Word Prisms

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about freedom, freedom to not wear a mask, freedom to socialize in large groups without social distancing, freedom to believe or not believe in the existence of a COVID 19 virus. But, what is freedom? After all, there are freedoms to and freedoms from. There's the freedom to wear a mask or not but there's also freedom from the danger of the spread of a deadly virus. For better or worse, the focus of freedoms in the West have focused on the freedoms to. Freedoms to speak freely, freedoms to move about freely, freedoms to practice a particular religion. But, what about the freedoms from?  These have particularly come into focus with the COVID 19 pandemic. In the spring, here in Canada, we focused with some success on the freedom from the spread of the covid virus. All but essential services were closed as well as in-person schooling. The government of Canada worked to provide those who could not work from home with freedom from poverty, hung...

Guys stand on the steps of the Michigan State Legislature touting AR 15s with clips and bowie knives hanging off their belts yammering on about a COVID conspiracy and one world government but I didn't expect to meet someone like them, especially in a small B.C. town at a barbershop. But, that’s exactly what happened to me when I went for my first post-COVID-isolation haircut.    I had just helped my wife start the laundry next door and entered the barber shop about five minutes after the local bait salesman. Waiting my turn, I was privy to a most bizarre conversation. Fearing that I would be invited for an opinion, I instead concentrated my efforts on using my phone to record the proceedings. As a consequence of my fumbling to find an application for recording, my offering of the conversation begins some time after it started.   Our two characters in this play are the barber wearing a full-face shield for protection and a large, sixtyish white man with a long beard and a ...

Jason Kenney recently launched the Canadian Energy Centre meant to respond rapidly to perceived "misinformation," gather and analyze data, and produce original content, like promotional videos.” Excellent! So, I watched the promotional video you can find on this link . To say it’s boring is an understatement. It reminds me of the filmstrips we were forced to watch as in high school. The filmstrip would thread through a projector and the teacher or lucky student would advance the roll one slide with each beep of the cassette recording that explained each of the images. After classroom lights were switched off, our heads  would nod and eyes would close.   The video/slide show begins with the “Canadian Energy Centre” logo and I’m wondering how many potential viewers know what the “Canadian Energy Centre” is. So, for those who don’t know or need a reminder, myself included, the “ Calgary Herald ” tells me that it’s the new name for the energy war ...

I can't believe how grateful I am that Jason Kenney is taking a delegation of 8 cabinet ministers and civil servants to Ottawa to demand a fair deal for Alberta. I say that because Alberta has been given such a raw deal all these years. Sure, we’ve been the richest province in the country and we still have the highest per capita income but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get what Quebec has, our own pension plan and police force but we also want our own healthcare system without interference from the federal government. That way it could be public or private or whatever. Some may argue that Quebec has a distinct language and culture but we have oil. Oil’s made us rich and therefore distinct. Sure, the demand for our oil is diminishing and may never get back to where we were in 2014, but if we have faith and we stop all” Negative Nancys” and “Debbie Downers” making their horrible comments on social media and in public, maybe we can turn this province around. And ...