Opinion
Building the Aquatic Centre on QE2 would mean increased advertising, sponsorship and tourism revenue.

Our current population is 101,002, 5 years ago it was 100,807, so we grew by 195 in 5 years. If we continue on and grow by only 390 in the next ten years the pool will not be built and I think some older ice rinks and facilities will close. Our city lost it’s way over the last 5 years. Some are quick to blame the economy but Blackfalds was the fastest growing community in Canada during that time. Lethbridge grew and surpassed Red Deer, even the province grew during the same time period. Our median age has increased in Red Deer to 39.5 so half the people in Red Deer are 40 and over. Remarkable in a province with a low median age. As we get older our needs will change. We will skate less and do more swimming and water low-impact exercises. The other thing to remember is every community has an ice surface but none in our commercial zone has a 50m pool. We could use this as a draw for commerce and for population growth. The other thing we should do is follow RDC and build it in a high profile location like along the QE2 for advertising revenue. Would the increased revenue from advertising and sponsorship more than offset the cost of building along QE2 in the northwest? When I see lemons I think lemonade, and we have a fair load of lemons. No risk, no rewards, are we up to increasing our self imposed debt limit and try to grow or start investing in rocking chairs? Just Asking.
Crime
Eyebrows Raise as Karoline Leavitt Answers Tough Questions About Epstein

Peter Doocy asked directly, āWhat happened to the Epstein client list that the Attorney General said she had on her desk?ā Hereās how Leavitt tried to explain it.
The Epstein client list was supposed to be SITTING on Pam Bondiās desk for review.
But months later, the DOJ says no such list even exists.
Karoline Leavitt was just asked why there was such a reversal in so little time.
Her responses today are raising eyebrows.
On February 21st, Pam Bondi told the world the Epstein client list was āsitting on [her] desk right now to review,ā explaining it was part of a directive ordered by President Trump.
Shortly afterward, she and Kash Patel pledged to end the Epstein cover-up, promising to fully disclose the Epstein files to the public, hold accountable any government officials who withheld key evidence, and investigate why critical documents had been hidden in the first place.
But ever since late February, it seems the cover-up wasnāt exposed but buried even deeper by those who promised transparency.
First, they handed out the so-called āEpstein filesā to influencers like golden Willy Wanka tickets, only for everyone to discover that almost all of the contents inside were already public and contained no new revelations.

Fast-forward to May, and suddenly Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are declaring firmly that Epstein killed himself.
āIāve seen the whole file. He killed himself,ā Bongino stated bluntly to Fox Newsās Maria Bartiromo.
Today, the Trump-appointed DOJ and FBIĀ released a new reportĀ thatās turning heads and raising plenty of questions.
They concluded that Epstein had no clients, didnāt blackmail anyone, and definitely killed himself.
FBI Concludes Epstein Had No Clients, Didn’t Blackmail Anyone, and Definitely Killed Himself
This article originally appeared on Infowars and was republished with permission.
They also released surveillance footage and claimed it showed no one entered Epsteinās cell area, supporting the suicide ruling.
But people arenāt convinced.Ā Some allege the video cuts off, with a minute of footage missing between 11:59 PM and midnight.
Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions about the Epstein client list in light of these new DOJ and FBI statements.
A reporter asked, āKaroline, the DOJ and FBI have now concluded there was no Jeffrey Epstein client list. What do you tell MAGA supporters who say they want anyone involved in Epsteinās alleged crimes held accountable?ā
Leavitt replied, āThis administration wants anyone who has ever committed a crime to be accountable, and I would argue this administration has done more to lock up bad guys than certainly the previous administration.ā
She continued, āThe Trump administration is committed to truth and transparency. Thatās why the Attorney General and the FBI Director pledged, at the presidentās direction, to do an exhaustive review of all the files related to Jeffrey Epsteinās crimes and his death. They put out a memo in conclusion of that review.ā
āThere was material they did not release because frankly it was incredibly graphic and contained child pornography, which is not something that is appropriate for public consumption,ā she added.
āBut they committed to an exhaustive investigation. Thatās what they did and they provided the results of that.ā
āThatās transparency,ā Leavitt said.
Leavitt was also pressed about Attorney General Pam Bondiās comments in February when she claimed she had the Epstein list āon [her] desk.ā
Peter Doocy asked, āOkay, so the FBI looks at the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein. According to the report, this systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. So what happened to the Epstein client list that the Attorney General said she had on her desk?ā
Leavitt responded, āI think if you go back and look at what the Attorney General said in that interview, which was on your network, on Fox Newsāā
Doocy pushed back, āI have the quote. John Roberts said: āDOJ may release the list of Jeffrey Epsteinās clients, will that really happen?ā And she said, āItās sitting on my desk right now to review.āā
Leavitt explained, āYes. She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epsteinās crimes, thatās what the Attorney General was referring to. And I will let her speak for that.ā
āBut when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars.ā
So, after months of patiently waiting, the American people get a nothing burger that simply repeats the same old claims we heard under Bill Barr.
Even worse, itās purported that this is what ātransparencyā and āaccountabilityā look like.
The story went from saying the Epstein client list was āon my deskā to āactually, there is no client list.ā
And the newly released video footage raises questions and, in the age of AI, proves nothing.
If thereās really nothing to hide, why does it still feel like theyāre hiding everything?
And most importantlyāwhoās still being protected?

