Rebuilding With A More Stable Economy

The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1920 and WWII are a couple of catastrophes that Alberta has endured over the last century. Then there was the economic depression and drought of the 1930s that created major economic turmoil where the Alberta Government could not pay its bills. Albertan’s pulled together in each of those crises with resolve and compassion struggling to emerge to a brighter future.

We will recover after the dust settles using the same ingenuity as those Albertans before us that has left us with one of the most prosperous and freest society in the world. They created policies and procedures that changed the way the economy was run. The Social Credit Party was formed in Alberta to disperse economic and political power to individuals. The new Alberta premier, and prophet, evangelist William Aberhart (1878–1943) preached that the capitalist economy was rotten and immoral because it did not provide people with sufficient purchasing power to enjoy the produced goods and services they produced.

Amid the Great Depression, two national corporations were created. The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), later to become the CBC, was created in 1932 to keep the country unified and uplifted during harsh economic times. The CRBC played a vital role in keeping the morale up for Canadians everywhere. 

To regulate currency and credit that had been improperly managed amongst Canadian citizens in the prior years the Bank of Canada was formed. It also assisted and advised the Canadian government on its debts and financial matters as a private banker’s bank. During the Great Depression, both of these corporations were successful aids in the cultural and financial recovery of Canada.

To bring workers and employers together in establishing minimum wages and work standards the Industrial Standards Act (ISA) came into effect in 1935. In 1940 Canada was the last major Western country to institute unemployment insurance which helped stabilize the economy. Our recovery from this economic pandemic can be even more dramatic by rebuilding the economy into an even more stable sustainable economic system.

António Guterres, the 9^th Secretary-General of the United Nations, states in a recent report “That everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges we face. We can go back to the world as it was before or deal decisively with those issues that make us all unnecessarily vulnerable to crises.”

As we ride out this pandemic with the government providing financial aid during this crisis to keep many businesses from bankruptcy, they are making post-pandemic recovery plans. The City of Calgary formed a task force to create a list of important projects for the city to take advantage of provincial or federal government stimulus packages. The Alberta Government developed an Alberta Recovery Centre as the federal government looks at incentives to build a clean energy industry and support for oil and gas.

We will be waiting in isolation and practicing safe distance protocols combating this pandemic for several months before things come back to some form of normalcy. With the governments already planning for post-pandemic recovery, now would be the time to Rebuild the economic model by presenting them with ideas to shape our future with a more stable economic system. The old capitalist system of greed and profit needs to be replaced with a more Sustainable Local Circular Economy.