This is an excellent article and as a Canadian, I deeply appreciate your attention to this issue. Even many left-leaning Americans seem oblivious to Canadian issues (I've literally had conversations with well educated people who can't name our PM), and the current rhetoric dismissing Canada as a "silly country" is a product of this normalized American self-importance and arrogance, which Smith has pathetically bowed down to.
Your substack has quickly become one of my favourites - every piece is spot on.
Are there any majority of liberty loving people in power and influence any more? Most all people I read about in corporate and independent media coverage are fascist, treasonous, power hungry, greedy, opportunistic, selfish, callous, cruel and barbaric, inhumane, dangerous, immoral, jerks. Are they the majority of humans in the US now? I know they are the majority in the current US federal government leadership roles, reactionary think tanks, and propaganda media outlets. It is disheartening to see a Canadian province leader bend the knee to the madman fpotus. I feel like we are all heading into a modern era feudal state in which the 98% of us non-millionaires will be powerless serfs, fodder for the corporate overlords who are carving up the world into fiefdoms. It's going to take a massive revolt to return to democracy. Are we capable of that?
I’m reminded of the original commercial for Apple’s Macintosh, with gray serfs in a dark hall, all slavishly watching the rants of a Fearless Leader on a big screen. Except we will have more light, and circuses. Our transformation ironically generated by personal computers and computer devices. Many provided by Apple.
Sack her ass! Remove her from office assuming y'all have the means. Coordinating with MAGA to sell out your country is treasonous. Use the law against her. Fucking sick of these bootlicking scum. They clearly exist both sides of the border. And, anecdotally, there are Canadians I know in my Ruby Red MAGA neck of the woods - and they are as QAnon nutso/right-wing as the MAGA of my state....and I think that's what attracted them down here.
Smiths party passed a resolution in the fall (discussed on my Sunstack) that proclaimed that the world needs more carbon. She has done everything to undermine federal initiatives that might put limits on oil sand emissions. Her version of reality is quite different. And receives quite a bit of support out west sadly. 🇨🇦
Albertans have to get a grip on their idiot Premier. This is a time for a united Canada. Her preening and posturing for con constituents is over the top as is her notions of how much power she actually has. Dimbulb!
Yeah, they do, most of them. The reluctance to use the word "treason" when a country, particularly a liberal democracy, are being attacked from within is perhaps a sign of decadence, or, if you prefer, moral rot. This is not the case in Canada yet, and Smith's forays will be called out at some point.
Now that the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has called today's reality for what it is, there should be sighs or relief in all democracies that, finally, the peril is out in the open, named, and repulsed. Why did this speech not get cover everywhere in the American mainstream press. Ah, never mind. Decadence and treason are no-go areas, for the most part. Sad.
Where are the people of Alberta? They should be demanding she resign. I agree that her actions are treasonous. And if I understand correctly she used taxpayer money for the trip.
When a government in Alberta is sworn in, I’m pretty sure their is an oath of allegiance to the Crown and the country administered by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
To be actively breaking this oath by asking for outside interference in an election, should require the Lt. Governor to ask the Loyal Opposition to form a new government.
I’ve gone as far as buying a copy of the Oath from the Alberta King’s Printer. It will make for some interesting reading. These fascist wanna-be’s might believe these oaths have no teeth. Albertans have a long history of standing with Canada, and I’m sure that the majority still do.
Now to show that oaths still have standing, I swore an oath to serve the Crown, to kill and to be killed in the service of the Crown when I joined up over 40 years ago. I will still take and follow lawful orders from the Governor General of Canada and commissioned officers.
The Trumpists and their sycophants have thrown the first punch. They asked for a war, and we will answer. If Smith and Moe will not stand with us, the Governor General will deal with them while we deal with our new enemy.
I would be very interested to know what you find in the oath. She is a traitor to Canada, and a traitor to Albertans, many of whom are sufferering under the crumbling healthcare system she has been steadily destroying. She spends more time with Trump sycophants than she does in Canada.
Canada is the product of late Victorian liberal idealism by design. In the face of the growing prosperity and the US Civil War, the Maritimes, Upper & Lower Canada decided they would rather have control of their futures than let Washington DC dictate it. But to build a country with two distinctly different societies was going to be a challenge. Historically, the English and the French have not gotten along.
