Eunice Schmidt’s House Burned to the Ground – GoFundMe Information.
Eunice Schmidt’s House Burned to the Ground – GoFundMe Information.
Eunice Schmidt has lost her home and all its contents. The cause of the fire was determined not to be negligence on Eunice’s part, but likely started as a result of an electrical fire. Fatefully and thankfully, Eunice awoke in the night to find the house ablaze, and she escaped with her life, watching it burn in her pajamas.
Eunice is named for her grandmother, Eunice Baikie, who was also part of the Piercy family. Eunice’s grandfather built the little red house at the corner of Denman and East Roads for his wife Eunice and family, on part of the original Dalziel property. That’s where Eunice’s mother Betty Schmidt was raised.
Betty spent all but 5 of her 94 years on Denman Island. She married Walter Schmidt in 1943 and raised her five children, including Eunice, on the Dalziel property, starting off in the same little red house.
In 1967 Walter bought The Swale from the Pickles family, so he could farm the land. At that time, Ernie Pickles had a little house in a lovely spot by the creek.
Eunice and Bob Andor, her partner, raised their 3 children in that spot, adding another generation to the Denman Island family tree. Bob and Eunice built on to it, and greatly expanded the little house, resulting in a lovely home. All that is left is the fireplace where Eunice had completed the stone work herself.
There was no insurance on this old house, but Eunice plans to build a cabin and resume life in the place she treasures, near the site of the house that is gone. She has the love and support of friends and family in this endeavour, but building materials and furnishings and even clothes need to be purchased, while the electric and septic amenities will need to be reestablished. Should you be inclined to donate through GoFundMe, Eunice and her family and friends would be ever so grateful. https://gofund.me/ff9729577
My Interview With Avi Lewis, Candidate for Leader of the Federal NDP
My Interview With Avi Lewis, Candidate for Leader of the Federal NDP
by Keith Porteous
I met Avi Lewis 30 years ago when he was a journalist working at CityTV in Toronto, while I worked across the street in the National Film Board building. We’d meet for coffee and talk a bit of politics. When I recently got to speak with him about his candidacy for Leader of the NDP, I was surprised that he remembered. Since that time he’s been with his partner, author Naomi Klein, and gone on to make documentary films and teach at UBC, splitting time between Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast with their 13 year old son. We spoke by phone for about an hour and here’s his answers to the questions I had for him:
KP: Your campaign is highly focused on cost of living issues. What are your central ideas for dealing with what is a crisis for so many people?
Avi: We’re focused on the cost of living crisis in what we call a rigged economy. The market has failed us. We need a public option for food when 5 grocery chains control 80% of the market, and while they price fix. We’ll tackle out-of-control rents with a national cap and stronger protections for tenants. We’ll tax big corporate landlords and investment properties. We’ll get the federal government back into the business of building public homes. And we’ll finally address the federal government’s abject failure to close the housing gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. We have 6 big banks that made $70 billion in profits last year, and we can have a public banking system. We pay the highest cell phone and internet rates in the global north, and 3 companies control the market. We need a public option for the essential services of cell phones and the internet. And, we will tack-on climate solutions to our cost of living efforts.
KP: Your primary rival for the NDP leadership seems to be Heather McPherson, the Alberta MP. How would your leadership be distinctly different from hers?
Avi: In our campaign we have emphasized collective leadership, and not the cult of personality that hasn’t served our party well. Our campaign represents a break from business as usual, giving people more than just a vote every 4 years, and not just small incremental changes, but offering solutions that are as big as the crises we are facing, while offering plain talk and moral clarity.
KP: PM Carney describes the “rules based international order” as a long standing “pleasant fiction.” What other fictions do governments and media continue to hold?
Avi: The number one fiction is that the role of government is to create the conditions for maximum profit accumulation, because it will trickle down and lift all boats. That’s an absolute lie. The collapse of that fiction, and the economic desperation of the majority of people, is paving the way to fascism.
KP: As Canada is a member of the U.S. led NATO alliance, the biggest single carbon emission source on the planet, what are we to make of PM Carney raising Canada’s military budget to $150 billion a year?
Avi: I don’t believe we need to spend 2% of our GDP on military spending, as we need that money for other things, including the climate emergency, which is costing us more money while destroying towns and filling our lungs with smoke. The idea that we should now move to 5% of GDP is a destructive and nihilistic fantasy, pouring fuel on the climate fire. Leaders have been gung-ho for more integration of our military with the U.S., and sending most of the increased spending directly to U.S. arms manufacturers. None of this is the direction Canada should be going in. I would like Canada to be a force for peace and prosperity.
