Reimagine Kingston Penitentiary — A Museum for the Past or a Sanctuary for the Present?

Every May, thousands of visitors step inside the stone walls of Kingston Penitentiary to experience a guided tour of Canada’s most iconic prison. They walk through cell blocks, hear stories from former staff, and marvel at the grim architecture that defined incarceration for over 180 years.

But just outside those walls, another story unfolds — not from the past, but in the present. Kingston’s downtown streets are increasingly occupied by Canadians who are visibly struggling: individuals battling mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. They are not tourists. They are citizens left behind by systems stretched thin, and the city is visibly bearing the burden.

The question we must now ask is simple: Why are we preserving empty cells as historical attractions while living, breathing Canadians suffer without shelter, treatment, or dignity just steps away?

It’s time for Kingston Penitentiary to serve a higher purpose.

Addressing the Reality on Our Streets

Kingston, like many Canadian cities, is facing an urgent mental health emergency. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed. Shelters are full. Policing costs rise while real recovery rates remain dismally low. People are falling through the cracks and onto our streets — and that reality is hurting everyone.

Tourism cannot flourish where there is visible human suffering. Downtown business owners quietly worry. Visitors see things they didn’t expect. Locals feel helpless. And still, year after year, millions of dollars go into preserving a prison for entertainment while the crisis grows on our sidewalks.

A New Vision for an Old Fortress

Let us be clear: preserving our history is important. But so is responding to the crises of our time. Repurposing Kingston Penitentiary into a secure, state-of-the-art facility for those with chronic mental illness and substance abuse issues is not just a social responsibility — it’s a strategic imperative.

The infrastructure already exists. The prison’s design includes individual units, large-scale facilities, and security features that could be adapted for compassionate therapeutic care. Instead of cells that echo with history, imagine recovery suites, wellness clinics, and safe housing spaces for people in crisis.

We are not proposing a return to confinement, but a pivot to care. Done right, this would not be an institution — it would be a sanctuary.

The Case for Change

Repurposing Kingston Penitentiary into a therapeutic care facility would offer three key public benefits:

1. Human Dignity: Mental illness and addiction are health issues, not criminal ones. We owe people the opportunity to recover in safety and dignity, not on a sidewalk or in a holding cell.

2. Public Safety and Civic Renewal: Addressing these challenges head-on would help restore safety, cleanliness, and pride in our urban core. A healthier city is a more vibrant, prosperous one.

3. Cost Efficiency: Housing someone in a hospital bed, jail cell, or shelter costs far more than providing them long-term therapeutic care. This is not just a moral decision — it’s a fiscally responsible one.

A National Opportunity

With the right leadership, Kingston could become a model city for a new approach: one that blends heritage preservation with human restoration. Some areas of the Penitentiary could remain open for limited educational tours, preserving our past. But the majority of the space should serve our present and future — helping people rebuild their lives with proper care, support, and stability.

Let’s stop walking tourists through empty cells while vulnerable people lie curled up on grates.

Let’s be a city that doesn’t just remember its correctional past, but corrects its course, and leads by example.

It’s time for Kingston Penitentiary to serve the living.

Masked Protesters: Wreckers of Democracy, Not Defenders of Rights

In 2012, I wrote a warning: Masked protesters during demonstrations must be outlawed, labelled as shirkers, idlers, attempted wreckers of democracy, and considered possible terrorists under the Criminal Code. Over a decade later, not only has little changed, but the threat has intensified.

Masked protesters now regularly hijack causes, weaponizing anonymity to destroy property, disrupt institutions, and intimidate civilians. These acts are not expressions of freedom; they are deliberate attempts to undermine democracy through fear and chaos.

In Canada and the United States alike, the rise of masked protesters in recent years has revealed a disturbing trend: coordinated efforts by socially harmful elements—often affiliated with student unions or radical activist groups—using intimidation, violence, and chaos to impose their political will. These are not peaceful protesters. They are masked hooligans, agitators, and wreckers of democracy. And they must be called what they are: attempted domestic terrorists.

Gangs of masked student union protesters storming classrooms or shutting down campuses commit unlawful and violent acts against students, faculty, and property. Their goal is not to persuade, but to coerce and control through threats, occupation, and destruction.

