What to Hell Happened to Alberta

[grassfarmer]

Forage, I'm pleased to see eager young activists like
yourself. I've always considered myself one too but
I'm starting to doubt how much we can achieve with
the populace we have in AB. Problem is rural
landowners are a tiny minority of the Province's
population. Democracy functions at minimal levels by
Government supplying what the majority want (or are
happy to go along with).
To achieve the result wanted by the minority (even if
their cause is just) they must punch far above their
weight which in this era means reaching mainstream
media attention on a regular basis to get the chance
to tell their story. It has to become a media "burning
issue".
To do that you need something dramatic. I have a
good friend up here who is also an activist in all these
issues. After the BIG-C rally in Ponoka post BSE a
group of us were discussing the evenings events and
he said he would lead a march of 1000 producers to
blockade the Cargill plant at High River to get the
media attention we needed at the time but he
wouldn't lead a march of 200. Apart from him and I
we came up 998 volunteers short that night.

We organised a meeting on fraccing last spring and
had a room full of folks drink our coffee, eat the
cookies and nod their heads in agreement with the
speakers. When we moved to formulating a plan of
action my friend again volunteered to take his tractor
and lead a blockade of a well site as long as 200
would follow him - he wouldn't do it with 20 people
behind him. Again there were no volunteers. We have
had confidential talks with between 10-20 people in
this area that have lost their water wells or had them
contaminated due to fraccing and not one is prepared
to allow their story to become public.

As I said before talk is cheap - unless people are
prepared to actually stand up for themselves nothing
will change. This Government knows that and will
continue to walk all over our rights until we
collectively grow a spine and do something.

Even if we get the property rights issues into the
mainstream medias eye that still doesn't guarantee
that a lot of the population will take up our cause. As
long as most guys get paid as much as they do in our
oil economy they aren't going to rock the boat. Only
when their water is contaminated or their kids water
runs dry will they realize and by then it's too late.
I'm mighty disillusioned at trying to change things in
AB. Maybe like HT likes to tell me you were all
managing just fine before us smart outsiders came
along and we should maybe just go home?

[ASRG]

grassfarmer: Jan said the same thing about blocking the Cargill gate at Innisfail......and yea I think I was one of the very few who put his hand up.....and I meant it!
We very well might be fighting a losing battle.....I know at times everyone in our group gets discouraged. Sometimes I get so disgusted with apathetic people I just want to scream....and I wonder why in the hell am I doing this? These guys don't give a rip....why am I fighting their battles when they don't seem to care?
At the end of the day I figure....well when the day comes when I meet my maker...at least I can say I tried?
.......hopefully that will be enough to get this old sinner a favourful nod!

[forage]

Grassfarmer , I don't know where you are from but it is hard to convince ranchers to stand up an fight unless they are in a bar and had a few beer under their belts. Landowner in the central and southern part of province spent endless hours convincing people to vote out the old PC hacks , including contacting friends and relatives that live in the urban sitting. This is the campaign we need to proceed with again. Everone has to be convinced to write letters to editor in every newspaper in the provie. Our northern counterparts need to do the same. Head to MLAs that are in PC ridings and convince them this is a Bill that has to be completely removed or completely re written with input from landowners . Lets stop relying a select few to carry the load. Short of getting a horse again and riding into Calgary we may have to take Redford's bull shit fork away and concentrate on her riding office for media events.

ASRG there isn't any offspring planned for a while, may have to move to Quebec to educate them how to stand up against government.

[per]

Forage, you are welcome to attend our board meeting in Pincher Creek on the 26th and I assure you Bill 2 will be a topic of conversation. I too was in Vulcan and hold out a remote amount of hope the Energy Minister heard some of what we had to say. At least he answers our questions. This Bill was introduced to the leg this session. It takes time for us volunteer organizations to get saddled up and going down the correct trail.

[smcgrath76]

Just an additional note - often a direct
message to your MLA will carry more
impact than relying strictly on a group
like ABP or WSG (even in Northern AB).
It is very important to work through
groups like this as well, but make sure
you don't abdicate your personal
responsibility. It is often easier to
skirt a group as the group doesn't
physically vote, but it is hard to get
around individual members of the group.

[ASRG]

sean: uh....ABP...really? Do you really think they will oppose this?

[forage]

Per Where in pincher creek and what time and what Board , I am assuming it is wsg.
I have contacted over 45 friends and relatives on this Bill 2 and 90% were unaware ,well kept secret. It takes at least 5 to 10 minutes to explain extactly what is all about but it is like a pyramid scheme you ask them to get in contact with their neightbors,friends etc and have them contact their MLA's . The only problem being is most of mlas in southern and central are against this powerhouse bill. So you are talking to the converted. I only wonder it the PC govenment reads any of our posting? Only if there are key words like REDFORD what to hell are you doing to property rights, Redford have you sold your soul to agenda 21. Well must get out and move some heifers arround.

[rkaiser]

There are some philosophical issues in this thread that I simply could not ignore.

Have mass demonstrations ever truly worked to steer democracy in the past or even now. Has anyone even heard about the 2000 young people arrested in Rome a couple of days ago. We like to compare froward movement in other countries to what we "could" be doing at home. And if the masses are not behind this action ---- "it is their fault?"

Don't get me wrong, I have tried the leadership approach from a revolutionary standpoint myself. Has it worked? Not really. Has it worked for America to stand up against tyranny and horrendous belief systems? Not really. Fighting anything with "war" seems to have a temporary affect, however long term stable change usually comes from positive forward action. I think that names like Nelson Mandela and Ghandi represent long term, sustainable, conscious change better than Castro, Che Guevara, or any of the European revolutionaries that may be seen as heroes.

There is action that can be taken by each of us so called revolutionaries, however taking the approach of blaming inaction on those with not quite so much "bravery" will get us no where.

Congrats on the marriage forage - it will be whatever you continue to believe it will be.... Each of mine have been.

[per]

Yes Forage the WSGA board meeting will be on Monday at the Golf Coarse in Pincher. Details are being finalized this week but you would be welcome. Boring board stuff at 3 supper and community meeting after supper. You would be welcome to join us at any time. There are also other parallel things going on like the Land Use meetings which we have certainly participated. We have read several law reviews and met with several MLA's separately as well in Vulcan with the minister. In order to affect change we need to first have a full understanding of everything this involves. We welcome you input and continue to cooperate with many of the other groups you mentioned. Give me a call if you like later in the week and I will give you firm details on the meeting or call our office.

[smcgrath76]

ASRG - I don't believe ABP will work on this issue too hard, but a lot of
producers will likely believe that they are and feel no need for further action.
There are a lot of land/energy/environmental issues on the agenda right now in AB
and they are pretty volatile. The secretive approach to developing and passing
legislation is working pretty well for this government, so I doubt that they will
change it much in the next several years. It will be a horse that is hard to put
back in the barn once it is done.
I think at this point the best thing a lot of us can do is make sure
friends/neighbours are aware of Bill 2 and what is going on, at least to the point
of helping them to seek out more information. The SSW item is a huge one, and I
think they are hoping it will follow the track of the Athabasca. The NSW will
then just have to fall in line...
I honestly believe most Albertans are moderates (despite what we say) and the
militant approach may be counterproductive in those who choose not to be informed
so far. Randy might be right on this one.