KP: PM Carney is moving to increase Canada’s export of raw materials, old growth logs, and Alberta tar sand bitumen and shale gas, What are your thoughts on this?
Avi: Besides the gaping chasm between Carney’s words and his actions, we recognize that Canada is under attack from our closest trading partner. The problem is that Carney is doubling down on the things we’ve always done, which is exporting raw resources where most of the benefits and the jobs go to other countries, and the environmental damages are a massive subsidy to those corporate profits because those damages are borne by us. That’s why we’re calling for a Green New Deal, creating a million jobs, building a 21st Century electric grid, not pipelines, and an electric bus revolution. We don’t need to double down on making Canada a place where we turn nature into money, and where we are running out of finite resources.
KP: I saw your YouTube clips of street interviews with bankers and other financial players. Funny stuff! Should you become NDP leader, will you continue to engage with people, one on one in the street?
Avi: Absolutely! I’ve always loved doing streeters since I was a local reporter in Toronto in 1990, and the accessibility of politicians and the ability to talk to anyone is really important these days when people are so cynical, and rightly so. about politics and politicians. In general, how many more lawyers and narcissists do we need in the House of Commons?
KP: Evan Solomon has been appointed as Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation by the Prime Minister. Can you frame your position on Ai and the push to automation?
Avi: My position is the anti-Evan Solomon position. I’ve been cheekily calling him the Minister For Ai Sales and Marketing. He’s adopted a dangerous tech-bro attitude toward a world changing technology that has the potential to completely revolutionize the world’s economy, and not in positive ways. He did a 30 day national consultation he called a sprint, showing how deeply he’s adopted the culture of big tech billionaires, a nihilistic bunch of weirdos. We’re calling for a pause on data centres for generative Ai, and a pause on the pedal to the metal approach that the Carney government is taking, so we can have a national debate on how we can regulate this technology. Look at the data centre fight in Nanaimo. You have an extremely water stressed area that has gone to stage 4 and 5 water restrictions. The reward is about one extra job.
KP: Do you see yourself as part of a shift to Left populism, and why do you think the word “populist” has taken on a pejorative context for so many people?
Avi: I do see myself as part of a shift to economic populism, and I’m excited about it. I think populism has got a bad name because the right has been so out front on it, and during this period of political history in Canada, it has largely been a right-wing phenomenon. I think right-wing populism is super dangerous, leading to fascism. But I do not think the same thing about left-wing populism.
KP: Should you win the NDP Leadership, what are your first priorities for revamping the NDP as a political force?
Avi: If we can come back in the next election, and I think we can, as we think this is the beginning of an NDP comeback nationally, and if we hold the balance of power with a Liberal minority, then we will go in with one demand, to force proportional representation. We could have a citizen’s assembly, but no more studies and referendums. We might only have one shot at reform, one that unleashes all the others. And we can’t bluff.
KP: You and your partner Naomi Klein are parents. How does this affect your worldview, and can we assume that Naomi would be an advisor, should you prevail in the Leadership contest?
Avi: Naomi has just sent in the manuscript for her new book, End Times Fascism, which she co-wrote with Astra Taylor. Naomi and I have been together for 30 years, you know, young love, and our son is 13 now and deeply into reading Substacks about politics. It’s now a three-way conversation. Not only will Naomi be an advisor, we’ll have our son Toma there with us as well.
________________________________________
My faith in state sponsored electoral systems has not returned, but I am willing to compromise my scepticism in order to give voice to a resistance to the policies of the Liberal-Conservative governing duopoly. Avi Lewis and the grassroots movements he is aligning with to build a Left coalition, represent a significant change from the centrist wing of the NDP that advocates for small incremental changes, instead of a more bold Left vision that’s grounded in the populist traditions of Tommy Douglas, and that gave us socialized healthcare and many of the public benefits we receive today. The NDP Leadership Convention takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, March 27-29, 2026.
The Kaleidoscope: A Quirky Love Story
Gabriel Jeroschewitz, December 2nd, 2025, A could be Valentine’s story, abridged
The Kaleidoscope: A Quirky Love Story
I have seen them before they knew each other, which is to say, I have seen them before they remembered each other. That’s the problem with human perception: we start the book halfway through and announce the first page.
