Our Duty on October 19

The folks at Know the Nine have articulated why those of us who care about other people should vote to remain in Canada and then vote no to the other nine questions proposed by Danielle Smith's non-binding, divisive, and distracting October referendum. While the UCP government will do what they want no matter the outcome of the vote, it's still important to show up and express our support for Canada and reject the UCP's attempts to marginalize minorities, make voting more difficult for everyone, and continue to erode our public institutions and Canadian unity. The more Albertans reject what Danielle Smith and the UCP are selling, the harder it will be for them to justify their mean-spirited, socially and economically destructive agenda. 
 

Jellybean Streets

My anthipathy for the boring beige houses that seem to be the default in Edmonton intensified when Sylvia and I visited St. John's. I wish I lived on a rainbow road. 

Request Your Special Ballot for the Alberta Referendumb

Elections Alberta is now accepting requests for special ballots for the October 19 Alberta Referendum. Just fill out the online form and they'll mail you a ballot with all ten referendum questions; fill it out, mail it back, and you've done your civic duty. 

Why Is This Important? 
Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party are subjecting Albertans to a pointless, divisive, misleading, and non-binding referendum. This means that no matter what the results, the Alberta government is under no legal obligation to act on the results of the vote. Given the performance of the UCP government thus far, with its track record of scandals, censorship, pandering to the Trump administration, working to undermine and eventually privatize public institutions, there's every reason to believe that the UCP will simply do what they want and ignore the people--unless of course the vote aligns with UCP values and strategy. 

There are nine blatantly leading questions about immigration and Canadian constitutional matters, all of them dog whistles to cast suspicion and resentment against immigrants and our fellow Canadians in other provinces--but especially the federal government, which happens to be Liberal these days. Surely a coincidence. 

So why vote? Because there's still a slight chance that a massive turnout and a massive vote against the immigration and constitutional questions and a massive vote to remain in Canada will at least give the UCP pause. 

How Should We Vote? 
I can't tell you how to vote, nor can any one else, nor should anyone. But I believe that anyone with common sense, empathy, and a basic understanding of politics should "no" on the first nine questions--not just for the sake of immigrants and marginalized people, which is reason enough, but because voting yes on these issues opens the door to escalating restrictions on personal freedom, loss of privacy, loss of crucial public services, worsening relations with the rest of Canada, and disrespecting the constitutional role of Canada's Indigenous peoples. 

Here's question ten, which of course the UCP has written to obfuscate the issue. Rather than a simple "Should Alberta stay in Canada?" or even "Should Alberta separate from Canada?", we get: 

Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?

The available responses are: 

Option 1: Alberta should remain a province of Canada.

Option 2: The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.

I'll be choosing option one, and I hope at least 85% of Albertans will do the same. Also, note the wording of option two, which explicitly states that the next referendum, unlike this one, would be binding--should Albertans vote for option two (and should we get shunted into a parallel universe where the Clarity Act doesn't exist). 

My prescription: 
"No to the nine, and Option 1 is just fine." Or maybe "No to the nine, one for the ten, and let's not go through this nonsense again." 

Alberta's Referendumb

I've avoided writing about Alberta politics very much for the last few years. It's because everything Danielle Smith and her crew of UCP grifters do is engineered to hurt Albertans while enriching themselves and their circle of cronies. They've demonized the LGBTQ+ community, censored books, short-changed municipalities, failed to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for environmental cleanup coasts, and encouraged a separatists movement to divide Canada. And ever since she became Premier, Danielle Smith several of her MLAs have been openly cozying up to Donald Trump and his circle of criminals. 

All this infamy has come to a head with the announcement of Alberta Referendum 2026. If you can stand to explore the site, you'll discover the NINE (mis)leading questions Albertans will be asked to vote on this October. You'll find the carefully crafted findings of the Alberta Next Panel, an exercise in finding the answers they wanted to divisive questions. 

Speaking of the questions: five on immigration (controlled by the federal government) and four on the Canadian Constitution. 

