Canadian MP forcibly removed from Parliament

‘Attack on democracy’: Canadian MP can’t enter House of Commons over refusal to share vax status | LifeSite News - Anthony Murdoch:

June 6, 2022 - "Pro-life Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Member of Parliament (MP) Cathay Wagantall was forcibly removed from the House of Commons Friday after she refused to abide by a rule mandating all MPs [show proof of] two COVID jabs or a medical exemption.

"'This is ridiculous. Ontario is open. My province [Saskatchewan] has been open for a long time,' Wagantall, who objects on principle to sharing her health information in order to enter Parliament, said in a press conference Friday....

"Wagantall noted that she 'was expecting something to happen' in terms of being removed from the House of Commons for not revealing her COVID jab status. It was on Friday she learned 'that there was a possibility of that' happening. She said she was pulled aside into the Sergeant-at-Arms office. 

"Shortly after, CPC House leader John Brassard told her that she might be kicked out of the House of Commons. 'So, my goal was to not leave unless I was basically forced to, which to some degree happened,' she said. Wagantall noted that later in the day ... the Sergeant-at-Arms escorted her outside of the building.

"'It’s deplorable that Canadians are being treated the way that we are being treated by this Prime Minister when there is nothing here that validates this kind of behavior on his part,' said Wagantall. She shared the text written on the back of her identification badge, which guarantees an MP free access to parliament: 'Under the law of parliamentary privilege, the bearer has free and open access at all times without obstruction or interference to the precincts of the House of Parliament, of which the bearer is a member.'

"Last fall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government put in place a ban on democratically elected MPs and staff who did not get the COVID jabs from accessing the nation’s center of democracy, the House of Commons. The rule came into effect on November 22, 2021."

Read more: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/attack-on-democracy-canadian-mp-cant-enter-house-of-commons-over-refusal-to-share-vax-status/

India's Supreme Court rules no one can be forced to be vaccinated

India's courts get it right on vaccine mandates — and Canada doesn't | National Post - Rupa Subramanya:

May 5, 2022 - "On May 2, in a landmark judgment, India’s Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that 'no one can be forced to be vaccinated' and that 'bodily integrity and personal autonomy' are protected under the law as a constitutional right. Citing emerging scientific opinion 'which appears to indicate that the risk of transmission of the virus from unvaccinated individuals is almost on par with that from vaccinated persons,' the judicial bench went on to argue that since infection rates are currently low, restrictions imposed on the unvaccinated, including those that curtail their freedom of movement and access to welfare and other services, are not 'proportionate,' and urged organizations that imposed these restrictions to review these measures and modify them as necessary.

"The court was responding to a plea filed by a former member of the country’s national advisory group on immunization, seeking disclosure on vaccine clinical trials and the posting of vaccination-adverse events data. The plea argued that Indian states’ legislation mandating vaccination for government employees and as a precondition for accessing welfare and other services, including travel in public transport, was a violation of basic individual rights and, therefore, unconstitutional. The federal government in India itself has not issued any vaccine mandates and has always maintained that it is a voluntary, individual choice.... 

"What is fascinating is that this extraordinary Supreme Court judgment in India is in the context of a Westminster system, a system originating in the United Kingdom but also, of course, shared by Canada....  While India’s Supreme Court has clearly circumscribed the extent to which the federal or state governments can impinge on individual rights in the interest of public health, it’s noteworthy that nothing comparable has occurred in Canada. This is striking, given the similarities between the two countries’ judicial systems.

"Why haven’t we seen greater pushback from the courts in Canada against federal and provincial vaccine mandates? While there have been numerous challenges at both the federal and provincial levels, arbitrators have been exceptionally deferential to the mandates, agreeing, in particular, with the federal government’s rationale that vaccine mandates are justified to protect the safety of the workplace. Given this, and the fact that courts are loath to intervene, federal government vaccine mandates in Canada have remained almost entirely intact....

