My Frustration with Canadian Police

It’s no secret that the public’s trust in police officers is at an all time low. This isn’t because Canadian police are dirty, in fact I will fight that allegation until I’m blue in the face. The problem is the American media’s portrayal of police in the United States. Things are different down there, especially when it comes to policing. Canadians have a sense of all being in this together. In the States, they are indoctrinated into a militaristic capitalist society. This means they glorify violence and strive to compete against each other, rather than cooperate. While related, that’s an entirely different essay. My point is policing competitive violent people is much different than policing cooperative people. They have to play by a different set of rules than we see in Canada, so it’s a lot rougher and the media has a heyday selling newspapers and web hits based on the violence, which is often necessary down south.

In Canada, we don’t have nearly as much violence, and our police get to be nice guys more often. However, our brainwashing by the American media is changing our attitudes towards police so that we’re afraid of them. When we fear them we will lash out at them. When we start to lash out at them, they will fear us. When the police fear us, they’re more likely to hurt us. Let’s stop this downward spiral of hate and fear. Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

Now, we’re getting close to where my frustration with police happens. Policing standards and professionalism dictates that police agencies do not engage the irritated public on social media. This makes sense. I’ve attended several training sessions on how to handle online reviews, and they all say “don’t feed the trolls.” If you engage the morons that just want to be heard, the noise will far outweigh any useful information. Where this differs in policing and public relations is, the morons that just want to be heard are being heard, and nobody is hearing any useful information.

In a very recent case in Edmonton Alberta, a man protected his mother from two hijackers. He tackled and subdued the first one, and then he tracked down and dragged the second one three blocks back to his place to wait for police. Police arrested and charged the carjackers, but they also arrested and charged the man who defended his mother. Link to the Edmonton Sun's Story

Naturally, people are jumping all over this. There’s comments about dirty police, stupid police, corrupt systems, corrupt police, and evil police. I don’t believe this is the case. There are several sections of the Criminal Code at play here, plus some of what I think is fine police work.

Any person in Canada may use reasonable force to stop an offense. Beating the tar out of possibly armed men while they are threatening your mother, without getting into too many detailed variables, is fine. Morally, I think you have a responsibility to do so. Also, any person may arrest without warrant any person they find committing a criminal offense, and deliver him forthwith to a peace officer. This means that tackling and holding the first one while you wait for police is just fine. In fact, I believe this was the morally responsible thing to do again. Assuming he didn’t go overboard and continue beating the guy’s face into hamburger after he was subdued, the police would not have a problem with this.

He caught up to the other guy 3 blocks away. This is where the law starts working against our hero. After he subdued the first guy and go looking for the second, he was no longer using force to stop an offense. At the same time, the “finds committing” clause in Section 494 of the Criminal Code also no longer applied. He found someone who he believed had committed an offense and assaulted him. This is assault, black and white. Citizens can’t do that. There are other factors involved the media doesn’t report on, like the level of force used, but since it wasn’t reported, I won’t elaborate on those laws.

Now with this knowledge, do you still believe the police are out of line? I hope not. They are enforcing the law as it is written, and what more can we possibly ask of them? That’s their job. You don’t get to pick and choose what parts of your job you’re going to do, and neither do they. Was this guy in the wrong to go get the second guy and bring him back for police to deal with? I don’t think so, but the Criminal Code says he is. I think this is fine police work, but a flawed Criminal Code. It is up to the Federal Government to change that statute in relation to defense of self, others, and property. Possibly also a change to the citizen arrest section.

If you still think the police are out of line, you’re either not paying attention, or you’re just not very smart.

Now this is where I get frustrated with Canadian Police. I should not be explaining to anybody how self defense and citizen arrest law works in Canada. A Deputy Chief of the Edmonton Police Service should be holding a public press conference, and posting it on their Facebook page.

The public’s distrust of the police comes from a lack of understanding. Since we started watching cartoons as a child, we’ve become familiar with the phrase, “People fear what they don’t understand.” For fuck sakes, because of liability concerns, most police services don’t even do ridealongs anymore!

It is the moral responsibility of Canadian Police Services to inform and educate the public. Rather than allowing a watered down, just-the-facts press release let the media tell part of the story and then let everyone else’s imagination run wild with the rest, tell the whole story. Explain why charges were laid. This isn’t pandering, and this isn’t just good public relations.  This is officer safety and long-term survival of Canadian police officers.

I hope that important people within policing read this. I hope that politicians read this. And for goodness sake, if you’re a member of the media, ask why once in a while.

The REAL Benefit of Martial Arts in Youth

Take a couple of minutes to watch this video. Instructors like this contribute to creating some of the most wonderful people in our society.



When I was eleven, I was awarded my red (brown) belt. At this stage, it was mandatory to break boards to gain further rank. I was okay at forms, and acceptable at sparring, but board breaks were terrifying. There was no grading, either the boards broke, or they didn't. And real pine boards don't lie. If your technique is off, you're going to make a thunk, not a snap. If you're really unlucky, you're going to make a crunch.

Rewind to yellow belt. I was 8 years old, and we were practicing punches. My punches were sloppy, and I didn't care about technique. I was just going through the motions because my instructor told me so. She put a board in front of me and told me to punch it. I made a thunk, and it really hurt. She corrected my technique, and told me next time, the board had better break. Every time we did punching drills after that, I was very cognizant of my technique, and always working to improve upon it.

Fast forwarding back to red belt, we had some options. We had to break the board using an elbow strike, and a choice between a front kick and a side kick. We had three attempts. I requested special permission to use a reverse punch instead of an elbow strike, because it was important to me to prove to myself that I had mastered that technique since being a yellow belt. After getting my parents to sign a waiver, I was allowed to make the attempt, on the condition that I also forfeited my choice to do a front kick and attempted a side kick instead.

During our Testing Ceremony at East Longview Hall, I completed my forms, my one-steps, and my sparring. I got a few minutes rest while the higher ranks went through their tests before the board breaking part commenced. I didn't even really watch, even though the black belts were always fun to watch. I spent the whole time visualizing the punch. When it was finally my turn, I set up my two break stations, just as I had been coached the previous week. After receiving permission to begin my attempt, I lined up the punch, and blew through it beautifully. That was my first board break. Everyone cheered, because my instructor explained why I was doing it, and explained the higher difficulty and risk level. The thing with punching solid objects is the bones in your hand are actually very small and easily broken. If the board doesn't break, your hand probably will.

Riding the euphoric high of the accomplishment and all the cheering, I lined up my side kick, and missed. I made three thunks. My heart totally sunk. After I had accomplished so much with my punch, I failed my test anyways. I still felt proud of what I had accomplished. Following me, my instructor made one of the fully grown black belts attempt a punch, and that resulted in a bloody broken hand. There was some controversy and a lot of hard feelings around that decision, but from where I was sitting, it really illustrated just what I had accomplished.