All nine questions are specifically crafted to foster resentment of immigrants and the rest of Canada. Even if Albertans overwhelmingly voted YES on all nine questions, Alberta would be put through years of painful, harmful negotiations with the rest of the country. And we would deserve the scorn of our neighbours from coast to coast. 

The most obvious insult to our intelligence? Referenda aren't binding in Alberta. So even if Albertans vote NO on each of the nine questions, the Smith government can do whatever it wants, given they have a majority in the Alberta Legislature and a proven willingness to use the notwithstanding clause to overcome any court challenge. 

Indeed, the Smith government only just announced that Alberta will be switching to permanent daylight savings time--despite the recent referendum where Albertans rejected that very change. Wherever you stand on time zones, why would any Albertan believe the UCP would obey the outcome of any referendum now? 

This also shows that the Alberta government will clearly not enact the referendum question put forward by Forever Canadian, whose petition reached the required number of signatures even before the provincial government changed the rules to make a competing petition by separatists easier to succeed. In fact, Alberta separatists are still on the streets collecting signatures, even though today's announcement seems to make their efforts moot--in that the UCP government have done their work for them. 

Every Albertan with an ounce of sense must take this threat seriously. Please--vote NO on all nine questions on October 19. Even the ones that sound reasonable, like reforming the Senate, are engineered to increase division and, contrary to what Smith and the UCP claim, tear Alberta away from Canada and give future UCP governments more and more power to trample human rights, privatize pubic institutions, and enrich the one percent to the detriment of the rest of us. That's their endgame. 

And the gall--the absolute, unmitigated gall--to drape their separatist, hateful website with the maple leaf. And to claim it's about "a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada." Goebbels would be proud. 

SCTV and Me

At the moment I write this, Amazon Prime is streaming all six seasons of SCTV, AKA Second City Television, the sketch comedy show that arose from Toronto's Second City comedy troupe. Like many others, I was a fan during the series' original run; indeed, we moved to Alberta just in time for the third season, which was filmed in Edmonton at the old Allard studios on 51st avenue and even on location in Leduc, where we lived at the time. 

Because you never know how long any given show will be available these days, I immediately started watching SCTV on Prime from the beginning to try to capture all the episodes I missed back in the 70s and 80s and to revisit any I remembered. It turns out that out of the entire first and second seasons--as far as I've gotten--I remember only the fifth and 26th episodes of the first season, so much of the comedy is new to me thus far--quite a delight. 

The show is as silly as I remember, but also much sharper, with social commentary, double entendres, and pop culture references that went over my head as an adolescent. 

My favourite sketch from the first season is "Crossword" from episode four. I was astounded when the opening credits included Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud, two incredibly gifted and respected British stars of stage and screen. I figured this was a gag--including these legends alongside Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, and Harold Ramis--virtually unknown, comparatively, especially in the mid-1970s. But sure enough, the two knights show up in a sketch called, "Crosswords," in which they're cast in a Harold Pinter play and exchange dry, mundane dialogue about which landmarks they should visit and how to solve the crossword clues. It's a strange skit, capturing the weird feeling of Pinter plays perfectly, and the two gentlemen are hilarious in the most deadpan manner possible. I'd love to know what circumstances made this bit of television history possible. 

It's also neat to see the loose narrative of the fictional SCTV evolve during the first two seasons; the skits are held together with the various goings-on at the station itself, and it amuses me to no end that Harold Ramis' departure as Moe Green, station manager, is covered by a kidnapping; the station is too cheap to pay the $2000 ransom, and Moe Green is never seen again on the show. Grim! 

As with any sketch show, some bits are funnier than others, but the actors really give every scene their all, and the cheap production values bring their own charm, putting the show's success almost entirely in the hands of the writers and comedians. 

I already remember why I loved this show, and it's a real treat to finally see the many episodes I missed. Looking forward to seasons three to six! 

Saskatchewan Steeds of 1940

I believe that's my grandfather, William Woods, in the last photo. He's short enough and seems to have Dad's hair and face. 
 

