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NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR ENGAGED CITIZENS // OCTOBER 2018 LEGAL CANNABIS Ready or not by Jen Gerson

PLUS: Alberta Trade in the Trump Era by Trevor Tombe Dialogue: $15 Minimum Wage Jack Mintz and Ian Hussey respectfully disagree

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4 OCTOBER 2018

OCTOBER 2018 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 8 NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR ENGAGED CITIZENS

FEATURES DEPARTMENTS Dialogue 30 Letters 8 How will a $15 minimum wage Arts Scene 10 afect Alberta? Ian Hussey and Community Close Up: Jack Mintz respectfully disagree. St. Albert 16 Watchdog: Lorne Gibson, Trade in the Trump Era 34 Election Commissioner 28 In volatile times, Alberta hedges Guide: Art Galleries 47 its bets and looks elsewhere. Meet the Minister: By Trevor Tombe Deron Bilous, Economic Development and Trade 60 Born in Romance 38 34 Banf’s Whyte Museum OPINION celebrates its 50th anniversary. Editorial by Evan Osenton 6 By Steven Ross Smith This Land by Kevin Van Tighem 18 Wit by Fred Stenson 62 Going to Pot 42 Alberta prepares for the BOOK REVIEWS 57 legalization of cannabis. Public Deliberation on Climate By Jen Gerson Change edited by Lorelei L. Hanson, EYE ON ALBERTA 19 reviewed by Rod Ruf The Great Prairie War The Figgs Who would win in a showdown 38 by Ali Bryan, between Alberta and Saskatchewan? reviewed by Jay Smith Cheap Cheese Women Who Dig Jeopardizing NAFTA for 13,500 by Trina Moyles, farmers hurts everybody else reviewed by Sarah Carter Don’t Spoil the Milk The Irrelevance of Space and Opposition to supply management in Other Stories Canada is based on myths by Swapna and Ashis Gupta, Trump Effect reviewed by Jamal Ali Anti-Canada antics are good news Welcome to the Anthropocene for Alberta’s pipeline supporters by Alice Major, Dope Gets My Goat reviewed by Kit Dobson Ticked of or tickled pink over weed …and more 42

albertaviews.ca 5 EDITORIAL EVAN OSENTON

Demonized to Monetized Marijuana’s dizzying makeover.

Liquor Depot, Liquor Barn, Solo Liquor: a display might fall on them. Pot users can freely consume in If our province’s original “sin merchants” have their home (unless they rent) but not their vehicle (unless they anything to teach the ledgling cannabis market, live in it) or most public spaces (except provincial parks). hey it’s that Albertans lock to retailers who promise vast can’t grow more than four plants at home. hese laws will be as quantities of product and a certain joyless consumption— consistently enforced as those for simple possession. the banality of intoxication. With cannabis legal as of this Legalization’s critics say pot-smoking can damage young month (“Going to Pot,” p 42), we can perhaps look forward brains and that checkstop police will struggle to prove to a proliferation of Weed Warehouses, Weed Silos and Weed intoxicated driving (p 44). hey’re right, but these challenges Dumps. Given Solo is Alberta’s largest liquor retailer, the savvy are nothing new. he big unanswered questions are whether weed entrepreneur might opt for Loner Stoner. public consumption will rise or fall as a result of legalization Legal cannabis was unthinkable even as it was inevitable. and how easy it will be for minors to buy cannabis in our wild- he province says 55 per cent of Albertans have west private retail system (inspired by our wild-west consumed pot for recreational purposes, 20 per private liquor system). Over time our pot laws will cent in the previous year alone. he fact that need to evolve. But recriminalization is unlikely if over half of citizens were criminals suggests for no other reason than because myriad law-and- criminalization wasn’t much of a deterrent—and order types took jobs in Big Cannabis, from federal that the unoicial crime rate is about to plummet. Conservatives (Julian Fantino, Gary Goodyear) to Even as laws banning pot possession weren’t widely provincial PC cabinet ministers (Jonathan Denis, enforced (unless you were black or Aboriginal), Lindsay Blackett), municipal chiefs of police and police, lawyers, judges and guards spent whole half a dozen ex-RCMP bosses. he horse has let careers lushing growers and dealers in and out of the barn; the barn has burned down. jails. Families were split up; courts bogged down; his isn’t the end of the debate; we’ve barely wayward youths learned in prison how to become begun to discuss the black market or edible gangsters. (“Sot on crime” magazines decried this wasteful war cannabis or amnesty for prior convictions (fun fact: Canada on drugs. Many conservatives, otherwise in apoplexy about laid 18,000 charges for simple possession of pot in 2016—i.e., MPs expensing $16 glasses of OJ, didn’t seem to mind spending ater an election won partly on a promise to legalize cannabis). billions on fruitless eforts to deter pot consumption.) Meanwhile anyone concerned about the cultural malaise that And so our province enters the era of legal cannabis. For a widespread recreational drug use would seem to imply might lawful product, pot sure does come with a lot of constraints. want to shit their focus to the worst ofender. Rates of child In Calgary, stores can’t be too near a school, emergency shelter, and spouse abuse, car accidents, cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis, childcare space, payday loan company, pawnshop, liquor store— dementia, depression, fetal neurodevelopmental disorders— or another pot store. It’s unclear if the rules are to deter drug use all correlate to alcohol consumption. But our liquor stores or encourage exercise. Meanwhile, children aren’t allowed to are thriving, with their product more ubiquitous and socially accompany parents into a cannabis store, presumably because acceptable than cannabis can ever hope to be. #

ALBERTA VIEWS STAFF

FOUNDER: JACKIE FLANAGAN SUBSCRIPTIONS: Editor Publisher In Canada: $29.99 per year [includes GST]. In US: $50 CDN. EVAN OSENTON BETH ED Visit albertaviews.ca/subscribe, mail a cheque or subscribe by phone. Art Director Circulation Alberta Views is published by Alberta Views Limited Partnership 208–320 23 Ave SW, Calgary AB T2S 0J2 BEATE WICHMANN CHLOE FLANAGAN Alberta Media Fund Phone: 403 243 5334 Toll-free (in Alberta only): 1 877 212 5334 Associate Editor Bookkeeper All requests for permission to reprint should be sent by email to the publisher. TADZIO RICHARDS SELMA WHITE Queries with article proposals should be sent by email to the editor. Printed in Canada. GST Registration No. 89455 6307. ISSN No. 1480-3151. Associate Editor Advertising sales Publications Mail Agreement No. 40024877. MAUREEN MCNAMEE [email protected] Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation department, Factchecker 403 243 5334 208–320 23 Ave SW, Calgary AB T2S 0J2 JOE WILDERSON 1 877 212 5334 Contents copyright 2018.

6 OCTOBER 2018 CONTRIBUTORS

Contributors October 2018

Trevor Tombe (“Trade in the Trump Era,” p 34) is an associate professor of economics at the University of Calgary and a research fellow at he School of Public Policy. His work focuses on a broad range of topics from international trade and public inance to energy and environmental policy.

Steven Ross Smith (“Born in Romance,” p 38) is a poet, iction writer, arts journalist and the Banf poet laureate. He was director of literary arts at he Banf Centre from 2008 to 2014, where, among other things, he curated “In(ter)ventions: Literary Practice at the Edge” and managed Banf Centre Press.

Jen Gerson (“Going to Pot,” p 42) is a freelance journalist based in Calgary. She is a contributing editor at Maclean’s, co-host of the Canadian politics podcast OPPO, a former journalist-in-residence at the University of Calgary’s law faculty, and a one-time writer and editor with the National Post.

Sarah Carter (review of Women Who Dig, p 58) is a professor of history and native studies at the University of Alberta. Her Imperial Plots: Women, Land and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies won the Western Association of Women Historians’ 2017 Gita Chaudhuri Prize.

albertaviews.ca 7 LETTERS

SHOULD PRIVATE SCHOOLS THE PERFORMING ARTS INTERVIEW: MINISTER GET PUBLIC FUNDING? SEASON SPARKLES MARLIN SCHMIDT academic freedom. It contrasts the he title—“Freedom and Loathing”— positions of the Canadian Association suggests that professor Hall has of University Teachers (CAUT) with expressed hatred in his exercise of NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR ENGAGED CITIZENS // SEPTEMBER 2018 that of Universities Canada (UC). academic freedom. As Richards would The UC stresses the “responsibilities of have it, Hall has entered a grey zone academic freedom” in a way that CAUT where it’s hard to know where the line Limits of does not. UC says academic freedom is should be drawn between freedom and “constrained” by these responsibilities. responsibility. I can see how someone Free Speech he article, however, makes it appear could form this impression. But from a that academic freedom and academic study of Hall’s views, and from several A university dispute in Lethbridge responsibility are separate principles long conversations with him, it’s clear puts tenure to the test which sometimes come into conlict. to me that this impression is wrong. Granted, only so much can be An account is given of a False Flag done in a short article. But a stronger Weekly presentation that reinforces

PLUS analysis would spell out how academic the prejudgment many people would

$5.95 DISPLAY UNTIL SEP 17 Neuroscience transforms 09 freedom and academic responsibility have—that Hall is anti-Semitic. he a Blood Reserve school

PM40024877 7 25274 94268 8 are interwoven, each essential to the article depicts Hall as emotional. his other. Academic responsibility requires is accurate. But what is the emotion? acknowledgement of fallibility, which Some conclude it’s hatred seething CONGRATULATIONS TO TADZIO RICHARDS in turn calls for freedom to explore below the surface. hey’re wrong. What for his excellent piece on the alternative views in the search for it really indicates is the stress of being Anthony Hall afair at the University truth. his isn’t to say there’s never any in a red zone of danger, not a grey of Lethbridge and its implications conlict, but such conlicts need to be zone. he grey zone is on the border (“Freedom and Loathing in understood in the context of the nature of being anti-social. he red zone is Lethbridge,” September 2018). It’s the of knowledge and the common root of well over the border, beyond what is most balanced piece I’ve read on this both principles. normally socially accepted. It’s the zone case. I especially appreciate that it gives In his article, Turk draws attention of raising “deeply disturbing questions Hall his fair due. to this interweaving, quoting the and provocative challenges to the One small point: Framing the issue University of Toronto’s statement cherished beliefs of society.” It is a very around the possible limits of free of purpose. he advancement of uncomfortable place. It ills me with speech delects attention away from a knowledge, it says, entails “the right to dismay to see Hall so misunderstood. more important question. Are there raise deeply disturbing questions and he real story is not about the limits to a state’s right to secrecy provocative challenges to the cherished grey zone but about the red zone. regarding its policies, especially foreign beliefs of society at large and of the Unfortunately the University of policies, in the name of national university itself. It is this human right Lethbridge was deceived by a bullying security? Full, open debate over 9/11 to radical, critical teaching and research external lobby that doesn’t want is simply not allowed. Anyone who with which the University has a duty academics to explore the possibility questions the orthodox narrative is above all to be concerned; for there is that we got 9/11 wrong into thinking it quickly dismissed as a conspiracy no one else, no other institution and was dealing with a grey zone case. In its theorist. But certain aspects of the no other oice, in our modern liberal misguided attempt to uphold academic case must be kept secret in the name democracy, which is the custodian of responsibility the U of L failed to protect of national security, or so the oicial this most precious and vulnerable right academic freedom. Without academic thinking goes. Is this legitimate in of the liberated human spirit.” freedom there is no university. a democracy? Are there limits to An example is the question of ANDREW BLAIR, Lethbridge people’s right to know, and if so, under whether the 2001 attack on the World what conditions? Further, under Trade Centre towers was a false lag RE. “FREEDOM AND LOATHING IN what conditions could those original operation for which the wrong people Lethbridge”: Obviously, what constitutes conditions change? were blamed. he attack was used to legitimate free speech is controversial, DAVID SMITH, Edmonton justify a series of wars in the Middle but professor Hall’s experience shows East, which Canada has contributed how easily any online platform can be I VERY MUCH APPRECIATED “University to and which have caused enormous sabotaged by an anonymous and hateful Debased,” by James Turk, defending sufering. It is the responsibility of insertion. It then becomes a situation of academic freedom (September 2016). universities to challenge the story guilt by association. I’m not so appreciative of “Freedom propagated by the US and other In any case, the protest against and Loathing in Lethbridge,” which Western governments. Without Jordan Peterson at Queen’s University displays a rather shallow analysis of academic freedom this can’t be done. is not an equivalent example. Protests

8 OCTOBER 2018

also are free speech, and as Peterson children—many of whom don’t have the didn’t have the funds necessary to keep himself says, the speaker has no ability to exercise choice. up with demand, and the quality of obligations concerning hurt feelings SOS Alberta is not the only schools went into steep decline. engendered by comments. But it could organization talking about segregation It will take an injection of much well be argued that Peterson’s publicly in education. he conversation is more resources than the current expressed opinions on IQ relative to happening nationally and globally. private schools subsidy to bring down race and ethnic groups—which he he ways children are counselled out class sizes and enhance the ancillary claims are science and indisputable— of, streamed and denied choice is services to raise public schools to a his intransigency on gender-neutral widespread. It’s happening. Clinging reasonable level. Do our leaders have pronouns and his denial of the right to outdated and limited deinitions of the guts to do what is needed, i.e., to to deine one’s own gender, as well as segregation denies the lived experiences adjust taxes to fund public services of a his opinions on women, constitute of many Alberta children. It should satisfactory standard? hate speech. Indeed, BBC journalist not be the role of white privileged SUDHIR JAIN, Calgary Cathy Newman received numerous citizens such as Staples, who have hate emails and threats of physical exercised their ability to choose, to WHAT A RELIEF TO FIND YOUR PUBLICATION! violence ater her debate with Peterson. debate whether segregation exists. If I’ve been trying to understand why On another occasion, when asked you are interested in whether or not so many Albertans, even those who what deining traits best applied to the segregation exists in Alberta, ask those understand the dangers of climate diference between men and women, experiencing the exclusion—ask the change, think a dilbit pipeline through Peterson selected “nice” for women and disabled community, ELL children, BC is essential. Eforts to reach across “daring” for men. children living in poverty, immigrant the “Great Divide” with a perspective Such opinions by an acting professor children, LGBTQ2+ children and from coastal BC can feel hopeless. have the weight of authority, by virtue rural children. Don’t keep asking the It’s not just BC voices being shut of which they are dangerous. It was not person for whom the system is set up to out. It seems Alberta’s major media is so long ago that 14 women were killed beneit—that’s like asking the chef if she doing a “good job” of marginalizing or and many more wounded by Marc prepared a tasty meal. shutting out the work of Kevin Tat. Lepine, who also thought that women Finally, while Staples inds every he U of C bookstore did not have a engineers were a threat to the “natural” opportunity to talk about SOS Alberta, copy of Oil’s Deep State for sale, but order and therefore to men. he perpetually fails to talk with us. Calgary’s independent Pages bookstore DORIS WRENCH EISLER, St. Albert Our door continues to be open and we did. hat is where I found Alberta would like to bring people to the table Views, with the Dialogue featuring Tat RE DIALOGUE: “SHOULD PRIVATE SCHOOLS whose voices have yet to be represented and Deborah Yedlin (“he Future of the Get Public Funding?” by Joel French in this discussion. Oil Sands,” Jul/Aug 2018). and David Staples (Sep 2018). Study CAROLYN BLASETTI and My experience suggests your ater study, including one published in BARBARA SILVA, directors, “cross-section” of citizen responses to July 2018 at the University of Virginia, Save Our Students Alberta the dialogue is not representative of shows private schools do not produce Albertan views. Perhaps this is because better outcomes. he advantages are JOEL FRENCH WRITES THAT ALBERTA’S “the truth isn’t in the middle on this entirely perceived, and directly related public subsidies to private schools debate”, as commenter Barrett Weber to parents’ own level of education and prevent us from building the best states. How do we get closer to the socio-economic status. school system for all. David Staples truth? Dare to listen to those who show Referring to education as a argues that the subsidy is small relative a net zero future is not only possible, commodity for which taxpayers expect to the needs of the public school but desirable, like Tat. to “take out what they put in” marketizes system. Both writers are perhaps JAN SLAKOV, Salt Spring Island, BC a fundamental social service that should missing the real cause of the decline of be built around children. he arguments the public school system. laid out in this dialogue revolved around Our older girls went to very good Alberta Views welcomes letters, but reserves parents and taxpayers, and rarely took public schools in the 1970s and 1980s the right to edit for clarity, brevity and legality. actual children into account. Children and the youngest to private school Please include your name and address. are not taxpayers. Public education is in the 1990s. hose were years of 208, 320 23rd Ave SW a social investment made to develop unprecedented growth in Alberta, and Calgary, Alberta T2S 0J2 strong, educated and engaged citizens public services, particularly schools, [email protected] who, once educated, can then invest had problems coping. he provincial in the following generations. Public government’s reluctance to increase education is about providing equitable, taxes while insisting on balanced 10% Alberta Views is printed on a mix of accessible and quality education to budgets ensured that school boards recycled and forest-friendly paper.

albertaviews.ca 9 ARTS LISTINGS

CALGARY Go Back for Murder he hin Man By Agatha Christie, THE SCENE By Dashiell Hammett, Grande Prairie Live heatre, A snapshot of the cultural life of Alberta adapted by Lucia Frangione, Second Street heatre, Vertigo heatre, Sep 15–Oct 14 Oct 25–Nov 10 Mickey and Judy By Michael Hughes, FORT MCMURRAY Lunchbox heatre, Sexy Laundry Sep 17–Oct 6 By Michele Riml, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Keyano heatre, Oct 4–6, 11–13 Are Dead By Tom Stoppard, BANFF Alberta heatre Projects, he Full Light of Day Martha Cohen heatre, By Daniel Brooks, Electric Oct 9–21 Company heatre, Banf Centre, antigone lives* Eric Harvie heatre, Oct 19 By Susanna Fournier, U of C School of Creative and ROSEBUD Performing Arts, he Diaries of Adam and Eve Reeve heatre, Oct 12–20 By Mark Twain, Mary and Max Rosebud heatre, until Oct 20 Music and lyrics by Bobby Cronin, book by Crystal Esi Edugyan, longlisted for a Man Booker Prize for Skillman, based on a ilm by VISUAL ART Washington Black, will be at WordFest in Calgary. Adam Elliot, heatre Calgary, Max Bell heatre, EDMONTON Oct 16–Nov 10 ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL THEATRE Brave Girl Robin Lambert: “Because It By Emily Dallas, Never Occurs to Us that We EDMONTON Lunchbox heatre, Cannot,” until Oct 13 Once Oct 22–Nov 10 Seated, until Dec 24 Based on the ilm by John Inner Elder Carney, music and lyrics by By Michelle hrush, ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA Glen Hansard and Markéta One Yellow Rabbit, James Wilson Morrice: Irglová, Citadel heatre, Big Secret heatre, Oct 23–27 he A.K. Prakash Collection in Shoctor heatre, Sep 22–Oct 14 he Bottle Picker Monologues Trust to the Nation, until Oct 7 Skirts on Fire Created and performed by Samantha Walrod: “Vanitas,” By Stewart Lemoine, former and current bottle pickers until Oct 7 Teatro La Quindicina, in Calgary, mentorship by Hubert Hohn: “Edmonton Varscona heatre, Sep 27–Oct 13 From Seated, CalgaryCan, Downstage heatre, Entrances and Suburban Jezebel, at the Still Point at Alberta Memorial Park Library, Oct 19, 20 Landscapes,” until Nov 11 By Ainsley Hillyard and Crat Council, Jezebel the Dog, Edmonton MEDICINE HAT BOREALIS GALLERY, LEGISLATURE he Roxy on Gateway, Oct 9–21 Saloon In Flew Enza: “he Spanish Flu Lenin’s Embalmers By Cirque Éloize, Comes to Alberta,” Oct 17–Jan 13 By Vern hiessen, Esplanade, Oct 7 U of A Studio heatre, Hank Williams: SNAP GALLERY Timms Centre, Oct 11–20 he Lonesome Tour Miguel A. Aragón: “Aplacados: Origin of the Species Esplanade, Oct 26 entre cascos percutidos y bardas,” By Bryony Lavery, Sep 21–Oct 20 Northern Light heatre, GRANDE PRAIRIE Arts Barns, Oct 12–27 he Kitchen Witches CALGARY he Comedy Company By Caroline Smith, ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL By Neil Grahn, Shadow heatre, Grande Prairie Live heatre, Natalie Gerber and Kalika Varscona heatre, Second Street heatre, Bowlby: “Set he Table,” Oct 24–Nov 11 Sep 20–Oct 6 until Nov 3

10 OCTOBER 2018

ESKER FOUNDATION Tammi Campbell: “Dear Agnes,” Sep 22–Dec 21 MUST-SEE EXHIBITION Agnes Martin: he Mind Knows What the Eye Has Not Seen, Sep 22–Dec 21 Sean Caulfield: The Flood and Other Works

GLENBOW September 29–November 17, Esplanade, Medicine Hat he Artist’s Mirror: Self Portraits, until Jan 6 Edmonton printmaker Sean Caulield’s “he Flood” is an installation Cosmos: Gathie Falk, Margaret Nazon of large, hand-carved woodblock panels. he imagery references the impact and Erik Olson, Sep 29–Jan 6 of technological advancements on our environment, including the trauma of destruction and the potential for regeneration. “he Flood” was originally STRIDE GALLERY commissioned by the Art Gallery of Alberta. his exhibition at Esplanade also wnoondwaamin | we hear them, includes woodcut, mezzotint and linocut prints and shows the presented with Contemporary Calgary, processes the artist uses to create them. until Nov 9 LETHBRIDGE SOUTHERN ALBERTA ART GALLERY Cindy Baker: “hings I’ve Forgotten,” Sep 29–Nov 25 Vivek Shraya: “I Learned I had a Body,” Sep 29–Nov 25 Althea hauberger: “Who Is It hat Will Tell Me What I Am,” Sep 29–Nov 25 RED DEER RED DEER MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY E.M. Alysse Bowd: “he Pink Cloudless,” until Oct 28 Amy Loewan: “House Inspiring Peace,” (2018) until Nov 18

SODRAC SODRAC MEDICINE HAT ESPLANADE ART GALLERY Yulin Wang: “Time, Space, Legacy,” Sep 29–Nov 17 Sean Caulield: “he Flood and Other Works,” Sep 29–Nov 17 GRANDE PRAIRIE ART GALLERY OF GRANDE PRAIRIE he Rich Interior Life, until Dec 2 BANFF WALTER PHILLIPS GALLERY Young Joon Kwak: “THE CAVE,” Sep 29–Dec 14

WHYTE MUSEUM 100 Heads: Childhood Memories of Banf Personalities, until Oct 21 Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Top: Sean Caulield, Deadweight, 2018, installation view, ink, Catharine Robb Whyte and their carved maple plywood, 20' × 30'.

