“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

Alberta is a strange place.

Anyone who’s driven to Alberta through the Crowsnest Pass has seen the famous Limber Tree, a gnarled and twisted old pine clinging to life that’s said symbolizes the tenacity and resilience of Albertans in the face of adversity.

I remember the first time I visited the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and saw a huge diorama of an Alberta family standing in front of its rundown homestead in the depths of the Great Depression and of the dozen or so people standing there only two were wearing shoes. That stopped me in my shoes as I reflected on the hardships of that dire era and how far Albertans have come since then.

It wasn’t easy though and it took almost three generations of twists and turns and strange doings before Alberta became the affluent, economic powerhouse it is today even during pandemic times and low oil prices.

Of course, some Albertans don’t see it that way and believe that once again they’re living in tough times and losing their independence and being exploited by cruel and greedy governments of all stripes that are taking away their precious freedoms.

To this claim, many Canadians ask “come again?” and I don’t blame them. But many don’t know or understand Alberta’s bizarre political history that held Wild Rose country back for decades.

In the “Dirty ‘30s.” Albertans elected a strange group of political and religious fanatics known as Social Credit led by William Aberhart, an odd duck and deeply devout radio evangelist who swept into power in 1935.

Known everywhere as “Bible Bill,” he tried for a decade to turn Alberta into a political theocracy and to some degree succeeded until he was slapped down by the federal government, and the courts, for his wild political and financial schemes like censoring newspapers that criticized his regime and inventing his own money.

In a flawed but honest attempt to pull Alberta out of the tentacles of the Great Depression, Aberhart instituted “prosperity certificates” worth $25 to give poverty-stricken Albertans more purchasing power when many were on the verge of starvation. The certificates quickly became known as “funny money” and were just as quickly made illegal by Ottawa which was in no mood to countenance this wacky outburst of Western populism.

Despite this, Aberhart’s Social Credit successors remained in power in Alberta until 1971 and even formed a government in B.C. in 1952 that dominated B.C. politics for more than 30 years.

Social Credit governments have long since died in both provinces, but it’s strange brew of fiscal conservatism, social conservatism and a dollop of old-time religion never died out in both provinces and is best seen today in what was once the Wild Rose Party in Alberta, but is now the United Conservative Party (UCP) led by Danielle Smith. But the strangeness never ended.

How strange?

Well, last week an 11-minute video was released of Premier Smith talking to Pastor Artur Pawlowski, one of her constituents, who happens to be under house arrest at the moment for participating in an anti-vaccine dustup that occurred at the Coutts border crossing Feb. 2022, which resulted in more than a dozen arrests and the seizure of a cache of weapons, ammunition and body armour.

In the conversation, Smith gave Pawlowski the impression that she might be able to get the charges against him dropped or pardoned. In the March 29 Calgary Herald, veteran columnist Don Braid said the recorded video call broke every journalistic rule and legal protocol on the books.

“What on earth is the premier of Alberta doing engaging in a long conversation with a man facing serious charges, during which the accused pressures her to get his charges dropped?” So wrote Braid incredulously.

As someone who lived in Alberta for almost five years and edited a health care magazine there for more than three years, I got to know Albertans quite well. Yes, they drive fast, can be pushy at times and are hard workers to a fault. But they aren’t stupid!

Yet many in B.C. seem to think so and keep telling me that Smith and her UCP fanatics are going to win the next Alberta election. And in response, I say that’s about as likely as Vladimir Potin winning a Ukrainian popularity contest.

Hear it here first. Smith will lose big in the May 29 provincial election and hopefully a semblance of sanity will return to Alberta politics. It’s long overdue.

Lead image: The Burmis Tree in Crowsnest Pass before being braced. Carrie Schafer/Through My Eyes Photography image

Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who has a bad habit of making predictions. And some even come true.

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