Albertans, especially politicians and media propagandists, like to blame its hardships today on the Trudeau government for the last 4 yrs. But seriously people, that makes no sense at all!
I thought I would share a little history with those of you who are interested.
In 2004 I ran in the Alberta provincial election. At every candidates debate, through my writing, letters to the editor and so on I tried to bring awareness to the fact that Alberta was not being paid fair royalties for our oil. Norway was charging far more for their oil and had huge reserves of money from doing so. The response at that time was, ‘but Alberta is landlocked’ and there is nothing we can do about it. I also tried to bring awareness that Ralph Klein’s cuts to healthcare and education had created huge hardships on many people; but within the ‘Conservative machine that was somewhat drunk on new wealth’, they didn’t care to hear.
Well that was ignorance born of 40 yrs of PC government climate of indoctrination. They had their own ideas about managing our resources~ for some reason they had no interest in getting our resources to new markets. Yes Alberta is landlocked, ever since the big shift and receding glaciers created North America it’s been landlocked, but pipelines were still built to the USA. They could easily have been built to tidewater, had there been the will to do so. We fed the multinational corporations, instead of our own people. We practically paid them to take it. They left us abandoned wells and the cost to clean them up, (a recent court case suggests they may still have to pay for it, but we’ll see). That’s the reality.
Pipelines are not new in Canada we’ve had them since the 1940’s in Alberta. So it was a choice not to get them to tidewater. You cannot have a huge resource as we’ve had for over 40 years and then blame a new Federal government and a new NDP provincial government for their respective 4 yrs of governance, as if they caused the problem. That is nonsensical.
The downturn in the global economy was a huge factor, the mismanagement of resources for 40 yrs was another, the same people managing the provinces money, also destroyed their own PC party. Yet we keep hearing this is Justin Trudeau’s fault, or Rachel Notley’s fault. This is absurd, even to the uneducated. But for the many who know better, this is deliberate deception.
Yes I know that PM Harper signed a deal that tied PM Trudeau’s hands and forced him to buy the pipeline that the US company couldn’t afford or didn’t want to finish. Yes it put us in a terrible situation, but rather than laying blame on the new guy, let’s give him credit for making the best of an awful situation. He respects the Indigenous people and respects the process to get it done in the most environmentally friendly way. We’ve had a lot of pipelines in Canada for years and no major issues. We’ve had trains as well and although we’ve had deraillings we recognize that like automobiles, planes etc. all manor of transport will have risks.
If we were really serious about environmental risks, we’d pay more attention to the coal flowing up by rail, from the USA to our Western ports, because it’s too dirty to leave from the USA. The coal dust is harmful to marine life and humans as well.
Albertan’s were riding high on big money for a long time; kids getting out of high school or leaving early and making $100,000 a year was not uncommon. They had one industry training and little else to fall back on. But nobody ever suggested they might need other skills. There was arrogance and ignorance from all sectors and any attempts to caution people, that this could end, were silenced. There was no limit to excess everywhere, the culture of nouveau rich(drunk on new money) was generational. Ultimately with little preparation, it has caused a lot of depression, anxiety and blame when the things did changed.
The higher up the mountain you are when you fall, the more anxiety there will be on the way down. Denying you are falling will not stop the fall. Changing course before you fall, might prevent it. Once you are at the bottom, there is nothing left to deny. It happened. Now the choice is to get up and rebuild, or waste time and energy denying the fall. Life is about climbing and falling; for everyone. It’s not failure, it’s life.
For many they never knew hardship ever. They never knew about saving for a rainy day. They never believed it would ever end. Nobody prepared people for the possibility of another way of life. An excellent insight ‘the Myths’ here: https://thewalrus.ca/the-great-myth-of-alberta-conservatism/
As much as there was wealth, there was also poverty in Alberta but there was little compassion for anyone who couldn’t thrive in this environment. Whether it was lack of skills, or education, or healthcare, people found it difficult to be heard in a world of one party blue state. If you were not part of the club, you didn’t count. The Alberta Advantage did not reach all Albertans. That lack of compassion is still playing out in many ways, because it hasn’t been part of the collective culture. It’s been a celebration of Wild West, us against them, east against west for so many years that anyone who lived on those highest mountains, now doesn’t want to accept they are just like the people they used to ignore or despise, or sometimes condemn. This is a fractured society and finding someone to blame is easier than examining reality truthfully.