So Confederation was their answer to the challenges they faced. They also needed to claim Rupert’s Land before the US did. Ambitious goal to build a railway to the Pacific. But they did it. And we have been doing that ever since.
We live in a climate that will kill the unprepared and careless. Recent fatalities of people trying to cross into the U.S. and amputations from attempts to enter Canada are harsh reminders. So even if you don’t like your neighbour, you check on them after a blizzard, or help sandbag when there is a flood, and go back to being annoyed after. You step up and volunteer to help like in Gander NLD. Now not everyone is like this, but enough of us are like that.
We play hard. Hockey and lacrosse are part of our competitive DNA. On the Prairies, the guys still get together on a Saturday, dump a case of beer in the snow bank and play until someone loses a tooth. Then they drink their beer and agree to meet same place next week, weather permitting. And hard play means we work hard too.
Now culturally, we have long cold winters, and with immigrants not being forcibly assimilated, the food, the music, and the languages get fused into something new. Music and the Arts here have created global stars, and the US cultural factories crave more and more from us.
With national level TV pre-internet, we saw ourselves in a clear reflection. Now we don’t see as clear a reflection, but we see ourselves clearly enough as being different and distinct in the world. We accept that our neighbours may be recent immigrants from the other side of the world. My own heritage is European: one side arrived in the 1780’s, and the other in the 1950’s. We are all blended together with one thing in common: we know how lucky we are to be here.
At a national level, I’ve met people from BC to NS and had the privilege of travelling from coast to coast. (Still haven’t made it to Nunavut yet.) no matter where I travel in Canada, the attitude that drives our behaviour is that we can be nice to strangers, and we don’t need to fear strangers. Call it compassion. Our government is meant to provide ‘Peace, Order, and Good Government’, and allot of our collective behaviour stems from that imperative.
13 provinces and many First Nations act like a big unruly family, but we are a family. There will be many who believe we aren’t, but we are. We know we aren’t prefect, but when someone picks on your family, we stand together. Two World Wars showed us just how powerful a family we are together.
"What principle is being advanced here? What consistent conservative value does this represent?"
The principle being advanced is the North American technate, planned decades ago by the globalists in round-table discussions. It's the equivalent of the European Union, and a technate is an area of governance and how the globe is to be divided for world government. Reading up on technocracy, including the ideals the Silicon Valley "tech bros" follow, is helpful to understanding what's happening now.
Back then, the public didn't want a N. American Union. But since then, Canada's economy has been badly eroded by selling off our abundant natural resources and shipping lumber etc to China instead of creating value-added manufacturing jobs here. Immigration levels have exceeded our health care system's carrying capacity and housing prices have skyrocketed so most young people will never afford a home. Trump has played his part by initiating tariffs that will further cripple our economy.
They've created the problem that will cause the public to react by eventually accepting the solution that we need this regional-style government. Problem, reaction, solution.
So the timing is perfect for Smith to play her role as Canadian rebel and for globalist Carney to lead the Liberal party and possibly the country. Shapiro and Prager both appear to be mainstream alternative media propaganda vehicles, whether they realize they are helping to facilitate technocratic rule or not.
Just like the European Union, I imagine the North American Union's leaders would be appointed, rather than elected to their roles. With one-tenth the population of the US, Canadians will have even less say in their future than any of us in the west have had these past few decades.
Just as the current US president was set up to be the only politician who could possibly have gotten away with installing an AI-based technocracy in the US - as is currently happening with Musk at the helm - Smith will lead the Canadian charge towards the North American Union. Many Albertans feels the same way about her as many Americans feel about the current US president.
Are you a Canadian living in Alberta, or an Albertan living in Canada?
We’ve succumbed to an arrogance of entitlement of an “unearned” abundance of natural resources that are valuable… now.
Smith clearly has a short memory.
We forget so easily that we were the recipients of EQ before O&G — when the rest of Canada, those we now refer to as “Eastern Bastards”, assisted us in affording public services.
Now we complain that “We pay more than we get back” — an embarrassing self-own that underlines our ignorance… that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work!
Smith also has very limited foresight — disastrous in a “leader”.
O&G will do well for another decade or two… but then what? While she’s busy actively battling against green tech, the world moves on.
There will “always” be a need for some oil — but will it be…
- the most expensive,
- most difficult to mine,
- most intensive carbon footprint,
- difficult to transport without upgrading
- upgrading eats into the profit margin,
- and demands a discount to be sold on the market.
