Calgary Stampede time in Alberta

It’s Calgary Stampede time in Alberta and boy it really is one of the greatest shows on earth.

I was in Calgary last week and one of the events I attended was the Stampede Parade. I, along with an estimated 305,000 people, lined the streets of downtown Calgary to watch 98 entries, representing the Calgary Stampede, local politicians, community groups, companies, and domestic and international visitors from across Canada and the United States march by. It really was amazing.

The Parade Marshall was Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Hansen will become the first Canadian to venture to the moon as part of the historic Artemis II mission.

The Honourary Parade Marshall was General Wayne Eyre, the Chief of the Defense Staff, who oversees the military’s mission to defend Canada’s values, interests, and sovereignty at home and abroad.

I saw Premier Danielle Smith, members of our Legislative Assembly and of course Pierre Poilievre.

Who I didn’t see was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was in town but chose to attend a small liberal gathering for an upcoming byelection.

Let’s be real, when you travel abroad, and you say you are from Alberta, you inevitably hear someone say they know the Calgary Stampede. I challenge you to name a more famous event in Canada that is known world-wide.

Yet our own Prime Minister didn’t think it was important enough to attend the parade and directly connect with almost one percent of Canadians in one fell swoop. He did flip pancakes and from what I understand couldn’t even do that properly. I was half expecting him to show up in chaps, we all know his predilection for dress-up!

But Pierre was there. I must tell you a story about this fine man and his ability to remember people and things. It’s almost uncanny what he can remember and how he can orate. He’s quick witted and seems to remember everything. I was seated at the front of the line. We had chairs put out the night before tethered to a parking sign. As he comes by with his horse I yell out, “Pierre, we love you”. (Really, I meant I do, but not in a creepy way). He looks over at me, stops his horse and says, “hey I met you”. I yell, “you sure did in Sparwood with David Wilkes, the Mayor of Sparwood”. He thinks for a second and says, “you are Lisa from the Crowsnest Pass, you own the newspaper”.

Just about everyone around me lets out a loud, hell yah! This guy remembers everything. I did have a lunch with a small group of people from the Elk Valley. I was the only woman there and I made sure I sat beside him. We had a long talk about politics and Alberta and coal mining. I will remember that day forever, what I didn’t think was that he would remember that day as well, let alone my name or what I did for a living.

This is the guy we want running our country. He’s personable, he has common sense, and he remembers people. He doesn’t hide away with the group of liberals afraid someone might throw manure at him. He’s all in!

Pierre Poilievre is our man. He celebrates Canada. In his Canada Day speech, he talked about all the wonderful accomplishments this country has achieved in both domestically and abroad.

On the other our Prime Minister talked about how guilty we should feel about our history, how we are a nation of guilt. How we can’t move forward until we all pay for the sins of our forefathers. There was nothing uplifting to his Canada Day speech!

It was a great day and I’ll remember that interaction for a lifetime. To him he simply remembered a face and name, to me he made an indelible impression!