"The niceties of our legal system’s culture of deference aside, Canada is increasingly an outlier amongst comparable advanced Western democracies in how our governments, especially the federal government, are handling the end game of the pandemic. On May 2, Switzerland, and Greece at the same time, lifted all remaining pandemic-related travel restrictions. Visitors, and returning residents, no longer need to show proof of vaccination, proof of recovery, or a recent negative test. Even New Zealand, which had one of the strictest pandemic responses in the world while pursuing a “zero Covid” policy, has not required domestic travellers to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to fly domestically since April 13, and, as of May 1, international travellers no longer need to show proof of vaccination to board a flight.

"Given that other advanced Western countries are walking back pandemic rules and clearly have the end game in sight, why is the Trudeau government not easing its vaccine mandates? It’s becoming increasingly clear that, at this point, it’s not about the science. The rationale for mandates was originally to curb transmission of the virus, but, in the wake of the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its newer sub-variants, this renders vaccine mandates absolutely nonsensical, given that the vaccinated — even those with three or even four doses — are becoming infected and are transmitting the virus. This was even recognized by the World Health Organization [WHO] in an April 2021 policy brief. For whatever it’s worth, the WHO says vaccine mandates should be used 'only as an absolute last resort.' Many countries have gotten the memo — but not the Trudeau government."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rupa-subramanya-indias-courts-get-it-right-on-vaccine-mandates-and-canada-doesnt

Unintended consequences of vaccine mandates

The unintended consequences of COVID-19 vaccine policy: why mandates, passports and restrictions may cause more harm than good | BMJ Global Health 7:5 - Kevin Bardosh, Alex de Figueiredo, Rachel Gur-Arie, James Doidge, Trudo Lemmens, Salmaan Keshavjee, Janice E Graham, Stefan Baral:

Abstract

Vaccination policies have shifted dramatically during COVID-19 with the rapid emergence of population-wide vaccine mandates, domestic vaccine passports and differential restrictions based on vaccination status. While these policies have prompted ethical, scientific, practical, legal and political debate, there has been limited evaluation of their potential unintended consequences. Here, we outline a comprehensive set of hypotheses for why these policies may ultimately be counterproductive and harmful. Our framework considers four domains: (1) behavioural psychology, (2) politics and law, (3) socioeconomics, and (4) the integrity of science and public health. 

While current vaccines appear to have had a significant impact on decreasing COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality burdens, we argue that current mandatory vaccine policies are scientifically questionable and are likely to cause more societal harm than good. Restricting people’s access to work, education, public transport and social life based on COVID-19 vaccination status impinges on human rights, promotes stigma and social polarisation, and adversely affects health and well-being. Current policies may lead to a widening of health and economic inequalities, detrimental long-term impacts on trust in government and scientific institutions, and reduce the uptake of future public health measures, including COVID-19 vaccines as well as routine immunisations. 

Mandating vaccination is one of the most powerful interventions in public health and should be used sparingly and carefully to uphold ethical norms and trust in institutions. We argue that current COVID-19 vaccine policies should be re-evaluated in light of the negative consequences that we outline. Leveraging empowering strategies based on trust and public consultation, and improving healthcare services and infrastructure, represent a more sustainable approach to optimising COVID-19 vaccination programmes and, more broadly, the health and well-being of the public.

[...]

Conclusion

The adoption of new vaccination policies has provoked backlash, resistance and polarisation. It is important to emphasise that these policies are not viewed as ‘incentives’ or ‘nudges’ by substantial proportions of populations  especially in marginalised, underserved or low COVID-19-risk groups. Denying individuals education, livelihoods, medical care or social life unless they get vaccinated — especially in light of the limitations with the current vaccines — is arguably in tension with constitutional and bioethical principles, especially in liberal democracies. While public support consolidated behind these policies in many countries, we should acknowledge that ethical frameworks were designed to ensure that rights and liberties are respected even during public health emergencies.

Vaccination policies can be an important tool in the promotion of the right to health, but they need to be proportionate and designed to achieve a clearly defined goal. Some of those supporting current restrictions based on vaccination status seem to accept too easily that these measures are indeed proportionate; that they are not more restrictive than necessary; that they are effective in preventing transmission and protecting the healthcare system from collapse; and that there are no options available other than punitive mandates, passports and segregated restrictions. As illustrated above, we believe that current vaccine policies have failed on these fronts and are no longer fit for purpose.

