Mark Carney’s repeated claims that he loves, understands and respects Alberta have been met with deep skepticism in that province. But what if we took him at his word? What if the former Bank of Canada governor’s bespoke persona as condescending globalist prone to “net-zero” proclamations is just an elaborate ideological smokescreen? What if the federal Liberal leader is really a political sleeper agent, sent East by a cabal of crafty Albertans intent on gaining their independence? Seen this way, certain things do begin to make some semblance of sense. In an upside-down, post-truth world where satire is almost (if not quite) impossible, George Koch ponders the imponderable: that Laurentian Carney is actually a deep-cover Alberta separatist on the verge of pulling off his ultimate mission.

Few things about Donald Trump’s recent election are causing worse disarray worldwide than the incoming U.S. President’s vow to erect a tariff wall against all imports in order to spur a resurgence in American manufacturing might. Canada’s up to $200-billion-a-year worth of oil and natural gas exports lie at stake, feared to be among the new Administration’s tariff targets. But how strong is the basis for such fears? Probing the political psychology of Trump’s economic and trade policies and examining the intricate mechanism that is North America’s vast integrated oil and natural gas sector, George Koch illuminates the role Canadian energy can play in the U.S. economic revival and the Trump team’s geopolitical drive for global “energy dominance”.

The rupture of Calgary’s biggest water main revealed more than the problems of aging infrastructure. It showed a civic bureaucracy unable to provide basic services or fix things when they break, and a mayor eager to blame others and scold citizens for their selfishness in wanting city services in return for their tax dollars. Above all, it laid bare the increasing tendency of governments to neglect their core responsibilities in favour of social policy fetishes, and to sidestep accountability when things go wrong. Clear, competent, mission-focused public servants are a vanishing breed, writes George Koch, and governing a city is now mainly about keeping city workers, senior officials and elected politicians happy.

They’re waving the Canadian flag on Parliament’s grounds – in New Zealand. Columns of trucks are mustering in France with the aim of converging on Paris. “Convoy politics” has become an international term. Canada’s Freedom movement is inspiring people around the world who want pandemic mandates to end and their freedoms restored. Here at home, the latest polls find nationwide support soaring to 46 percent. Not bad for a bunch of marginal nobodies. Still, many Canadians remain guarded or wish the truckers and their hangers-on would just fall silent, go home, get their shots and behave. George Koch checks out Canada’s Freedom movement in person.

Influence-peddling. Self-dealing. Nepotism. Junketeering. The ways politicians can betray the public trust are legion. But should this list include behaviour that not only abides by the law, but offers a welcome example of independent thought and self-care? Politicians from diverse parties across Canada have been excoriated and, in some instances, dramatically punished for going abroad for personal reasons during the holiday season. While this may contravene government “recommendations” to stay home, C2C Journal editor George Koch argues passionately that all Canadians – including those whom we elected – should be allowed to act as the law permits. And that includes international travel.

The barriers to travelling for personal reasons certainly appear daunting. They range from shifting government restrictions to the moral pressure from risk-averse peers to the slight but real probability of contracting the virus. Plus the prospect of getting stranded overseas. Daunting they are. But insurmountable? Or merely not worth the benefits in pleasure, renewed personal connections, emotional wellbeing and horizon-broadening? C2C Editor-in Chief George Koch decided to find out for himself, venturing to Europe in mid-September for three weeks. He returns with a take that we hope helps demystify the process and encourages people to keep an open mind.

Everyone can agree public pension funds should be protected from political interference. But such abuse comes in several forms, some stealthier than others. Unaccountable investment managers indulging in the latest fads and activist demands – energy transition, anyone? – pose perhaps the greatest threat of all to retirees’ returns. George Koch argues that, paradoxically, elected office-holders are the public’s best defence against politically-motivated and potentially ruinous pension fund shenanigans.

How should the conservative mind respond to the coronavirus pandemic? Panic and despair are in ample supply, and the urge to succumb appears widespread. Others have steered, via deliberate ignorance, to fatalism, though the walls are closing in on such rebels. Both extremes are beneath thoughtful conservatives. C2C Editor-in-Chief George Koch counsels that however dark today might appear, the eternal search for objective truth – the foundation for all conservative thought – is the first necessary step along the path to seeing humankind through to brighter days.

Canadians are inveterate travellers, but they don’t go abroad merely to appreciate the Louvre’s great art, find their true purpose through a swami in India, build houses for the poor in Nicaragua or get sloshed poolside in Cabo. For all-too-many, it’s about maintaining their ability to walk or even saving their life. C2C Journal’s George Koch looks into “medical tourism”, evaluating the statistics and asking how we might keep more health care dollars at home.

If you live in Burnaby, B.C., or are planning a visit in the next few months, consider taking some time to visit “Camp Cloud”, the ramshackle village created to protest the Trans-Mountain pipeline. Best to go soon, before it mutates into something like the massive, filthy, dangerous protest favella that grew up around a North Dakota pipeline project in 2016. U.S. President Donald Trump ended the “Standing Rock Resistance” with bulldozers and the National Guard soon after he took office in 2017. There are many similarities between the Dakota Access and Trans-Mountain pipeline stories, except we don’t yet know the ending of the latter. George Koch previews what may be in store for Burnaby with a detailed account of the anarchy that descended on Morton County, North Dakota.