Thanks for reading to the end. I hope you found this timeline of events and recap helpful.
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Bruce Dowbiggin
Eau Canada! Join Us In An Inclusive New National Anthem

This past week has seen (some) Canadians celebrating their heritageā now that Mike Myers has officially reinterpreted Canadian culture as a hockey sweater and Mr. Dressup. This quick-change was so popular that Canadian voters even forgot an entire decade of Justin Trudeau.
In the United States, the people who elected Donald Trump– and not Andrew Coyne– to run their nation celebrated Independence Day with stirring renditions off The Star Spangled Banner, although few could surpass the brilliant performance of the song by the late Whitney Houston at the 1991 Super Bowl.
The CDN equivalent is some flavour of the month changing the words to O Canada at the Grey Cup game. Canadaās national anthem has always been open to interpretation by people who may or may not have Canada in their hearts. At the 2023 NBA All Star Game Canadian chanteuse Jully Black became the latest singer to attempt a manicure to the English lyrics of O Canada, penned for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony ( Calixa LavallĆ©e composed the music, after which words were written by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The English lyrics have āevolvedā over the years, just like the dress code for the CDN PM..)

Black amended the first line from āour home and native landā to our home ON native landā. Because something-something. But this creative license is nothing new. Unlike Chris Stapleton, Marvin Gaye or Whitney Houston with the Star Spangled Banner, interpreters of O Canada have seen fit to amend the lyrics to their sensibilities. Roger Doucet, famed anthem singer of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970-80s, tried to add the words āwe stand on guard for truth and libertyā in place of the first āwe stand on guard for theeā.
In 1990, having nothing better to do, Toronto City Council voted 12 to 7 in favour of recommending that the phrase “our home and native land” be changed to “our home and cherished land” and that “in all thy sons command” be partly reverted to “in all of us commandā. (The latter was officially adapted.)
While those attempts had mixed outcomes it appears itās just a matter of time till Ms. Blackās class-conscious culling of the words is accepted. Being generous we here at IDLM thought weād short-circuit piecemeal attempts to create a throughly Woke version of the anthem that would last till the latest fad come along. Herewith our 2023 definitive O Canada that evenā maybe onlyā Justin Trudeau could love:
āO Canadaā (Ignores the French fact in our culture) Change to āEau Canadaā
āOur home on native landā (ignores indigenous land claims) Change to āGet off our land, settlersā
āTrue patriot love in all of us commandsā (Only true patriot love? There were officially 78 kinds of relationships in Trudeaupia. And commanding love?) Change to āLove the one youāre withā.
āWith glowing hearts we see thee riseā (rise suggests triumph of white triumphalist dogma) Change to āNon judgementally we oppose the crushing impacts of Euro-based autocracyā
āThe true north strong and freeā (How can anyone be strong or free when we support Americaās killing fields?) Change to āHeteronormative thinking must be stamped out at our borders. If we even have borders anymore.ā
āFrom far and wideā (Body shaming) Change to āObesity is a disease that is not helped by putting it in the national anthem.ā
āO Canadaā (biased against A, B, AB blood types) change to āScience Must Be Believedā
āWe stand on guard for theeā (Spreads hate against the non ableist community) Change to āPlease remain seated.ā
āGod keep our landā (God? God? What is this, the Reformation) āChange to āItās your thingā
āGlorious and freeā (Glorious harkens to the bourgeois subjugation of Indigenous thought processes by white Christian priests) Change to āA genocidal state if there ever was oneā.
āO Canada we stand on guard for thee/Ā
O Canada we stand on guard for theeāĀ The denial of trans rights is used twice here to emphasize the intolerable burdens faced by people of the LGBTQ2R community as they seek respect and compensation for the evils of the founding oppressors.) Change to āEau Canada, after 6.5 hours of intensive lectures on the gender, race and dissociative application of class war on your citizens you may someday come to understand that this song is a manifestation of your bigotry and exploitation of minoritiesā and why rhyming lines like āthee and freeā is the work of the devil or J.K. Rowling, whomever comes to mind first.ā

There. That wasnāt so tough, was it? Flows trippingly off the tongue like Mark Carney refusing a special inquiry into China buying the electoral process.Ā Or perhaps we should simply accept a literal translation of the original French lyrics:
āO Canada!
Land of our ancestors
Glorious deeds circle your brow
For your arm knows how to wield the sword
Your arm knows how to carry the cross;
Your history is an epic
Of brilliant deeds
And your valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights.ā
Yikes. Thatās downright fascistic. But itās Quebec, and we have to allow them their peccadilloes. So circle your brow with glorious deeds, grab a cross and a sword and valour steeped in faith. And remember we must be adaptable in the new era.
Unless itās Alberta using the adapting to fuel its CO2-belching machines. In which case itās man the battlements and follow Mike Myers into the fight.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public BroadcasterĀ 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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