Now began the Saga of Ty's Side Kick. Much like my punch, I needed to master that kick. Mastering that kick took a long goddamn time. I used to get so frustrated, I almost stopped training. My parents wouldn't let me stop. My dojang had testing ceremonies quarterly, and it took me about 3 years to master that particular technique and actually pass my test. 12 tests later, I finally got some stripes on my belt. In hindsight, it wasn't really fair in competition, because I was the most experienced red belt in just about ever. Once I got some stripes on my belt, I STILL had trouble breaking boards in tests. 2 more years would pass before I received black belt at 16 years old. Of course at 16, I was getting big enough I could easily power my way through a single board, so now I was breaking two.

As a black belt, in practice and in competition, my side kick became famous. I had studied it so much that I could throw a side kick from any position, any stance, with or without a jump, and with or without a spin, and it couldn't be stopped unless you practiced with me a lot. I would find your ribcage or chin every time. I won international tournaments with that kick. Just a couple of months ago, I was visiting a friend I hadn't seen in a long time, and he told me he had heard stories of that kick from a Karateka I used to play with. My battle with the boards had given me an extremely valuable gift.

A year later, when I was allowed to test for my Second Dan, I choked on my board breaks again. They STILL created a mental block for me. I failed another test. I had grown into a liked and respected Student Instructor, and I actually coached a lot of others through their board breaks. I was widely regarded as an expert in the field, but I still couldn't overcome the pressure! 3 months later, I was allowed to attempt again, and this time I made it through on my third attempt, and while I was very happy I passed, I was so upset that boards were STILL a challenge for me.

When I tested for my Third Dan two years later, I was really nervous for my board breaks. I hadn't tested in two years (mandatory waiting period for my rank), and I was going up against my old nemesis once again. I completed all my forms (exhausting), I performed various self defense techniques, and then I sparred with every other black belt and a couple of red belts (super exhausting). I tried so hard to rest while the red belts were completing their board breaks so I would be fresh for mine, but everyone wanted big strong Ty, who had helped coach them in their techniques, to hold their boards. I was exhausted, but I did it anyways.

When my turn finally came, I was still exhausted. My heart rate had come down a bit, but my arms and legs felt like spaghetti. I set up my stations, going with old reliable, a side kick, and a reverse punch. The difference was I was using 3 boards on my reverse punch, and I was spinning during the side kick. Scary stuff, right? Right.

After receiving permission to proceed, I lined up my spinning side kick, and blew the boards into three pieces each. Everyone cheered. I lined up with my reverse punch, but my focus was broken by fatigue. I kept thinking, "I hope I'm not too tired to make this break." I threw everything I had into that punch, lost control of where my elbow was, and my hand bounced. I was awarded with two thunks for one punch. The two men holding my boards fell back a step from the impact. My hand hurt.

My instructor ordered my board holders to drop a board so I was attacking the standard two boards instead of three, and I reset my stations. I lined up with the punch first, because if I didn't make it, there was no sense in wasting the other boards. My hand hurt so bad. After receiving approval for my second attempt, I lined it up, and I hit the boards. Thunk. My hand hurt. I began my final attempt. Thunk. The crowd's groan drowned out my grunt of pain.

I turned to the judges' table at attention, waiting to be dismissed. I had once again failed. Instead of dismissing me, Master Woodson directed some of the other judges to take up a station for another break. I understood the point she was making. I had defeated myself. The boards couldn't defeat me, they were inanimate objects. I had failed another test, but now I was being given the opportunity to show everyone, and more importantly myself, that I really was a good martial artist.

I think the first one was a jumping, turning side kick. Broken.
Knifehand strike, broken (hit one of the board holders on the other side. Sorry).
Axe kick. Broken.
Spinning Heel Kick (sometimes called a Wheel Kick). Broken. (look at the knuckles on my right hand. It hurt a lot.)
Elbow Strike. Broken.
Jump Front Kick, Face Level. (Broken)
Round Kick, Face Level. Broken.
Side Kick. Broken.
Front Kick. Broken.
Palm Heel Strike. Broken.

These breaks were easy. I didn't spend time lining them up, I just did them. First attempt, all of them. I didn't follow the formalities of requesting permission, I just attacked. Master Woodson yelled out a technique, I destroyed the wood. Simple. It felt felt good to get out some of my frustration over failing my test by smashing things. Of course, a lot of these techniques were extraordinarily difficult and nobody attempted them in a test if they could help it. They were flashy and fun in demonstrations, but too easy to mess up for a test. I didn't care. I had already failed my test, so the pressure was off. I was just playing, now. I was showing off and enjoying the attention I was receiving from my fellow students and the spectators. See? When I was coaching you, I knew what I was talking about, I just choke on pressure. Master Woodson either ran out boards or ideas, because I was dismissed.

Spectators from upstairs found me after the testing ceremony to console me, and to tell me they though my instructor was unfair, making me break all those boards as punishment for failing. I told them I was grateful for it. It wasn't a punishment, it was a favour.

Afterwards, during the potluck dinner and awards ceremony, I sat and sincerely cheered and congratulated everyone on passing their tests. This certainly wasn't my first failed test, so there was no envy, no hard feelings, I was genuinely proud of everyone for passing their test, because I had helped teach a lot of them. After everyone else had been called up and given their new stripes or belts and their certificates, my name was called. I was shocked. I had no idea I was getting called. What was going on? Was I gonna have to break something else? My muscles were cold now, and my ass hurt from sitting on that chair, so I hoped not.

The judges had discussed and decided to award me my Third Dan because I obviously had the skill, and once I could ignore pressure, I could accomplish what I needed to accomplish. I was elated! Judging by the picture, I don't think Master Woodson was quite as excited as me, but there it was. I had earned my Third Dan. Nobody could dispute it, because I broke more boards than anyone in that school had ever seen.
                    

Later in life, my instructor and I had a falling out, but that lesson has been such a valuable lesson in life. In my security career, I was always able to handle the pressure of any situation and make the intelligent decision, and in my hospitality management career, I could handle any level of rush in any department. Pressure is nothing.  If you know your stuff, you can get through it.

Put your kids in martial arts training. I don't mean martial sports. I don't mean self defense. Find a more traditional art, like Karate, or Traditional Taekwondo (not Olympic). Find a good instructor, and they won't just learn kicks, punches, combinations, techniques, forms, and the like. They will learn how to be a good and successful person. Martial sports and self defense can come later in life. Learn to be a good person, then learn to be a good competitor.

Fight Back Against the Police!!! Wait, that was a bad idea...

Don't fight the police on the street. If you do, you'll get hurt. Fight them in the courtroom. That's what it's for. If you don't like the court system, vote for a candidate that will fix the court system, or run for office yourself.

Don't ambush, assassinate, execute, hunt down, and murder police. You think they're violent now? Just wait. While this certainly isn't the most scholarly thing I've ever said, WATCH ROBOCOP. Ignore the story of Murphy, and just pay attention to what the city of Detroit looks like. That's what you're working towards. Eventually, some corporation is gonna come along with the genius idea of privatizing policing, and using military grade drones to get the job done. The government is gonna be like, "Awesome. We want nothing to do with this shitstorm anymore. Take our money and have at 'er."

