Canada’s Senate and Constitution: An Untouched Relic in a Modern Democracy

For all its image as a progressive democracy, Canada remains shackled to a constitutional structure rooted in 19th-century colonialism. Despite the historic moment of patriation in 1982, when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau brought the Constitution home from Britain, Canada failed to modernize the very institutions that continue to govern its people.

1. Two Constitutions, One Outdated System

Canada is still governed by two constitutional documents:

• The Constitution Act, 1867, formerly the British North America Act, established the federal framework and Senate.

• The Constitution Act, 1982, added the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but made no structural reforms to Parliament, the Senate, or the executive branch.

What’s more, the Queen (now King) remains Canada’s Head of State, and real power still flows through an unelected Governor General, appointed by the Prime Minister with no public input. Canada, in effect, retains a colonial command structure wrapped in the veneer of democracy.

2. An Appointed Senate—By Design, Not Democracy

The Canadian Senate, meant to represent regional interests, is composed entirely of unelected appointees. Senators are selected by the Prime Minister and serve until age 75. This design was inherited from the British House of Lords and was originally intended to "sober second thought" on legislation—but in practice, it often functions more like a political reward chamber.

Although some senators now identify as "independents," the appointment process remains highly political, with the Prime Minister exerting disproportionate influence. Voters have no say in who sits in the Upper Chamber.

3. The Illusion of Accountability: Ethics on Paper

Canada’s Senate does have an Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code, which includes obligations such as:

• Prioritizing parliamentary duties over private interests.

• Avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest.

• Refraining from using their position or insider information for personal or third-party gain.

• Declaring conflicts and abstaining from debates or votes when applicable.

• Declaring gifts, benefits, and private interests annually.

But here’s the reality:

• Ethics enforcement is internal—the Senate polices itself.

• The Senate Ethics Officer is not independent of the institution.

• There are no meaningful consequences for most violations.

• The public has no mechanism to remove or discipline a senator short of waiting for retirement at 75.

It’s accountability in name only—a formal code with informal enforcement.

4. Quebec Never Signed On

Perhaps the most glaring constitutional flaw is that Quebec never agreed to the 1982 Constitution. Despite being Canada’s second-largest province and a distinct society, it remains symbolically outside the constitutional consensus.

Efforts to include Quebec, such as the Meech Lake Accord (1990) and the Charlottetown Accord (1992), failed due to political fragmentation and a lack of national resolve. Canada is thus governed by a Constitution that one of its founding provinces never accepted, a fact that continues to erode national unity and legitimacy.

5. Why No Real Change?

Amending the Constitution is deliberately difficult:

• Most changes require the “7/50 rule” (Parliament + 7 provinces representing 50% of the population).

• Some reforms—like abolishing the Senate or replacing the monarchy—require unanimous provincial consent.

This makes meaningful reform politically perilous. Leaders fear failure, backlash, or the loss of political capital. As a result, they choose the status quo over structural courage, decade after decade.

6. What Voters Need to Wake Up To

Canadians pride themselves on democracy, but here’s the uncomfortable truth:

• Senators are not elected.

• The Head of State is a foreign monarch.

• One of Canada’s largest provinces never signed onto the current Constitution.

• Real power is centralized in the Prime Minister's Office, not in transparent, accountable institutions.

• Senate ethics rules are not enforced with real-world consequences.

Until citizens demand better, politicians will continue to sidestep the hard conversations.

→ Democracy isn’t defined by what we say we are—it’s defined by how we’re governed.

Conclusion: A Call for Courage and Constitutional Maturity

The time has come for voters to lift their heads from the sand and demand a Constitution that reflects who we are now, not who we were in 1867 or 1982. Reform won’t be easy. But neither is living under a system that pretends to be democratic while clinging to appointed privilege, outdated monarchy, and provincial exclusion.

The Senate can no longer hide behind symbolic ethics codes, colonial design, and political inertia. Real reform starts with:

• Public awareness.

• Political courage.

• A citizenry willing to challenge what’s been taken for granted.

The status quo only survives when people choose not to confront it. 

Democracy isn’t defined by what we say we are—it’s defined by how we’re governed.

