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| Phil Rowland Photo courtesy of Phil Rowland campaign |
Chris Davis, Crowsnest Voice
On November 6 of this year Macleod electoral district Member of Parliament Ted Menzies announced he was immediately retiring from public office. Since that announcement four people have declared themselves as candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada nomination to replace Menzies prior to the upcoming byelection, which must be held within six months of his resignation. Phil Rowland is one of those nomination candidates. He was in Pincher Creek on December 4 to address the Pincher Creek Rotary Club and sat down with me afterward for an interview.
Rotary address (excerpted):
"Macleod Riding is a special place," Rowland said during his speech to the Rotary Club. "Nowhere in the world can match the rugged fragile beauty, especially in the Castle region."
"I'm proud to claim this region as part of who I am when I travel around the world and across the country."
"I come to you as a fourth generation businessman and land steward. Early in my working career, I hauled the Royal Mail from Calgary Alberta, down Highway 2, down to here in this community. The Royal Mail was really a transition to my first substantive career, which was in the oil and gas industry. First it was seismic in northern Alberta, then non-destructive testing and testing and corrosion surveys. Corrosion surveys area sparked my interest in good stewardship, both in oil and gas and in my own family organization."
"I liked finding potential problems before they became a problem and fixing them. And that is what good stewardship is all about."
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| Phil Rowland address Pincher Rotary C. Davis photo |
"Oil and gas took me across Canada and Australia and offered me an insight into how the world works."
"I thought the oil and gas industry was behind me, but when I cam back to take over the family ranch and farm ag operation, with wells, pipelines, compressors, and powerlines, my oil and gas education was just beginning."
"I became a bit of a negotiator, and eventually landed on the Government of Alberta's Land Agent Advisory Committee. I represent landowners to the government to make sure that there is some balance between industry and landowners, as I've been on both sides."
"Concurrent with agriculture, I've pursued several other passions. Most of them revolve around environment and land use."
"I was elected to the board of the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society. We were the original instigators and partners of the Southern Foothills Study, that you are probably aware of down here. We've worked with the Livingstone Land Owners and the South Porcupine Stewardship Association, and Castle crown folks. We've been an active partner in this community with stewardship initiatives. I was also elected to the board of the Foothills 4-H and Grazing Association, which is dedicated to finding innovative, forage solutions, and promote good stewardship and management."
"Land use, of course, naturally attracted me to the Western Stock Growers Association, where I was elected a director and eventually became President. I am currently Past President. Western Stock Growers promotes ecological stewardship, and the idea of the environmental goods and services marketplace. We considered ourselves to be the voice of free-market environmentalism. It is the oldest Alberta Ag Organization, established in 1896."
"Through these, and other groups, I have been involved in all sorts of land-use initiatives, most recently, the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan. I was there in the beginning, before the Special Places 2000, which rolled into the parks, and rolled into the land use framework, all the time, representing land owners."
"Nature allows for a delicate balance between her, and development. As a member of the Mountain Pine Beetle Advisory Committee, I sat on a sub-committee and we produced a report on keeping communities sustainable in the face of losing the primary employer and that was a serious concern with the pine beetle, and probably still is."
"This kind of planning is important to help keep a community vibrant even if we don't lose our primary employer. It's the kind of planning that we need to be doing."
"Aviation is also a passion of mine. The Pincher Creek Voice recently did a piece on the Edmonton Municipal Airport. As the President and General Manager of the Okotoks flight center, we had our students land in Muni, to give them an inter-city airport experience while they're learning to fly. The Okotoks Flight Center was a partnership between myself and an uncle, and I managed both the flying business and the airport at that time. We offered a full suite of aviation related services from helicopter training all the way to charter aircraft. We employed 10 to 15 employees at all times while we ran that business, and it was a significant economic driver for the area."
"I ask you to carefully consider your federal representatives. I offer business experience, both urban and rural. I still do business in Macleod, I still operate the family ag operation in Longview. I buy purebred stock just outside of Pincher Station at Robbins Farm, up the road."
"I understand the fragility of the eastern slopes. In fact, my ranching operation is west of Calgary Trail. My dad was an original shareholder in the Waldron Ranch just up the road."