COLLECTION OF OF THE AGNES MACKENZIE MARTIN / © ESTATE ART GALLERY; Contemporaries, until Oct 21

albertaviews.ca 11 ARTS LISTINGS IN FOCUS: LEANNE OLSON, ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

THE FIRST artist-in-residence photographing Alberta lakes that at the Edmonton Waste are disappearing. She says she Management Centre is taking wants to show people the broader a close look at the products impact of our consumer choices, we regularly use and discard. but her primary purpose as an Leanne Olson, who works in artist is to provoke an emotional photo and print, says she is response. For example, when she mesmerized by the “teetering takes a photo of the blue recycling towers” of waste at the 600-acre bags, Olson says she’s thinking centre, which includes a landill about how to use the camera to as well as composting, recycling cause the viewer to feel a bit of and research facilities. the shock she experienced. She “I’ve been enjoying seeing also likes to show familiar items the marketing slogans and out of context, such as a shoe or the product packaging sort of stufed animal poking out of a smushed together going down pile of garbage. “here’s a certain the conveyor belt,” she says. nostalgia for those items. We “Seeing all of that allure that I had a relationship to those items would buy into in the store— when we bought them and had making my choices that way and them in our home, so showing spending so much time reading them here is important.” the labels—then seeing it here, he residency has been a new all stripped of that, in one bale. experience for Olson because I’m interested in that contrast she’s embedded in a working between what happens in the operation and surrounded by store and what happens here.” people—she can talk to staf in he residency is funded by the lunchroom, be on the tip the City of Edmonton and loor where the trucks unload Edmonton Arts Council and falls and walk right up to piles of under the umbrella of public art. construction and demolition he goal of such programs is for debris. Olson’s studio in an artists to immerse themselves in on-site storage room is also more diferent areas of the community spacious than she’s used to—at and create artwork that engages Artist Leanne Olson with some “smushed allure” home she has a small space where the public. In the past, Edmonton at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. she makes small prints and hangs has ofered residencies at the them on a clothesline, but at the city’s cemetery and urban before being sent to the next Waste Management Centre she forestry departments, among destination for more processing. “I’m can make much larger prints and others, while Calgary residencies “When I recycle I think I’m doing spread them all out at once to have explored issues relevant a good thing—and it is still a interested look at them. to its watershed and water good thing—but really, the irst in the Olson’s residency was recently management. part is reducing. here’s a whole contrast extended to January and will Olson’s irst tour of the Waste other phase that this needs to go be followed by an exhibition Management Centre let her through and it would be best to between of her work. She says she’s still shocked by the vast quantity not have as many blue bags of what processing what she’s learned of blue recycling bags full of materials and to just purchase happens in and thinking about how best to unsorted items. She says her fewer items or items with less present it, but she expects the eyes opened to the disconnect packaging.” the store residency to have a long-term between that “feel-good” act of his isn’t the irst time Olson and what efect on her art practice. “I feel tossing a bottle into the recycling has navigated the line between happens like this is going to be years and the realization that those her interest in environmental of content and experiences to endless bags of materials still issues and her artistic here.” unpack,” she says. have to be sorted and bundled practice—she spent four years —Maureen McNamee

12 OCTOBER 2018 Oct 27 – Nov 4 2018 Southern Alberta banmountainfestival.ca Pioneers & Their Descendants FALL 2018 SPEAKER SERIES

All events take place at 7 pm at the Pioneer Memorial Building, 3625 4 Street SW, Calgary. Free admission. October 10, 2018 Calgary’s Historic Union Cemetery Harry M. Sanders, Historian A virtual tour of Calgary’s Historic Union Cemetery and the cast of characters buried there, presented © Ben Tibbetts by Harry M. Sanders, author of Calgary’s Historic Union Cemetery: A Walking Guide. There are pillars of the community here like Cappy Smart, Louise Riley, William Roper Hull, Grant MacEwan and Thomas Dent du Géant Fabre, Valentine Edworthy, and there are those who Join us for nine days lled were only passing through like Grace with stories of remote M. Inthout, Amelia Yeomans and journeys, groundbreaking Harry A. Cooper. expeditions, and cutting- edge adventure shared by lmmakers, authors, November 14, 2018 photographers, and Indigenous People During World adventurers from around the Wars globe. With appearances by Hal Eagletail, Tsuut’ina Nation Tommy Caldwell, Leo Houlding, Doug Scott, Hal Eagletail will tell his father’s story Kate Harris, and more! of enlisting with the US army for the Korean War and of the Tsuut’ina Tickets now on sale leasing some of their land to the Canadian government to contribute to the First World War. Currie Barracks was closed in 1997. Eagletail is a member of the Northern Dene TsuuT’ina Nation located in the Treaty 7 area of southern Alberta. He is a cultural consultant.

Further information at Banf Centre Box Oce 1.403.762.6301 www.pioneersalberta.org 1.800.413.8368

albertaviews.ca 13 ARTS LISTINGS

The ChaRmers + Palgary SPOT PUBLIC ART Almanacs BRICK RABBIT This two-metre-tall bunny with glass mosaic eyes and New music and nose adds some whimsy to Artists: Brian McArthur and Dawn feature interviews on downtown Red Deer. The Detarando, Voyager Art and Tile artists, who are based in art, politics, and community Location: Alexander Way, Red Deer the city, say their goal was Materials: Brick and glass to meld urban and natural Unveiled: 2005 Thursdays 7-10 AM environments. Commissioned by: City of Red Deer MUSIC & OPERA Ensemble contemporain de Montréal in Calgary 90.9 FM New Works Calgary, Eckhart- Gramatté Hall, Oct 26 worldwide cjsw.com EDMONTON Vox Luminis CALGARY PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Edmonton Chamber Society, Venue: Jack Singer Concert Hall Subscribe to the podcast on itunes Robertson Wesley United Church, Disney in Concert: Beauty and the Oct 15 Beast La Traviata Michael Kosarin, conductor, Oct 5, 6 By Verdi, Edmonton Opera, Jubilee, Keyboards: Marc-André Hamelin Oct 20, 23, 26 and Neil Cockburn Italian Masters Rune Bergmann, conductor, Robert Uchida, violin, Alberta Oct 12, 13 Baroque Ensemble, Robertson-Wesley Greatest Classical Hits United Church, Oct 21 Gemma New, conductor, Jaeden Izik- SWALLOW-A-BICYCLE THEATRE Wurzeln Dzurko, piano, Oct 27 Markus Utz, conductor, Pro Coro WANT TO SPICE UP YOUR Canada, All Saints’ Anglican CALGARY PRO MUSICA Cathedral, Oct 21 Venue: Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall CULTURAL LIFE WITH SOMETHING Ariel Quartet WILD AND UNEXPECTED? EDMONTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Sep 30, Oct 1 Venue: Winspear Centre Music in Exile THIS FALL SWALLOW-A-BICYCLE Brahms First Symphony Arc Ensemble, Oct 27 THEATRE PRESENTS... Alexander Prior, conductor, Marlène Ngalissamy, bassoon, LETHBRIDGE Body in Space: An Art Party Allene Hackleman, horn, Oct 4 Russian Inferno October 26-27, 2018 Classical Mystery Tour: Daniel Dastoor, violin, Lethbridge part of Springboard Performance’s A Tribute to the Beatles Symphony, Southminster United Fluid Fest Robert Bernhardt, conductor, Oct 10 Church, Oct 15 from Vancouver, plastic orchid factory’s Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 Digital Folk Jayce Ogren, conductor, Oct 28 RED DEER November 2-3, 2018 Rossini, Beethoven, Prokoiev Chromatic Theatre’s CALGARY Alison Kilgannon, piano, Red Deer Winners and Losers his Is Us Symphony, Red Deer College Arts November 13-25, 2018 Beth Root Sandvoss, cello, Luminous Centre, Oct 13 in partnership with Voices, Bella Concert Hall, Oct 14 Arts Commons Presents Penny Sanborn Trio with Jamie BANFF Philip and Rubim de Toledo Ron Sexsmith For tickets and more information, visit Laura Hynes, soprano, U of C School of Banf Centre, Margaret Greenham www.swallowabicycle.com Creative and Performing Arts, Oct 20 heatre, Oct 4

14 OCTOBER 2018

LITERARY Wordfest ST. ALBERT Featuring 65 authors at readings and StarFest EDMONTON events, including Dionne Brand, Ali Author readings and presentations by LitFest Bryan, Patrick deWitt, Esi Edugyan, Esi Edugyan, Katherine Ashenburg, A non-iction festival featuring authors, Elizabeth Hay, Benjamin Hertwig, Emma Hooper, Patrick deWitt, Tom panels and readings on politics, climate Larissa Lai, Alice Major, Vivek Shraya, Wilson, Eden Robinson and others. change, feminism, sport, foodie culture Jordan Tannahill, Kim huy and more. St. Albert Public Library and Arden and more. Various venues, Oct 11–21 Memorial Park Library and other heatre, until Nov 9 Beltline venues, Oct 8–15 AUDREYS DANCE Tanis MacDonald: Fortune, Oct 10 SHELF LIFE Richard Van Camp hosts a special event Single Onion, poetry series, Oct 18 EDMONTON honouring the late Richard Wagamese Darrel McLeod: Mamaskatch, Oct 20 Attakkalari and the release of his last novel, Starlight, Elizabeth Greene: A Season Among Brian Webb Dance Co., Oct 14 Psychics; Kath MacLean: Translating Allard Hall, Oct 5, 6 Janice MacDonald: Eye of the Beholder, Air; and Rona Altrows: At his Juncture, Oct 16 Oct 25 CALGARY Rona Altrows and Julie Sedivy: Fluid Movement Arts Festival Waiting, Oct 20 BANFF Local, national and international Fran Kimmel: No Good Asking, Oct 21 Mountain Book and Film Festival artists celebrate the spectrum of dance. Barbara Langhurst: Want, with guest Authors, photographers and ilmmakers Springboard Performance, Shawna LeMay, Oct 25 share their stories at readings, ilm various venues, Oct 18–Nov 3 screenings and other events. Headliners he Sleeping Beauty CALGARY include Leo Houlding, Tommy Caldwell, Choreography by Christopher Gary Shteyngart: Lake Success, Doug Scott and Kate Harris. Banf Anderson, music by Tchaikovsky, Wordfest, DJD Dance Centre, Oct 3 Centre and other venues, Oct 27–Nov 4 Alberta Ballet, Jubilee, Oct 24–27 #

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albertaviews.ca 15 COMMUNITY CLOSE UP

St. Albert

A prosperous small city where (almost) everything is awesome.

(Clockwise, from top let) St. Albert Place; St. Albert Catholic Church; city council, from let: Ken MacKay, Natalie Joly, Mayor Cathy

Heron, Jacquie Hansen, Wes Brodhead, Ray Watkins (missing: Sheena Hughes); new suburb; Hole’s Greenhouses at he Enjoy Centre. RICHARDS TADZIO

16 OCTOBER 2018

T. ALBERT IS SPECIAL, PROFILE big black rooster escaped a yard and went they say. Just don’t mind the on the lam. It’s a problem, says the mayor: rooster. If you ask a local, at Founded: 1861 (by Father Albert “We have a backyard hen pilot project random, they’ll very likely Lacombe as a Métis settlement) and there’s no roosters allowed, so…” say St. Albert is a good place Incorporated as a city: 1977 “My neighbour texted me ‘You have a to live. hey’re not alone—in Population (2016): 65,589 rooster in your front yard,’ ” says Hughes. the past decade, on various Mayor: Cathy Heron (2017–) “I look and it’s literally on my front step. I national “best of” lists, the Local MLAs: Marie Renaud, opened my door and it was over my yard, S St. Albert (NDP, 2015–); city just north of Edmonton over two yards before I got to my garage. has been named “Best City in Canada,” Trevor Horne (Spruce Grove– It’s fast. You cannot catch this thing.” “Canada’s Healthiest Community” and St. Albert (NDP, 2015–) hey laugh. “People who come to St. “#1 Place to Raise a Family.” Even ater Albert come with a long-term view and the recent crash in oil prices, MoneySense people that serve the [oil sands] camps— they take ownership of the community,” in 2017 named St. Albert the best place to that go up for a week on, week of—and says Hughes. “Fity years ago the city live in Alberta. we have a lot of CFB [military] residents began planning curved linear streets “It’s because of the quality of life,” says here. It’s very diverse and that helped us and making sure we had ravines— city councillor Jacquie Hansen, “the green weather the economic storm.” the architecture of being here is quite space, the downtown, the river valley.” he upgraders and reineries of the soothing. When people do come, they Ahead of a city council meeting, the six energy industry are to the east, and the realize they want to stay for a long time.” councillors and mayor Cathy Heron are wind blows from the west, so the air here, Still, says councillor Natalie Joly, “one gathered together in St. Albert Place— assert the councillors, is the cleanest in of the misconceptions about St. Albert the Douglas Cardinal-designed building the capital region. “We do pay the price is that everyone is wealthy. We do have overlooking the Sturgeon River that for that,” says councillor Wes Brodhead. poverty, single parents, violence; it can winds placidly through downtown. In “We don’t have the tax support that be a struggle trying to show higher levels St. Albert the median household income Fort Saskatchewan does, or Sherwood of government that we need appropriate is $119,905, about $26,000 higher than Park, so the cost to live here is higher. funding for residents who need support. the Alberta median and $50,000 higher But people still come. We build things a Even if you talk to irst responders, they’ll than the Canadian median. Many local little bit nicer. And you can ind places of say they go into these beautiful $700,000 citizens, says Heron, are “professionals— peace in St. Albert, along the river bank.” houses and there’s no furniture because doctors, engineers, lawyers that commute “Just not next to a rooster,” says people are paying so much on their and work in Edmonton. But we also have councillor Sheena Hughes. Apparently a mortgage. hat exists in St. Albert.”

f What do you love Laura Aisenstat, student: There’s a Edna Baker, Musée Héritage Museum: about your community? lot of events, a farmers market—that’s It’s one of the cleaner cities I’ve lived in. f What most concerns you? always been super popular. There’s the It has lots to offer for all ages. Crime international children’s festival. I love does seem to be a little on the upswing. f If it could be the way you wanted, what would your community learning about the people who used to But I’m quite comfortable living here; I look like? live here and the people who do live think it’s a great place. I’ve been here 11 here now. There are some conflicting years. It’s grown a lot. political views in town, about how RESIDENT RESPONSES to spend the city budget, about what Bryan Saunders, marketing manager, Terence Amy, retired: I’ve been in St. facilities to build or what we need to The Enjoy Centre: St. Albert’s known Albert since 1978, so I’ve seen it grow focus on, which can be difficult. for food and gardening. The businesses, from a small little town to a small little the restaurants, the hotels, the City of city. It’s been fantastic. What concerns Rhonda Egar-Lee, St. Albert Canada St. Albert—everyone participates and me? Probably the high taxes. 150 Ambassador: The City of St. Albert you end up with a beautiful community is North America’s number one place with flowers everywhere, a lot of green Angela Chatwin, Power Engineering for block parties. As the ambassador I spaces. There are a lot of people moving Books: St Albert’s big on the arts, had to go to all the block parties—167 here and so the concern is: How do we beautification programs and stuff like of them in 2017. It was a record year. accommodate that growth? that—we get rebates if we put flowers I gave the Canada 150 rose bush to out, bike racks, different signage. I don't every house that participated. We went Allan Whittal, secretary, Royal have any concerns. I think anywhere is through 4,000 rose bushes, just small Canadian Legion: I’d like us all to work going to debate taxes. You want all of ones, thank god. The record weekend together to develop a community that is these programs, garbage collection, all was 68 block parties, 30 on one day. It well rounded in all aspects. We’re close done for you, but you don’t want to pay? was insane! but we still have a lot of work to do. #

albertaviews.ca 17 THIS LAND KEVIN VAN TIGHEM

The Pipelines We Need Effluent to the affluent.

Read any of Alberta’s daily newspapers and you will know that our province’s only hope is new pipelines. Nothing else will save us. I took some convincing, but I’m in. In fact, I’d like to propose two new pipelines. hese pipelines, unlike Trans Mountain or the thankfully dead Northern Gateway, should be less controversial. As water to my pipeline proposal. he northern pipeline proposal will pipelines, they shouldn’t require environmental double-speak face resistance too. It would draw water from the heart of and weird rationalizations about “ethical oil” and how pumping Wood Bufalo National Park, which is recognized by the United more bitumen will reduce greenhouse emissions. If one leaks, Nations Educational, Scientiic and Educational Commission that’s just a duck pond. People like ducks, at least live ones. (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. We don’t want to ruin One of my proposed pipelines would draw water from world heritage, do we? the delta of the Peace and Athabasca rivers in Wood Bufalo Actually, we’re already ruining it. he BC government National Park. Its purpose: to provide drinking water to towns permanently impaired the Peace River’s low when it built and cities from, say, Red Deer northward. he other would the W.A.C. Bennett dam in 1968. he Peace–Athabasca delta draw water from the South Saskatchewan River near Empress, promptly began to dry out. Engineers tried building weirs downstream of Medicine Hat, to serve southern in the park to replace the lood lows but the Alberta communities. Both pipelines would deterioration continues. BC’s Site C dam, now replace existing water sources. If the people under construction, will make things even worse. he farther downstream one goes, the bigger of Edmonton Most Albertans live upstream of Wood Bufalo, the river, right? So these two pipelines should which is probably why they aren’t kicking up a deliver more than enough water for the future and other large fuss about the price that muskrats, moose, wood needs of our province. communities got bison and small Cree communities will all pay. Well, maybe not that southern pipeline. he their drinking hey’re already paying another price: he South Saskatchewan carries the combined Athabasca River is chronically polluted with lows of the Bow and Oldman rivers. But a 2009 water from the chemical residues from oil sands mining in government study found that before the river Peace–Athabasca Alberta. Fish have tumours, cancer rates are high crosses into Saskatchewan, more than half of its delta, you can bet and the people whose families trusted the river summer low is sucked out to irrigate crops. he for generations no longer consider its water safe. World Wildlife Fund says that up to 90 per cent we’d keep it clean. A 2017 UNESCO study found that nearly every of the Bow’s low goes to farms some years. At indicator of well-being for this World Heritage times it’s possible to walk across the river near Site is degraded, mostly because upstream abuse Bassano and barely wet your knees—try that in Calgary. sends sick rivers into the delta. hat water grows potatoes for potato chips, beets for sugar and hat’s why we need the pipeline. If the people of Edmonton forage crops for cattle. Irrigation proponents oten insist their and other large communities had to drink that water, you can crops are feeding a hungry world. But irrigation agriculture, bet we’d keep it clean. We’d ight hard to keep both those rivers like any other industry, is driven by proit margins. he hungry healthy. For now, however, we happily pocket our proits from people of the world can’t aford most irrigation crops. river abuse, ignoring the plight of the park and its politically Replacing existing wells and dams with a pipeline from the powerless Indigenous communities. downstream limit of the South Saskatchewan River would force Good neighbours don’t hog water and lush their problems us to rethink how generously we subsidize the fattening of our down the river for the ecosystem and the next guy to cope with. nation with river water. Irrigation makes sense in that drought- But we do. We divert pristine waters to our towns and cities, prone region, but only for growing food that’s actually needed. and send shrunken, polluted rivers out of the province. If our A more conservative approach—irrigating for food and not drinking water came from the downstream ends of those rivers, for fat—would leave more water in the rivers. More water in we’d be more motivated to keep them well watered and clean. the rivers would also improve water quality. A 2009 Alberta hat would make us better neighbours. Actually, it might make Agriculture study found that the lower Bow and Oldman us better people. It’s time to lay some pipe. # rivers have the worst riparian health values possible, and that pesticide loads exceed levels harmful to ish and invertebrates. Kevin Van Tighem’s latest book, Our Place: Changing the But there is big money in irrigation; I expect stif opposition Nature of Alberta, was released in spring 2017 by RMB.

18 OCTOBER 2018

CALGARY ...... 20 RED DEER, 1925 ...... 22 UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY ...... 20 EDMONTON ...... 20, 21 ST. ALBERT ...... 24 UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE ...... 22 MEDICINE HAT ...... 27 STONY PLAIN, 1926 ...... 26 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ...... 23 OTTAWA ...... 24, 27 UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA ...... 26

EYE ON ALBERTA

YELLOW AND RED BERRIES BY GEOFF SOWREY 2013.

albertaviews.ca 19 EYE ON ALBERTA

CALGARY borders. Ater all, that’s how civil wars usually play out: Rival jurisdictions seize established arms caches and then turn them on each other. Alberta would have CFB Cold Lake, Canada’s Oil Buddies busiest RCAF base and the home of three CF-18 squadrons. he Saskatchewan Air Force, meanwhile, would have to be From “2017 Alberta–US Trade Summit: Summary Report,” cobbled together with whatever is at CFB Moose Jaw, an air- released ater Calgary Economic Development, Edmonton training base most famous as the home of the Snowbirds. Economic Development, the Government of Alberta and the While the squadron’s breathtaking aerobatic displays could School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary presented the boost the morale of an embattled Saskatchewan, a formation inaugural Alberta–US Trade Summit on May 2 and 3, 2017. of unarmed CT-144 Tutors would be very little help in defence. When war planners are gauging the strength of a would-be lberta’s Minister of Energy, the Honourable Margaret foe, one of the irst steps is to igure out how many potential A McCuaig-Boyd, kicked of the 2017 Alberta–US Trade soldiers they have, and what weaponry they can get their hands Summit in Calgary by assuring the audience that the Alberta on. According to 2017 data, Alberta is home to 1,490,727 men government fully appreciates the importance of Alberta’s and women between the ages of 18 and 40, compared to only trading relationship with the US and is working hard to 377,049 in Saskatchewan. Alberta also has more people able maintain that relationship. “We will treat this trade relationship to ire guns; it has 261,635 irearms licences to Saskatchewan’s with great respect and, even as we seek new markets to expand 97,785. And here again, the existing military hardware in access for new products, the US will always be our most Alberta easily outnumbers anything in Saskatchewan: more important neighbour and trading partner,” the minister said. bases, more oicers, more soldiers, more equipment. Alberta Alberta’s trade with the US was valued at over $84-billion in even has the headquarters of Canada’s top-secret autonomous 2016. Alberta’s exports represented $68-billion of that. While killer drone program. this is a big number, it’s actually down from the heady days of Of course, none of this is any guarantee that Alberta could 2014 when Alberta’s exports peaked at $110-billion. Crude oil successfully subjugate and annex the Wheat Province. History exports accounted for $91-billion of that total in 2014, when the is rife with examples of armies who failed against smaller, annual average West Texas Intermediate oil price was US$93.25. weaker foes simply because they lacked proper organization. Alberta continues to supply over 99 per cent of US Midwest Two points in Saskatchewan’s favour: Calgary is balingly reinery crude oil imports. Alberta is also the largest supplier terrible at installing good public art, and the Alberta health of natural gas to the US, accounting for 99 per cent of its total card is an outdated, fraud-prone disaster. If Alberta bureaucrats natural gas imports. “We are committed to our long-standing prove just as bad at drawing up invasion plans, Saskatchewan status as a reliable supplier of energy to the US,” the energy may yet remain free. minister said. “We’ve taken steps already and will continue to do more to engage with our friends to the south and reinforce UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY that important trade relationship.”