We encourage social and behavioural scientists, bioethicists, epidemiologists, legal scholars, and others to assess the benefits and harms of COVID-19 vaccination policies, along with wider open multidisciplinary discussion and debate. Empirical assessments may or may not validate the concerns presented in this paper—but their generation is critical in engagement with politicians, scientists, and organisations to reconsider current policies affecting those who remain unvaccinated as well as those who vaccinated due to threats and pressure. COVID-19 will not be the last public health emergency and it remains critical that we understand the reasons these approaches were adopted and provide robust evidence to improve future policymaking in times of health emergencies.135 If not, the proclivity for mandates, passports, restrictions, fines and punishments is likely to become an accepted policy response for the next pandemic irrespective of whether such policies are truly effective, ethical and socially harmful.

If current policies are to continue, public health-associated bureaucracies and society will have to increase coercion to address current and future resistance and, in the process, come to leverage strategies more consistent with policing than public health. We may also see political forces double down and use people who have chosen not to get vaccinated as a collective, psychological and political tool to scapegoat and reinforce a false notion of safety among vaccinated people as they yearn to resume social and economic life. Policymakers should reflect on the necessity of enforcing what is essentially a new two-tier, segregated social system and how this will affect different social groups now and into the future—behaviourally, politically and socioeconomically—as well as the impact of such policies on the integrity of science and public health itself.

There are other options to address the pandemic and it is not too late to return to non-coercive public health measures, including pro-social language and community leadership for vaccination, especially to protect high-risk groups. Future investments in public health capacity, especially health providers who build relationships of trust working in communities, will be essential to engage in positive reforms. Improving data transparency, media independence and broad public debate and scrutiny about COVID-19 vaccine policies will also be essential to maintain population trust, help people better understand the risks and benefits of the continued use of current vaccines, and to inform research on improvements and future policies.

Read more: https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/5/e008684
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2022-008684

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 

Mises Caucus wins control of US Libertarian Party

Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party | Reason - Brian Doherty: 

May 29, 2022 - "A four-year battle for control of the Libertarian Party (L.P.) ended Saturday in Reno with a victory for the Mises Caucus at the party's national convention. The faction's chosen candidate for chair of the party's national committee, Angela McArdle, won on the first round of balloting.... McArdle, a paralegal and current chair of the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County, said in her speech to the convention Friday that the government response to COVID has left many working-class Americans thirsty for personal liberty, and 'we don't want to ignore them.' They have, she argued, 'low-resolution views of freedom…and we need to bring that vision into focus by communicating our message clearly and by supporting our candidates and affiliates.'

"While McArdle was the Mises Caucus candidate, the behind-the-scenes mastermind of its victory was caucus founder and leader Michael Heise. His disapproval of William Weld, Gary Johnson's running mate in 2016, was an initial inspiration for the caucus' launch.... The caucus's official platform is plumb-line libertarian, but its foes say that too many Mises Caucus members and fans downplay libertarian positions that might offend the right, are intentionally obnoxious and bullying...., The sense the caucus is soft on or actively encourages racism attracted the attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center just before the convention began, which aired the concerns in a story reported with cooperation from many Libertarian Party members upset with the Mises Caucus. Both Heise and Mises Caucus stalwart Joshua Smith, who won the vice-chair election Saturday, denied the charges of racism. 

"Heise said in a phone interview prior to the convention that the basic vibe they are seeking is online youths into edgy comedic podcasts, a new counterculture for whom the old L.P. holds little appeal. Heise believes that the current rumored frontrunner for a Mises Caucus–approved presidential nominee in 2024, comedian and podcaster Dave Smith, is so well-connected to the Joe Rogan world that legacy respectable mainstream media will be meaningless for party messaging moving forward.

