Over the past week, our communities have been tested like never before.
In Banff and Canmore, in Exshaw and Morley; homes were flooded, roads and bridges were washed away and entire municipalities were threatened. Around the world, people watched it happen live on TV.
But they also saw our communities come alive like never before.
There were first responders - many of them volunteers - rescuing our fellow citizens by boat, by helicopter, and even by combine.
There were senior citizens taking their place in sandbag brigades. There were hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of Albertans joining volunteer cleanup crews, going door to door offering their services.
People around the world saw these images on TV and were amazed at the extraordinary efforts of ordinary citizens.
Yet we were not surprised. This is what Albertans do. We come from a long line of everyday heroes.
Our ancestors include the pioneers who tamed this wild land even before it was called Alberta, and the prairie townsfolk who nursed entire communities through the deadly Spanish Flu outbreak.
We banded together to survive the Dirty ‘30s and a decade later we sent small-town boys around the world to drive Hitler from Western Europe.
We’ve seen floods before. We’ve seen tornados. We’ve seen wildfires. We’ve even seen a mountain slide crush an entire town.
Some days it seems like we’ve taken the hoof and the horn, but we always stand up, dust ourselves off and opt for the re-ride.
Yes, there is a long, hot summer waiting for us as we rebuild. I can assure you that governments of all levels will be there, working together to make sure that Alberta comes back stronger than ever before.
Just as we deployed the Canadian Armed Forces to rescue dozens of people during the worst of the flooding, so will we be there to help fund what will be the largest infrastructure rebuilding effort in our province’s history.
This Canada Day, and for many to come, we will continue to show our nation and the world that Albertans are strong, resilient and resourceful. We will come back, because this is what we do.