EDMONTON Siamese Twins

From “Canada–US Trade: An Enduring Relationship, NAFTA The Great Prairie War or Not,” by David Bercuson, Canadian Global Afairs Institute, Feb 2018. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon famous for separating From “How a literal war would play out between Alberta and conjoined twins, is now the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Saskatchewan,” by Tristan Hopper, National Post, Jan 23, 2018. Development, appointed by President Donald Trump.

eace has returned to the Canadian prairies. Ater oday the trade ties between [Canada and the United States] P Saskatchewan suddenly banned Alberta licence plates at T have become institutionalized in hundreds of ways and have provincial construction sites, an escalating interprovincial trade grown so strong that nothing will tear them asunder. here is war has been averted at the 11th hour thanks to a climbdown a Canada–US market in agricultural products, automobiles, by Regina. Despite this welcome détente, what would happen forest products, oil, gas and hydroelectric power and in dozens if Saskatchewan and Alberta ever reach a future impasse so of service industries. Canadians are heavily invested in the great that it leads to armed conlict? he notion is too horrible United States, especially in the banking and securities sector, to consider: Brother against brother, Lloydminster divided, while US investment in Canada remains strong. he ties are countless great works of Saskatchewan architecture destroyed deeply rooted and well established, create millions of jobs on by shellire. Nevertheless, below is our embarrassingly thorough both sides of the border, and will continue whether or not there assessment of what he Great Prairie War might look like. is a NAFTA or a Canada–US free trade agreement. Trying to Let’s assume both provinces will have to ight a war using sunder Canada–US trade would be like taking a chainsaw to the Canadian Armed Forces already within their respective separate Siamese twins.

20 OCTOBER 2018

ARENA 2 BY ERIC LOUIS 2017. Oil on canvas. 60" × 72". Herringer Kiss Gallery.

EDMONTON if they thought America should seek to punish Canada for its role in the War of 1812, only 8 per cent of Trump voters actually thought the US government should retaliate for that Up is Down, Cold is Hot whole burning-down-the-White-House business. Another 17 per cent just weren’t sure. From “Americans lose that loving feeling for Canada in latest Jim Williams, an analyst with Public Policy Polling, said they poll,” by Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal, Jun 14, 2018. added the questions about Canada to the poll just before the G7 summit began. hey hadn’t expected the poll to be as timely nce, they loved us. On February 28, [2018], Gallup released as it was. But Williams said this kind of Trump efect is nothing O a poll showing Canada was the country viewed most new. “Before 2016, when we did polls, Republican voters favourably by Americans. Four months ago, Gallup found 94 did not like Vladimir Putin. hey thought he was a despot. per cent of Americans had a positive view of Canada. Only 6 hen Trump was elected, and all of a sudden, Republicans in per cent viewed North Korea favourably. hat was then. America now like Putin.” On [June 13, 2018], another US polling company, Public It’s not entirely fair to compare the Gallup numbers from Policy Polling, released new numbers, tracking American February with the Public Policy Polling numbers now. Two public opinion on a wide range of issues. he polling was done diferent polling companies, two diferent methodologies. on Saturday and Sunday, as Donald Trump and his senior But last June, Public Policy Polling did ask a question about advisers were staging their post-G7 tantrums and consigning prominent national leaders, which found that, a year ago, Justin Trudeau to a super-special place in hell. Trudeau was more popular with American voters than was It would be nice to think that Trump’s Trudeau-taunting Trump, their own president. Twitter snit wouldn’t have been able to shake America’s faith We could just laugh this of. Ater all, the same poll that in Canadians. But it would appear that where their president showed Americans souring on Canada also asked people how leads, many Americans dutifully follow. his new poll found they’d react if Trump shot former FBI director James Comey. just 66 per cent of Americans have a favourable view of Canada. (he answer? Only 63 per cent of Republicans thought the Among those who voted for Trump, only 54 per cent have president should be prosecuted for shooting a political enemy.) a positive view of this country. It could be worse. When asked But there is something deeply unnerving in Trump’s genius

albertaviews.ca 21 EYE ON ALBERTA for manipulating public opinion. He’s the master salesman. UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE He’s truth-proof. He tells Americans the US has a trade deicit with Canada. He tells them a trade deicit is a terrible thing. He tells them Trudeau stabbed him in the back. hose statements Cheap Cheese are manifestly false. No matter. Trump and his stafers simply repeat them over and over, aided and abetted by simplistic From “Why is Canada jeopardizing NAFTA to protect 13,500 headline news reporting that ampliies their assertions without farmers?” by Danny LeRoy and Jason Clemens, an op-ed in context. Hey presto! People are convinced. Maclean’s, Jan 22, 2018. LeRoy is an agricultural economist at the [George] Orwell wrote about a Ministry of Truth, a sinister University of Lethbridge and senior fellow of the Fraser Institute. agency to brainwash people. But Trump doesn’t even need Clemens is executive vice-president at the Fraser Institute. the kind of coercive state propaganda that Kim Jong Un uses to manipulate his people. He just does his Jedi mind trick, he US has repeatedly indicated that a key tension in NAFTA casts his Confundus charm like a Harry Potter character, and T renegotiations is Canada’s continued protection of dairy, suddenly, millions accept that up is down, that hot is cold, that poultry and egg producers. hese protectionist policies, known Canada is a threat to America and North Korea is not. as supply management, were also an irritant in the Trans-Paciic Canada’s leaders, across the political spectrum, have done an free trade negotiations. he question for Canadians is why exemplary job of presenting a coherent united front… A recent broad trade agreements, which beneit almost all Canadians, Abacus poll says 80 per cent of Canadians oppose Trump’s are being jeopardized to continue to protect a small subset of tarifs and almost as many say they’re responding, whether farmers in Canada—estimated at 13,500 nationwide. that means cancelling a holiday or buying a diferent brand of Supply management is a set of government-imposed ketchup. Yet while a surge of patriotic feeling seems called for, production quotas and structured prices to limit domestic we shouldn’t fall too deeply into nationalist or protectionist supply while impeding consumer access to foreign imports thinking ourselves. A full-on trade war could have catastrophic through high tarifs. he outcome is reduced choice and higher economic casualties. hat leaves us to navigate Trump’s prices for consumers, and higher revenues for producers. mineield, never knowing what word or gesture might trigger An oten-overlooked aspect of this protectionism is that an explosion. it disproportionately afects the poor. A 2012 analysis by Meantime, rather than US-bashing, we must muster all the economists Christopher Sarlo and Larry Martin concluded that American goodwill we can—if not from Washington D.C., poorer families spend almost 25 per cent of their income on then from ordinary Americans who once saw us as their food compared to less than 6 per cent for high-income families. trusted friend. Right now, we need all the allies we can get. Policies that raise prices of milk, butter, cheese, eggs and chicken afect lower-income families, and those with children, RED DEER, 1925 to a greater degree than other families. A more recent analysis calculated the annual grocery bill for lower-income families was $339 higher due to supply management. Both studies, as well as Pick Sides others, characterize supply management as highly regressive— meaning that it falls most heavily on lower-income families. From “Tarifs and embargoes,” by staf, Red Deer News, Apr 15, A common defence is that supply and border controls 1925. he reciprocity agreement provided for no tarifs on any ensure an appropriate availability of high-quality, domestically natural resources exchanged between Canada and the US. produced goods. However, this response ignores the reality in other jurisdictions where both consumers and producers enjoy ince the rejection by Canada of the reciprocity agreement the beneits of more open free-lowing exchange. In Australia S in 1911, the US policy towards this country has been, and New Zealand, for example, the systems of agricultural speaking generally, one of increasingly high, in some cases protectionism were dismantled, with residents enjoying the prohibitive tarifs, and there is no question such tarifs resulting beneits of lower costs and improved choices. hese have hit the western farmers badly…. he natural thing for experiences provide insight on the best and most eicient Canadians to say is: “If the States will not allow our western course of action to eliminate supply management in Canada. farmers to sell their products in American markets except at he federal government should deregulate the production a grievous disadvantage, then the Americans shall not have and marketing of supply-managed commodities, and tarifs our pulpwood, our water-generated electrical power or our should be abolished on imports of dairy and poultry products. wheat.” Combined, these two measures would ofer all consumers and Instantly a roar of protest goes up from the States…. It all producers in Canada a wider, more competitive market may not be good policy to put an embargo on pulpwood or in which to buy and sell. During the transition, a temporary power—that is a matter for argument—but when public men tax—in the strictest sense—could be introduced so that prices in Canada suggest even the shadow of a doubt as to Canada’s for supply-managed consumer goods would not change for a right to do so, then it is time to ask them to what country they short speciic time, perhaps three or four years. he collected consider they owe their irst allegiance. proceeds could be used to compensate producers for the loss

22 OCTOBER 2018

FRAMED: PHOENIX 1 BY JOHN HALL 2017. Acrylic on canvas. 40" × 40" (excludes frame). Loch Gallery, Calgary.

of quotas…. Dismantling supply management would provide system that is eicient, sustainable and promotes health, then tremendous opportunities for Canadians. While all consumers we should protect supply management vehemently and even (2018). would gain, lower-income households and those with children expand it to other foods. hat means confronting the myths would beneit most. It would remove a major trade irritant about this system that are bandied about like fact.

SODRAC SODRAC at a critical time for trade negotiations. And it would also Supply management works by ensuring farmers don’t expand existing agri-food markets and open new markets for produce more milk (or eggs or poultry) than we need. he Canadian producers. marketing boards for these foods tell farmers how much they can produce—their quota—and then calculate the sale price UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by considering the cost of production. his is broadly known as demand–supply coordination. Neither the federal nor the provincial governments are directly involved—aside from Don’t Spoil the Milk passing laws and maintaining protective taxes that allow supply management to work. he system isn’t perfect—for From “Don’t let supply management myths spoil the milk,” by one, it doesn’t always consider how to produce the healthiest Sarah Elton and Rod MacRae, an op-ed in he Globe and Mail, foods—but it’s not what critics say it is. Jun 20, 2018. Elton is a doctoral research fellow at the University Myth 1: Supply management stands in the way of a free market. of Toronto Scarborough. MacRae is an associate professor at York Compare the way milk is produced in the US to in Canada. University. Both work with the Broadbent Institute. Here, supply management ensures farmers’ costs of production are covered by the price they get for what they produce. his he way Canadian dairy farmers are portrayed in the NAFTA means Canadian taxpayers do not subsidize these farmers. T debate might lead you to believe they drive Porsches to the However, in the US, taxpayer dollars subsidize American dairy milking barns. Farmers who own quota in our food system, for irrigation, nutrition and feed as well as through government where dairy along with poultry fall under supply management, loan programs. hey need this state support because the market are oten portrayed as a lobby group rather than people we rely price usually doesn’t cover their costs of production. hey also on for food security. In fact, opposition to supply management need it because, unlike in Canada where supply is matched to

COLLECTION OF THE MACKENZIE ART GALLERY. © ESTATE OF AGNESCOLLECTION OF MARTIN THE / MACKENZIE © ESTATE ART GALLERY. in Canada is based on misrepresentation. If we want a food demand, American farmers oten produce more milk than they

albertaviews.ca 23 EYE ON ALBERTA can use. his leads to the destructive boom-and-bust cycles so Democratic Republic of Canada, made a quick shit to a typical of farming. Now they want to sell us their excess and hereditary one-party system overnight, which Trump thought put an end to Canadian supply management. was “a strong move.” he revised history of Canada now claims Myth 2: Supply management only makes some farmers rich. that Supreme Leader Justin Trudeau had inherited the reign We have supply management in Canada because farmers and from his father in 2015, Supreme Leader Pierre Trudeau. governments recognized that it was hard for farmers to make Reports from inside the large, secretive state indicate that a living in the marketplace. here’s a paradox that makes food some political opponents were ruthlessly executed with diferent from other commodities: A really lean season means anti-aircrat guns, while Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh and similarly lean income while a bumper crop loods the market Elizabeth May have been sentenced to 30 years hard labour in and lowers the price, leading to more lean income. Farmers a Winnipeg gulag. Upon hearing the horrifying news, Trump who own quota in a supply management system typically fare immediately called Trudeau “a strong negotiator” on Twitter. better than farmers who don’t. Also, the price guaranteed by he once pleasant province of PEI has become a lifeless supply management provides Canadians with a price-stable, desert, obliterated by a 50 megaton blast from Canada’s high-quality source of dairy. Milk prices don’t suddenly spike. new hydrogen bomb program. his received widespread Moreover, the system has enabled Canadian farmers to have international condemnation, especially from Japanese tourists smaller herds than American farmers, where herds are as large who wanted to see the Anne of Green Gables attractions. as 100,000 cattle. Slowing the growth of big dairy farms has Trump dropped all of his trade complaints against Canada let rural communities with more small farms, which in turn ater Trudeau announced that Saskatchewan will be starved for contributes to the richness of rural life that even city people the next three to ive years so the Shining Canadian Leader experience when they head to the country. can feed his expanding military and spend more on his private Myth 3: Canadians will beneit if we scrap supply collection of Hennessy and designer cigarettes. management. A recent study found that Canadians pay less he Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada’s only on average than Americans and Australians for dairy and our media source ater every other journalist was summarily prices are less volatile. But price isn’t the only consideration executed without trial, made the announcement of the heroic when it comes to food. Food, and the way it is produced, trade accomplishment and a renewed relationship between determines how healthy we are. And the way food is produced the US and Canada. “Another great victory for our Glorious on the farm and then processed has an impact on the Leader!” shouted a plaid-wearing CBC announcer. “Donald environment. Not to mention that farms are part of the social J. Trump has conceded defeat in trade negotiations and fabric of this country—when farms go out of business because apologized for insulting our ierce and productive country! He of boom-and-bust cycles, social and community health is will now accept all of the supply-managed dairy products the negatively afected. People’s Republic has to ofer!” So rather than back away from supply management, Canada should consider how demand–supply coordination can be ST. ALBERT improved by making sustainability and health explicit goals in this system and in national food policy. Such an approach ensures resources are used eiciently, reduces the distance Trump Effect food travels and lessens food waste. hese are all good things. But demand–supply coordination isn’t popular in a food From “Trump’s anti-Canadian antics are good news for Alberta system run primarily by private interests. And it’s especially not pipeline advocates—whether or not that was the plan,” by David popular with the Trump administration looking for a market Climenhaga, albertapolitics.ca, Jun 15, 2018. for the excess milk lowing from its skewed dairy supports. S President Donald Trump may not actually have intended OTTAWA U to deliver a blow to West Coast environmentalists opposed to the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, but he has done so with his recent dubious allegations Glorious Republic of Canada! about Canada’s trading practices. Building a pipeline capable of carrying diluted bitumen from From “Canada gains numerous concessions from Trump ater Alberta to Vancouver’s harbour, where it is claimed it will fetch a becoming a ruthless dictatorship pursuing WMDs,” by Alex better price from Asian buyers than American ones on the Gulf Huntley, he Beaverton, a satirical news site, Jun 14, 2018. Coast, may not make much diference for the national economy in the event the Trump administration places huge tarifs on S tarifs on Canadian aluminum and steel have been Canadian-built automobiles, for example. But it certainly U promptly lited ater Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has strengthens the argument in the minds of many members of the impressed US President Donald Trump with numerous public that Canada must complete the now federalized Trans human rights violations, by eliminating any and all dissent and Mountain project and perhaps build more new pipelines— by testing a nuclear bomb. Canada, now known as he People’s whether coastal British Columbians like it or not.

24 OCTOBER 2018

Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley was certainly not shy basket. We must diversify our markets”—and that means, she about making that point, telling visitors to Calgary’s [Global asserted, building that pipeline. Petroleum Show, June 12, 2018] that President Trump’s Meanwhile, for those who support the time-tested, “reckless attacks on our steel and aluminum industries and… traditional methods of managing Alberta’s economy and the hard-working people that those industries employ” shows keeping its budgets in balance, it’s starting to look as if the the need for the pipeline. “I have a message to send to folks power of prayer may be coming through for Alberta one more beyond this room, to British Columbia and to all Canadians,” time. he traditional economic policy of Alberta governments she told the conference goers. “If the last days and weeks tell us back to Social Credit, of course, has been to keep taxes too low anything, it’s that we, as Canadians, need to take control of our to pay for what we have to do, keep services relatively high to economic destiny.” please voters, and pray for an increase in royalty revenue. She made the same points again [June 15] to a gathering of Now there are indications God may have answered the party faithful in Edmonton—using President Trump as her Albertans’ prayers for another oil boom, with or without a straight man to sell her pipeline vision. “Just so we’re all up to bumper-sticker promise that this time we don’t hose it all away date where things stand in the world, Canada is a very hostile again, or words to that efect. It must make the blood of Jason country” (pause for laughs) “and the North Korean regime is Kenney’s strategic brain trust over at United Conservative very loving. Canada is very greedy, duplicitous, backstabbing; Party HQ run cold to see world oil prices creeping back up to while Russia should be welcomed with open arms to the G7 a point where commentators can blithely speculate they could table. And our dairy farmers? hey’re a major, major threat to soon push Alberta’s account books back into the black, maybe US security!” even in time for the next provincial election, expected in 2019. Remember how Americans abroad used to stitch Canadian Count on it, if this keeps up, there is bound to be a lags on their knapsacks, she asked. “Just recently we’re hearing disconcerting pivot in the UCP’s propaganda coming soon. stories of bald eagles” (beat, beat) “dressing up like Canadian To wit, that while the worldwide drop in the price of oil that geese. Yeah, that happened!” All joking aside, Ms. Notley made impacted Alberta’s budget was entirely the fault of the NDP her point to the friendlies in the same language as she made it and its policies, any positive efect from the worldwide increase to the oil industry: “As Canadians we need to take control of in prices we are seeing now could have nothing whatsoever to our economic destiny. We simply cannot put all our eggs in one do with local management of the economy.

albertaviews.ca 25 EYE ON ALBERTA

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA STONY PLAIN, 1926

Fix the Gap! Hot New Field

From “Alberta’s Revenue Problem,” by Ricardo Acuña, Vue From “Experiments in hemp growing in Western Canada prove that Weekly, Edmonton, Jan 18, 2018. industry is practicable,” by staf, Stony Plain Sun, Nov 25, 1926.

egardless of how you feel about current levels of spending xperiment in hemp growing in Western Canada, progressing R by the province, regardless of how optimistic you are about E favourably before the war, was brought to a stand-still with the future price of oil, and regardless of whether you are on the the outbreak of hostilities and was not resumed for some time right, let or centre of the political spectrum, the fact that the aterwards. Recently, however, work prosecuted energetically Alberta government is not bringing in enough tax revenue to by the development branch of the Canadian Paciic Railway pay for the services Albertans want is undeniable. in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture of the Our current $10-billion deicit is not a result of any signiicant Dominion Government… has further established the suitability increases to spending since the NDP came to power. Increases of the lands of the irrigated sections of southern Alberta to this in operating spending by the NDP have remained at, or slightly crop and paved the way to industrial manufacture involving the below, the rates of inlation and population growth. use of hemp. here would now appear to be no reason why the Last year we brought in about $6.5-billion less in non- prairie provinces should not have a hemp-growing industry renewable resource revenue than we did in 2013–2014, and and engage in the manufacture of products now imported into this year, despite some improvement, we’re still falling about the Dominion to the extent of some $5-million annually. [he] $6-billion shy of where we were just four years ago. Our tax hemp industry in Western Canada can be made a commercial revenues have remained largely lat over the same period. and industrial success. Most economists now agree that a sales tax is inevitable, and desirable to keep government inances viable and healthy. UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA To date the NDP government has not produced a credible plan to eliminate the provincial deicit. All they have said so far is that they will balance the books by 2023, and that they will Hot New Field: Take Two not raise taxes or introduce a sales tax. Jason Kenney and the UCP on the other hand have also From “Grow Opps: Bluntly Speaking, ALES Scientists Might be promised that a UCP government would balance the books by Cannabis Industry’s Best Buds,” by Helen Metellas, in Green 2023, have also indicated they would not raise existing taxes House, the magazine of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and or introduce new ones, and have likewise not presented a Environmental Sciences at the University of Alberta, Fall 2017. concerted plan for reaching balance. his past week, however, the UCP did release a policy discussion paper to kick of n the classic ilm he Graduate, the lead character gets one dialogue among their members in the lead-up to their May 2018 I word of advice on which hot new ield to enter: “Plastics,” policy convention. Sadly, if the ideas put forth in the discussion he’s told in 1967, on the cusp of a revolution in consumer goods paper are any indication of what a UCP platform might look and manufacturing. Today the prophetic word with potential like, they are even more out-of-touch with economic realities to overhaul the market is: Cannabis. than the current government is. Pioneering activity is underway and building steadily in he UCP discussion paper reasserts the promise to balance Alberta for two quite diferent products derived from the the books by 2023, but also suggests policies that return Alberta plant Cannabis sativa: marijuana and industrial hemp. Health to the lat tax, signiicantly increase funding to private schools, Canada said in June [2017] Canada already has the highest reduce corporate taxes, eliminate the small business tax, cannabis-use rates in the world. Canada leads the world in eliminate the carbon levy, fund a major court battle against the production of medical marijuana. Yet the vice-president of federal government, privatize healthcare, and set up a permanent Aurora Cannabis, a medical marijuana producer, said expected commission to monitor federal government inances. demand in the rapidly growing medical cannabis market is In short, a UCP government would reduce current revenues exceeding envisioned production. even further, increase funding to elitist schools and private “When the demand of the adult consumer system is layered health providers, and dedicate money to ighting the feds, on top of that, it’s a rush to build as much capacity as possible,” and yet still somehow balance the budget? I would love to Cam Battley told the Canadian Press. see anyone attempt to put actual numbers to those policies On the hemp side, with more than 30,000 acres dedicated to and make it all work. Ultimately, what is clear is that unless industrial hemp, Alberta grows the most of any jurisdiction in Albertans accept the reality of paying more in taxes to fund North America. [But] for hemp to fulil its potential, scientists our current services and infrastructure, no political party in must bridge important gaps in knowledge.… “It’s key to the province will take that initiative on their own. develop new applications and products, and most importantly,

