Traveling the province means I get to meet the greatest people. Last week I was in a quaint little town called Delburne that has a restaurant called ‘Bistro’ where you can find the best dry ribs I have ever had. Not only was the hospitality at both the restaurant and the meeting top notch, the folks there taught me my greatest lesson to date. We have a problem that can only be solved by bringing generations together.

The crowd was a good size, very friendly, and most seemed to be onboard with Alberta independence. That is nothing unusual for rural Alberta. What was a bit unusual is who was in attendance. When I finished my spiel, the questions started and someone asked ‘where are the youth?’ It is a great question and one that we often wrestle with. That night we were treated to the best answer yet.

“Look behind you!”

There they were. Two young ladies, both around 20, standing at the back. It was glorious and we had questions. You are here, and we are so grateful that you are, now how do we get this message to your friends? Their answer is where my education began.

For years I looked at this issue as ‘for or against’ and did what I could to meet people where they were at. Then, thanks to a very wise friend, I realized women need to hear the independence message in a way that we can internalize and grasp. So, my presentation and conversations were tailored a little more. What I did not fully appreciate until that night in Delburne is that there is a third demographic that demands particular consideration in regards to messaging: our youth.

We know conservatism among the youth is growing. We also know they are warming up to the idea of Alberta independence. Yet, we rarely see our young ones at our meetings. The general consensus is that, for the most part, this generation is found online. However, these ladies taught us that while yes, that is true, most are just scrolling and not really taking information in. Her description sort of reminded me of how we used to scroll through the Sears catalogue.

Exploring it further, I realized there is a gap online that needs filling. Podcasts and short videos about Alberta Independence specific to this generation are not found. I know for a fact that there are some, but obviously they not being seen. This is a problem.

As we continued to listen, we learned about another conundrum, and it is a doozie. While it is no secret post-secondary institutions are very left leaning, we sometimes glaze over how awful it truly is for the scholars in attendance. We heard about a friend of theirs who brought up the idea of Alberta Independence in one of their classes at the UofA. Not only was this student unceremoniously shut down, the class was warned that if anyone brought it up again their marks would be affected. So much for freedom of thought and exploring ideas.

Our current provincial government has been working hard to root out this sort of behavior in all of our schools. Unfortunately, the tentacles are deep, making the battle to return our centers of learning to what they should be quite a challenge. Some progress has been made, thankfully, but obviously there is more to do. We must also remember, our Premier and MLA’s only know what they are told. In light of that, I encouraged these ladies to help their friend write a letter to the Minister of Advanced Education and the Premier. If others in the class are willing to sign it as witnesses, the more the better. It sounded like they were ready to do that, which very much inspired the rest of us.

The younger Millennials, Gen Y’s, and now Z’s are discovering that almost everything they were taught is a lie. Not only was it a lie, they believed it and it got them nowhere. No job. No house. No money to raise a family with. And no real-life experience yet to know how to chart a path forward despite the challenges. Not to mention, unfettered immigration has only exacerbated the problem. It is not good and no wonder they are mad. I am, too.

There is a very strong youth presence in the Alberta independence movement and they have their own reasons for it. It is a grave mistake to think a ‘one size fits all’ message is going to reach them. Our meetings are not their jam. These young men and women know what they want and need and we have an opportunity to bring the generations together by helping them get the independence message to their peers in a way that works for their generation, not ours. So, let’s talk with them, not to them, and find out how.   

The federal government finally put together a budget, if you can call it that. Our Prime Minister warned us we were going to have to ‘make sacrifices’ while the talking heads continue call every aspect of our current economy a ‘crisis’. Sometimes even an ‘unprecedented crisis’. However, despite what they want you to believe, the economic disaster we are in is not a crisis. It is a strategic means to an end called managed decline.

Managed decline was originally a business term used to describe slowing things down in a managed way to mitigate loss and harm while trying to save as much as possible. When it comes to government, the definition is exactly the opposite. Policies are designed and actions taken that will lead to a deterioration of economic and social conditions in order to inflict as much financial pain and social chaos as possible. Slowing productivity to a crawl, increasing taxes, and over-regulating any possible growth and innovation is how it is done.

Sound familiar?  

It began with moving the goal posts for pipeline projects under the guise of environment, social, and governance; ESG for short. On the surface it doesn’t sound so evil, but it was and still is.

‘E’ is all about net-zero, carbon neutral, renewable energy. Bills C-48 and 69 come to mind. Given our provinces global greenhouse gas emissions amount to 0.5%, getting to zero would literally mean shutting Albertans down.  

‘S’ is all about giving someone a job who does not qualify for the job but they check a box (or 2 or 3) and help fill a quota. Throwing meritocracy out the window, these social policies are designed to fit hand in glove with DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), which not only stalls growth and production, it is an HR nightmare.

‘G’ focuses on executive leadership and basically how the company is structured. What it really means is the CEO and his team had better tow the party line and abide by whatever the government throws their way, or else. In short, via policy and legislation, the government is in charge of all future planning with a little built in self-censoring.

When the government takes over planning to become the ‘central planner’ that is not good and our federal government has embraced it with full force. They decide what comes in, what goes out, what gets built, and what gets shut down. This is why we have seen an exodus of investment dollars. That the federal government does not want another pipeline to the west coast is also not surprising. They bought one and do not want competition. As central planner, there is also a move toward nationalizing everything possible. Today they call it subsidies and capital investment; tomorrow they will call it nationally owned.  

