Hello Chestermere! I am sorry for missing you last week, and I hope you have had a wonderful, though very smoky August.
I am as always so humbled by so many people who do such amazing work for our community, and in doing so brings together the spirit of our community, our openness to new ideas, brings culture into our lives, and helps us to grow together.
I was so happy to attend the Show ‘n Shine at the Rec Centre, It was a bit cool in the morning but Mother Nature blessed the Chestermere Show N Shine with a great afternoon. Over 200 cars were on display and a bunch of money was raised for some great causes: Easter Seals Camp Horizon, the Chestermere Food Bank, and the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre.
For those of you not familiar with AARC it is a privately funded organization that helps youth with addiction issues. Dr. Dean Vause, the founder of AARC, calls addiction “The Equal Opportunity Destroyer” and he’s right. It can happen to anyone. Easter Seals Camp Horizon provides an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors to people with disabilities, and anyone who lives in Chestermere knows the good work that the Food Bank does for our neighbours experiencing a rough patch in their lives.
Thanks to John Kittler from Dockside Bar and Grill, the title sponsor and the “voice” of the Show N Shine (and no, we didn’t get sick of your voice), the Lakeside Kruzers Car Club, the rest of the great sponsors, and all the exhibitors who paid to put their vehicles on display. As John said, without them “We would be looking at an empty field”. Thanks to all the volunteers who made things run smoothly. Special thanks to everyone who showed up, bought 50:50 tickets from the “PinUp Girls”, and donated in other ways to these great charities.
Also congratulations to the organizers of our first Pride Week in the Park. Love, community and acceptance was the theme and there was incredible entertainment, and a wonderful BBQ. Thank you to all the incredible volunteers and to the City of Chestermere for supporting this wonderful event and the painting of the sidewalks on August 23, 2018. We have pictures of all these events and more on our Facebook.
I was honoured to attend a “blessing to the land” (Bhumi Pujan) for the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha Inc (BAPS) for a new Mandir that will be built just South of Cross Iron Mills. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers, and to president Chandrakant Sachdev and Hemant Gadhia for the invitation.
On average these days, due to demand, oil is at about $60 per barrel. That is for West Texas Intermediate. This is good, because our economy will always benefit from higher and more stable oil prices. So what does that mean for you, the average Albertan? Well, as the economy improves, hopefully around your dinner tables, we see more employment, and even more importantly, the quality of those jobs. This is where we see issues. Check out this article from the CBC news “Alberta’s slowly recovering economy a challenge for many, ATB report says”: (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-economy-atb-financial-todd-hirsch-growth-gdp-jobs-employment-1.4798157). We are seeing a rise in part time jobs, but we are seeing obvious declines in investment in Canada, and especially Alberta, and with trade negotiations at a stand still with our biggest trading partner the USA, we have to demand that our present governments both provincially and federally, explain to Canadians what the vision is?
I am completely at a loss at this moment to understand why how politicized pipelines have become. Pipelines have become a social issue where the National Energy Board is being replaced by an Impact Assessment Act, which is already stopping investment due to uncertainty. Why are still importing oil from Saudi Arabia. We could use our own oil, keep billions of dollars in Canada where it belongs, supply our own country, refine our own product, build our own national infrastructure, lower emissions by producing ourselves and by not buying from a country that has lower standards both environmentally and with respect to human rights. We have an incredible opportunity to build Canada and elevate our own country? Why are we not jumping onto building energy east? We need to revive this national infrastructure. What an opportunity for national unity, prosperity, and pride. Our Premier can not just use words to defend our industry. She can not just speak out against her leader Jagmeet Singh and expect to inspire the masses. This is such an amazing opportunity for Alberta to demand that the federal government get Energy East built and let’s get our beautiful, clean and environmentally conscious product to the East and lets start rebuilding our province and our country. Let’s get our products to the coasts so that we can compete with carbon leakage, and let’s get Canada to the rest of the world. This must be our mandate. We must be stronger, and we must stand up for ourselves. Our Premier calling out Jagmeet Singh does nothing to elevate our province or the responsibility she has to our citizens, and for Canadian prosperity. It is time to draw talent, and investment back to our province. It is time for certainty, and you as an electorate have the right to demand that from your elected officials. The Provincial Government is not responsible for low oil prices, but bad policy such as the royalty review, the Climate Leadership Action Plan, the PPA debacle, the cap on the oilsands, the Premier calling her own province, the people who elected her “Embarrassing Cousins”, or not standing up at the Paris talks for the very resources that supply us with our standard of living, schools, hospitals, and roads is not going to elevate, it just destroys the morale of a province that has always been able to turn itself around regardless of the government of the day. As always we love to hear from you.