26 OCTOBER 2018

establish markets and supply chains,” says John Wolodko, of Yet Bill C-45 is creating a monopoly for the rich; Bill C-46 will Alberta Innovates. Wolodko studied hemp extensively as a let the police continue to beat down the poor… A monopoly is replacement for ibreglass during his previous position with the exclusive possession or control of the trade in a commodity the Alberta Research Council (now InnoTech Alberta). or service. An oligarchy is a government of a small group of He believes that researchers in Alberta have an advantage people. A plutocracy is a government of the wealthy, for the because of the lessons learned here while establishing the canola wealthy, by the wealthy. Canada’s burgeoning for-proit cannabis industry, an era remembered by ALES faculty dean Stan Blade, industry is a fascinating conlict-of-interest mélange of elected who grew up on a family farm that adopted canola early on. he oicials, high-ranking police oicers and almost exclusively lessons ran the gamut, says Blade. “It didn’t it into our cropping white Anglo males who are trying to igure out how to capture systems, the plants were too late. It didn’t stand very well. he and control the whole industry. whole production model was not well understood. he whole A 2017 Maclean’s article compiled an interesting list of some processing piece was new. We needed to have oil crushers, which of the players. hat list includes famous insiders such as Senator was outside of our expertise.” Larry Campbell, a former RCMP oicer and Vancouver mayor Yet the ledgling canola industry lourished. “It was efectively who is now an adviser to Vodis Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc.; a non-industry until the 1970s,” says Wolodko. “Now it’s an Norman Inkster, an independent director at Mettrum who was anchor industry in Alberta.” once head of the RCMP; Dr. Joshua Tepper, former assistant deputy minister of health and one-time senior medical oicer OTTAWA for Health Canada (also an independent director at Mettrum between 2014 and 2016); Mike Harcourt, a former BC premier who is now the chairman of True Leaf Medicine Inc.; George Status Quo Winners Smitherman of THC BioMed, a former Ontario Liberal deputy premier and minister of health; and John Turner, former prime From “Prometheus Re-bound,” by John Akpata, Canadian Centre minister, who has an open medicinal marijuana application for Policy Alternatives, Mar 1, 2018. Recreational consumption in Ontario… he men who are going to proit the most from of marijuana becomes legal in Canada on Oct 17, 2018. the ground-loor creation of a multi-billion-dollar industry are veterans of the establishment. hey formerly enforced the law, ind myself poised between astonishment and outrage at incarcerated people and were the status quo. Now they are going I the miserable marijuana monstrosity that has been bred to be the international proiteers who beneit from the legal by the Trudeau government and sold to doting Canadians recreational growth and distribution of cannabis. as “legalization.”… I have been a member of the Marijuana Party since 2004. I have run in the last ive federal elections MEDICINE HAT and am currently the peace oicer for the party. I have had to consistently deconstruct the lawed thinking of reefer madness; I have had to face the medusa of racism that hides Dope Gets My Goat in the history of Emily Murphy; I have sufered the slings and arrows of every Cheech and Chong joke; I have smiled From “Ticked Of and Tickled Pink,” Medicine Hat News, May 8 at every Jimi Hendrix or Bob Marley reference; I have risked and May 10, 2018. In the column readers respond to the question my personal and professional reputation by aligning myself of what local issues make them mad or happy. In April Aurora with something that was thought to be immoral, dangerous Cannabis announced it would build a cannabis-growing facility and criminal. the size of 21 football ields in Medicine Hat. he members of the Marijuana Party have been uniied by one common ideology: Cannabis should not be criminalized. icked O: At the number of potheads that will be travelling In order to defend this position, I have had to study botany, T here looking for a job claiming to be a “pot enthusiast.” science, the policies of Health Canada and Veterans Afairs hat’s all this city needs is more idiots who can’t even spell their Canada and the law. I am now, as I have always been, in a bit of own name. a haze at the reasoning of it all. Ticked O: With a letter to the editor about legalizing marijuana. Having marijuana or cannabis included in the schedule of If you followed the logic we could simply legalize everything and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and enforcing that that way we would do away with all crime and all criminals. with the Criminal Code is outrageous. It is non-logical. It Ticked O: I don’t like people smoking anything but if I had deies the laws of nature, science and the will of the people. cancer and it helped to relieve my pain, then yes, I would smoke Marijuana prohibition is a monster roaming the countryside medicinal marijuana. that kicks in doors and takes property away; takes children Ticked O: Grass City? No, don’t go there. Gas is what made away from their parents; randomly beats down the public; this city so keep it that way. handcufs people and saddles them with a criminal record. Tickled Pink: People will be applying for jobs at the cannabis Humans become outcast before they can apply for a “pardon,” plant. Maybe employers that will lose employees could hire older or a “record suspension” as it is now called. people who want to job share and want part-time hours. #

albertaviews.ca 27 WATCHDOG

LORNE GIBSON Election Commissioner

orne Gibson is back, this time as Alberta’s irst Election Commissioner—an independent non-partisan oicer of the L Legislature, appointed in May 2018. Previously he served as Alberta’s Chief Electoral Oicer from June 2006 to March 2009. It was a contentious term. Gibson pointed out serious laws in the 2008 election, ater which his contract was not renewed by the PC government that won the election. In the past 20 years Gibson has also worked as an election administrator and consultant across Canada and internationally. He is recognized by Canada’s Attorney General as an expert in election law enforcement. “I understand the election business,” says Gibson. “I understand the participants who are subject to the election laws. I understand the role of enforcement and how fair and just decisions are reached.”

Interviewed by Tadzio Richards expecting them to be investigating AV: A lot of “dark money” spending compliance failures. he creation of could be online. If a citizen sees online AV: You’ve been Alberta’s Chief this position as an independent oicer political ads, how would they know if Electoral Officer and you’re now the of the Assembly creates a stronger it’s something to complain about? Election Commissioner. What is the perception of independence—it helps I would have to see the material the difference between the two roles? to build trust and conidence in the complainant was referring to. hat’s hink of it this way: the Chief Electoral decisions the commissioner makes. what the process involves—people see Oicer runs elections and by-elections, something they are concerned about and I enforce the election laws. AV: When you were appointed, NDP and they report it to our oice. Recently MLA Brian Malkinson said a main part we received a complaint from somebody AV: Why do we need an election of your role is to “root out dark money who was contacted by a political party commissioner in Alberta? in Alberta politics.” Would you agree? during the by-elections [in July] and his is an emerging role; it’s Alberta’s here were a number of newspaper they were concerned that the parties irst election commissioner and only the articles talking about the dark money had information about them and were third in Canada… Separating out the in Alberta and how it was going to asking for their support. hey didn’t enforcement responsibilities from the be my job to ind it. Something you think it was appropriate. Well, there is Chief Electoral Oicer’s oice, which should know is this is primarily a no prohibition against parties phoning administers elections, was a forward complaints-driven process. I’m not out voters and asking for their support. But thinking and prudent step that serves there on ishing expeditions looking as far as an election ad, it would be my to strengthen and uphold basic tenets for something to investigate. I respond job to try to ind out who placed the ad of natural justice—namely that nobody to complaints that represent possible and what it cost and where the money should be a judge in their own case violations of the Election Act and the came from. It’s not an easy thing to do; and no one should be judged by their Election Finances Act. Would I expect [oicials] are grappling with this south accuser. It is incompatible to expect the to get complaints about contributions? of the border and Elections Canada is Chief Electoral Oicer to be working Sure. his isn’t something I’m looking dealing with the same kinds of issues. It’s with and assisting political parties for, but I will respond if a complaint not an easy task, but it’s important that and candidates with their compliance regarding contributions and spending somebody has a dedicated job to look

obligations while at the same time by third parties comes to me. into these matters. KIM GRIFFITHS PHOTOGRAPHY

28 OCTOBER 2018

AV: Should Albertans worry about our Legislature has established for running retaining additional investigators for elections being corrupted? competitive and fair elections. hat Calgary and Edmonton that will be I don’t think we’ve seen the same kind not being the case, I’m going to have used on an as-needed basis. of activity that’s been reported south of to work probably even harder to earn the border. I have faith and conidence and maintain the trust of the public and AV: A lot of political discussion and in our voters and our political system political stakeholders by exercising my political advertising now happens here in Canada. You can never say powers and performing my duties in a online. How do you track that? never, but I haven’t seen that we’re fair, just and reasonable way. It’s a complaint-driven process. I taking a sharp turn in that direction. know some jurisdictions do media AV: How do you ensure compliance monitoring. his is usually taken up AV: After the 2008 election, when you with Alberta’s election laws? by the Chief Electoral Oicer and were Chief Electoral Officer, you made I share a dual responsibility for their staf, who employ companies 182 recommendations to improve the ensuring compliance with the to monitor social media, TV, radio, electoral process. Many were adopted Chief Electoral Oicer. Candidates newspaper ads, that sort of thing. It’s by subsequent PC governments. How and political parties, third parties, quite time-consuming and expensive. different is Alberta’s electoral landscape leadership contestants and nomination As far as my role in all of this, I’m not now, compared to the past? contestants are all required to report in any way trying to duplicate what the It’s black and white. When I came their activity, primarily inancial Chief Electoral Oicer does. My oice to Alberta in 2006 to be the Chief activity, following an election is here to take complaints from the Electoral Oicer I took a look at the or a leadership race. he Chief public or from other political entities. legislation I had to work with and, Electoral Oicer and his staf have a being familiar with legislation across responsibility to look at those reports, AV: The upcoming Alberta election the country, I certainly didn’t think review them and ensure that these will be the first with a ban on union Alberta’s was very progressive. I think political entities are disclosing what and corporate donations. How do you I used the term “anti-democratic.” A they are required to disclose. A lot of think that will affect the election? number of provisions in the Act were the complaints I expect to get would Numerous jurisdictions across the outdated, some I considered to be be from the Chief Electoral Oicer country have placed restrictions ultra vires [ed: invalid]. I’m pleased indicating to me that this party or this on contributions. I think there is a to see most of the recommendations individual has not met their compliance perception that corporate and union I made have been implemented. he current Chief Electoral Oicer has also made numerous recommendations that the Legislative Assembly has As far as an election ad, it would be my job to find adopted… I look at Alberta’s Election out who placed the ad and what it cost and where Act and its Finances Act and they are now as progressive as we’d see in any the money came from. It’s not an easy thing to do. jurisdiction across the country. obligations and it would be my job then contributions will try to ind their AV: Your appointment wasn’t to go out and investigate if it’s the case. way into the election through third unanimous. UCP MLAs said it parties, and that may be the case. But was “partisan” and that you have AV: What if somebody breaks the law? it is legal for unions and corporations an “adversarial history with the No jurisdiction in the country has the to contribute to third parties. here are Legislative Assembly here in Alberta.” comprehensive set of compliance tools amount limits. We will have to see what How do you respond to that? that Alberta now has. One of the tools inluence it has. his isn’t new; it’s tried It certainly would have added to the I have is to levy [ines, in lieu of going and tested across the country and we perception of independence and to court]. he powers conferred on the haven’t seen any radical diference in trust in the work of the Election Election Commissioner to handle many the way elections are fought. Commissioner if there had been a infractions and administrative or quasi unanimous decision on the part of judicial matters should lead to better, AV: But if there is a complaint about the selection committee. I think it fairer decision-making and reduce political spending it goes to you? would have shown that the parties the costs in enforcement of Alberta’s Yes. People can go online to our website; represented in the Assembly, and the election laws. there’s a complaint form. hey can email elected oicials, stand behind the us or call and let us know what they’re commissioner and support the role that AV: How big a team do you have? concerned about. If we ind there is I perform, and that they support the My team at this point is three people. a possibility of an election law being importance of playing by the rules the I have one full-time investigator. I am broken, we’ll pursue an investigation. #

albertaviews.ca 29 DIALOGUE

People who disagree engage in a respectful exchange How Will a $15 M Affect A

IAN HUSSEY he Research Manager at the University of Alberta-based Parkland Institute anticipates benefits.

ALBERTA’S MINIMUM WAGE WAS TIED FOR Canada’s efectively zero. his is because the vast majority of minimum- lowest when Rachel Notley became premier. On October 1 it wage workers are necessary to businesses, and if employers will rise to $15 an hour—a 47 per cent hike over three years. must cut, they lay of their least experienced employees. In 2015 the Canadian Federation of Independent Business More than 70 per cent of Albertans making less than $15 claimed that Alberta’s increase would cost the province an hour, however, are not teenagers. In fact, 40 per cent are “between 53,500 and 195,000 jobs.” In other words, CFIB parents, and over 18,000 are single parents. believed that as many as two-thirds of the almost 300,000 here are, in fact, many beneits to raising the minimum Alberta workers making less than $15 an hour could lose their wage. It stimulates the local economy, because low-income jobs. In 2017 the C.D. Howe Institute claimed the increase to earners spend most of their income, and chiely in their $15 by 2018 “could lead to the loss of roughly 25,000 jobs.” community. Overall consumer spending power rises, as does History, however, doesn’t back up critics’ sky-is-falling the amount of money circulating in our economy. Meanwhile, claims. In 2009 Hristos Doucouliagos and T.D. Stanley a $15 minimum wage signiicantly boosts the income of low- published a meta-study of 64 US minimum wage studies, wage workers as a group, reduces poverty and slows down 1972–2007. hey concluded that minimum wage increases widening income inequality, especially as 60 per cent of have no or near-zero efect on employment. In 2016, Alberta workers making less than $15 an hour are women. with the provincial economy still in recession, Alberta’s Some claim our economy, especially the hospitality industry, accommodation and food service industries, where low-wage is too weak right now to support higher wages. But ATB jobs are concentrated, added 6,200 jobs. In 2017 this sector Financial in September 2017 reported that restaurant and bar added a further 1,500. hese were created despite minimum receipts in Alberta are at an all-time high. Higher minimum wage increasing 33 per cent from 2015 to 2017. wages can even save taxpayers money. People on low incomes he main reason doom-and-gloom predictions fail to rely more on social services. As Finance Minister Joe Ceci materialize is because critics assume employment efects has said, “here’s almost a kind of subsidy going to private for teenagers also apply to workers over age 20. In reality, businesses through the charitable sector to keep people whole.” minimum-wage increases tend to result in a small percentage All in all, minimum-wage hikes don’t hurt our economy; they of teens losing their jobs, while losses for adult workers are help more working people share in the province’s prosperity.

30 OCTOBER 2018

Minimum Wage Alberta?

JACK MINTZ he President’s Fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy expects layoffs.

SOMETIMES IT IS HELPFUL TO UNDERSTAND THE working poor. While many at minimum wage will be better impact of a policy like minimum wage hikes with an anecdote of, some of the secondary workers who beneit from higher rather than to survey countless economic studies. My daughter, wages come from middle income and aluent households, a social worker in Toronto, assists vulnerable youth. A troubled such as university students. client who recently escaped homelessness achieved success And what about those economic studies and layofs? As the with a minimum wage job that supports her basic standard Bank of Canada noted in a recent comprehensive survey, some of living. But now that Ontario has announced a 30 per cent harm comes through worker layofs. he Bank predicts 30,000 increase in minimum wages by 2019, this client’s hours have to 140,000 job losses due to the recent Ontario hikes—this been cut back and she faces homelessness again. would be 6 per cent to 28 per cent of workers at the minimum he point of this story is to illustrate that minimum wages wage level. Given the terrible economy, the Alberta wage hikes are a very poor way to target poverty. When wages are forced ater 2015 were poorly timed, aggravating an already bad up, someone has to pay. Maybe business owners can absorb economy. Businesses already feeling the pinch are more likely the higher costs through lower proits, but this is unrealistic to lay of workers in a bad economy. since increased wage costs are oten well in excess of thin proit Is there a better policy to help the working poor? Absolutely. margins. In a good economy, businesses could pass on the cost Many economists would argue for wage subsidies directed at of increased wages through consumer prices. Governments low-income workers. hese policies can be targeted truly at should remember, however, that higher prices are no diferent the working poor without helping those who don’t need it. than creating a regressive sales tax that hits lower-income hey would also create incentives to work as well as avoid any households more harshly. layofs at all. If price pressures due to competition make it diicult to pass How to pay for subsidies? If the money can’t be found in the on costs through higher prices, businesses will instead cut back budget, a small Alberta sales tax could be imposed on top of beneits, since minimum wage laws do not apply here. Layofs the federal GST. his is no diferent than what happens anyway or hour reductions may also happen. And over time businesses when irms pass on costs through higher consumer prices. But will adopt more automation when wages rise. at least this way no worker is ired and we don’t end up helping Minimum wage increases also target more than just the some who don’t need it.

albertaviews.ca 31 DIALOGUE HOW WILL A $15 MINIMUM WAGE AFFECT ALBERTA?

IAN HUSSEY RESPONDS TO JACK MINTZ

FOR DECADES THE BUSINESS LOBBY HAS BEEN wage should be between $12.35 and $18.53, meaning $15 is making many of the same arguments that Mr. Mintz presents right in the middle of the range suggested by economists. against any and all minimum wage increases, however small. Mr. Mintz says competition may make it hard for businesses It’s never the right time for an increase, it seems, and the last to pass on costs to customers, so layofs and increased thing businesses “feeling the pinch” need is a “poorly timed” automation may occur. But every low-wage employer initiative to put more money in the pockets of the lowest- faces the same wage increases, so none are at a competitive paid workers in the economy. Never mind that Alberta’s 2017 disadvantage in this sense, and in 2016 the government economic growth of 4.5 per cent led the country, and our 2018 announced the three remaining pay bumps on the path to $15 growth forecast of 2.8 per cent is among the leading provinces. speciically so that business owners could prepare by adjusting he problem for such critics is that their arguments are their business plans. Contrary to the catastrophic claims of largely divorced from the data and the bulk of the last 20 impending job losses when the minimum wage increase was years of economic research into the impacts of minimum announced, 2016 and 2017 saw Alberta’s economy add 7,700 wage increases. jobs in food service and accommodation. To make matters worse, Mr. Mintz misleads when he says Automation isn’t new or dependent on wage increases. the Bank of Canada report on Ontario’s minimum wage hike Automation has afected and will continue to afect how we concludes the increase will lead to layofs. he report actually work, but that doesn’t mean a full-time worker should be paid says the wage increase will result in slower than expected job below the poverty line. In 2016 some McDonald’s locations growth. he report also concludes the wage hike will result in in Alberta introduced self-serve kiosks, but also hired net gains for workers. Perhaps that’s why in a 2017 open letter, more workers to interact with customers, illustrating that 53 economists endorsed Ontario’s move to $15. automation doesn’t always mean fewer jobs. Mr. Mintz also argues that raising the minimum Mr. Mintz’s view that some minimum wage wage is a “poor way to target poverty.” he earners don’t need a raise is another common reality is that past minimum wage increases refrain used by minimum wage opponents. had no impact on poverty rates because “In reality, his is based on the faulty stereotype of they were too small, keeping full-time the minimum wage worker as a teen who earnings below the poverty line. For 74 per cent of works part-time, lives with their parents, example, in 2013 Alberta’s minimum wage Alberta low-wage and is earning extra spending money went up 20 cents to $9.95. Earning that workers aren’t working for a small business. In reality, wage for 35 hours a week for 52 weeks, 74 per cent of Alberta low-wage workers a worker’s annual pre-tax income was teens.” aren’t teens; 62 per cent don’t live at home $18,109. Canada’s 2013 ater tax Low Income with their parents; and 58 per cent work for Cut-Of (the poverty line) for a single person big businesses with 100-plus employees. with no children living in a city of at least 500,000 Only 18 per cent of Alberta workers making people was $19,744. less than $15 an hour who live in a two-income he 2016 poverty line (the latest one) for the same person household have a spouse making a higher wage. Almost twice now is $20,675. At $15 an hour, a full-time worker’s annual as many low-wage workers are the head of their household pre-tax income is $27,300, so the $15 wage raises them than are their household’s second income earner. hese above the poverty line. he worker sees a sizeable net gain second incomes are mostly earned by women, meaning that in income, since they’ll pay little income tax (Alberta’s 2017 minimum wage increases are an important means to narrow personal income tax exemption was $18,690). Alberta’s gender income gap, the largest in Canada. Is Alberta’s minimum wage increase causing economy-wide As for the claim that university students making minimum inlation, as Mr. Mintz suggests? Absolutely not; inlation in wage don’t need a pay raise, the average tuition for Alberta’s Alberta is driven by the pace of oil sands development, not post-secondary institutions increased almost 500 per cent long-overdue minimum wage hikes. he inlation-adjusted from 1992 to 2015. Very few students, whether they live at average provincial minimum wage across Canada only went home or not, will have loads of disposable income even ater up a penny from 1975 to 2013. In 2019 a $15 wage, when the minimum wage is increased to $15. adjusted for inlation, will only be about a dollar more than In contrast to the clear advantages of setting a minimum the 1977 minimum wage. wage at a level that allows a full-time worker to climb above Is a $15 minimum wage too high for Alberta? Economists the poverty line, Mr. Mintz’s alternative proposal that Alberta generally agree that the minimum wage should be between 40 introduce a provincial sales tax to subsidize low-wage per cent and 60 per cent of a province’s average wage. Alberta’s employers would dampen purchasing power and incentivize February 2018 average wage was $30.88, so our minimum employers to pay low wages to get the government top-up.

