Remember that scene in "A Christmas Story" when little Ralphie finally decides that he is tired of running from and being pushed around by big, bad, Scut Farkas? After years of torment at the hands of this bully, Ralphie finally has had enough. He decides to reverse course on the fight or flight response and something inside just snaps. Before he can even realize what has occurred, he is on top of Farkas, hailing punches down upon the prostrate villain, who is lying on his back, sobbing and screaming for mercy. The scene reveals what we have always known, and what our parents used to teach us in less gynocentric times: that bullies are all cowards, and if you stand up to them and bloody their noses a little, it is likely as not that they will leave you alone or even run away.
Justin Trudeau is Alberta's Scut Farkas. It all started back in 2010:
Of course, this was a mere prelude to a kiss. The full brunt of his Scut Farkas assault upon Alberta was all yet to come, awaiting only Trudeau's rise to power in 2015. Since then, he has repeatedly emerged from behind his rotted out fence in Ottawa to invoke various forms of political violence upon Albertans. The resulting barrage has been both punishing and constant. In no particular order:
(1) Despite expanding the size and scope of his Cabinet to record proportions, there are no Albertans to be found there (please do not mention Ms. Freeland in this context);
(2) Domestic and international pledges at G20, G7, WEF, EU, and climate conferences to close the Alberta oil sands and extirpate fossil fuel production and consumption;
(3) Imposition of successive climate taxes, which have no measurable impact at all upon the faux catastrophe they claim to address;
(4) Prosecution of a climate tax reference case against Alberta, resulting in an absurdly politicized Federal Court of Appeal decision essentially transferring exclusive Provincial jurisdiction over natural resources to Ottawa;
(5) Permitting Quebec to kill the Energy East Pipeline, which would have invited significant investment to Alberta, created thousands of jobs, and brought cheap, clean, Canadian made energy to central Canada;
(6) Creation of successive climate change driven bills restricting and even prohibiting access by Alberta energy producers to tidewater, while inviting, promoting, and commissioning delivery of foreign oil to Canadian shores by nations with little or no credible climate change programs;
(7) Unilateral renewal of the Equalization Program in 2019, despite its clear prejudicial impact upon Albertans, and then ignoring entirely the 62% referendum vote against such renewal by Albertans;
(8) Unilateral imposition of gun control legislation impacting rural Albertans, without cause or consultation, or indeed any study whatsoever showing a nexus between such controls and crime reduction;
(9) Unilateral imposition of fanatical climate change driven restrictions upon fertilizer production and use by Alberta farmers, despite the tractor riots which such measures precipitated in Holland;
(10) Refusal to even campaign in Alberta during successive re-election campaigns in 2019 & 2022;
(11) Notable and deliberate omission of Alberta from his notorious Canada 150 speech, during which every other Province and Territory in Canada was mentioned;
(12) Public persecution of a courageous Alberta MÈtis grandmother named Tamara Lich, simply because she had the temerity to help organize the greatest peaceful public protest in Canadian history;
(13) Appointment of a convicted terrorist and climate change zealot as Environment Minister, in direct response to Alberta's Equalization Referendum;
(14) Public persecution of independent Western media and weaponization of mass media outlets to publicly criticize Alberta and Albertans; &
(15) Persistent public attacks upon Conservative Premiers in AB over Covid-19 measures which conflict with Federal Government dogma.
There are of course many other examples. These are but a sampling of the horrors perpetrated by Trudeau and his government. He does not actually hate Alberta. What he detests and cannot withstand, what frightens and dismays him is what Alberta represents: Saskatchewan notwithstanding, the last bastion of prosperity, freedom, and national pride in the nation formerly known as Canada. You see, Trudeau is an acolyte, a Leninist useful idiot of a global cabal bent upon destruction of Canada and indeed the very concept of being Canadian:
Those of us born and raised in this country under a succession of previous Prime Ministers (including Justin's own father) who both held and promoted less radical views, find such attacks upon Canadian values and identity more than upsetting; they are offensive. Not content to reject the whole concept of a unifying Canadian ethos, core identity, or shared set of values, Trudeau unilaterally changed the very words to our national anthem to make them more "inclusive". But in the next breath, as "inclusion" always does, he excluded most of us from our national inheritance through open borders policies aimed at achievement of his government's post-nation state agenda:
Now, if all of this is a revelation to the reader, then please take a moment to collect yourself and grab a cup of java, because there is yet more. Implicit in, and indeed part and parcel of this post-nation state plan for Canada is destruction of Western hegemony and culture. The globalist interests which Trudeau and others serve has turned away from the U.S. led post WWII international community which fostered many decades of peace, prosperity, and human flourishing. Instead, Trudeau has turned his gaze Eastward, to China:
Having therefore established that Trudeau is a Bully Boy to Alberta and why, let us turn to the recently joyful moment in which the courageous, newly minted Alberta Premier made like Ralphie and finally bloodied the tyrant's nose.
In typically hypocritical and passively aggressive fashion, Trudeau commented publicly about the affront to his destroy Canada agenda which is the Alberta Sovereignty Act (ASA). Passed into law only days ago, Trudeau described it as unprovoked aggression against his almighty Federal government:
"The Sovereignty Act and Alberta is being moved forward as very much a political tool to try and pick a fight with the federal government...And I'm not interested in fighting with the Alberta government."
