“A lot of people want to stay inside a Canada that is an imaginary country inside their heads. It’s not the real one. …The reason to leave is that Canada has become something else. Canada has become a manager.” ~ Prof. Bruce Pardy
As Alberta contemplates separation, the need for a fundamental shift is obvious. To avoid creating a smaller version of Canada, Albertans must seize on the opportunity to purge a managerial model of governance and reevaluate the relationship between citizens and the state. Prof. Bruce Pardy joins Real Citizen hosts Jeremy Prest and David Craig to discuss the release of his proposed constitutional framework for freedom and prosperity in an independent Alberta.
Other topics on the table:
• Why Canada restricts free speech more than the U.S. • The failures of internal reform and judicial overreach. • What Alberta’s independence could look like under a minimal government model. • The real challenges of funding healthcare, schools, and public goods without taxation. • Redefining freedom as the absence of state coercion.
00:00:00 – Intro 00:01:24 – notwithstanding, free speech, Carney, Palestine 00:02:48 – Satirical post framing foreign policy and speech 00:04:05 – Guest: Prof. Bruce Pardy 00:05:34 – Thesis: Don’t become little Canada 00:09:10 – Alberta debate: equalization and cost of living 00:13:40 – Why order over liberty – managerial state 00:15:24 – Free speech vs hate speech – Canada vs US 00:17:02 – Where is the line – harm as violence creep 00:22:01 – Canada in 3 steps – 1867, 1931, 1982 00:27:19 – The POGG default leads to an all powerful state 00:31:42 – Fix – flip the default – enumerated powers 00:34:58 – Only three powers – peace, courts, defense 00:36:16 – Implications – no public health or schools – no expropriation 00:38:49 – No tax principle – funding roads questioned 00:40:29 – Edge case – helmet laws under non coercion 00:41:19 – Edge case – DUI – prospective vs actual harm 00:41:50 – When state force is allowed – self defense stopping force external defense 00:48:28 – Warning – taxation power will be abused 01:21:16 – Legal personhood rethink – humans only – corporations rethought 01:32:33 – Term limits – blocking a ruling class.
Bruce Pardy is the executive director of Rights Probe and a professor of law at Queen’s University.
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