Alberta
Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan joins call for National Citizens Inquiry
Article submitted by Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan
A Citizen’s Inquiry into Government COVID Policy is in the Public Interest
The National Citizens Inquiry
Many, including myself, have been calling on governments for an independent, transparent, comprehensive public inquiry into governments’ response into COVID, including, a full-cost analysis of the harms of COVID-19 restrictions on children and young adults.
Governments are not responding, so private citizens are stepping up, including Preston Manning and other community leaders forming the National Citizens Inquiry (“Inquiry”).
This Inquiry is a citizen led inquiry, not a government commissioned public inquiry. A citizen led inquiry avoids some of the inherent conflicts of interest and losses of trust cumbering governments to lead in these circumstances.
As the Inquiry is citizen, not Government, led, it relies on public support. Information about the National Citizens Inquiry can be found at: https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/
Most important, the Inquiry will use its findings to make recommendations so that any future national crises are better managed, harms mitigated, and trust in public institutions upheld. Isn’t that what we all want?
The Inquiry is Justified
The website for the Inquiry reports that 3 out 4 Canadians report being harmed, not by COVID, but by governments’ COVID policies. For many the cure was worse than the disease. With this being the case, is it right to look the other way and pretend nothing happened? No.
Don’t these unprecedented government actions, incurring hundreds of billions in government debts, burdening our children for generations, compel us in the public interest to consider thoroughly and honestly what occurred? Yes.
The duty of government is to listen to the public, most of whom experienced harms from government COVID responses, with a sincere desire to learn from both successes and mistakes.
As the truth will always prevail, let’s love it and unite with it.
The Trudeau-NDP Media Fuelled Fear Machine is Not Stopping
For over two years, Trudeau, the NDP, and most of the media, using fear as a tool, sought for more restrictions, mandates and passports and lockdowns. They are not stopping.
This week the media is asking the Premier about masking children in schools. The Premier said government was not going to mandate across the board masking for children, respecting individual parent decisions to mask or not mask their children according to their own circumstances. While this was a principled response, that was not good enough for the left media, reporting “ALBERTA PREMIER SAYS NO SCHOOL MASK RULES AS VIRAL CASES RISE, JAMMING HOSPITALS”.
As a parent and having visited schools last week and this week, and seeing very few masks, I am forced to conclude that some of the left media folks are not normal Albertans and are divorced from reality. It seems as they want to live in a perpetual universe of fear, and they want to force all of us to join them.
The Inquiry is coming to Alberta
The Inquiry intends to hold seven hearings in the new year, nation wide in Canada, including one in Red Deer, for all of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This is an exciting, great opportunity to get involved, serve, and participate for more accountability and transparency.
A free and open discourse of perspectives and experiences allows us to respect our differences, valuing others. It fosters more truth and less error. The more truth the better. Alberta is a land of freedom and prosperity. We must be vigilant to keep it that way.
“If Ottawa had it’s way Albertans would be left to freeze in the dark”
The ineffective federal net-zero electricity regulations will not reduce emissions or benefit Albertans but will increase costs and lead to supply shortages.
The risk of power outages during a hot summer or the depths of harsh winter cold snaps, are not unrealistic outcomes if these regulations are implemented. According to the Alberta Electric System Operator’s analysis, the regulations in question would make Alberta’s electricity system more than 100 times less reliable than the province’s supply adequacy standard. Albertans expect their electricity to remain affordable and reliable, but implementation of these regulations could increase costs by a staggering 35 per cent.
Canada’s constitution is clear. Provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over the development, conservation and management of sites and facilities in the province for the generation and production of electrical energy. That is why Alberta’s government is referring the constitutionality of the federal government’s recent net-zero electricity regulations to the Court of Appeal of Alberta.
“The federal government refused to work collaboratively or listen to Canadians while developing these regulations. The results are ineffective, unachievable and irresponsible, and place Albertans’ livelihoods – and more importantly, lives – at significant risk. Our government will not accept unconstitutional net-zero regulations that leave Albertans vulnerable to blackouts in the middle of summer and winter when they need electricity the most.”
