tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8332706231179330796.post246024316179066936..comments2024-03-11T14:32:24.872-07:00Comments on Labour & Employment in Alberta: Friday Tunes: The IdiotBob Barnetsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164225489620639641noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8332706231179330796.post-40519805800626599002015-07-08T17:41:59.275-07:002015-07-08T17:41:59.275-07:00I'm late to comment on this, but many of Stan ... I'm late to comment on this, but many of Stan Rogers' tunes were labour-centric.<br /><br />Many of his better-known pieces are specific to the East Coast, with Make and Break Harbour and Free in the Harbour addressing a similar theme to The Idiot (the exodus of young workers from small fishing towns), and the Mary Ellen Carter discussing a workplace with "smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go" (which I'm sure could be transferable to many other unhealthy work environments, though not the university, of course).<br /><br />Some of Rogers' tunes are more general, like Workin' Joe, which talks about working so hard to pay the many mounting bills that you're left "falling into bed too wiped to even kiss the wife good night."<br /><br />In relation to you research on farm workers, however, you should check out Field Behind the Plow: "And Emmett Pierce, the other day took a heart attack and died at 42 / You could see it comin’ on, ‘cuz he worked as hard as you." You can check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTKHYi_Urg Bethanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11028437838609271939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8332706231179330796.post-67695131725652960572015-07-04T09:12:04.008-07:002015-07-04T09:12:04.008-07:00To me, this song speaks more about life on the eas...To me, this song speaks more about life on the east coast and the Maritimes than it does about Alberta. As a teenager, the unemployment rate in my fishing town was somewhere around 20%, and there were hard choices to make - would you say goodbye to forest, hills, and oceans, and uproot hundreds of years of family history to move 5000 km across the country to find employment. Or would you swallow that pride, and accept unemployment/welfare money, and live with the shame.<br /><br />I had to make a similar choice 8 years ago - the availability of jobs was virtually non-existent in the east, and as I continued to widen my search, I eventually found myself looking for work in Alberta. To travel home now to visit my family costs more than a trip to Europe.<br /><br />Eastern Canada was founded under the ideology that natural resources (fish, beaver, forests) would last forever (https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/john-cabot?media_type=41&media_category=31). We mismanaged these resources for about 400 years, but never believing your raw resources will run out is, unfortunately, deeply ingrained in the Canadian psyche. Had a plan been made, these resources might have been maintained for much longer.<br /><br />Then again, even with a renewable resource, I don't believe an economy is sustainable if you harvest raw materials, ship them out of your country for refinement, and buy back finished products at a higher cost.JJLeggohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09314567615305520517noreply@blogger.com