ALBERTA HISTORY 2000-2004
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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada believed
that the First Nation People of Canada had been a conquered People.
1990
July: Marion Garneau is re-elected for a four-year term as General Superior, Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of St. John, New Brunswick.
Roland M..., of Imperial Oil Limited, in August, summarized his encounter with Dick Garneau as follows; "Dick is a freewheeling, philosophical spirit who miraculously has survived life in a large corporation without losing his wits. He is a living role model for others who are unselfish and truly committed to making this a better place to be. His strengths are:
Philosopher,
Outstanding knowledge of current systems and of past history,
Innovative change agent many years ahead of his time,
He works effectively on influencing the networks, stimulating the mind and mobilizing for action,
He is truly committed to seeing the company perform at a much higher level than currently,
A strong conceptual mind - a synthesizer of concepts and models,
Takes' time required to think through problems.
His weakness is: Since we (the company) have an "organizational disability to hear and understand people who use different distinctions, Dick can come across as speaking in a foreign tongue". His challenge is to recognize that most people inside our company will not take the effort to understand him".
August: A freak, one-in-50-years rainstorm hit twice in one night in northern districts of Dalhousie, Charleswood and Brentwood, flooding basements and marooning cars in Calgary.
1991
Alberta's Attorney General Ken Rostad requested a full pardon from Justice Minister Kim Campbell for Louis Riel, on behalf of the Metis Nation of Alberta Association. Some consider Louis Riel, not only as the founding father of Manitoba, but also the Metis Nation. This is absurd unless it refers to the Canadian Prairie Metis of the nineteen-century. However, he has become a symbol of the Metis and a martyr in the truest sense.
January 30: The Hudson Bay Company has decided to phase out of the fur business this year after three hundred and twenty one years. Mike Garneau would work part time for the Company, the first known since Lawrence Garneau (1840-1921) worked part time for the company last century. (I have yet to verify this historical note of Lawrence, made by others)
April 26: Barb V... N..., Dennis J. P... and Jim C... of Imperial Oil Limited wrote to Mac Kwan, Vice President of ESSO Resources, requesting an integrator position; "Dick Garneau is our integrator today. If he had not decided to retire, I bet we would be struggling with: Who he should work for?; What does he do?; What value does he add? He is an integrator. He sees the whole business, he has worked relentlessly at getting it all to come together for his whole career. He has been a maverick, getting satisfaction and reward from doing the right things and expecting (and getting) nothing from the organization in terms of recognition and reward. He agitates, he articulates, he soap boxes, he designs, he works issues, he constantly looks for good in people and win\wins and when he is disappointed, he puts it aside, looks for the next opportunity and waits for the disappointing one to come back. He doesn't care about "career" and he is confident and unthreatened, in that he will try to educate and illuminate vice Presidents, general Managers, managers, supervisors or real workers and do'ers. He gets us all together and as soon as he does he disappears, looking for the next opportunity to move toward an integrated environment and get people working together cooperatively and collaboratively".
June 30: Richard (Dick) Garneau retires from Imperial Limited after thirty-four years service. Jim C...., a fellow employee, presented an 'Ode to Dick'
"I remember the day I met Dick
eight hours of bending my brain.
The smoke in the air, it was thick
after it all I was in such pain.
But there was something about this man
I don't know whether it was a gift
but he seemed to talk from a plan
with words like, gestalt and paradigm shift.
He would always share his vision
for any that would give him their ear
and stand for his ideals with passion,
repeating points until they were clear.
He will push and will expect
the best that you can try,
over the years I've grown to respect
the man who wears the bolo tie."
The religious composition of Alberta this year is as follows:
25.4% - Roman Catholic
16.7% - United
6.9% - Anglican
5.4% - Lutheran
3.0% - Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic (Muslim), Sikh, etc.
2.5% - Baptist
2.1% - Pentecostal
1.9% - Presbyterian
1.7% - Eastern Orthodox
1.0% - Ukrainian Catholic
- others minority
religions include First Nation, Mormons, Mennonite, and Hutterites
The Canadian Metis population by their own admission is:
Newfoundland
- 4,685
Prince Edward Island - 120
Nova
Scotia
-
860
New Brunswick -
975
Quebec
- 16,075
Ontario
- 22,790
Manitoba
- 46,195
Saskatchewan
- 36,535
Alberta
- 50,745
British Columbia -
26,750
North West Territories - 565
TOTAL CANADA 210,190
September 7: Calgary, Alberta a 30 minute hailstorm resulted in 62,000 insurance claims for property damage totaling $237 million and 54,000 claims of vehicle damage at a cost of $105 million. I had to have my roof replaced but luckily my car was in the garage
On October 3: Richard Garneau had an angiogram performed, which indicated a blocked artery to the left ventricle, but no indication of heart attack is detected. A heart attack assumes some cells of the heart are damaged and have died.
