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I’m not buying it. The Alberta re-opening, as much as I want it to happen, is just too soon.
Stage 3: Two weeks after 70% of Albertans 12+ (born in 2009 or earlier) have received at least one dose. Effective July 1. All restrictions lifted, including ban on indoor social gatherings. Isolation requirements for confirmed cases of COVID-19 and some protective measures in continuing care settings remain. The general indoor provincial mask mandate will be lifted, but masking may still be required in limited and specific settings. More information will be shared prior to the start of Stage 3.
The UCP Alberta government has consistently placed it’s citizens in harms way. Ignoring professional medical advice and best practices we have blundered through this pandemic. Half measures have been par for the course leading to an overtaxed healthcare system and needless deaths.
And yet, here we are, about to go full hog-wild into the summer months with masking requirements being lifted and full indoor gatherings being give the green light.
There are already concerns in Ontario about a possible fourth wave –
“On Friday I want to remind our residents that these first steps to reopening are not a full return to normal. We do have high first dose coverage but we have low second dose coverage and the science shows that only 33 to 50 per cent protection is afforded against the Delta variant with one dose. That protection may not be enough to forestall a resurgence if we reopen and re-engage too quickly,” Loh warned. “You can start to meet with people outside your home but continue to limit your contact and ensure that you’re following precautions.”
Ontario will enter the first step in its reopening plan as of 12:01 a.m. on Friday, allowing retail stores to reopen at 15 per cent capacity and bars and restaurants to serve customers on their patios.
Loh did indicate that he believes Peel is ready for a partial reopening but he said that residents must remember that the Delta variant growing in the community “ahead of the rest of the province” and “will continue to grow.”
In fact, Loh said that the variant likely accounts for 30 to 35 per cent of all new cases in Peel Region already and is increasingly being observed in workplace outbreaks.
“The potential fourth wave is brewing right now and that’s why I think you’ve heard myself and Mayor (Patrick) Brown really pointing to the advice that we’ve received from the science table to accelerate second doses in communities that are seeing Delta variant activity, such as ours,” he said.
Brown calls on province to ramp up vaccine supply
Back in May the province directed 50 per cent of its vaccine supply to hot spot communities such as Peel but it has not yet committed to a similar strategy for second doses in communities experiencing a rise in Delta variant cases, despite calls from its own science advisory table to do so.”
Masking and maintaining sanitary precautions at least until October for me.
Happy Canada Day from Edmonton Alberta. :)
Plus information on our nation, just because. :)
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles), making it the world’s second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western border with the United States, stretching 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world’s longest bi-national land border. Canada’s capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster 1931 and culminated in the Canada Act 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British Parliament.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country’s head of government is the prime minister—who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons—and is appointed by the governor general, representing the monarch, who serves as head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual at the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Canada’s long relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.
A highly developed country, Canada has the seventeenth-highest nominal per-capita income globally and the sixteenth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the Organization of American States.
Cortana please show me how coherent the gender identity position is.
You get a cookie if you can get past 20 minutes.
Now that school is almost over (got called into a full-time temporary contract for June), I should have more time to write on the blog. I apologize for the sporadic scheduling for the last month or so, hopefully over the summer months we can get back into a regular publishing rhythm.
While perusing the CBC website I came across an article about calls to “Cancel Canada Day” in light of the mass graves being discovered at residential school sites across Canada, and the opinions of five Canadians on the topic.
“Don Amero – Country and folk singer-songwriter, Winnipeg
“I think my own belief is that Canada Day is a thing in terms of how we approach it. I think that’s where we really need to kind of take a deeper look at it. I think to spend millions of dollars in celebration, not sure if that’s what we should be doing as a country now. I think maybe [we should spend] time to reflect and to really educate ourselves.
“It is an opportunity for every individual, every Canadian, to say, ‘Where do I fit in this story?’ And I think if you’re here and you’re in this country, you’re a piece of this story. And I think that you really need to educate yourself. You can be complicit, you can be ignorant or you can educate yourself. My hope is that what we do this Canada Day is we spend more time educating ourselves on our history and who we were, who we are now and who we want to be in the future.”
I think that people won’t bother to ‘educate themselves’ unless it directly effects how they interact with society, or their income. I suspect that when asked, most Canadians will agree on the tragedy that was the Residential School system and sympathize. But not much past that.
I doubt that many Canadians will actually spend time ‘educating themselves’ unless it is job to be in the know. Historians, teachers, and the odd politician yes, but for the average person, most likely not.
If we move toward a society that values past knowledge and wisdom then then numbers may change a bit, but right now, sadly, we are not far behind the ahistorical United States when it comes to learning from history (see our Pandemic response vis-a-vis lessons the Spanish Flu Epidemic had to offer).
“Lynn-Marie Angus – Co-founder of B.C-based Sisters Sage, an Indigenous brand that hand-crafts wellness and self-care products, member of Gitxaala, Nisga’a and Métis Nations
“Honestly I never celebrate Canada Day. I haven’t since I think I was old enough to realize what Canada stood for, what Canada Day is. I’m Indigenous, so I’ve been brought up in a culture of racism. This is just something that’s normal. It’s normalized, unfortunately. But this is something that I deal with day to day It’s really difficult right now for Indigenous folks. So we’re all really suffering and traumatized and dealing with this very publicly through social media.
“There’s a saying that people are saying now: There’s no pride in genocide. And that’s so true. So it’s hard to be proud to be Canadian. I’m proud to be an indigenous person. Our existence Is our resistance. We are still here.”
I’m not sure that Canada is all about the genocide, at least these days. Canada as a minor power in the world does limited work on the world stage and mostly follows the lead of the US (like we have much choice in the matter). The successive governments that have ignored indigenous concerns is certainly not a record to be proud of, but one can hope we can improve on our political record regarding the treatment of indigenous Canadians.