32 OCTOBER 2018

JACK MINTZ RESPONDS TO IAN HUSSEY

IAN HUSSEY’S ARGUMENT THAT MINIMUM WAGE to accommodate higher wage costs. policies are good for the economy raises a critical question in Second, we should remember that not all those working my mind. Is there an optimal minimum wage? at minimum wage are necessarily poor. A Statistics Canada Suppose that minimum wages have no negative impact study estimated that only 1.8 per cent of Albertans in 2013 on employment, which suggests that business demand for were at the minimum wage. Is this a badge of dishonour for workers is impervious to the wage rate. In that case, why not the province? Alberta was the fastest growing economy and simply raise the minimum wage to $50 per hour? No one had the highest incomes in Canada at that time. would lose a job. All workers could then command a minimal Casual empiricism might suggest that lower minimum annual salary of roughly $100,000 per year and no worker wages have had the perverse result of higher salaries and would be impoverished. employment, as businesses ind less-regulated labour markets Obviously this is absurd. Businesses would not be able to more attractive for investment. I wouldn’t push this point hire all employees at this new cost. hey could try to reduce without careful study, since many factors inluence growth hours worked or improve eiciency, but this is limited. besides labour regulations. However, the Bank of Canada study hey could ire workers and contract instead, but inevitably I referred to previously takes into account larger economic businesses would have to raise consumer prices to cover impact on trade and substitution of capital for labour. such high wage costs. Higher prices would result in falling Of those who were at the minimum wage, almost half are demand and a loss in market share to imports from other teenagers, three-iths are part-time workers, 60 per cent work jurisdictions. To survive, businesses would have to automate in retail trade and food and accommodation and 70 per cent practices to save wage costs, lay of their least-skilled workers have completed high school or at least some post-secondary or simply shut down. he economy would stop growing education. Not all of these workers live in poverty, since and employment would be suppressed. they could come from relatively aluent households, No one, I’m sure, would advocate for such which is why minimum wage policies are a poor a high minimum wage. So what, then, is the mechanism to address poverty. optimal minimum wage? In recent years, “Not all hird, governments already provide many $15 per hour has been pegged as the social safety net programs, including social “living wage,” about $30,000 per year. his Albertans working assistance and employment programs that would certainly pull most working poor at minimum wage make it diicult for anyone’s income to out of poverty. In fact, such an income are necessarily drop below a certain level. would be higher than the low-income-cut- A superior social policy to minimum of measure of poverty in Alberta. poor.” wage would be income subsidies. For Do we even need minimum wages at all? example, the US earned-income credit is hree arguments can be made that minimum provided as a share of employment income for wages are not needed. those who annually earn less than $15,010 (a single First, minimum wages have some negative impact person) or as high as $53,930 (for joint ilers with more on the economy even if not through employment efects. than three children). he credit is targeted to low-income he meta-analysis study by Doucouliago and Stanley found persons or families by phasing out the support when income that the average impact of minimum wages is to reduce is above the limit. employment demand (a 1 per cent increase in the minimum Instead of raising the provincial minimum wage from $10 wage would reduce employment by 0.19 per cent), with most to $15, the government of Alberta could have introduced studies grouping around zero impacts. A similar UK study an earned income credit of equal value (50 per cent of did not come to this conclusion. Its authors argue selection employment income) phased out for incomes above $15,000 bias by editors overestimates negative results. But there are per person (double for family income). It would apply to those limitations inherent with meta-analysis studies—they can be working for a wage or on contract. A back of the envelope biased against more exacting studies with stringent modelling calculation suggests a cost of roughly $300-million that could and larger data sets. easily be covered by budgetary savings or taxes (such as a Most research erroneously focuses only on employment harmonized Alberta sales tax that would raise consumer prices impacts, yet minimum wages afect the economy through by 0.3 percentage points, about the same impact on consumer hours worked, greater use of skilled versus unskilled prices as a minimum wage hike). No one loses a job and the labour, higher consumer prices, beneits and automation. beneit would be targeted to those who are truly poor. hese issues have not been studied suiciently to come to a Overall only one conclusion remains: he optimal minimum conclusion about the process with which minimum wages wage is zero. It is far better to provide wage subsidies that will afect the economy—but some mechanism must operate generally encourage rather than discourage work. #

albertaviews.ca 33

TRADE IN THE TRUMP ERA In volatile times, Alberta looks to Asia

By TREVOR TOMBE PREMIER OF ALBERTA OF PREMIER

34 OCTOBER 2018

ANADA’S PROSPERITY DEPENDS ON account for over 40 per cent of global GDP by the end of the trade; Alberta’s even more so. he province next decade, according to OECD projections. By 2050 these exported over $100-billion worth of Asian giants may account for half. Not to mention the thriving products last year, generating roughly one economies of Vietnam, the Philippines and so on. of every three dollars earned by Alberta he question for Albertans is how we can capitalize on workers and businesses. hat’s a share these opportunities. Chigher than Ontario (roughly one in four), Quebec (one in ive) or British Columbia (one in six). As you might expect, Alberta’s massive energy exports he instability and protectionist are a big part of the story. At $70-billion last year, the province exports more oil and gas than the total exports of sentiment Trump creates—and a all products from seven other provinces. Our exports are so large that, though our population is barely more than 1 per NAFTA deal on shaky ground— cent of the combined Canada–US total, Alberta accounts for mean we must hedge our bets. 60 per cent of the energy trade (including oil, gas, electricity and coal) between the two countries. But this reveals our key trade challenge: a lack of market GOVERNMENT LED JUNKETS ABROAD ARE diversiication. he risks of sending 99 per cent of our energy increasingly common, especially to Asia. In spring 2018, exports to a single market are obvious. Political and regulatory Alberta’s Economic Development and Trade Minister, Deron decisions south of the border can have substantial economic Bilous, travelled to China with nearly three dozen oil and implications for Alberta—both negative (when president gas companies in tow. his marked the ith such trip for Obama rejected Keystone XL) and positive (when Trump the Alberta government since late 2016, and followed on the reversed that decision). Lately, it’s been mostly negative. heels of Bilous’s trip to Silicon Valley, which some 80 Alberta he current White House occupant has introduced many companies joined. new and potentially existential risks to our economy. “Trade his “Team Alberta” approach, as the minister puts it, wars are good and easy to win,” Trump tweeted earlier this aims to increase trade and investment links between markets year. he rising instability and protectionist sentiment he abroad and businesses back home. creates, and a NAFTA deal that’s on shaky ground, mean we Such trips are nothing new, nor unique to Alberta. must hedge our bets and look elsewhere. Luckily there are Nationally, so-called “Team Canada Missions” began in many opportunities and much our federal and provincial 1994 under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and continued governments can do. for years. he 2001 Team Canada mission included over 600 companies, the prime minister and various federal ALBERTA’S GOVERNMENT WANTS TO DIVERSIFY ministers, and all but two provincial or territorial leaders, the economy. “Finding new opportunities, encouraging including Alberta’s own Ralph Klein. he then-premier not investment and getting our products to new markets” is its only participated in many Team Canada missions, but went stated goal, and expanding trade is an important part of the to China multiple times on Alberta-led trips, and his various strategy. For good reason. ministers and staf travelled on many more. he Asia-Paciic region accounts for two-thirds of Personal trips are a staple of international trade, and Alberta’s non-US exports. hat was over $8.3-billion last participants swear by their efectiveness. Following Rachel year. Two-thirds of this is from products that Alberta excels Notley’s 2016 trade mission to Japan and China that included at making, including canola oil and seeds ($2-billion), 86 businesses, Paul Whittaker, president and CEO of the cereals ($980-million), wood pulp ($840-million), meat Alberta Forest Products Association, said the mission ($750-million), and ethylene glycol ($800-million). his “opened doors and will help our future eforts in these petrochemical product alone accounts for 20 per cent of critically important markets.” he president of Canadian Alberta’s exports to China and is used to make polyester Rocky Mountain Beef, Ted Haney, said “meeting existing and antifreeze as well as being a key component of air clients and new prospects during the mission adds credibility conditioning systems. to our company and industry. Particularly in China, aligning Albertans also beneit by importing from Asia-Paciic with our government representatives is valuable.” countries. We buy $4.7-billion worth of goods and services Between April and November 2017, nearly 400 companies from them, and with business inputs such as machinery, participated in similar Alberta missions abroad, reporting equipment, casings and tubes topping the list, easing access over $500-million worth of trade and investment transactions. to imports from Asia lowers production costs here. Our It may be tempting to conclude that trade missions caused competitive position and living standards both beneit. this activity—and our government regularly touts such And the opportunities to deepen these trade relationships igures as evidence of success. But these numbers are diicult will only grow. Asia’s economies are among the world’s fastest to verify, and it’s tough to measure the true efect. Perhaps growing. China, Japan, India, Korea and Indonesia alone will commitments made don’t materialize later. Perhaps they

albertaviews.ca 35 FEATURE TRADE IN THE TRUMP ERA

would have been made anyway, and the trip itself caused to China of perhaps $125-million within ive years. Still not nothing. Indeed, research by UBC economists Keith Head huge, perhaps, but headed in an encouraging direction. and John Ries suggests these missions have no detectable hese narrow, one-of agreements matter, but comprehensive efect on Canada’s trade lows, as neither total exports nor ones such as the Trans-Paciic Partnership (TPP)—a new trade imports change following political visits. At least, as far as deal involving 11 Paciic Rim countries—are particularly they could measure. important. he markets opened by the TPP aren’t as large A cynic may say the junkets play only to the domestic for Canada as a whole compared to the free trade deal with audience. News coverage of trips demonstrates the Europe (CETA), but for Western Canada the former deal government’s economic bona ides. In tough economic times matters more. he Prairies produce grains and meats that are this may be particularly important. in high demand in Asia. And with lower tarifs come lower But some beneits are intangible and not immediate. prices to the buyer, and potentially higher sales and higher Improving cultural awareness and exchanging knowledge revenues for producers here. and information—even just showing of one’s merchandise— he TPP will also diversify our markets. Agricultural can be invaluable. Other important outcomes include foreign exports from Alberta totalled $10-billion in 2017, and our investment, multinational production, brand-building and largest market is—unsurprisingly—the US. TPP countries potentially smoothing regulatory barriers and minor irritants account for only $2.2-billion of that, three-quarters of which that might not otherwise rise to the level of a minister or consists of canola, wheat, beef and pork. he opportunities premier. he trips can illuminate what regulations exist, for growth in Asia are diicult to overstate, as the TPP will facilitate negotiations and informal discussions for broader signiicantly lower tarifs on these exports. trade deals, and bring potential buyers and sellers together. Japan, for example, will lower their tarifs on meat from Also, personal networks matter. Industry already knows this. 38.5 per cent today to 9 per cent once fully phased-in. For Conferences, trade shows and other similar events abound, Japanese consumers, that’s a more than 20 per cent price even without government support. Importers search for export drop for Alberta meat. In Vietnam, another large market (93 suppliers and, once found, tend to remain committed. million people), beef tarifs will fall from 15 per cent to 0 per Recent research by US economists Ryan Monarch and Tim cent within three years for boneless cuts and 20 per cent to Schmidt-Eisenlohr found that 80 per cent of international 0 per cent for bone-in. Except for a relatively small amount trade is between importers and exporters with pre-existing of frozen exports, Vietnam is essentially an untapped market relationships. hey showed that almost half of US imports for Alberta producers. are within relationships that are at least three years old. As his is indeed a unique opportunity. In 2017 more than trade relationships age, the volume of trade and strength of 43 per cent of the beef imported into Japan came from the the partnership grows. US, while Canada supplied only 2 per cent. In Vietnam the his efect is especially strong in Asia. he same researchers opportunity is similarly large, as Canada’s current share of found relationships between individual importers and their beef imports is only 0.5 per cent, compared to 19 per exporters are twice as important for trade with Japan than with cent from the US. With falling tarifs on Canadian exports, Spain, for example. So when politicians and businesspeople producers here are primed to take market share away from trek to Asia to promote trade, there may be something to it. their US competitors. For smaller and medium-sized businesses, such missions We can also export more animal parts that have less may also help overcome signiicant costs. Meeting clients, consumer demand here than in Asian markets. Gio thu, for building relationships and learning about foreign markets can example, a type of Vietnamese head cheese dish, combines pig be expensive. A trade mission spreads these costs and leverages ears, tongues, snouts, cheeks and hocks with various spices. the attention a government-sponsored trip can generate. Currently, such items from Alberta face a 27 per cent tarif in Vietnam. Under TPP, these fall to 0 per cent within a decade. ERHAPS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TRIPS It’s not just agriculture that stands to gain from increased are the policies that can result. Government Asian market access. Alberta exported $1.7-billion in forest leaders—meeting face to face—can push deals products in 2017, primarily lumber. Currently, over 93 per over the inish line. Consider Prime Minister cent of this is destined for the US, while Japan and China Justin Trudeau’s visit to China in late 2017, were the next-largest markets. Japan’s tarifs can be as high when the two countries agreed to a deal that as 6 per cent for certain types of lumber that Alberta exports. Pshould facilitate more beef exports from Alberta to China. hese will fall to 0 per cent under the TPP, providing Previously, only frozen boneless beef was permitted, and opportunities for producers here to either shit away from the Alberta exported $73-million of those products to China US—especially important given the latest sotwood lumber last year. his is not nothing. But the province’s largest beef dispute—or expand production to service Asia. exports are fresh, not frozen. Of the $1.2-billion in fresh or Consumers beneit too. Canadians annually import over chilled beef already exported, none went to China. his was $3.6-billion in regular-sized cars from Japan, for example, and a missed opportunity that can now, thanks to the new deal, the current 6.1 per cent tarif we pay will be phased out. he be realized. he government’s estimate is for increased sales many shoes we buy from Vietnam currently have a 16 per cent

36 OCTOBER 2018

tarif, which will be immediately eliminated under the TPP. competition to jobs and earnings. Recent work by economists hese large, multilateral trade deals are diicult to David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson looked at US negotiate and implement. Even the TPP isn’t yet guaranteed, regions and compared those that produced more goods in as many countries (including Canada) have not yet ratiied competition with Chinese imports to those that made fewer. it. Luckily, our ability to liberalize trade goes beyond deals If employment fell in the more exposed regions relative to abroad. Alberta’s (and Canada’s) prosperity can also be others, then imports may have been the cause. It’s a clever and enhanced from within. robust empirical design, with stark results. he researchers found that rising imports from China between 1990 and 2007 CANADA IS ONE COUNTRY BUT NOT ONE economy. led to over 1.5 million fewer US manufacturing jobs. hey also Businesses and consumers that buy goods from other found that unemployment grew and average wages fell. provinces face costs. Countless thousands of diferent rules, In other work, they showed that voters in afected regions regulations, standards and certiications get in the way, were more likely to support less moderate candidates, and as sometimes do explicit restrictions on trade—witnessed may even have swung the 2016 presidential campaign in recently when Saskatchewan banned Alberta licence plates Trump’s favour. from its construction sites or when Alberta stopped buying BC Alberta, though, has less reason for such concerns. Much wine ater that province proposed to block a bitumen pipeline. of what’s imported here from TPP countries, for example, hese irritants add up and cost the Canadian economy isn’t also produced in Alberta. Ontario’s auto manufacturing dearly. My own research, with co-author Lukas Albrecht, sector, on the other hand, may face pressures from more suggests internal trade costs add between 8 per cent and 15 Japanese imports. And depending on how NAFTA is per cent to the cost of goods and services Canadians buy. renegotiated, Canada’s heavily protected dairy farmers may We further ind that this hidden tax—two to three times not be able to compete with their generally more productive the GST!—inhibits trade, lowers productivity and saps from and more subsidized US counterparts. $50-billion to $130-billion from the economy each year. While there is no free lunch—as economists are fond of Alberta is as much to blame as any province. Its recent saying—expanding trade creates more wealth, jobs and policy of subsidizing local crat brewers on their sales economic activity overall. Increased funding for income- within Alberta, for example, places other provinces’ beer at support programs, retraining or apprenticeship programs, a competitive disadvantage and is the subject of an ongoing regional development or a host of other options can help dispute. Multiply this and similar policies by a few thousand mitigate (though perhaps not eliminate) the adverse and you begin to sense the scale of the problem. consequences of trade. But there’s hope. he new Canada Free Trade Agreement, in force since July 2017, covers the entire economy by default—though there are many, many speciic exemptions— and establishes panels and task forces to identify and propose During Justin Trudeau’s 2017 solutions to various trade obstacles. Over time, the deal may visit, China agreed to a deal that gradually ratchet down Canada’s internal trade barriers. At least that’s the plan. should facilitate more

NO DISCUSSION OF TRADE WOULD BE COMPLETE beef exports from Alberta. without recognizing the trade-ofs. Expanding trade, whether internationally or interprovincially, raises average incomes and lowers average prices. But not everyone beneits. WE’RE MOVING QUICKLY INTO A NEW GLOBAL Some sectors expand, others shrink; some regions do well, reality. As trade networks deepen and supply chains others don’t; some workers receive raises, others lose their stretch, headwinds are blowing harder. Rising protectionist jobs; some prices fall, others rise. To ensure that liberalized sentiment and an uncertain future for North American free trade is politically and economically sustainable, we must trade creates challenges for Canada that are hard to overstate. mitigate the losses borne by the few. But so far we’re navigating these winds well. Consider the US. Recent polling by Pew Research Center he new deal with the EU, a successful completion of the found four in 10 Americans see NAFTA as bad for their TPP, an agreement among federal, provincial and territorial country—including 49 per cent of those over the age of 50, governments for expanded trade within Canada, an active and a strong majority of Republicans. Similar views can be presence of leaders abroad to both open new markets and found in Canada. Jerry Dias, the head of Unifor (Canada’s maintain current ones—each approach may work in its own largest private-sector union), has called the TPP “a mockery” unique way. As our prosperity depends on trade, an all-of- and “the worst trade deal ever.” If the legitimate concerns the-above approach makes sense. # behind these views are not addressed, protectionist sentiment may only grow. Trevor Tombe is associate professor of economics at the University A growing body of research, for example, links import of Calgary and research fellow at the School of Public Policy.

albertaviews.ca 37

Born in Romance Banff’s Whyte Museum turns 50

By STEVEN ROSS SMITH

ETER GREW UP IN BANFF, THE SON Catharine writes, “Pete is… a perfect, blue-eyed, innocent of a pioneering family (then the “Whites”). boy, kind and good, and ought to paint well some day. He has His father, Dave White, irst worked for the improved more than anyone else in the class.” hey courted in CPR and then in 1894 acquired, through the late 1920s, then married in Concord in 1930 and settled an unpaid debt, a hardware, grocery and in Banf. By the time of their marriage they were using the clothing outlet on the main street. Over time “Whyte” spelling of Peter’s family name. heP expanded it to be the town’s main department store and In 1931 Catharine and Peter built a home on a large family purchased additional properties close by. he White Block property between Banf’s main street—a wide dirt trail—and still stands today, housing several stores and apartments. the Bow River. It was a log house with studios, constructed Catharine Robb grew up on an estate in a wealthy family in of pine and spruce cut in the Morley foothills east of town. Concord, Massachusetts, daughter of Edith Morse and Russell From their house they looked across the glacier-fed Bow and Robb, a successful engineer and businessman. Arts, culture, through the trees to the mountains. community and philanthropy were a signiicant part of her It wasn’t in their minds then, but by 1968 Catharine and Peter education and upbringing. would endow an institution dedicated to art and community Despite disparate lineages and locales, their interests that would be built right next door to their rustic home. It in making art led Catharine and Peter to meet as fellow would become known as he Whyte Museum of the Canadian students at he School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Rockies, and in 2018 it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Perhaps their diferences—Peter, the outdoorsy, rural man, and Catharine, reined, cosmopolitan and stylish—were “CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE PETER AND CATHARINE the attraction. In a journal entry from that time, cited in sitting in their log house thinking about what this would look

Chic Scott’s book Mountain Romantics: he Whytes of Banf, like,” says Anne Ewen, current Museum Curator of Art and LEFT: V683/I.C.3/1; CENTRE: WYP.01.067

38 OCTOBER 2018

Let to right: Peter and Catharine Whyte outside their home, circa 1932–1933; Peter Whyte’s Hungabee from O’Hara, n.d., oil on canvas; the Whytes’ log cabin as it looks today.

Heritage, “and then actually drawings and paintings. heir following through with the idea, Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa— artwork was as good as the Group creating this amazing museum of Seven in some instances. he for the people of Banf and for “Where the good, the wise work they did when they were at the world?” and the beautiful come the Boston Museum School was hat vision took hold in brilliant. heir drawings were 1958 when Catharine and Peter together in harmony.” phenomenal. heir portraiture is created a foundation to gather exquisite. hey had training that resources to create an arts and culture centre. he foundation prepared them for the challenges they would meet, whether was named “Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa” by their friend, Stoney band painting in the mountains or working in the studio.” chief Walking Bufalo (George McLean). Catharine interpreted Some 140 of the Whyte’s works have been on display at the the name as “Where the good, the wise and the beautiful come Whyte Museum this summer and early fall in the exhibition together in harmony.” he foundation would be endowed “Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Catharine Robb Whyte and through Catharine and Peter’s substantial inancial assets and heir Contemporaries.” he show is entirely drawn from with their considerable collection of art and artifacts. the Whyte’s collection and also includes 29 images by their he Whytes’ early Banf days took them into the rugged contemporaries—painters Rungius, MacDonald and A.C. mountain landscape with pencils, brushes, paints and easels Leighton among them. to capture the magniicent terrain in all seasons. hey were Complementing the exhibition is a book with over 100 sometimes accompanied by other artists, including Belmore images—paintings and sketches by Peter and Catharine and Browne, Nicholas de Grandmaison, Carl Rungius and Walter others. A smattering of photographs capture the couple in their Phillips, who became resident artist at the Banf School of beloved mountain terrain. he text includes an introduction Fine Arts in 1940. Other visitors included Group of Seven by Anne Ewen, close “readings” of many paintings by art members J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer historian Monique Westra and an essay on the legacy of Peter and A.Y. Jackson. A viewer can see, in some of the Whytes’ and Catharine by writer Lisa Christensen. own paintings and drawings, the relationship of their work to he works in the exhibition are distinctive. Peter’s the past and to the emerging style of the times. heir outdoor Athabasca Glacier, chosen for the show’s title wall and also painting locations included their neighbouring landscapes for the book cover, is a gorgeous image. A gnarly, witchy, such as at Lake O’Hara, Bow Lake and near Jasper. And they ancient tree in blacks and browns dominates the foreground produced elegant portraits of Stoney Nakoda friends. to the let of the frame, and the centred glacier—a river “Peter and Catharine were excellent painters,” says Anne of ice, white and blue—seems to low toward the viewer. Ewen. “We have [in the Museum collection] over 1,000 of their Catharine’s larches, as in Mount Temple and Larches, glow

albertaviews.ca 39 FEATURE BORN IN ROMANCE

he Whytes produced work of extraordinary quality and volume. But artists aren’t always the best promoters.

a golden yellow and dance against a radiant blue sky. And Museum property. For whatever reason, the most focused her portraits capture character and depth from her subjects, appreciation of their work remains predominantly in Banf. whether Peter’s uncle John Donaldson Curren or Dan he celebratory exhibition received a National Museum Wildman, a Stoney friend resplendent in headdress and bear Assistance Program grant that enabled restoration of some teeth necklace. paintings, new frames for others, digital interpretation Peter’s large painting (74 cm × 165 cm) Untitled (Stoney included in the exhibition, and the book. “[he grant was] a Encampment) stands out, with its high plains panoramic way of validating that this is a really important project,” says width, the 20 tipis circling into the distance and back, its museum director Vincent Varga, “and it is a game changer for colours ranging from reds to greys through a many-hued this institution to get this kind of funding. Peter and Catharine palette. It ofers a glimpse into what appears to be a tranquil deserve that kind of recognition.” social gathering of resident Indigenous people in a lat green ield with mountains jagging the distant horizon, an image SADLY PETER PASSED AWAY IN 1966 BEFORE SEEING from another time. the construction of the Whyte Museum. Catharine, going on alone, rolled up her sleeves and pushed the foundation’s plan N HER ESSAY CHRISTENSEN ASKS, “SO WHY, forward. In a 1967 ceremony she wielded the shovel that broke today, is their work largely unknown outside of the soil, and in 1968 the Whyte building opened, containing a Banf and generally unrecognized within the art gallery, a library and an historical archive. world?” he Whytes produced an extraordinary Catharine’s close friend and ski coach in the years ater volume and quality of work and were well Peter’s passing, photographer Roy Andersen, attended the connected—but artists are not always the best opening. He remembers Catharine well. promotersI of their own work. Perhaps, because of Catharine’s “She loved her home, her cabin, she loved the mountains. wealth, there was no pressing need to pursue sales. Maybe She supported Peter and his painting and she sacriiced her modesty was a factor. own time. She was always a lady, and never lost her Boston, As well, Peter and Catharine had interests outside their art New England accent. She was humble and appreciative and so making: Peter loved to ski and photograph; Catharine was polite.” hese qualities attracted people to her—local citizens a gracious host and community builder. People would oten and individuals in high places. drop by their home and she would interrupt her painting to “We knew that Catharine had a good relationship with make tea and be hospitable. hey welcomed friends, family, Pierre Elliott Trudeau,” says Anne Ewen, who, during her fellow artists, skiers, guides and Stoney Nakoda citizens. irst stint working at the Whyte in the late 1970s had come heir log house can still be visited and toured on the Whyte to know Catharine. “I was her guest when she received the

40 OCTOBER 2018

Let to right: Frederick A. Bosley, untitled portrait of Catharine Robb, 1925, oil on canvas; Catharine Robb Whyte, Chief Dan Wildman, 1930, oil on canvas; he Shale Splitters [detail], 1930, Catharine Robb Whyte, Adeline Link, J.E.H. MacDonald and Peter Whyte.

