FILDEBRANDT Alberta s next premier must pardon lockdown resisters
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
155.77762
Summary
During his time in office, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has made criminals out of ordinary men and women who wanted nothing more than to just go about their lives in peace. Now, as he departs office, him or his successor has the chance to do the right thing. Every Albertan who resisted his government s arbitrary and, as it turns out, unscientific lockdowns deserves a full pardon. Every Albertaan who suffered financial loss deserves compensation. And every pastor who went to jail should receive a full apology.
Transcript
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During his time in office, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has made criminals out of ordinary men
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and women who wanted nothing more than to just go about their lives in peace. Now, as he departs
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office, him or his successor has the chance to do the right thing. Every Albertan who resisted his
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government's arbitrary and, as it turns out, unscientific lockdowns deserves a full pardon.
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Every Albertan who suffered financial loss deserves compensation, and every pastor who
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went to jail should receive a full apology. For what we witnessed in Alberta was a gross pattern
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of injustice perpetrated by the very people elected to ensure justice. Let's recap. After it became
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apparent, at least to many of us, that lockdowns and mandatory masking did precious little, if
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anything, to materially save lives from COVID-19, many ordinary people began to openly resist.
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In December of 2020, Ocean Weissblatt was hauled away in handcuffs by the Calgary Police
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Service for the crime of playing hockey on an outdoor rink during one of the many lockdowns,
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but not before one of the hapless police officers said that she would, quote, fucking tase him first.
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In March of 2021, the government arrested and jailed Pastor Coates and even denied him bail for a time.
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In April, a massive police force raided Grace Life Church and erected a large barricade around it
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with heavily armed police guards standing outside to keep worshippers out by force. Business owners
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all over Alberta resisted nonsensical lockdowns of their businesses. One such owner was Chris Scott,
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who owned the small Whistle Stop Cafe in the tiny town of Mirror. His business was raided by police,
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his property seized, his locks changed, and he himself jailed. In May of 2021, Central Alberta
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rancher Ty Northcott was facing financial ruin because his performance livestock were illegal to
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use in rodeos, which had been banned by the government. In about the most Alberta thing possible,
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Northcott decided to put on an illegal, no more lockdowns rodeo in defiance of the government.
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Kenny called the rodeo disturbing, and some in the legacy media labeled it a super spreader event.
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But Alberta Health Services was only able to link a single possible suspected case of COVID-19 to the
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entire thing. For his defiance, Northcott was charged with violating Alberta's Public Health Act.
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Uncowed, the rancher is fighting the maximum penalty of 1.5 million dollars in court,
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hoping to overturn it as unconstitutional. All of this was followed by the broken promise
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of a vaccine passport that saw many Albertans treated as pariahs for their personal health
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care choices. With the government's blessing, businesses fired employees who did not comply
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with the government's mandatory vaccination policy. Workers were fired from their jobs for
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not complying with mandatory masking, even though they had legitimate medical exemptions.
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All of this contributed mightily to Jason Kenney's forced retirement from the Premier's office.
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Alberta's next Premier has a chance to, if not make things right, at least make amends. Here's how they
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can start. Firstly, the next Premier should issue an official apology to those who resisted lockdowns,
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mandatory masking, and forced vaccination. Secondly, the Premier needs to order his or her Attorney General
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to issue a full pardon to those who were charged, convicted, fined, or jailed. They were treated as
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criminals for justified civil disobedience, just as real criminals often escape justice. Open cases
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against those who resisted must be dropped, although this should be done in consultation with the accused.
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Many, like Ty Northcott, have been fighting protracted court battles attempting to strike down some of
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these laws as unconstitutional. There is potentially some important legal precedent to be set here. So,
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in these cases, Alberta's government should guarantee that if they lose, the province will compensate them
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for their fines and legal costs and ensure that they never do any jail time, or at least any more jail time.
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Which brings us to legal costs. All of those who resisted and faced expensive court battles should have
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every red cent repaid by Alberta's government. They should never have faced these charges to begin with.
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Those who paid fines should have the money paid back by the government. And those who did jail time,
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lost their jobs, lost their businesses, or saw their businesses suffer, should all be compensated for the
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injustices that they suffered from this government. And finally, the next Premier needs to repeal those
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sections of the Public Health Act that allowed the government to fine, jail, attack, and raid innocent
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Albertans in the first place. Pretty much everyone, save the most die-hard Branch Covidians,
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want to put this whole mess behind them. But Alberta cannot move on until injustice is rectified by
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justice and a guarantee that it will never happen again.
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