Spirit of Alberta will Prevail -- By Doug Griffiths

This is an article that Doug Griffiths wrote for the Edmonton Journal and it ran on December 26. I hope you like it.
Simpsonite

Spirit of Alberta will Prevail

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the Province of Alberta. We are no longer a young province that can claim inexperience or naivete for mistakes made. We have come out of our teen years and into adulthood strong, wise and wealthy because of character-building choices made early on. We must not lose sight of that as we continue to grow and evolve as a mature province that has finally "come into its own."

The first innovative prospect I see for our province 20 years from now is an Alberta where geographical location is irrelevant to our way of life. It will not matter in the future whether you are from Peace River, Airdrie, Edmonton, Provost, Pincher Creek or Rainbow Lake because infrastructure like the SuperNet and private Internet service providers will ensure instant and unhindered communication to the world. It won't matter if you are practising law or specialized medicine, teaching a foreign language or are a business owner, you will be able to choose the type of life you want, where you want while still providing services to anyone in the province.

Rural Alberta is too valuable a resource not to develop and nurture it like our other important resources. It offers a quality of life like no other in the world with little crime, immediate access to our beautiful environment, lower costs of living and excellent business opportunities. The intellectual infrastructure that we have built today will be extremely important in the development of the rural Alberta of tomorrow as quality health care and education, and new business opportunities continue to develop. It is the key to our future -- fully utilizing every part of Alberta for all Albertans.

I see a province where learning simply does not end when the classroom lights turn off. Our province is diverse and vibrant and has never shied away from seeking new knowledge. Twenty years from now the Campus Alberta approach will have achieved its full potential as any Albertan, anywhere in the province will be able to access any program from any institution anywhere in the province. There will come a time when you enter a learning centre in Sedgewick, Alberta, to learn from a professor in England, or an Edmontonian can learn from a paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, or a teacher of Spanish can live in Whitecourt but reach and teach students from around the province.

The province of 2026 will be a leader in innovation in so many fields. Much like education, Alberta will also become a leader in delivering health care. Often it is said that with the technology that is developing it will be possible for a rural Albertan in a remote location to reach medical specialists in the city, perhaps all at once, and be remotely diagnosed and treated more quickly and effectively. I believe however, we will come to understand that the technology that is developing works both ways. We will see medical professionals choose where they want to live based on the quality of life they desire and that they will use the technology to provide services to all Albertans. We may see specialists living in rural Alberta and offering services remotely to urbanites.

Those innovations will lead to development of the entire province, ensuring that all Albertans enjoy the Alberta Advantage, but those innovations will lead to new innovations that are even more profound. Albertans will lead the world in attracting a capacity of thinkers, technicians, developers, inventors, entrepreneurs and investors because of the mindset of innovation that has developed and will continue to develop here. In fact, in 20 years Alberta will be known for its innovation in the same way that Wall Street is known for finance, because we will be epitomize the word in thought and deed.

We can see examples of the importance of research and development in our own story today that will provide us with clues for our future tomorrow. Alberta has been a leader in researching new and innovative ways of harnessing our energy potential. We see new energy sources like wind turbines in the south of the province that are providing us with new sources of energy that were not realistically available 30 years ago. Our past innovations are powering the homes of many Albertans today. This will only expand into the future as instruments like the Alberta Energy Research Institute and the Alberta Ingenuity Fund provide us with opportunities to limit our dependence on traditional non-renewable energy sources. Just as we are leaders in supplying energy to the world, in the future we will be the leaders in supplying clean energy and renewable energy technology to the world.

I want a province where the water is clean, the air is fresh and the soil is rich with nutrients and growth. I think that our province will move away from the attitude of entitlement to our lands and be more mindful that we are the caretakers of our natural inheritance. I believe we in this province will finally resolve for the world the great conflict that typically sees economic growth and environmental stability, business and environment, or blue conservatism and green environmentalism as mutually exclusive. We will resolve it in such a way that both business and the environment prosper.

I know we will see more of Alberta's raw materials being kept here to make goods and services. Albertans will continue to develop the can do attitude that is our strength, and we will find ways to add value to our own resources, idea, and ingenuity that will make us leaders around the globe. This will happen because of investments in education and technology, which will lead to innovation, which, in turn, will change the world, and Alberta will be the instigator for that change.

We have to remember that Albertans have never been afraid to expect the very best of themselves and of each other. Every Albertan must realize that this province is going to advance quickly because of this high expectation. To whom much is given, much is expected and Albertans have never been afraid to face the future with optimism and courage. Undoubtedly, over the next twenty years, unforeseen events and unintended consequences will shape our character and our direction. But through it all, we should remember the strength, wisdom and spirit that have brought us through all our problems will continually guide us over the next 20 years. And because of this, I think Alberta will be unmatched in its success.


Doug Griffiths is MLA for Battle River-Wainwright and chairman of Alberta's rural development strategy task force