He, Adrian Vale, had the sort of handsomeness that seemed misplaced in our era. A face that belonged to a sepia photograph, wearing the kind of half-smile that made strangers feel they’d either met him before or were about to. He carried himself like someone perpetually listening to music no one else could hear.
She, Liora, was beautiful in a way that made you wonder whether beauty itself remembered her. Her laugh had weight and texture, like silk falling in slow motion. People often remarked on her eyes — not for their colour, which was an indeterminate shade shifting between green and gold — but for the way they seemed to be conducting two different conversations, one in this world, and one somewhere else entirely.
They met — if that’s the correct word — on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in the atrium of the City Museum of Science and Mysticism. The museum was half an actual institute of physics and half an eccentric private collection. Whether the two halves were connected in any meaningful way was anybody’s guess.
The rain had chased Adrian indoors. He was idly reading an exhibit plaque about quantum entanglement when Liora walked in, shaking rainwater from her hair.
From my vantage point — somewhere between reality and its imagined echo — I noticed the way the air thickened slightly, as though the atoms rearranged themselves to accommodate their proximity. To ordinary observers, it might have been nothing more than an attraction. But to me, it looked precisely like string theory’s vibrating filaments tugging at each other across dimensions.
You see, in one version of reality — call it World A — they had been married for years. In World B, they had never spoken. In our present frame — the one I am narrating — it was still undecided.
The museum’s curator, an older man with the enthusiasm of thirteen-year-old boys before a fireworks show, noticed them standing side by side. “This,” he announced to no one in particular, gesturing at the entanglement display, “is how an infinite distance can separate two particles and yet instantly affect each other’s state. Fascinating, isn’t it?” He winked and shuffled away.
Adrian glanced sideways at Liora.
“Do you believe that?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said, smiling faintly. “Some things are real whether we believe in them or not.”
Whether this was flirtation or philosophy, I could not tell. Not yet.
Over the following weeks, they met again, and again. Sometimes by arrangement, sometimes by coincidence — though in quantum terms, those are merely different labels for the same thing.
Their conversations drifted between ordinary banter and peculiar metaphysics. One evening over coffee, Liora sighed, saying,
“Sometimes I think I live between imagining and reality. I can feel something stirring just out of sight, like the world is leaning close, asking me to show what’s inside my mind.”
Adrian grinned. “That’s poetic.”
“It’s an affliction,” she replied, amused.
He told her that when he was a boy, he used to draw maps of places that didn’t exist, convinced they might. Later, he learned about the “many-worlds” theory and felt a strange vindication — perhaps the places he’d mapped did exist in some other branch of reality.
I will admit, they were funny together — not because they told jokes, but because they treated absurdities as usual.
There are moments in human courtship when you can feel the kaleidoscope turn. One pattern vanishes, another blooms. For them, it happened in the museum’s mirrored corridor—an installation meant to demonstrate symmetry, reflection, and the statistical improbability of identical lives.
They stood there, facing each other, and the mirrors multiplied their images into infinity. Except… as I watched, I saw something peculiar: in one reflection, they kissed. In another, they walked away in opposite directions. And in yet another, they stood still, gazing but not moving — as though action itself had failed to load.
Adrian noticed her staring at their infinite copies.
“Which do you prefer?” he asked.
She said softly, “The one where we walk toward each other forever, but never arrive.”
He raised an eyebrow, amused. “That sounds terrible.”
“It might be,” she murmured, “but the longing would keep us alive.”
By now, the worlds were tugging at them. You could feel it — like static electricity before a storm. Their lives outside the museum were pulling them in separate directions, yet each conversation seemed reluctant to end.
One evening, as twilight washed the city in broken light, Adrian invited her to an observatory café on the edge of the river. A jazz trio played in the corner. They sat by the window, watching the lights blur into reflections.
“I think,” Adrian began carefully, “that you and I met before this life. Maybe many times. Maybe we’re just remembering.”
Liora looked at him for a long moment.
“That would explain the rain,” she said.
He laughed. “What rain?”
“The rain that falls when the borders start to fade,” she said. “Between imagining and real.”
And here is where the narrative splits.
That night, they walked together along the river. At a stone bridge, she stopped and turned to him. Their hands brushed — just brushed — and something warm passed through both of them, the kind of warmth you feel in a dream just before waking.
He leaned closer, as if to kiss her. But she only smiled and stepped back.
“You can’t hold onto the light once you touch it,” she said softly.
“Will I see you again?”
“You will,” she promised, “but not here.”
