MLA Report: Hope springs eternal

By Drew Barnes on March 18, 2022.

They say spring is the season of renewal. It’s easy to see why.

As I write this, the sun is shining, the snow is melting, and the birds are tweeting. And unlike the trolls on social media, these tweets can put a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

On days like today, it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future of Medicine Hat and all of southeastern Alberta.

After two long years of pandemic gloom, Main Streets across the province, and here, are starting to show signs of life once again. Businesses are hiring. The oil and gas industry is regaining strength. The smell of opportunity is in the air.

While much of the political debate of late has focused on the negative, there are signs of change on this front as well.

Here in Medicine Hat we have a new and vibrant city council, with an opportunity for a fresh start. This council is starting from a position of strength. Medicine Hat is a friendly, safe and comparably affordable city. This is a great place to set down roots, raise a family or start a business. I have lived many years in Medicine Hat, and I can say with confidence that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Federally, the end of the Erin O’Toole era provides the conservative movement with an opportunity to get back to its roots. If Conservatives are to ever unite and mount a serious challenge to the Trudeau Liberals, the party has to start listening to the grassroots, and for this reason a leadership contest could not come at a better time.

Provincially, the political scene is more fluid today than at any point since 2015. Albertans are clearly dissatisfied with what they are getting, and this has been reflected in poll after poll for more than a year. But what the polls don’t tell you is that across Alberta, folks are taking a step back from reflexive partisanship to more carefully weigh their options. With an election coming in 2023, change is coming one way or another.

The good news is that Alberta remains one the best places to live in Canada. We are blessed with natural resources that are the envy of the world, and we have a young and skilled workforce ready, willing and able to carry our province forward.

The number one thing holding us back at this point are our own governments, but that is something we can fix. When we do, I firmly believe we have the opportunity to make our province one of most free and prosperous jurisdictions in North America.

Why am I so confident in Alberta’s future? In a word: Albertans.

The character of this province and our people is such that even during darkest days of the pandemic, Albertans never stopped standing up for our principles, or imagining a better tomorrow.

Now, at the end of the winter of our discontent, it is apparent that the real Alberta Advantage is our resilience.

We may be home to some of the world’s largest oil reserves and best agricultural producers, but it seems our most limitless resource is hope.