Dear Leadership Candidates.

The Simple Raven from the Crowsnest Pass doesn’t routinely address political candidates. What is human politics to an old bird in rugged mountains, anyway? Humans come and go, but they are tiny from where the crows fly. This time it’s different. The world is in turmoil and Alberta will play a part if we like it or not.

Alberta is a province bigger than many countries and has more resources than many. Alberta produces food and energy. All it needs is a good leader, who loves the Province and its people.

I was there when the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta was formed by Peter Lougheed. Here was a young, well-educated son of the province, willing to use his gifts to place us on the world map. He was in politics to make life better for all Albertans. I was treated in the General Hospital that he renovated and expanded, studied at the University of Calgary that he built, and worked in recreation, which he developed as an important aspect of what a government provides to save money in other ways. He did it using finite energy resources, planning a wonderful future. Calgary advanced from a “cow town” to a business centre, and he fought like hell to keep it so.

Now we are at a crossroads again. The province must transition from carbon energy dependence to a future green energy hub, and we have the resources needed, including the trained hard-working people to do it with. An opportunist politician is on the way out and the next leader will decide our future. I don’t know all the candidates but I see one that I like. Yes, I am looking for a new champion basing my hopes on a well-known example that many of us still remember.

Mr. Lougheed didn’t bully the medical profession by imploding hospitals, didn’t try to force the poorest people to work by cutting their allowance, or force academia to play his song by reducing education grants. The people of Alberta became the envy of other Canadians and contributed more to the growing economy. We were not short workers and didn’t have above-normal unemployment levels.

When the rest of Canada saw the prosperity that we enjoyed, they demanded a share. Thinking that it was all tied to oil, they wanted a share in this Canadian resource. Lougheed was OK with a fair share but guarded against forcing us to give away the goose that laid the golden eggs. Oil, he said, was a temporary boon and must ensure a wonderful future after its heyday. Alberta negotiated a good deal and began saving for future generations. The Alberta Heritage fund was set up to do just that. Together with the infrastructure that was built, the well-trained labor force, and the spirit of confidence in a bright future, we were set up for success. It is the legacy of a genuine leader that makes me search for a new champion.  

Now it is evident that oil, particularly our oil, is coming to an end. The sands of time run out for fossil fuels. All the resources that are burned to produce energy are being phased out because of pollution. There will be some use for them but much reduced. The complete process has been sped up by war and human attention is focusing on new ways to provide clean energy.

Here in the Pass which was built around coal, a new initiative is happening. If government help will be available, we will be leaders in storing sun and wind energy using water and using gravity to unleash it when needed.

As we are working on that, a fresh development in technology is rising. In western Finland, which is a similar climate to Canada, a few young engineers discovered a new way to store heat energy and use it. The company is called Polar Night Energy. They use available surplus solar and wind energy that they produce on hot summer days to heat sand to 600 degrees and store the heat for months to be used when needed.

They distribute the heat to set locations by air through insulated pipes. Most cities, like New York, or even Ottawa, have distribution systems that heat large buildings. The parts, mostly pipes, are easy to manufacture in existing local factories. Even better, the heat can be made into electricity and sold to the grid.

The ideal locations for the system are empty mines. They need a hole in the ground that can be filled with sand. Power goes in, heats the sand and the heat is pumped out to be used. They are looking at the possibility of setting the new MIT-invented liquid metal batteries in the centre. Those ultra-efficient batteries operate at 600 degrees. Power will be produced and stored in the same location. On top of the production site, we can build greenhouses to use all the escaping energy. Cold Finland isn’t too worried about Putin cutting off their natural gas supply.

I hope that the next Premier of Alberta will be a person like Peter Lougheed. We have all that we need for a bright future and need a leader who will capitalize on opportunities, like the manufacturing of power, and use our people instead of chasing them away. A province like ours can keep building, educating, and providing a good life for us and those who will come behind us. Who will it be?

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.