Brookman: A smash in the face shouldn't keep us down for long

There is a quote from boxer Mike Tyson that reads, “Everyone has a strategy until they get smashed in the face.”

There are very few people in Alberta who do not relate to that quote at the moment. What we are going through is a brutal economic period and the idea that there is a high level of uncertainty in our world is a challenge for all of us.

There are no easy answers. Calgary city councillors can be angry at the province because it is “reneging” on previous financial commitments, but the reality is that Alberta is also feeling the squeeze of financial restraint and shortage of funds. A walk through Kensington, Inglewood or along 17th Avenue gives you a clear indication that people are just not spending their money at the moment. We all feel the same, and the word that I think we can all land on is “uncertainty.”

I believe that the most important role for governments is to restore some certainty. It takes a lot of character to be able to say to people, especially voters, “Here is what we can and will do and here is what we cannot and will not do.”

However, that is what needs to happen. Decisions by our own city council to postpone or cancel capital projects is the right one, and I would urge them to invest in maintenance and repairs of what we have already built. If we take care of our current assets and complete the new ones we have already committed to, then we will continue to have a very fine place to live.

Our people need work, our country needs to move forward and we need to get back to selling on the international stage as the primary reason for our existence. We also need to become more independent and less reliant on our friends in the United States, as they are not in the least bit concerned about our problems.

I am sick and tired of the small groups of individuals, often living off the fat of the land, who feel that they should have the right to block any project. I am sick and tired of seeing great opportunities for investment, for new jobs, for progress on all fronts, constantly stopped or delayed because of some misguided belief that we can go back to the stone age, and that we will all be happier if we do not have great schools, great hospitals and no new social programs. Where do these people think all of that comes from, some fairy dust that is sprinkled down from on high? When our citizens are working, and when we are producing the world’s finest energy, lumber, steel, agriculture and manufactured goods, then and then alone can we be prosperous and provide the standard of living that we all want and enjoy.

Going back to Mike Tyson’s quote, we have been smashed in the face by a series of government-inspired dreams and regulations, by protesters, and by elites who are perfectly happy as long as their needs are being met, and who do not give a tinker’s damn about the individuals and families who have suffered great financial and personal setbacks, because, it seems, we cannot get things done in this country.

It is time for the majority to take back the economy. It is time to stand up and be counted. It is time to get things approved, built and operating, whether it is another oilsands plant, another pipeline, another manufacturing facility or another tech company. Governments must take off the shackles and let industry do the job it does best, invest, build, develop and pay taxes, without any uncertainty about whether the rules might change or whether they will be held hostage by people who have nothing better to do than spend their days protesting everything.

For me, enough is enough, let’s get back to work.

George Brookman is the chairman of Western Canadian Digital Imaging Inc. and former president of the Calgary Stampede.