Alberta
BUILDING A CAREER ON STRONGER BEER

BUILDING A CAREER ON STRONGER BEER
How Tim Hicks Rose from Clubs to the Big Leagues
By Ilan Cooley
Canadian country star Tim Hicks picked up his first guitar at the age of three, and like the classic Bryan Adams song, he played it ‘til his fingers bled. “I’ll never forget that weekend,” he says. “It hurt to play, but I couldn’t stop.”
Niagara Falls born Hicks wrote his first song in seventh grade, then started performing for schoolgirls at recess. He now has three studio albums, two platinum selling singles, multiple Canadian Country Music Association awards, including 2014 Rising Star, and two Juno nominations to his credit, but success did not come easy. He spent 20 years in clubs singing other people’s hits.
“When you play cover gigs, you’re not allowed to play original songs,” he says. He knew his job was to pump up the crowd and keep them drinking.
Touring mate and songwriting partner Clayton Bellamy says Hicks is a “lifer” who built his craft from the ground up. “We came from the same school of rising from dirty clubs, to the big stage,” says Bellamy. “Tim is genuine, and that’s hard to find. He’s exactly who he says he is.”
Known for his upbeat party anthems and relatable lyrics, Hicks feels it is only natural that his material reflects bar culture. “I learned early on that when you involve people in a song, or in a show, there’s a better chance that they’ll have a good time. That’s the main goal.”
With a young family, and a steady stream of commitments, Hicks approaches his craft as a structured business. “Once you start hanging around in Nashville, songwriting becomes a very serious game,” he says.
When he started writing in the big leagues, Hicks says he was laughed at for writing his songs in leather-bound notebooks. “Every time I went into a write, they would say, that’s a funny looking laptop, but I didn’t have money for a laptop.” His old-school approach didn’t seem to hinder him though, Hicks has had seven top 10 singles on Canadian country radio.
Hicks admits he finds it hard to sit down and write a song by himself out of thin air. “I have the most fun when I’m in the room with two or three people, so you can bounce ideas off of one another.” He says he draws inspiration from personal experiences. “You might have an idea for a song and it comes out completely different, which really makes the process interesting.”
“He works really fast, which is good, because I get bored easy,” says Bellamy. “I have written a couple of songs with Tim, and both were great. The only problem is he hasn’t recorded them yet.”
His shows at clubs and small venues have been replaced with big festivals, corporate gigs and national tours, a level of success Hicks says is still surreal. There’s a moment in every show where I’m yelling over the music at my bandmates asking, “how did we get here?”
Things may look different now, but Hicks stays close to his roots. “The only difference between Tim Hicks now, and Tim Hicks four years ago, is that people are listening now and that’s a wonderful thing. I’ve had the same band the whole time, and we don’t take it for granted.”
Some of his success led to the opportunity to perform at One Horse Town, a Coors Banquet sponsored event in Lacombe, Alberta. It was only fitting he was able to perform his signature song ‘Stronger Beer’, which earned him one of his platinum records, at an event sponsored by a beer company.
“We knew he was the right guy for the job,” says Molson Coors event manager Kathleen Kennedy. “Not many artists can headline a show like that, but Tim has the right energy and personality. He is an amazing guy and a natural performer.”
Hicks also played to 35,000 people at the Boots and Hearts music festival near Toronto, the largest crowd of his career. He admits to tearing up when the audience started singing one of his songs. “I was glad I had my sunglasses on.”
Hicks is now a veteran of the Canadian country music scene, and he has some advice for new artists. “Put down your webcam and get out and play. Go play an open mic night, play at your grandmother’s barbeque, and learn covers.” He also says you have to write a lot of songs to create good ones. The old notebooks he used to write in are somewhere at his mother’s house collecting dust. “I know that all of those songs are bad songs,” he says. “They are not songs that people would want to hear. But that’s okay. I feel that was then, it is over, let’s keep drudging ahead.”
Hicks can afford a laptop now, but remembers someone once told him never to change, because his laptop would never end up in the country music hall of fame. “Then I went to the country music hall of fame and there’s Taylor Swift’s laptop, so there you go.”
Tim Hicks (centre) performs at One Horse Town with The Road Hammers.
Ilan Cooley is a writer and communications professional from Edmonton, Alberta. She lives the dream handling the promotion, marketing and communications for some of the biggest country festivals in North America.
Alberta
The beauty of economic corridors: Inside Alberta’s work to link products with new markets