Order of Canada, and we were standing in the middle of the guide’s 1896 Enield rile; First Nations buckskin jackets and room at the reception and he came running over and said to beaded moccasins; CPR silverware; an 18th century Japanese her ‘I’m not here all evening, but I knew you were in town so ceremonial sword; even a helicopter. I just thought I’d come over and say hello.’” Such a rich cultural repository has many functions in a place he Trudeau story does not end there, as Ewen recounts: like Banf, a town in a national park, population close to 9,000, “We were working in the archive one weekend. We found which draws four million tourists annually. As Varga says, three boxes, labelled the ‘fugitive boxes,’ and in them we “Contemporary museums are a destination, they’re a cultural found a lovely letter from Margaret Trudeau thanking hub, they serve the community and a tourist population. A Catharine for the tour, for showing her their garden, that it huge percentage of visitors come here to see the mountains. was a lovely house and that she’d love to have a log house How can we more efectively reach out to those people so that sometime in her life.” when they get here they want to come to the museum? We’re hey found another note, a formal invitation for July very fortunate that we have the Peter and Catharine Whyte 5, 1973, inviting Catharine to have lunch with Pierre and Foundation, and Banf being the kind of economy that it is. If Margaret along with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at it were a community of 9,000 anywhere other than in a place the Palliser. “Yet Catharine never fawned over important like this, it would be darn tough.” people,” says Ewen. “She always looked for good qualities in Peter and Catharine Whyte could not have envisioned the people. She treated everyone the same.” Banf of today—the myriad hotels, the pricey local and chain Today at the entrance to the “Artistry Revealed” restaurants, the ubiquitous souvenir shops, the summer exhibition there hangs a framed letter from Justin Trudeau traic jams of cars, buses and motorhomes. Nor could they congratulating the Whyte—an institution founded before he have foreseen the expanded building and complex program was born—on its anniversary. of exhibitions, talks, tours and other activities that occur at the Whyte Museum year round. Amid such growth, THE EXISTING COLLECTION HOLDS MORE THAN the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and those 6,000 paintings, drawings and historical items concisely connected with it strive to fulill and further the vision of listed in Chic Scott’s book: “In the archives can be found Catharine and Peter—that of “Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa—where 1,300 motion pictures, 1,100 sound recordings, 225 linear the good, the wise and the beautiful come together in metres of textual records, 5,500 books and about half a harmony.” # million photographs.” And the heritage collection contains objects as diverse as packer boxes and a saddle from the Steven Ross Smith is the 2018–2019 Banf Poet Laureate and is

LEFT TO RIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHERLEFT TO WYC.02.01; BOF.02.01; GEORGE K.K. (TOMMY) LINK, V683/III/A/15/PA-5 days when horses were used to explore the backcountry; a known for his uttertongue poems.

albertaviews.ca 41

GOING TO POT How Alberta prepared for the era of legal cannabis

By JEN GERSON

Aurora Cannabis’s Cremona facility. We’re a far cry from the head shops, y-by-night dispensaries or friend-of-a-friend markets of yore.

HE WINDOWS OF THE FORMER speciic lavours, attributes and charms. lower shop are still papered over, his is the future of weed. And it’s a far cry from but soon customers will mill about the head shops, ly-by-night dispensaries or friend-of- in a very diferent kind of store. he a-friend Ziploc baggie markets of yore. loors will be polished concrete, and “We went to the US to look at dispensaries, why the dated white-and-block ceiling some were doing really well and why others were not panelsT and grim luorescent lighting will be replaced so great,” says Raj Jogia, one of four partners behind by pipes and tidy wiring that will give the store a Kush Collective, which expects to open a retail sleek industrial vibe. In the centre of the white- marijuana outlet on 17th Avenue SW in Calgary walled room, tables will feature the prize product, now that the federal government’s legalization bill

along with iPads that will educate consumers about has inally passed and all provinces can bring their POSTMEDIA

42 OCTOBER 2018

own policies and procedures into compliance. the product should be sold, to where it could be On Jogia’s US fact-inding tour, “here were holes- consumed. Well before the federal government had in-the-wall and multi-million-dollar spaces that a inal drat of the legislation it intended to pass, the looked like Apple stores,” he says. “But the main provincial government and municipalities in Alberta reason some succeeded was customer experience. conducted surveys to get a sense of how Albertans he store has to look nice and feel comfortable, but wanted lawful weed to work. the most important thing for ensuring customer One of the most pressing issues was the question loyalty is experience and education.” of whether to adopt a private or public retail Jogia, sporting a crisp blue-and-white tailored shirt, model. Minister Ganley says Albertans were clear is in the oil and gas industry. Co-owner Shaun Baid, in their feedback, which was conducted through in a black Kush-branded T-shirt and hat, was laid two rounds of public opinion polling in 2016: they of from his job as an accountant shortly before the overwhelmingly wanted a private retail model legalization process began; the other partners behind similar to how alcohol is sold here—in stark Kush Collective are a lawyer and a professional in the contrast to Ontario (initially) and the maritime organic food business. All of them are Calgary-bred provinces, which decided to sell pot only through long-time friends who are passionate about pot—and government-run stores. keen to introduce themselves, their store and their “A public system gives the province much more product to the community. control, but is costly to establish and leaves inancial he pair go on to point out literature on speciic risk with Albertans,” Ganley says. By comparison, “a strain efects; chemicals called terpenes which shit private system puts faith in private retailers to follow pot’s lavour proile and are believed to account for the rules established by the province, but poses less minute aspects of a user’s experience. It’s a little like inancial risk and is more eicient to set up.” wine tasting, with a touch of the professional, pared- he beneits and drawbacks of public vs. private down Millennial aesthetic. liquor retail are hotly debated in Canada. One of the Jogia, Baid and their partners, touted advantages of Alberta’s along with dozens of other private liquor system is that it business owners big and small, All levels of government provides more convenience. hat, have navigated a rushed and ad however, is also considered one of hoc process in which all levels of frantically worked on a the model’s drawbacks, as it allows government frantically worked process untried since the easier access by youth. It’s long to implement a regime for the been alleged, for example, that sale and consumption of legal repeal of prohibition. it’s easier for minors to buy booze marijuana—a process that has from private stores. A 2011–2012 been untried since the repeal of government sting operation in Canada’s prohibition laws a century ago. It’s a process BC, the irst province to enact a hybrid public–private that let consumers and business owners alike on liquor retail model, seemed to conirm this theory. tenterhooks, unsure of the ine details of what will be But corroborating evidence is scant. legal, where and when. Given the timelines involved, It’s unclear how this dichotomy will play out with concerns about the speed at which this social shit is regard to cannabis. Months before legalization, the taking place are not unfounded, and no one can rule Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) out the possibility of unintended consequences. had received more than 530 retail cannabis licence applications province-wide. At the same point in “WHETHER OR NOT YOU THINK THIS IS THE the process, 40 stores had announced they would best idea, there was, ultimately, in a certain way, a dispense marijuana in Ontario, with an expectation referendum on this issue,” says Kathleen Ganley, that the province would see 150 stores by 2020— Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. though Ontario has 3.5 times Alberta’s population. “hat was the (2015) federal election, and that (hat province has since announced it will change to government was elected on a very clear promise to a private retail model, with an unknown efect on the legalize cannabis.” overall number of stores that will be approved.) he legalization of cannabis was up to Ottawa— here was signiicant debate on this issue, which is but the nuts and bolts were let to provinces and why the Alberta government went back to the public cities to igure out. Every level of government across twice on the question. “Our survey results ultimately the country scrambled experts and task forces to leaned towards private retail, with 58 per cent of create new pot regulations, bylaws and sourcing and Albertans supporting this system,” Ganley said. distribution methods. Myriad questions had to be As with alcohol, the AGLC will source and obtain answered, from the age of legal purchasing, to how product in bulk that private retail outlets will buy and

albertaviews.ca 43 FEATURE GOING TO POT resell. he AGLC will also oversee retail licensing. except Quebec (also 18) went with, but the same age But while the province has taken a liberal approach at which Albertans can legally drink alcohol. to physical retail shops, only the government will be “If you make the legal age higher, that does a better legally allowed to sell marijuana online. Ganley says job protecting public health,” Ganley says. “But it survey results highlighted the fact that Albertans were brings the illegal market into the legal market— concerned about how consumers could prove age which does a worse job of protecting youth, who are at point of purchase and at delivery; a public online still going to the black market.” portal, she suggests, gives the government more control. “Already, even before legalization, retailers OT SMOKING WILL BE banned are selling illicit cannabis in the online space,” she in private cars as well as at Alberta’s says. “A government-managed system sends a strong hospitals, schools and daycares. message to consumers that there will be one, legal Smoking will also be prohibited online source for recreational cannabis.” within close distance of playgrounds, he other question the government struggled zoos, outdoor theatres or any place with was the matter of the age restriction. he best Pwhere children are likely to be present. But cannabis science about the efects of marijuana to date suggests can be consumed in the province’s parks. it can harm young people, whose brains are still Ganley explains: “Say you have a campground in developing, especially under the age of 25. In the end, a provincial park. Now you’re saying people need to Alberta opted for a minimum age of 18 to consume drive outside that area to a highway and stand outside cannabis—a year younger than every other province their car [to smoke a joint] and go back again.” A

POLICE VS. THE POT-IMPAIRED DRIVER CANNABIS LEGALIZATION PRESENTS NEW [messages]… because it seems socially acceptable to challenges for law enforcement. Getting behind the smoke a joint or consume cannabis and drive.” wheel of a car while impaired by drugs will remain In anticipation of a possible spike in impaired driving, a criminal offence, but new legislation (Bill C-46, police across the province have been ramping up companion to the Cannabis Act) introduces “blood-drug efforts to train officers to recognize the signs and concentration” thresholds for marijuana impairment and symptoms of marijuana impairment. Robertson says updates the punishments that drivers face if they get the CPS training schedule is virtually at capacity, with caught driving high. officers becoming qualified to administer standardized Under C-46, drivers who have between two and field sobriety testing (SFST) and certifying as drug five nanograms of THC recognition experts (DRE)— (marijuana’s psychoactive all part of stricter roadside chemical) per millilitre in their procedures for determining blood will now face a fine of impairment. If an officer has up to $1,000. Those above reason to believe a motorist the 5 ng/mL limit will be has consumed cannabis, fined a minimum of $1,000 they can now administer a and could see harsher saliva test in addition to the penalties that can include SFST, using a device similar jail time for subsequent to a breathalyzer. Such tests offences. The Alberta detect the presence of drugs government has incorporated Canada has new “blood-drug concentration” thresholds in someone’s system but these provisions into its and stifer penalties for driving while high on cannabis. not the amount. If sufficiently Traffic Safety Act. concerned, police can compel In some ways marijuana-impaired driving is similar a driver to produce a blood sample. to drunk driving. The motorist experiences decreased According to Robertson, the human element will still coordination, poor reaction time and difficulty paying be vital to determining who should be allowed on the attention to multiple stimuli. But as constable Travis road. “We still need to have [impairment] related back Robertson of Calgary Police Service’s Alcohol and Drug to somebody’s ability to drive. And that’s where a DRE Recognition Unit notes, “high driving” hasn’t built up the or SFST comes in,” he says. “This program will be same stigma as drunk driving. “I think we’re going to [critical] to determining if a person’s ability to operate have to see several years of ‘Don’t do drugs and drive” their vehicle is impaired.” –Daniel Mullie

44 OCTOBER 2018

restrictive parks policy would have presented more city considered a more restrictive setback, but that problems, she adds, including fears of impaired would have signiicantly reduced the number of driving. “All sorts of diferent issues could have arisen viable spaces. By late April, Calgary had received if we tried to prohibit [consumption] in anything that 226 cannabis store applications. could possibly be described as a park,” she says. Edmonton senior planner Colton Kirsop says his Provincial legislation, however, leaves this matter city ran into similar questions and tradeofs. “If we’re open to municipal governments to regulate within too restrictive about where cannabis stores can locate, their own boundaries. And as Alberta conducted one of the unintended outcomes could be that we public opinion polling on minute matters of drive them to poorly accessible areas of the city— marijuana regulation, so did municipal governments. and we’ve seen that in US cities,” he says. Seattle, for “We were a bit surprised the province was treating example, “banned cannabis stores from downtown cannabis like tobacco, for the most part, from a public and entertainment districts, which let owners little consumption standpoint,” says Matt Zabloski, lead for choice but to set up in out-of-the-way industrial the City of Calgary’s cannabis legalization project. “I areas. hese are easier to take advantage of in terms couldn’t ind any major municipality that had allowed of vandalism and thet. Nobody’s there on weekends for public consumption. Even in the States, they were or ater hours. hey’re really quiet.” treating cannabis as restrictively as Alberta treats Edmonton therefore decided to welcome retail alcohol, if not more so.” locations to bustling commercial streets such as he City of Calgary decided to take a much more Whyte Avenue. restrictive approach, virtually banning all public he process for applying for business licences varies cannabis consumption, including in its parks. by city and town; once a location in an appropriate (Smoking in Fish Creek Park will also contravene land-use area is chosen, the outlet can apply for a Calgary’s municipal bylaws, even though the park permit and a business licence. Or it can apply to have is provincial.) his, combined with the AGLC’s an area rezoned—which oten requires a hearing having no plan at present to in front of council. Only ater a license smoking lounges, has business has obtained a lease on raised the ire of some pot A higher legal age might do a a storefront can it then apply for advocates who point out that better job protecting public an AGLC permit. Current head for many citizens, including shops will have to go through the those who rent their homes, this health, but more people would process too, just as if they were legal product could be virtually use the black market. new retail businesses. “his is impossible to legally consume. deinitely not one of those slam Many of these issues may be addressed by edible dunk things,” Zabloski says. “his is no walk in the marijuana, which can be consumed more discreetly. park by any stretch of the imagination, trying to score However, edibles aren’t metabolized by the human one of these businesses.” body in the same way as cannabis that’s smoked; Michelle Hynes-Dawson, spokesperson for the it takes longer for the “high” to hit, and thus it’s AGLC, says businesses must pay a $3,000 fee upfront easier for users to consume too much. Edibles also to apply for a licence. “During the application, we raise concerns about food safety, dosing and proper do our due diligence. We do a background check for labelling and packaging to ensure candy-like weed links to organized crime. here’s a questionnaire. We products aren’t accidentally consumed by children. have to ensure there is no history of traicking,” she he province’s cannabis secretariat said it does have says. “Just because someone pays the fee doesn’t mean a plan to develop a policy framework for edibles, but they are guaranteed the licence.” it is awaiting direction from the federal government, Indeed, even the stores themselves will be required which is not expected to legalize that section of the to have special features and equipment, including marijuana market until sometime in 2019. a secure, locked storage area to keep cannabis and accessories. Stores must be equipped with alarms CITIES AND TOWNS ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE and video surveillance, have a separate entrance and for where consumers can buy legal weed. Ater have no access to any other businesses. he AGLC commissioning polls and studies, Zabloski’s seems particularly concerned that no pot store team took a series of proposals to council that be too close to a liquor outlet, as the government would govern how marijuana retail outlets apply wants to discourage consumers from too readily for business licences. Stores in Calgary will be compounding their intoxication. permitted in the same types of commercial zones Similarly to cigarettes, marijuana products where liquor stores can be built, provided they are will have to be sold in plain packaging with no at least 150 metres from schools. Zabloski says the undue salesmanship about efects. Stores will not

albertaviews.ca 45 FEATURE GOING TO POT be able to use words or images that connote any burden. Police and enforcement agencies are also kind of health beneit. And, according to AGLC expected to bear signiicant costs in things such guidelines, branding must not attempt to appeal to as behavioural training and cheek swab testing to minors, show the use of pot, display intoxication or examine for impairment while driving [see sidebar]. “advertise a price or price advantage.” “For the irst little while, we’re not going to be he agency will also restrict cannabis retail taking in a surplus of revenue,” Ganley says. “here monopolies; no individual or entity will be allowed will be more costs than revenue to go around.” to own more than 15 per cent of the overall retail Given the partisan machinations in the Senate, cannabis licences in Alberta. he province will also it was uncertain well into spring 2018 when legal set the wholesale price. hese restrictions must pot could actually be purchased. he Senate voted strike a ine balance—they cannot be so restrictive on the bill on June 7, proposing 46 amendments. that the black market continues to lourish. he government accepted most of these, and the As the legalization date drew near, the AGLC put bill received Royal Assent shortly aterward. he ARCHIVE: out requests for providers to supply stock. Most of the Impaired provinces requested several months to inalize early interest came from federally licensed medical Judgment: regulations, acquire product and stock shelves. On marijuana suppliers. Given there are only so many Privatization June 20 the government announced October 17 as licensed medical marijuana suppliers in the country, of liquor retail the day that cannabis oicially gets the green light. one of the big fears of legalization advocates is that (Nov/Dec 2004) albertaviews.ca/ there simply won’t be enough product to meet early archive ALL OF THIS UNCERTAINTY HASN’T JUST demand once pot is oicially legal. afected lawmakers. he partners at Kush Collective Hynes-Dawson says the AGLC has heard such had to ind an amenable landlord and commit to concerns. “Every province is in the same boat,” she leasing a storefront months before they knew the inal says. “here are only so many producers right now. municipal rules for retail stores. hey had to lease But we were really pleased by the response we got. We a building to acquire a pot licence—and they lost got a mix from right across the country.” money on rent every month the drug wasn’t legalized. A sudden change of heart on city council—a small HILE MARIJUANA increase in the setback requirements, say—could have advocates have long quashed their hopes, and their investment. touted the beneits of Further, business and governments both struggled taxing and regulating to come up with complementary processes and the drug, Alberta is not regulations before legalization—before any of them expecting a legalization had a inal sense of what various other levels of windfall.W In the 2018–19 budget, the province government were going to pass. announced that it expects to lose money on pot— And a retail licence is no guarantee of easy money. largely thanks to the enormous amounts of time, Nobody knows just how large the legal market for efort and cash that have already been funnelled into recreational marijuana will be, and because Alberta’s creating a legal regime. market is private, retail competition will be ierce. he province can earn revenues from wholesale hat level of uncertainty privileges retail players with weed distribution, from online sales and from direct a greater appetite for risk—and more cash in hand taxation—although a quarter of the taxation proceeds to weather it. hat likely means more large chains, must be sent to the federal government. And, again, particularly from the US. Already, major liquor the taxation room is fairly limited; if legal marijuana distributors and wealthy investors have announced proves too expensive, the black market, which their intentions to get into marijuana in Alberta. isn’t hemmed by restrictions on advertising, price Meanwhile some new dispensaries, Baid claims, discounts or edibles, will continue to lourish. In the started selling marijuana ahead of legalization. “hey 2018–19 budget, the province expected to rake in only make us all look bad,” he says. $26-million in taxes on marijuana in the irst year of Kush Collective says it wants to reduce stigma legalization, only about a third of what it has spent to around pot; the owners envision open-door days for set up the policies, staf and procedures required to the community to come in and ask questions. But it’s make the stuf legal. Alberta will also receive a share the small operators who play by the rules who stand of the taxes collected by the federal government. to lose the most by delay, inaction and uncertainty. Ottawa expects to take in about $100-million in the “We’re just four local Calgary guys with a passion irst year of legal cannabis. for marijuana,” Baid says. # Alberta’s budget, however, has so far not indicated any revenue-sharing for municipalities, which are Calgary freelancer Jen Gerson contributes to Maclean’s, expected to bear a major enforcement and regulatory he Walrus and CBC, and co-hosts the podcast Oppo.

46 OCTOBER 2018 GUIDE 2018

ART GALLERIES

Public art galleries, artist-run centres and selected commercial galleries.

