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Saturday, January 10, 2009
Who deserves Alberta's highest honour? I nominate Ezra Levant and some others from the Liberty 100
The Alberta Order of Excellence Council is now accepting public nominations for the highest honour the province has to offer its citizens. Up to 10 Alberta community leaders will be selected this year for investiture into the Alberta Order of Excellence (AOE).
“The AOE medal is a way to recognize outstanding people who have achieved great things in the service of their fellow Albertans and all Canadians. It’s also a way to ensure that future generations are able to learn from and take pride in their stories,” said the Honourable Norman L. Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta and Chancellor of the Order.
I can think of no greater “service” to Albertans than to protect their liberty against the ceaseless encroachment of government into private affairs. So before the February 15, 2009 nomination deadline, I intend to nominate candidates from the list below recycled from the Liberty 100, starting with former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant.
Here are my nominees:
1. Ezra Levant -- The issue that dominated 2008 for the freedom movement was the attack on freedom of speech and expression by human rights commissions across Canada, and Ezra Levant was at the centre of this issue in Alberta as a pro-free speech newsmaker, advocate, lawyer and blogger. Levant is pushing back against Canada's human rights commissions with his new book "Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights." Levant's single-minded defence of free speech in 2008 makes him the perfect candidate for the Alberta Order of Excellence – and what a message that would send to the censors at the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
2. Dennis Young – Dennis Young is the Calgary-based leader of the Libertarian Party. A veteran of NATO operations in Bosnia, Young's personal experience as a soldier has made him a capable and credible advocate for a libertarian non-interventionist foreign policy. His law enforcement background has also made him an effective critic of the failed war on drugs. Young will be working with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) in 2009 as a speaker. It would be positively unpatriotic not to nominate this former soldier the Alberta Order of Excellence.
3. John Carpay – John Carpay is a lawyer and the executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, our country’s version of the Institute for Justice. He has been active in defence of freedom of speech and expression, intervening in the William Whatcott appeal before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal among other cases. Carpay was also a former Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
4. Kevin Libin – Kevin Libin is a columnist with the National Post a former editor-in-chief of the Western Standard. While he has spent a suspicious amount of his career in Toronto, Calgary is his home.
5. Rona Ambrose – Rona Ambrose is the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Spruce Grove and a self-described libertarian and Ayn Rand enthusiast. Ambrose was voted the Hill Time's sexiest MP for 2008, but she is much more that just another pretty face. Ambrose gives the libertarian movement some mainstream credibility and maybe even a little sex appeal. That’s good enough for me.
6. Rob Breakenridge – Rob Breakenridge is the libertarian-leaning host of The World Tonight on AM QR77 in Calgary.
7. Lorne Gunter – Lorne Gunter is a columnist and editorial board member at the National Post and a columnist with the Edmonton Journal. Gunter is a global warming sceptic, a defender of gun rights and generally a harsh and able critic of big government. Gunter is also a popular guest speaker.
8. Mark Milke – Mark Milke is director of research with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a researcher with the Fraser Institute, an author and a lecturer in political science at the University of Calgary. Milke is a very productive researcher and writer with a strong free market bent.
9. Nadeem Esmail – Nadeem Esmail is director of Health System Performance Studies for the Fraser Institute. He provides the research used by journalists and politicians to challenge the government healthcare monopoly in the province. Esmail lives in Calgary.
10. Colby Cosh is a libertarian columnist with the National Post living in Edmonton. He's smart, funny and a recently did a stint at Reason magazine.
11. Krista Zoobkoff was one of my favourite Libertarian Party candidates in 2008, representing the federal riding of Wild Rose. She owns hemp stores in Canmore, Banff and Airdrie and opposes marijuana prohibition. For a first time candidate, she demonstrated excellent media and communication skills. Unless there is another candidate who is outspoken on drug policy reform, Zoobkoff will also get my nomination.
12. Scott Hennig is the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Hennig never hesitates to criticize the hapless, drifting, profligate Alberta government.
13. Moin Yahya -- Dr. Moin Yahya is an assistant professor of law at the University of Alberta and a director with the Canadian Constitution Foundation. Yahya, who blogs for the Western Standard, has a B.A. (Hons) in Economics and a M.A. in economics from the University of Alberta, a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Toronto, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He might be the smartest guy in the province. Really.
14. Paul Hinman – Former MLA, Paul Hinman is leader of the free market-oriented Wildrose Alliance party in Alberta. Hinman is the only provincial partisan voice in opposition to the New Royalty Framework oil and gas tax increase.
15. Michael Wagner -- Dr. Michael Wagner is an Edmonton-based home schooler and author of "Standing on Guard for Thee," a history of the Canadian social conservative movement. Wagner is a sceptic of big government, as all social conservatives should be but too few are.
16. Melanie Simard -- Melanie Simard, a high school teacher in High Prairie, was the Libertarian Party candidate in 2008 for the federal riding of Peace River. Simard is a public school teacher who doesn't believe in public schools. That's worth a nomination.
You can request a nomination package here, but your candidate must be a Canadian citizen living in Alberta, and you can’t nominate yourself.
Posted by Matthew Johnston
Posted by Western Standard on January 10, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Ezra Levant is no less a media whore and possibly no less a narcissist than Marc Emery, but Levant at least is fighting for a bona fide liberty. He did much to expose the farcical behaviour of the HRC tribunals.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-01-10 9:17:34 AM
Rona Ambrose has done sweet **** all other than get elected in a riding that will automatically elect a conservative nominee and claim to have read Ayn Rand. Big deal. What a poor choice.
I bet she read 10 pages of "Atlas Shrugged" and discarded it out of pure banality, boredom and repetitiveness.
Posted by: epsilon | 2009-01-10 3:51:55 PM
No online nominations? Lame.
Posted by: Pete | 2009-01-10 9:16:52 PM
Ezra is a loser who only cares about his own rights
Posted by: thenonconformer | 2009-01-11 6:20:02 AM
Ezra is a good man and we could certainly use more like him. Good choice for #1.
Online nominations would be the way to go.
Posted by: peterj | 2009-01-11 10:33:46 AM
Hey! You left out Doug Christie!
Posted by: Dr.Dawg | 2009-01-12 7:07:24 AM
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