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Councillor Harris asked and the city said yes, now the city is taking the lead on Energy Retrofits.

Published

9 years ago

4 minute read

Councillor Paul Harris forwarded a motion asking the city to consider advocating for an energy retrofit program. The city adopted the motion, and is now a leader among Alberta’s cities in this arena.
It was not unanimous among the councillors, and it was not expected to achieve unanimity, actually it was uncertain if it would garner a majority vote.
This motion may not accomplish what it hopes, but it did turn a page. This motion addressed issues like the environment, economics, unemployment, diversity and the future. It expanded our thinking outward after years of looking inward, concentrating on inner issues like downtown revitalization. I am pleased because I have yet to find any successes, where the mayor claims it is due to downtown revitalization.
Paul Harris has been bruised while on city council, he has carried the baggage of issues like the bike lanes and could have kept his head down. He did not, he persevered and took unpopular stances, many of which I argued against, but he kept going and with this latest motion, he can hold his head high.
There are those who believe that this is wrong, it is outside the status quo, it will take away from other issues, it will take attention away from areas like our downtown, and it is different. I would like to see the city concentrate on building a recreation centre and a high school north of the river and develop Hazlett Lake as a tourist destination and staycation paradise, but I also know that we are a region with the poorest air in a province that has the poorest air quality in Canada. I also know that we have an extremely high unemployment rate, and this motion addresses both.
Red Deer’s population is declining, Municipal census says 1,000 fewer residents last year but the Federal census says it was only 400 residents last year, but either one shows a declining population from 2015 to 2016. This may attract new businesses, new jobs, and new residents, I believe so.
The city has been mired in mediocrity and status quo inner circles for too long. All the indicators have shown this, increasing crime rates, population decline, businesses leaving, poor air, high unemployment and lack of serious effort around the neglect of the area north of the river, which by the way had population decline rate nearly ten times per capita higher than the south side of the river.
Perhaps the adoption of this motion may mean the consideration of other issues that have been too long ignored. Instead of diluting our provincial advocacy efforts it might get us noticed, again? I think so.
Rumor has it that Paul Harris may not run in this year’s municipal election. I hope that is but a rumor, because I think Red Deer needs people who have vision and willing to propose different ideas. Besides I would miss criticizing some of his other proposals.
I thank the city for taking the lead on this, It took courage. Thank you.

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Energy

National media energy attacks: Bureau chiefs or three major Canadian newspapers woefully misinformed about pipelines

Published on October 23, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Kenneth P. Green

These three allegedly well informed national opinion-shapers are incredibly ignorant of national energy realities.

In a recent episode of CPAC PrimeTime Politics, three bureau chiefs from three major Canadian newspapers discussed the fracas between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney. The Smith government plans to submit a proposal to Ottawa to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s north coast. The episode underscored the profound disconnect between these major journalistic gatekeepers and the realities of energy policy in Canada.

First out of the gate, the Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife made the (false) argument that we already have the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX), which is only running at 70 per cent, so we don’t need additional pipelines. This variant of the “no market case” argument misunderstands both the economics of running pipelines and the reality of how much oilsands production can increase to supply foreign markets if—and only if—there’s a way to get it there.

In reality, since the TMX expansion entered service, about 80 per cent of the system’s capacity is reserved for long-term contracts by committed shippers, and the rest is available on a monthly basis for spot shippers who pay higher rates due largely to government-imposed costs of construction. From June 2024 to June 2025, committed capacity was fully utilized each month, averaging 99 per cent utilization. Simply put, TMX is essentially fully subscribed and flowing at a high percentage of its physical capacity.

And the idea that we don’t need additional capacity is also silly. According to S&P Global, Canadian oilsands production will reach a record annual average production of 3.5 million barrels per day (b/d), and by 2030 could top 3.9 million b/d (that’s 500,000 b/d higher than 2024). Without pipeline expansion, this growth may not happen. Alberta’s government, which is already coordinating with pipeline companies such as Enbridge, hopes to see oilsands production double in coming years.

Next, Mia Rabson, Ottawa deputy bureau chief of the Canadian Press, implied that Smith’s proposal is not viable because it comes from government, not the private sector. But Rabson neglected to say that it would be foolish for any company to prepare a very expensive project proposal in light of current massive regulatory legislative barriers (tanker ban off B.C. coast, oil and gas emission cap, etc.). Indeed, proposal costs can run into the billions.

Finally, Joel-Denis Bellavance, Ottawa bureau chief of La Presse, opined that a year ago “building a pipeline was not part of the national conversation.” Really? On what planet? How thick is the bubble around Quebec? Is it like bulletproof Perspex? This is a person helping shape Quebec opinion on pipelines in Western Canada, and if we take him at his word, he doesn’t know that pipelines and energy infrastructure have been on the agenda for quite some time now.

If these are the gatekeepers of Canadian news in central Canada, it’s no wonder that the citizenry seems so woefully uninformed about the need to build new pipelines, to move Alberta oil and gas to foreign markets beyond the United States, to strengthen Canada’s economy and to employ in many provinces people who don’t work in the media.

