Discussion Province’s Wealth In Vermilion

Craig Baird Columnist

In 1931, the province, and much of the world, was going through The Great Depression. Many were worried about what the future held for them but the government often tried to reassure people that the down time in the economy would not last long.

Of course, what no one was willing to admit was that The Great Depression was just getting started and it would be another eight years before things would finally turn around.

On May 14, 1931, R.G. Ried, the Minister of Lands and Mines, and the MLA for the Vermilion area, came to the community with O.L. McPherson, the minister of public works, to speak to the Chamber of Commerce.

Reid told the gathered group that more homestead lands would be made available and soil surveys had been conducted. Land would be made available first to those who pioneered in the province. To those coming from outside the province, they would also have a chance to purchase land.

McPherson spoke about the road policies and the difficulties the province was having getting roads built due to the sagging economy. He spoke about the higher standards for roads, and the need to ensure busy roads like those in Vermilion were graveled and graded on a regular basis. Once again, that was somewhat limited due to costs.

He then spoke about the Vermilion road going east to the boundary, which he hoped crushed rock in the district could be found. Once that was secured, construction would begin using local

Letter To The Editor

I received a glossy half-page (both sides) advertising brochure regarding Alberta’s new approach to health care. Government advertising can be problematic. There is a legitimate reason for governments to inform us about new programs that we may wish to take advantage of. But this is not the purpose of this advertising campaign.

Any advertising is spin. We should approach any piece of advertising by asking ourselves what is being spun, because the most important aspect of any advertising is unspoken. So the unspoken message of this advertising is this: We have screwed up the medical services in our province and now we are going to fix it. There is an implicit admission of how the government messed up the medical system in the list of things they intend to fix.

BUT – there is no plan to fix the mess they have created. If there was, there would be an announcement of the resources that are being committed to solving the problem. It is easy to say that we will cut emergency room wait times. But it ain’t happenin’ if we don’t pour more money in to hire more doctors, nurses, other staff to work in emergency rooms. Each of the issues in the brochure faces the same problem. The implication is that “We’ll just say we are addressing this problem, but we won’t commit the resources to actually fix it. If we say we are fixing it, people will never figure out that nothing has changed. And we don’t have to do anything.”

There is no reason for this kind of advertising anyway, other than paying for an election ad with public dollars. There is no new program that we can use. If this govern - labour. For those in Vermilion, news of work was something they were all hoping for as many were starting to feel the pinch of The Great Depression and any sort of government relief was still a long way off.

As for both men, Reid would go on to become premier of Alberta, serving from July 10, 1934 to Sept. 3, 1935. His time as premier is the shortest in the history of the province.

For Oran McPherson, he went through a bad divorce in 1932 that made headlines across the province and hurt the reputation of the province. Coupled with the sex scandal of John Brownlee, many portrayed the party, the United Farmers ment were serious about solving the problem, they would expend the money wasted on this advertising by hiring some people to put into the system where some of the issues could be addressed. It’s so much easier to say you are doing something than it is to actually do it.

Sincerely

Bernie Huedepohl

Thank You

of Alberta, as one of moral decay. Contact Craig at craig@canadaehx. com

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