Question fof Alberta MPP's: why are you not calling for a no-confidence vote against Danielle Smith? How can you continue to support a premier that openly supports Canada becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the US? If she and Poilievre have their way, Canadians will have fewer rights than the people of Puerto Rico or Guam or DC. Look how long they have been waiting to be treated as actual people with actual voting rights. People of Alberta is this really the future you want? A future where you have no say in government, where disagreeing with the government results in you being abducted and imprisoned, where the pension you have been paying into all your working life is given to billionaires because they deserve it more, where you can be fired on a whim, where children as young as 14 can be forced to work 30 hours a week including night shifts for minimum wage (see Florida's new bill) instead of going to school, where you can be imprisoned without trial based on an accusation and made to work as a slave under hazardous conditionsfor the prison owner, denied healthcare or forced to pay outrageous fees for any healthcare you are allowed to receive (decisions of what care is allowed or required are made by politicians and insurance companies not doctors), where other countriesare are consideredcompetitorsor or targets for expansion rather than allies.. is this what you want? Really? Fight for Canada. Fight for Alberta to remain a strong healthy province. Canada strong
This is a disturbingly compelling argument. I appreciate this kind of thoughtful analysis, because it forces us to confront this unpleasant and increasingly dangerous moment. The idea that we are devolving into an age where adherence to a transnational ideology is threatening the idea of the nation/state is depressing, but we are not without agency, as Mr. Brock pointed out. Still, I can't help but worry about all of the unintended consequences we are all about to suffer. I'm looking forward to catching up with more of Mr. Brock's posts. I'm enjoying the astute observations and wit in his writing, and I plan on ploughing through as many as I can tonight.
This is an excellent article and as a Canadian, I deeply appreciate your attention to this issue. Even many left-leaning Americans seem oblivious to Canadian issues (I've literally had conversations with well educated people who can't name our PM), and the current rhetoric dismissing Canada as a "silly country" is a product of this normalized American self-importance and arrogance, which Smith has pathetically bowed down to.
Your substack has quickly become one of my favourites - every piece is spot on.
Are there any majority of liberty loving people in power and influence any more? Most all people I read about in corporate and independent media coverage are fascist, treasonous, power hungry, greedy, opportunistic, selfish, callous, cruel and barbaric, inhumane, dangerous, immoral, jerks. Are they the majority of humans in the US now? I know they are the majority in the current US federal government leadership roles, reactionary think tanks, and propaganda media outlets. It is disheartening to see a Canadian province leader bend the knee to the madman fpotus. I feel like we are all heading into a modern era feudal state in which the 98% of us non-millionaires will be powerless serfs, fodder for the corporate overlords who are carving up the world into fiefdoms. It's going to take a massive revolt to return to democracy. Are we capable of that?
Media is rigged in favour of the fascists. The National Post? Conrad Black? Foreign ownership, thanks to Stephen (ptoooiee) Harper
I’m reminded of the original commercial for Apple’s Macintosh, with gray serfs in a dark hall, all slavishly watching the rants of a Fearless Leader on a big screen. Except we will have more light, and circuses. Our transformation ironically generated by personal computers and computer devices. Many provided by Apple.
I worry about that too.
Sack her ass! Remove her from office assuming y'all have the means. Coordinating with MAGA to sell out your country is treasonous. Use the law against her. Fucking sick of these bootlicking scum. They clearly exist both sides of the border. And, anecdotally, there are Canadians I know in my Ruby Red MAGA neck of the woods - and they are as QAnon nutso/right-wing as the MAGA of my state....and I think that's what attracted them down here.
Smiths party passed a resolution in the fall (discussed on my Sunstack) that proclaimed that the world needs more carbon. She has done everything to undermine federal initiatives that might put limits on oil sand emissions. Her version of reality is quite different. And receives quite a bit of support out west sadly. 🇨🇦
Only a miniscule amount of support. The rest of Canada will happily help her pack!!
Albertans have to get a grip on their idiot Premier. This is a time for a united Canada. Her preening and posturing for con constituents is over the top as is her notions of how much power she actually has. Dimbulb!
Why? Canada is a failed state.
Thank Jonathan for showing me how to block users on this platform. GFY! This ain't twitter. 🚫
Smith is to Trump, what Trump is to Putin, an ideological sycophant!