The premeditated and organized killing of police will have one of two effects in each jurisdiction, and every jurisdiction will see it happen to varying degrees.

Option 1: The police will step it up. You're looking at martial law. If you see a police officer, you know he will be scared and angry at any given time. Any sudden movement, and you're dead. Police will no longer patrol as we know it now. Police will travel only in force, and respond to calls only with overwhelming force. If someone gets called in for driving unsafe, they will be stopped with a spike belt, approached by a fully armed and armoured tactical unit, and taken down hard. Only once the suspect and police are secure in the fortified compound will the investigation begin.

Option 2: The police will protest. Do you know what a police protest looks like? It's not picket signs and irritating traffic. THEY GO HOME. If police officers obviously aren't safe at work, they're going to stop going to work. This goes one of two ways:

Option 2 A) Seriously understaffed police services cannot help people who need help. Anarchy takes over. This isn't the overly romanticized punk rock anarchy. This is the only the strong survive, everyone is out for himself, whoever has the most guns is in charge anarchy. Justice is out the window, now it's just a power game, and there are no bystanders or innocents. Eventually it evolves to a feudal system.

Option 2 B) Police leaders don't give up, but they can't hire good police anymore. They can hire only the losers off the street that really enjoy hurting people. Take what you can get. Now there are no good police. Now the police are the corrupt, evil bastards that you see in other countries. The good police officers that kept the bad ones in check have gone home and circled the wagons to protect their families.

The answer is absolutely NOT "fight back." The answer is "stop making the police fight you." Some of them really enjoy the excuse. Just comply. If they're in the wrong, attack their career.

CNN's Story

Changing our National Anthem, plus some brain-puking.

It is being reported on several news sites that the Canadian House of Commons is debating changing a line O Canada from "In all thy sons command," to something a little more gender neutral.

To the Honourable Member who brought this bill forward:

Pull your head out of your ass and take a look around you.

- We have hunger at home and abroad

- We have increased crimes of desperation because of the terrible economy.

- People want the right to become one with the Force on their own terms.

- Confidence in our leaders is at an all-time low.

- Trust in our police officers is at an all-time low.

- There is still a gigantic wildfire in northern Alberta, with about 100,000 Canadians displaced.

- While the economy is already terrible, one of the country's economic powerhouses is pretty well out of business until the fire is dealt with and Fort McMurray is rebuilt.

- Donald Trump might be the next POTUS

- Mexican drug cartels are coming up with new ways to infiltrate Canada, and they're bringing their violence with them.

- Our allies have lost respect for us because of our current stance on ISIS.

- Education costs are way too high.

- Our post-secondary education system teaches too much unnecessary crap for a degree.

- Health care wait times are terrible.

- People are still arrested and charged with impaired driving every day, so obviously we aren't deterring anything with the current system.

- Repeat offenders keep going free and offending again, to the point of premeditated murder of citizens and police.

- So many more REAL problems.

With all this going on in the world around you, your government wants to bring attention to the attention whores who want their 15 minutes of fame for bitching about the wording of one line in the national anthem? Get your priorities straight.

We live in a society where we think we can make people obey the law by passing more laws. People are able to rob others because they know victims are taught to comply for their own safety. We wear pink t-shirts once a year to signify the repugnance of bullying, yet we don't teach our children how to survive bullies. Our young adults are weaker and less healthy than they've ever been, because they aren't active enough and they have only enough time to each something quick, cheap, and easy, like macaroni and cheese.

We are becoming a society of victims.

As individuals, it's time to stand up. Get on your feet and make a decision to make our country a better place. Pay attention to what's happening in government, and tell your representative how you feel about it. Teach your children how to stand up to a bully. Teach your children they MUST stand up to a bully, even if they aren't the ones being bullied. Make the decision to stop the man with the knife robbing the liquor store, even if it's just by making a lot of noise and throwing bottles at him.

Accept your complicity if you see wrongdoings and allow them to happen.

Every citizen of Canada has the right to be heard by their government. If you see the police enforcing a law you disagree with, your beef is not with the police. Your beef is with your local political representative. Change the law. If you do have a beef with the police, write a letter to their superiors. Get off your ass and do something.

Keyboard warriors create modern lynch mobs from behind the safety of their computer monitors. If they don't like something someone said or did according to a 150 word article, they actively try to destroy the person's life through cyberbullying, sending flaming messages, and even pressuring their employer to remove their livelihood to punish their entire family for something they said or did. All this from behind the anonymity of the internet mob. If you don't like something, get off your ass and go handle it. Learn the whole story before reacting.

I'm very concerned about the direction we're headed. Our people are getting weaker, the stupid are getting louder, the dangerous are getting braver, and we are handicapping our peacekeepers because we think rainbows make effective weapons against evil.

Please think on this. Please don't stop at thinking on this. Please get off your ass and do something about it. Write an email to your Member of Parliament. Write a letter to your Member of the Legislative Assembly. Call your City Alderman. Stop by the police station and ask to go on a ride along. Speak up when something uncool is happening. You have the power to create change. Use that power for something positive.

Why I Call Myself a Jedi

I take part in religious discussions almost as often as political ones. Inevitably,  this leads people to become curious about my  own faith, and for several years  I’ve claimed to be a Jedi. Invariably, this causes people to look at me funny. What varies is the meaning in the look. Sometimes it’s accusing me of being a wise-ass, sometimes it’s judging me to be a Star Wars fanboy. Either way, it destroys all my credibility on the topic and kills the conversation. While I can be a bit of a wise-ass, and I do like Star Wars, neither of these is the case. I’ve put a lot of thought into this version of faith. To understand how I came to this decision, you first must understand how I define God, and then how I interpret the Old Testament and the New.
God is not some dude sitting on a throne in the clouds with a righteous beard, as he is often depicted in pop culture. I think this is how churchgoers, Hollywood, and even preachers have come to picture him over the centuries. Not that I think our religious leaders picture him as the only 5-fingered character in the Simpsons, but they picture him as physically a man. The Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a depiction of 3 separate entities that function interchangeably and simultaneously. Of course God must be a man, because we were created in His image, right? I’ll come back to that.
God is an intangible entity. God is love. God is goodness. God is life. You cannot see Him, but you can see evidence of Him, and if you open your heart and mind, you can feel Him. He is in everything, and every person. He is your conscience, your good idea, your urge to hold someone who is crying. The Chinese concept of chi is actually more accurate than the Western idea of a man. When we were created in His image, it doesn’t mean we were created with our eyes, hands, toes, and buttocks in the same place as the Almighty. This means we were created with His love, goodness, life, and conscience.
God’s angels in similar fashion, are not winged humans. That is an artistic representation by Michelangelo that was adopted by the subconscious of western culture. Angels are agents of God. They are his fingers, working for the goodness and love that is God. When someone feels like something isn’t quite right, so they check it out, that is angelic inspiration. When the investigate, find someone in need of help, and help them, they are an angel for the time being. If you’ve been stranded on the side of the road, but someone stops to help change your tire, you were helped by an angel.
The Bible is also very much taken too literally. If you’ve ever opened it, you’ve noticed it is subdivided into Testaments, Books, chapters, and verses. These individual verses are then taken out of context, studied, and argued about. Wars have been fought over individual verses of the Bible. The Old Testament was written by barely literate Hebrews living in the desert, based on divine inspiration and their own spin on life. It was written by them, and for them. Genesis, the story of creation, was written in such a way they could understand. There’s no way to explain eons, dinosaurs, ice ages, and evolution to them. If you lie the timelines of Creation and the Big Bang side by side, they look pretty similar. First, there was nothing, and God said, “Let there be light.” First, there was chaos in the form of an electron field, until electrons managed to bump into each other at just the right force and angle that a photon was created. It continues from there. Leviticus was written to help them survive and prosper. At the time, procreation was absolutely necessary for survival, so homosexuality was a bad thing. Tattoos were forbidden because they would die of hepatitis. The New Testament was written after Jesus of Nazareth denounced the old teachings, and the old churches, and taught his followers that times had changed and that it’s okay to not fight. It’s preferable to love one another.
Sometimes, we forget that science and religion are not exclusive of each other. Science is a method of study and discovery, not a belief system. Science has neither proven nor disproven the existence of God. It has proven the existence of goodness, and love, and conscience. That is God. That is the intangible entity that is God. That is the intangible force that makes us want to do good things. That intangible force is simplified to the Force, and my belief in that doesn’t make me a Christian in the traditional sense of the word, so I don’t identify with that definition. What can you call a man that believes in, and strives to understand, commune with, and serve the Force? The only way I could answer that question is: I am a Jedi.

