Gerry Gysbers

To anyone in Alberta currently considering moving elsewhere after the election of Danielle Smith: I can’t tell you not to move. I can’t tell you not to do what’s best for you, your family, your safety, your livelihood, or all of the above—because I moved away from Alberta. Twice. However, I will say this: we can run, but we cannot hide from what we have all witnessed firsthand in Alberta. I know because I have tried to run from ‘it’ three times now. I moved to New York in 2016 so I could finally be ‘myself’ (see: 🏳️‍🌈) as I never felt safe enough to come out in Alberta throughout high school or university. In 2020 I moved back to Calgary—partly because of the *ongoing* pandemic that was first decimating NYC—but also away from the hateful Trump rhetoric that had changed the city I loved so quickly. Upon returning to Alberta, I found another man who parroted the same rhetoric Trump did—Jason Kenney. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing—from the Trump 2020/2024 flags on the trucks of men I went to high school with to the torch rallies and rise of blatant white supremacy and conspiracy theorists in Alberta streets. But moreover, I couldn’t believe that more Albertans weren’t outraged. I had just lived this for the past four years, and I was furious to come “home” only to be faced with more of what I had run from in the United States. Given the abundance of time quarantine allowed me (acknowledging my privilege here), I learned everything I could about Alberta politics, the UCP, Jason Kenney, and other like-minded politicians in Canada to understand better the parallels and relationships that allowed the same thing I had witnessed in the U.S. happen in Alberta. After a mental breakdown or two, I moved back to NYC in mid-2021—in part to take care of the life, belongings, and miscellaneous loose ends I’d left untied in the U.S. after leaving so abruptly (and subsequently being stuck in Canada for a lot longer than anticipated). I also left Alberta hoping that things would improve under the Biden Administration, but it has only gotten worse. From gun violence, police brutality, and poverty to the war on our reproductive rights, anti-trans rhetoric, and ICE terrorizing my friends, neighbors, and colleagues in a place I once called a ‘Sanctuary’ city. I write this now from the Yukon (where I was born and spent my childhood) with a heavy heart because ‘it’ is here too. The Yukon isn’t the home I left behind, either. From the furthest north in Canada to the furthest East in the United States, in what is considered progressive/liberal cities, I have yet to outrun ‘it.’ And we need to call it out for what it is—as this has historically been the only way to stop it. This “Trump/Republican-style” brand of politics is fascism, and fascist governments and alt-right movements are on the rise worldwide. No politician, political party, or vote will magically eradicate fascist ideology without dismantling the systems and beliefs that uphold and perpetuate it. Yes, some political parties might keep some of the harm at bay, but it’s not a long-term solution—there is no easy fix. It’s up to us—especially us as white settlers who first imposed these colonial governments—to engage in the lifelong work of fixing and maintaining a society that is safe for everyone to live with dignity. This didn’t happen one evening nearing the end of May in 2023 when a libertarian was elected premier, or even in the four years prior to that. It happened over decades of voting for incremental tax cuts that have failed to make us more prosperous and have succeeded only in making our society poorer. We put a price on our collective good and settled for a few hundred dollar pay cheques. In a province traumatized by a vicious boom and bust cycle, we let our trauma vote for momentary prosperity over our lasting collective welfare. #Abpoli #Ableg #AbElection