What Matters to You – The Counter Narrative: Things are not adding up, and folks know it

Have you ever had that feeling that someone was pulling your leg? Did you realize it immediately, or did they give you a sign that something wasn’t right and let you in on the joke? When it is a friend, family member or co-worker, the vast majority of the time, it is done in a good spirit, having fun because they like you. When it’s done in a mean spirit to take advantage of you, it’s called lying and frowned upon. It’s called stealing when it’s done with malicious intent, and they deprive you of your property or wealth. So why is it when the federal government is doing it? It’s called fighting climate change.

Things are not adding up here, and their narrative is so out to lunch on so many policies that world leaders are bypassing them entirely and are coming directly to speak with us. The world needs clean and ethical energy, and they are speaking directly with us because they, too, are not buying what our PM of the present and his green gremlin minister of the environment are selling. There is indeed a business model for getting LNG to Europe!

Alberta is the Hydrogen World Leader, yet the feds’ narrative sounds differently!

Alberta is a world leader in hydrogen, and the Canadian Global Hydrogen Conference was just recently held in Edmonton. This event has taken off, and folks from all over the world come here to learn from each other, demonstrate their innovations, and sign deals. The event allowed us to meet in person to sidestep all of the false narratives and the “No Business Case” rhetoric we heard espoused by the PM regarding our energy file. Germany, Greece, and, most recently, Poland have expressed a real interest in obtaining LNG from Alberta and Canada as a whole.

There is a business case and a need, and despite what false narrative you may have heard, we can be a big player on the world stage. Indeed, when we have NATO partners wanting to secure their energy lines, we should quite frankly feel compelled to do all we can to provide that secure supply. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Corridor Development, reporting directly to the Premier, I, she, and our caucus take this very seriously.

We can beat the feds narrative: we can!

Another thing that does not add up is the hyper-partisan noise when it comes to the cause of not only the change in the weather but also fires. El Nino and La Nina have been documenting shifts in weather patterns for years, and we know that these shifts indeed affect our weather… and it’s been happening forever. Hearing the opposition scoff at such things in the house while they yell frantically about the “Climate Crisis” being the direct cause of our forest and white zone fires is bizarre, to say the least. Their solution is to tax you more to change the weather. Like taking money out of your pockets and putting it into theirs will change the temperature outside… wild. Our solution is to educate folks so they stop starting fires, throw resources at fighting them when they happen, and punish those starting them with willful negligence or intent.

However, we can adapt to changing conditions and build our structures to become more resilient to changes. I strongly believe in the Economic Corridor model, and I firmly believe that it will bring infrastructure for transporting goods and services, energy, food products, and water. I believe we have a chance to start building our irrigation networks along the corridors from the northern part of our province to the south, which will not only meet the present needs but also build that resilience for future generations. Food security is a big deal, and ensuring we have access to water won’t be nice; it will be a must. Further to that, we have a chance to ensure that industrial uses for water are considered and that there is a trend towards a closed loop, not an open loop system. Meaning that they reduce and reuse their fresh water as much as possible.

When we meet with global leaders, they like what we are doing here, where we are going, and what we say. There isn’t a bunch of fluff. They are always impressed by our “Make It Happen” attitudes and our openness to talk about the good things we are doing and have done and our lessons learned. We are “genuine” as one delegate put it, putting everyone at ease instantly. In a day and age where there is so much “Fake News” and “Plastic People” it is a refreshing change for them to meet with us. You can’t fake authenticity, and from what I’ve seen so far, breaking down the barriers comes back to being ourselves. That’s precisely what leaders from around the world are looking for.

We work to ink economic ties

I look forward to sharing many more updates with you as we start getting some memorandums of understanding inked at the sub-national level with other states/provinces in our own country and those in the USA and worldwide. It’s a strategy that works and connects us at a more personal level, and with that, we are able to build long-standing working relationships. Folks have asked me how they can get involved in this, and I always say the same thing. Be yourself, and don’t hold back from sharing your successes and those of your friends, families, and neighbors with others. Promote each other and share that with those you may meet from other areas.

Keep positive and devise ways to solve the problems that may come your way.

We will keep doing the same on our end and standing up to the false narratives out there because the world is tired of hearing them, and they are coming our way to have an old-fashioned conversation about what matters to you.

Sincerely,

Shane Getson

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