I once worked for a Canadian coal company that had economically developable leases on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The company also had a very good Chinese surveyor whose name was “Rocky.” His Chinese name was unpronounceable to me and when I asked him how he came by this name, he said that when he was asked for a name by immigration officials, he looked at a map of Canada on the wall and called himself the first word that he saw on the map. And that is how he came to be called Rocky..Our plans for developing these coal leases were tripped up by the Eastern Slopes policy introduced by the Lougheed government in 1977. The policy, which was not enshrined in legislation, was revised in 1984 during a period of low oil prices. Although I had moved to a new company, I was still in the coal industry and the public outcry against the proposed policy revisions, mostly by area ranchers, was a phenomenon to behold..It was stunning to me then, when the Kenney government supported coal mine development within lands subject to the Eastern Slopes policy. There was nothing illegal about that support and I am sure it was based on a desire to rebalance Peter Lougheed’s three-legged development stool with a bit more employment and coal royalties but surely the government’s memory spans more than thirty-seven years. It was an expensive, unforced error..Let’s step back in time....Energy prices rose dramatically following the formation of OPEC and its 1973 attempt to ration oil supplies. During the energy panic of 1973, not only was I paying a lot more than the pre-1973, twenty-five cents per gallon, but I had to line up for the pleasure of doing so. The pre-1973 gasoline cost was five cents per liter or thirty-two cents per liter in today’s dollars. Knowing this sometimes makes me weep unexpectedly..Mr. Lougheed, to his credit, understood that the demand for oil resources was about to dramatically increase along with the social and environmental problems attendant to uncontrolled industrial activity. This seems obvious today but the mid 1970’s predated the modern environmental movement, so Mr. Lougheed was both prescient and wise in devising his development concept. He articulated his three-legged stool development model in which the stool was Alberta society, and the three legs were the economy, social development, and environmental protection. Allowing one leg to become longer would unbalance the stool. Again, it was a novel concept for its time and Neanderthals like me thought Mr. Lougheed was a sell out. I also hated his purchase of Pacific Western Airlines but, in time, I became a fan of his Eastern Slopes policy..I suppose that Mr. Kenney’s error was in not testing the waters of public opinion before concluding that, with respect to this policy, the economic leg was too short. An unfounded faith in one’s own omniscience has humbled many leaders throughout the history of Western civilization. The speech by Charles V, when he abdicated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, should be required reading by Western leaders who must take an oath of office. There is a reason that victorious Roman generals, in their triumphal parades through Rome, had to have a slave whispering repeatedly in their ear, “Thou art but a man!” Sometimes the Mr. Kenney that we saw in public seemed to have forgotten that..My friend Rocky, having come from Communist China, could not believe that we were going to permanently shelve our development plans for a new mine on the Eastern slopes. Environment? Listen to the public? What sorts of fools are these benighted Canadians? He too, came to see the wisdom in factoring in the environment and involving public input in large policy decisions..My friendship with Rocky taught me important lessons about the balance between humility and hubris or unhinged pride — he being far more humble than me. Nemesis, the pain which follows the pride, is a cruel but important teacher. From where I sit, our current premier has also been walloped hard by nemesis and learned the lessons that came so reluctantly to me. The major investor of a company with which I was involved said that he would only support management teams which had gone bankrupt at least three times. I certainly fit that criterion. Perhaps that is why I lean towards people like Premier Smith who have also learned humility the hard way.