Scut Farkas was not interested in fighting with Ralphie, either. But he did want his lunch money. He did want Ralphie to fear him. He did want Ralphie to run. In short, he wanted to be able to control Ralphie without the risks attendant to getting into a fight with him. Now, the rules of engagement have changed, and the Bully Boy has revealed his cowardice. He wants to dominate Alberta, but not at the expense of getting his nose bloodied. Consequently, he will once again weaponize unfounded fears and stir up others to do his bidding.
Trudeau said that he and his government are concerned about the ASA and its sister, the Saskatchewan First Act, claiming that they will bring challenges to "treaty rights that are fundamental in Canada that need to be respected." He added the oblique threat that Albertans and indigenous people need a government spending money on them by building homes, creating jobs, fighting climate change, protecting nature, and keeping communities safe:
"There are so many things we need to work on together. And our focus as a government is on being there for Albertans...we will stay focused on delivering for you, delivering for all Albertans, indeed delivering for all people across this country who need governments that work for them."
This is not the first time that our national hypocrite has made bold, hollowed out, vague, empty promises to Albertans. Witness this excerpt from a 2015 speech he made while campaigning in Alberta to become our Prime Minister:
As a Constitutional lawyer, it is obvious to me that Trudeau has not read the ASA, or even been properly briefed upon its contents. Just in case he takes the time to read this, and for the edification of my readers, I shall now provide a brief synopsis of its finer points.
Most of what the leftist media is saying about the ASA is complete rubbish and comes from a place of profound ignorance about the precise structure of Canadian federalism. The ASA, according to no less of an observer than former SCC Justice John Major, is hardly unconstitutional. It does not obviate the Rule of Law, it does not circumvent the role of the courts, nor does it pose any risk to existing indigenous rights. That might have been true of earlier editions of the Bill, but I happen to agree with Mr. Justice Major that it will withstand judicial scrutiny.
The Bill states:
"Nothing in this Act is to be construed as authorizing any order that would be contrary to the Constitution of Canada...any directive to a person, other than a provincial entity, that would compel the person to act contrary to or otherwise in violation of any federal law."
These attacks upon the ASA stem mostly from a misunderstanding of how Canada is Constitutionally structured. During a podcast interview with renowned Canadian public intellectual, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Premier Smith quite adroitly explained that Canada is a federation of sovereign jurisdictions. The federal government is sovereign within certain specific areas of authority, including maritime law, the environment, the military, and protection of our national borders. Similarly, the provinces are sovereign within their own exclusive areas of jurisdiction, which include municipalities, education, health, and most controversially for Alberta, natural resources.
The problem we face in Alberta is that successive Liberal governments, especially those headed by men surnamed Trudeau (elder and younger) have mistaken "federal" for "national". Canada is a confederation, and as such has no national government. This inconvenient truth has not however prevented the federal Liberals from attempting to alter the fabric of Canadian federalism by increasingly encroaching into Constitutionally exclusive areas of Provincial jurisdiction.
The ASA asserts Constitutional powers that already exist in law. The original Free Alberta Strategy included proposals to ignore federal law, and these appear to be the ones about which Justin Trudeau is so badly misinformed. Premier Smith has wisely not included these in the ASA. According to the Supreme Court of Canada, there is nothing in the Constitution requiring Alberta to enforce federal laws. Nor is Alberta compelled to cooperate with Ottawa in terms of such enforcement-recent gun confiscation legislation being a prime example.
The greatest objection to the ASA appears to be new powers granted to the Provincial cabinet. A motion can now be brought stating how a particular federal law violates provincial jurisdiction, or is otherwise "harmful" to Albertans. The motion must outline a series of actions that the government "should consider in respect of the federal initiative." The issue here is that the cabinet can make changes to provincial laws without taking amendments before the legislature for debate or vote. This ostensibly offends the concept of representative government, and resembles the authority which Ottawa has under its Emergencies Act. This does not, however, render the ASA unconstitutional; particularly since the power exercised by cabinet is delegated to the executive by the AB legislature.
The net effect of the ASA is not to claim new powers, but instead to assert the existing legal authority provided in s.92 of the Constitution Act to prevent Ottawa from continuing its persistent campaign of encroachment into Provincial sovereignty. Put another way, it is only because the federal government has picked a fight with Alberta by violating the Constitution that the ASA is even necessary. Indeed, in a properly operating Confederation, the ASA would be entirely superfluous.
Justin Trudeau does not realize this, but his trusty legal advisors are no doubt able to tell him that his government has the option to take the ASA before the Supreme Court of Canada for a direct reference concerning its constitutionality. Trudeau has signaled publicly that he has no appetite for such a direct confrontation with Alberta or her new Premier. For now at least, Scut Farkas has retreated back behind his rotted fence, his nose bloodied and bruised by the upstart Ralphie. If I may be so bold, I suggest that Premier Smith send a replica of a certain item to the Prime Minister as a "Holiday" gift, since his atheistic, post-modern, post-nation state, post-truth government no longer acknowledges Christmas. Surely the self-avowed feminist would offer no objection?
