Bruce Dowbiggin
Exit Stage Right: Bordering On A Change
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“There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Buffalo Springfield
In a delightful irony the hippy ode to 1960s Richard Nixon tyrant-obsession is now applicable to 2020s Woke oppression. While the Left still reminisces about its rebellious past it has in fact morphed into the Establishment Party. The smugness of the new symmetry was summed up in Montreal by F1 driver Sebastian Vettel, whose team is sponsored by Saudi Aramco (the world’s largest petroleum producer) criticizing Alberta’s energy industry for sins against Gaia.
Short of a miracle, nothing will penetrate this orb of virtue. These onetime radicals have closed the information loop; nothing is getting in now. The View’s self-image as truth speakers for the power grid is locked in for life, contrary information be damned.
Meanwhile the former party of Wall Steet/ Bay Street is now churning with revolutionary foment about sovereignty and secession. While pundits will say that this right-wing pushback has happened in the past— see: Social Credit Party/ Reform Party— there is a dark commitment contained in the current crisis.
The elites of Ottawa and DC saw Donald Trump as a rogue Gilgamesh bent on conquering gullible conservatives, but he was instead a messenger from the middle class to the elites that they have failed the people who don’t fly private jets. Instead of heeding the warning the Left condemned Trump, believing his demise would spell the end of the rebellion.
Fat chance. Faster than you can say Ron DeSantis, governments in affected regions are setting out the terms of their continued cooperation with the elites. While Elon Musk points Twitter away from its advocacy role as establishment censors, grassroots movements are staking out a challenge.
In Alberta, where Jason Kenney’s half-hearted attempts to articulate the province’s resentment at having its energy industry sacrificed to foreign grad students and Marxists, a potential successor is being blunt on where she’s going. Enter former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, now running for the United Conservative Party leadership. “On Day One, I’m introducing the Alberta Sovereignty Act, authorizing our provincial government to refuse to enforce any federal law or policy that attacks Alberta’s interest or our provincial rights.”
Smith sees Quebec’s rejection of federal rights & freedoms and British Columbia’s lax enforcement of cannabis laws prior to legalization as a pathway in which Alberta could opt to dodge federal law. “It seems to me we’ve established a precedent that laws that do not work in a particular jurisdiction, that the province has the latitude to either seek an exemption or say it won’t apply,” Smith said. She pointed to Quebec’s Bill 96, which insists on French supremacy in the province, as examples for Alberta to follow.
Jesse Kline in the National Post (a sovereignty sceptic) outlined the issues: “Alberta’s grievances are very real. Our electoral system gives more weight to voters in Quebec and Atlantic Canada than in the West. The Senate, which is supposed to be regionally represented, affords twice as many seats to Ontario and Quebec as all the western provinces combined.
“The equalization system is full of baked-in inequalities that put Alberta at a disadvantage. And if Alberta’s oil and gas industry isn’t being attacked by the openly hostile Liberal government in Ottawa, it’s being stymied by the other provinces.”
Legal scholars were quick to dampen enthusiasm for the proposal. “The idea is frankly so absurd and untenable I’m not even sure it would create a crisis, because it would be laughed out of court too quickly for a crisis to develop,” says Emmett Macfarlane, a constitutional law expert at the University of Waterloo.
The usual media suspects, too, are tut-tutting the notion. They repeat the hoary clichés from Meech Lake days about “a peaceful, prosperous and democratic country that has withstood the test of time.”
In this gauzy nostalgia there seems to be little realization at the heart of federal power in Ottawa that they’re losing the country. That, maybe, siding with the guy who calls fellow citizens fascists, Nazis, anti-science and worse—then goes and hides in a bunker while you get honked at— is not a legal problem but a moral one.
How far would Trudeau’s federal government be willing to go in punishing elected officials in Alberta and perhaps Saskatchewan who defy them? Having the law on your side is one thing. Enforcing it is another. Waging economic war against the West on behalf of Ontario only perpetuates the grievances of the West and splits the nation further. Sovereignty author Barry Cooper did the math. “Indeed, that is the whole point. The Canadian Constitution has never worked in favour of Albertans, so it needs to be changed.”
Meanwhile, Texas Republicans, smarting over the porous border with Mexico and their own GOP senators voting to erode the Second Amendment are drawing their own line in in the dust. In a recent document, the state GOP called for a referendum on secession in 2023. The referendum will determine if Texas should “reassert its status as an independent nation.”
“The legality of seceding is problematic,” Eric McDaniel, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in 2016. “The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues.”
But halting the erosion of state sovereignty might be too late. A series of recent referenda have revealed that nine Oregon counties have voted to join Idaho, with another three to vote in November. Those counties— which make up 64 percent of Oregon’s land mass— are fed up with Oregon’s Uber-left government based on the coast and seek to join the more conservative Idaho.
