Dust off those 'pics and shovels'!

I just got home from the land of the Gold Rush…and if the local news had been written on older paper with heritage images I might have thought I was still there!!

Its not 1907 – but the rush is on in Alberta, oil exploration, gas wells and now a pipeline is planned to run through our small mountain community. Complete with the need for accommodation and food. With this potential onslaught of workers (well paid don’t forget!) you can almost feel the heat from the hands rubbing together.

But haven't we seen the ensuing problems with a uni-dimensional economy? Have you been to Fort McMurray? Or even spent an afternoon in Edson? There is nothing sustainable or forward thinking about what is happening in those communities.

"There are strange things done under the midnight sun..." but I doubt if there is anything stranger than having a National Park approve such a blatant disregard for what the Park is meant to be. On the one hand I'm dusting off the 'pics and shovels' to sell to these 21st century gold diggers and on the other hand I'm thinking this has to be stopped!!

Inside sources tell me that a battle with a corporation as large as the one putting in the pipeline would be futile. The right to upgrade the pipeline was granted when the original one went in over 40 years ago. Now if you or I purchase a business (the original pipeline company is no more and the actual pipeline has had a few new owners...) the deals made with the original owners are usually open for discussion - but I would think that after 40 years any original deals would be subject to discussion.

And times were very different in the 60's. The big car manufacturers were pumping out the largest 8 cylinder big block vehicles they possibly could. Very different times. The big push now in car manufacturing is the use of bio fuels and hybrid engines...even if there are only a few places to actually purchase these alternative fuels (a blog for another day). Homes are slowly being built with these changes in mind too, geothermal and solar systems are becoming more common.

And why is the pipeline going through the National Park and the Rockies to the West?? Surely there is a possibility that pushing it straight down parallel to Highway 2 Edmonton to Calgary would make more sense?? A piece of Alberta already denuded of wilderness?

And what is worse, is the way these issues split communities. Last weeks locale paper's letter to the editor slammed the 'Green Shakers and Movers' in town for not doing something about such a devastatingly large environmental issue. Thought being that the environmentalists here only harp about the small things - like bikes on trails - while bulldozers are heading for the Park. Poignancy and ignorance all in one comment. (Not worth the energy to press the keys to respond!)

I'm a Libran. I think all things are possible. I believe everyone is entitled to their beliefs. So while I completely disagree with the archaic thinking that goes with the pipeline upgrade through a National Park - I'm probably going to go dust off those 'pics and shovels'. Cause we all know what happened to the prospectors who got there to late to stake a claim!

Oil, Filmmaking and a lost password rant

Two blogs ago I was concerned about the fact that Alberta's government body for filmmaking had been enveloped into the dept of Economic Development. My concern would have been better saved for the most recent dept shuffle. This spring Alberta filmmakers were lumped into the dept of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture.

And as if that wasnt enough of an insult to all of the artists and storytellers and 'keepers of the culture' - Alberta's past Premier Ralph Klein was recognized as a Friend of the (filmmaking) Industry in 2007. This is the Premier whose regime was responsible for the decline of cultural programming after the famed Lougheed years. His time as a Premier saw a lot of the industry leave the province to maintain a livelihood as they had known under previous governments.

But some people would say that I have a cynical side to me. I seem to always find the darker side of an issue. So I asked the folks, who gave Klein that recognition he most certainly did not deserve, why?...their response was:

"As you may recall, in an effort to balance the budget, funding incentives for Alberta’s film and television industry disappeared in the 90’s as part of the government’s policy not to be involved in the business of being in business. However, a few years later, a new strategy, based upon Alberta expenditures, was created and became the Alberta Film Development Program (AFDP). Although, at the time, some of the government Ministers resisted, the AFDP was “green-lit” by then Premier Klein and since that time, the Fund has steadily grown each year and now contributes $14.5 million dollars annually to assist Alberta producers and co-productions. We maintain that the current funding is inadequate..."

This ability to destroy a program - revamp it and reinstate it to its infancy is something every Albertan should pay attention to.

But attention is not something many Albertans can spare unfortunately in 2007. Alberta is presently moving at mach speed. Jobs jobs jobs...building new highways and homes - I think the most recent stat on Calgary homebuilding was 3 new houses a day. (based on several hundred a year) Its booming!!

And here comes the cynic - a boom means a bust is on the next wave. So what will become of the thousands of mortgaged mcmansions all over Edmonton and Calgary? How will all those high paid young folks make payments on their Hummers and SUV's??