In Montreal and across Canada, such incidents have only increased. And as in the United States, this pattern of lawlessness continues virtually unabated, enabled by political indifference, judicial leniency, and law enforcement hesitation. These perpetrators exploit democratic freedoms while actively working to dismantle them.

Even more troubling, the mainstream media often refers to these actions as "mischievous pranks" or "harmless dissent." This framing is dangerously dishonest. Masked rioters are not "scamps" or likable rebels. They are ideologically driven extremists who aim to disrupt civil society. Their actions meet the basic threshold for domestic terrorism: using violence or the threat of violence against persons or property to advance political or social objectives.

The Pattern of Lawlessness in Canada and the U.S.

In Canada, we’ve seen:

1. Masked gangs storming university classes in Montreal and Toronto during pro-Palestinian encampments (2024–2025), using threats, physical blockades, and property damage to coerce institutions.

2. The “Freedom Convoy” (2022) in Ottawa, where masked agitators embedded in a larger movement harassed residents, defied police, and paralyzed the capital.

3. Pipeline and railway blockades, often led by masked activists who vandalize infrastructure and threaten workers under the guise of environmental or Indigenous solidarity.

In the United States, similar chaos unfolds:

1. Portland and Seattle riots (2020), where masked radicals torched police stations and federal buildings night after night, calling it "resistance."

2. Columbia, NYU, and UCLA university occupations (2024–2025), where masked protesters barricaded buildings, threatened Jewish students, and shut down campuses, abandoning any pretense of civil discourse.

3. The Capitol riot (January 6, 2021), where masked and unmasked individuals stormed a democratic institution, claiming patriotism while practicing sedition.

In both nations, the masked element is consistent: they arrive not to protest but to dominate, coerce, and destroy. These are not “scamps” or pranksters as today's media sometimes portrays them—they are professional agitators, social outlaws, and enemies of democratic society.

Call It What It Is: Domestic Terrorism

The Criminal Code of Canada and U.S. law define terrorism as the use of violence against persons or property to intimidate a population or compel a government or institution. When masked mobs threaten students, silence voices, or burn public infrastructure to further political agendas, they cross that threshold.

These are not protestors. These are domestic terrorists.

They cloak themselves in moral outrage, but their true aim is coercion, not justice. They abuse the liberties of democratic societies to pursue authoritarian goals. And too often, they are excused or enabled by politicians, judges, and media figures who lack the courage to draw the line.

No More Excuses, No More Leniency

It is no longer acceptable to minimize these acts as youthful rebellion or ideological passion. The rule of law must be upheld. Civil disobedience loses its legitimacy when it adopts violence, threats, and destruction as tools of change.

We must no longer tolerate:

• Masked individuals storming classrooms,

• Organized rioters destroying civic infrastructure,

• Student unions giving cover to habitual disruptors,

• Judges who downplay violent acts as minor infractions.

This behaviour is criminal, anti-social, and explicitly hostile to democracy.

This behaviour is not a democratic expression. It is mob rule, and it must be confronted with strength and clarity.

Such lawlessness cannot be excused as civil disobedience or youthful rebellion. Those who incite violence and destruction behind masks are not agents of change—they are habitual social offenders, shirkers, and enemies of open society. They undermine legitimate protest movements, distort public discourse, and embolden political extremism.

It is time that lawmakers, judges, media, and society as a whole reject this normalization of violence and treat masked, organized disruption for what it truly is: an assault on democracy. We must defend our institutions, protect our campuses, and enforce the law with the full strength of our democratic principles.

In a free society, protest is a right, but using violence and fear to silence others is not. It is time we make that line unmistakably clear.

Conclusion: Defend Democracy—Unmask the Truth

Democracy does not die from censorship alone—it dies when fear replaces dialogue, when mobs replace debate, and when violence masquerades as virtue.

Masked protestors who use coercion and destruction should be treated not as activists but as wreckers of democracy, habitual offenders, and domestic enemies of the social contract. Let us protect the sacred right to protest, but draw the clearest of lines: freedom ends where violence begins.

It is time we name this threat and deal with it accordingly. The law must be enforced. The masks must come off.

Canada Has Drifted — And Voters Are Asleep

 Mark Carney’s declaration that “Canada’s old relationship with the U.S. is over” wasn’t a warning — it was a victory lap. And most Canadians barely blinked.

That silence is the problem.