Edmonton ...... 48 Calgary ...... 50 Northern Alberta ...... 54 Central Alberta...... 54 Southern Alberta ...... 56 SAMANTHA LUCY

albertaviews.ca 47 GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018 EDMONTON

PUBLIC MCMULLEN GALLERY ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL friendsofuah.org/mcmullen-gallery albertacraft.ab.ca This gallery in the University of Alberta This is Alberta’s only organization Hospital aims to inspire, educate and dedicated to exhibiting fine craft by clay, engage patients, medical staff, visitors and wood, metal, fibre, stone and glass artists. the general public through artwork that “Seated,” the fall exhibition in the Feature is soothing, uplifting, humorous and/or Gallery, includes a diverse range of thought-provoking. work by 18 artists from across Canada— stools, chairs and benches by master NINA HAGGERTY CENTRE FOR THE ARTS woodworkers as well as copper and thenina.ca enamel metal work. Founded in 2003, the Nina Haggerty Centre runs a studio and gallery, ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA supporting more than 200 artists with youraga.ca developmental disabilities whose work The oldest cultural institution in Alberta has been shown throughout Canada and maintains a collection of more than 6,000 the world. The Nina is located on Alberta items. The gallery develops and presents Avenue and is part of the community’s exhibitions of both contemporary and efforts to revitalize through the arts. historical art. A new series, LandMark, features works by Alberta Indigenous VISUAL ARTS ALBERTA CARFAC PROJECT SPACE artists; Brenda Draney, Tanya Harnett and visualartsalberta.com Terrance Houle will display works inspired Visual Arts Alberta is a provincial service by the land and landscape of their home organization that supports local arts and territories until November 11. hosts exhibitions in its Project Space as well as other locations. “Evidence of BOREALIS GALLERY Paint,” a juried exhibition of work by 10 assembly.ab.ca/visitorcentre/borealis Alberta artists with diverse points of view, Located in the Legislative Assembly styles and techniques, is at the Jubilee visitor centre, this gallery features in Edmonton until October 9 and then in exhibitions celebrating Canadian identity, Calgary from October 10 to December 5. history and cultural diversity. “In Flew Enza: The Spanish Flu Comes to Alberta,” from ARTIST-RUN October 17 to January 13, looks at the HARCOURT HOUSE impact of the 1918 flu epidemic, which harcourthouse.ab.ca is estimated to have killed more than 20 Harcourt presents contemporary work million people around the world, including by emerging and established artists, more than 4,300 Albertans within the first collectives and organizations through four months of that year. its studio spaces, artist-in-residence programs and galleries on site and at CENTRE D’ARTS VISUELS DE L’ALBERTA Enterprise Square. This fall in the main galeriecava.com gallery Natalie Jachyra of Edmonton will The Franco-Albertan members comprising present an exhibition on urban spaces CAVA work in a variety of media from culminating from her one-year residency. painting to pottery. The organization also presents film screenings and LATITUDE 53 performances by artists and musicians. latitude53.org Latitude 53 was founded in 1973 by FAB GALLERY a collective of Edmonton artists to ualberta.ca/art-design/fab-gallery encourage experimentation and present Top: Amanda McCavour, Still Life, Founded 30 years ago, the FAB (Fine diverse programming. The not-for-profit 2017, thread, 7' × 10' × 4', Arts Building) gallery at the University of artist-run centre focuses on exploring the Alberta Crat Council. Alberta presents the work of emerging boundaries of contemporary art. and established artists and designers. Second: Violet Costello, Getting Big, Every April, graduating students from the installation, Harcourt House. SNAP GALLERY bachelor of fine arts and design programs hird: Hubert Hohn, Untitled, 1974, snapartists.com present exhibitions of their work as a cibachrome print, 17.5 cm × 12.5 cm, SNAP (the Society of Northern Alberta capstone project for their degrees. Art Gallery of Alberta collection. Print-artists) supports printmaking through

48 OCTOBER 2018 GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018 exhibitions, workshops, lectures, annual mid-career and established Canadian member show-and-sales and more. artists, including Albertans such as Steve Established in 1982, the co-operative runs Coffey, Maryanne Jespersen, Paddy Lamb a gallery and a studio at its main location and Jeff Sylvester. and has a window gallery on Jasper Avenue. An exhibition by Toronto-based PETER ROBERTSON GALLERY print artist David Scott Armstrong, who probertsongallery.com earned his BFA from the University of The Peter Robertson Gallery specializes Alberta, runs from February 1 to March 9. in abstract works and has cultivated a stable of emerging, mid-career and senior SELECTED COMMERCIAL artists from across the country, including DC3 ART PROJECTS Albertans Isla Burns, Clay Ellis, Julian dc3artprojects.com Forrest, Tim Okamura, Colin Smith and This contemporary gallery supports Peter von Tiesenhausen, among others. emerging and mid-career Canadian artists From November 15 to December 1 the who create challenging work. Some of the gallery will showcase sculptor Clay Ellis, Alberta artists represented here are Cindy who works with synthetic resins. Baker, Richard Boulet, Jude Griebel and Gary James Joynes. The new Bookshop, SCOTT GALLERY a dedicated space in the gallery, carries scottgallery.com national and international visual arts Founded in 1986, this gallery represents publications and hosts book launches, more than 30 contemporary Canadian Samantha Charette, She Reclaims the readings and events. artists in painting, printmaking, Female Nude, 2017, 36" × 48" (unframed), acrylic and oil photography, ceramics and sculpture. THE FRONT GALLERY paint on stretched canvas, Some Alberta artists on the roster are thefrontgallery.com Visual Arts Alberta. Sean Caulfield, Dick Der, Shirley Emeny, A landmark for 40 years, this gallery Shane Golby, Richard Tosczak and supports and promotes emerging, Marianne Watchel.

UNPACKING IKG 60 YEARS A GALLERY September 25 - December 8 Opening Reception Friday, September 28, 5 – 8 pm 1407 14 AVE NW, CALGARY, AB T2N 4R3 | IKG.ACAD.CA

Curated by Ashley Slemming as part of the IKG’s Curatorial Internship with the support of Dr. Jennifer Salahub, Professor (ACAD). IKG’s Curatorial Internship is generously supported by the Rozsa Foundation’s ARIIVA program.

albertaviews.ca 49 GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018 CALGARY

PUBLIC Has Not Seen” includes the artist’s ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL prints, select paintings and other items albertacraft.ab.ca that illustrate her relationship to Canada A provincewide organization, the council (September 22 to December 21). opened its first public gallery in Calgary at cSPACE King Edward in 2017. The current FOUNDERS’ GALLERY exhibition is “Set the Table,” a collaboration themilitarymuseums.ca between textile artist Natalie Gerber of This exhibition space at The Military Calgary and ceramicist Kalika Bowlby of Museums, curated by Nickle Galleries, Golden, BC, who together create modern provides perspective on Canada’s military “tablescapes” (until November 3). experience through art and artifacts.

ARTS COMMONS ILLINGWORTH KERR GALLERY artscommons.ca ikg.acad.ca Calgary’s downtown arts centre has Alberta College of Art + Design’s gallery several spaces dedicated to different is a teaching facility, artist incubator and artistic genres, including window galleries exhibition space. The fall exhibition is a on the Plus-15 level and across from Max retrospective titled “Unpacking IKG: 60 Bell Theatre on the main floor, the Ledge Years a Gallery,” which chronicles the Gallery at the top of the staircase, an artist gallery’s history, starting with the original studio in the corridor near the Jack Singer Alberta College of Art Gallery, which was Concert Hall, and three monitors showing renamed in 1990 after former school head films, video art, animations and short Illingworth “Buck” Kerr. documentaries by Alberta artists. NICKLE GALLERIES CONTEMPORARY CALGARY nickle.ucalgary.ca contemporarycalgary.com Located in the Taylor Family Digital Library Contemporary Calgary recently secured at the University of Calgary, three galleries a 25-year lease for the former Centennial highlight contemporary art in Western Planetarium, which it is renovating to Canada as well as art and artifacts drawn create a new public gallery for modern and from collections. This fall will feature contemporary art. The organization will exhibitions of sculptural work by Lyndal begin hosting exhibitions in a portion of the Osborne of Edmonton, dioramas by Jude building in 2019, but in the meantime it is Griebel of Bergen, Alberta, and wearable co-presenting “wnoondwamin | we hear sculptures by Shona Rae of Calgary. them” at Stride Gallery this fall. ARTIST-RUN GLENBOW ALBERTA PRINTMAKERS GALLERY glenbow.org albertaprintmakers.com Founded more than 50 years ago, this The A/P Gallery promotes printmaking museum and gallery has a large art as an evolving medium by providing collection and presents locally curated access to production facilities, education shows as well as national and international programs, research opportunities, lectures touring exhibitions. Opening September and exhibitions of new work. “Wasteland 29, “Cosmos: Gathie Falk, Margaret Nazon / Wanderland,” by printmaker Laura and Erik Olson” highlights celestial studies Peturson of Ontario, runs until October 12. by three contemporary artists. Glenbow is currently renovating to add four new gallery THE NEW GALLERY spaces on its second floor. thenewgallery.org The New Gallery recently signed a Top: Erik Olson, Jupiter, 2011, ESKER FOUNDATION new long-term lease and is planning oil on panel, 48" × 36", Glenbow. eskerfoundation.com renovations for its location in Chinatown, This privately funded gallery was Second: Jill Ho-You, In the Dust I, 2015, where it supports social and political created to foster public appreciation and etching, aquatint, spit bite and chine collé, creative practices. Programming includes understanding of contemporary art through 20" × 16", New Gallery. exhibitions, residencies, lectures and exhibitions, lectures and educational Bottom: Samantha Walrod, Wolf community collaborations. Jill Ho-You’s programming. The fall exhibition “Agnes Stalking, 2018, mixed media on panel, “Retrograde” installation will be on Martin: The Mind Knows What the Eye 60" × 48", Newzones. exhibition from January 11 to February 9.

50 OCTOBER 2018 L E I G H T O N A R T C E N T R E art From “Gaian Sketchbook” series From “Fluid Motion” series “I will wait out here with the dogs” by Errol Lee Fullen by Mali Vargas by Laurel Ostrom OPEN DAILY; FREE ADMISSION history 9 Exhibitions Each Year Fall/spring workshops for adults Events throughout the year: Chili Bowl Festival–February; Old-Time Strings Jam–May; M.Arty’s Market–October Summer fun for kids landscape Photo contests, concerts, gift store selling local art and crafts & much more Currently on: “Color on Colour” by Mali Vargas & Errol Lee Fullen, www.leightoncentre.org from Sep 1 – Sep 30, “Wanderlust” by Laurel Ostrom, Oct 6 – Nov 4 282027 144 Street West. Foothills, AB Open year-round Address: H3, Frank 403 562 2218 crowsnestpasspublicartgallery.com

DUNCAN MACKINNON CROCKFORD “DUNCAN” 1920-1991 Late Autumn in the Spray Valley, Oil, 24” x 30”

Featuring historical and contemporary Canadian art, with over 1,000 works available.

#3, 215 – 39th Ave. N.E. Calgary, AB T2E 7E3 Hours vary, please call 403-277-7252 ZZZIRUWXQHðQHDUWFRP

albertaviews.ca 51 GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018

Calgary continued a larger location with “Sampler 2018,” a PAUL KUHN GALLERY group show of new works (until November paulkuhngallery.com STRIDE GALLERY 10). The gallery represents Alberta Founded in 1983, this was the first stride.ab.ca artists such as Jason Frizzell, Katie Ohe, contemporary art gallery in Calgary and Stride focuses on risk-taking art and Harry Kiyooka, Curtis Cutshaw, Marjan played an important role in supporting supports programming that emphasizes Eggermont, Bill Laing, Tia Halliday and experimental and emerging art. The gallery community engagement. The current Nate McLeod, among others. represents notable Alberta artists such exhibition, “wnoondwamin | we hear as John Eisler, Barbara Milne, Jennifer them,” uses performance, video and JARVIS HALL GALLERY Wanner and Ashleigh Bartlett. radio installations to reveal the nuanced jarvishallgallery.com meanings carried by sound. The exhibition This gallery features contemporary TRÉPANIERBAER is being presented in co-operation with Canadian artists, including Albertans trepanierbaer.com Contemporary Calgary until November 9. Tyler Los-Jones, Marianne Gerlinger, Jeff Yves Trépanier and Kevin Baer established Nachtigall, Marigold Santos, Peter von this contemporary-focused gallery in 1992 TRUCK Tiesenhausen, Larissa Tiggelers and John and have gone on to help launch numerous truck.ca Will. Robin Arseneault of Calgary has a careers. Some of the local artists they Focusing on the development and show from November 25 to December 31. represent are Eric Cameron, Chris Cran, presentation of contemporary art, DaveandJenn, Christian Eckart, Chris this artist-run centre in Sunalta hosts NEWZONES GALLERY Millar and Ron Moppett. exhibitions, artist talks and special events newzones.com in support of cultural development. Representing international and Canadian VIVIANEART artists, including Albertans such as Dianne vivianeart.gallery SELECTED COMMERCIAL Bos, Virginia Mak, Colleen Philippi and VivianeArt focuses on creators from HERRINGER KISS GALLERY Kevin Sonmor, Newzones focuses on art Canada and beyond, including Calgary- herringerkissgallery.com that “challenges both the traditional use of based artists Kristopher Karklin, Erik Olson Deborah Herringer Kiss opened this materials and formal aesthetics.” Works by and Julie Beugin. Calgary artist Kyle Beale gallery in 2002 with a group exhibition Bradley Harms and Samantha Walrod are will have an exhibition at the gallery during titled “Sampler.” This fall it will reopen in on display until October 13. November and December. Canadian

Inhale the nostalgia as you learn the story of Alberta’s Industrial history OPENING RECEPTION and engage with House Inspiring Peace, 2015, Amy Loewan. Amy 2015, Peace, Inspiring House Shuen paper, (rice) silk, canvas, conte, charcoal, ink, acrylic, SEPT 7, 2018 | 5-8 PM maple substructure, Edison incandescent lights. your heritage in Medicine Hat. For nearly two decades, Amy Loewan has been exploring powerful visual metaphors of peace and harmony. In this BE A PART exhibition, Amy invites viewers to OF OUR STORY contemplate on the meaning of peace and what they can do to www.medalta.org 4525-47A AVE, RED DEER AB make this world a better place. reddeermuseum.com Photo by Sheenism Studios 403.309.8405

52 OCTOBER 2018

GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018 NORTHERN ALBERTA

PUBLIC ST. ALBERT Edmonton-based artist Paul Freeman’s GRANDE PRAIRIE ART GALLERY OF ST. ALBERT “On the Antlers of a Dilemma,” featuring ART GALLERY OF GRANDE PRAIRIE artgalleryofstalbert.ca mixed media sculpture that explores the aggp.ca This gallery is operating in a temporary exploitation of natural resources, is on One of Alberta’s largest arts organizations, location while renovations make the exhibition until October 21. AGGP is found in the Montrose Cultural original space larger and fully accessible. Centre and has a collection of 600 works The gallery will reopen in December with SELECTED COMMERCIAL almost exclusively created in Alberta in the “Guilded: Around the Block,” a biennial GRANDE PRAIRIE mid to late 20th century. This fall the group exhibition of works from the five guilds of GRANT BERG GALLERY exhibition “The Rich Interior Life” focuses the St. Albert Place Visual Arts Council. grantberggallery.com on domestic interiors as a personal Showcasing paintings, carvings, reflection of interior lives. STONY PLAIN sculptures, jewellery and more, Grande MULTICULTURAL HERITAGE CENTRE Prairie artist Grant Berg’s gallery LAC LA BICHE multicentre.org represents artists from Grande Prairie and MUSEUM OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLES’ ART The centre’s gallery focuses on artists across Western Canada, including Steve AND ARTIFACTS from Stony Plain and Alberta. Ceramics Coffey, Carl White, Carmen Haakstad and portagecollege.ca/museum by Edmonton artist Sam Knopp are on Bibi Clement. This museum and gallery at Portage exhibition until November 3. College marked its 40th anniversary in FORT MCMURRAY 2018 with the opening of a permanent STRATHCONA COUNTY POINTS NORTH GALLERY exhibition of works by all members of GALLERY@501 pointsnorthgallery.ca Professional Native Indian Artists Inc.— strathcona.ca/artgallery This gallery represents Canadian artists more commonly known as the Indian This contemporary art gallery is located with a focus on local and regional work, Group of Seven. The exhibition includes in the same complex as Strathcona including Albertans Carol Breen, Virginia original paintings by Alex Janvier and County Hall, which features a staircase Frank, Maryanne Jespersen, Bill Martin, Joseph Sanchez. painted by Alberta artist Alex Janvier. Erin Schwab and Lucas Seaward.

CENTRAL ALBERTA

PUBLIC culture of the Rockies. The exhibition RED DEER “Large and In Charge,” featuring very large RED DEER MUSEUM + ART GALLERY works by five Canadian artists, including reddeermuseum.com Albertan Michael Cameron, runs from The MAG showcases the people and October 27 to January 27. culture of central Alberta through art and history. Fall exhibitions include “The Pink ARTIST-RUN Cloudless,” by Red Deer’s E.M. Alysse RED DEER Bowd (until October 28), and “House HARRIS-WARKE GALLERY Inspiring Peace,” by Edmonton artist Amy harriswarkegallery.com Loewan (until November 28). Named for Paul Harris and Terry Warke, who donated the downtown space, this BANFF co-operative artist-run gallery promotes a WALTER PHILLIPS GALLERY diverse experience and hosts exhibitions banffcentre.ca/wpg by local, provincial and national artists. This Gallery at The Banff Centre focuses on the production, presentation, collection SELECTED COMMERCIAL and analysis of contemporary art. “THE BANFF CAVE,” by Los Angeles-based Young Joon WILLOCK & SAX GALLERY Kwak, is on exhibition from September 29 willockandsaxgallery.com to December 14. A Banff destination, Willock & Sax features historical and contemporary Alberta WHYTE MUSEUM Top: E.M. Alysse Bowd, he Pink artists working in photography, painting, whyte.org Cloudless, 2018, performed photograph, ceramics, print and drawing. An exhibition Celebrating its 50th anniversary, this Red Deer MAG. featuring ceramic artist Sarah Pike will museum is dedicated to the history and open October 6.

54 OCTOBER 2018 Cosmos Gathie Falk, Margaret Nazon and Erik Olson September 29, 2018 – January 6, 2019 Organized by Glenbow

NoSpaceSuit Required AtGlenbow

Erik Olson, Saturn (detail), 2011, oil on panel, Private Collection GUIDE ART GALLERIES 2018 SOUTHERN ALBERTA

PUBLIC GALLERIES CROWSNEST PASS LETHBRIDGE CROWSNEST PASS PUBLIC GALLERY THE GALLERY AT CASA crowsnestpasspublicartgallery.com casalethbridge.ca/gallery Located beside Highway 3 in the This arts centre shows drawing, painting, Crowsnest Pass community of Frank, fine craft, sculpture, ceramics, new media this gallery presents monthly exhibitions and more by artists with ties to southern of local, provincial and national artists. Alberta. “Mommy, Mama, Mother, Mum,” This fall, area resident Laurel Ostrom’s by Laura Ajayi and April Matisz, and photography is on display in “Wanderlust” “Good Grief,” by Kasia Sosnowski, will be from October 6 to November 4. featured until October 19. MD OF FOOTHILLS DR. MARGARET (MARMIE) PERKINS HESS GALLERY LEIGHTON ART CENTRE uleth.ca/artgallery leightoncentre.org The University of Lethbridge art gallery Named after A.C. Leighton, this creative was recently renamed after the late campus in a scenic rural area southwest Margaret Hess, who donated her of Calgary focuses on art that relates collection of more than 1,000 works, to the landscape. The fall exhibition, including pieces by such renowned artists “Ripple Effect,” runs from September 20 as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Tom to October 28 and explores conservation Thomson, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Alex issues across the world. Janvier, Bill Reid and more. The January exhibition will showcase works by Alberta OKOTOKS artist Maxwell Bates from the collection. OKOTOKS ART GALLERY okotoks.ca/culture-heritage/art-gallery SOUTHERN ALBERTA ART GALLERY Located in an historic CPR train station saag.ca on the town’s main street, this gallery SAAG pushes the boundaries of presents contemporary and historical art contemporary art through exhibitions by exhibitions. The fall lineup features E.M. local, national and international artists, Alysse Bowd and Joy Munt. as well as hosting artist residencies and community programming. This fall will ARTIST-RUN feature exhibitions by Andrea Thauberger, MEDICINE HAT Vivek Shraya and Cindy Baker. THE HIVE hivehub.ca MEDICINE HAT Run by a not-for-profit artists’s society, ESPLANADE The Hive provides studio space, arts and esplanade.ca cultural programming and a storefront Esplanade’s gallery connects its city gallery for local exhibitions. to the world through contemporary and historical art by local, provincial SELECTED COMMERCIAL and national artists. From December LETHBRIDGE 1 to January 26, the gallery will show TRIANON GALLERY modern tapestry artists Murray Gibson, savillarchitecture.com/shows Jane Kidd and Ann Newdigate in Savill Group Architecture runs this gallery “Overandunderandoverandunder...” as in an historic downtown Lethbridge well as an installation by weavers from the building, where it presents exhibitions by ART COLLECTION; GIFT OF DR. MARGARET (MARMIE) PERKINS HESS, 2017. Medicine Hat Fibre Arts Society. renowned and aspiring artists alike.

