Baber’s Brave Clarion Call

MPP Roman Baber has written a public letter to Premier Doug Ford, requesting an end to the draconian lockdown measures, claiming, quite reasonably, that that they are inflicting far more harm, than good – if any good at all. His evidence seems clear and he writes respectfully, that almost all the deaths are in long-term care homes of the aged, that most of the population is not at any significant risk, and that the draconian measures are crushing not just the economy, but people – with businesses shuttering, bankruptcies, depressions, divorces, suicides and suicidal thoughts,. And the relationship amongst the people, the police, and the politicians is becoming increasingly fraught and antagonistic

As an elected representative of the aforementioned ‘people’, Mr. Baber has the right, even the duty, to speak his mind, and to say what millions, if not the majority of those ‘crushed people’, are also thinking.

But Ford obtusely refuses to listen, and in dictatorial fashion, has expelled Mr. Baber from the ‘Conservative’ Party, for ‘acting irresponsibly’ and ‘breaking party lines’, even barring Baber from ever running again. Such is Ford’s version of free speech. We should admire and imitate Baber’s courage and forthrightness – might this be the act that turns the tide of tyranny?

Ford replied not with any reasoned defense, nor with any refutation of the numbers, but with the usual boilerplate, that seems to have convinced any number of Canadians dulled into obeisance: “I will not jeopardize a single Ontarian’s life by ignoring public health advice”. This, in a ‘public health system’ that murders unborn children, and now the sick and the elderly, by the thousands.

And the euphemism of ‘public health advice’ is not really advice, is it? Rather, it is taken as infallible dogma, more universal than the limited charism invoked by the Catholic Church on defined matters of revealed truth. And, unlike the Church, with its a priori councils and theologians wrangling and discussing before anything is defined, there is no debate, no dialogue, just decrees handed down from shadowy bureaucracies. The long shadow cast by Galileo – that math, numbers and data can explain and predict all of reality – still haunts us today. (We will have more to say on that, for it is more pertinent than most may be aware).

One can only imagine Ford and other politicians, as they sat, sweating and fearful, berated by unctuous, smooth-talking scientists, with their esoteric, even gnostic, terminology, armed with power point presentations showing doomsday graphs, spiked curves predicting death and mayhem – all crunched, munched and spewed out by algorithms and computers. Many such predictions have already been proven woefully wrong by magnitudes – as has happened with the ‘melting ice caps’ of global warming –  yet still they plod onwards in their futile, fatuous and ill-fated mission.

And what of it? Ford seems to miss – or deliberately ignore – the point of Baber’s letter, which is that the ‘public health advice’ Ford is following is jeopardizing many more ‘Ontarian’s lives’ than Covid, in ways that he and others refuse to see, for reasons that seem unclear and mystifying. Does Ford not recognize the impossibility of his statement, and the human wreckage that will ensue? If his endgame is to reduce the risk of every Ontarian from an airborne virus to zero, then we there is no end to the game.

And ‘game’ it is not, for people’s lives and livelihoods, indeed, their very souls, are at stake, with the endless closure of businesses, schools, meetings, get-togethers, even of the smallest sort, and, most of all, churches and the Mass. Each is to some extent criminalized, with a deep and abiding fear, of other humans, the indoors, the outdoors, of invisible critters, of life itself, instilled into the hearts of even the very youngest. Strapping a mask onto first graders? Head for the hills, and homeschool all the way!

And all for what? That we might, maybe, possibly, prevent the deaths of some? And even that is highly uncertain, for there is overwhelming evidence that universal lockdowns don’t work. We may also ask, to take a more spiritual view, whether Ford and his like do not consider, even for a moment, that we may just have to endure the just punishment of God?

This – and by ‘this’ we mean the whole debacle unfolding before us – is a bitter fruit of what is wrong with our country, our culture, our very way of being. The loss of faith, of belief in God, the lack of any transcendent purpose to life, the atheism that has corrupted our society far more than any cancer or Covid, our unhinged fear of death, our clinging to shibboleths and talismans like masks and stay-at-home orders. For how long, O, Canada, onetime land of the the free and the brave?

They will have their day, for nature and truth eventually and always reassert themselves, and will win out in the end. Stay strong, dear reader, and stay as free as you might.

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→

Weronika Krawczyk and Injustice in Poland

Catholic Action in Poland has issued a formal statement appealing to the President of the Republic of Poland to pardon Weronika Krawczyk—convicted for warning other women against an abortion-performing gynaecologist. Catholic Action (AK) emphasizes that no apology is owed to a doctor who has performed numerous abortions and proposed others; furthermore, the organization considers the[…]Continue reading→

Three Easter Musical Gems: Bach, Palestrina and Byrd

A very blessed and glorious Easter! Christus surrexit vere, alleluia! As we begin this Easter Octave with the great Solemnity of Easter, music to lift the soul would be one of Bach’s Easter cantatas, composed during his time at Leipzig in the early 1700’s, for the six Sundays of this festive season, leading up to[…]Continue reading→

Saint Isidore of Seville, the Internet and Industriousness

Today, April 4th, muted this year by Holy Saturday, is the commemoration of Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) a bishop and doctor of the Church during a tumultuous age, when civilization was crumbling, coming apart at its very seams, which may sound sort of au courant. Then again, the form of this world has always[…]Continue reading→

An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→