My name is Richard Buchfink, and I grew up in the small town of Hanna, Alberta. I have lived in Alberta most all my life, save two years in Regina.
When we were young, back in the sixties and into the seventies the way of life, the quality of life, in Alberta was far different than today. Some will say its better now, and that maybe true in regard to the many entertainment choices we have now. We had one channel when we first got a b&w tv in 1964. I was 6 and I’m sure the tv was used. But here is what has been lost.
I used to play outside with my friends' morning to night, 365 days a year, other than Sundays of course. We rode our bikes everywhere. We would use a magneto to have a headlamp, clothes pins and paper playing cards to make a whirring noise when the spokes passed the card that you had fixed in place on the front forks. In summer we would get up early and take a fishing rod and head down to the CNR dam. We would pack a lunch. Then cross the road from the bridge over the dam, were the cattle holding pens for train loading. CNR of course, the Canadian National Railway (CN today) ran through town and was a lifeblood for a very long time.
The town was incorporated in 1912 and was named after a railroad executive in Montreal. We used to run across the top rails and chase each other around the stockyard/holding pens. It was all good fun. Until you fell off or got pushed off right into a pile of cow dung. And then if you went a little further along, we would we walking on a trail versus a road, along the railroad tracks on one side, the lengthy part of the dam on the other side. Speaking of that dam, it was one of the reasons they chose the site for a town. Its location at the time made for a good stop. The dam held water which they needed for the steam engines of the day. Coal was close by in Sheerness and a railroad branch extended there, about 20 miles away.
Halfway up the trail was a CN house, I remember a fellow named Hans lived there at one time. A railroader and drinking buddy of my dad’s. There was a bit of an incline there and the house was above the trail. Below the trail was a root cellar. Dug into the side of the hill, potato storage. Then further down the trail and you would come to the far end of the dam. By this time, you couldn’t cross directly over the tracks as there was a large fence there running that length. We had to go around and speaking of round, the roundhouse is one of the old west features that is still standing there. They serviced the trains in Hanna, so it was an important stop along the prairies. Highways didn’t exist and whatever roads were there in 1912 would have been virtually non-existent.
The railroad brought merchants, and merchants brought stores. And stores and supplies brought farmers and ranchers. This is the way our towns grew. And more importantly we had a community. Most everyone was familiar or knew each other well. The farmers and ranchers were welcome and a lifeblood that the railroad brought to settle untamed land. A vibrant place for most of the last century. And then the energy crisis of the early 1970’s changed everything in Alberta.
We were seduced by the promise of the oil sands in Northeastern Alberta. It may have seemed logical to pursue the development at the time. In hindsight it changed the face of who we are and turned us into something not so pretty. We don’t care if we pollute the air with greenhouse gases. We don’t care if our children in Edmonton have an abnormal rate of asthma. Refineries. We do not care if we destroy unseen lands around Suncor and Syncrude. We do not care that we consume one barrel of water for every barrel of oil we extract from the sands. We do not care that we use huge amounts of natural gas to extract oil from the sands. We do not care that the residents of Fort McMurray will be left high and dry when the sands are shut down. We have no plans for when energy goes fully electric without burning oil or using natural gas. We need a plan fast, and I’m not talking scientific plans. There are plenty of those. It’s a case of planning full diversity long before oil fully collapses, and it will.
The promise of a fast-changing energy world has a big upside for small town Canada and the world. No more having to leave your hometown to find work, which most of my schoolmates and I had to. Only 20% roughly stayed behind, and most of those were taking over their family farms. Almost all the town dwelling kids left. Stores closed on main street sealed that fate. And our bigger cities also have a similar fate awaiting them if we do not act today. Its already becoming a trend that young people who are graduating high school are leaving the province to find work.
We have dozens of high-rise buildings that have no tenants. We have a government that has no vision or foresight. None. All in on oil. There are plenty of old sayings — -don’t count your chickens before they hatch, and never put your eggs in one basket. A shame that our Alberta government doesn’t even understand those principles. Nope. Their pay cheque didn’t skip a beat during the pandemic, did it? While your chickens were scrambling to avoid getting sick, their chickens were partying it up on the Sky Palace roof. Camera opportunities is all they were interested in. 18 months of terrible management and 18 months of lip service on top of it.
What should we do? Here is the straight answer. We must fight climate change. It is our first line of defense for many diseases, as we have seen the last 18 months. If we change the way we energize our world we reduce the amount of carbon into the atmosphere and it gives us a chance. A chance. I am alright with that. At least we can try. I’d rather do that than give up. Our families are relying on us all now to be at our best, and whatever it is we do, give our best work or effort. If everyone does that, improve themselves by 1%, we will move some mountains.
When it comes to our current leadership in Ottawa, and why I feel passionate about where Canada has come in 6 short years, we have the right team in place in Ottawa and need to support them, not attack them constantly. They were charged with a pandemic. I know what I advised. Make people the priority and our federal government did exactly that. There is no “price” when it comes to lives of the people.
Government belongs to the people. We have lost the true strength of democracy. And where are the people? What do the people want? Do they want climate change to endanger the lives of their children, grandchildren, or greatgrandchildren? The facts are clear — it's going to, unless we take actions today to prevent its severity.
Something else that is lost, is the opportunity to create new technology. Technology that replaces oil and gas and is vastly superior to oil and gas in every aspect. I say opportunity because crisis usually brings the greatest opportunity. Are we up for the challenge? Since last year our scientists around the world have kept their noses to the grindstone. They stopped worrying about the numbers and went to work trying to find solutions that will be effective at scale. Canada, Edmonton, Calgary has all the right ingredients to be included on that effort of scale to change the world. Let’s get started already. I have a plan if you don’t.
It starts with transportation.
