The Politics of Sustainability in Rural Alberta

Lars K. Hallstrom, PhD.

Professor & Director,Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities

Augustana Faculty and Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES)

University of Alberta

Who is this guy? • Political scientist and public policy researcher

(UCalgary, Lancaster (UK), Purdue (USA), StFX, UAlberta)

• 25+ years working on environmental policy, health policy, social determinants of health, public health and rural/community/local development

• Left Alberta in 1994 (education, rugby, -40…)• Canada Research Chair at StFX; Director, CRS &

NCC-DH• Director of the ACSRC at UofA since 2009• Associate Director, UofA Sustainability Council (2017

– present)

Presentation Outline1. What is the current “state of rural” in AB?2. What is the current state of “sustainability

and sustainable development” in rural AB?3. What are core ecological/environmental

policy challenges? 4. Rural Futures in AB? The COVID-19

Challenge

What is the “state” of rural Alberta?

What is rural? • Technical definition (Stats Canada):

population of less than 10,000• Functional Definition: Distance (large) and

Density (low population) = D² (or if we include Diversity, D³)

• Interactive (Stats Canada): Metropolitan Influence Zone (MIZ) based on labour movement

• Lived/experiential: Camrose ≠ Heisler ≠ La Crete ≠ Champion ≠ Lac La Biche, etc.

(Rural) Alberta’s Current State: General Trends: 1) 300+ (approx. 4700 in Canada) – very diverse2) Developmental trajectory set by:

– Resources and environment– $$ and Politics (Provincial and local)– Ideology (values + vision)– External (geo-political and economic) factors

3) Urban Growth (particularly along the Calgary – Red Deer –Edmonton corridor)

4) Booms and Busts (both cyclical and unanticipated, and across different sectors)

5) Modest economic diversification6) Low to modest political attention to rural (beyond

agriculture) since 2008 (and likely before)

Agriculture in AB

Energy Extraction in AB

Pipelines in AB

What is “sustainability” for rural Alberta?

The basic idea…

– Ecological degradation and consumption (water, land, air)

– Social inequities (demographics, health, housing, education)

– Cultural assets (language, history, place, recreation, arts)

– Economic challenges (employment, income, resilience, boom/bust)

– Governance challenges: complexity, science vs politics, participation, implementation, fiscal/budgetary policies

Sustainability (in any context) is complex….

NEED FOR INTEGRATION

NEED FORDIFFERENTIATEDSET OFCOMPETENCIES

Complex tasks“Wicked” problems

We are trying to optimize and link two divergent dynamics

Kenis 2015

What is the state of environmental politics in rural Alberta?

How is Canada “doing” environmentally?

1. Abundant natural resources2. High levels of undisturbed land, biodiversity, water, etc.3. Massive land and water base4. Broadly “pro” environmental public opinion5. Mixed history of environmental performance (1990 –

2017)1. 1987 Montreal Protocol2. 1990 Canada’s Green Plan3. 1997 Kyoto Protocol

Canada is not a strong environmental policy actor (Comparatively):

• Has been tracked by academics (Boyd), Canada Conf. Board, and NGOs (Suzuki) etc. for years:– Ranks in bottom 1/5 or 1/6 when compared to OECD

(28 indicators) (USA/Australia are worse)– Largely driven by policy, rather than climate, etc. (Olive

2019) – Public policy doesn’t align with public opinion about

the environment (Integrity Gap – Lee and Perl 2003)– Note: It is possible to be “pro-environment” yet anti-

environmentalism (particularly in rural Alberta)

Mythologies

1) Resources are for extraction (Staples Thesis)

2) The myth of abundance3) The myth of perpetuity4) The myths of consistency and

predictability

Sustainability Plan Emphases in Rural Alberta (n=176)

Can be interpreted two different ways…(Hallstrom et al. 2017)

Pillar Average (x/3)Social 2.3Economic 2.3Cultural 1.7Environmental 2.0Governance 1.7

Environmental challenges in Rural AB

1) Water, waste water and operations2) Natural capital and valuation

(conservation, WTP and easements, etc.)

3) Infrastructure and deferred maintenance (see G&M recently…)

4) Funding/revenue models5) Consumption/footprint issues

Environmental challenges in Rural AB

1) Distance and density (rural AB is BIG);2) Agricultural, energy and infrastructure

systems are all inter-related;3) Culture (attitudes, opinions &

orientations) is difficult to change;4) Municipalities tend to be silo’d, struggle

with integration and inter-sectoral action

Culture, COVID-19 and related challenges in Rural AB

1) Distance and density (rural AB is BIG, low population);

1) To date this has been a plus, may become a liability…

2) Risk asymmetries are real; 3) Orientations toward Ottawa, Edmonton,

Government, PSEs are not universally positive (Banack 2020)

4) “At risk” sub-populations (aged, continuing care-based, other risk factors, deferral of care)

Employment and COVID-19 challenges in Rural AB

• Canada: In RST areas in August, 2020, the four industry sectors with the largest COVID-19 impact (or gap) on the number employed, relative to August, 2019, were: - 33 thousand jobs: forestry, fishing, mining, oil and gas - 33 thousand jobs: construction - 31 thousand jobs: information, culture and recreation - 28 thousand jobs: manufacturing

• AB: -19.3% differential in employment (Sept. 2020 – Sept. 2019)• Some socio-demographic variation (age/gender)• Smaller employers (< 20 employees) disproportionately lost more

hours/employees due to the pandemic– Many rural communities skew toward % SMEs– Limited internet/retail/marketing capacity or presence

Rural economies and COVID-19• Service and retail are often “big” employers (but lower

pay, hours, etc.); – Is there a “She-cession” in AB (Bollman 2020)?

• Smaller communities may have greater (negative) impact, struggle with recovery (resilience can be defined two ways…)

• Many rural communities struggle with business support and recruitment/retention already…

• What do you do if your business closes in a small community?

• Is there a “rural trap” emerging in AB?

Rural Health and COVID-19

• May be (proportionately) higher risk of impact (but lower risk of infection?)– Health care and supports systems may fracture

• Will (when available) vaccination be an issue?– Coverage rates are variable across the province– Avg rate of 77.9% (across 24 immunizations)

• Continuing care has assets (informal networks, adaptability) that can also be liabilities (fragile, difficult to rebuild)

Vaccination Rates (all 5) - 2018

Contact Information:Lars K. Hallström, PhD.

Director, Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural CommunitiesProfessor, Social Science, Augustana Faculty &

Professor, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, ALES

Tel: 1-780-679-1672Email: lars.hallstrom@ualberta.ca

Website: www.acsrc.ca