Opinion – Agenda’s

This is my weekly opinion column, based on issues currently unfolding in local, provincial, or national news..

Earlier this week, while doing what journalists are supposed to do, asking uncomfortable but legitimate questions of a sports governing body, I was accused of having an agenda.

Not for editorializing.
Not for misrepresenting facts.
For asking questions.

The organization demanded to know who was requesting transparency and openness. Apparently, a journalist doing his job did not qualify as a sufficient reason.

That accusation stuck with me.

I did not realize that holding governing bodies accountable for decisions made without clear policy, defined procedure, or any avenue of appeal constituted an agenda. But the moment the word was used, something else became clear.

People do not accuse others of having agendas unless they feel exposed.

That is not an insult. It is an observation.

When questions are met with suspicion rather than answers, it suggests discomfort with where those questions might lead.

So let’s take a step back.

In the fall of 2024, allegations were levelled against the women’s basketball program. True or not, those allegations brought a national championship contender to its knees. Sanctions followed. A well-respected coach was dismissed. A program was forced to rebuild from the ground up.

Programs do not typically lose players and staff in large numbers when issues are clearly established, addressed, and transparently resolved.

Fast forward to this fall.

Another Lakeland College program, this time women’s volleyball, again becomes the subject of an ACAC investigation into hazing.

Since 2017, half of all national championships in that discipline have come back to Lloydminster. That level of sustained success matters. It always does.

The investigation concluded the incidents went beyond harmless initiation, citing alcohol provision, compelled participation, and sexualized questioning. As a result, the team was handed eight automatic losses to start the season.

Harsh, but clear. Punishment delivered.

The team started 0–8 in a conference where there are always a few strong programs competing each year. Then, on Nov. 23, their first game back and last before the Christmas break, they swept Ambrose College 3–0.

They were 1–8. They were still alive. As hosts, they retained an automatic bid to provincials and a path back to nationals.

Then, in mid December, during a series of Conference Council discussions held over several days, a second punishment appeared.

Without any cited policy.
Without published criteria.
Without legislation.
Without any opportunity to appeal.

Lakeland was stripped of that right to host provincials. It removed the one remaining guaranteed path those athletes had to redeem themselves. The road forward still exists, but it is significantly harder.

The ACAC openly acknowledged the decision would negatively impact student athletes. It proceeded anyway.

At that point, this stopped being about hazing.

If hazing was the sole issue, the eight game sanction addressed it. What followed went further. It moved from discipline into competitive suppression.

Going forward, if I’m a student or coach at Lakeland College, we have to be squeaky clean. Avoid anything even remotely in the grey area, even if others do it. Because precedent has been set.

Call it a feeling.

Maybe there is no agenda. But when additional punishment is added without policy, without process, and without appeal, it stops looking corrective and starts looking preventative.

Preventative of what?

I believe it was success.

Would allowing these young athletes a guaranteed chance to redeem themselves have been harmful? Or did the rest of the conference see an opportunity to remove a recurring threat and take it?

That is the question that has not been answered.

If transparency is the goal, why not release meeting minutes, decision rationale, and voting records that led to this outcome?

Lloydminster is not Edmonton. It is not Calgary. It does not have the same pull, the same resources, or the same visibility. Yet it consistently punches above its weight. In sports, that often breeds resentment long before it earns respect.

This may sound uncomfortable. It may even sound conspiratorial to some. But after months of conversations with people connected to athletics in this region, something does not add up.

I will continue to look into it.

Not because I have an agenda, but because the real reason twelve student athletes received extra punishment deserves to be made clear.

And if that commitment is labeled an agenda, then fine. Put a checkmark beside it.

To be clear, I am not alleging misconduct, collusion, or bad faith, only questioning the absence of clear policy and transparent process in decisions that materially affect student athletes.

However, holding institutions to account, especially when the people affected have the least power, is exactly what The Border Pulse was built to do.

Stuff happens.
But when it does, transparency matters.

And that is not an agenda. That is a responsibility.

Read more: Guest Opinion – The Medium is the Message