Which brings me to the photo above. (I do have a method to my madness) The mosaic above is our revered Mr Klein. The government official who allowed the province to get to its present state of unfettered 'greed'. Complete with the possibility of a nuclear power station to power the oilsands industry...but that is another rant. If you could look closely at the mosaic you would see that Mr Klein is created from oil rigs, SUV's, smokestacks and heavy machinery images.

So this is the 'rant' that has evolved after 3 months of not being able to find the password for this site. Next Sunday I get to see the results of a stone mosaic that I made by hand! The concrete should be dry. Its a bit of a personal milestone - creating by hand vs creating by technology.

I will leave with this thought - I found a quote last week by another Canadian politician. She contemplated the fact that artists and storytellers have been our source for identity for thousands of years. With the influx of technology and our ingestion of so much cyber product - are we going to lose the impact that artists and storytellers have had on our sense of identity? Are we going to lose our storytellers and artists?

CN Strike

Its interesting how a CN strike can mean so many things. This image was found when searching for pics of the strike. (thanks to www.hemmy.net/.../lightning-strike-on-cn-tower/ )

While beautiful it is not what I was expecting to find. The recent walkout by Canadian National railway conductors has little to do with lightning. And unlike the CN building - the problem originates south of the border.

The CN family in our little mountain community, Jasper, is a big one. (and a supportive one! see YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoWc-AVDNrg )

The town itself would be a much different place if it were not for the railroad, one of the main reasons historically that the town exists. And this years Family Day is marked with moms and dads walking the picket line while management scrambles to fill the gaps in administration and running of the railroad.

The beauty in this strike is that while management is not at their desks - their chairs are being filled by others up the line - in this case employees and co-workers from south of the border. And while management are not at their desks they are out on the trains - away from their families - working the shifts of those on strike. Nothing breeds respect like walking a mile in someones shoes - or in this case riding for miles in a noisy dirty engine - never sure when you might get home.

Fishing, Farming and Filmmaking

Two of these things belong together

Two of these things are kinda the same...

Earlier this year the Alberta Film Development Program was moved from being administered by an arts organization, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, to the offices of Alberta Economic Development. As an artist (first) I was hesitant to accept this move as I felt that the only real reason AED wanted the industry under their umbrella was because of the influx of high profile filming coming into Alberta (Hollywood North) - and I felt that the artistic side of filmmaking would suffer under a dept with the word 'economic' in its title.
WELL
This week Alberta got a new premier. The new premier got rid of the Dept of Economic Development and threw Alberta Film (and culture) in with Parks and Recreation. And what is even better is the new Minister in charge of Parks and Recreation has 27 years of experience - in agriculture. He even likes to farm and fish in his free time. My skepticism was so unfounded!

Two of these things belong together

Two of these things are kinda the same

Can you guess which thing is not like the other

Before they move arts and culture again!

Pine Beetles, Marijuana and Space Weapons

On Tuesday last week, the Harper government cut $60 million from youth employment programs, $11.7 million earmarked to fight mountain pine beetle, $5 million in Status of Women funding, $45 million from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 11.9 million from adult literacy programs, $4- million from medical marijuana reseach, and $9.7 million from volunteer Canada initiatives.

Yikes
Slashed youth programs
Slashed womens programs
Slashed adult literacy programs
A free run for the pine beetle, no help for new home owners and nothing to smoke when you get sick from all this!

The same government also announced plans Tuesday to give a U.S. firm a $24 million contract to find further efficiencies in government. (Makes sense really - why would they hire illiterate Canadians? One in 3 Canadians are illiterate)

While during the same week news came of the push by the Canadian Senate to spend more money on things like the American anti-missile weapons in space program, and an increase in our military spending of 6billion (thats a b) dollars. This same Senate report said, "There is nothing inherently evil about weapons, and there is nothing inherently sacred about space."

I wonder if this applies to the space between their ears!
Yikes

Autumn Thoughts Turn to Travel

Its that time of year when we start thinking about traveling.
This is a story about a man named Ed who lived for traveling. Not like the traveling people do today - not Thailand and Europe. Although, his combined miles would probably go around the globe many times.
Ed started driving at the age of 14 in 1938. Being 6foot2 at the age of 14 usually meant you would have to make your own way in the dirty 30's. Driving cab in the city got him away from the farm and gave him an opportunity he'd never even imagined - meeting people. You see, next to driving Ed's favourite pastime was talking. Probably the result of years of having no one to talk to but the horses where he grew up.
After a few years of this he found a wife (in his cab) and started a family (hopefully not in the cab!). Cab driving was soon upgraded to driving transport truck - the big 18 wheelers were soon regularly parked outside the humble bungalow. Most befitting of a man of his stature. Since Ed was a common name in the 1940's his nickname soon became Big Eddy to discern him from his brother in law or neighbour Ed.
Driving 18 wheelers was time consuming as the routes were often highway traffic dependent. This didn't deter Ed from buying his growing family a new house - with two floors and two bathrooms! It was after all 1966. Keeping up with the Jones's was a must.
Summer vacations varied between handyman work on the cottage or - you guessed it - driving the family out to western Canada to see the Stampede, Toronto for family or Quebec for Expo 67.