Canada hasn’t just begun to drift — it has already drifted. From free enterprise to managed economies. From principled alliances to transactional diplomacy. From individual liberty to expanding state control. And while the warning signs are flashing red, the electorate seems lulled into passive acceptance — as if national identity and freedom are footnotes to be rewritten at the whim of globalist ambition.

“We’re going to reimagine our place in the world… the old relationship with the United States is over.”
— Mark Carney, 2024

That’s not leadership — it’s detachment from reality. The U.S. remains Canada’s largest trading partner by far, responsible for over $2.6 billion in daily cross-border commerce. Our economic integration and shared democratic values are not “old news” — they are still our most vital lifeline in a world darkened by authoritarian resurgence.

Meanwhile, Canada’s government pushes forward with ideological policies that prioritize control over freedom:

1. Government spending now eats up nearly half the economy, up from 38% in 2015.

2. Debt has soared past $1.2 trillion, with interest payments alone exceeding $46 billion annually — more than we spend on health transfers to provinces.

3. Tax rates in some provinces exceed 53%, punishing productivity and discouraging growth.

4. The media is subsidized, with over $600 million in bailouts, leaving journalistic independence compromised.

5. Foreign aid and green deals are now funnelled into regimes like China and Iran — countries hostile to free speech, free markets, and democracy.

And yet, Canadians barely stir.

The media class shrugs. Academia cheers. The bureaucracy grows. And the average voter? Tired, disoriented, and too often disengaged.

This isn’t accidental. It’s the consequence of a slow boil — where comfort replaces courage, and ideology replaces accountability.

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
— Plato

Canada has drifted — and many voters are asleep at the wheel. We are trading our legacy of resilience and independence for slogans, subsidies, and soft socialism.

This drift won’t stop on its own. It must be resisted, reversed, and reawakened.

We need to speak — not out of nostalgia, but out of clarity. We must reassert that:

• The free market is not the enemy.

• Our alliances with democracies are not outdated.

• Bureaucracy is not a substitute for leadership.

• Citizens are not subjects.

The question is no longer, “Are we drifting?”
It’s, “When will we wake up?”

Truth Without Blinkers: Crimea, Russia, NATO, and the Betrayal of Trust

 

April 27, 2025

In a world increasingly dominated by manipulation and propaganda, the truth about Crimea, NATO expansion, and the collapse of post-World War II alliances must be told clearly and without political blinkers — out of respect for history, dignity for the future, and service to humanity.

History teaches us that betrayal, arrogance, and unchecked expansionism — whether Eastern or Western — ultimately lead not to peace, but to suffering. The true enemy of humanity is not one nation or another, but the cycle of deception, pride, and dishonour that corrupts all who wield unchecked power.

Today, as we reflect on the tangled story of Crimea, NATO, Russia, and Ukraine, we must reject simple narratives and embrace the full truth. This truth acknowledges both Western broken promises and Russian aggression. Neither side holds the moral high ground.

We must demand from our leaders something radically different:

• Honour over technicalities.
• Truth over propaganda.
• Respect over domination.

The future of peace depends not on blind loyalty to flags or alliances, but on a global awakening to the shared responsibility of all governments to act with dignity, transparency, and restraint.

The world does not need more sides. It needs more truth. It needs more courage. It requires us — the ordinary people — to hold power accountable, no matter what flag it flies.

Only then can we break free from the cycle of betrayal and build a future worthy of the sacrifices of those who came before us.

The Historical Foundation

Crimea has deep roots in Russian history, culture, and national identity. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783 after victory over the Ottoman Empire, Crimea remained a strategic and emotional cornerstone of Russia for nearly 171 years. Even after the Bolshevik Revolution, Crimea was part of the Russian Soviet Republic until 1954, when it was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

The 1954 transfer, orchestrated by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, was made within the Soviet Union under the assumption that Ukraine would remain inseparable from Russia inside the communist bloc. The transfer followed Soviet constitutional procedures but was motivated more by political maneuvering and internal Soviet strategy than by genuine historical, cultural, or demographic logic. There were no conditions attached for future reconsideration or reversal because no one at the time imagined the Soviet Union would ever cease to exist.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine declared independence, taking Crimea with it. Russia, in turn, formally recognized Ukraine's borders — including Crimea — through the 1991 Belovezhskaya Accords and again in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, where Russia, alongside the United States and Britain, pledged to respect Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine surrendering its nuclear arsenal.

