Connect with us

Alberta

First Nations Trapper calling for a team to support farmers, loggers, miners, and “fossil fuel people”

Published

5 years ago

6 minute read

Wun Feather calls himself a “culturally traditional” First Nations trapper.  He’s also a pretty good writer, photographer, and communicator.  Wun’s been observing and sharing his thoughts and images about industry, the environment, and the people who care about them in extremely popular social media posts.  The post here has been shared almost 10,000 times so far.

In this post the culturally traditional First Nations trapper called Wun Feather shares his thoughts about the rush to replace fossil fuels.  He doesn’t approach this as a right vs left issue.  He may be onto something.  In this time of crisis more and more people are prepared to act and think across the spectrum.  Enjoy Wun’s unique perspective.

By Wun Feather

Hey team.
I am calling you a team, because I honestly feel that we are all working together towards a common goal.
Someone asked me if I stand in Solidarity, and Before they added the last word, I said “I sure do”
I am speaking out for what I call #TeamCanada
I recognize that without the farmers doing what they do, I would never have flour for my bannock.
I would never have vegetables for a salad, or potatoes to smother in butter or gravy.
Without the ranchers, I would never have eggs, or chickens or beef for my burgers.
Or the medium rare steak that is going to taste so good over a camp fire.
Without the loggers I would have no lumber to build my tree stands, and without pulp and paper people, well.. let’s just say I do not like the feel of leaves on my derriere.
Without the miners we would have no minerals to make things out of, and without the power and cellular service providers I would be in the dark.
I would have to send you this post via smoke signals.
Without restaurants and fast food places and grocery stores, I would be living back on the land like my ancestors did.
I could go on and on and on, but I have to speak up for the fossil fuel people.
Without thermal or metallurgical Coal, Alberta and many countries around the world would have no power, and they would have no Coke for making Steel.
And without diesel in the tractors, without diesel in the ships or trains or transport trucks, the whole world would grind to a stop.
We all know that Climate change is real.
The climate has been changing for millions of years.
Actually, climate change is the reason that plants have become coal, and dinosaur fossils have become oil.
I bet that we also agree that we have all become dependent on fossil fuels.
But just like we humans have discovered new technologies to replace the old, someday we will find an alternative for fossil fuels.
But we are not there yet.
Remember the big fight between Sony Beta and VHS??
Haha.
I sure do.
Google it kids.
But my point is that neither one of those media’s is used any more.
That supports my theory that someday we will no longer use fossil fuels.
But right now the hard reality is that we need fossil fuels for our hospitals, our schools, and our deep fryers at MacDonalds..
Cheese Whiz..
Haha. I mean Gee whiz.
Even most homes nowadays have pipelines that go through the ground to their houses that bring water or natural gas or propane.
And some houses have pipelines that take the poop away.
So I also stand with the people who know how to put the pipes in the ground.
No one wants anything to happen with their sewer pipes, right?
Isn’t it funny that people do not protest the people who put the poop lines in their yards?
There are no activists stopping them from doing their jobs.
I hope I have made myself clear.
I also stand by the people who make my pants and socks and those nice wicking underwear!
Without oil and gas we would not have nylon or polyester, or fake fur coats.. oops.
I prefer the real fur.
So when someone asks you:
“Who does Wunfeather stand in solidarity for?”
I guess my answer is that I stand for the collective.
I stand for the hard working people who bust their butts each day to make a living so their families can have a better life.
Oh..
Just one more thing.
I love our military.
Seriously.
The Airforce and the Navy, and most of all, if I could solute every PPCLI and Airborne member, you bet your life I would!
But I am just an old Indian Trapper, thanking the people like us who matter the most.

Related Topics:

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

More from this author
Bjorn Lomborg / 3 hours ago

The stupidity of Net Zero | Bjorn Lomborg on how climate alarmism leads to economic crisis

Alberta / 1 week ago

Owner sells gas for 80 cents per litre to show Albertans how low prices ‘could’ be

Business / 2 weeks ago

Trump Tariffs are not going away. Canada needs to adapt or face the consequences

Alberta

Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.

To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.

Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.

Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.

The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.

This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.

In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.

The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.

Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.

While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Continue Reading

Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Montreal Economic Institute

Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.

“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”

Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.

Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.

An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.

Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.

In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.

“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”

The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

Continue Reading

Trending

X