But driving truck takes a toll on the body so after years of being a Teamster, and driving the repetitive Toronto Montreal corridor, Ed decided to take a softer seat - driving Coachline buses. The big comfy armchairs of the coach bus meant Nashville and Fort MacMurray were easy drives. New York City and Florida were places a farm boy could only dream of going in the 1930's.

With age Ed downsized - drove school bus, drove handicapped children to boarding schools, did newspaper runs...until one day it was time to retire. Something he never let on that he was looking forward to but I am sure he thought it would be a great way to do some traveling. And when he wasn't traveling he was probably planning a trip. He was unassuming to look at - but anyone who ventured to strike up a conversation would soon learn a lot about travel trivia. He could tell you exactly how far Wawa was from Kenora and how long it would take to get there traveling at this speed...he could tell you where to stop for the best slice of pie or cheapest hotel... Often this information was given whether you wanted to know or not!
The next 20 years saw many variations of minivans and trucks and comfortable sedans. Ed had one last favourite pastime - vehicles. And he was always in one. Usually on his way to Alberta. Ontario to Alberta was his annual escape 1987-2005, he drove it over 20 times.

He gave me my nickname 'Roadrunner'. I hope I can live up to it - big shoes to fill.
Ed passed away Sept 18 2006 at the age of 82 after a few days of illness. He always felt guilty for all those years when he was not home closer to his family - hopefully spirits have no guilt and he is free to travel as much as he wants now. Ed was my father.

When the Mountains throw Shadows

It may not look like much but when Whistler Mountain starts throwing its late afternoon shadow - cool nights are not far behind and the community of Jasper will soon feel the onset of autumn.

Which for the residents here is something to look forward to. The lineups at the banks, post office and grocery stores become manageable and as absurd as it may sound - parking will soon be a possibility. (Absurd because many folks ride bikes and many more folks should ride their bikes) And don't get it wrong - visitors are most welcome - for many Jasperites these vacationers are what make it possible to live here.

Anyone who has frequented this small Rocky Mountain town would have noticed some big changes in the past 5 years. New street lights, new commercial buildings, older homes taken down for double duplexes and newly paved parking lots. All within a four block radius.

And here comes the rant.
Yesterday the mailboxes were stuffed with 'Imagine' letters from a group that wish to see more tourism. Futuristic numbers like 110,000 more visitors with $13 million more dollars coming in from those visitors.
Two nights ago I stood at a hotel desk where folks were being turned away - there were no rooms in Jasper - or Hinton (where the resource extraction industry has reserved the rooms for oil and gas workers but that is another rant for another day).
So, exactly where these additional 100,000 visitors would stay is a mystery.
Unless the plan is to pack the shoulder season with as many visitors as we have in the peak season here. This would mean the lineups and traffic jams would be non stop - 12 months of the year. The $13 million dollars that would supposedly come with this onslaught of traffic doesnt even begin to address the infrastructure strain or costs of increased garbage management, sewage disposal, power consumption, parking and the staffing issues...
And quite frankly folks - the residents of Jasper, the community at large, doesnt want to pay for that, financially or socially!

Enough ranting.
A few of us have decided that the enteprenuers and the community can both win if they look at the real desire here. The money is what it is really all about - not the increase in bodies (remember there is nowhere to put them or staff to serve them) So, guess what industry has proven itself to enhance the visitors experience making them want to stay longer and spend more and return? The same industry that targets the ne'X't generation of tourists, the new demographic with the six digit incomes - the Creative Class...that industry is CULTURE in all its forms, Heritage, Natural History, Fine and Performing Arts, Indigenous, and Environmental. Jasper has an amazing unmined potential in all of these fields. I'm sure there is a quote somewhere about growing inward before outward...

The commercial industry of this small National Park 'city', approximately 6 blocks long and 2 blocks wide, doesnt have to result in the loss of community for the surrounding small town.

If you want some information on the economic and social benefits of attracting Culture Seekers or the Creative Class - just start googling. Or ask us. Jasper already hosts several events during the year that use Culture in one way or another to enrich visitor experience with great returns on their efforts.