The Misleading of Russia

At the same time that the Soviet Union was peacefully disintegrating, verbal assurances were given by U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and others to Soviet leaders that NATO would not expand "one inch eastward." These conversations, though informal and undocumented in treaties, created powerful expectations in Moscow that a future European security order would respect Russia’s historical fears of encirclement.

Yet no written commitment was ever made. The U.S. and NATO later argued that without a formal treaty, they were free to expand eastward — and they did. From the Russian perspective, this was a betrayal of the spirit of the understanding that had helped end the Cold War peacefully.

The West, led by the United States and its European allies, began integrating Eastern European countries into NATO — Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and eventually even the Baltic states that were once Soviet republics. Russia, weakened economically and politically in the 1990s, was powerless to resist, but the sense of betrayal and humiliation grew year after year.

From a factual standpoint, NATO expansion was legal. From a moral standpoint, it was a clear breach of the trust that had been built during the Cold War's end. It was, as explored in Two Sides of the Same Coin, an example of how great powers prioritize expansion and influence over honouring the spirit of their own promises.

Crimea, Ukraine, and the Road to War

In 2014, after a Western-supported revolution in Ukraine toppled a pro-Russian government, Russia seized Crimea by military force. It justified its action partly by pointing to the historic Russian identity of Crimea and partly by citing NATO’s broken assurances and Ukraine’s drift toward Western alliances as existential threats.

In 2022, the tensions erupted into a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

None of this excuses Russia’s military aggression, the suffering inflicted on Ukrainians, or the violation of international law. But it also cannot erase the reality that Western governments, particularly the United States and Germany, helped create the very conditions that made this war more likely by discarding the trust established at the Cold War’s end.

The conflict is not the result of one side’s actions alone. It is the product of broken promises, mutual suspicions, and the relentless pursuit of influence by both East and West.

Truth, Dignity, and the Future

The truth is uncomfortable for every side. Russia violated international law through force. The West violated trust through duplicity. Neither side acted with the honour that the sacrifices of World War II demanded from future generations.

In a world craving honesty, the lesson must be clear:

• Honor must matter more than technicalities.
• Sovereignty must be respected consistently, not selectively.
• Peace must be built not just through military might, but through trust and restraint.

Today, ordinary people — Russians, Ukrainians, Europeans, and Americans — are paying the price for the failures of their leaders to uphold basic principles of dignity and truth.

History demands that we see these events not in black and white, but in full colour — with all the complexity, responsibility, and sorrow they deserve. Only by facing the truth honestly can we hope to build a future based not on betrayal, but on dignity and real partnership.

The world deserves nothing less. And the future demands nothing less.

Closing Call

Dedicated to the countless souls — Russian, Ukrainian, European, Americans and beyond — who have borne the cost of broken promises, lost honour, and forgotten truths.

History teaches us that betrayal, arrogance, and unchecked expansionism — whether Eastern or Western — ultimately lead not to peace, but to suffering. The true enemy of humanity is not one nation or another, but the cycle of deception, pride, and dishonour that corrupts all who wield unchecked power.

Today, as we reflect on the tangled story of Crimea, NATO, Russia, and Ukraine, we must reject simple narratives and embrace full truth — a truth that acknowledges both Western broken promises and Russian aggression. Neither side holds the moral high ground.

We must demand from our leaders something radically different:

• Honour over technicalities.
• Truth over propaganda.
• Respect over domination.

The future of peace depends not on blind loyalty to flags or alliances, but on a global awakening to the shared responsibility of all governments to act with dignity, transparency, and restraint.

The world does not need more sides. It needs more truth. It needs more courage. It needs us — the ordinary people — to hold power accountable, no matter what flag it flies.

Only then can we break free from the cycle of betrayal and build a future worthy of the sacrifices of those who came before us.

✅ NATO now openly commits to absorbing Ukraine, knowing it is Russia’s deepest red line.

✅ NATO uses beautiful language — "freedom," "democracy," "self-defence" — while maneuvering Ukraine into becoming a military outpost against Russia.

✅ NATO ignores its own broken Cold War verbal promises while acting shocked at Russia’s violent responses.

NATO claims it is a defensive alliance, yet its steady expansion eastward broke Cold War verbal assurances and fueled Russian security fears. Ukraine’s membership path is framed as a sovereign choice, but no great power tolerates military alliances on its immediate borders, as history repeatedly shows.