Yeah, they do, most of them. The reluctance to use the word "treason" when a country, particularly a liberal democracy, are being attacked from within is perhaps a sign of decadence, or, if you prefer, moral rot. This is not the case in Canada yet, and Smith's forays will be called out at some point.
Now that the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has called today's reality for what it is, there should be sighs or relief in all democracies that, finally, the peril is out in the open, named, and repulsed. Why did this speech not get cover everywhere in the American mainstream press. Ah, never mind. Decadence and treason are no-go areas, for the most part. Sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgjybooP-pA
Where are the people of Alberta? They should be demanding she resign. I agree that her actions are treasonous. And if I understand correctly she used taxpayer money for the trip.
When a government in Alberta is sworn in, I’m pretty sure their is an oath of allegiance to the Crown and the country administered by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
To be actively breaking this oath by asking for outside interference in an election, should require the Lt. Governor to ask the Loyal Opposition to form a new government.
I’ve gone as far as buying a copy of the Oath from the Alberta King’s Printer. It will make for some interesting reading. These fascist wanna-be’s might believe these oaths have no teeth. Albertans have a long history of standing with Canada, and I’m sure that the majority still do.
Now to show that oaths still have standing, I swore an oath to serve the Crown, to kill and to be killed in the service of the Crown when I joined up over 40 years ago. I will still take and follow lawful orders from the Governor General of Canada and commissioned officers.
The Trumpists and their sycophants have thrown the first punch. They asked for a war, and we will answer. If Smith and Moe will not stand with us, the Governor General will deal with them while we deal with our new enemy.
Nous nous souviendrons.
We are Canadian
I would be very interested to know what you find in the oath. She is a traitor to Canada, and a traitor to Albertans, many of whom are sufferering under the crumbling healthcare system she has been steadily destroying. She spends more time with Trump sycophants than she does in Canada.
We are Canadian? Trudeau says Canada has no core identity, so what does “Canadian” even mean?
We are Canadian means a pretty big concept.
Canada is the product of late Victorian liberal idealism by design. In the face of the growing prosperity and the US Civil War, the Maritimes, Upper & Lower Canada decided they would rather have control of their futures than let Washington DC dictate it. But to build a country with two distinctly different societies was going to be a challenge. Historically, the English and the French have not gotten along.
So Confederation was their answer to the challenges they faced. They also needed to claim Rupert’s Land before the US did. Ambitious goal to build a railway to the Pacific. But they did it. And we have been doing that ever since.
We live in a climate that will kill the unprepared and careless. Recent fatalities of people trying to cross into the U.S. and amputations from attempts to enter Canada are harsh reminders. So even if you don’t like your neighbour, you check on them after a blizzard, or help sandbag when there is a flood, and go back to being annoyed after. You step up and volunteer to help like in Gander NLD. Now not everyone is like this, but enough of us are like that.
We play hard. Hockey and lacrosse are part of our competitive DNA. On the Prairies, the guys still get together on a Saturday, dump a case of beer in the snow bank and play until someone loses a tooth. Then they drink their beer and agree to meet same place next week, weather permitting. And hard play means we work hard too.
Now culturally, we have long cold winters, and with immigrants not being forcibly assimilated, the food, the music, and the languages get fused into something new. Music and the Arts here have created global stars, and the US cultural factories crave more and more from us.
With national level TV pre-internet, we saw ourselves in a clear reflection. Now we don’t see as clear a reflection, but we see ourselves clearly enough as being different and distinct in the world. We accept that our neighbours may be recent immigrants from the other side of the world. My own heritage is European: one side arrived in the 1780’s, and the other in the 1950’s. We are all blended together with one thing in common: we know how lucky we are to be here.
At a national level, I’ve met people from BC to NS and had the privilege of travelling from coast to coast. (Still haven’t made it to Nunavut yet.) no matter where I travel in Canada, the attitude that drives our behaviour is that we can be nice to strangers, and we don’t need to fear strangers. Call it compassion. Our government is meant to provide ‘Peace, Order, and Good Government’, and allot of our collective behaviour stems from that imperative.
13 provinces and many First Nations act like a big unruly family, but we are a family. There will be many who believe we aren’t, but we are. We know we aren’t prefect, but when someone picks on your family, we stand together. Two World Wars showed us just how powerful a family we are together.