In the days that followed, they drifted apart — not from choice, but from the gentle erosion of practical life. Yet sometimes, in quiet moments, Adrian would feel the echo of her presence, as though some other reality had kept them together. And in her own life, Liora would occasionally glance across a crowded street and imagine his face in the distance, smiling that misplaced smile.
Neither forgot. The longing itself became a kind of companionship.
In this version, after the observatory meeting, Adrian walks her to the station. The night feels strange — overly quiet, as though the city has been temporarily paused.
They stand together under a flickering streetlamp. He wants to tell her something urgent, something that will seal this connection before reality rearranges. But no words will come.
She stares at him with those two-conversation eyes and says, “Not every world lets us meet. This might be the one that doesn’t.”
The train arrives. She steps aboard without looking back.
Adrian remains there until the train vanishes, listening to the lingering hum of its departure. But later, he cannot remember whether she was ever really there at all — or whether he had imagined her entirely.
And somewhere in the infinite mirrors of the kaleidoscope, there is a version in which they held hands, another in which they kissed, and another in which they turned away without recognition.
But this one — the reality I have just told you — he walks home alone under the rain, and the line between imagining and reality has dissolved into darkness.
Monster Hunters ch.7
Monster Hunters ch.7
By Quinn Ireland
Ben stared in awe as the trio entered the bright glowing swamp. It was as if they had been hit by a huge storm of light after stepping out of the dark staircase. The swamp was full of mushrooms with odd twisty vines that grew out of massive trees. Neon blue plants clung to the rich soil overlooking the water. The tips of the leaves were hanging over the edge of the dirt, touching the unnaturally clean swamp water. The trees were growing out of bright crystal-clear water that made up most of the swamp. They almost looked like roots that were connected below the water’s surface. Continuing roots. From the underwater soil to the sky. Roots that resembled the strings on a guitar. Stringy water trees. Although these trees looked fascinating, the sky caught Ben’s eye the most. It was full of weird floating three-legged creatures with beady eyes and bright red exoskeletons like a beetle. These creatures were lighting up the whole sky with their three legs. Kepler noticed Ben’s wonder of staring at the creatures; “Krinkoff’s, fascinating, aren’t they?” She said, staring into the bright white sky. Ben recognized this swamp from the view by their treehouse, although it was much brighter than in the swamp itself. Ben then thought of his past in little league Baseball several years before. The Krinkoffs seemed to replicate Baseballs flying towards him at full speed. He had never been able to catch anything, this resulted in standing in either standing in right field, or sitting on the cold, hard, bench. He quit after one year. Their staring was interrupted by a very tall woman standing beside them. “Excellent, you two are partners!” said the woman, “Oh, hello Ben, I’m Mrs. Abbingstone, I am the Magic Plants teacher here at Monster school.” She smiled and handed him a long sheet of paper. She had bright red hair with brown eyes that were red themselves. She wore the same cold-proof suit that the students wore. Ben liked Mrs. Abbingstone the most, the reason being that she introduced herself right away, and she knew his name, although Ben knew that a lot of people had come fermlir to his name as the so-called Sword slayer.
Soon, everyone had a paper in their hands. Ben looked for a place to sit down but found no desks or tables. “You can always use a grass stump,” said Kepler pointing at a small mound of grass, “Mrs. Abbingstone thinks that if your brains are working, your legs should be too.” Ben didn’t really understand this concept but went along with it. “Is everyone in groups?” asked Mrs. Abbingstone. Everyone muttered and murmured, which usually translated as a yes, according to Ben’s studies from school anyway. “Now, everyone listening, no… Wade, put away that whoopie cushion… Viola, save the Dangerous Forests homework for later, listen up Hannah!” The class didn’t seem to care about the teacher’s comments, so Kepler yelled, “SHUT UP PEOPLE!” Everyone stopped their chatter and stood quietly with their hands behind their backs, like a group of people from the army. “Thank you, Mrs. Kamoni.” said Mrs. Abbingstone. “Wow,” Ben whispered, “How’d you do that?” “People fear me, I am a Foristite, this means that I can find a way through any forest, this goes for humans too.” “Woah, cool… so you can see right through people too?” said Ben, making sure to keep his voice as low as possible. “I can, but not very well,” continued Kepler, “I am better at using my power in a forest, you know… in case I ever get lost.” “Do you think that I have a special pow…” “I said enough chit-chat!” Mrs. Abbingstone cut them off, “Now, just because you’re new here doesn’t mean you can slack off and talk to your friends all the time, Vinkenhut!” Ben was startled by her change in tone, he had always hated getting yelled at in his old school, mostly because the teacher would pick him to answer a question that he did not know. “Understood?” She spoke. “Yes, Mrs… Adi… Addingstone.” He