While Russia’s invasions are illegal and brutal, NATO’s deepening military role in Ukraine makes it an active participant in escalation, not merely a bystander.

NATO’s promises of peace are contradicted by its actions, which sustain and prolong conflict rather than seeking true diplomacy. The future demands honesty about both Western and Russian mistakes, not sanitized myths that excuse endless war.

NATO is no longer a purely defensive alliance. It is an expanding military power bloc that prioritizes strategic domination over honest diplomacy. The tragedy is that ordinary Ukrainians, Russians, Europeans, and the world’s people will suffer — while elites gamble recklessly with history.

Mark Carney Is Not Canada’s Saviour—He Could Be Its Undoing

 

🎩 Mark Carney: Banker, Bureaucrat… or Burden?

Mark Carney has long been heralded by elites as a “steady hand” in turbulent financial times. As former Governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, he’s been feted on the world stage. But when we examine his legacy through the eyes of everyday Canadians—homebuyers, small business owners, taxpayers—the story becomes far less golden.

As Canada stands on the edge of an economic cliff—families drowning in debt, young people priced out of housing, and small businesses squeezed by taxes—the Liberal Party wants to hand the keys to a banker with a polished smile and a troubling track record.

Let’s be clear: Mark Carney is not the man to rescue Canada. In fact, if voters look beyond the media gloss and international accolades, they’ll see a figure whose policies helped engineer the very mess we’re in—and whose ambitions could make it worse.

📉 The Illusion of Competence

Mark Carney made his name as Governor of the Bank of Canada (2008–2013), but his so-called success rested more on timing than talent. Canada’s relative stability during the 2008 financial crisis was due to pre-existing Conservative banking rules, not central bank wizardry. His actual legacy?

• He kept interest rates ultra-low, encouraging explosive consumer debt.

• He inflated real estate bubbles that now leave millennials with mortgage-sized rental bills.

• He failed to push for any structural fiscal reform, choosing short-term stability over long-term health.

Carney then took the same playbook to the Bank of England, where he earned praise from international elites but quietly presided over the lowest productivity growth in the G7. Sound familiar?

🏦 The Globalist Banker with Local Blindness

Carney isn’t running for office to serve Canadians. He’s running to advance a vision shaped in Davos and Brussels—not Red Deer or Rimouski.

He’s openly championed:

• A global carbon tax architecture that would devastate Canadian energy jobs.

• ESG scoring systems that give international financiers the power to starve Canadian businesses of capital.

• Digital ID frameworks that threaten privacy and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that risk eroding consumer freedom and financial independence.

When asked about these positions, Carney cloaks them in vague terms like “responsible transition” and “climate alignment.” But voters should ask: Responsible for whom? Aligned with what?

Because here at home, families can’t afford food. Seniors are choosing between heating and eating. Crime is up. Productivity is down. And now the architect of globalist finance wants to run Canada like a central bank?

🔨 Contrast That with Common Sense

Pierre Poilievre, for all his critics, offers what Carney cannot: a tested, grounded, and accountable plan to restore affordability, national pride, and public safety.

Poilievre's “Plan for Change”:

• Cuts income tax by 15% and ends the carbon tax—for everyone.

• Builds 2.3 million homes through deregulation and federal land sales—not bureaucracy.

• Imposes real consequences for repeat violent offenders, not ideological bail reform.

• Cuts the Liberal deficit by 70% without touching front-line services.

• Reclaims Canadian energy independence through a national corridor, scrapping anti-development laws like C-69 and C-48.

Poilievre believes in individualism, productivity, and merit, not social credit scores or green authoritarianism. He’s not interested in governing by guilt or global lectures. He wants results. And unlike Carney, he’s answered to voters for two decades.

❗ This Election Is a Fork in the Road

Canadians have a choice:

• A future ruled by technocratic elites, where your savings, speech, energy use, and even food costs are controlled from above…
  Or

• A future where the government steps back, the people step up, and Canada begins to heal—for real.

Mark Carney may impress bankers and bureaucrats. But Canada needs a leader, not another lecture. The reality is harsh, but the facts are clear:

Mark Carney is the globalist status quo, dressed up as a fresh start. He is not our saviour—he’s the system we need to escape.

Canadians should vote with open eyes, not open wallets. The time for polished illusion is over. The time for change—for real Canadian change—is now.