As if that were not enough, the federal government took the added step of flooding us with immigrants and refugees from carefully chosen countries. Some came in dressed as foreign students or temporary foreign workers. Others just came. This week we learned that upon arrival, all claimants have to do is download an app, identify as a refugee, and come on in. Why does this matter? Because our already strained resources, including tax dollars, can not sustain this. Not to mention we do not even know who these people are!   

Managed decline and central planning are the friend of Ottawa and enemy of Alberta. What seems to go unnoticed is how resilient Albertans have been through it all, which is both good and bad. It is good because it confirms our strength and resolve. It is bad because that strength and resolve have worked against us. Our resiliency is causing us to take longer to hit the bottom, making it hard for many to see what is actually happening. 

The federal government is using managed decline to usher in a fascist state. Hence the term ‘nation building’, and that is not good.

Sometime in the Spring, we are going to have an opportunity, very likely our ONLY opportunity, to vote our way out of this.

We can't screw this up.  

Good News!!! The early majority are ready and the late majority are now exploring the idea. How do I know this? Have I got a story for you!

Amongst the crowd at a recent APP event was a man with questions. He found some answers but came away wanting more information and an idea as to how to get it. A friend introduced us, the following week he held a public event, and I was invited to be one of the presenters. The topic: should we stay or should we go.

Because it is imperative to meet people where they are at, I chatted extensively with my host before the event in order to know my audience and come prepared. Very much on the left side of the political spectrum, as were those he was inviting, it only made sense to changed up my presentation a bit to suit their thought process and speak to what is important to them. My hope was the already converted in attendance would find the information useful as well.

The coin was tossed and I got to present first.

While describing how the Westminster System is designed, two young men became so offended they grabbed their backpacks and left. The truth can be uncomfortable. Especially when it goes against everything you were taught, or weren’t taught but believed. Unfortunately, the offenses didn’t stop there.

With slides to confirm facts, I pointed out that Alberta’s total global greenhouse gas emissions amount to 0.5%. That same slide listed the top ten global emitters with Canada in #11 place at 1.41%. Suggesting we could double production, raising our provinces GHG emissions to just 1% (which is still very negligible on a global scale), we could then sell that increased production to China, the US, and India so they wouldn’t need to use coal anymore. The realized benefit would be a significant decrease in their GHG emissions by multiple percents and we could have better schools and hospitals. A win-win.

There were definitely skeptics in the front row, but I had their attention.

Next stop, Germany.

Germany was in trouble because it went ‘green’ too quick with no plan should things go wrong, and go wrong it did. Pointing out our Prime Minister declared there was ‘no business case’ to help our fellow man in their greatest time of need touched a nerve or two.

It felt like we were getting somewhere so I tried to bring it all together.

Given our own country has landlocked us via bills 48 and 69, the only way we could possibly help the environment and those who desperately need what we have is to remove ourselves from Confederation. Though this very tough crowd wasn’t happy with that suggestion, they couldn’t argue it either.

In what is becoming the norm, no one was willing to represent the ‘stay’ side. To the hosts credit, rather than not have the event, he took the role on himself which was no small task. His daily focus is environmentalism, not Alberta secession. Being very new to the independence conversation, he admitted he did not have enough time to prepare and, therefore, not a lot to share but would do his best. Frankly, he deserves a standing ovation for that.  

Well into the evening now, the question of ‘why stay’ remained unanswered. A gentleman from the crowd offered to give it a go and this was my favorite part of the evening. Bravely and valiantly, he tried hard to come up with reasons but couldn’t, and finally admitted so. Struggling to reconcile that in his own mind, I asked him if we could continue talking it through together in front of everyone. Maybe collectively we could come up with at least one reason to stay. He graciously agreed and we had a lovely back and forth that quickly became the best conversation I have ever had on the subject. Respectful, cordial, it was wonderful. We shook hands after and chatted again when the event was over. 

The group conversation moved to equalization payments. We talked about how they work and who was going to pay the bills if our oil and gas stayed in the ground (spoiler alert… nobody). We also discussed the trials and tribulations around the social state of the country. Oddly enough, despite being on opposite sides of the Alberta Independence discussion, I realized there was more common ground between us than not. For example:

1)      Very few people think Confederation actually works well. It really is the elephant in the room.

2)      No one can give a reason as to why we should stay or how we can make things better.

3)      The unknowns are the deterrent. Confused minds can’t/won’t make a decision which is why some choose to ignore the issue.  

4)      That said, most reasonable people really do want to talk about it. What they don’t want is confrontation.

To that last point, within the independence movement are some who… how do I say this nicely… can be a little too emotive while trying to communicate their argument. Civil conversations turn into a boisterous homily about who is ‘right’, followed by accusatory statements flying in all directions, and it’s just ugly. Unfortunately, that happened at this event providing a perfect public display of how conservatives tend to ‘eat our own’. This was not lost on the audience for whom the event was originally intended.

Sadly, it is very possible the actions of these few lost us votes on that referendum and I share this experience with everyone as a loud reminder that this is not the time for personal agendas. With so much on the line, this is no time to lose the plot.