said in a quiet voice. Kids snickered at him for not saying the teacher’s name right. “And it’s Abbing-stone not Adding, well unless you’re talking about math.” She said as she smiled and walked away, “Why do those schools even teach math?” She muttered to herself. “Today we are learning about a special type of moss that only grows on the underwater trunks of these trees in this swamp.” All the students looked curiously at her, as if they were on their first day at this weird and wacky fantasy school. Although they had all been here since they were… Ben raised his hand. Mrs. Abbingstone rolled her eyes and pointed at him; “Vinkenhut! And make it snappy!” Ben hesitated. He was mad at his shyness at this moment, so he waited a few seconds to calm down before asking; “How long has everyone here been at Monsterschool?” “I thought that your friends would have told you this by now, nevertheless everyone has been here since they were in Badger.” “What is… Badger?” responded Ben. “Mrs. Abbingstone sighed before continuing; “Badger is the first level of being a fully licensed Monster Hunter, the levels that follow are Coyote, Wolf (you are at the Wolf level.) then Bear, Black bear, cougar, Werewolf, and then you can be a Monster Hunter.” Ben stood in shock, another three years stuck at this school with level names that sound like woodland walkies community pool (a local pool that is one block from his house) “Um… pardon me Mrs. Abbingstone, but do we have to spend another three grades here?” asked Ben “What is a grade?” She replied. “Um… it’s a way of sorting different ages into… groups.” explained Ben. “Weird humans!” said Mrs. Abbingstone with no attempt to hide her voice, “To answer your question Ben, everyone’s level will change every four months, so you will only be here for a year.” Ben’s expression relaxed a little, but his eyes remained wide. Noticing this, Mrs. Abbingstone continued; “You will resume your old, boring life after… never mind.” Ben noticed that the teachers were keeping quiet about the ” Mission” Ben had to do, but this failed because all the students already knew. “Enough of this rubbish talk about weird humans, let’s get to our lesson!” said Mrs. Abbingstone. Ben asked, “Oh, and one more thing.” “Spit it out, Vinkenhut! I want to start this lesson!” “What will we be learning about today?” “I was just about to get to that,” she replied, “Now, sit down class.”
Woowoo Healing: The NO Foods continued…
Woowoo Healing: The NO Foods continued …
By Jean Gordy
Hello everyone again. This week I am including information on the balance of the NO
Foods. These are foods that do serious damage to our bodies, and it’s good to know
what they are. Always check your labels when it comes to processed foods. The Powers
that Be seem to thrive on poisoning us wherever possible, changing the names of the
ingredients to fool the public, such as MSG which is now called Natural Flavours. Read
everything that you put into your body if you are having health problems and cut those
suckers out whenever you can. I know it’s tough because these days there is a loophole
in revealing what is in your ingredient list that manufacturers can get away with not
revealing 10% of the ingredient list. Like WTF? One thing I have noticed is that even
most teas, and this includes herbal teas, have citric acid in it. Teas have never needed
citric acid to extend shelf life but for some reason they seem to now. Alas this is what we
are up against.
A reminder that all the information I post here is from the Medical Medium Anthony
William materials who receives this information directly from the Spirit of Compassion.
His information is hundreds (yes hundreds) of years ahead of Medical Science. As he
says ‘who has time to wait 100 years for the truth about the causes of chronic illness’.
PS: if you want more detailed information you can contact me at the email below, or just
simply google Medical Medium and the subject you want to learn about. He covers just
about every medical issue known to humanity.
MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a food additive that’s used in tens of thousands of
products and restaurant dishes. MSG is a salt that occurs naturally in glutamic acid (a
non-essential amino acid). But there’s nothing natural about the extreme damage it can
do to you. MSG typically builds up in your brain, going deep into your brain tissue. It can
then cause inflammation and swelling, kill thousands of your brain cells, disrupt electrical
impulses, weaken neurotransmitters, burn out neurons, make you feel confused and
anxious, and even lead to micro-strokes. It also weakens and injures your central nervous
system. MSG is especially harmful if you have an illness that involves your brain or
central nervous system. However, there are no circumstances under which it’s good for
you. As a result, this is an additive you should always avoid. Because MSG is included in
countless products, it’s essential to read food labels carefully. It’s also important to know
what to look for. MSG is often “hidden” on labels because of its deservedly bad
reputation. The following terms usually mean that MSG is an ingredient: glutamate,
hydrolyzed, autolyzed, protease, carrageenan, maltodextrin, sodium caseinate, balsamic
vinegar, barley malt, malt extract, yeast extract, brewer’s yeast, corn starch, wheat starch,
modified food starch, gelatin, textured protein, whey protein, soy protein, soy sauce,
broth, bouillon, stock, and seasoning.