Why I Hate Gender Neutrality

At the risk of being offensive, I'm going to share my feelings on the Alberta government's new "gender neutral" policies.

I believe strongly in equal importance of the sexes, and I believe that men and women's respective strengths and weaknesses complement each other in a yin-yang effect that is important to embrace for a successful and happy life.

I believe that men and women are intellectual equals. Women are naturally more compassionate, and men are naturally more analytical. This makes for an excellent balance in a society of equal rights.

I believe men are more physically suited for hard labour. Women are more physically suited for administrative, academic, or domestic roles. I say this while I work in an administrative role and I am the main cook at home, so I am fully aware that this is an over-generalization, but that doesn't make it less true. I'm definitely better suited to go throw square bales into the back of a truck than my wife is. This is true for most couples. Men's domination of leadership roles is strictly a leftover of the patriarchy, but is slowly lessening.

I believe that being a manly man is something to strive for and be proud of. I believe that being a womanly woman is something to strive for and be proud of. Being a manly man includes being in complete control of (sometimes out of touch with) his emotions, being a leader, some form of physical prowess, commanding the respect of betters, peers, and subordinates in equal measure, being able to put food on the table, and being responsible for the protection of loved ones. I also appreciate the "rites to manhood" like swimming in a mountain river, snaring food, hunting, fishing, camping, building fires, shaving, growing a beard, etc. I'll admit complete ignorance in what it takes to be a womanly woman, but I think it has something to do with being awesome in ways that I can't fathom while still having time to do her hair, but I don't know. I don't think men are meant to understand that. However, men can still tell on a subconscious level how womanly a woman is, and respect her for that.

I believe it is a positive thing to encourage children to learn to be manly men and womanly women. It's more important to encourage happiness of course, but there's nothing wrong with gender roles! My very young son likes to wear nail polish. That's fine, when he's old enough I'm still going to teach him how to sharpen a hunting knife. He'll just have to take it off when he's learning how to stalk a deer because I don't want the deer to smell it.

I believe the best successes are had in parenthood when there is a mother and father both in the household. Single parents or same-sex couples can do just fine, but I think it's more difficult for them.

I believe male and female emotions are very different in how they must be managed. It's a man's job to teach his son how, and a woman's job to teach her daughter how. This is one of the most important lessons of parenthood, because understanding the difference between delayed satisfaction and instant gratification can be the difference between a happy, successful life, or incarceration.

I believe that males and females should only be nude in the same room if they are consenting adults, or young children who don't know the difference but are accompanied by a trusted guardian. Adult men and women want to be nude together? Cool, where's the hot tub? Adults think it's okay to put boys and girls in the same change room? Nope, and I'll take a hard line on that.

I believe it is wrong to compel the overwhelming majority to make lifestyle changes for the comfort of a small minority. The minority must be protected from harm, and they are free to do what they wish as long as it hurts no one. However, it is up to the minority to adapt and compromise, not the other way around.

What I Want From My Government

I think of myself as a free market socialist. Here's what I want from my government:

- Stay out of my life. It's not your business what I put into my body, or do/have in my home. However, if you ask politely, and have a legitimate reason, I'll gladly give your agents a tour.
- Stay out of my business. Unless it has a direct effect on public safety, what I sell and how isn't your concern. How I run my business and what I'm willing to pay is also none of your concern, unless I am doing evil, like defrauding my customers, employees, or tax collectors.
- Keep me safe. Give police and military the training and tools necessary to protect me from people who would do me and mine harm. Allow them to perform their function, and hold them accountable with fair consideration for the position they're in.
- Don't waste time and resources. Pass legislation that makes sense and has a purpose. Don't just pass laws to keep the media saying nice things about you.
- Educate me. Education certainly isn't my right, but it is an investment that will almost always pay huge dividends to the community.
- Keep me healthy. Also not a right, but definitely an investment in the community. I can't contribute if I'm ill or injured, so give me a boost.
- Tax me fairly, in a way that makes sense. Current taxation is far too complicated. How many resources are wasted in simply interpreting the policies and procedures?

Know What You're Voting FOR

I have noticed a trend floating around social media. Canadians are displeased with Stephen Harper. Every time someone posts something about the Liberals or the NDP, it says, "Vote for [insert party] because Harper..." This is very dangerous.

Everyone forgets that you can't vote against Harper. In fact, you can't vote against anyone or anything. You have to vote FOR someone. Who are you voting for, and why? You don't have to answer the question for me, you have to answer the question for yourself. If you can't answer that question without the word "Harper" in the answer, then you're voting for the wrong reasons.

Don't vote NDP because you're mad at Harper.
Vote NDP because you want higher taxes, believe there aren't bad guys hiding among the refugees that want into Canada, you want to spend $1 billion so rifle owners who already have licenses should have to register their rifles, and you believe the Canadian economy will flourish without primary industries like logging, oil, and food production. Everyone needs higher wages, not jobs!

Don't vote Liberal because you're mad at Harper.
Vote Liberal because you want to legalize weed, pay higher taxes, negotiate with people whose only desire is your death, and you also support higher taxes and a $1billion registry to tell police that licensed gun owners do, in fact, own guns.

Don't vote Green because you're mad at Harper.
Vote Green because you believe that Elizabeth May was the only one in Parliament to vote against the mission in Syria, not because she's wrong, but because she's the only one who isn't. Also, oil pipelines are bad because trains don't actually do any damage when they derail.