“Scott Clark – Executive director, Vancouver ALIVE, director of the Northwest Indigenous Council Society
“I’ve never been a supporter of [Canada Day], recognizing the ongoing process Canada is doing to our people. But [calls to cancel Canada Day] are starting to shed light on the history of the relationship between Canada and Indigenous people. I would say that if anything [cancelling] is going to bring light to the historical and the contemporary relations between the Indigenous people, I would support that.
“I think [that] the uncovering of the the unmarked graves … for some reason, this has taken off with the Canadian public. I think they’re empathetic. I think they’re shocked.
“I do not identify as a Canadian citizen. That’s been imposed upon myself at birth. And that’s a result of the Canada Indian Act. So this is why I say there’s a lot of unfinished business that Canada has yet to do. So I don’t consider myself a Canadian, let alone a proud Canadian.”
Well, you happen to live in the political boundary of the landmass we like to call Canada, so there is that, but as with all self identification, you do you. Again, an appeal to shed light on our history. Once this news cycle is over, I’m not sure how much light will be left shining on the issue.
“Parry Stelter – President, founder of Word of Hope Ministries, originally from Alexander First Nation-Treaty Six Territory in Edmonton, Sixties Scoop survivor
“I feel that this Canada Day should not be cancelled. We should be standing at attention … but standing at attention.in fully acknowledging the full history of Canada and all its atrocities and the genocide and the residential schools.
“I think it’s a matter of changing your total perspective on the whole celebration, because many people go straight to ‘Why would I want to celebrate the past? Why would I?’ So now it’s a matter of changing perspective and saying, as I celebrate Canada Day, I’m not going to celebrate it for what it has been in the past. I’m going to celebrate it for what I want it to be in the future.
“The fact of the matter is that we still all live here. And so we have to make the most of it and move forward and not just be resilient and not just survive, but learn how to thrive in our lives. But I totally understand if my people or anybody else don’t want to celebrate. I totally understand because we all grieve in different ways.“
Parry has a great line in there – I’m going to celebrate it [Canada Day] for what I want it to be in the future. If we actually learned from our past mistakes Parry’s comment would resonate much more clearly. Unfortunately, the way our society is structured, just keeping our head above water and getting some time away from the rat-race is always fully centred in our consciousness. Historical reflection is a luxury many Canadians simply don’t have.
” Aziza Mohammed – Consultant for the World Bank, Toronto
“I don’t think it should be cancelled.I realize we’ve had some very troubling revelations, but the way forward is not to stop aspiring to be a better country, and it’s not to try and erase the existence of a country or erase history. It’s about acknowledging it and and trying to do something better.
“While acknowledging the pain of our Indigenous brothers and sisters, there’s lots of suffering throughout Canada’s history and even today. I’m a Muslim woman, I’m a racialized person. We have our places of worship burned down, vandalized with swastikas. I’ve been driven out of the first home I bought, which was in a small town in Canada, because the racist locals made my life so unbearable, I had to flee.
“There’s a lot for me personally to be upset about when it comes to our country, our history and fellow Canadians. But I still want to look forward. I still want to be positive…. Life here can’t just be suffering. It’s also a little bit of community and fellowship and joy. That’s worth celebrating to me.”
Tackling the more discriminatory elements in our society is a laudable goal.
What I think we should celebrate in Canada is the fact that we can (for the most part) state and freely share our opinions and thoughts. We still have a social rights framework in which the common people can safely hold a myriad of political thoughts and opinions and be able to disseminate them in our society. Without the freedom of the intellectual commons, Canada would be much diminished. I’m guessing that most Canadians take for granted the rights and freedoms that we have, since we have been exercising our freedom of thought and speech for so long now.
All of the diversity of opinion expressed here goes away if we lose our superstructure of guaranteed rights and freedoms. So, I think I’ll spend a little time reflecting on that fact that I live in a liberal democratic society that allows me to dissent from the majority and share opinions without deleterious consequences to my personal well being. And for that I am proud and grateful to live in, and be Canadian.
“Inclusion” is the new best and brightest way to hide your fundamental hatred of women. Gender ideology is a toxic mess of male supremacy and misogyny wrapped up in friendly pink and blue colours. The erasure of females from society has always been the endgame and the Olympic Weightlifting debacle is a prime example of the bullshit that is going on under the guise of “inclusion”.
“WELLINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) – Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics after being selected by New Zealand for the women’s event at the Tokyo Games, a decision set to reignite a debate over inclusion and fairness in sport.
Hubbard will compete in the super-heavyweight 87+kg category, her selection made possible by an update to qualifying requirements in May.
The 43-year-old, who will be the oldest lifter at the Games, had competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning in 2013.”
Who is Laurel Hubbard? This is the dude in question. As we can all definitively see, with absolutely no doubt, a female…
Ask yourself folks, is any ideology that requires you to disbelieve your eyes and ignore basic biological fact worthy of your support?
“Save Women’s Sport Australasia, a group opposed to transgender women competing in women’s sports, said Hubbard’s selection was allowed by “flawed policy from the IOC”.
“Males do have a performance advantage that is based on their biological sex,” the group’s co-founder Katherine Deves told Reuters TV.
“They outperform us on every single metric – speed, stamina, strength. Picking testosterone is a red herring … We are forgetting about the anatomy, the faster twitch muscle, the bigger organs.”
Of course, when mediocre males are allowed into female sports, females always lose out. The loser in this case is Kuinini Manumua.
This, rightly, is a travesty. It is right before our eyes, and yet somehow it is still going to happen. This is the result.
The new misogyny is so much like the old misogyny, but now with the feel good inclusion angle that quietly instead of overtly erases females from society. Woohoo!
This folks, *this* is where the magic happens.
Oy.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…