Albertans encouraged to wear cloth masks in public: easy tips and links on “How To” make your own

It is not the law, but Canada and Alberta have agreed with the idea that wearing a homemade cloth mask might help in the spreading the coronavirus, especially when it is hard to maintain the 2-metre physical distancing when in public.

YouTuber Japanese Creations offers how-to make face masks videos and tip for fogged-up glasses. Link Below

It is a culture clash between eastern and western countries. Unlike most Asian countries where a lot of the population regularly wear masks in public, in Western counties wearing a mask in public is not as easily accepted by the majority of the population. Many people find that they are treated as “infected” when they wear a face mask in public. Only time will tell if this Covid- 19 pandemic will change the majority of Canadians opinion people wear masks in public.

In February, China’s state media site posted a very strong opinion piece entitled, “Refusing Mask Wearing In Public Is A Threat To Civilization.”

Also not pulling any punches, virologist and immunologist, George Gao told ScienceMagazine.org, “The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe – is that people aren’t wearing masks. Gao is the director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact.

George Gao

You’ve got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth – masks, can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.” Across Asian countries the populations are onboard that, “there are an unknown number of people that are asystematic, carrying the coronavirus and they do not even know it.” So, in the spirit of a country’s solidarity, “there is a need to protect others from yourself.”

In recent weeks countries have seen the stats and cannot ignore the lower numbers of infected in mask wearing countries like, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, the region of Hong Kong and China has also now flatted the curve and have loosed up on the city military lock-downs.

Recently passing laws that make it mandatory to wear a face mask in public are the Czech, Slovakia, Indonesia and the Philippines. On April 3rd, US President Donald Trump, announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending, on a voluntary basis, that Americans wear “non-medical cloth” face coverings.

Making homemade masks can be a fun family craft time. If you are of age, you can even toast a glass of wine to celebrate a good job. Make extras so you can change them up, give to friends or even donate them to those in need.

In Canada Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has changed her view and is now saying, “Wearing a non-medical mask, even if you have no symptoms, is an additional measure that you can take to protect others around you in situations where physical distancing is difficult to maintain, such as in public transit or maybe in the grocery store.”

In Alberta, the view has also changed on the general public wearing mask in public. Leading off with the premier Kenney, who has seen countries that have been successful in keeping the transmission of COVID-19 down, have all had widespread use of face masks. Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said at a press conference, “What we know is that people who are sick spread illness – wearing a non-medical mask, such as a homemade cloth mask, has not been proven to protect the person who is wearing it,” but added, “However, it may be helpful in protecting others around you.”

The Alberta government wants people to follow these rules, even when wearing face coverings in public.

Continue to follow all other public health guidance (staying two metres away from others, wash hands regularly, stay home when sick).
Avoid touching your face and mask while using it.
Wash hands before putting on a mask, then before and after removing it.
Clean a cloth mask as soon as it gets damp or soiled.
Put it directly in the washing machine or a sealed bag that can be emptied into the washing machine and then be disposed of.
Cloth masks can be laundered with other items using a hot cycle, then dried in the dryer at the highest temperature setting.
Medical masks can’t be washed and should be discarded and replaced as soon as they get damp, soiled or crumpled.
Dispose of these masks in a lined garbage bin.
Do not share masks with others.

There are many online resources where you can easily make a cloth mask with or without a sewing machine.

Youtuber Danysska from the Czech republic has a very easy “How To” do instructions on how to make a cloth mask with no sewing.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has a web page with easy instructions on how to make 3-different masks, one needs a sewing machine and two do not.
With 1.5+ million views already. Japanese Creations on YouTube has two great how to videos. The second one has good tips to help glasses from fogging up, amazing what a small piece of tinfoil can do. Both do not need for a sewing machine. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxl_I7lKw-bjUz3ECa_jwg
The Surgeon General for the US, Dr. Jerome Adam has an easy to follow how to make a face mask video, with-out a sewing machine.
From prixprix on Instructables.com with a step by step photo instructions on how to make face mask out of an old T-shirt, no sewing machine required.
With over 1.9+ million views, HomeMadeOnOurHomestead, has a good how to sew a reusable face mask with a filter pocket.
1.6+ million views and counting, Thoughtful Creativity, has a tutorial on how to make cloth face masks in a batches using a sewing machine.
Not wanting to be outdone with 1.8+ million views, Kim’s Kitchen Affair, and her DIY how to sew a reusable pleated face mask with nose bridge and filter pockets in just 5 Minutes. Some sewing skills required!

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Alberta

Alberta awash in corporate welfare

Published on July 26, 2024

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

To understand Ottawa’s negative impact on Alberta’s economy and living standards, juxtapose two recent pieces of data.

First, in July the Trudeau government made three separate “economic development” spending announcements in Alberta, totalling more than $80 million and affecting 37 different projects related to the “green economy,” clean technology and agriculture. And second, as noted in a new essay by Fraser Institute senior fellow Kenneth Green, inflation-adjusted business investment (excluding residential structures) in Canada’s extraction sector (mining, quarrying, oil and gas) fell 51.2 per cent from 2014 to 2022.

The productivity gains that raise living standards and improve economic conditions rely on business investment. But business investment in Canada has declined over the past decade and total economic growth per person (inflation-adjusted) from Q3-2015 through to Q1-2024 has been less than 1 per cent versus robust growth of nearly 16 per cent in the United States over the same period.

