What Matters to You – Our Western Culture

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I’m off again, heading down to the USA, Madison, Wisconsin, to take some training from the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development. Quite the honor, as typically only one legislator is selected from the member states and provinces each year. With the Covid Craziness, we could not travel, and the courses were postponed. The Council of State Governments selected me as a candidate, and it was carried over so I could go.

I look forward to every opportunity to learn more and connect with my American colleagues.

Economic corridors and Alberta’s secret recipe

I was asked yesterday to give an update at the 18th Annual Federation of Gas Co-Ops golf tournament on what we, as a government, have been doing regarding economic corridors. As many of you know, I’ve been working on this file since I was first elected, and the model is gaining some serious traction. The concept is evolving into the solution for the need for a “Fortress North America” by which we are self-sufficient and tighten up our supply chains and trading partners to ensure we have food, energy, and logistics security. Although the concept is not new, it has become relevant in today’s global affairs. How critical are our supply chains? The rail strike is once again going to show all of us how little redundancy or capacity we have in the system. Simply put, we must ensure we have pathways to build linear infrastructure of all types. We need to ensure that we have redundancy and capacity in the system.
Strangely enough, it’s not necessarily the idea that brings attention to the model, the logical extension of Alberta being a logistical hub or the natural choice of supply for energy. I consider it my duty to communicate the idea to my fellow American policymakers and legislatures. It comes back to basics, personalities, and good old-fashioned human interaction. As Albertans, we have a secret recipe that sets us apart from many others. It’s our authenticity, our Western culture. You can’t fake authenticity, and those who are not afraid to speak with folks about where they come from, what we’ve accomplished, and what our sites set on strike a chord with many. It’s genuine, it’s honest, and it resonates.

About that culture thing again, so why is it that if strangers from not only the USA but from Europe, Central America, and East Asia like who we are, how we carry ourselves and are energized when we have conversations with them, why is it that our own culture is being targeted from our PM of the present?

I know I’m not the only one wondering that. We indeed have a Western culture and are unique in our own way. After all, we are the Strong and Free Province. The late Rex Murphy said something along these lines: if you don’t know that Alberta is different, you have never been there or had the fortune of meeting someone from Alberta. We work hard, play hard, and love hard. We care about ourselves and others, especially when they have an emergency. Rex pointed out the authentic connection between Newfoundland and Alberta, which was not superficial. It was through our genuine human connections, from helping real people when they needed it the most.

As I’ve said a few times, our fellow Canadians are moving to Alberta at record rates. One gent and his wife I’d recently met sold their farm in Ontario and struck out west. He said, “He had finally found his kind of people.” He felt free again like there was still a piece of Canada he could call home.

What is an Western Mounted Shooting Competition?

A friend I had known since grade 1 invited me to his “Stomping Grounds,” an open-air riding arena on his farm. He was hosting a Western Mounted Shooting event. In its simplest terms, you ride as fast as you should through an obstacle course on a horse and pop balloons at each one of the obstacle stations as you ride by. Revolvers, Lever action Rifles, and Break action Shotguns shoot blank cartridges with black powder, which pops the balloons when the hot grains make contact. It’s a thing of beauty.

Not only did they see the cowboy or cowgirl with their horses in action, but they also saw the camaraderie they all had and the next three generations of Albertans there helping out or getting involved. We share this sport with the USA, and when folks compete on this side of the 49th, their timed scores are recorded so they, too, can head down south and compete.

This sport literally is on the chopping block with what the Liberal government has done regarding gun laws. Kids and adults can’t get into it, and those who already are can’t buy new revolvers in case they want to upgrade or replace. It is not as if they didn’t plead their case down east, and it’s not like the gun rights actions groups didn’t make fantastic arguments, nor even our own Chief Firearms Officer. They simply fell on deaf ears… our culture, our heritage, does not matter to them or as much as others.

It is a crying shame and is not right.

Last, but not in the least

I’d ask everyone who reads this to remember who we are, warts and all, mistakes and accomplishments and what makes us “Western Canadians”. I’d ask you to remember what it is and how special it is to be in this province: free-spirited, risk-taking, gritty, caring, kind, honest, and hardworking. Where a handshake still means something. Having a little mud on your boots is okay because the person wearing them is what’s important. Hold your head high, and don’t let others knock you down or make you feel less because we don’t have or deserve our own ability to cherish and express our culture and heritage. It’s quite the opposite. In this world, the state we find ourselves in, a little more Alberta, is what our country and trading partners need, not less. I am proud to be heading down to Madison, Wisconsin, to represent our province, to make new friends, to tell our story, and to leave a little piece of Alberta there when I leave.

Stay strong, Stay Free. And I’ll continue to care about “what matters to you”!

Sincerely,

Shane Getson