Hello Chestermere! It is wonderful to see the sun after all that rain, although my ankles have been ravaged by mosquitos! It is lovely to see many of you out and about enjoying the outdoors. This last week Chestermere hosted a fabulous event called “Teeyan Mela Da”. This Punjabi celebration is a wonderful opportunity for women to gather and celebrate the festival of Teej which is the beginning of the monsoon. The festival is dedicated to women and focuses on daughters and sisters. There is so much great music, vendors and of course great food. This is a wonderful tradition that brings out so much talent and even if you don’t think you can dance, you will definitely be participating in the Bhangra with your sisters all around you! I would like to personally thank Minister Sawney for attending on my behalf this year.
I was honoured to be asked to serve as Parade Marshall this past weekend at Langdon Days. Mother Nature blessed us with a stop to the rain and as always the whole town showed up. We buy more candy every year and we still run out! Thanks to the Hopp family from Legacy Ranch for the wagon and the beautiful horses. Mike and Linda Hopp are continuing a family tradition as teamsters. Grandfather Art Hopp, 89 years young, still drives his own team. Look for the Hopps and many other teams at Pioneer Acres, a short drive away in Irricana, for Pioneer Acres’ 50th Anniversary August 9-11. This year’s theme is Horses and Horse Drawn Equipment. There will be dozens and of teams there, “Where History Comes Alive”, celebrating Alberta’s rich equine heritage.
When we read about opposition to pipelines, we should always ask ourselves: “Who benefits?” By forcing Alberta to sell at a discount to the US we are benefitting US energy interests at our expense. But there is another side to this story. Numerous studies have shown that pipelines are the safest and equally importantly, least expensive means of getting our oil and gas to where it is needed. Remember, high energy costs disproportionately impact those with lower incomes such as seniors. Well-funded environmental activists along with the politicians that pander to them are really mounting an attack on the most vulnerable members of our society. Who funds these groups? In many cases it is US based foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation. Even in the US people are starting to ask: “Who benefits from opposition to pipelines?” I read an interesting article this week by Jesse Grady in Townhall.com. The article is called “Billionaires Are Behind Efforts to Slow America’s Energy Infrastructure”. What is most interesting is that activist groups are not only lobbying against new infrastructure, but are against upgrading and fixing old infrastructure. Sound familiar? The group featured in the article is working to delay Line 3 which heavily impacts Canada. Our pipelines are built and are ready to go at Gretna, Manitoba, but have been delayed on the American side. You can read the article at:
https://townhall.com/columnists/jessegrady/2019/07/20/billionaires-are-behind-efforts-to-slow-americas-energy-infrastructure-n2550279.
Vivian Krause has been researching this issue for years calling out the US funded “Tar Sands Campaign”, a direct assault on Alberta’s prosperity. We have seen them target Northern Gateway, Energy East and Keystone XL. This is a full-on attack of our natural resources both oil and gas. They have also worked to influence our Federal Elections as detailed in this May 23, 2017 National Post article:
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/millions-in-foreign-funds-spent-in-2015-federal-election-to-defeat-harper-government-report-alleges
Our current Prime Minister was a direct beneficiary of these campaigns and it is interesting that experts have said the new rules surrounding election financing are riddled with loopholes which will allow foreign money to be used to try to subvert the upcoming Federal election. Again, ask yourself: “Who benefits?” Previous Alberta governments have not stood up to these groups, but I can guarantee you we will! It is imperative that we fight these groups with legal action and fight for our market access. As always we love to hear from you!