"In his nominating speech for McArdle before the vote, libertarian antiwar author and podcaster Scott Horton insisted that he's seen thousands of new convention-attending members energized by the Mises Caucus in the last couple of years.... Meanwhile, during that same period, fierce factional dueling has played out in hundreds of hours of podcasts, hundreds of thousands of words of tweets and Facebook threads, and often on the business listserv of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) itself. One such fight, summed up at length in Reason in June, involved a faction of non-Mises libertarians in New Hampshire attempting to create a new L.P. affiliate so that the national party could disaffiliate the Mises-dominated one and recognize the new one. The gambit, which ultimately failed, led to the resignation of then-national chair Joe Bishop-Henchman and caused one of the party's few elected officials, Dekalb, Illinois, City Clerk Sasha Cohen, to quit in protest as well, saying 'we are a big tent party, but no tent is big enough to hold racists and people of color, transphobes and trans people, bigots and their victims.'

"Despite bad blood, I detected no booing or walkouts today when McArdle's victory made the caucus' victory manifest. None of the anti–Mises Caucus delegates or supporters that I have spoken to at the convention — including people from Illinois, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, and even Mises stronghold New Hampshire — said that this takeover would make them walk. Two former significant donors to the L.P., Kyle Varner and Michael Chastain, both with decadeslong history in the party, did say in phone interviews that the Mises turn, which they see as importing a level of racist edgelording they have no taste for, has made them stop funding L.P. candidates.... Varner and Chastain see a distinctly right-wing culture and policy bent from the Mises faction.... 

"The caucus also wants to completely eliminate any mention of abortion.... A document of internal Mises Caucus strategizing that began circulating before the convention explicitly said ... that 'one of the major goals of the Mises Caucus is to make the LP appealing to the wider liberty movement that is largely not currently here with us. That movement strongly rejects wokeism and the word games associated with it. This along with the deletion of the abortion plank will display that there are serious cultural changes in the party that are more representative of that movement'.... (Disgruntled non–Mises Caucus libertarians in Pennsylvania have left the L.P. and formed the new Keystone Party.)...

"Heise wrote on Facebook Friday night that his faction already controls a majority of the LNC, having swept the votes for regional representatives to the LNC in meetings Friday night.... Mises Caucus favorite Caryn Ann Harlos, who was booted by the LNC from her elected secretary position over Mises-related faction fights, re-won her elected position Saturday as well.

"The Mises Caucus people often dub themselves the revival or continuation of the Ron Paul revolution of libertarian ideas in the GOP's 2008 and 2012 presidential races. (Paul spoke at a party the caucus hosted Friday night.)... In those 2008 and 2012 races, however, Paul studiously avoided anything that might be construed as 'anti-woke' and generally avoided talking to his campus audiences about abortion and immigration, where he was at odds with many other libertarians. While the Mises Caucus might argue that the threat of progressive woke thought control was less severe then, the podcaster/memelord edgy-offensive-insult-comedy stance they often embrace is entirely opposite to how Ron Paul presented himself and won his huge audience as a presidential candidate."

Read more: https://reason.com/2022/05/29/mises-caucus-takes-control-of-libertarian-party/ 

China, N. Korea declare victories over coronavirus

Lockdown Lifted: Is North Korea the New Covid-19 Success Story? | Bloomberg.com - Sangmi Cha:

June 1, 2022 - "Officials in the North Korean capital announced this week that they were easing the lockdown put in place less than three weeks ago, saying the outbreak was under control. They cited plunging case counts and patted themselves on the back for a job well done — all the while rejecting offers of international aid.

"Kim Jong Un rolled back lockdown measures hours after leading a Politburo meeting, with state media saying 'the pandemic situation is being controlled and improved across the country.' The official case count showed infections, known as 'fever cases' in the country where tests are scarce, falling to fewer than 100,000 a day from a peak of almost 400,000 on May 15. The country counted a total of more than 3.7 million 'fevered persons' since late April, of which 95% have recovered, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Its secret: traditional medicine such as herbs and plants....