On October 10: An angioplasty is performed to un-block the artery. It is noteworthy that as a result of being a heavy smoker, I developed collateral blood vessels and these prevented damage to the heart. Yes, I quit smoking after this wakeup call. Robert Garneau Metis (1909-1997) is diagnosed as having Parkinson disease. By mid October tomatoes are being picked from the vine in Calgary; an exceptionally good fall.
1992
The wedding of Stephen Garneau and Dianne Larouche actually took place at Stock's Meadows, which is a type of commune, about 16 kilometres north-northwest of Kelowna, B.C. on the Bald Range Creek.road, The Meadows was originally settled by the Reverend Stocks and later sold to ten folks from Kelowna. It then evolved into a type of self-governing commune that has about eleven habitable structures at the thirty two hundred foot level.
Gerry Kalyniuk, spokesman for ESSO Resources, in January explained that the historic agreement between the company and employees is changing to a contract. "If the old employment contract was paternalistic, the new one is being discussed more like a relationship between adults". Labor, talent and creativity are commodities the company wants. It provides salary, training, learning and a chance for self-development, but doesn't guarantee employment, even if you're a good employee. The old relationship between Company and employee was an agreement. This is a major backward step into Imperialism. If you don’t understand the difference between Contract and Agreement, read the 13 billion dollar judgment against Texaco. Most lawyers didn’t know the difference. The ideal relationship between adults is an agreement, and church, state and business need to learn this fundamental principle. Oh well, maybe by next century.
Ralph Klein, Conservative, is elected Premier of Alberta 1992- .
For the first time in Imperial Oil Limited history, they reported an operating loss after shedding three thousand people in 1991 from a base of some fifteen thousand. In the fall, not enough people had taken the voluntary packages and Imperial, for the first time in my memory, had to fire two hundred. In 1992 they expect to trim another seventeen hundred. This will not be voluntary, and the severance will be more aligned to legal requirements. Some former Texaco employees said that even the cutbacks were handled in the Imperial way, talk it through, build consensus. Not all, however, are pleased with the downsizing.
Canadian Parliament passed a motion recognizing for the first time Louis Riel's contribution to Canada. Alberta Premier Don Getty said, however, Metis rebel Louis Riel must be recognized as a Canadian hero and pardoned for his crimes. This is not likely to happen under a Red Necked Liberal Government. I learned this year that Ontario people are a stiff necked people.
1993
The Imperial Oil Limited staff reduction has exceeded 5,000 people using early retirement, voluntary leaves and finally terminations. Many other Companies have established the same policy, some not as humane as Imperial's policy.
Southern Alberta built the first wind farm in Canada generating 19 MW of energy. By 2004 96 MW is generated. By 2009 it reached 524 MW and is projected to produce 1,200 MW by 2010. This is interesting given that we are an oil/gas exporting Province and the first customers paid a premium to help the industry develop.
1994
Sister Marion Garneau daughter Robert Garneau Metis (1909-1997) and Marion Salzl (1910-2009), returned to Edmonton, Alberta from St John, New Brunswick.
Global cooling officially began this year and is forecast to continue until 2020 to 2030. This was determined in September 5, 2009 by world leaders in climatologic modeling, based on climate models and recorded temperatures. Billions of dollars was spent fighting Global warming which turned out to be a hoax.
1996
July 16: Calgary, Alberta had so much hail fell that kids made snowmen that some called 'hailmen' and they enjoyed mid summer tobogganing. The parents however were unhappy as their gardens were destroyed.
1997
OBITUARY
Robert (Alf) Garneau born April
12th, 1909 in Edmonton, Alberta, died September 9th, 1997 in Edmonton, Alberta, after a year of
diminishing health. He suffered from heart troubles for his last 30
years and was only given 15 years to live. He was plagued by Parkinson's
disease and bed sores in his last few years. His last words were "I'm
a goner". The actual cause of death was strangulation by a buildup
of mucus in his lungs. He retained his sense of humor until the
end. Sufficient advance warning was given so that all his family members
were present for his last week of life. His last words were " I'm a goner"
1998
Canada's top court read sexual orientation into Alberta's Human Rights Code as a prohibited grounds for discrimination, they effectively rewrote the law, further eroding our Rights and Freedoms. Sexual orientation includes asexuality, homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, polgyny, polyandry and many other orientations considered as deviant behavior or mental disorders.
1999
This year in Alberta is recorded as the warmest on recent record and the glaciers and Arctic ice is retreating but the Antarctic ice is expanding. It is noteworthy that 1934 was the hottest year in Alberta and North America.
November 22: This web site Canadian History a Distinct Viewpoint was first loaded on the World Wide Web. On December 27, a second site for this web site is opened, as the capacity of the first was reached.
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