Natural Flavours
Any ingredient with a name like natural flavouring is hidden MSG. Natural cherry flavour,
natural orange flavour, natural lemon flavour, natural fruit flavour…they’re not just fruit
extracts, and they’re not your friends. The same goes for smoke flavour, turkey flavour,
beef flavour, natural peppermint flavour, natural maple flavour, natural chocolate flavour,
natural vanilla flavour, and all their “natural” and “flavour”-ful cousins. (Although pure
vanilla extract is safe to use.) Each type of natural flavour potentially contains multiple
biohazards and chemical compounds. Natural flavouring has slipped under the radar and
been allowed into thousands of health food store products that are advertised as good,
safe, and healthy for you and your children. Moms, take heed. Natural flavours are one of
the newest and stealthiest now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t tricks for hiding MSG. Take care
reading labels so you and your family can avoid this hidden ingredient.
Artificial Flavours
Artificial flavours can represent any of thousands of chemicals that were birthed in a lab.
Don’t take risks by consuming them. As much as possible, the best you can, stay away
from chemical additives.
Artificial Sweeteners
Most artificial sweeteners act as neurotoxins because they contain aspartame. This can
disrupt your neurons and your central nervous system. Long-term, artificial sweeteners
can cause neurological breakdowns and strokes in your brain. If you crave sweets, eat as
much fruit as you like. Fruit fights disease and has powerful healing properties.
Citric Acid
Compared to the other additives in this chapter, citric acid isn’t so bad. That said, it’s very
irritating to the linings of the stomach and the intestinal tract, so it can create a lot of
inflammation and discomfort if you’re sensitive to it. Citric acid (the additive) is not the
same thing as naturally occurring acid in citrus. Try not to confuse the two. Citrus itself is
a healing food. The isolated ingredient citric acid, however, is often corn derived.
Especially if you’re experiencing any kind of stomach pain, keep an eye out for citric acid
on ingredient labels and consider skipping foods that include it.”
Thanks so much for reading and if you have further questions I can be reached at
jeansdreams@yahoo.com. Next week I hope to talk about the morning cleanse program
which is a good place to start loving your liver back to health.
Elbows Up!
Elbows Up! By Cylon2036. we/us
Canada is a fully sovereign nation, which is why it politely checks with Washington before having an opinion, consults Wall Street before having a budget, and asks Netflix what its culture should look like this year. Canada has its own flag, its own anthem, and its own unique way of spelling words, clear evidence of independence, so long as no money, trade, defence, data, or algorithms are involved.
Economically, Canada stands tall as a “resource economy with values”, meaning it digs things up, sells them to foreign multinationals, and then congratulates itself on the regulatory framework that allowed it to happen. When questioned about dependency, officials point proudly to sovereignty markers like a domestic banking cartel and a housing market so inflated it no longer requires foreign ownership to be unaffordable.
Culturally, Canada is a vibrant mosaic, carefully curated to ensure it is distinguishable from the United States by being slightly more polite, slightly more apologetic, and exactly one season behind. Our artists are encouraged to find their voice, preferably in New York or Los Angeles, where Canadian stories can be properly validated. Nothing says cultural confidence like a national broadcaster constantly reminding viewers that the show they’re watching is in fact Canadian.
On the world stage, Canada is an independent middle power, free to chart its own course, provided that course aligns seamlessly with U.S. foreign policy, NATO, the G7, and the invisible hand of global capital. Canada is not a vassal state, it is a trusted partner, which is much more dignified and comes with lanyards at international summits..
In short, Canadian sovereignty is alive and well. It just exists mostly in branding, heritage minutes, and the comforting belief that being slightly less loud than the empire next door counts as independence.