Please, vote Conservative. Then, call your MP and tell him/her why you almost didn't, so they don't piss you off again. Get involved. Speak to your representative once in a while. If that doesn't work, then vote for someone who will listen to your phone calls.

Retraining our Society of Victims is Necessary for Survival

When I was studying Terrorism Survival and Crime Survival, we learned the difference between a soft target versus hard target, and a low value target versus a high value target. The worst situation of course is to be a soft target of high value.

Now, you take a soft target like a Pokemon tournament. Typically not very high value, so you don't need to worry, right? Wrong, apparently. Whiny little bitches who haven't been taught how to manage their emotions now target places like schools, movie theatres, and goddamn Pokemon tournaments just to make themselves feel better.

What's the world coming to? It's coming to a place where the criminals are treated like the victims because they had shitty upbringings. The police are neutered by both the court of law and the court of public opinion, so they are completely powerless to protect us. Simultaneously, our legislators continue to pass laws restricting our rights and abilities to protect ourselves from the bad guys. We don't learn to stand up to bullies in school anymore. We're taught to comply in an armed robbery. Our emergency response procedures involve appeasement and cooperation. The bad guys are being given all the cards.

If we change how we think, if we make the conscious choice as a collective to stand up to bullies, we can make a real difference. I don't just mean stand up to bullies when you're being bullied, but when anyone is being bullied. That is the best way to discourage bullying. Youth suicides will all but stop, because they will feel safe and protected.

Continue this new mindset to the "real world." If everyone makes the conscious decision to stop the armed robber when he shows up, they'll stop. If everyone makes the decision to learn how to defend themselves, when someone shows up to shoot up the Pokemon tournament, someone is going to stop him before the body count gets high.

We learn in biology class about the Fight or Flight response to fear. There is a third option: Submit. The accurate response to fear is Fight, Flight, or Submit. I think you'll find that in most situations, people will simply submit. This is partly because of how we're hardwired, but this is also largely because of the society of victims that we are raising. Everything is always someone else's fault. Blame society. Blame the Jews. Blame the government. Blame the police. Blame the whites. Stop it. Stop being pussies and take it by the horns. It's on you to fix the problem. Do you know what to do if you're standing in line for the bank teller and someone pulls out a gun? Are you going to submit? Probably.

I'll probably submit, too. Any level of martial artist, soldier, or police officer out of uniform and in that situation will probably submit. The difference between us and most of you is that while we submit, we'll be looking for a tactical advantage. If and when we find that tactical advantage, that sunuvabitch will no longer be an entity unto himself. We will own him.

The world needs more people who think that way. Right now, the bad guys do what they please because they know we'll all submit. We, as a society, need to teach them that we will not submit. That we will own them. We will take away their power, and we will lock them in a cage to consider their life choices. If they truly repent and make amends, then we will forgive them and allow them to reintegrate into our society, but we will not forget. If they think we will allow them to fool us twice, they're done.

There, in a few short paragraphs, I have solved violent crime in North America. Now the problem is convincing people. Seek out some classes. There are classes for everyone. If you have years to learn and want to master something, there are traditional martial arts out there that can adapt to real world situations. If you like to compete, there's competitive arts like Taekwondo, MMA, Boxing, and Kickboxing. If you just want to learn some self defense, seek out Reality Based Personal Protection or Krav Maga. It's not the techniques that matter, it's the mindset. It's the conscious decision made ahead of time to take action, and the conflict rehearsals that prepare you to do so.

As one of my instructors always says, Be a Hard Target. I'll see that and raise it to Make Everyone a Hard Target.

The Warrior Creed

by Robert L. Humphrey(Marine Rifle Platoon Commander on Iwo Jima
& Bujinkan 10th Dan)

Wherever I go,
everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.

Wherever I am,
anyone in need has a friend.

Whenever I return home,
everyone is happy I am there.

Policing Freedom

On the day that America celebrates its Independence Day, I reflect on the main tenet America was founded upon - freedom. Canada was founded in a much different way, but on the same basic tenet. What happened to our freedom?

Sure the United States passed its Bill of Rights, and we passed our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Now, slowly and democratically, we are giving our freedom away. Especially in America, we have recreated the aristocracy. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, just like so many times in history before violent uprisings.

We elect our representatives, considering a 40% turnout to be an excellent turnout of voters. That means that the majority of the minority is actually electing our representatives. The rest of us can't be bothered, because we simply can't be bothered. Even if we do vote, we fill out our ballot, and stop paying attention. Whomever we elected can do whatever the hell they want, and we don't pay attention. We are actually happier being told what to do... until someone tells us what to do.

When someone tells us what to do, it is usually a police officer, speaking on behalf of the democratically elected government, which was "democratically" elected by the majority of the people who could be bothered to give a shit and vote. Then we vilify the police officer, who is obviously being an asshole and infringing on our freedoms because he is a jackbooted thug with a gun who feels entitled and is powertripping. Right? Right?

When a democratically elected government, whether municipal, provincial, or federal makes a stupid law, don't fight the guy who has been told by that government to enforce it. He is going to win. It's not his job to debate with you, or explain it to you, or reason with you, or even decide if it's right or wrong. It's his job to impose the will of the government on you. If the will of the government is stupid and unfair, it's still his job. He doesn't have to like it, but he does have to win the fight. Period. The police officer's job description in two sentences: "Impose the will of the government. Period." Fortunately, we live somewhere that the government's will is usually benevolent, so Community Policing, involvement, serving, and protecting, is part of that will.

Before you get pissed off at a police officer for enforcing a stupid ass law, maybe take a look at the jackasses that voted for the people who passed that law. Then go have a chat with the elected officials. Take part in the democratic process. Don't complain that the rules are stupid and get mad at the guy whose job it is to enforce them, get involved and help CHANGE THE RULES.

The Lord's Prayer in School

I've been asked to post my take on the big issue in Taber right now, prayer in school.

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Thine is the kingdom,
The power and glory,
Forever and ever.

If I harmed you by writing that, I don't think the problem is the prayer. I think you need to sit down and examine your life a little closer and determine why it hurt you.

You don't have to believe in God for this prayer to have power. It works just as well translated into plain speak and internalized:

'OK, Ty. Everything's going to work out fine. Get through today, it'll be alright. Everybody makes mistakes, so don't dwell on those made by others. Don't eat that second helping of cake, and don't shoplift that chocolate bar. Just stay out of trouble, and remain humble.'

It's more or less a poem about how to be a good person. Saying it hurts absolutely nobody. They aren't teaching creationism in their history class. It ain't broke, so don't fix it. Fighting about whether or not it's said in a group setting will accomplish absolutely nothing in the big picture, but it will hurt the children caught in the crossfire of the conflict.

