Letters from a Contrarian

Full disclosure, I happen to work at Digifox, and Nicholas is my boss. But as a 23 year old who's responsible for the salaries of ~2 dozen people and a Praxis graduate, Nicholas is an extremely impressive guy. In this episode, we discussed his background and origins, the rise and potential of crypto as an asset class, the failures and inefficiencies of the banking system, and renewable energy. Enjoy!

Thanks for listening! Follow me on socials to get updates on new episodes.

Twitter: twitter.com/eugenefds

Instagram: instagram.com/fernandeseugene/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SoM1kuW8mWAB1pNZ5aPJw

Website: eugenefernandes.com

IJ and I met over twitter! We covered a lot of ground in this episode, including discussions about Canadian identity (or lack thereof), the potential that blockchain and crypto has, how he got started creating his NFT collection of philosopher kings, and how we'll build cities in the future. Also, the video doesn't show my face for the first hour or so because I forgot to unpin IJ's screen on zoom.   

Thanks for listening! Follow me on socials to get updates on new episodes.   

Twitter: twitter.com/eugenefds 

Instagram: instagram.com/fernandeseugene/ 

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SoM1kuW8mWAB1pNZ5aPJw 

Website: eugenefernandes.com

Steve Paolasini joins us once again to talk about his journey into crypto and all of its possibilities!

In Season 2 of Letters from a Contrarian, I sought to understand what went wrong with Canada's pandemic response, and what a more ethical, constitutional, and tolerable response would've looked like.

I summarize my two answers to these questions based on the conversations I had with my guests in Season 2 in this episode. I also go through why crypto, web3, and decentralization is the best way to preserve liberal values without the use of naked power.

D. Jared Brown is a litigator and Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario.

References:

Section 3 of Manitoba’s Public Health Act: 

“If the exercise of a power under this Act restricts rights or freedoms, the restriction must be no greater than is reasonably necessary, in the circumstances, to respond to a health hazard, a communicable disease, a public health emergency or any other threat to public health.”

Transcript and YouTube Video:

eugenefernandes.com/letters-from-a-contrarian

Show-notes

2:51 How the JCCF tapped Brown to help represent seven churches and three individuals in Manitoba, and what their case was. The churches couldn’t gather, and the individuals couldn’t protest.

6:01 The Government argued that the infringements on rights and freedoms were justified.

8:46 Brown cross-examined Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Lanette Siracusa, Carla Lipkey, Dr. Brent Roussin, Dr. Jason Bullard, and Dr. Joel Kettner.

10:38 Three revelatory insights that came to light in the cross examination: one, the Manitoba government had exaggerated the scarcity of hospital and ICU beds in the province during the Christmas season, along with their ability to expand the hospital system. Two, a positive PCR test result does not mean that the person is infectious.

14:29 Lastly, three - the government justified their measures on the basis that everyone else was doing it. No cost benefit analyses in sight.

16:47 This bandwagon defence (“everyone else was doing it”) might’ve been understandable at the pandemic’s start, but after 14 months, not as much.

22:11 The government does not have a legal obligation to justify their infringements up until someone challenges them in court. But the expectation is that they would justify the measures publicly. They didn’t. They used fear instead.

23:29 One consequence of using fear to threaten citizens into accepting public policy: vaccine hesitancy.

27:01 Are medical officers of health legally supposed to have the power and the role that they currently have? Thoughts about accountability mechanisms and a faith in democracy.

28:39 Rights and freedoms: easy to give up, bloodily difficult to get back. That’s why you don’t give an inch. Equality jurisprudence is developing far more than negative freedoms. Lawyers don’t seem to care.

31:55 Courts and discretion: Canada vs USA.

34:13 Brown was vilified by his peers and many others on social media in March 2020. Many lawyers are now changing their minds - if an emergency has lasted 14 months, then maybe it isn’t an emergency.

37:22 How Brown stood up to the pushback: say what you think, look at the reaction, and ask if it’s creating unnecessary conflict. Try to be minimally impairing. Have skin in the game by directing your energy towards the venues where it makes the biggest impact and where you’ll be heard. Instead of being a Twitter warrior, he took the opportunity to challenge the restrictions in this court case. And know what your principles are.

41:16 As a citizen who opposes the restrictions, write letters to your (provincial) elected leaders. Let them know you want to calculate your own risk and that their paternalistic attitudes aren’t welcome. Second, step forward to the JCCF or the CCF! They need volunteers to help challenge these Charter violations.

43:01 The possible costs of stepping forward for public interest litigation (some public shaming in court by lawyers, and it’s unlikely but you may have to pay too).

45:20 Safety culture eroding liberty.

Contact

Contact D. Jared Brown at brownlaw.ca or on twitter at @litigationguy

Contact Eugene Fernandes at eugenefernandes.com or on twitter at @eugenefds

Dr Lang shares his concerns about overdiagnosis in breast cancer and prostate cancer screening, among other conditions, like ADHD. We chat about the incentives behind overdiagnosis along with some solutions to it too. Lastly, we chat about how Equity, Diversity and Inclusion applies in his work. You can learn more from the following websites:

canadiantaskforce.ca
preventingoverdiagnosis.net

You can reach Eddy on twitter at @eddylang1, and email him at eddy.lang [at] albertahealthservices [dot] ca.

Hey there :) This week I spoke with Jesse Clarke, a charming ex-muslim activist from the UK. Enjoy!

Welcome back. This week I spoke with Ms. Nadia Guo - a criminal defence lawyer and sex worker based in Toronto. You can reach her on twitter at @ngdefence. Enjoy. 

Hey everyone! On this episode, I speak with Candice Malcom. We talked about Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith (two of Alberta's political leaders), how Candice uses intimidation to drive her forward (she's antifragile!), her article on Sikh extremism in Canada and Jagmeet Singh, how she views the media, the value of taking a public position and arguing with friends, and, of course, some book recommendations. 

Hey everyone! We're back with Lindsay Shepherd today. Enjoy.

Hey everyone! This podcast was about architecture and why architecture has become ... uglier and wackier over time. Thank you to Zach (who graduated from architecture school in 2019) for joining me and talking about his experience at architecture school. You can reach him on twitter at @cantradionalist. I would post all of the show notes here but they turned out to be three pages long. If you want to know the exact minute you should go to that touches on the subject you want to learn more about, you can read the show notes on my website at eugenefernandes.com. Thanks! Oh, and here are the links to the things we mentioned: Here's the NUMTOTS group on facebook.  Wrath of Gnon Christopher Liberatos Peterson and Paglia’s discussion  Palladio awards  Zach's thesis project - slavic inspired buildings.  Zach's example of "Frankenstein buildings" which poorly trained architects end up designing.   Adrian Vermeule 9 lane highway vs a beautiful town. Zach's book recommendation: Traditional Construction Patterns: Design and Detail - Rules of Thumb. To reach me, you can tweet me @eugenefds or email me at lettersfromacontrarian2020 [at] gmail [dot] com. This conversation was recorded on May 28, 2020.