust spot by the rear wheel. Not everyone but I would say the majority.
Sales people and politicians know this. Voters will vote for the fancy platform over the more substantive policy based platform. Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell is known for declaring elections are not the time to discuss policy. Between elections our politicians, generally, are invisible and voters are busy with their lives, so between elections policy is not discussed.
This October 16, we will be having our municipal elections, we will hear much about our downtown, the Riverlands, our trail systems like all the past elections, and we will hear much about the 2019 Winter Games.
The Winter Games is the paint job while our decreasing population is our engine. We will spend $2,000 for every visitor that will visit this city over those 2 weeks, but last year we lost 975 permanent residents. Which is the bigger issue? The city is not doing a census this year, so we will not know if the losses will continue. How much discussion will there be on reversing this trend, or will it all be blamed on the economy?
The five fastest growing cities in Canada are Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Lethbridge. They are all in western provinces, affected by the same economy, and Lethbridge is almost the same size as Red Deer. So why did they all grow while Red Deer shrank?
Blackfalds, Penhold, Sylvan Lake all grew while Red Deer shrank, but we are not discussing it, because it is the economy.
Let us delve further into Red Deer’s shrinkage. One third of the residents live north of the river and they lost 777 residents while two thirds of the residents live south of the river and they only lost 198 residents. So the north side is shrinking 8 times faster than the south side of the river. You cannot blame this on the provincial economy.
It might have more to do with the city planning for everything being on the south side. No high schools on the north side and 6 for the south side. 1 recreational complex on the north side, (Dawe Centre) and 10 on the south side ( the Downtown Recreation Centre, Michener Aquatic Centre, Downtown Arena, Centrium complex, Collicutt Recreation Centre, Pidherney Curling Centre, Kinex Arena, Kinsmen Community Arenas, Red Deer Curling Centre, and the under-construction Gary W. Harris Centre. The city is also talking about replacing the downtown recreation centre with an expanded 50m pool).
There will be few words or thoughts given to our bad engine and many offered about the winter games paint job.
Reminds me of the Rio Olympic Games, it emphasized the class differences, burden placed on the populace for the benefit of the few, and I did not hear of any mass migrations to Rio after the games. I did hear about the long term debt carried by the forgotten masses. I have no belief that our 2019 Winter Games will be the panacea for our declining population and economy in Red Deer.
Will we discuss the exiting from our downtown, businesses relocating to the county’s Gasoline Alley? No, probably not. because that is too negative while the trails have more positive spins and recognition. Though not because of the actions of our politicians now but from the actions of politicians long forgotten.
I think I see in my mind’s eye a lot of politicians taking note of the paint jobs but I do not see many lifting the hood. I really hope that I will be proven wrong, but if history is anything to go by, I won’t be. Fingers crossed.

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The Green Industrial Complex: Power, Panic, and Profits

Fraser Institute / 2 hours ago

Democracy waning in Canada due to federal policies

COVID-19 / 3 hours ago

Sen. Rand Paul: ‘I am officially re-referring Dr. Fauci to the DOJ’

John Stossel

The Green Industrial Complex: Power, Panic, and Profits

Published on July 15, 2025

Todayville

From StosselTV

Media portray environmental groups as the underdog. In reality, they’re the big guys, and today they’re rolling in money.

What’s worse is how they use it.

First, they peddle scares. They say polar bears are disappearing. They aren’t. They claim bees are dying off. Also not true. They spread these lies to get MORE money.

“Hysteria generates donations,” explains science writer Jon Entine. “The oxygen for these organizations is money donated by people who think they’re doing good.” It’s why Big E now receives billions in donations.

It’s bad enough that they lie to us to get paid. But they also use their money to block progress. One group boasts, “In the past year our legal team has stopped thousands of miles of fossil fuel pipelines and dozens of large power plants.”

They even oppose solar and wind farms. “It’s a shame,” argues Cato Institute’s Travis Fischer, “When I think about what America could be … we could be so much more prosperous than we are.”

Our video covers more ways Big E blocks progress.

After 40+ years of reporting, I now understand the importance of limited government and personal freedom.

——————————————

Libertarian journalist John Stossel created Stossel TV to explain liberty and free markets to young people.

Prior to Stossel TV he hosted a show on Fox Business and co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, 20/20. Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, “Stossel in the Classroom.”

High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year.

Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club.

Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award.

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Fraser Institute

Democracy waning in Canada due to federal policies

Published on July 15, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Lydia Miljan

In How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that while some democracies collapse due to external threats, many more self-destruct from within. Democratic backsliding often occurs not through dramatic coups but through the gradual erosion of institutions by elected leaders—presidents or prime ministers—who subvert the very system that brought them to power. Sometimes this process is swift, as in Germany in 1933, but more often it unfolds slowly and almost imperceptibly.

The book was written during Donald Trump’s first presidential term, when the authors expressed concern about his disregard for democratic norms. Drawing on Juan Linz’s 1978 work The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes, Levitsky and Ziblatt identified several warning signs of democratic decline in Trump’s leadership: rejection of democratic rules, denial of the legitimacy of political opponents, tolerance or encouragement of violence, and a willingness to restrict dissent including criticism from the media.

While Trump is an easy target for such critiques, Levitsky and Ziblatt’s broader thesis is that no democracy is immune to these threats. Could Canada be at risk of democratic decline? In light of developments over the past decade, perhaps.

Consider, for example, the state of free speech and government criticism. The previous Liberal government under Justin Trudeau was notably effective at cultivating a favourable media environment. Following the 2015 election, the media enjoyed a prolonged honeymoon period, often focusing on the prime minister’s image and “sunny ways.” After the 2019 election, which resulted in a minority government, the strategy shifted toward direct financial support. Citing pandemic-related revenue losses, the government introduced “temporary” subsidies for media organizations. These programs have since become permanent and costly, with $325 million allocated for 2024/25. During the 2025 election campaign, Mark Carney pledged to increase this by an additional $150 million.

Beyond the sheer scale of these subsidies, there’s growing concern that legacy media outlets—now financially dependent on government support—may struggle to maintain objectivity, particularly during national elections. This dependency risks undermining the media’s role as a watchdog of democracy.

Second, on April 27, 2023, the Trudeau government passed Bill C-11, an update to the Broadcasting Act that extends CRTC regulation to digital content. While individual social media users and podcasters are technically exempt, the law allows the CRTC to regulate platforms that host content from traditional broadcasters and streaming services—raising concerns about indirect censorship. This move further restricted freedom of speech in Canada.

Third, the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa was ruled unconstitutional by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley who found that the government had not met the legal threshold for such extraordinary powers. The same day of the ruling the government announced it would appeal the 200-page decision, doubling down on its justification for invoking the Act.

In addition to these concerns, federal government program spending has grown significantly—from 12.8 per cent of GDP in 2014/15 to a projected 16.2 per cent in 2023/24—indicating that the government is consuming an increasing share of the country’s resources.

Finally, Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, which became law on June 26, grants the federal cabinet—and effectively the prime minister—the power to override existing laws and regulations for projects deemed in the “national interest.” The bill’s vague language leaves the definition of “national interest” open to broad interpretation, giving the executive branch unprecedented authority to micromanage major projects.

Individually, these developments may appear justifiable or benign. Taken together, they suggest a troubling pattern—a gradual erosion of democratic norms and institutions in Canada.