This comes in concert with a wholesale exodus of people and businesses from high-tax blue states such as New York, Illinois and California to red states with lower taxes, less crime and fewer regulations. In Canada, urban Boomers are fleeing the major metro regions for rural Ontario or the Maritimes, convinced that the urban crime, soaring taxes and a crumbling infrastructure delivered by today’s elites has seen its day.
As Buffalo Springfield said, “ It starts when you’re always afraid. Step out of line, the man come and take you away.”
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Snuffed-Out Flames: From Beatdown To Teardown in 18 Months
“Sic transit gloria” There have been rude collapses in the NHL’s recent past, but few have happened with such alacrity as the Calgary Flames’ descent into hell. Two years ago this April, the Flames were favourites to beat their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. The Flames had beaten the Dallas Stars with a Game 7 OT snipe from Johnny Gaudreau. Meanwhile, the Oilers had been life-and-death to subdue the L.A. Kings in their own seven-game ordeal.
For two franchises looking to make a statement, this first playoff meeting of the Alberta rivals since 1991 was perfect timing. Led by the incomparable Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers had been knocking on the door to a long playoff run for a few years. The high-scoring Flames, meanwhile, had shocked the NHL by taking the Pacific after just one playoff series win since 2004. All three players on their top line— Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuck, Elias Lindholm—had scored 40 or more goals, while goalie Jacob Markstrom was a Vezina Trophy nominee.
Yes, there were clouds on the Flames’ horizon. Gaudreau was weeks from being an UFA. His cohort Matthew Tkachuck, was likely to be asking for a boatload of money in contract talks. Numerous key veterans would also be up for pay raises within the next two years. But a win over their Edmonton rivals could dampen that downer.
Edmonton had no such contractual distractions, having sewn up their core of McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse. It showed. The series was over quicker than anyone expected. Even Game 1’s 9-6 decision for the favoured Flames saw them blow a 5-1 lead before salvaging the game. They also led Gm. 2 by 2-0 before Edmonton mounted another (successful) comeback. In fact, Calgary’s defence would not hold leads in the remaining four games of Edmonton’s 4-1 series triumph.
As the series dragged on, Calgary’s top line seemingly could not match the speed of McDavid and the Oilers’ deadly attack. Outside his series-opening hat trick, Tkachuk had just a single assist and a -4 rating in the series. Gaudreau had just two points in the final four games while Lindholm was held to a single goal and one assist in Games 2-5. (McDavid, by contrast, ended up with three goals and nine assists against suddenly porous Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom).
For those looking for the moment this Flames’ iteration fell apart, the blown leads in Games 1 & 2 is a good place to start. Coach Darryl Sutter did not gild the lily for his underperforming stars. “It’s not being critical, that’s just true. They’re going to tell you that, too. Missed opportunities go the other way.” For much of the next 18 months, the team would go into free-fall.
In the weeks after elimination, Gaudreau walked away from a max contract offer to sign in… Columbus? That led to Tkachuk forcing the ill-fated Jonathan Huberdeau trade from Florida after refusing to renegotiate a new deal in Calgary. Having signed an eight-year contract Huberdeau then collapsed to just 15 goals and 55 points. His staggering 60-point drop-off represented one of the worst in NHL history among non-injured players between two seasons. At one point Sutter even put enforcer Milan Lucic on Huberdeau’s line.
A dazed Huberdeau fumed. He had company as seemingly the entire team feuded with Sutter. As the Flames dropped to fifth in the Pacific (and out of the postseason) the noises began about which veterans wanted out if Sutter was retained. Sutter was finally dumped, but the damage had been done for new GM Craig Conroy in his first GM job. Unless his team started fast in 2023-24 he’d be conducting a rummage sale.
The Flames did not improve off their dreadful collapse in 2023-24. (Not helped by news that forward Dylan Dubé was arrested in the Team Canada 2018 sexual-assault scandal.) Yes, some youngsters like Conor Zary, denied a shot by Sutter, have shown well. But 14-16-5 in late December wasn’t enough. Having shipped Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey earlier (stealing Ygor Sherangovich) Conroy had to find suitable deals for his departing veterans when everyone in hockey knew he had no leverage. In short order, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanafin were peddled for Andrei Kuzmenko, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, and Daniel Miromanov. The deals also bagged two more first-rounders, another second, four thirds, a fourth and a fifth pick— all spread over the 2024/25/26 drafts.
In a surprise move, Conroy hung onto ace goalie Markstrom to go with remaining veteran forwards Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and defensemen McKenzie Weager and Rasmus Andersson. Maybe Conroy deals him at the Draft? Depending on your outlook, the team is now gamely trying to a) sneak into a playoff spot or b) hurt its draft position by playing spirited, if undermanned, hockey.
There is much potential in the draft haul Conroy has engineered (he has two first rounders and two second rounders this June), less so in the actual bodies he obtained. A safe estimate might be that the Flames will not return to the postseason till their long-delayed arena is finally completed by 2027-28. Maybe a phenom will appear— a la Gaudreau—to speed things up.