Windmill vs Flag

 

Forever Canadian: Signed

Thanks to a couple of volunteers from our very own condo complex, Sylvia and I signed the Forever Canadian petition today. If the petition collects slightly less than 300,000 signatures, the question "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" will be on a referendum ballot for all Albertans to vote on, beating the competing separatist referendum tacitly supported by Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP provincial government to the punch. 

And on Saturday, August 16, the Forever Canadian organization is opening a permanent petition signing location at the Kingsway Legion, which is located at 14339 50th Street, Edmonton. You can sign in the front lobby between noon and 8PM Thursday to Saturday and from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM on Sundays. 

No online signatures are accepted for this petition, so if you want to support Alberta remaining within Confederation, please find the time to sign as soon as possible. Canada isn't perfect, but Alberta alone would most likely be quickly absorbed the United States, with all the downsides that entails--from widespread gun violence to private health care to the very real threat of fascism completely taking over that nation in the imminent future. 

I don't want any part of that, and I imagine most people reading this blog agree with me. 

War of the Worlds: Canadian Front

 

Newton Place Knicknacks

I didn't live in Newton Place for long, but it's where I watched the last season or so of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I remember hardly anything about the layout of the apartment, and I have very few photos of my time there. This is one of them. 
 

Dystopian Canadian Propaganda

 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, 2023

Today marks Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, an effort to recognize the historic and ongoing injustices perpetrated against Indigenous peoples. 

On this day, many Canadians don the colour orange to mark the experiences of Phyllis Webstad, whose grandmother gave her an orange shirt on the first day Phyllis was taken to a residential school. 

Less than ten years ago, I learned the residential schools and their mission to erase Indigenous culture nationwide weren't completely shut down until 1996. Aside from their stated goal of assimilation, the residential schools were, by all accounts, hellholes that traumatized tens of thousands of Indigenous children. 

The shameful existence of residential schools is, sadly, far from the only way non-native Canadians have mistreated Indigenous peoples since European settlers first came to North America. Even today, Indigenous issues remain a low priority for all levels of government in Canada. 

I haven't been a very good ally for Indigenous peoples, but today I realized there is one thing I can do, for a small beginning: at every opportunity, we should be asking our elected officials and candidates for office how they are addressing Indigenous issues: the poorer health outcomes, disproportionate rates of incarceration, missing and murdered women, lack of representation, poverty, and justice for residential schools, forced relocation, dealing in bad faith, and so much more. 

Like it or not, politicians have influence, and as their voters, we, in turn, can influence them. If enough non-Indigenous Canadians show we, too, care about Indigenous issues, maybe we can start righting a few wrongs. 

 

How's It Goin', Eh?

Today I worked at the office for the just the second time since March 2020, and I took a moment to visit the new(ish) statue of Canadian comedy icons Bob and Doug McKenzie. 

Beauty, eh? 

Eggloo

 

Freedom Convoy (with apologies to C.W. McCall)

(Ah, breaker one-nine this here’s the Freedom Truck
You gotta copy on me, Flu Trux Klan, c’mon?
Ah yeah 10-40, Flu Trux Klan, fer sure, fer shure
By golly it’s clean clear to Lib Town, c’mon

Yeah, that’s a big 10-4 there, Flu Klan
Yeah, we’ll definitely get the snowflakes, good buddy
Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a Freedom Convoy)

Was the height of the ‘cron in February
In a Kenworth haulin’ flags
We’ll fly ‘em upside-down in Ottawa town
Our faces free of rags
We represent all the diff’rent races
Yeah, every shade of white
We’re gonna prove that COVID’s fake
By offending everyone in sight

‘Cause we got a Freedom Convoy
Whether or not it makes sense
Yeah we got a Freedom Convoy
And don’t you dare call us dense
We got a Freedom Convoy
Ain’t logic gonna get in our way
Yeah, we’re gonna roll this convoy
Until the Judgement Day
Convoyyyyy 