MEDALTA Top: Ann Newdigate, Guilt is Time BLACK DIAMOND HBRIDGE Consuming, 2016, watercolour, dry pencil medalta.org BLUEROCK GALLERY crayons, wax resist on archival paper, This museum, contemporary ceramic bluerockgallery.ca 24" × 18", Esplanade. arts facility, gallery and community hub Bluerock represents several fine artists located in a converted century-old factory Second: Laurel Ostrom, Wanderlust, 2018, and craftspeople who work in the region. in Medicine Hat’s clay district is a National photography, Crowsnest Pass Gallery. The gallery shows woodwork, jewellery, Historic Site. The Yuill Family Gallery Bottom: Maxwell Bates, he Family with pottery, sculpture, paintings and more by features resident artists, community Pears, 1929, oil on wood board, 20" × 16", artists such as Sean Kunz, Dana Seiferling,

groups and travelling exhibitions. University of Lethbridge. Jim Osenton and Jennifer Mack. # UNIVERSITYBOTTOM: OF LET

56 OCTOBER 2018

BOOKSHELF

civil society organizations and others in four public deliberations on climate change across Alberta. An exercise in deliberative democracy—where small groups of randomly selected citizens explore diferent values, weigh trade- Public Deliberation ofs and collectively develop policy solutions—ABCD was created, in the on Climate Change: words of Kahane, a U of A professor and Lessons from Alberta Climate the project leader, to “support citizens Dialogue in coming to grips with the wicked and socially complex character of climate Edited by Lorelei L. Hanson change, so that they would shape wise ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY PRESS 2018/$34.95/284 PP. and efective responses to the challenges.” Designed as both “an academic collection that engages with theory and social policy” and “a resource for practitioners and decision makers who seek insights and techniques related to public deliberation,” the book provides an lberta—and the planet—has a “super wicked” problem. honest relection on the deliberative democracy process in the First described in 1973, wicked problems defy “rational” Alberta context. Ensuring demographic and attitudinal diversity A policy responses, such as a cost/beneit analysis, in part remains a challenge, as does managing the cross-sectoral because they have multiple causes and are diicult to clearly relationships required for sustaining collaborations of this deine. Poverty, terrorism and environmental degradation can nature. But despite challenges, deliberative democratic practice be seen as wicked problems—issues that are “indeterminate emerges as one of many potential levers required to address the in time and scale,” socially complex and oten with little climate crisis. ABCD, and speciically the Edmonton citizen agreement from various stakeholders about the nature of the panel, demonstrate that an ecosystem of citizen engagement, problem. Solutions are not readily apparent and attempts to political leadership and institutional willpower can build local address the problem oten lead to unforeseen consequences. agency and resiliency to deal with climate change. But things could be worse. he current climate crisis, for Currently in North America—particularly in Ontario and instance, has all the characteristics of a wicked problem but the United States—we are witnessing the dismantling of key with additional challenges: Time is running out; those causing climate change policies under populist leaders who use climate the problem—us—are also the ones proposing the solutions; change as a wedge issue for political gain. To sustain climate and the governance institutions required to meaningfully act action, concerned citizens are demanding highly localized on the challenge at the international level are weak or largely solutions with strong municipal or regional support. his is non-existent. hose additional factors, suggest Lorelei L. not entirely diferent from Alberta in 2010, and in this context Hanson and David Kahane in their introduction to Public deliberative democracy can help support local decision-makers Deliberation on Climate Change, make the climate crisis a as they create good policy while at the same time increase “super wicked” problem. citizen capacity to address complex challenges. In eight chapters written or co-written by 11 diferent Local politicians and civil servants would be wise to consider contributors, the book chronicles, explains and relects on the the role of citizens in developing and implementing climate Alberta Climate Dialogues (ABCD) project—a community– change policy. We are all part of the problem. Deliberative university research partnership created in 2010 that over democracy is one way in which we can be part of the solution. ive years brought together scholars, government oicials, —Rod Ruf is the program director at Alberta Ecotrust.

albertaviews.ca 57 BOOK REVIEWS

Women Who Dig: The Figgs Farming, Feminism and the Fight to Feed the World

by Ali Bryan by Trina Moyles FREEHAND BOOKS with photographs by K.J. Dakin 2018/$21.95/300 PP. UNIVERSITY OF REGINA PRESS 2018/$34.95/300 PP.

he Figgs are a family ripe with dysfunctionality—all n this beautifully written and lavishly illustrated book, adult children live at home, working dead-end jobs, journalist Trina Moyles addresses the links between T and their bickering is full of profanity. Yet parents June I patriarchy and agriculture in Canada, the US, Guatemala, and Randy Figg remain oblivious, at least until dynamics are Nicaragua, Cuba, India and Uganda. he work is based on three upturned by the arrival of an unexpected grandson. heir son, years of interviews with more than 140 women in their farms, Derek, who works at a Calgary recycling depot, has impregnated gardens and homes. A persistent refrain is that women are the carpet saleswoman next door to his workplace. When baby farmers everywhere, particularly where agriculture is small- Jaxx makes his way into the world, the birth mother, who has scale, but are rarely regarded as “farmers” and seldom own the told no one of his impending arrival, wants nothing to do land they work. But everywhere Moyles visited, women were with him and hands him over to his father. Derek is forced to resisting the forces preventing them from growing food. he reconcile his new identity as a single father, which in turn forces title is taken from the term for the women farmers of Uganda, a series of revelations about parenting, responsibility and the the abahingi mukazi—“women who dig.” Girls and women nature of family among those close to him—the entire Figg clan. do the majority of farm work in Uganda but do not own land; Calgary writer Ali Bryan does a det job of painting the rather they work on their husband’s land. human charm of the family. he Figgs is less the jolly romp into Moyles was inspired by her Irish great-grandmother Eleanor, situational comedy that the book jacket appraisals suggest, but who farmed near Wolseley, Saskatchewan, from 1925 with the author ably creates nuanced characters that induce laughter. her husband through the First World War soldier settlement Don’t be surprised if this gets a Stephen Leacock nomination. program (in which the federal government purloined land he marrow of he Figgs is a meditation on the nature of from First Nations reserves). During the Second World War parenting. he matriarch, June, reads somewhere that adopted Eleanor farmed alone, as did many other women. Moyles babies cry out for their biological mothers ater they are writes she was a “hard-working, capable woman farmer,” not a born—and, it is suggested, iguratively for the rest of their lives. “farmerette,” a term used in both wars to feminize and diminish As a woman adopted as an infant, June is the character most the work women did. Learning about Eleanor, Moyles decided centrally obsessed with the origin stories behind adoptions. She to study the voices and experiences of female farmers today. carts around a book in her purse entitled Everyone Has a Birth Are their eforts still being overlooked and underestimated? Mother (also one called You Were Chosen, for what it’s worth). he answer is “yes,” but it is a complex and diverse story, and the Yet maybe because so many of these thoughts are iltered author is aware there’s so much more to ind out. he chapter through June, who is a sentimental and true-to-form middle on Canada, for example, might have continued with the theme aged woman (she’s infuriatingly bad at using the internet to do of Indigenous women farmers mentioned in the introduction, research on the Figgs’ family trees, for instance,) the reader gets interviewing women involved in vertical and organic farming a slightly skewed perspective. Every adoption is a compromise on prairie First Nation reserves. of allegiances, but raising one’s own child—as Derek chooses Moyles’s critiques of the patriarchal foundations of Indigen- to do—is, according to June, the highest familial responsibility. ous societies at times resemble those of Canada’s Victorian-era his is to say the novel seems to land on a fairly conservative visitors and settlers. Abusive, intoxicated husbands abound in and sentimentalized version of family, something perfect the chapters, though with notable exceptions such as the men that gets muddled up and is then imperfect but still lovable. in Cuba who recognize that “a woman-centred agriculture Moreover, given all the talk in the world about children is a sustainable agriculture.” But the negative descriptions of being raised by families who are not their own (particularly abusive husbands are taken from the words of the women Indigenous families), the conversation about adoption in this themselves who face violence and insecurity. As Moyles writes, novel takes place in a social vacuum. Even a passing remark “I couldn’t ignore what I heard from the women.” on the greater social context of adoption issues—such as the he book concludes with a call to world leaders to heed the Sixties Scoop—would have added much. But the limitation of advice of the United Nations to assist small-scale agriculture. telling the story with such idelity from the perspective of a It ends with the hope that “women will change food systems. lower-middle-class family ties Bryan’s hands from adding this hey will feed the world. hey will remake history.” his is an complexity. Nonetheless, he Figgs is a wholly enjoyable read. important and inspiring book that deserves a wide readership. —Jay Smith is an Edmonton writer. —Sarah Carter is a professor and H.M. Tory Chair at the U of A.

58 OCTOBER 2018

The Irrelevance of Space Welcome to the and Other Stories Anthropocene

by Swapna and Ashis Gupta by Alice Major BAYEUX ARTS UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS 2017/$21.95/114 PP. 2018/$19.95/136 PP.

“ he world is always in movement,” wrote V.S. Naipaul, elcome to the Anthropocene is a virtuosic, the late British novelist and travel writer. It’s an apt challenging book of poetry by Alice Major, who T description for the themes and characters—the “restless W served as Edmonton’s irst poet laureate. his feet and wandering spirits”—in Swapna and Ashis Gupta’s collection is by turns a lament, a dirge and a celebration of co-written book of short stories, he Irrelevance Of Space. being on earth in this human-dominated moment. It is a book In settings ranging from Scandinavia to Canada, Eastern of hety, rhythmic poetry that demands our listening and asks Europe, Iran, Cuba and the USA, the six stories here transcend for repeated readings—an intelligent book that expects its geographical boundaries and trace the permeable borders and readers to think about the verse they are reading and about the diverse emotional terrain of human relationships. Although world they are harming just by being here. difering greatly, the stories are each rooted in local settings, Take the titular poem, “Welcome to the Anthropocene,” revealing the diversity of human experience around the globe. which was written as a response to Alexander Pope’s “Essay on Swapna Gupta, a clinical psychologist, and her husband Ashis, Man,” a poem most oten encountered now in undergraduate a former professor of management studies at the University literature survey courses. Taking on Pope’s 18th-century of Calgary, reside in Calgary. heir skillfully crated and writing prompts Major to create rhymes and rhythms that compelling stories draw from both their Alberta connections speak back to Pope’s vision of a “great chain of being” of which and their extensive travels. In the title story, “he Irrelevance of humans are a part. In Major’s version, today the chain is Space,” two strangers—Neil, a graduate student from Norway fraying, breaking, broken: Humans are creating modiied mice, alicted with a neurological impairment, and a Calgary resident transgenic zebraish, inbred dogs and all manner of beings that (the narrator) recovering from the same medical condition— undo the world around us. Not only does Major undo Pope’s come into contact ater Neil travels to Calgary for surgery. he poetics in her turns and returns to the canon, but she also operation is successful, which leads the narrator to exclaim in points a steady gaze back at us, her audience, observing our astonishment: “I sometimes wonder if there is such a thing as complacencies and our complicities in the face of modern-day “Divine Intervention” or is it all “Chance.” Or “Luck” perhaps!” ecological catastrophes. In contrast, “he Cyberdeath Files,” the longest story in the he situation is grim. Between overpopulation and the collection, is full of suspense. In North America, academics, selective multiplication of species that serve human ends, all of entrepreneurs, poets and journalists are dying in mysterious which lead to environmental loss, “We’re heading / gravewards circumstances in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Durham faster than we think,” writes Major, in “Dust to dust.” his is a and Calgary. Laloo Singh, an Indian computer engineer, meets volume of poetry that holds much sadness, as readers encounter Amanda, a Chinese-American woman, and together they work in “Within, without”: “sadness like a nut contained. / (he light to solve the mystery. It’s a thriller, but also an exploration of without, the dark within / a walnut’s shell.)” his sadness comes cross-cultural relationships. Says Amanda to Laloo, ater they from witnessing so much loss—the trees dying and species fall in love: “We represent a third of the world’s population. Just vanishing. It is a book that asks, too, for forgiveness: “Forgive imagine what a marvellous team we would make.” me / for living in my time, / accepting its blinkered limits,” the Resilience in the face of adversity is the dominant theme in poet writes in the poem “Complex number plane.” “Fal-E-Hafez.” Leila, living in Iran, is immersed in thoughts Welcome to the Anthropocene is not a downer, however. It is about the end of her marriage in Canada. For solace she a compelling book of tightly wrought, deeply skilled verse that turns to the songs of Hafez, Persia’s 14th century lyrical poet, contains within it the seeds of hope, as in “Badger”: “I like to a cultural icon among Iranians today. His songs haunt Leila think of future roots / pushing through this paving, / of buckled when she’s happy and when she’s sad and lost. According to towers becoming roosts for ravens, / the roof dome opening to Iranian tradition, when individuals face diiculty, they can ask the sky / like an ancient amphitheatre / and poplars standing, a Hafez for help—and ind answers to their predicament in his chorus / of sot voices at centre stage.” lyrical poems. he story is full of yearning, and in the end Leila Imagining a future for the planet is deeply important now suggests to her mother that they travel together to Canada. (and perhaps at all times). Major’s ecologically minded poems Ranging widely in location and theme, he Irrelevance of demonstrate anew why poetry and art play leading roles in Space and Other Stories is a worthwhile and engaging read. helping us to conceive of better times that are yet to come. —Jamal Ali writes non-iction in Calgary. —Kit Dobson is a faculty member at Mount Royal University. #

albertaviews.ca 59 MEET THE MINISTER

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE MINISTER Deron Bilous

PROFILE We’re [incentivizing] turning gas oil crashes, well, now these customers Born: Edmonton, 1975/10/7 into plastics; nowhere else in Canada aren’t going to restaurants. So it impacts Education: B.Ed., U of A converts propane into propylene and that sector and the whole economy. Prior to politics: teacher, Inner City then polypropylene—little plastic pellets. Whereas if companies have a diversity High School (Edmonton) We import all of it from the US, yet of markets and one market hits a bit of a First elected: 2012/4/23 we have an abundance of propane in downturn, they’re much more resilient. Riding: Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview Alberta. Businesses told me: “Gulf Coast Sworn in as minister: 2015/10/22 companies are significantly subsidized to AV: In past years up to 40 per cent of Responsibilities: “Lead government build value-added facilities. If you level Alberta government revenues have economic development eforts, the playing field, Alberta will be a better come from oil and gas. Could economic support businesses/investors; provide place for these facilities, because we have diversification reduce this reliance? single-door access to information” a cheaper feedstock.” Diversification is also about stabilizing Contact: [email protected] government revenues so that we Deputy Min.: [email protected] AV: But what’s the problem that can continue to deliver high quality diversification is trying to solve? education or healthcare or social It’s to help ensure we’re not overreliant services. That’s part of the reason we Interviewed by Evan Osenton on one resource or one commodity, want to be less reliant on the price of oil. so that the economy remains resilient. AV: Broadly speaking, what’s the Again, when it comes to natural AV: When you offer the petrochemical justification for government attempting resources, Alberta is not a price maker, industry tax incentives, how is that not to develop the economy? we’re a price taker. continued reliance on the oil and gas Our role is to help set conditions to sector? It’s gas, only more processed. encourage growth and diversification. AV: So, what indicator would tell us Well, we’re adding a link in the value We’ve seen for decades what happens that we’re becoming more “resilient” chain. It’s diversification within the when you’re overreliant on one resource. as a result of economic diversity? energy sector. I get that we’re still in Too many Albertans and Canadians When we look at the percentage of our the energy space, but when you add don’t realize the discount we see on GDP that comes from oil, gas, tourism, value, whether through petchem every barrel of oil: we’re subsidizing forestry, agriculture, value-added food [petrochemical] or refineries, you’re the US to the tune of billions of dollars products, you can get a sense of the getting a much higher price for your because 99 per cent of our oil goes to the US. When you have one customer, you don’t set the price. They do. Everyone I know in BC is supportive of AV: You mentioned Alberta’s Trans Mountain. This isn’t about Alberta. This overreliance on one sector. What does it mean to “diversify” the economy? isn’t about BC. This is in the national interest. We’ve seen governments, including Alberta’s in the past, throw gobs of economy. But we’re focused on helping product, you’re adding significant money at areas they have no business companies diversify their markets, not value. The high-paying jobs are often in being in. That isn’t what we’re doing. just on diversifying sectors. When you facilities that upgrade the product. We’re looking at our strengths in look at the number of local companies agriculture, food processing, forestry, who do business only in Alberta or AV: How do you know that the petchem tourism. And we’re looking at only in Canada it’s significant—over 80 industry is worth stimulating? What diversification within the energy space. per cent. Outside of North America? A about the argument that government Bill 1—just passed—creates supports couple per cent. If companies are reliant can’t pick winners, so shouldn’t try?

for more value-added in the gas space. on Albertan customers, and the price of We’re not picking a specific sector. RICHARDS TADZIO

60 OCTOBER 2018

The tools we have, whether tax credits or export expansion programs, are applicable to companies everywhere. And when it comes to petchem, we’re not picking the companies. They said, “There’s a real opportunity here; you just need to help level the playing field.” You know, the reason we even have a petrochemical sector is because Peter Lougheed in the 1970s saw a real opportunity and a role for government to play to stimulate that sector. We have very successful companies, but there’s significant potential to increase the number of companies in that space. to-government agreements and who say the pipelines aren’t needed; I’m relationships are critical; companies will sorry, they’re sadly misinformed. AV: Let’s say citizens want to track what look to see if there’s an agreement or your government has done in aid of relationship between two jurisdictions. AV: You famously called the BC diversification—the various grants and If there isn’t, they say Why isn’t there? government “a bunch of shitheads,” tax credits. Do we have to just take your What’s wrong with your jurisdiction? which you apologized for. Given such word on return on investment? rhetoric as well as the wine ban and We update Albertans through a number AV: How will new US tariffs, as well as turning-off-the-taps bill, can we ever of indicators. I’ll give you an example. Canadian retaliation, affect Alberta? restore the Alberta–BC relationship? The investor tax credit was introduced Well, they’ll have an impact. When Absolutely. We had “plategate” about a year and a half ago; we know the president announced the steel with Saskatchewan and didn’t back that $30-million of tax credit stimulates and aluminum tariffs, our reaction down. We knew we were right. Once about $100-million of investment. was: That’s insulting. It’s absurd to say Saskatchewan backed away, we said, On the capital investment tax credit, Canada threatens US national security. We’re happy to sit down to discuss the first two intakes, we conditionally The president used section 232 of their how to enhance trade between our approved $62-million worth of tax Trade Expansion Act, which means he provinces. Yes, conversations with credits that have leveraged $1.2-billion doesn’t have to go through Congress— BC are strained at the moment. Once of capital investment. Also, that’s created because Congress wouldn’t have passed that government realizes the pipeline thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, last year those tariffs. They recognize how is going forward, that we’ve met all Alberta led the country in GDP growth integrated our economies are and that the requirements, that the feds are at 4.9 per cent, which is significant; this we all benefit from trade. investing $1.5-billion to protect the year we’re on track to lead again. Jobs coast, my hope is we’ll look at what are up, 90,000 new full-time jobs, since AV: Some experts argue trillions of we can co-operate on to benefit both last year, mostly in the private sector; dollars in investments will be stranded economies and all of our residents. manufacturing is up, exports are up, as the world transitions to a low- farm receipts are up, restaurant sales are carbon economy. How do you justify AV: Have you lost friends in BC? up, housing starts are up. the risk we’re taking in backing the Well, everyone I know over there is Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline? supportive of Trans Mountain. This isn’t AV: You’ve been on trade missions to Well, the transition won’t happen about Alberta. This isn’t about BC. This the US, China, Japan, Korea, the UK, overnight. How are you going to heat is in the national interest. Germany, Ukraine, UAE. You say the your home when it’s minus 30? When 2017 trips generated $500-million in you flip on the lights, where does the AV: But there must be some tension on investment. How do you know this electricity come from? this even within the Alberta NDP. wouldn’t have happened anyway? Of course, probably some disagree The businesses that accompanied us AV: OK, but what about the long term? with our strong position on TMX. And said: If we didn’t go with you, this What’s going to help us transition is that’s democracy, right? But we’re going wouldn’t have happened. Nelson dollars that come from our natural to continue moving forward, whether Remediation participated in the largest resources. Meanwhile we can’t get our it’s Trans Mountain or diversifying the mission: 150 participants. They’ve since products to market. When TMX gets economy or supporting the private secured contracts worth millions. If you built it’ll reduce the differential by a few sector. There are always going to be ask, they’d say it’s because they went on dollars. When Keystone XL gets built it people with a range of different views this mission. In China, government- will reduce the differential. So, people and perspectives, and that’s OK. #

albertaviews.ca 61 WIT FRED STENSON

Elections 2019 Vote for food and family.

Even humorists feel dark about the world at times, and when I do I force myself back to the basics: food and family. Don’t worry, I’m not going to lecture on why food and water are essential to life. But having a family (either made of kinfolk or friends), people you can trust who trust you, is equally necessary, because that’s what keeps a person from succumbing you become dependent on one or more other nations for your to loneliness and self-obsession. he lonely self-obsessed are not food. he fact that you cannot control other nations makes this a group you can trust much. I am certain (though Google does a risk no one can aford. One of those countries, even ater a few not support me on this) that old expression went “I wouldn’t centuries of electing reasonably stable people, might decide to trust an egg under him,” meaning someone who would let an elect a complete nutbar. Let’s shake things up, folks. hat nutbar incubating egg get cold, or for that matter might eat the egg. might just decide to not trade your country any food. Worse, Much of the world’s leadership seems to be in the hands of you may have also allowed the nutbar to destroy the means by people under whom I would not trust an egg. which you used to be food self-reliant. Since the end of the Second World War, “leader of the free here is also the fact that Canadian rules imposed on our world” has generally meant the President of the United States. milk do not allow antibiotics and growth hormones. US rules So you know things are not in great shape when are not so fussy about these tiny matters. So the current holder of that title befriends leaders tearing down our supply management system of some of the least free countries. hese buddies An old expression to allow Americans into our milk market would don’t just keep their people from voting in free went “I wouldn’t reduce both our food security and our health elections, they kill them. Mr. North Korea has security. So that’s not on the table, right? death camps. Mr. Putin has convinced no one trust an egg under Most distressing for me about the discussion that it wasn’t he who authorized the killing of two him,” meaning of US trade tarifs (from my food/family- Russian nationals in Britain: a former spy and someone who’d let ixated vantage point) was that almost no one his daughter. he use of a Soviet-invented nerve mentioned that milk and steel are fundamentally agent was a fairly fat clue. So when Mr. Trump an incubating egg diferent, one being a food and one not. his is said he would summit with Kim Jong-un and get cold, or for that not to split a hair. Food is not something you can tête-à-tête with Vladimir Putin I didn’t think, matter might eat do without, whereas steel is. You may not wish “Oh, good. What a much more stable world it will to do without steel, but in a pinch (pandemic, be.” I thought: food and family; family and food. the egg. drought, ire, nuclear war) you could. According to my rules, a test of world common he next bottoming-out in the US—the forced sense was badly lunked when the US risked separation of immigrant parents from their its long-standing alliance with Canada by letting ly the irst children and the imprisonment of both—was an attack on my salvos of a trade war. I speak of the tarif on Canadian steel and other tower: family. Instead of launching into full despair, I’ve aluminum. he US economy is a steel glutton, and that country been searching that particular mess for a sign of hope. It seems does not make nearly enough to supply itself; one-sixth of the just possible that Trump’s immigrant families atrocity located a steel for its industry comes from Canada. hough the tarif still functioning decency nerve in his followers. From all over harms Canada, it might harm US manufacturers more, as they the political spectrum, Americans were upset about the attack pay the old-price-plus-tarif for their next Canadian shipments. on the bonds of family and other small matters such as putting Perhaps you can tell me how that helps Make America Great little children in a courtroom to testify without legal counsel. Again. he strategy eludes me. Let’s hope that nerve is found. While we’re at it, let’s cheer According to what he repeatedly says, Mr. Trump’s steel tarif for those in Canada who have been defending our food and is partly to avenge Canada’s use of a dairy supply-management families. Get your pencils ready to mark ballots in their favour system. Our system functions, Trump says, like a Canadian- come the elections of 2019. Let’s also keep an eye on those who imposed tarif on overproduced oceans of cheap milk in the would give or trade away the food and family values we need US. To him, it is logical that we must trash supply management to be human. hese people are the ones under whom an egg so that cheap US milk can low free in our country and in our cannot be trusted. # veins. Does anyone else think “dumping” when they hear this? Food and family. Countries, like people, need food more Fred Stenson’s most recent novel is Who By Fire (Doubleday). than any other item. he one thing you must never risk is that Other books include he Trade, Lightning and he Great Karoo.

62 OCTOBER 2018 THIS IS AUPE YOUR WORKING PEOPLE

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