We remember ourselves: Nous nous souviendrons.
We are Canadian.
Shapiro is a wanker
"What principle is being advanced here? What consistent conservative value does this represent?"
The principle being advanced is the North American technate, planned decades ago by the globalists in round-table discussions. It's the equivalent of the European Union, and a technate is an area of governance and how the globe is to be divided for world government. Reading up on technocracy, including the ideals the Silicon Valley "tech bros" follow, is helpful to understanding what's happening now.
Back then, the public didn't want a N. American Union. But since then, Canada's economy has been badly eroded by selling off our abundant natural resources and shipping lumber etc to China instead of creating value-added manufacturing jobs here. Immigration levels have exceeded our health care system's carrying capacity and housing prices have skyrocketed so most young people will never afford a home. Trump has played his part by initiating tariffs that will further cripple our economy.
They've created the problem that will cause the public to react by eventually accepting the solution that we need this regional-style government. Problem, reaction, solution.
So the timing is perfect for Smith to play her role as Canadian rebel and for globalist Carney to lead the Liberal party and possibly the country. Shapiro and Prager both appear to be mainstream alternative media propaganda vehicles, whether they realize they are helping to facilitate technocratic rule or not.
Just like the European Union, I imagine the North American Union's leaders would be appointed, rather than elected to their roles. With one-tenth the population of the US, Canadians will have even less say in their future than any of us in the west have had these past few decades.
Just as the current US president was set up to be the only politician who could possibly have gotten away with installing an AI-based technocracy in the US - as is currently happening with Musk at the helm - Smith will lead the Canadian charge towards the North American Union. Many Albertans feels the same way about her as many Americans feel about the current US president.
Canada should annex the United States!
Do you not follow Charlie Angus, Mike? You should. He's on substack and bsky
The issue at its most basic is:
Are you a Canadian living in Alberta, or an Albertan living in Canada?
We’ve succumbed to an arrogance of entitlement of an “unearned” abundance of natural resources that are valuable… now.
Smith clearly has a short memory.
We forget so easily that we were the recipients of EQ before O&G — when the rest of Canada, those we now refer to as “Eastern Bastards”, assisted us in affording public services.
Now we complain that “We pay more than we get back” — an embarrassing self-own that underlines our ignorance… that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work!
Smith also has very limited foresight — disastrous in a “leader”.
O&G will do well for another decade or two… but then what? While she’s busy actively battling against green tech, the world moves on.
There will “always” be a need for some oil — but will it be…
- the most expensive,
- most difficult to mine,
- most intensive carbon footprint,
- difficult to transport without upgrading
- upgrading eats into the profit margin,
- and demands a discount to be sold on the market.
🤷🏻♂️
Question fof Alberta MPP's: why are you not calling for a no-confidence vote against Danielle Smith? How can you continue to support a premier that openly supports Canada becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the US? If she and Poilievre have their way, Canadians will have fewer rights than the people of Puerto Rico or Guam or DC. Look how long they have been waiting to be treated as actual people with actual voting rights. People of Alberta is this really the future you want? A future where you have no say in government, where disagreeing with the government results in you being abducted and imprisoned, where the pension you have been paying into all your working life is given to billionaires because they deserve it more, where you can be fired on a whim, where children as young as 14 can be forced to work 30 hours a week including night shifts for minimum wage (see Florida's new bill) instead of going to school, where you can be imprisoned without trial based on an accusation and made to work as a slave under hazardous conditionsfor the prison owner, denied healthcare or forced to pay outrageous fees for any healthcare you are allowed to receive (decisions of what care is allowed or required are made by politicians and insurance companies not doctors), where other countriesare are consideredcompetitorsor or targets for expansion rather than allies.. is this what you want? Really? Fight for Canada. Fight for Alberta to remain a strong healthy province. Canada strong
This is a disturbingly compelling argument. I appreciate this kind of thoughtful analysis, because it forces us to confront this unpleasant and increasingly dangerous moment. The idea that we are devolving into an age where adherence to a transnational ideology is threatening the idea of the nation/state is depressing, but we are not without agency, as Mr. Brock pointed out. Still, I can't help but worry about all of the unintended consequences we are all about to suffer. I'm looking forward to catching up with more of Mr. Brock's posts. I'm enjoying the astute observations and wit in his writing, and I plan on ploughing through as many as I can tonight.