Driving west across the Prairies, as you flirt with the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, you're greeted by a sign: "Welcome to Calgary, Heart of the New West." The slogan suggests pride, confidence, the restless optimism of a teenager. So much energy, so much potential. The dawn of the New West.
Calgary is the "it" girl, the economic centre of gravity of Western Canada. Winnipeg played this role a century ago; Vancouver assumes the pose on the Pacific Rim, but with less bravado and a more stylish hat. Calgary is the reigning icon of the West: what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are to Hollywood.
As the theme of last week's Western Premiers Conference, the host, Brad Wall of Saskatchewan, proclaimed, "It is the 'New West.'" But is the West all that new?
Politically, there has been a subtle yet noticeable shift in attitude. Maybe it's maturity, maybe it's just defeatism. Albertans have lost some of their vitriolic hatred for all things Ottawa. Gone (mostly) are the bumper stickers calling for "No Kyoto, No Wheat Board, No Gun Control." The attitude to the federal government is softer. A Conservative government led by a Calgarian has helped, but the mood shift had its underpinnings much earlier.
Yet softening attitudes toward Ottawa shouldn't be confused with favourable ones. The federal government is more likely to cause Westerners to roll their eyes than to clench their fists or gnash their teeth. Ottawa is not irrelevant, just less irritating.
Culturally, the West is evolving as well. Winnipeg traditionally "gets it" when it comes to the arts, but Alberta is getting it, too. A stunning new art gallery is sprouting up in downtown Edmonton, a curved-steel exclamation mark on its already thriving arts scene. Calgary is also shedding its skin as a cultural backwater. Theatre, music and visual arts are taking off in Cowtown, their ascent aided by huge dollops of corporate and philanthropic money sloshing around the province.
And socially, Alberta is transforming into one of the most ethnically diverse places in Canada. Populations in both Edmonton and Calgary have crested above the one-million mark, and Statistics Canada's 2006 Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada shows that 22 per cent of Calgarians are of an ethnically visible minority. Edmonton isn't far behind, at 17 per cent. The ratio in both cities is higher than the national average (16 per cent), and higher than ratios in Ottawa-Gatineau (16 per cent), Hamilton (12 per cent) and even Montreal (16 per cent).
But, economically, where it arguably counts the most, the West isn't that new. Yes, the four Western provinces are booming. In 2007, growth from B.C. to Manitoba averaged well above 3 per cent, compared to a weak 2.1 per cent in Ontario. And in 2006, Alberta approached a China-like rate of 6.6 per cent. Soaring prices for natural resources have been the primary reason for the stellar growth. The West is basically keeping Canada out of recession.
But none of this is new. Alberta and British Columbia have boomed before. The roller-coaster boom and bust is a defining characteristic of the Western economy. Saskatchewan's wealth is perhaps a bit more novel, but one shouldn't rush to exaggerate their windfall of cash. Manitoba's current boom is less pronounced as yet than points further west.
The current windfall of natural-resource wealth does not make Alberta or other Western provinces new. It just makes them rich.
THE PUBLIC MUST LEAD
There is an urban legend about a homeless person living in a beat-up old van who won $1-million in a lottery. His potential to change his life was limitless. But through a series of wasteful decisions, the money was gone and the poor bloke was back living in the van within a year.
But the moral of this story is not only about politicians. "I would like to place the blame on elected officials," says Robert Roach, the research director at the Canada West Foundation, "but they are responding to what the public wants. You can fault politicians for a lack of leadership, but this only goes so far."
Adam Legge, the vice-president and chief economist of Calgary Economic Development, puts another spin on it. "The public doesn't give its elected leaders the permission to do something great, something really visionary for the future."
Maybe some of that trust needs to be built.
If planning for the future is a virtue, Western provincial governments at least say all the right things. Every budget, every Speech from the Throne - all are littered with platitudes about building a bright future.
But some critics insist the actions fall short. In some Western provinces preparing for the future means setting aside cash in a special fund earmarked to smooth out expected fluctuations in resource revenue. That is smart financial management, but it's not actually building for the future.
Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president at the Business Council of British Columbia, is concerned. "I find it troubling that [the West]is more dependent on resource exports today than 10 years ago. Of course, some of this reflects soaring commodity prices. But it also speaks to the region's limited success in building clusters of tradable industries outside the resource sector.
"Can the West sustain and improve its prosperity by sticking with resource industries as the predominant drivers of wealth creation? I think this would be a risky path to follow," says Mr. Finlayson.
For his part, Mr. Roach loves the West and has no plans to leave.
"I'm here for the long haul," he says. "But we've become more resource-focused in the last year than I can remember. I see this as a setback. It is great for short-term economic gain, but it has pushed back progress on other areas while we party during these good times."
BORN-AGAIN WEST
Consider the lottery winner again. Instead of wasting his windfall, he invests some cash to cover his lavish entertainment budget. He may even set up a rainy-day fund. Those are good management techniques, yet he's not been transformed by the wealth. He's the same old fool, just a rich fool.
The West's approach to dealing with the glut of resource revenue has largely been confined to inward-looking initiatives. True, Alberta has started (again) to wisely set aside money for research in renewable energy and health care. But mostly, across the West, money is spent on infrastructure, revenue stabilization funds, schools and hospitals. All of these are economically necessary, and none is wasteful. In most cases, they've suffered from under-investment in the past decade.
But none of it is new.
We will know the New West has arrived when public focus shifts from short-term projects toward investing in big-picture, long-term initiatives, the benefits of which may not be realized for a generation.
For example, the Western premiers could co-operatively launch a Western Energy Accord, an agreement to create a massive, pan-Western pool of energy revenue. The pool would include all of Western Canada's energy resources: Manitoba's vast hydro power, Saskatchewan's hefty uranium deposits, B.C.'s coal and gas, and Alberta's massive hydrocarbons. It would also focus on renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and tidal sources of energy. The fund would be used to develop and market all of Western Canada's energy resources, and plan for 50 years down the road. Acting co-operatively, the West could truly become the global centre of energy research, instead of a shallow "it" girl.
Another example would be to establish a single university system across the West similar to the multicampus University of California (an idea proposed by former UBC president Martha Piper and others). At the moment, the West has a handful of mediocre-to-good universities. But with some effort, the four provinces could boost investment in their universities, designate areas of research expertise at each campus, and establish a world-renowned destination for students and researchers. From good to great! Or what if the West gazed beyond its own boundaries? How about scholarships for all Canadian students to study at any university, college or polytechnic institute in Western Canada? Establish the West as a must place to study and learn. Canada's best and brightest will likely end up staying.
Even bolder would be an initiative for the Western provinces to "top up" the federal government's contributions toward foreign aid, in an effort to reach 0.7 per cent of GDP - the target encouraged by the United Nations. It might not be a real vote-getter, but it would show maturity and generosity. It would show vision.
It's not that spending on current priorities - infrastructure, highways, revenue stability funds - are bad ideas. We need these. But is filling potholes or building a freeway for the next generation really the best we can do?
Politically, culturally, socially - perhaps Western Canada is new in these ways. But when it comes to resource management and building for the future, not much has changed. Booms will come and booms will go. The New West will have truly arrived - new, transformed, reborn - when it undergoes a radical shift in focus. When we fixate less on the here-and-now, and more on creating the economy and world we want to leave for the next generation, that sign at the foot of the Rockies will have real resonance.
Opinions expressed are Todd Hirsch's own.