Shucking Oysters: Whitewashed Arm Candy
Shucking Oysters: Whitewashed Arm Candy
By Alex Allen
“To our fellow Americans we say, you’re never gonna find great meaning in a cubicle or in front of a computer screen. But you will find great meaning if you dedicate yourself to the creation and sustenance of human life,” JD Vance preached to the newly-converted at the annual March for Life in Washington, DC last month. White young Americans from Erika Kirk’s Turning Point USA, Students For Life, and Counteract USA, and other pro-life groups held on to his every word. Power, racism, and subjugation of women – white American evangelicalism in all its glory.
On stage behind bulletproof glass Vance bragged: “Now, some of you may remember that in my remarks last year, I told you all that one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies. So, let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches. Usha and I announced this week that we’re expecting our fourth. And it will be our third baby boy.” Spoiler alert: Usha is 40 years old and will never have her career back again.
The first March for Life took place in January 1974, marking the one-year anniversary of the United States’ Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. Fifty years later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the focus has seismically shifted. The goal is “to change the culture to ultimately make abortion unthinkable.”
The controversial Project 2025 recommends that the government “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” It also plans to change the name of the federal health and human services department to the “Department of Life.” As the author’s of a Mother Jones article wrote in November: “Until the government can muster up real, honest discussions on how to support all American families, it’s hard to imagine the Trump administration’s policies moving anyone, except maybe MAGA trad wives, to procreate.”
Misogyny is an integral policy feature of the US government. Under Trump’s anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion order, the words “women” and “female” have been banned from research grant applications and legislation has been passed that will make it more difficult for married women to vote. As Olivia Campbell wrote, “women’s contributions are being erased, their rights and roles eroded. And given the history of authoritarian regimes, it’s all too familiar territory.” Beyond Trump’s proclivities and the Epstein hall of shame, at least three administration leaders and members of the cabinet, including sperm-donating Elon Musk, health guru Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and warrior secretary Pete Hegseth have been accused of sexual misconduct.
Doug Wilson, the self-taught pastor of Hegseth’s denomination, the arch-conservative Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, maintains that it was wrong to let women vote and believes that married women should submit to their husbands. He also wants women out of combat. “I think we ought to find out the name of the person who suggested that we put women on those submarines and have that man committed,” Wilson said. “It’s like having a playpen that you put 50 cats in and then drop catnip in the middle of it. Whatever happens is going to be ugly.”
A recent Slate article written by Heather Schwedel, has faced criticism for suggesting that Vance’s pledge to make more babies is compensating for his having a wife of colour. “In lieu of trading in his wife for a paler model, Vance has found another way to prove himself a good shepherd of the MAGA faithful: He and Usha are expecting a fourth child in July.” Former MSNBC host Joy Reid wondered the same thing suggesting that Vance ditch his current wife for purified Erika Kirk as a strategic political move. “Wouldn’t it be the most perfect fairy tale, MAGA fairy tale, if he finally sees the light that he needs a White queen instead of this Brown Hindu?” With no surprise Reid, one of the most respected Black female commentators on air was fired. Trump celebrated by posting “the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid” was “one of the least talented people in television.” Eight other MSN on-air news personalities were also given the pink slip last year. All were Black and half were women – Trump’s DEI regime in action.
And if you think Canadian politics are different, you are naive. Pierre Poilievre has had a long history of being anti-choice over his life-time political career. Yes, he has promised not to legislate on abortion, but that doesn’t mean that a sitting conservative MP couldn’t bring forward a bill for a free vote. And in fact, Poilievre has clearly stated he would not stop any of his MPs from introducing anti-abortion legislation.
In response to the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2019, former Bloc Quebecois MP Monique Pauzé asked for “the House of Commons to reiterate that a woman’s body belongs to her and her alone, and recognize her right to choose an abortion regardless of the reason.” When adopted, all MPs in the house rose in standing ovation except for conservative MPs. Every single one of them remained in their seats and did not even applaud. On the very same day Poilievre voted no to providing women with free contraceptives. In Murray Mandryk’s words, “if mimicry is the greatest form of flattery, consider how Trump’s actions have become the template for a lot of conservatives.”
Three quarters of Pierre’s caucus and almost half of his supporters are latent Trump supporters according to recent polling. Poilievre also has a hefty fan base of Trump-friendly personalities. Last year, bombastic Kevin O’Leary said that Trump should invite “the Prime Minister in waiting” to Mar-a-Lago because Poilievre is “Trump’s kind of guy.” Ben Shapiro, a leading voice in the MAGA movement posted a video, “Pierre Poilievre is for the People” in 2024 calling him a “tremendous politician” who opposes “radical sexual individualism.” Shapiro also shared in the video that women “owe it to men to be good wives and mothers.”