For Canada’s extraction sector, as Green documents, federal policies—new fuel regulations, extended review processes on major infrastructure projects, an effective ban on oil shipments on British Columbia’s northern coast, a hard greenhouse gas emissions cap targeting oil and gas, and other regulatory initiatives—are largely to blame for the massive decline in investment.

Meanwhile, as Ottawa impedes private investment, its latest bundle of economic development announcements underscores its strategy to have government take the lead in allocating economic resources, whether for infrastructure and public institutions or for corporate welfare to private companies.

Consider these federally-subsidized projects.

A gas cloud imaging company received $4.1 million from taxpayers to expand marketing, operations and product development. The Battery Metals Association of Canada received $850,000 to “support growth of the battery metals sector in Western Canada by enhancing collaboration and education stakeholders.” A food manufacturer in Lethbridge received $5.2 million to increase production of plant-based protein products. Ermineskin Cree Nation received nearly $400,000 for a feasibility study for a new solar farm. The Town of Coronation received almost $900,000 to renovate and retrofit two buildings into a business incubator. The Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada received $400,000 for marketing and other support to help boost clean technology product exports. And so on.

When the Trudeau government announced all this corporate welfare and spending, it naturally claimed it create economic growth and good jobs. But corporate welfare doesn’t create growth and good jobs, it only directs resources (including labour) to subsidized sectors and businesses and away from sectors and businesses that must be more heavily taxed to support the subsidies. The effect of government initiatives that reduce private investment and replace it with government spending is a net economic loss.

As 20th-century business and economics journalist Henry Hazlitt put it, the case for government directing investment (instead of the private sector) relies on politicians and bureaucrats—who did not earn the money and to whom the money does not belong—investing that money wisely and with almost perfect foresight. Of course, that’s preposterous.

Alas, this replacement of private-sector investment with public spending is happening not only in Alberta but across Canada today due to the Trudeau government’s fiscal policies. Lower productivity and lower living standards, the data show, are the unhappy results.

Author:

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute

Alberta

‘Fireworks’ As Defence Opens Case In Coutts Two Trial

Published on July 25, 2024

Todayville

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Ray McGinnis

Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert are on trial for conspiracy to commit murder and firearms charges in relation to the Coutts Blockade into mid-February 2022. In opening her case before a Lethbridge, AB, jury on July 11, Olienick’s lawyer, Marilyn Burns stated “This is a political, criminal trial that is un Canadian.” She told the jury, “You will be shocked, and at the very least, disappointed with how Canada’s own RCMP conducted themselves during and after the Coutts protest,” as she summarized officers’ testimony during presentation of the Crown’s case. Burns also contended that “the conduct of Alberta’s provincial government and Canada’s federal government are entwined with the RCMP.” The arrests of the Coutts Four on the night of February 13 and noon hour of February 14, were key events in a decision by the Clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette, and the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jody Thomas, to advise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act. Chief Justice Paul Rouleau, in submitting his Public Order Emergency Commission Report to Parliament on February 17, 2023, also cited events at the Coutts Blockade as key to his conclusion that the government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act.

Justice David Labrenz cautioned attorney Burns regarding her language, after Crown prosecutor Stephen Johnson objected to some of the language in the opening statement of Olienick’s counsel. Futher discussion about the appropriateness of attorney Burns’ statement to the jury is behind a publication ban, as discussions occurred without the jury present.

Justice Labrenz told the jury on July 12, “I would remind you that the presumption of innocence means that both the accused are cloaked with that presumption, unless the Crown proves beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of the charge(s).” He further clarified what should result if the jurors were uncertain about which narrative to believe: the account by the Crown, or the account from the accused lawyers. Labrenz stated that such ambivalence must lead to an acquittal; As such a degree of uncertainty regarding which case to trust in does not meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” threshold for a conviction.”

On July 15, 2024, a Lethbridge jury heard evidence from a former employer of Olienicks’ named Brian Lambert. He stated that he had tasked Olienick run his sandstone quarry and mining business. He was a business partner with Olienick. In that capacity, Olienick made use of what Lambert referred to as “little firecrackers,” to quarry the sandstone and reduce it in size. Reducing the size of the stone renders it manageable to get refined and repurposed so it could be sold to buyers of stone for other uses (building construction, patio stones, etc.) Lambert explained that the “firecrackers” were “explosive devices” packaged within tubing and pipes that could also be used for plumbing. He detailed how “You make them out of ordinary plumbing pipe and use some kind of propellant like shotgun powder…” Lambert explained that the length of the pipe “…depended on how big a hole or how large a piece of stone you were going to crack. The one I saw was about six inches long … maybe an inch in diameter.”

One of Olienick’s charges is “unlawful possession of an explosive device for a dangerous purpose.” The principal evidence offered up by RCMP to the Crown is what the officers depicted as “pipe bombs” which they obtained at the residence of Anthony Olienick in Claresholm, Alberta, about a two-hour drive from Coutts. Officers entered his home after he was arrested the night of February 13, 2022. Lambert’s testimony offers a plausible common use for the “firecrackers” the RCMP referred to as “pipe bombs.” Lambert added, these “firecrackers” have a firecracker fuse, and in the world of “explosive” they are “no big deal.”

Fellow accused, Chris Carbert, is does not face the additional charge of unlawful possession of explosives for a dangerous purpose. This is the first full week of the case for the defence. The trial began on June 6 when the Crown began presenting its case.

Ray McGinnis is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who recently attended several days of testimony at the Coutts Two trial.