The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of 2022

While I planned to talk about ‘The Good & The Bad   of 2022’, there truly is an “Ugly’ component that  can’t be overlooked because of its influence on  the outcome. 2022 has been a challenging year, full of complexities,  surprises and most concerning times. As the days wound  down to December 31, it seemed the tone might have just  carried forward into 2023 if things were not talked about. For  me personally, it truly does feel like we have lived through one  of the most difficult times in our country.

I will let others give  their opinions on the lack of meaningful Christmas messages  from Canada’s leaders as we rang in 2023. The most successful TV series continues to be Sheridan’s  Yellowstone that features old-fashioned freedom,  independence and all ‘good things’ of years past. While  the main characters emulate a family hoping to leave ‘good  things’ behind for younger generations, the idea of a future  world is full of concerns as they battle governments ever  trying to disrupt that world which led me to the idea for this  article. But let’s start with some of the ‘Good in 2022’. The Good: Alberta can easily claim they had the best  economy in Canada.

Let’s be honest – regardless of the  ‘denier claims’, that was due to our oil and gas industry  which is needlessly and consistently under attack. Alberta experienced the largest growth in population in  any year possibly compared to our last boom. Although  yearly numbers were not available, the third quarter alone  saw almost 20,000 newcomers to Calgary. While high-tech,  warehousing and logistic industries also increased in that  time, it was still our key industry that brought many of   those services to Alberta

 

Our reasonable housing costs  and welcoming lifestyle influenced people to arrive from  all parts of Canada. Some were inspired by remote working  options and truckers who can live anywhere chose Alberta as  their home for a variety of reasons. Yearly numbers for the  province will be revealing. The Bad: A lot of local capital left Alberta with no plans to  return due to consistent concern over never-ending federal  government policies, regulations and interference, radical   environmentalist threats and influence on our fossil fuel  industry, attacks on farming and our food industries, along  with forestry.

The implementation of even higher carbon taxes  and unabated spending has led to growing and unaffordable  inflation. Banks and businesses signing on to ESG policies will  only add to inflation and unaffordable living. The Ugly: I can’t avoid mentioning the attacks on our  freedom by the implementation of the Emergency Act, the  freezing of personal bank accounts, all of which led to a loss  of worldwide reputation and a halt of meaningful foreign  investment and local dollars leaving Canada. The constant  threat of censorship by elected officials, and a sense of  threat of new power grabs through mid-term elections as  disruptors leaves us with a loss of confidence in our country  as a place for our families and newcomers to thrive.

But to end on a somewhat positive note, now that we have  established where the threats lie, it is up to us to step up and  turns things around in 2023.