Alberta’s Crossroads: Sovereignty, Separation, and a Federated Future

 

Alberta stands today at the edge of a national conversation once confined to backrooms and comment sections. It’s no longer about fleeting Western alienation or post-election frustration. It’s about the future of Confederation itself — and whether Alberta, as Canada’s economic engine, will continue to run while others keep cutting off the fuel.

In 2025, Premier Danielle Smith delivered a powerful address to Albertans, confirming the launch of the “Alberta Next” initiative: a province-wide engagement process that could culminate in a referendum on how Alberta should assert its sovereignty within Canada, or possibly beyond. She stopped short of endorsing independence, but signalled that if citizens demand a vote, the government will respect that democratic process.

At the same time, a bold intellectual blueprint — The Free Alberta Strategy — has laid out the clearest, most comprehensive roadmap yet for Alberta to establish de facto sovereignty within Confederation. Authored by Rob Anderson, Barry Cooper, and Derek From, and supported by the Alberta Institute, it proposes nothing less than a constitutional realignment of Canada’s most resource-rich province.

But why now? Why are thoughtful Albertans — not just fringe activists — increasingly open to the idea of breaking from the federal model that once helped shape modern Canada?

💥 The Growing Economic Case

Alberta has contributed hundreds of billions more to the federal treasury than it has received back in transfers or services. For decades, that generosity was worn as a badge of honour. But today, many Albertans feel punished for their prosperity, particularly in the energy, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.

The federal government’s recent policies — carbon caps, pipeline bans, net-zero power mandates, and fertilizer restrictions — have, according to Premier Smith, driven out over $500 billion in potential investment. Meanwhile, provinces like Quebec receive billions in equalization, even while opposing projects that would help Alberta export oil and gas to tidewater.

Albertans are not asking for handouts. They’re asking to be left free to succeed — to harness their resources, attract investment, and innovate without Ottawa’s thumb on the scale.

🛡️ The Free Alberta Strategy: Autonomy Without Anarchy

The Strategy proposes a phased approach to reclaiming Alberta’s constitutional rights under Section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867. It recommends:

• Replacing the RCMP with an Alberta Provincial Police.

• Creating an Alberta Revenue Agency to collect all provincial and federal taxes.

• Building independent pension and employment insurance systems.

• Asserting the power to nullify unconstitutional federal laws through the Alberta Sovereignty Act.

• Empowering Alberta to negotiate international trade and energy export agreements.

These are not wild ideas. They echo steps taken by Quebec and are legally defensible within Canada's constitutional framework. Independence, the Strategy notes, would only be considered after exhausting all legal and democratic options within Canada, and only after a clear majority of Albertans support it.

⚖️ The Legal Barriers — and Indigenous Rights

Canada’s Clarity Act demands a clear referendum question and majority support before secession is recognized. But even if that threshold is met, negotiations with all provinces and the federal government would be required to amend the Constitution.

Most importantly, Alberta’s path — whether sovereign or independent — must respect Indigenous treaty rights. Premier Smith has been unambiguous on this point: Treaties 6, 7, and 8 are non-negotiable, and any referendum question must uphold Indigenous constitutional protections.

First Nations leaders, however, have already issued a stark warning: should Alberta attempt separation, resource access on treaty lands would be revoked. This would fundamentally alter Alberta’s economic equation and plunge the province into legal and ethical conflict unless consent and partnership are meaningfully prioritized.

🧠 Why Albertans Are Still Divided

Despite mounting frustration, polls suggest most Albertans still favour remaining in Canada, but with far greater autonomy. Only 10–20% openly support independence. Many feel culturally Canadian, even as they feel economically cornered. Premier Smith’s nuanced approach reflects that reality: stay and fix it, but prepare for what comes if that fails.

Reform or Rebirth?

Alberta is not threatening Confederation out of recklessness — it’s doing so out of exhaustion. A once-trusted federation has, in the eyes of many Albertans, become unbalanced and punitive. Whether through an “Alberta Accord” or an eventual referendum, the path forward now hinges on Ottawa’s response.

Will the federal government acknowledge Alberta’s demands for fairness, freedom, and prosperity? Or will it continue to impose policies that alienate the very province holding the keys to Canada’s energy and food security?

The clock is ticking. And Alberta, long loyal and long restrained, is now charting its own course — not in anger, but in quiet, determined resolve.