“The introduction of the Clean Electricity Regulations in Alberta by the federal government is another example of dangerous federal overreach. These regulations will create unpredictable power outages in the months when Albertans need reliable energy the most. They will also cause power prices to soar in Alberta, which will hit our vulnerable the hardest.”
Finalized in December 2024, the federal electricity regulations impose strict carbon limits on fossil fuel power, in an attempt to force a net-zero grid, an unachievable target given current technology and infrastructure. The reliance on unproven technologies makes it almost impossible to operate natural gas plants without costly upgrades, threatening investment, grid reliability, and Alberta’s energy security.
“Ottawa’s electricity regulations will leave Albertans in the dark. They aren’t about reducing emissions – they are unconstitutional, ideological activist policies based on standards that can’t be met and technology that doesn’t exist. It will drive away investment and punish businesses, provinces and families for using natural gas for reliable, dispatchable power. We will not put families at risk from safety and affordability impacts – rationing power during the coldest days of the year – and we will continue to stand up for Albertans.”
“Albertans depend on electricity to provide for their families, power their businesses and pursue their dreams. The federal government’s Clean Electricity Regulations threaten both the affordability and reliability of our power grid, and we will not stand by as these regulations put the well-being of Albertans at risk.”
Related information
- Conference Board of Canada socio-economic Impacts of Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan – (April 2025)
- Alberta Electric System Operator’s position on Canadian Energy Regulations
Oh, Canada
We find it endlessly fascinating that most Canadians believe they live in a representative democracy, where aspiring candidates engage in authentic politicking to earn their place in office. So accustomed are Canada’s power brokers to getting their way, they rarely bother to cover their tracks. A careful reading of the notoriously pliant Canadian press makes anticipating future events in the country surprisingly straightforward.
Back in December, when Pierre Poilievre was given better than 90% odds of replacing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—and Mark Carney was still just an uncharismatic banker few had heard of—we engaged in some not-so-speculative dot-connecting and correctly predicted Carney’s rise to the top spot. Our interest was driven by the notoriously rocky relationship between Ottawa and the Province of Alberta, home to one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves, and how Carney’s rise might be a catalyst for resetting Canada’s energy trajectory. In a follow-up article titled “The Fix Is In,” we laid out a few more predictions:
“Here’s how the play is likely to unfold in the weeks and months ahead: Carney will be elected Prime Minister on April 28 by a comfortable margin; [Alberta Premier Danielle] Smith will trigger a constitutional crisis, providing cover for Carney to strike a grand bargain that finally resolves longstanding tensions between the provinces and Ottawa; and large infrastructure permitting reform will fall into place. Protests against these developments will be surprisingly muted, and those who do take to the streets will be largely ignored by the media. The entire effort will be wrapped in a thicket of patriotism, with Trump portrayed as a threat even greater than climate change itself. References to carbon emissions will slowly fade…
In parallel, we expect Trump and Carney to swiftly strike a favorable deal on tariffs, padding the latter’s bona fides just as his political capital will be most needed.”
The votes have barely been counted, yet the next moves are already unfolding…
“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’ll make it easier for citizens to initiate a referendum on the province’s future in Canada, after warning that a Liberal win in Monday’s election could spur a groundswell of support for Alberta separatism. Smith said on Tuesday that a newly tabled elections bill will give everyday Albertans a bigger say in the province’s affairs.
‘(We’re giving) Albertans more ways to be directly involved in democracy, and to have their say on issues that matter to them,’ Smith told reporters in Edmonton.
If passed, the new law would dramatically lower the number of signatures needed to put a citizen-proposed constitutional referendum question on the ballot, setting a new threshold of 10 per cent of general election turnout — or just over 175,000, based on Alberta’s last provincial election in 2023.”
“US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to make a trade deal and will visit the White House within the next week. Trump said he congratulated Carney on his election victory when the Canadian leader called on Tuesday.
‘He called me up yesterday – he said let’s make a deal,’ Trump told reporters at the White House after a televised Cabinet meeting.”
Remember where you read it first.
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