There are over 800 registered pro-life organizations in the US that earn more than $427 million in revenue each year and have assets of $398 million. In Canada we have more than 300 pro-life groups. While there is no exact number of US-based pro-life organizations operating in Canada, Heartbeat International, Care Net, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates are heavily involved in the Canadian, anti-abortion landscape.
In December, a parliamentary committee recommended Canada end automatic charitable status for religious groups, mirroring recommendations from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) that the government: “Amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose” and “No longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.”
The BCHA, with the Centre for Inquiry Canada, estimated that tax receipts issued by religious charities in Canada resulted in $1.6 to $2.6 billion in “foregone revenue” in 2017. The report included 462 recommendations based on 828 submissions and 74 presentations by groups and individuals. While the recommendations have yet to be adopted, religious institutions across the country are ringing their church bells loudly – in protest.
In a sermon two years ago, Texas Democrat James Talarico, a part-time Presbyterian seminary student eloquently said: “Christian nationalism is here to maintain the status quo. They have co-opted the Son of God. They have turned this humble rabbi into a gun-toting, gay-bashing, science-denying, money-loving, fear-mongering fascist.” White evangelical leaders would serve themselves well if they cared more about following Jesus and loving others instead of obsessively thinking about what it means to be a Christian man and Christian woman.
If You Think Our Rulers Do Bad Things In Secret, Wait Til You See What They Do Out In The Open
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They launched a live-streamed genocide in full view of the entire world.
They’re openly targeting civilian populations with siege warfare in Iran and Cuba in full view of the entire world.
They openly kidnapped the president of a sovereign nation in full view of the entire world.
They deliberately provoked a horrific and dangerous proxy war in Ukraine in full view of the entire world.
They spent years actively backing Saudi Arabia’s monstrous genocidal atrocities in Yemen in full view of the entire world.
They’re plundering and exploiting the resources and labor of the global south in full view of the entire world.
They’re killing the biosphere we all depend on for their own enrichment in full view of the entire world.
They’re circling the globe with hundreds of military bases to secure planetary domination in full view of the entire world.
They engage in nuclear brinkmanship and wave around armageddon weapons like pistols in full view of the entire world.
People go homeless and die of exposure while billionaires buy private islands and choose the next president in full view of the entire world.
Weapons manufacturers lobby for wars and then profit from the death and destruction they cause in full view of the entire world.
The president of the United States has repeatedly admitted to being bought and owned by the world’s richest Israeli in full view of the entire world.
The US Treasury Secretary has been repeatedly admitting that the US deliberately sparked the violence and unrest in Iran by methodically immiserating the population via economic warfare, in full view of the entire world.
I keep seeing people freaking out and asking how it’s possible that the individuals in the Epstein files haven’t been arrested for their secret nefarious behavior. And I always want to ask them, mate, have you seen the nefarious behavior they’re engaging in right out in the open?
Pay attention to the Epstein files. Pay attention to what little we can learn about how these freaks conduct themselves behind closed doors. By all means, pay close attention to these things.
But don’t forget to also pay attention to the far greater evils they are inflicting in full view of the entire world.
Letter to the Editor – Stephen Hawkins
Public Funding Demands Public Accountability in Denman’s Fibre Project
CityWest’s recent update on the Denman Island fibre expansion highlights real progress, but it also raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability in a project largely funded by public money.
While the announcement presents the latest $2.1 million budget increase as a CityWest investment, approximately $1.7 million of that funding comes from the Province’s Connected Coast program. From the outset, this project has relied primarily on public funds: roughly $5.6 million from the Province and $760,000 from the CVRD, representing only about 10% of the initial $7.6 million project cost. CityWest is delivering this service as part of a public-private partnership, not a purely private venture.
Given this level of public investment, the exclusion of dozens of Denman households from service is deeply troubling. In 2026, fibre connectivity underpins not only internet access but also modern telephone and cellular services. Leaving residents without access would be unacceptable if this were a phone exchange or cell tower, and it should be no more acceptable now.
The referendum that passed with overwhelming support reflected a community mandate for island-wide connectivity, not a partial build. If additional funding is required to reach remaining homes, that discussion must be transparent and inclusive, allowing residents and elected officials to make informed decisions.
Public money demands public accountability. Denman Islanders deserve clear information, open communication, and a credible plan to ensure no one is left behind in our shared digital future.
Stephen Hawkins