Minimum Wage: Myopic, Ineffective, and Harmful

There has been a lot of talk about increasing minimum wage in Alberta ever since the NDP was elected to a majority government. The current minimum wage in Alberta is $10.20 per hour, unless you're a liquor server. If you're a liquor server, it's $9.20 per hour because you are supposed to make decent tips serving alcohol. The government wants to increase minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2018. The government feels this will reduce poverty in Alberta, but in reality it will actually increase poverty for families. It will do absolutely no favours for minimum-wage earners, and it will do severe damage to rural economies in Alberta.

The Flawed Logic

Few people remember it, but the New Democratic Party actually used to be called the Communist Party. They are considered much more socialist than communist in this age, but we are already seeing the beginnings of communism from this government. Think back to junior high social studies. The first thing that a communist government does when it comes into power is called Redistribution of Wealth. While this sounds like a wonderful idea to the lower class, a cool idea to the middle class, and a terrible idea to the aristocracy, it truly is just a bad idea on the scale of a province. Trying to redistribute wealth in a province of a much larger country will simply drive the wealthy to other jurisdictions. Alberta has been thriving for decades largely because other provinces have tried to redistribute wealth, and that has driven the wealthy towards Alberta.
There is a saying among the proletariat classes: "From below, everyone above you just looks like an ass." We resent the wealthy because we are envious of what they have. Step back and take a look at the larger picture. It is the wealthy who invest money in our province. They pay taxes (although arguably not enough), they invest in charities, they spend money on community initiatives (parks, etc), and they are the members of service clubs. I am a Rotarian, and when I joined Rotary, I heard the joke that some clubs are considered ROMEO's. That stands for Rich Old Men Eating Out. That is a large part of what several service clubs do with their time, but it's at those dinners that they discuss where they can invest their money and volunteer their time to help people. So many communities around the world have benefitted from the wealthy spending their time in clubs like Rotary, Lions, Kin, Knights of Columbus, Stonemasons, Kiwanis, and so many others. These clubs aren't exclusive to the wealthy by any means, but it's definitely the wealthy that provide the lifeblood and make the initiatives of these clubs possible. If the wealthy all move to other areas of the country, or other countries, we will only suffer as a whole. We all want a bigger piece of the pie, but it's there to earn. Take careful risks, make good choices, get educated, and make it happen. Don't rely on electing the right person to legislate it to you. That's lazy, weak, and whiny.
The main idea behind increasing the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour is that the "living wage" in Calgary is $17 and change. Those in favour of a minimum wage increase argue that you cannot make a living and support your family on the current minimum wage. In order to live in relative comfort, you must make at least $17 in Calgary. The main problem I have with that is that I don't think anybody is actually expected to make a living and support a family on minimum wage. Minimum wage jobs are meant to be entry-level jobs for people who are just joining the work force, and they have minimal skills, minimal experience, and minimal employability. These people are youths, students, underachievers, or people that have fallen on hard times. The kid pumping your gas, or carrying your groceries, or sweeping your shop floor are the ones who are making minimum wage. They are learning what it's like to be in the workforce, to be part of a team, to show up on time, and to learn to earn more. That's what these jobs are meant for. As the people in these jobs learn, they will receive wage increases, or promotions and no longer be minimum wage earners. As they improve themselves with knowledge, experience, and education, they will make more money. If they don't make more money, they will leave the job they're at and go work for someone else. Wages are policed by Adam Smith's Invisible Hand of Capitalism, because if you're not happy with what you're making, you're going to work for someone who's paying better. It should not be the government's role to police wages. The exception to this is servers, who rely mostly on tips, and as a result can make just as much money as anyone else, if they're good at what they do and work in a busy restaurant or bar. However, higher minimum wages will destroy these restaurants and bars, so servers won't be able to make any money at all, will they?

The Wage Scale

In a blog post I wrote a few years ago, I alluded to the concept of "relative wage." Someone else may have come to this concept before me, but this I conceived it on my own, so if my theories don't mesh perfectly with what you've already read in an economics textbook, it's because I didn't read that textbook. My theory is that all wages are relative to the minimum wage. If you make $12 per hour, but minimum wage is $5 per hour, your wage is $7 per hour relative to minimum wage. Imagine wages as weights on a scale. When you weigh food on a scale, you have to zero the scale first, right? If you're going to weigh soup in a bowl, you must first put the bowl on the scale, and zero it. That way when you measure the soup, you get only the weight of the soup, not the bowl. Minimum wage is that zero point. If you make $20 per hour, with our current minimum wage of $10.20 per hour, your relative wage is $9.80 per hour. If we change the zero point by increasing minimum wage to $15 per hour, your new wage is $5 per hour. Does this still sound like a good idea?
The most obvious myopia of increasing minimum wage is that it will devalue everyone else's wages. For instance, I have worked the same job for almost 5 years, but I haven't seen a wage increase. Even though minimum wage has increased 3 times in the past 5 years, my wage has stayed the same. I suspect that is the case for a great many people. My relative wage has actually decreased 3 times in the past 5 years, and yours may have, too. Unless you work for a very generous employer who has increased your wage at a rate higher than all the minimum wage increases that have been imposed on us, then your relative wage has also decreased. The naïve people of our middle and upper classes think that increasing minimum wage will cause employers to increase everyone else's wages, too. We're just redistributing the wealth, right? Wrong.

The Effect on a Rural Economy, and the Hospitality Industry

In a hypothetical anecdote, I'm going to refer to a shoe store in a small rural town, not unlike my current town of Taber or my home town of High River. Jane has been running this shoe store since the mid-90's, and employs 5 people. She has 2 high school girls working in the evenings, making minimum wage, 2 people in the daytime making a relative wage of $7, and a manager responsible for the scheduling and helping with administration, making a relative wage of $12. It's a fairly prosperous business, and she pays herself a relative wage of $18 and she supports her family on that. Of course, minimum wage is $10.20, so her students make $10.20, her full time salespeople make $17.20, her manager makes $22.20, and she pays herself $28.20. This is a decent situation. The government increases minimum wage to $15. Legally, she has to pay her students more, so they get a raise up to $15 immediately. This comes directly out of her own pay of $28.20, so now she makes $12.60. (hey! She is paying herself less than minimum wage!!! Who is going to protect her from that?) She wants to give her other employees a pay increase to be fair to them, so she increases the price of shoes. Because every other store owner in town is doing the exact same thing, the price of everything is going up, so people can't readily afford to buy new shoes at the increased price. She starts selling fewer shoes. One of her full-time sales people is dissatisfied with a relative wage of $2.20, so she quits, leaving the owner short-staffed. She doesn't save any money on that because, she is now selling less product. She ends up closing in evenings because she can't afford the minimum wage of her students, so they're now without work. Again, she doesn't save money because she's not selling any shoes in the evenings, now. Our heroine continues to try selling more shoes at the higher price so she can pay her staff more and still support her family. She can't. Eventually, she gives up. What choice does she have? Next week, she is selling shoes for Wal-Mart in Calgary for $17, because that's the only possible way she can support her family. Every small business owner in my hypothetical town goes through a similar problem, so now my hypothetical town becomes a shadow of its former self, employing nursing home workers because retired seniors are the only people who can live there.
This sounds like a worst-case scenario, but I'm seeing evidence of it happening already. Take a drive through downtown Taber. How many empty storefronts do you see? SAAN is gone, the Bargain Shop is gone, the men's clothing store is gone, so many stores are gone! There are other factors, but I promise this is a big one. It's not profitable to own a small store anymore, so nobody does. When your store can only afford to pay you less than you'd make at Wal-Mart, you go work at Wal-Mart. It's the only thing that makes sense.

