Neither Lesser Slave Lake, held by MLA Pearl Calahasen, nor Dunvegan-Central Peace, held by Hector Goudreau, are noted as leading edge constituencies. These ridings are mostly followers in the grand scheme of provincial politics. Often we are far, far behind the times. There is nothing wrong with that. But, to paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, ‘’We don’t get no respect!’’ Oh, there was a brief time in the 1970’s when Grant Notley, head of the provincial New Democrats, had a voice that was listened to in Edmonton and Calgary. And there was a time in the 1990’s when Athabasca MLA Mike Cardinal, followed by Calahasen, was a reasonably strong voice for aboriginals. Interestingly, the two times we actually had big shots in government, we got even less credit for being a force to reckon with. Lesser Slave MLA, Larry Shaben, was deputy premier and arguably one of the five most powerful men in government. The city media didn’t even know who Shaben was, never mind what department he ran. Marv Moore, the fellow who now chairs Peace Country Health, was another powerful figure in government. Once upon a time, before constituency redrawing, Moore was MLA for Smoky River. Another unknown outside of Edmonton and Calgary then, and now. In fact, about the only person who really got, and still gets credit, for being a smart rural politician, is Westlock MLA Ken Kowalski. This is likely because once upon a time, Kowalski took a small-town team to a national televised championship of Reach for the Top. That’s the kind of stuff city reporters never forget. Wow! So, it shouldn’t be surprising when we read in one of the Edmonton daily newspapers that Premier Ed Stelmach is out of touch. Says a report in the Edmonton Journal last week: “Stelmach is battling a lingering perception that his cabinet is too rural to grasp the enormous pressures facing urban areas. There’s a lot of anger and bitterness in Calgary.” Oh, give us a break. Stelmach is trying to maintain balance in a province increasinly dominated by big oil, and big city politicians poking hot buttons hoping to gain another vote. In reality, it’s small towns, farming and ranching, all kinds of business and industry outside the oil patch, who are really facing ‘’enormous pressures.’’ How do you deal with this? Get the ear of big city media. Start making noises. Push our rural MLA’s including our own, to be more visible and vocal. Try harder being leading edge constituencies out here. Leaders, not followers. Then we might have a chance keeping up.

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