Usually, the best course of action when it comes to disgraced, former Redford-era MLA Thomas Lukaszuk is to ignore him. Unfortunately, we must pay attention to him now. He has gone from being a vain, ineffective has-been desperately seeking attention to being a dangerously irresponsible voice trying to inflame divisions among Albertans.In an opinion piece written by Donna Kennedy-Glans in the National Post, Lukaszuk is quoted as making statements about Alberta independence supporters which could cause irreparable rifts across the country. Also, Lukaszuk has apparently been taking his uninformed pap before the federal Liberal government, and if they take his inflammatory ramblings seriously, they could make moves against Alberta based on a perceived threat to national security..OLDCORN: Minister sworn in on Quran backs bill criminalizing Bible, other religious texts.Let’s break down Lukaszuk’s words. He has described Alberta independence supporters as being “a very small group of angry militant men, armed to their teeth.”To begin with, support for independence in Alberta is consistently polling at over 30% of Albertans. That is over 1.5 million people and growing. To dismiss it as being very small is insulting and dead wrong. They are hardly all men, of course, either. How dare Thomas misgender so many people!More disturbing, though, was his claim that independence supporters are armed to the teeth. While many Albertans responsibly own firearms, they don’t do so in any disproportion to the rest of the country. In fact, Albertans are fourth in Canada for firearms per capita when compared to other provinces and territories. Canada itself has the seventh most armed civilian population on the planet, though Liberals don’t like to be reminded of that..So why is Lukaszuk claiming we are armed to the teeth? Well, Lukaszuk also used the word militant. He is trying to make the case that an armed insurrection is building up within the province of Alberta. The claim is laughable but must be taken seriously because apparently, this is what Lukaszuk has been telling Prime Minister Carney’s government in meetings Thomas claims to have attended. Lukaszuk said, “I met with the Prime Minister’s Office and with the federal caucus and most of the Senate last week.” He asserts he will be heading east to meet with government officials again next week. .PINDER: The West’s breaking point — how Canada’s emissions policies expose a rigged federation.Lukaszuk says he has warned the government that the growing independence movement presents a national security issue and that “here are issues we need to deal with immediately because we cannot have a segment of the population that is angry.”What does he mean by having the federal government “deal with” this issue?When making the case that there is a national security issue with an armed insurrection building up and that the government must deal with it, it stands to reason he is asking the federal government to intervene within Alberta, possibly with force. This is a dangerous road to go on to say the least. Alberta’s independence movement has been nothing but peaceful. There is no better way to take a peaceful situation and make it tense than bringing a military presence into an area to try to stifle political organization though..Lukaszuk had to play the race card, too, in stating, “…in any country, you cannot have a large cohort of angry white men.”What is he proposing here?That there should be a tipping point of white men allowed to take part in politics?.SLOBODIAN: No coffee for you — Ottawa’s DEI Ramadan rules crossed the line.When he is advising the federal government that they apparently can’t allow this, how exactly does he think they are supposed to step in?The independence movement is much more diverse than Lukaszuk is painting it, of course, but does Ottawa know that? Lukaszuk is bending the ears of the Laurentian elites within Carney’s government. They rarely venture west of Thunder Bay to slum it with the unwashed Western citizens. Their vision is of a province populated by living caricatures of Yosemite Sam running around firing six-guns into the air while women are chained in the kitchens in modest Amish-style dresses. .Thomas went after religion too but didn’t use Amish. He said the independence movement “sort of evangelical, Mormon, oil and gas industry flavour to it.” He chose carefully as only about 0.1% of Ontarians identify as Mormons. That way, he will be unchecked as he implies the independence movement may be controlled by some shadowy, strange religious sect that nobody out there is familiar with. Oil and gas types are apparently a danger to be countered too.One can hope that the powers that be in Ottawa dismiss Lukaszuk as the crank that he is. If they take him seriously, though, some actions could come from Ottawa that may antagonize the peaceful movement into creating the anger he claims is there. That’s likely his intent. He wants to provoke disorder to justify government intervention..OLDCORN: ‘Singh Hortons’ has become a national disgrace, no longer ‘Canada’s coffee shop’.If Lukaszuk truly wanted to fight the Alberta independence movement, he would be speaking to Albertans rather than Ottawa. He understands Albertans at large still have no use for him though and is hoping to find political favour in the East. If anything, his endorsement of federalism would increase Albertan support for independence. His self-serving political game is dangerous, however. Very dangerous.