Unleashing Opportunity: The Positive Effects of Ontario's Bill 5 for Workers and the Economy

In an era of global uncertainty, Ontario’s Bill 5: Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, marks a bold pivot toward economic strength, jobs, and resource sovereignty. While critics focus on environmental trade-offs, the legislation makes a compelling case for revitalizing Ontario’s workforce, rebuilding domestic economic resilience, and asserting Canadian competitiveness in the global arena.

This legislation brings significant long-term gains for Canadian workers and industries, from the mines of Northern Ontario to the power plants and manufacturing hubs in the south.

🔨 Worker-Centric Benefits at a Glance

1. Job Creation in Strategic Industries

• Streamlined approval processes for mines like Eagle’s Nest mean thousands of new jobs, from skilled trades to engineering and logistics.

• Stimulates growth in Northern Ontario communities, unlocking long-term employment in underdeveloped regions.

2. Domestic Procurement = Ontario Jobs

• New procurement rules prioritize Canadian-made goods and services, giving local manufacturers and suppliers a clear advantage.

• Drives demand for steel, electrical equipment, industrial tech, and construction services.

3. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for Growth

• SEZs reduce red tape for “trusted” proponents and fast-track high-impact projects.

• Attracts new investment in energy, transportation, and manufacturing, with clear local hiring and training benefits.

4. Faster Infrastructure = Faster Employment

• Accelerated environmental approvals and mining permits mean workers are hired sooner, and projects start faster.

• Supports construction trades, surveyors, planners, and transport specialists who are first on the ground.

5. Critical Mineral Independence

• Strengthens Canada’s grip on EV battery components and rare earths — protecting jobs in mining, refining, and clean tech.

• Reduces reliance on foreign-controlled supply chains and brings value-added processing back to Canadian soil.

💰 Economic Sovereignty, National Resilience

Bill 5 gives Ontario tools to:

• Control procurement — building our economy with our own resources.

• Safeguard strategic industries, especially against foreign dominance.

• Expand domestic investment — by signalling that Canada is open for business, on its terms.

🌍 Global Environmental Context

• Canada accounts for only ~1.5% of global emissions.

• China (~30%) and India (~7%) remain the major emitters with limited enforcement.

• Bill 5 reflects a real-world approach: build domestic strength while acknowledging that true environmental progress must be global, not just symbolic.

Leadership Insight

“Bill 5 is a vital step forward in restoring balance between economic ambition and regulatory overreach. Ontario cannot lead globally with one hand tied behind its back. This legislation empowers our workers, strengthens our supply chains, and signals that we are open for business — on our terms. It’s time we built a Canada that competes, creates, and leads.”
— Peter Clarke, Executive Chair, Ellis Clarke 

The North American Education Swindle: How Tax-Free Private Universities Use Public Money to Divide a Nation

 

The Myth of “Neutral Education”

In the United States and Canada, nonprofit universities are granted immense privileges. They're shielded from federal taxes, their endowments grow tax-free, they receive tens of billions in public funds annually, and they enjoy nonprofit legal protections — all in the name of “public good” and “education.”

But here's the truth: many of these institutions no longer serve the public and no longer educate in any classical sense. They indoctrinate, manipulate, and rewire minds not for liberty but for collectivism, entitlement, and ideological submission.

It is time to reassess their nonprofit status, their tax-exempt empires, and their cultural influence, because the bill for their distortion of society is being paid by the very taxpayers they deride.

🎓 Tax-Free Indoctrination: How Nonprofit Universities Became the Engine Room of American and Canadian Divisions.

Although private universities have been established in several Canadian provinces, the majority of universities in the country remain publicly funded.

💰 The Nonprofit Scam: Tax Breaks, Billion-Dollar Endowments, and Zero Accountability

Let’s follow the money.

• Harvard holds an endowment of $50.7 billion.
• Yale sits on $42 billion.
• Stanford boasts $38 billion.

These amounts are not merely stored wealth — they’re invested capital, generating billions more in tax-free returns each year. And while they operate under a “nonprofit” umbrella, these universities:

• Charge obscene tuition fees (often $60K–$80K/year),
• Lobby for taxpayer-funded student aid to sustain their pricing power,
• And churn out ideologically radical graduates trained to attack the very system that feeds them.

This isn't education — it's a self-reinforcing propaganda economy with nonprofit perks and no market consequences.