What can we do?

Please contact your local MLA. It's surprisingly easy. Click on https://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=mla_home and select your area. Send them an email. You can either write how you feel, or just simply send them a link to this post and tell them you are not in favour of a minimum wage increase. They work for you! Tell them what you want them to do. Please. It's the right thing to do to protect your job, your business, and your livelihood.

I Was Bullied!

I don't mean as a kid, I mean very recently.

Someone I know had posted a video pertaining to the situation in Baltimore. The video was of police officers standing in ready formation. The crowd was getting rowdy. They were yelling at the police, jumping on cars, throwing water bottles at the police, smashing windows, looting stores, and the police stood there in formation, watching. They didn't engage, they didn't retreat, they didn't advance. They stood there. What she posted with this video was "I don't understand how these cops live with themselves."

I was so confused. I still don't know what she saw in this video that was so evil. So, I did the obvious thing. I asked her what she saw that I missed. She replied, "Systemic racism. Hundreds of years of black people being murdered by those paid to keep law and order."

I was just as confused as before. I saw nobody doing anything to anybody else. All the rioters were black. Most of the police were white, but not all of them. The white police did nothing. The black police did nothing. The rioters were totally wild. Where was the racism in the video?

When I asked, she simply told me that I wasn't the authority on racism, and neither was she. I didn't say anything to that, but I thought that was just about the stupidest possible answer. I kept that sentiment to myself, and I said nothing. This was obviously not going to be an intelligent debate, or the learning experience I had hoped for. I dropped it.

She sent me a private message a few minutes later. "Dude I really don't like the way you are taking to me. Of course you can challenge me but I find your tone totally condescending and infantilizing. Aka sexist. Check yrself." That's a direct copy and paste. What the hell do I say to that? I seek information, and now I'm an infantilizing, condescending sexist. Granted, I was probably going to disagree with her all along, but where the fuck did THAT come from? I couldn't leave that alone.

"How does sexism come into play? I simply don't see what you're talking about in that video. Now, I think you're imagining insults." I thought that rebuttal was appropriate. I had intended to stop any further conflict. How the hell did I come across as sexist?

A little bit after, I get the message, "Yah I guess I'm crazy. Give me a break. That's the oldest line in the sexism book.

"Dude we really don't see life in the same way and I'd be happy to agree to disagree. If you want to know more about sexism or racism feel free to read a book. Or start with googling what is happening in Baltimore and you might understand why people are protesting there. I find your responses to be so arrogant and entitled. I don't have any obligation to educate you on these matters. Feel free to unfollow me on Facebook,  as I have you, so I dont have to read things that insult my values."

Now please, correct me if I'm wrong. All I'm reading in this is 'I can't think of anything intelligent to say to you, so I'm going to call you names.' I mean seriously. I know what's happening in Baltimore. Anyone with Facebook knows. I just couldn't see what she was talking about in the case study she provided.

Alberta's New Health Care Levy - My Observation

There has been some talk about a Health Care Levy in Alberta, given our economic problems. Makes sense, right? Government isn't making money on royalties anymore, so they need to find another revenue source. They don't want to alienate corporations, so that's less of an option.

This Levy is the Province's recognition that the oil market is hurting. Our corporations are having trouble selling their oil at profitable prices, and as a result, they are laying off the people that produced the oil for them to sell. The people that are getting laid off have no money to spend, so every other industry is also hurting and making cuts.

While everyone's profits are down, people are losing their jobs, and small businesses are scrambling to keep their heads above water, the government is the only organization that can simply decide what its revenue is going to be. Therefore, it will.

An income tax increase isn't going to help very much, because everyone hates hearing about tax increases. Besides, when everyone's income is down, increasing the proportion of taxes won't make enough of a difference. There must be a better idea. There must be a way to increase the revenue stream by a greater margin, and without calling it a tax. We can't bring back Health Care Premiums, because we went through a lot of effort eliminating them, and Albertans were very happy with that. What to do?

The answer is a Health Care Levy. It's not a tax, and it's not a premium, so we're covered there. Also, everyone has to pay it, whether they have a job or not. It's genius! This is a way that we can forcibly collect money from all Albertans, regardless of whether or not this economy is hurting them.

Okay, I'm being a little facetious, but I'm not a fan of what I'm seeing. I can't afford for the government to be taking more money from me, and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. We may as well call this a Poor Tax, or an Economic Problem Levy.

Taber’s Community Standards Bylaw

When this bylaw hit the news, I was approached by a lot of people who wanted me to hear their opinion, and a few who wanted to hear mine.

Background – "The Mennonite Problem"

In Taber, we have a very high population of Mexican Mennonites. They value hard work and close family. The Mexican Mennonites and a distinctive style and way of life that makes them visibly different from other Taberites. We aren't all that different in truth, but our differences breed distrust and fear. They don't integrate into the rest of Taber's society, choosing instead to segregate themselves into their own Mennonite schools, and observing their own holidays in addition to our own. The lack of integration and lack of understanding going both ways has a tendency to perpetuate itself through the actions of individuals. Someone will say something along the lines of "Those Mennos are at it again," and the Mennonites will say something along the lines of "Those Gringos are at it again." We just keep offending each other and making the situation worse. I'm sure that a few generations down the line, this problem will be a thing of the past, but right now it's a legitimate social problem.
I'm certainly no sociologist, and there may be people who disagree with me. I can think of one person in particular who has a degree in Sociology that has expressed interest in reading my post, so I'm hoping my opinions turn out to be intelligent ones. When you speak to the more mainstream Taberites, they often speak of "The Mennonite Problem." This isn't meant to be ignorant or bigoted, as some of these people are very intelligent, tolerant, and friendly. The Mennonite Problem is that the Mennonite youth tends to congregate in public areas on Sunday afternoons after Church in large numbers. Not a problem, right? In fact, all Canadians have the guaranteed right to peaceful assembly under Section 2(c) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There are 2 aspects to the actual problem at hand. The first aspect is that this is a large group of youths, which in all cultures has a tendency to act without respect, seek immediate gratification, often in the form of physical or chemical pleasures, and leave a mess behind when it leaves. The second aspect of the problem is that there is a large group of people we don't understand taking up space in our parks, parking lots, and other public areas. Because we don't understand them, we are uncomfortable joining them, and that affects our own enjoyment of those facilities.
The Mennonite Problem has been widely talked about throughout Taber. I'm probably the first person to put the words "Mennonite Problem" in writing because everyone is afraid of being seen as a bigot. We could probably come up with a better name for it, but that's what the layman is calling it behind closed doors. I haven't approached the Taber Police Service (TPS – including Bylaw Services) for any official position and I have not been authorized by them to speak on their behalf, but I'm going to comment based on my own observations. TPS has been under a lot of pressure from the community to "deal" with the Mennonite Problem. That's a pretty open-ended directive, isn't it? Does that mean to drive the Mennonites out of town? They are Canadian Citizens, and are also protected by Section 6(2)(a) of the Charter of Rights, which says any Canadian can live in any municipality they choose. Stop them from meeting in large numbers? No, we're back to Section 2(c) of the Charter. There is nothing wrong with their being here and hanging out in public areas. The only actual problem is the way they behave when they assemble. That problem isn't because they're Mennonites, it's because it's a large group of unsupervised young people.