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Bruce Dowbiggin

While America Shrugs Off Woke, Canada Doubles Down On Feminizing Society

Published on October 23, 2025

By

There is a truism that politicians believe that strategy wins battles. Generals know that logistics win battles. Translation: You can have all the shiny new weapons but if you don’t have a delivery system to support them you’re going to lose.

The success of the Woke Left this past generation has been its creation of delivery systems in the media and culture to carry out their agenda. The result: a feminization of Western culture, exemplified by the manic hatred of 1980s alpha man Donald Trump.  From their modest demand for “safe spaces” they now have rendered all criticism of social dysphoria as hate speech and the speakers criminal. Murder in the service of trans— suggested by Jane Fonda— is considered holy.

Writes conservative political analyst Helen Andrews.. “Everything you think of as wokeness involves prioritizing the feminine over the masculine: empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition… The most important sex difference in group dynamics is attitude to conflict. In short, men wage conflict openly while women covertly undermine or ostracize their enemies.” Translation: If it feels good it must be correct.

As we noted in June emotional narratives now override facts in public discourse.  The currency in this societal change has been victimization as the badge of virtue. Young women, in particular, are willing to believe even the most outlandish claims of victimization in exchange for credibility in the Woke camp. One example from the past week’s No Kings performative marches example: Women are being ignored in media or being discriminated against in hiring or academia. As if.

No Kings had all the hallmarks of the victim strategy. A predominately female, plus-60 audience and their handlers from the education system, all united in loathing Donald Trump. The shared distress brought on by POTUS 47. A Hollywood component led by Kathy Griffin.

So, after all the bonding and talking, what message did they take away from the large crowds and media love? Was it empathy or rationality? As Andrews writes, “The outcome of a discussion is less important than the fact that a discussion was held and everyone participated in it.” Besides a few pathetic folk songs, badly written signs, cheeky assassination memes they mostly took away a feeling of unity. It was, like Stalin’s Soviet Union army parades, a display of the delivery systems they’ll use to enforce loyalty in the future.

For organizers who know they’re not going to get rid of POTUS 45/ 47 anytime soon, there was the added confidence that this base will fall obediently in line when the nomenklatura call them to do their bidding— the same way they did on lockdowns, vaccines and pussy hats.

The problem for the Left’s leaders after all the Charlie Kirk references and Pete Seeger nostalgia is that the delivery system is still struggling to find a new wedge weapon to slow down Trump. (He’s still polling in the high 40s approval with pollsters who correctly called 2024.) All the Congressional shutdowns, Epstein references and Putin references that worked before are now failing.

“CNN: This shutdown is a different world for Trump than the 2018-19 shutdown. He’s in a much better spot. Here is his Shutdown Trump Net Approval

Blame Trump for Shutdown:

2019: yes 61%

2025: no 48%

Worse, support for critical issues such as trans is falling. Canadian political scientist Andrew Kaufman shocked progressives with polling showing that trans identification is in free-fall among the young the past five years. So is nonbinary identity. (Pretty soon only their demented parents will buy the grift.)

As well, Congressional district adjustments could give the GOP as many as 20 new seats in the midterm. Hence the broad hints at violent civil unrest from the more excited paraders this weekend. And the disingenuous claims of how peaceful the Left was on the weekend. In short it was No Kings. No New Ideas.

While America roils in the dynamics of a Woke retreat, Kaufman points out that Canada remains entirely in the thrall of the feminized morality introduced by Justin Trudeau’s election ten years ago this month in 2015. “Liberals: Stop importing US politics into Canada. Also Liberals: Hey look, the U.S is holding a ‘No Kings’ protest. Let do it too.”

The image of the hip, sexually ambiguous Trudeau has been followed by the feminized Mark Carney with his trans child. The symbolism is no accident. The Canadian Left’s rock/ paper/ scissors emotion now trumps irrationality. Canadians questioning dysphoria or promoting traditional male roles is now punishable by firing or banishment from social media. Emotional blackmail is a delivery system for Canada’s left. But it only goes one way. If you act like a traditionsl man publicly (see: Danielle Smith) your female cloak of supremacy loses its superpowers.

While the U.S. Left struggles the political delivery system Canada is, by contrast, armed to the teeth with live feminist ammo aimed at Pierre Poilievre. Somehow the meek bureaucrat from Ottawa is painted as mini-Trump by the heavy hitters of the Left.  The past week saw the titans of the keyboards twist anti PP comments from a former Stephen Harper aide into an attack from the former PM. It took hours before Harper’s office quashed the implications of Polievre hate, too late to expunge the scars.

Elbows Up aficiandos took their shots, too: “Here’s a sample: @PierrePoilievre has desecrated the memory of my father and insulted every officer who has served in the RCMP. This cannot be forgiven or forgotten.” This after Poilievre asked why it was not an issue that a fired Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson Raybould, was not allowed to ask why Skippy didn’t want the RCMP to do their job. This was 14 times she was told to stand down on issues over Trudeau’s donors.

To forestall any rejection of Woke, Carney’s strategy is to turn Canada in the direction of ultra-liberal Europe and away from Trumpland. But the logistics of a crumbling economy and separation on several fronts in Canada may take the decision out of his hands.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

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