When outgoing Liberal MP and cabinet minister Catherine McKenna chooses to chime in on an issue of public interest, she usually makes it a real a head-scratcher. McKenna’s tweeted response to Alberta’s plans to fully reopen was no exception.. Mckenna .“Don’t test. Don’t trace. Don’t isolate”, the minister opined. “Don’t ask, don’t tell. Don’t know, don’t care. Alberta’s new approach to #COVID19. A dangerous experiment for Albertans – and possible for all Canadians. Did Canadians work so hard over a year & a half to give up at the finish line?”.Where exactly is the “finish line” for McKenna? Is it as virtually no regular deaths? Is it at the only people getting infected being those who have chosen not to be vaccinated? Or is it at no COVID-19 infections at all?.McKenna didn’t say “near the finish line” or “before the finish line”. She said “at the finish line” and this is telling..Does the finish line not represent completion?.Does it not represent the end?.The most important question of all is, ‘when will it all end?’ We have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and stick to it. Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Premier Jason Kenney have drawn their line, finally. Time will tell if they will stick to it..Leftist opponents of the UCP government have latched onto the reopening issue and a complicit mainstream media appears to be determined to make this partisan opposition look like a non-partisan grassroots groundswell. Opposition leader Rachel Notley has predictably exploded with righteous fury while even federal health minister Patti Hadju has jumped into the fray..While politicians, pundits and union heads are in an uproar and are demanding nothing less than the resignation of Dr. Deena Hinshaw, what appears to be missing is any real opposition from common Albertans. While some average citizens are certainly concerned with developments on the provincial scene, they aren’t ready to take to the streets in protest quite yet. They have taken a wait-and-see approach for now..The media go-to for medical opinions on COVID-19 has been Calgary ER Dr. Joseph Vipond. It has been difficult to get through a newscast of late without seeing Vipond on the screen dramatically predicting doom due to an irresponsible provincial government opening too early. Vipond even broke down in tears on camera the other day as he wept over the fate of unvaccinated Alberta children. It should be noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, not a single person under the age of 19 has died from the infection in Alberta. The risk that COVID-19 presents to children is negligible, but it makes for great dramatic effect when one claims only to be looking out for the children..Mainstream media should almost give a disclaimer before getting commentary from Vipond. While Vipond is doubtless a skilled medical practitioner, he also has a history of activism so embedded that it clearly taints his medical view when speaking to media. Vipond has contributed nearly $20,000 to the Alberta NDP. While as a citizen he certainly has every right to donate to whatever party he pleases, let’s not pretend that he is anything less than a rather fervent NDP supporter. Vipond has also been involved in climate hysteria activism and has been a longtime critic of pretty much any policy that didn’t involve more government meddling..The mainstream media mentioned none of this of course when Vipond called for a general strike with the intent of bringing the UCP government down..When Vipond put out his call for daily protests in order to bring Kenney to his knees, the media dutifully reported on the pending demonstration. They assigned dozens of reporters and cameras to the event in Calgary. The press nearly outnumbered the actual protesters at several points. Vipond craftily had set up in a low spot so that camera angles would make it look like he was surrounded by a crowd. I happily took pictures from a distance to show what the real protest looked like..The protest was political theater at its finest. You may note that Vipond is wearing scrubs in order to look more medical. I was surprised that he didn’t have a stethoscope around his neck and a gurney with a patient that he could pose with. The media happily lapped it all up of course. When somebody can create dramatic content for you, don’t question it. Just print and air it..Hypocrisy was also in the air. While Vipond strongly stated that nobody was to be in attendance without a mask, he quickly shed his for interviews in close quarters with reporters after the show.. vipttwit .The interview was with CBC French by the way. Perhaps the good doctor has federal ambitions.. frenchImage Credit: Cory Morgan, Western Standard .There has to be an end date to the pandemic. Somebody had to go first in declaring COVID-19 to be endemic and Alberta turned out to be that province. We can rest assured that other provinces are watching carefully to see how it goes..It has become clear that we have truly developed a no-risk cult of people out there. They simply won’t accept any reductions in government restrictions upon us until COVID-19 is eradicated entirely. That is an unreasonable position of course, so why does the mainstream legacy media keep indulging them?.We need rational discussion when it comes to COVID-19 policies. There are valid points to be made in favor of getting rid of all restrictions, just as there are points to be made in favour of keeping some restrictions. Responsible media should be trying to air both sides while letting the public determine for themselves what is the right course of action. Unfortunately, many in the government-subsidized media appear to be more intent upon feeding the atmosphere of fear and division when we all would like to see some peace and normalcy..I attended Vipond’s latest protest in Calgary Thursday. His daily protests have now devolved into shouting matches between dozens of union members, Black Lives Matter activists and anti-mask activists. There were perhaps 120 people there and nothing could be understood as there were no less than three loudspeakers with activists shouting from them. It seems the general strike isn’t coming any time soon, nor is Kenney feeling terror at such a groundswell of grassroots opposition. Will the federal government’s media report on the circus for what it was though? I saw them there, but have my doubts..We have determined where our finish line is and we are heading towards it. While mainstream media shouts of increasing infections daily, they only quietly note that not a single Albertan has died with COVID-19 in the last seven days. The vaccines appear to be working as they should and we may all be back to something close to our old way of living this fall. That is, if the mainstream media and activists let us..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
