Well, not exactly an Albertan's - I've been living in the States for so long that when I go back, my accent, my driving style, my attitude all give me away as a "Yank". As in Yankee. But that's where my mother's from, that's where her family is (descended from Loyalists who fled Pennsylvania for Ontario during the American Revolution). I spent a few years in Alberta as a child, and go back at least once a year. I am proudly Canadian, and Albertan.
In elementary school in Alberta, Wayne Gretsky and the Edmonton Oilers were tearing their way through hockey. We did a lot of sledding and skating in winter, and then a Chinook would break through and turn the world into spring in a few hours. Sometimes emergency sirens would go off, and we knew that either there was a natural gas release, or the Americans and Russians had started a nuclear war -there wasn't much we could do about it, either way. Or it was just a test. I went to rodeos and debated whether to be a bullrider or a clown when I grew up.
Alberta was rich with oil then, and richer now - the Texas of the North. Alberta goes through ridiculous boom and bust periods, based on the price of oil. A responsible government would save during booms, and spend during busts - Alberta would put some money away, but the politicians would spend like robber barons during booms, and social services would get the hit during busts. Pretty ridiculous, although federal funding would sustain things until the next boom.
This isn't going to be a sophisticated analysis, more of an impressionistic one. Here's the wiki, if you want details on the politics: http://en.wikipedia.org/... My parents are progressive liberals, but most of my mother's immediate relatives vote conservative, for the same idiot party that keeps riding the boom/bust rollercoaster the same stupid way, partying during the booms and blaming everyone else and cutting social services during the busts. Alberta politics has been dominated for decades by a party that would be considered liberal by US standards, and conservative by Canadian standards. Or at least up until recent years, when Canadian politics was basically hacked by Stephen Harper, assisted by Bush/Rove/Cheneyian tactics of fearmongering, deception and manipulation.
"Canada is a Third-world country that is exploiting its natural resources to live like a First-world country", one of my Environmental Science teachers in university would often say, suggesting that Canada's wealth was mainly based on the extraction and sale of primary resources - oil, timber, mining, hydro-power, agriculture, and fishing. That definitely applies to Alberta, whose recent wealth is predominantly due to oil and gas extraction. Alberta has amazing nature, that I've just barely dipped my toe in. There are lots of empty place to roam, but many of them are transected by survey roads for oil and gas, old and new logging roads, and so on. The flat prairies are dominated by farming, and there's a strong ranching tradition.
I could go on, but I want to get to the Tar Sands. Again, here's the wiki, if you want real information: http://en.wikipedia.org/...Over the last few decades, as conventional sources of oil and gas started to get tapped out, the oil sands were of increasing interest - we were taught about them in elementary school in the 80s. Extraction wasn't technologically feasible, or affordable. Technology and oil prices have made tar sands extraction more feasible now, but only at profound environmental cost - externalities. It's possible to make a profit now by "externalizing" the pollution and environmental degradation. The tar sands are in a relatively unpopulated area, and the human populations directly affected are mainly First Nations People. The tax revenues, the roaring economic engine, the profits, the traditional political lubrication associated with gas/oil extraction are all of much more interest.
After awhile, it all blurs out - the careful studies and analyses I've read of the environmental impacts - pollution, greenhouse gasses, destruction of habitat..., the overt political corruption, the exploitation by US companies using shell Canadian corporations, the negative impacts on First Nations communities, the whining righteous defensiveness of the industry shills, it just wears me out. I have relatives that do jobs up there periodically, get stuck in Manifest Destiny conversations about how it's Alberta's Right to get that oil, rants against the greens and gas taxes by people who spend their vacations driving giant motorhomes up into the mountains so they can drive giant motorboats around in circles in lakes.
I know plenty of thoughtful, careful, dedicated environmentalists in Alberta, doing great work. There is a strong green community, and a strong arts community, both of which get strong support (directly and indirectly) from the oil and gas industry - a rising tide floats all boats. And I know plenty of decent, generous, hard-working, compassionate, proud Albertan-Canadians (including relatives) who enjoy nature and will not countenance criticism of the oil industry, because it helps them provide for their families and live comfortably.
So I've been following the issue closely for a long time, and basically accepted that there wasn't much I could do about it. I've followed the Keystone discussion more recently, and the ridiculous frothery pumped out in the US about how many jobs and how much energy security it would provide, by politicians who reject science and scorn environmentalism. I expected that Obama would eventually approve it, because I know from experience that the tar sands bulldozer is just going to keep on grinding forward.
When friends told me they were going to the Keystone protest on the mall, I half-heartedly committed to joining them, as an act of symbolic but futile protest. After I read this article by Michael T. Klare, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/..., I started to get more enthusiastic. When I learned that the Sierra Club has decded to make this the first issue that they oppose with peaceful civil disobedience, I actually got excited.
Point being, I'm going to the White House this Saturday, as a proud Albertan. I hope to see you there!