Knowledge: https://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/1867-present.html

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NAHFTA+ EU: The Honest Free Trade Accord the Atlantic World Needs

A Truth-Based, Barrier-Free, Individual-Respecting Agreement

Introduction

Let’s stop pretending.

What governments call “free trade” is often nothing more than a web of protectionist compromises, bureaucratic red tape, and legal gymnastics. Deals like CETA — the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union — are marketed as open market solutions. But in reality, they’re jammed with tariff quotas, staged tariff removals, and regulatory blockades.

The result? Power stays with governments and lobbyists, not with people, producers, or consumers.

North America can — and must — do better. And Europe, if willing, should be invited to do the same.

It’s time for a trade agreement that’s clean, honest, and built on truth, fairness, and mutual respect.

We call it NAHFTA+EU: 🌎🇨🇦🇺🇸🇲🇽🇪🇺
The North Atlantic Honest Free Trade Accord
A Truth-Based, Barrier-Free, Individual-Respecting Agreement

More than just a North American pact, NAHFTA+ is a transatlantic invitation — a new model for global trade rooted in individual freedom, mutual respect, and economic truth.

Why “Free Trade” Isn’t Really Free

Most trade agreements today are compromised from the start:

• Tariffs are phased out over the years — or not at all.

• Quotas limit real access, and excess is penalized.

• “Safety” or “environmental” rules are bent into tools of protectionism.

• Special interest groups lobby for exceptions, and they get them.

CETA is a textbook example. Despite all the grand language, Canada’s access to the EU for beef, pork, dairy, and grains is capped with tight quotas, complex licensing systems, and hidden conversion rules. The EU plays defence. Canada plays fair — and gets punished for it.

The NAHFTA+ Vision: 10 Rules for Real, Honest Free Trade

1. ✅ Zero Tariffs. Zero Quotas.

No phasing. No limits. If it’s legal and safe, it trades freely. Period.

2. 🤝 Mutual Recognition of Standards (MRS)

Each country agrees to recognize the safety, health, and environmental standards of others unless real evidence proves harm. No more hiding behind “concerns.”

3. 🚫 No Import/Export Licensing Games

Abolish quota systems, first-come-first-served lotteries, and complex admin. Trade shouldn’t require permission slips.

4. ⏱ Trusted Trader Fast-Lane

Goods move within 24 hours across borders. A shared fast-track system for vetted companies ensures speed and reliability.

5. ⚖️ Independent Dispute Arbitration

No political appointees. Disputes go to impartial expert panels with binding 60-day decisions.

6. 🌱 Green Without Greenwashing

Environmental regulations must be transparent, scientifically grounded, and not used as disguised trade barriers.

7. 💰 No Export Subsidies

Governments can’t prop up goods just to gain an unfair edge. Let real prices and real merit decide.

8. 🌐 Digital Trade Freedom

No digital tariffs. No forced data localization. IP respected across borders. Innovation must move freely.

9. 🧑‍🔧 Skilled Labour Mobility

Engineers, healthcare workers, tradespeople, and innovators should move freely based on skill, not passport colour.

10. ❌ No Political Exceptions

No “special treatment” for sensitive sectors. No hiding behind domestic politics. If a government demands an exception, it leaves the agreement.

Why NAHFTA+ Matters

NAHFTA+ isn’t just a deal — it’s a philosophy. A principled trade pact that:

• Respects the individual

• Trusts producers and consumers

• Frees businesses from political manipulation

This model is good for economies, just for citizens, and powerfully symbolic, showing the world that trust and fairness can exist across borders.

Final Word: Either It’s Free Trade — Or It Isn’t

NAHFTA+ offers what no current deal truly does: real, full, honest market access. It doesn’t pretend. It doesn’t manipulate. It doesn’t protect the politically favoured while punishing the bold.

We don’t need a bigger treaty.
We need a better one.
One built not on loopholes, but on principle.

The question is whether we can no longer lead the world toward a better free trade model — but will we?

 

Canada’s Energy Wealth Squandered: A Nation in Decline by Design

 

By Peter Clarke

With Ava, AI Economic Research Assistant
Former Executive Chairperson of Ellis Clarke | Former Councillor, North York & Metro Toronto
Advocate for Energy Sovereignty • Champion of Individualism • Voice for Integrity in Public Policy

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“Canada is the only energy superpower that actively works against its own prosperity.”
— Peter Clarke

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Canada is a country rich in resources, resilience, and potential, yet one suffering from a leadership class determined to subdue prosperity in favour of globalist platitudes, ideological orthodoxy, and political survivalism. Our energy sector, once the engine of national strength, is now a glaring example of this decline. The numbers are in, and they don’t lie.

