Mr. Speaker, last year, the leader of the Bloc Québécois said this, referring to Alberta: “I am not certain that oil and gas qualifies” to define a culture. A leftist Canadian podcaster recently claimed, “Alberta has ZERO culture. None. Unless you count oil patch hillbillies getting blackout wasted ‘culture’.”
Here is a wake-up call for anyone who shares that paternalistic view. Alberta's culture is what drives Canada. Alberta's culture of risk-taking that drove the development of the Leduc No. 1 has fuelled the entire Canadian economy. The same culture of resiliency and self-sufficiency that pushes our farmers and ranchers to feed the world builds hospitals for Ontario and Quebec. Our culture of perseverance, swagger and love of wild beauty is in our art, our music and our festivals.
The people who try hard to beat the culture of self-determinism out of my province do so to their own detriment and to the detriment of the entire country. A stronger Alberta in a united Canada means acknowledging and giving thanks for Alberta's culture, and praying hard that Alberta will be lucky enough to get more of it. I say, “giddy-up”.