It is summer here in Edmonton in the centre of Alberta. We have had much rain; the lake is filling with lovely fresh water, the trees are singing, the grass is so green. All is well in our little corner of the world, but I am not happy, because all is not well. These are not the dog days of summer as we used to call them in the newsroom, now it is all politics and turmoil.
There is climate change with forest fires just over the mountains to our west, and to the south Trump is huffing and puffing and much as I would like to, he cannot be ignored. And if that were not enough, here in Alberta, we have our premier, Danielle Smith, wheedling, whinging, whining and dividing our population. And this has now led to us being called to participate in a referendum in October, and the biggest question is ‘Should Alberta move to separate from Canada?’
Like the rubbish and harmful, nasty things coming from Trump, this idea is nearly impossible for me to believe or understand in any logical or consequential way. Landlocked Alberta has a population of 5 million. And for so many other reasons, Switzerland, we are not! But there is an ongoing section of the population who feel that Alberta is very hard done by, that would be hard done by by Ottawa and Canada, the federal government. We are not the United States of America or the United Kingdom; we are that unwieldy confederation of provinces, more like Germany and Spain. So, areas erupt and disrupt, and that comes and goes with the economy, politics and traditions.
The issue that gets the most attention is Alberta, blessed with great energy resources, should keep all the revenue here in Alberta. Even though pipelines and ports and trains to export it, have been built and paid for by the country as a whole, not to mention start-up, research and development funds.
Instead of helping to bring people to respectful understanding, our premier is doing the opposite: playing footsie with the separatists while saying she is Pro-Canada…everyone has a right to their opinion, etc, but then launching a referendum to really stir things up.
Well, it has brought people together, the Canada Forever crowd and the Alberta Stay Free folk. That is two great divides.
No great surprise that I am in the Canada camp. And in July I got to attend a wonderful concert put on by the Forever Canada folk, all 7 hours of it! It was such fun, and the rain held off. It was the idea of the musician PJ Perry; he was there with his saxophone and jazz band. And other great bands. They gave their time and talent, and the profits from ticket sales went to help address some of our Edmonton problems around social justice: food insecurity, street population and the unhoused.
According to polls, and it feels this way to me, the pro-Canada crowd has a majority. Now the worry is, do they have enough fire in the belly to get out and vote because the separatist folk sure do! So please everyone, whatever your stripe, get out and vote in October. If it is already cold and snowy, put on the boots, hat and coat. Oh, but you can already request a mail-in ballot. You will miss the election vibe at the polling station, but you get the peace of mind that you have voted.
My picture is my doodle of PJ Perry and a couple of his musicians at the concert.
If you have read this far, thank you.
Promise to be jollier and more whimsical next time.