💢 From Energy Superpower to Export Dependency

Canada was the 4th largest crude oil producer in the world in 2023, producing 5.1 million barrels/day, and yet we act like a nation without agency over its own wealth. Despite holding 11% of the world’s proven oil reserves, we export 80% of our crude, mainly to the United States, at discounted prices due to a lack of diversified pipeline infrastructure—infrastructure we were perfectly capable of building, but politically forbidden from completing.

This is not a market failure. It is a government failure—born of Liberal obstructionism, activist infiltration, and bureaucratic timidity. The cancellation of Northern Gateway, Energy East, and Keystone XL projects was not just a logistical error, it was an economic betrayal.

Canada’s pipeline obstructionism cost this nation billions annually in lost revenue, jobs, and global leverage.

Only now, under pressure, are we correcting course with the long-delayed completion of Trans Mountain.

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💸 Economic Decline, Political Deflection

While Canadian oil exports reached $130 billion in 2023, that was still down 11% from the previous year, not due to lack of demand, but lower prices and an inability to pivot quickly due to infrastructure gaps. We are undercutting ourselves in global markets, all while our leaders pontificate on “Just Transitions” and climate leadership that lacks economic realism.

Canada’s energy self-sabotage mirrors its broader fiscal dysfunction:

• Net natural gas exports in 2023 were $10.1 billion, but LNG projects remain delayed and underdeveloped, with only two under construction.

• Electricity exports dropped 46% in 2023 due to poor weather planning and underinvestment in interprovincial grid capacity.

• GHG emissions remain high, not because we lack solutions, but because we refuse to implement practical, balanced ones.

This isn’t climate leadership. It’s ideological malpractice.

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🧱 A Nation That Builds Nothing

It has been said that Canada is becoming a country where “nothing gets built.” The evidence is damning:

• The Sturgeon Refinery, completed in 2020, was the first new refinery in 36 years.

• We possess abundant uranium, hydro, and hydrogen assets, but bureaucratic overreach and Indigenous consultation gridlock have paralyzed timely project approvals.

• Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, once leaders in industrial development, are now tangled in red tape while federal carbon taxes choke consumer and corporate confidence alike.

Where we once led with grit, we now grovel in globalist forums, chasing praise rather than prosperity.

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🚧 What Could Have Been: Energy East Cancelled

Potential Economic Benefits:

• $55 billion in GDP

• 14,000 construction jobs

• Export access to global markets via Atlantic Canada

• Crude oil independence for Eastern Canadian refineries

Reality:

• Cancelled in 2017 after years of federal delay, environmental resistance, and lack of political support.

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🤔 The Liberal Leadership Race: A Test or a Sham?

The recent Liberal Party leadership maneuvering is nothing more than a hollow sideshow, designed to signal renewal while preserving the same political DNA that led us here. No candidate has proposed:

• Revitalizing oil sands development

• Expanding interprovincial trade in electricity or refined fuels

• Rescinding the job-killing carbon tax

• Or protecting Canadian energy sovereignty against foreign-funded environmental lobbies

A real leader would say this: Canada must produce, export, and prosper on its own terms.

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⚠️ Winners and Losers in Canada’s Energy Decline

Winners:

• U.S. refiners buying discounted Canadian crude

• Foreign environmental NGOs shaping domestic policy

• Central Canadian elites living off Alberta's wealth

Losers:

• Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland

• Canadian skilled labour

• Indigenous energy partners

• Our national balance of trade

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Conclusion: The Sovereign Path Forward

We can either be an energy leader with economic independence or a client state of globalist agendas that erode prosperity under the guise of virtue.

This is not just about pipelines or emissions. It is about sovereignty, integrity, and the freedom to build. If Canada is to recover, it must reclaim its energy future, not apologize for it.

Canada must reject the false choice between prosperity and the planet. We have the technology, the expertise, and the natural resources to do both, if only we had the political courage.

 It’s time to end the era of energy appeasement and reassert our right to build, grow, and lead.

Knowledge: https://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/1867-present.html

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