3 minute read

A new path

We were in St. Albert this weekend picking up a used ATV for the farm.

The owner had bought it four years ago so he could access remote gas installations in the foothills of NW Alberta under contract with a land management company working on behalf of First Nations communities.

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Along came Covid and with it, a downturn in demand for petroleum, resulting in him losing a job he had really enjoyed. Consequently, there was no need for the quad, and it was parked in the corner of his garage until he decided to turn it into cash to support his family of four.

This wasn’t a toy, purchased for recreation. It was a piece of equipment which allowed him to earn a living.

Like so many other people employed in the energy sector, he hung on for a while hoping things would turn around.

They didn’t, but luckily for him, he could fall back on a previous career as a finishing carpenter, finding project work from time to time in the Edmonton area.

It wasn’t really what he wanted to do, especially after taking two years of advanced education in environmental sciences to make the leap into the energy sector.

There are literally thousands of hardworking westerners who share his feelings and could tell a similar story of dashed life plans.

Certainly, here in the midwest where it has touched so many families, including my own. We are blessed to sit on resources the world wants and needs, but the production and sale of which is discouraged by our federal government in blind pursuit of being recognized for leadership on “green” policies.

The cynic in me says we continue to be treated as a colony by eastern power brokers with so many examples of this blatant exercise of master/servant dominance going back to Confederation, and yet, we who live in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to allow it to happen.

I guess it is like every abuse situation, it is sometimes easier to acquiesce than to seek a new path.

These past few years I think the manipulation of our economy is being driven by international interests, who see the riches we have in western Canada as ripe for the picking by anyone with sufficient cash to invest.

As always, “follow the money,” and you will see who really is calling the dance. It certainly isn’t you or me.

I believe the time has come for our two provinces to come together as a unique western society, fully including our indigenous neighbours, and develop a pathway to the future. There, I have said it. We can’t get new results with old behaviour. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get started.

Vern McClelland is an associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster and an active partner in his family’s livestock operation. Comments on this article are welcome either by emailing vernmcclelland@remax.net or calling 306-821-0611.

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