What Matters to You – November 8, Lest we Forget

Remembrance Day 2022

The Speaker of the House held a Remembrance Day service in the Legislature at the rotunda the first week of November, and my schedule allowed me to attend. The transition from fall to winter is always bittersweet this time of year. How similar it is when we remember our fallen soldiers. Our country is young, but we have always fought way above our weight class. When the times were the direst, regular citizens stepped forward to serve in our country’s Armed Forces, to fight on foreign shores to defend the freedoms and values that we hold near and dear to our hearts.

Freedom is Never Free

Our country was founded on several principles – fairness, freedom, and democracy- the foundations for which we sent our sons and daughters to fight and die. Freedom is never free; it is fragile, and its flames must be fanned, protected, fed, and nurtured. Those, both foreign and domestic, work to erode so many of our freedoms. Many have given up their freedoms for the common good the last few years due to the pandemic. Some would like to extend the voluntary, and what was meant to be temporary, suspension of freedoms to further their own agendas. This is extremely disconcerting to me, as it is with many freedom-loving Albertans.

I wonder how they would have felt if one of our very own Albertans who organized a civil protest had been incarcerated for several months without bail for mischief. I wonder how they would have felt when a former Premier, the last surviving signatory of our Constitution, had to engage in a lawsuit to defend the Constitution itself.

Veterans Rejected by The Prime Minister

I’ve heard from several Veterans who are very concerned about how they have been treated and what the current Federal Government has done to our country. Those who were injured while serving their county, who are now seeking the services that should be there to support them, were told by our Prime Minister that there was just nothing left to give to them. Meanwhile, his government is running up a deficit that eclipses all previous Prime Ministers combined, including those of WW1 and WW2. This reckless abandonment of fiscal policy has us dealing with the real and pressing challenges of runaway inflation.

Federal Goverment Out of Touch

Apparently, budgets do not balance themselves, as our PM had famously stated several years back. If you are in a tight spot trying to make ends meet, according to our finance minister and Deputy PM, all we need to do is ‘cut out our Disney Plus subscription’. Heaven forbid they kill their carbon levy or suspend it on fuel for our vehicles and heating for our homes. They are simply out of touch with reality, with what people across Canada are facing, and how we all are being challenged to simply make ends meet and raise our families.

It’s Up To Us To Challenge the Powers Because We Remember

I believe in our Constitution. I believe in what Northwestern Canada represents and what it can become. I believe that our corner of the country is still something that our Veterans of days gone by could recognize, something that they fought for, a place they could be proud of. I believe that we need to honor their memory and understand that our freedoms are precious and need to be protected. I believe it is up to us to remember that: to always question the why, when others may want to suspend our freedoms. I believe it’s up to us to challenge the powers that be and go back to where we have conceded to authority to ensure we indeed keep what is ours. Canada is in better shape when it is full of strong-willed, free-minded, resilient, self-reliant people, and then by extension, so does the rest of the world. We see full well that others in the world will not think twice about taking from each other if they are weak and divided from within. 

Saying a Kind “Hello!”

I wish to thank all those who served in our forces, those who still serve, and those who gave their lives over several generations so that many of us have peace; we have freedoms that many countries could only dream of. I would also encourage all that may read this: if you see a serving member of our Armed Forces, say a kind ‘hello’, and thank them sincerely. I’d also encourage you to read our Constitution, to think of Canada you remember most fondly, and to do what you can to ensure that we remain the ‘true north, strong and free’ for generations to come. We owe it to those who gave their lives for our country and the generations to follow.

Sincerely,

Shane Getson