(Ah, breaker, Flu Trux Klan, this here’s the Truck)
(Hey, you wanna hide those swastikas?)
(Yeah, 10-4, the Fake News is makin’ us look bad)
(Better dance on some war memorials to distract ‘em)

Before long the locals were gettin’ riled
With us hollerin’ and honkin’ all night
But with the police on our side we had nothin’ to hide
We could park anywhere without a care
And piss on everything and everyone in sight

We’ll vandalize that Terry Fox
Ignore the statue’s silence
‘Cause we all know cancer patients don’t rely on science

Oh, we got a Freedom Convoy
Honkin’ through the night
Yeah, we got a Freedom Convoy
But nobody gets our plight
Support the Freedom Convoy
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get in our way
We got money from GoFundMe
And big donors from the USA

Convoy! (Ah, what’s that, Flu Klan? GoFundMe dropped us?)

Convoy! (One of our leaders wants to shoot anyone wearing masks?)

(Mercy Sakes, this is getting a little out of hand)

(Can I go home now?)

Convoy….

A Passing Grade for Passchendaele

Paul Gross’ Passchendaele (2008) starts off strong with a gripping, evocative, and even artful small-scale battle in the muck and rubble of a ruined small town. I had high hopes for the film based on this sequence, but once Gross’ character winds up back on the home front in Calgary, the artistry and power of that opening is replaced by a not terribly compelling story of young love and PTSD  that feels like a TV movie of the week. The film does pick up a bit when the story moves back to the battlefield, but even then the filmmakers fail to show why Passchendaele was such a milestone moment in Canadian history. Instead, we get an obvious and awkward homage of Christ’s carrying the cross to his doom, for no particular reason that I can see. 

It’s not that the film isn’t competently made; the performances are solid, and the melodrama is fine, if not ambitious. But it’s too bad that Gross couldn’t sustain the excellence of the opening sequence throughout the rest of the film.

Men with Brooms, Man with Opinion

I'm probably giving this a half-star more than it deserves out of a fondness for Paul Gross' work in Due South and Leslie Nielsen's work in...well, everything I've seen him in, really, including a great guest turn on Due South.

As for Men with Brooms (Paul Gross, 2002), well, if you're not put off by the incredibly creepy CGI beavers that open the film, you might enjoy the performances (Molly Parker is particularly effective) and the and the few sitcom-level jokes that don't fall completely flat. Oh, and if you like curling, you might be amused by the scenes that take place on the rink. Finally, there are also a handful of love stories, two of which are kind of sweet if you're sentimental (as I tend to be). All told, however, most of the humour is stale, the drama flat, and the plot beats predictable. It's not that the film is terrible, but it does have an awful lot of wasted potential: a mildly interesting central idea, a strong cast, and a chance to explore one of the few aspects of Canadian culture someone outside the country might be able to name.

Someday someone will make the great Canadian curling movie. This isn't it, but writer-director-lead actor Gross deserves credit for taking his best shot - even if it misses the button by a couple of kilometres. 

Mobilize (Video)

Here's a very cool film by Caroline Monnet in which Indigenous Peoples of Canada mobilize, to a very exciting soundtrack by Tanya Taqaq, for a journey from rural to urban landscapes. Though made in 2015, this short film appears to be assembled from stock footage going back to at least the 1960s. Great music and very cool visuals. 

The Quirky Genius of Norman McLaren

The National Film Board of Canada has a streamable collection of some of the works of famed Scots/Canadian animator Norman McLaren. Perhaps most fascinating--or at least most educational--are the five parts of Animated Motion, a series of educational films by McLaren and his often-collaborator Grant Munro. Part 1 is pretty elementary even for those with a passing interest in animation, but the animation principles revealed become more fascinating with each successive section of the course. 

Dat Other Dominion

One day, I wondered what Canada would look like if each American state bordering Canada joined Canada as new provinces. Here's what that would look like: weird. I'm betting we'd almost double our population, though, given we'd be getting Seattle, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Not to mention Detroit and Cleveland and Minneapolis...