From the Canadian Energy Centre
Q&A with Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transport and Economic Corridors
CEC: How have recent developments impacted Alberta’s ability to expand trade routes and access new markets for energy and natural resources?
Dreeshen: With the U.S. trade dispute going on right now, it’s great to see that other provinces and the federal government are taking an interest in our east, west and northern trade routes, something that we in Alberta have been advocating for a long time.
We signed agreements with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have an economic corridor to stretch across the prairies, as well as a recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to go north. With the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith, she’s been working on a BC, prairie and three northern territories economic corridor agreement with pretty much the entire western and northern block of Canada.
There has been a tremendous amount of work trying to get Alberta products to market and to make sure we can build big projects in Canada again.
CEC: Which infrastructure projects, whether pipeline, rail or port expansions, do you see as the most viable for improving Alberta’s global market access?
Dreeshen: We look at everything. Obviously, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and gas, but also rail is part of the mix of getting over four million barrels per day to markets around the world.
The beauty of economic corridors is that it’s a swath of land that can have any type of utility in it, whether it be a roadway, railway, pipeline or a utility line. When you have all the environmental permits that are approved in a timely manner, and you have that designated swath of land, it politically de-risks any type of project.
CEC: A key focus of your ministry has been expanding trade corridors, including an agreement with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore access to Hudson’s Bay. Is there any interest from industry in developing this corridor further?
Dreeshen: There’s been lots of talk [about] Hudson Bay, a trade corridor with rail and port access. We’ve seen some improvements to go to Churchill, but also an interest in the Nelson River.
We’re starting to see more confidence in the private sector and industry wanting to build these projects. It’s great that governments can get together and work on a common goal to build things here in Canada.
CEC: What is your vision for Alberta’s future as a leader in global trade, and how do economic corridors fit into that strategy?
Dreeshen: Premier Smith has talked about C-69 being repealed by the federal government [and] the reversal of the West Coast tanker ban, which targets Alberta energy going west out of the Pacific.
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the federal side. Alberta has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to economic corridors.
We’ve asked the federal government if they could develop an economic corridor agency. We want to make sure that the federal government can come to the table, work with provinces [and] work with First Nations across this country to make sure that we can see these projects being built again here in Canada.
2025 Federal Election
Next federal government should recognize Alberta’s important role in the federation

From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill
With the tariff war continuing and the federal election underway, Canadians should understand what the last federal government seemingly did not—a strong Alberta makes for a stronger Canada.
And yet, current federal policies disproportionately and negatively impact the province. The list includes Bill C-69 (which imposes complex, uncertain and onerous review requirements on major energy projects), Bill C-48 (which bans large oil tankers off British Columbia’s northern coast and limits access to Asian markets), an arbitrary cap on oil and gas emissions, numerous other “net-zero” targets, and so on.
Meanwhile, Albertans contribute significantly more to federal revenues and national programs than they receive back in spending on transfers and programs including the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) because Alberta has relatively high rates of employment, higher average incomes and a younger population.
For instance, since 1976 Alberta’s employment rate (the number of employed people as a share of the population 15 years of age and over) has averaged 67.4 per cent compared to 59.7 per cent in the rest of Canada, and annual market income (including employment and investment income) has exceeded that in the other provinces by $10,918 (on average).
As a result, Alberta’s total net contribution to federal finances (total federal taxes and payments paid by Albertans minus federal money spent or transferred to Albertans) was $244.6 billion from 2007 to 2022—more than five times as much as the net contribution from British Columbians or Ontarians. That’s a massive outsized contribution given Alberta’s population, which is smaller than B.C. and much smaller than Ontario.
Albertans’ net contribution to the CPP is particularly significant. From 1981 to 2022, Alberta workers contributed 14.4 per cent (on average) of total CPP payments paid to retirees in Canada while retirees in the province received only 10.0 per cent of the payments. Albertans made a cumulative net contribution to the CPP (the difference between total CPP contributions made by Albertans and CPP benefits paid to retirees in Alberta) of $53.6 billion over the period—approximately six times greater than the net contribution of B.C., the only other net contributing province to the CPP. Indeed, only two of the nine provinces that participate in the CPP contribute more in payroll taxes to the program than their residents receive back in benefits.
So what would happen if Alberta withdrew from the CPP?
For starters, the basic CPP contribution rate of 9.9 per cent (typically deducted from our paycheques) for Canadians outside Alberta (excluding Quebec) would have to increase for the program to remain sustainable. For a new standalone plan in Alberta, the rate would likely be lower, with estimates ranging from 5.85 per cent to 8.2 per cent. In other words, based on these estimates, if Alberta withdrew from the CPP, Alberta workers could receive the same retirement benefits but at a lower cost (i.e. lower payroll tax) than other Canadians while the payroll tax would have to increase for the rest of the country while the benefits remained the same.
Finally, despite any claims to the contrary, according to Statistics Canada, Alberta’s demographic advantage, which fuels its outsized contribution to the CPP, will only widen in the years ahead. Alberta will likely maintain relatively high employment rates and continue to welcome workers from across Canada and around the world. And considering Alberta recorded the highest average inflation-adjusted economic growth in Canada since 1981, with Albertans’ inflation-adjusted market income exceeding the average of the other provinces every year since 1971, Albertans will likely continue to pay an outsized portion for the CPP. Of course, the idea for Alberta to withdraw from the CPP and create its own provincial plan isn’t new. In 2001, several notable public figures, including Stephen Harper, wrote the famous Alberta “firewall” letter suggesting the province should take control of its future after being marginalized by the federal government.
The next federal government—whoever that may be—should understand Alberta’s crucial role in the federation. For a stronger Canada, especially during uncertain times, Ottawa should support a strong Alberta including its energy industry.
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Poilievre To Create ‘Canada First’ National Energy Corridor
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Joe Tay Says He Contacted RCMP for Protection, Demands Carney Fire MP Over “Bounty” Remark
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Hong Kong-Canadian Groups Demand PM Carney Drop Liberal Candidate Over “Bounty” Remark Supporting CCP Repression
-
Daily Caller1 day ago
Biden Administration Was Secretly More Involved In Ukraine Than It Let On, Investigation Reveals
-
Business1 day ago
Trump says ‘nicer,’ ‘kinder’ tariffs will generate federal revenue
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
China Election Interference – Parties Received Security Briefing Days Ago as SITE Monitors Threats to Conservative Candidate Joe Tay
-
2025 Federal Election20 hours ago
PM Carney’s Candidate Paul Chiang Steps Down After RCMP Confirms Probe Into “Bounty” Comments
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Fixing Canada’s immigration system should be next government’s top priority