Thread by @conjureup

I am a proud Albertan. I've lived in and around Calgary for pretty much 40 years.

My parents moved west from New Brunswick in 1979, for more opportunity. They left a thriving practice, and my mother took three young children under the age of 6 across Canada by train.

/2

I am also an optimistic Albertan. I want to see Alberta a respected and full partner in our federation.

I want to know my vote matters, that we are considered as much as those in central Canada. I don't expect special treatment just because we share a great deal of wealth.

/3

But each passing day, we continue to endure digs by media personalities and their pundits, politicians and fellow Canadians, as our frustrations are finally brought to light now that the election is over and can no longer cast a shadow on the Trudeau Liberals.

/4

We were devastated by the election results, because even though we knew it was against all odds, we still held hope to be heard.

So we spoke out the only way we knew how. In response, our voices were disparaged and belittled through the hashtag rednexit.

/5

Our PM claims to "hear" Alberta + Saskatchewan, yet makes only token gestures.

I've been pondering benefits and hurdles, setting aside sadness, disappointment and anger, as well as sentimentality for this country – having lived on both east and west coasts with fond memory.

/6

I've been busying myself with federal + provincial fiscal tables, trying to focus on data – as if it might give me a practical answer to my quandry.

I've been reading, hoping views of other, more thoughtful, political science and public policy types will calm my emotions.

/7

I still want to be a part of Canada, where I can stand proud as an Albertan.

I want to stop being the brunt of insults, and I want the attacks on our values to stop being made out as hateful or lacking compassion, when they are just the opposite.

/8

I want to not have to fend off intellectuals who, last summer, began a strategy to make Albertans feel less educated – as if education were at all linked to skill or worth.

I want to be valued for our contribution, not demonized for the hard work we put in to provide it.

/9

I want our industry's employers to stop being called "oil barons", and realize they are Canadian companies, who create hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate wealth for millions of Canadians.

And I want our workers to not be seen as "dangerous" to our rural communities.

/10

I want our fellow Canadians to stop calling our natural resources dirty oil, while they continue to import theirs from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

I want Canada to stop making our oil + gas the world's GHG villain, while BC is North America's largest exporter of coal.

/11

I want to stop feeling that what we produce is not "socially acceptable", but the money generated from it is.

I want Canadians to realize that they rely on oil + gas every hour of every day, in one form or another, and all we want is the opportunity to receive fair value.

/12

As an Albertan, I want to be heard and supported, but discouraged it'll happen.

I don't want to give up on Canada, but I feel that were it not for the money we provide, Canada has given up on us.

I'm starting to believe we need to keep our options open.

c2cjournal.ca/2019/08/albert…

ps,

Sorry for all the "I wants". I don't know how else to express how I feel, and I don't want to presume to speak for all Albertans (and possibly also Saskatchewanians, and/or other western Canadians).