This is not to say that Albertans could not be charitable, because they most definitely can be, but it has often come from a place of grandiose, pity or a great tax write-off unfortunately. Harsh perhaps, but when government suggested raising the minimum wage so people could actually take care of themselves instead of relying on foodbanks and other people’s charity, one of the chief complaints I heard so often was; we’ll have to cut back on our charities if we have to pay our employees minimum wage. It never occurred to them that their charity might not be necessary if people could take care of themselves. Or that it’s far more empowering and healthy for society when people can meet their own needs.
Rather than help people adapt to the reduction in demand on fossil fuel, the reality that our environment has changed and we have to adapt or perish, we have governments telling people it’s the Federal government of Justin Trudeau or Provincial government of Rachel Notley’s fault for all their woes. That is not leadership, it’s not true and it’s dangerous. Every period in human history requires us to adapt, to change with our world and denying it is irresponsible for government and society.
It is not so different than the gold rush periods of our history. Those periods did end, new ones began. That is life. I’d rather have leadership that can own their mistakes and help us move forward than continue to deny, while they get rich off our pain and circumstances. Good leadership is not, telling us they must cut education, healthcare, infrastructure, while they continue to earn high income, give tax breaks for large multinational corporations and make us believe this is the only way.
It’s not the only way, but that fear is what is used to manipulate us, make us believe we are victims and show us who to blame, as long as it is not them. We need adults in government and facts to make informed choices.
These are the tools used by Nazi’s in Germany, blaming the Jewish people for the economy, it is the same tool used in the USA propaganda about the Mexican immigrants taking jobs, or committing crimes. It is that fear, that feeds hate, destabilizes society and gives rise to fascism. We are seeing it now in Canada and it’s ugly.
I’m tired of having my intelligence insulted by childish snide remarks between politicians or political pundits on news shows, personal attacks and no actual substance from politicians on campaign trails and in the House of Commons. This is not a reality t.v. show, this is our lives. We deserve better.
We do need to address our economy, our environment, our infrastructure and maintain human rights, civil society and protect minority rights from being run over by the majority. If we are led by fear and propaganda, we’ll be manipulated into giving up freedom under the guise of security and money. That was the purpose of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which still requires constant protection today.Alberta is undergoing change, as is the rest of the world. The situation will not be rectified by denial. Equalization payments are not the issue, this is not an east vs west conflict, this is a manufactured chaos being exploited for the political gains of a few, on the backs of the masses. We do ourselves no favours by accepting the rhetoric without doing our own research for facts.
The article linked here, reveals erosion of Alberta’s systems was long on the spiral down before Rachel Notley or Justin Trudeau were in the picture. Quote from the article:
“Prentice went on to unilaterally overturn a funding decision by an independent legislative committee and cut the budget for investigating deaths of children in care.
A Calgary Herald investigation revealed the Tories inked a secret, multimillion-dollar deal to fix a mountain golf course operated by party insiders.
As oil prices continued their precipitous slide, Prentice started warning Albertans that tough times were coming. On March 4, he told CBC radio host Donna McElligot that: “In terms of who is responsible, we need only look in the mirror.”
When leadership is able to own their mistakes, make compensation and course correct, that empowers people to do the same. Alberta has much to be grateful for, leaders like Rachel Notley were helping us adjust. I believe we can grow and learn from the past, but not by denying it. As always, the enemy is within. We face it and heal, or deny it and keep fighting a losing battle.
We are facing a choice in our current Federal election. A lot of the information is based on the illusion of East vs West, ‘somebody is not getting enough’ mentality. The truth is not found in the hyped propaganda, it will only be found by examining information more thoroughly. Much of Alberta’s current financial issues have to do with our own provincial government, more so than anything else, although the economic changes are playing a part.
We’re not going to solve today’s problems by blaming the past or blaming other politicians who had nothing to do with creating the mess. We have to examine facts, truthfully and make better choices going forward.
Please examine the linked articles if you wish to gain more insight into how we got here.
It is my hope that by sharing my opinion on this matter, I have given you food for thought.
This is some information on pipelines in Canada, for anyone interested.
Catherine Clarity Whisperer Blog 