Maybe there's a financial arrangement with the cops so they can ignore pesky laws?
I got a letter from my MP (Member of Parliament) that I really don't know what to make of it. It's a reply to one of these online "sign this petition/let your MP know how you feel" things. This time it was about a bill to put a stop to using religion as an excuse to get around the hate laws.
There's no way to opt out of providing one's mailing address for these things, and this is the first time my MP ever bothered replying. He assured me that the bill likely wouldn't come up for a vote, and it's the nefarious doings of the head of the Bloc Quebecois, who "promotes secularist values", as part of his bid to separate from Canada.
He goes on with:
"It is very typical for the Bloc Quebecois to advance divisive issues in their attempt to sow division and separatist sentiments in Canada. Unfortunately for Mr. Blanchet, it is very unlikely that his bill will see debate in the 44th Parliament.
This is good news for common-sense conservatives such as yourself who value freedoms.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to stand up for Canadians' religious freedoms."
(bolding mine)
I sat and laughed and giggled for about 5 minutes straight. Apparently he managed to completely misunderstand what I wrote, or maybe this is just a form letter sent to everyone in the riding who signed that petition.
First off, has he not noticed what the Alberta premier has been doing lately? She's been quite cozy with the Alberta separatists, some of whom use religion as a way to evade legal consequences of violating the covid rules and stirring up divisiveness in some church services. They want us to separate from Canada and be a "Christian country."
Secondly, "common-sense" is now a dogwhistle term that doesn't have the usual meaning of common sense. It's "common sense" that only makes sense to a right-wing mind in their quest to drag our province back to the 1950s.
Thirdly, I am not, and never have been, conservative. To the conservative mind, "religious freedom" means choice of denomination, not freedom to be something other than some form of Christian, or even (gasp!) atheist, agnostic, or secularist.
Religious freedom for me means choice of faith, if you're a believer, and freedom
from religion if you're not a believer. Saying, "But this is my sincerely held belief" while holding up a bible when you're trying to get out of consequences for publicly uttering or publishing hate speech or otherwise violating the hate laws is how they define religious freedom.
It's not how I define it.
So now I need to decide if I'm going to ignore this, or correct his misunderstanding that he presides over a 100% faith-based riding. I didn't vote for him and never will. He's one of the most useless MPs we've ever had.
To varying levels. A can of pop and there's little effect. High-caffeine coffee or an energy drink and usually the result is needing to go for a quick snooze. 
I've never been able to use it for energy.
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