On Friday, July 31st, a planned stop was to take place across from the Servus Credit Union branch in Drumheller where the Forever Canadian caravan was to make an appearance in the valley.
The event took place from between 5 PM and 7 PM. The caravan was delayed in its appearance, not arriving until just after 6 PM but many people stopped by to get there own Forever Canadian lawn sign and meet the organizer of the Forever Canadian campaign, Thomas Lukaszuk. Across the street, a number of supporters of Alberta Independence waived their Alberta flags to counter the Forever Canada event. Bill Daugherty, part of the Alberta Independence movement shares why he and the group thought it was important to demonstrate while the Forever Canada caravan was in Drumheller. “They’ve been advertising and inviting people out to it, which is great. That’s what we’re all about, freedom of expression. I just thought that we could have a presence too because there are people are supportive of this side as well and to show we have a presence here in Drumheller.”
After the caravan arrived, we had a chance to ask Thomas Lukaszuk about what he has been hearing from the people he has met with on his tour of the province. “The vast majority of Albertans are wondering why are we even having this discussion to begin with. There is agreement that Canada is not a perfect county, no country is, and there are issues that need to be addressed between Alberta and Ottawa, between Alberta and other provinces, and separation is not the answer to those questions. As a matter of fact, it would create more problems, both social and economic problems.”
Supporters got a photo with Thomas Lukaszuk (second from the right) during his stop in Drumheller.
Through meeting with Albertans across the province, Lukaszuk also has a feeling of optimism. “Every generation has some kind of a call to action. Unfortunately, past generations had wars where we had to stand up. This is our call to hang out the Canadian flag and to show how proud we are, how Trump cannot encroach on Canada, how other countries can’t encroach on Canada. Even though we are vast, we are all Canadians, and we won’t let anybody take advantage of any cracks that we may have in our Canadian unity.”
Lukaszuk has shared before that he is done with politics and feels that this campaign is not politics. “This isn’t politics. This is my way of saying thank you to Canadians to letting my family in. I came here in 1982 as a kid, we had nothing but Canadians were like a second family to me. This is my way of paying back.”
No matter how the vote turns out come October, Lukaszuk shares that there will be work to do to bring the two sides together. “The job of political leaders is to bring people together. We are now in a situation where it is about division and conquering. It is upon us as it is obvious that our Premier is not focused on bringing Albertans together. It will be up to all of us to start healing those wounds. We agree to disagree on a lot of things but I want them to know, this is not personal, they are our neighbours. Unfortunately, we will have a lot of patching up to do.”
There were a good number of lawn signs given out at the event and locals should start to see them up throughout the neighbourhoods in the Drumheller Valley.
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