📚 Indoctrination Over Education

Studies from Heterodox Academy, FIRE, and the National Association of Scholars all confirm the same trend:

At elite U.S. universities, more than 90% of faculty in humanities and social sciences identify as liberal or far left. Fewer than 5% identify as conservative or libertarian.

Departments once devoted to free inquiry — political science, sociology, history, education — now enforce intellectual conformity, treating capitalism, individualism, and patriotism as diseases to be cured.

Meanwhile, students who dissent from progressive orthodoxy often face:

• Grade penalties
• Social ostracism
• Denied opportunities
• Cancellation of speakers they invite

This is not education. This is ideological reprogramming subsidized by your tax dollars.

🔍 The Ivory Tower's Tax-Free Ideology Complex

Despite claiming to be bastions of “truth” and “diversity,” many of America’s and Canada's top nonprofit universities are actively shaping society through radical collectivist narratives — all while receiving billions in federal grants, student loans, and state/provincial funds.

They produce policy architects, media influencers, and corporate HR bureaucrats who carry this ideology into every corner of society.

🧱 The Ideological Powerhouses – Billionaire Nonprofits of the Woke Elite

1. Harvard University – $50.7B
• 77% of faculty liberal; <2% conservative.
• Massive DEI bureaucracy.
• Over $1B in federal funds yearly.
2. Yale University – $42B
• “Objectivity” is called a tool of whiteness by faculty.
• Open DEI enforcement in curricula.
3. Stanford University – $38B
• Racial affinity groups, reparations studies, and climate justice activism.
4. Columbia University – $14B
• Anti-Israel epicentre; major player in critical race dissemination.
5. Brown University – $6.5B
• Courses in “abolishing capitalism” and eco-socialism.
• 94% left-leaning faculty.
6. UC Berkeley –
• Speaker shutdowns, radicalized departments, and activist faculty unions.

💼 The Progressive Performers – Privilege Wrapped in Activism

7. USC – $8.1B
• Rich student body, radicalized arts & social science programming.
8. UPenn
• Internal battle: Wharton (pro-market) vs. CAS (radicalized).
9. Emory –
• Supports police abolition discourse, identity-based grading models.
10. Northwestern –

• Mandatory ideological training for most faculty and students.

🔬 STEM Safe? Think Again – Ideology Creeps In

11. CalTech –

• Even physics courses face grading pressure through "equity lenses."

12. Rice University –

• Strong in science, but social studies promote intersectional theory.

13. WashU (St. Louis) –

• High DEI payroll, “justice-focused” faculty hiring policies.

14. University of Michigan –

• $14M/year in DEI bureaucracy; censorship of conservative student press.

15. Cornell University – $10B

• Teaches “Decolonizing the Mind” and “Prison Abolition” as core studies.

• Demands mandatory anti-racism statements for hiring and promotion.

🛑 Why This Matters: Influence Without Oversight

These universities:

• Craft the worldview of tomorrow’s judges, senators, journalists, and tech execs.
• Reject merit in favour of identity metrics.
• Normalize speech control, collectivism, and guilt-based policy.
• Yet enjoy full tax exemption and federal privileges without checks.

It’s long past time to ask:

Should institutions that enforce ideological dogma, violate intellectual neutrality, and abuse public trust retain nonprofit protections?

🧭 What Needs to Change?

1. Annual Ideological Disclosure: Require nonprofit schools to publish faculty political diversity stats and ideological hiring practices.
2. Reform or Revoke Tax-Exempt Status: If an institution functions as a political advocacy platform, it should be taxed like one.
3. Federal Grant Audits: No more blank checks. If public funds are misused for activism, cut the spigot.
4. Restore Intellectual Balance: Tie accreditation to true viewpoint diversity and academic freedom protections.

Public Awareness Campaigns: Voters must see these schools for what they are — ideologically weaponized aristocracies

🔚 Final Word: The Empire Hides Behind “Nonprofit”

2.      The American university system once stood as a pillar of free inquiry and debate. Today, too many of its elite members act more like ideological corporations — tax-free, state-funded, and utterly devoted to reshaping society in their image.

3.     They do not deserve our silence.
They do not deserve our money.
And increasingly, they do not deserve our protection under tax-free statutes. Here we have turned the lights on by letting the public see it for what it is — and maybe, just maybe, spark the reform we need. 

T   

              

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.