City Notebook: Invasion of Ukraine should be wakeup call to the great middle

By COLLIN GALLANT on February 26, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

As it turns out, global politics are complicated.

More complicated than a rim-shot on social media, at least, and probably the most complex they’ve been in 25 years, following a major invasion of the Ukraine by Russia.

And in a very connected world, global politics are personal, and just not for the relatively large number of Canadians, particularly on the Prairies that claim Ukrainian heritage.

But isn’t all-out war in one of Europe’s largest nations the stuff of 80 years ago – the sort of thing that got solved by another generation, the “greatest generation,” and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Not so, it must be realized by North Americans who have become so cozy in the post-Cold War paradigm that seemingly nothing could convince them this week’s invasion could happen.

While Canadians – civilians and authorities – were gripped for weeks by gridlock in the nation’s capital and discussing the nature of freedom, 100,000 troops prepared to roll across an international border, then did.

In the United States, the Trump faction of the right has been happy to wallow in anything that appears to upend traditional American foreign policy, or make Donald Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama or his successor, Joe Biden, look dumb or corrupt.

Their enemy’s enemy is their friend, it seems.

Even some on the far left of centre – never fans of American hegemony – gleefully derided the potential threat of Russia, and until this week, filled social media to the brim by laughing off warnings.

For anarchists, it’s all a sign that governments around the world can’t maintain the illusion of control.

But for the great middle folks that couldn’t care about politics, or didn’t have to, hopefully it’s a wakeup call.

People may have been concerned China’s rise to become the world’s biggest economy (they are, look it up) over the last decade, but nary lifted a finger to do anything about it, not even at the cash register.

Governments and businesses, too, have been long on the upside of opening up China.

Many will blame Trudeau, with good reason, but recall that the Conservative Party of Canada’s entire environmental plan and most of their economic plan up until the last election was shipping natural gas to China to lower their emissions from coal plants. Imagine how thick the strings attached to such a deal would be.

Nothing seems cozy anymore, instead very serious.

Perhaps, it’s time that the great middle in our country stops playing the stooge and gets serious as well.

BATUS

The British Army’s major armour contingent, troops and other vehicles arrived in Estonia on Friday as part of a general build-up in the NATO country, according to Forces.net, which is the UK equivalent to Stars and Stripes in the U.S.

The 1 Royal Welsh Battlegroup moved out of a training facility in Germany where the Challenger II tanks were training through the pandemic. The British Army had said that training activity would return to CFB Suffield in 2022 – after losing two summers here during the uncertainty of the pandemic. It’s assumed that may be up in the air now.

The web media service also provides a comparison of British and Russian forces by size, noting Britain’s 227 heavy tanks compared to Russia’s 12,400.

This and that

– Medicine Hat’s favourite Olympian Sage Watson was recognized as an honoured alumna of the 4H program at a virtual awards banquet this week. About $55,000 was raised at the national ceremony and fundraiser hosted by retired broadcaster Peter Mansbridge.

– Flaring at the new Unit 17 power plant on Friday was clearing out lines toward commissioning the 44-megawatt gas power plant scheduled to be complete in March.

Utility watch

Power prices could settle down, but natural gas could be on a roll next month

Expect power prices to fall back on Tuesday, but remain above the city’s fixed rate offering of 8-cents per kilowatt hour. Gas should land in the high $4 range in Medicine Hat, according to calculations following submissions to the Alberta Utilities Commission late this week. City officials have long said the situation in Europe was clouding the reality of storage levels in Western Canada (on which the local price is typically based), but new aggression in Eastern Europe could show up in prices here again.

Spring steps

More proof that spring is around the corner: The Medicine Hat Cubs are in the third round of their hockey playoffs and clock change is set for March 13. Unfortunately, spring training baseball games that were set to start on Saturday appear delayed until at least next week, owing to contract talks with the baseball players union and owners.

A look ahead

The city’s public services committee meets Monday morning, and will discuss amendments to the parks plan, and unveil the promised facilities plan.

The Alberta legislature, which only fired up the spring session on Tuesday, will now rise for a week – a post budget period is typically scheduled to allow MLAs to shop the financial plan around their ridings.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a number of topics for the Medicine Hat News. Contact him at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

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