"Choi Jung-hun, who worked as an infectious disease specialist in North Korea and defected to South Korea in 2012, said Pyongyang is only now disclosing the cases to allay fears over a noticeable wave of infections. Reports of a fast decline allows Kim to claim the credit for handling the outbreak so well. 'They reported a soaring number of cases for just over a week and are touting that the cases are already plunging,' Choi said. 'Kim won’t hesitate to go further to declare that the virus has been wiped out from the state around the time China eases lockdown.'

"Exactly how much damage the virus did within the country’s borders is unknown."

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-06-01/coronavirus-daily-north-korea-and-its-covid-success-story

Today’s coronavirus news: China trumpets COVID victory again while Hong Kong quarantine backtrack stokes fears of quarantine return | Toronto.com - Toronto Star: 

June 2, 2022 - "China declared victory over Shanghai’s coronavirus outbreak as the nation reported its fewest new cases in more than three months, vindicating COVID Zero in the eyes of Beijing despite the policy’s rising economic and social toll. 

"A report on the front page of the People’s Daily newspaper Thursday headlined 'Great Achievements Have Been Made in the Defense of Shanghai' claimed victory in the fight against the virus in the city of 25 million. In a separate commentary, the chief mouthpiece of the Communist Party said it proved yet again that COVID Zero is the strategy most suited for China because of the country’s aging population, relatively low vaccination rate among the elderly and children, and inadequate medical resources.

"New infections fell to 61 across China on Wednesday, from 68 on Tuesday and the lowest since Feb. 17. It’s a marked turnaround from the tens of thousands of cases reported daily in the first half of April, when Shanghai’s outbreak appeared to be spiralling out of authorities’ control, triggering a citywide lockdown that disrupted business and upended people’s lives." 

Read more:https://www.toronto.com/news/today-s-coronavirus-news-china-trumpets-covid-victory-again-while-hong-kong-quarantine-backtrack-stokes/article_4c57cca2-f773-58dc-a4f9-332ac74a001b.html

Election Day for a Libertarian

by George J. Dance

June 2, 2022 - Today did not start well. I got no sleep last night, meaning I was dead tired and starting to nod off this morning, when my wife woke up and reminded me it was Election Day. Just what I needed! But we make it a point to vote in every election. In my younger days, I used to make it a point to run in every election, and while those days are long gone, I can still at least vote. But I was not looking forward to it this time. 

The last federal election was brutal: we joined the tail of a huge line that snaked all over the property, doubling back on itself at least twice. Fortunately, because my wife uses a cane, we were taken pity on after about an hour in line and allowed to cut in. We decided to try to avoid that again by voting early, but we had no idea what to expect. 

I also had no idea whom to vote for. I did not know who was running, or even what constituency I now live in. I knew the Libertarians were running only 15 candidates, so I did not expect one on my ballot. Nor would I vote for one of the BORG – Blue, Orange, Red, or Green – parties. My biggest issue this year was Doug Ford's Covid mandates, and I knew that all four of those parties had supported them. I had learned that there were at least four other parties campaigning against Covid mandates – New Blue, Ontario Party, Ontario People's Front, and Populist Party – but I knew little about what else each of them stood for. Nor did I know which if any of them would have a candidate on my ballot. 

At the polling station, though, I had a couple of pleasant surprises. First, there was no lineup at all; we showed up and walked right in. Second, scanning the ballot, I saw the magic word "Libertarian". So my wife and I happily cast our votes for Serge Korovitsyn. (Later, when I got home, I looked his name up on the party website, and discovered that I still lived in Scarborough Centre.) 

I cannot describe what a relief it was to see the "Libertarian" name on the ballot. Here was a brand name I could trust; not this year's new fad party, but a group that for decades has supported and articulated ideals I could proudly vote for. I do not expect Serge to win, but helping him get a higher vote was the most productive use of my ballot. More generally, I do not expect Libertarians to form the government in my lifetime; but we can get a high enough vote total that the BORG has to start listening to us and co-opting our ideas. 

I would like to thank and salute all of the Libertarian candidates running in this election. Here is a quick list, alphabetically by riding. Highlighted names link to stories about them on the blog. Pictures and full bios for all 15 candidates can be found on the party website, libertarian.on.ca. May there be many more in elections to come.

