Doug's Blog

The future of this province, as I see it, is assured if one major change is made.  We need to become progressive where progress is necessary and conservative minded where conservation is necessary.  Recently, however, there has been a tendency for the government to be progressive in areas where it should be conservative.  In areas of fiscal policy and the environment, the government has let loose and now we spend more money per capita than any other jursidiction in Canada.  Conversely, however, the government has become very conservative in policy development on bio-diversity, the bio-economy, the supernet, and new technology development.  Now don't get me wrong, we are still leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the country and North America, but as a hockey great said, "It is hard to get on top, it is even harder to stay on top."  We have to re-evaluate our policies to ensure that we are conservative where we should be, specifically spending taxpayers dollars and protecting the environment we will pass on to our children and grandchildren, and we progressive in terms of new technology, development of the bio-economy, and commercialization of new technology.  That attitude, those types of policies, that type of focus will ensure that Alberta isn't just 'on top', but stays 'on top' for generations to come.  I have coined the term 'green Tory' to explain this type of policy shift that is necessary.  I am one, and I am proud of it.  Green Toryism (if that is a phrase . . . well, I guess it is now) will revolutionize agriculture by shifting it from traditional crops for export to bio-crops, neutrapharmaceuticals, bio-pharmeceuticals grown through irrigation and greenhouses for comsumption here as part of a 'Whole-Food Policy' (see Forum).  Green Toryism will lead to new technologies around environmental protection and enhancement, and new cleaner energy sources and technologies, all of which can be exported to the rest of the world, because we will not run out of oil and gas in this province, oil and gas will become obsolete.  Green Toryism will lead to the development of a complete bio-economy that does not put the environment and the economy at odds, but rather in compliment of one another, and that is the future of Alberta in and to the world.