Solving the Mennonite Problem

Of course, TPS has some tools available to address the behaviour of the Mennonites. Section 175(1)(a)(i) of the Criminal Code says

175. (1) Every one who

• (a) not being in a dwelling-house, causes a disturbance in or near a public place,
  • (i) by fighting, screaming, shouting, swearing, singing or using insulting or obscene language,

is guilty of an offence…
    There are also several criminal laws in place for dealing with drinking, spitting, urinating, and damaging property. Now, imagine that you're the police officer on duty, and you head over to the Community Centre because it's Sunday and you know there's going to be a large assembly of young Mennonites hanging out. Given the demographic, there's very likely to be some individuals within that group that are drinking, fighting, yelling, swearing, urinating, spitting, or just generally looking for trouble. Is it really worth reading the Riot Act to disperse the entire crowd? The innocent ones will likely go home, or they'll go looking for trouble because they've been unfairly treated. The troublemakers are just going to go cause trouble elsewhere. Is it actually going to be productive to sift through this crowd, picking one or two out of it and charging them criminally for getting a little wild while hanging out with their friends? That means you have to detain them, investigate fully, collect witness statements (what are the odds the witnesses are going to be cooperative?), and issue a Summons to Criminal Court next Tuesday. Then you're going to have to go through the trouble of criminal court proceedings for something that's actually pretty minor when you think about it. It seems a little excessive, doesn't it?
    TPS needed another tool in their toolbox for dealing with The Mennonite Problem, because the answer is not criminal charges. Council was also feeling the same pressure that TPS was feeling, and had actually been contributing to a lot of the pressure on TPS. The people in Taber wanted a solution to The Mennonite Problem. In response to this need, Council passed the Community Standards Bylaw, which is kind of an omnibus bylaw that combines Taber's already existing bylaws for curfew, noise, panhandling, loitering, and graffiti. It added to it a bylaw infraction for Disturbing the Peace, which gives police the ability to write a bylaw ticket to the offending person, rather than drag them through the criminal court system.

Media Coverage

    Where Council made their biggest mistake with this bylaw was by allowing the Taber Times to write the story about it without any help, or prepared statements. Mayor Henk DeVlieger is quoted as saying "I'm not saying this thing is perfect, but I think we should give it a chance and try it out, and let the police work with it. After a period of time, we might make some adjustments, but let's see how it works." I agree with the spirit of what His Worship is trying to convey, but the feeling of "It's not quite right, but let's pass the bylaw anyways" isn't going to sit well with residents of Taber. Trevor Busch wrote a very good article, which reported the facts straight down the middle. Council lacked the foresight to provide the Times with a press release, explaining the bylaw. Now, Busch's well-written article has been getting the attention of Global News, the National Post, the Herald, and so many others who are going to spin it way out of context. The next mistake made by Council was naming it the Community Standards Bylaw, which just screams "We have the power, and we will control what you do. Welcome to the Nanny State of Taber." The last is combining all these bylaws into one, which seems like a good idea on the surface, but causes panic when combined with the other two mistakes.

Resident Concerns

    Now, I have been seeing and hearing so many concerns. None of them are actually founded, but the wording of the bylaw leaves a lot up to the discretion of TPS. For the administration of law enforcement, it's always best to keep the wording open-ended and leave as much as possible up to the discretion of the attending officer. That way, they can deal with a wider range of problems without unnecessarily complicated jargon. However, the open-endedness of the bylaw's language is leaving everyone very uncomfortable. Here is a cross section of the concerns I've been hearing:

brilang says:

MARCH 10, 2015 AT 12:06 PM

Portions of this bylaw will be struck down at the first court challenge. It contravenes Section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms several different ways.
1. "No person shall yell, scream, or swear in any public place" contravenes Freedom of Speech
2. "No person shall be a member of the assembly of three or more persons in any public place where a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe the assembly will disturb the peace of the neighbourhood, and any such person shall disperse as requested by a peace officer" contravenes Freedom of Peaceful Assembly

Sorry Taber, but you cannot regulate what people say, or think. Only what they do.

What "brilang" is missing is that we have no "Freedom of Speech". Section 2(b) of the Charter protects freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication. Also, that if a peace officer truly has reasonable grounds to believe the assembly with disturb the peace, that it is no longer a Peaceful Assembly, and is not and should not be protected.

"I'm a loud talker/Kids make noise in my backyard/Cornfest is pretty noisy"

The administration of the Noise part of the bylaw is up to the officer at the scene. If your kids are making noise, he's probably not going to care. I think there has been a bylaw to this effect on the books for quite some time, and there have been very few issues with how it's been handled in the past. I haven't actually researched it, but I'm pretty sure damn near every municipality has a similar bylaw in effect. Police and bylaw officers need a tool to deal with legitimate noise complaints. Maybe the wording could be a little better?

"It's a cash grab"

Without actually consulting the act, my understanding of the Municipal Government Act is that the municipality has only 2 punitive actions available to them. Fines, and solving the problem for you and sending you the bill. Again, most of these rules were already in place, and most of us didn't even notice. The purpose is not to increase revenue, it's to give the police an effective tool.

"I swear a lot"

Control it in public. It's just decent. No police officer in his right mind is going to be walking through a crowd at Cornfest and write someone a ticket for dropping the "F" bomb in a casual conversation. This is for when someone is really getting out of hand and needs to be told to shut up. Again, the open-ended wording give the police a lot of room for interpretation, and that's what makes people uncomfortable.

Ty's Bottom Line

I feel that this new bylaw can be an effective tool, but like all tools, it can also be misused. Just like a screwdriver can be used as a shiv, this bylaw can be used by an officer having a bad day to treat people unfairly. I think the people of Taber would feel much better if the wording was tightened to leave a little less to the discretion of police officers, but that also might decrease the bylaw's effectiveness. Dulling a knife so no one gets cut just leaves you with a dull knife. We need to place a certain amount of trust in our police officers, and our police officers need to continue to strive for worthiness of that trust.

Resources

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/FullText.html

http://taber.ca/DocumentCenter/View/1006

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html

http://www.tabertimes.com/news/2015/03/04/community-standards-bylaw-passed/

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=taber+bylaw&safe=off&tbm=nws