Brantford-Brant: Rob Ferguson

Davenport: Nunzio Venuto

Don Valley West: John Kittredge

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock: Gene Balfour

Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands & Rideau Lakes: Mark Snow

London West: Jacques Boudreau

Niagara West: Stefanos Karatopis

Nipissing: Michelle Lashbrook

Orleans: Ken Lewis

Ottawa-Vanier: Coreen Corcoran

St. Catharines: Judi Falardeau

Scarborough Centre: Serge Korovitsyn

Simcoe North: William Joslin

Sudbury: Adrien Berthier

Timiskaming-Cochrane: Eric Cummings

York-Simcoe: Zachary Tisdale

Why Libertarians run: interview with Gene Balfour

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Provincial Candidates Coverage-Gene Balfour Libertarian Party | Kawartha 411 -  Pamela Vanmeer:

May 25, 2022 - "The provincial election is coming up on June 2, 2022. We asked each of the local candidates the same questions and are printing their answers in full in the order received. Here is [Gene] Balfour, Libertarian Party.

"I am a retired business professional with a B.Sc. in Kinesiology ... with a work history beginning in the health and physical fitness sector. My career also included 4 years with IBM Canada ... then the next 36 years as a professional recruiter in the IT sector.... In 2007, I joined the Ontario Libertarian Party (OLP). Since then, have been a Less Government Libertarian candidate in 8 federal and provincial elections and led the OLP’s efforts in the 2018 election as its Chairman; we fielded 116 candidates for the 124 electoral ridings under my leadership. 

"I continue to be a candidate in every election to ensure that all voters have a genuine option to vote for Less Government if they see the wisdom in that choice. Also, as a father of two extraordinary daughters, I ask what kind of a father would I be if I did not try to protect them from the long term burdens imposed on them by excessively large, expensive, impersonal and autocratic governments which have been creeping deeper into our lives for decades?

What are the three top local issues in your opinion?

"Government causes of inflation. The high and rising cost of living has its root causes in government policies and their enforcement institutions. 'Back off government' is a slogan you occasionally see on signs. It advises the best way to unshackle our businesses from government-imposed restrictions and to free up their entrepreneurial abilities to deliver goods and services in a cost-effective manner.

"Government disrespect for our citizens. Our Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have been ignored repeatedly and we have no way to hold government authorities to account for these violations.  Too many past voters have chosen politicians who planned to expand the role of governments in our lives. This mistake has enabled elected politicians to assume far too much authority and non-elected bureaucrats like public health officials to have too much influence on public policies such as broad lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates. The assumption of pandemic 'emergency powers' by Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford has highlighted the enormous current risks of too much government to Canadian democracy. Just ask a trucker if he thinks too much power resides in the public sector.

"Government’s compulsive need to indoctrinate everyone. It starts with our children in public schools. It continues with our adult population through legacy media and social media corporations. Our public health officials also stepped up to feed the government’s preferred fear-mongering narratives during the pandemic;  the public listened knowing that these officials hold monopoly control over all of the public health institutions upon which they depend exclusively. All of these institutions share two things in common: their funding originally comes from taxpayers;  the people who ultimately control their paycheques are elected politicians like Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford....

What is your stance on those issues and your proposed solutions?

"If Big and Bigger Governments are the root cause of most society’s ailments, then Less Government is the only realistic antidote. Libertarians would repeal every piece of legislation that has awarded monopoly powers to government services in Education, Media, and Health-related sectors. This will allow competition in these sectors on an unbiased playing field. The Libertarian Non-Government Options plan will establish a vibrant market of strong competitors in those sectors providing every citizen with the choice to patronize which of many governments and non-government service providers will meet their needs best and pay accordingly. This plan is described in greater detail here https://libertarian.on.ca/platform/2022."

Read more: https://www.kawartha411.ca/2022/05/25/haliburton-kawartha-lakes-brock-provincial-candidates-coverage-gene-balfour-libertarian-party/