But it’s a reach to say that Flames fan watching puck drop of the Edmonton series in April of 2022 could have foreseen this teardown happening so fast and so brutally to a team that sped out to a 5-1 lead over the Oilers that night. But it did. The only thing making it worse will be an Oilers Stanley Cup win in 2024.
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, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new 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.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Pronoun Panic: Could J.K. Rowling Be Arrested for Misgendering?
Collateral Damage: any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity.
There are few better examples of collateral damage than J.K. Rowling, the feminist creator of the immensely successful Harry Potter books and movies. Normally that would be enough notoriety for one lifetime. But Rowling, a committed Labourite, has endured a second notoriety, that as critic of trans people gaining admission into the lives of women.
Let’s just say this iteration has not been as pleasant for her as her Harry Potter success. The forces of the gender jumble have crucified her for saying things such as: “Telling women and girls they must accept increased risk to themselves to appease male feelings is the very definition of the patriarchy you claim to stand against. Vulnerable women are paying the price for a fashionable fallacy that has serious, real world consequences.”
While most critics of men on women’s swim teams or in women’s washrooms have been bludgeoned into silence, Rowling is not easily dissuaded. “I work really hard at it, but I’m lucky enough to have evil genes, and of course I’d be nowhere without the mentorship of Beelzebub himself. Good luck with your journey, I’m sure you’ll get there!”
While empathizing with trans people (last U.S. Census had them as 0.01 percent of the population) in their search for happiness in their dysphoria, Rowling draws the line at trans people appropriating women’s rights. She is even more appalled by the surrender of fashionable feminists— women aligned with Hollywood, government and academia who think they’re members of the resistance— who mouth platitudes about “equal pay for work of equal value” then head for the door the second the going gets tough on MSNBC or the BBC.
Or by progressive men who see women only as political pawns. Witness rage monkey Keith Olbermann’s dismissal of the three women on SCOTUS who declined to do his political bidding on the Colorado ballot question for Trump. “The Supreme Court has betrayed democracy. Its (women) members Jackson, Sagan and Sotomayor have proven themselves inept at reading comprehension.”
The answer to “What is a woman?” was self-evident a decade ago. Until the Alynskyists in the political process discovered transgender people in their march to control the Western world. Suddenly the right for biological men to barge into the female world was equated with Rosa Parks sitting where ever she wished on a bus. Appallingly, left-wing media bought the narrative of tampons in men’s washrooms.
Which brought Rowling’s unremitting opposition to reducing the value of being a woman into their cross-hairs. Despite an unbridled mania to destroy her, Rowling continues to punch back. She called trans celebrity India Willoughby “a man revelling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks ‘woman’ means: narcissistic, shallow and exhibitionist”. (Rowling was then lamely criticized for “misgendering” the flamboyant provocateur.)
Some say that this is all simply an intramural skirmish in academia. A tempest in snow globe. But as the United States and then Canada head into elections promising destruction for Woke administrations, the definition of a woman that eludes so many radical political figures is foremost in the minds of voters. As Rowling states, women are united by their gender, but are not a monolith to be banked by a political party.
A recent graph in the Washington Examiner showed American political preferences among married and unmarried women and men. The results are edifying. While pundits define the left/ right schism as racial or economic, the defining gap in these elections is gender-specific. At one end married women support the Republicans by 56-42 percent. At the opposite end, unmarried women support the Democrats by a whopping 68-31 percent.
It’s clear that backstopping of single women by the state is a powerful weapon. Ergo, the DEMs promote demands for unlimited abortion, birth control, DEI, cradle-to-grave healthcare and hate-speech laws. Married women, while interested in these issues, are skewing to the GOP on economic grounds. (Although the Roe v. Wade overturn in SCOTUS has proven a poisoned electoral chalice for some conservatives).
That’s not all. “Pew Research found that liberal women are about 10 times more likely to have been diagnosed with a mental health condition by age 30 than conservative and moderate men have been by age 65, and about 2.5 times more likely than conservative women in their same age cohort.”
Here in Canada, comparable statistics from married/ unmarried women are equally polarized. If anything Canadian unmarried women are more radical in their outlook as they cling to Trudeau’s big-government globalist agenda against the spectre of a “Trump-like Pierre Poilievre” drummed up by media. While polls suggest a massive repudiation of Trudeau’s unholy alliance with the NDP, the purchased media continue to promote stories such as CTV’s report on “queer and trans Black Canadians calling for a national group dedicated to supporting them amid hate and targeting” that ran second on their national newscast lineup on March 3.
While there are indications that corporate Canada is pulling back from the DEI insanity, politicians have doubled down in their devotion to radical concepts such as trans rights. No wonder the late Brian Mulroney described Ottawa in Peter C. Newman’s book “The Secret Mulroney Tapes: as a “sick” city that runs on incest: “They’re all married to one another. They’re shacked up with one another. Their wives are on the payroll of the CBC. It’s just awful.”
Which is how liberals end up with collateral damage by attacking their own. Like proud socialist J.K. Rowling.
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, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new 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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