"I'm a businessman who believes in responsible development and good stewardship."
"I'm a fiscal hawk. Anyone that knows me knows that. I will treat your resources with respect, it would be my honour. I am committed to honesty and integrity and have a proven track record. I will be accessible."
Interview:
Family
My first questions to Rowland were about his family.
"I have a wife of 23 years, two daughters. One is in university, taking legal studies, one is raising a family, I have one grand daughter, and my son is 16, he's in high school, in High River." I asked him if running for political office might have an adverse affect on his family and/or his business and farming activities. "I was hoping this would take place in 2015 and my boy would be in university," he replied. "He's doing well in high school, and he's a pretty well balanced kid. He's filling in some holes at the farm."
"The opportunity comes when it comes. I'm at an age where I can step back from my business, and give back to the community. I'm 52 years old. I'm at an appropriate age, the opportunity is here, I think I'm fully qualified to do the job."
"There's plenty of challenges, but my wife is fully supportive for one thing. I have deep family roots in the community, and people to cover for me, and the real challenge will be how to settle in and balance the family. My kids are getting older, and I'm not concerned that it is an insurmountable challenge. We'll face it like every other thing we face, and deal with the challenges as they arise."
Rowland said he preferred not to talk about his charity work. "I'm passionate about it, but that type of giving, we don't do it for us, we do it for the people we do it for," he explained.
Roots
"I'm a lifelong resident of the Macleod riding. My family came here to Aldersyde in 1883. I understand roots, and history. Our family has always been entrepreneurial and we look forward, not behind, but we learn from our history."
Political experience
I asked Rowland what political experience he brought to the table, a subject he covered fairly thoroughly in his earlier speech to the Rotary Club. "I have sat at the board level provincially, not federally, participated in preparing papers for the environmental standing committees, both provincial and federal. Both the Mountain Pine Beetle Advisory Committee and the Land Agents Advisory Committee are both Alberta Board Committee appointments."
"I am politically aware, and active. There are many associations where you have to be elected and advocate for the position of your organization, so I understand what it's like to have an electorate."
"I know I'm capable, and I'm ready."
Big issues
I asked him what he considered to be big current issues in federal politics.
"We certainly have some integrity issues going on in Ottawa, and we don't know what they all are. Certainly in the senate, and that is a big issue. All I can provide there is I have a history of having integrity, and honesty."
"I think that reform is good, honesty and integrity are good. We need to make baby steps toward that, and be careful what we wish for."
"There are certainly environment issues like the flood. I'm fully behind making sure the federal government seamlessly helps out with their responsibility as far as paying their share in a timely manner, and they have as a matter of fact stepped up to the plate, and when asked they delivered."
Agriculture, farming, and ranching (and seed cleaning plants)
"The state of agriculture in this province is a little bit like the weather," said Rowland.
"The climate is steady in the right direction. Agriculture has been adapting to technology, we don't stay stagnate in agriculture. For instance your colour sorter coming to Pincher Creek. You would never have dreamt that 20 years ago. I've marketed grain in containers to Hong Kong, and trucks to Eugene, Oregon. I see positive things going on in agriculture. Especially with European free trade."
"Only the elite seed plants have colour sorters. I see that as an up and coming thing, especially with the wetter years we've been having."
I asked him to comment on the state of the beef industry. "I failed to mention that I am the Chairman of the Livestock Identification Services currently right now," he replied.
"We've had a long run from 2003 (when the mad cow disease crisis had a major impact on Alberta beef producers), and we've had a few good years. I actually see quite a bit of positive going forward, especially the European Trade Agreement."
"The more we can move off this continent, the better it is for those of us that are left raising the beef. I think we really should concentrate on the high value markets, without ignoring the commodities sector."
Anecdote
Rowland said he bought his first plane someone that he later sold it back to, who then investigated the serial number while rebuilding it. "It turned out to be one of 15 that Dwight D. Eisenhower had commissioned during the war. He won't sell it back to me, but plans to Bomber Command, in Nanton when he's done with it. I'm really happy about that."
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