Saving Democracy is an initiative to strengthen Canadian/western democracy through

1. Long-form (live streamed) analysis,
2. Civil discourse & debates, &
3. Investigative watchdog journalism.

Specific tasks to achieve our goals will include

1. Estimating the current health and weaknesses/deficiencies of Canada’s democracy &
2. Designing & implementing (through legislation) new safeguards to strengthen our democracy against authoritarian threats (making it “antifragile”, i.e., becomes *stronger* after threats, not just resilient to threats).

The initiative is spearheaded by Etienne P LeBel, a former science watchdog & whistleblower, published author in psychology and meta-science, and professional skeptic. LeBel’s unique background and technical skills (e.g., evaluating the credibility of scientific evidence; scientific publishing & peer review; ethics in human research; conducting world’s 1st transparency audits in science) make him well equipped to make progress on these challenging goals. LeBel is supported by a growing team of independent thinkers also concerned about the state/direction of western democracy worldwide.

Key/main topics to be investigated:
Key topics/developments to be covered VISUALLY organized in relation to our 6 most fundamental freedoms that makes life worth living. Developments for which I'm engaged in active investigative journalism are labeled "ACTIVE" (for these, CURRENT and NEXT actions are also listed). Each of these developments are concerning in themselves, but are even more concerning when interpreted as a whole in relation to our most basic human rights (as pictured above). *AND* when interpreted in the broader geopolitical context, such human rights erosions are even more worrying given that these appear to be occurring in virtually all other western democracies (we'll hear from European collaborators on this point).

Key/main topics to be investigated by fundamental freedom categories (list/text form):

1. Bodily Autonomy
• Serious problems with COVID vaccine efficacy & safety evidence
• Mandatory COVID vaccine for work & participation in society – Serious violations of medical ethics?
• Insufficient justifications for mandatory masking
2. Freedom of Expression & Speech
• Freezing of bank accounts of freedom convoy donors
• Insufficient justifications of invoking Emergencies Act
• Insufficient/invalid justifications for new hate speech legislation (e.g., Bill C-36; Bill C-229)
• Insufficient justification for new social media regulations (e.g., Bill C-11) legislation
• Trudeau labeling COVID unvaccinated individuals as "anti-science who are often racist and misogynistic"
3. Legal & Democratic Rights
• Trudeau unwilling to listen to ~6 million Canadians with legitimate concerns about the COVID measures
4. Freedom of Assembly & Religion
• Insufficient justifications for restricting & prohibiting peaceful protests against COVID measures
• Insufficient justifications for ending freedom convoy protests via invoking Emergencies Act
• Insufficient justifications for prohibiting religious ceremonies during lockdowns.
5. Freedom of Mobility
• Insufficient justifications for prohibiting rail/air travel to COVID unvaccinated individuals
• Insufficient justifications for prohibiting inter-province travel during lockdowns (before vaccine rollout)
6. Life, Liberty, & Security
• Insufficient justifications for lockdowns (business closures, school closures, gyms, restaurants, etc.)
• Insufficient explanations for ongoing & worsening problems with health care, despite increasing investments (decreasing quality of care?; longer ER wait times?
• Insufficient justifications for new gun control legislation (incl. undemocratic use of "order-in-councils")

My long-form analyses and journalism can be considered trustworthy/credible for the following reasons:

• I abide by high journalistic standards, i.e., impartiality & balanced coverage from diverse perspectives, political neutrality, accuracy (verify all sources), & honesty (see Canadian Association of Journalists’ ethics guidelines).
• I meet high ethical standards included in journalist ethics (above), but I also abide by medical ethics (Hippocratic Oath, informed consent/Nuremberg code), and scientist ethical codes of conduct (Canada; Netherlands). This includes transparently disclosing
• Any and all (non)-financial conflicts-of-interests (COIs; see below), &
• My revenue sources to establish my (financial) independence from the entities I’m criticizing (see below).
• I consistently, transparently, and promptly correct any mistakes once identified.
• Trust is earned: My info can be considered trustworthy/credible to the extent it SURVIVES SCRUTINY by other ethical journalists and intellectuals (who also lack COIs and possess sufficient financial independence).

As per the CAJ’s ethics guidelines, below are my COI and financial independence disclosure statements:

COI statement
The following are potential (non-)financial interests that may conflict with my pursuit of truth in my role as watchdog journalist and long-form analysis podcaster (at minimum, for the past 5 years; as per PLOS ONE’s/Curate Science’s COI disclosure standards):

• Former stockholder of publicly traded company VISA (May 2008 to Feb 2022; ~CAD$57,500). I no longer own any stock (only non-stock personal saving investments, i.e., GICs, savings accounts). I also do not own any cryptocurrencies.
• Signatory member of Doctors4covidEthics.org who seek to uphold medical ethics and patient safety and human rights in response to COVID19.

Financial independence statement
The following are all my revenue sources (for the past 5 years, in CAD$), which establishes my financial independence from the entities (i.e., Canadian gov, mega-corporations, etc.) I am criticizing:

• Research grants received from public government funding agencies: European Commission Marie-Curie grant, 2018-2020, Belgium; $125,000 (see my CV for additional research grants received prior to 2017)
• Investment income from invested personal savings (GICs, stocks): ~$61,000
• Science consulting (manuscript writing/editing, peer-review services, transparency curation services): < $10,000
• Donations for Saving Democracy initiative/podcast: < $500 per year
• Government credits/”bribes” (e.g., GST cheques, climate action incentive, CCB, etc.): ~$9,000 per year (for the last 2 years) and ~$3,000 per year (for prior 3 years). NOTE: These amounts are excluded for financial planning purposes, and hence do not influence my "financial runway".

Printable post cards and posters/infographics related to strengthen democracy will be posted here (COMING SOON).