“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

A number of years ago, I had an experience I’ll never forget. It happened in a museum of all places and it taught me something about politics and how quickly we can forget.

I was in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary trying to get away from the noise and pandemonium downtown and seeking a quiet refuge to gather my thoughts and escape the busy din outside. Instead, I found myself standing in front of a giant mural – a huge photo enlargement – of a prairie dustbowl scene showing a tattered farming family standing in front of their dilapidated farmhouse as a howling wind blew clouds of swirling dust in their weathered faces.

The picture must have been taken during the mid-30s when the Great Depression was at its peak and looking at it you could almost feel the despair of the downtrodden farm folk. There was more than a dozen of them – young, old and every age between –  and they were standing  grimly like Gothic statues in front of their wooden hovel which looked ready to collapse at any moment. Such a sad scene, I thought to myself. Times were tough then. Then I noticed something that almost had me in tears.

Only two members of the rugged rural family were wearing shoes!

I thought for a moment and then reached the obvious conclusion. They couldn’t afford shoes. And who was wearing footwear? That was obvious too. The shoes (actually boots) were on the feet of the two biggest men in the picture and without being too “woke” I can assure you this has nothing to do with gender bias. Boots were a necessity to work outside, especially in the prairie winter when temperatures often plunged to 40 below or colder in those early days of climate change.

But one way or the other they did survive and a couple of generations later Albertans, and most other Canadians, are doing quite well thank you. In fact, many Albertans are richer than the rest of us because the province is rich in oil, natural gas and agricultural products eagerly sought by the rest of the world. This will be the case for years to come until they’re phased out – and rightly so – for environmental reasons.

Given such a positive situation, why are we now seeing an ugly surge of Alberta separatism in Wild Rose country? “Alberta wants in” used to be the standard political cliché in Alberta. Now it’s “Alberta wants out.” How did that happen?

While it hasn’t happened yet, but it soon could under Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Act, which has given Albertans a chance to vote for separation in a province-wide referendum while at the same time saying she’s not a separatist herself and would vote to remain in Canada. Pretty tricky, eh?

Smith says Albertan separatists are not a fringe party but “loyal Canadians.” Well, if they’re so loyal, why did she give Wild Rose separatists such an easy way to leave the Great White North? No wonder so many people distrust politicians.

As for former federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, he takes a similar slippery stand on Alberta separatism saying he wants Canada to remain united but claims Ottawa has treated Alberta so harshly over the years “Albertans have a right to be frustrated too.”

But remember what was said at the beginning of this piece. If those shoeless farmers of the “Dirty 30s” could see how well most Albertans live today with the soaring office towers in the big cities and the millions of dollars in high-tech farming machinery parked in front of their often-palatial country homes would they have empathized with the p’oliticians lamenting living conditions in Wild Rose Country today?

Or would they have said quit your whining?

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who had the good judgement to marry an Albertan. 

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