Rick Casson fondles a braid of sweetgrass given to him by fellow member of Parliament Rob Clarke. It’s one of the treasures he’s packing into a box as he leaves public office and 14 years as MP for the Lethbridge constituency.
Casson, first elected on the Reform ticket, has served 34 years in elected office beginning as a town councillor in Picture Butte, Alta., where he and his wife still live.
“I’ve always enjoyed being where the decisions are made. That’s what I’m going to miss the most,” said Casson.
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He’s also going to miss serving in the majority government that he’s sure will result from the May 2 federal election.
As he reflects on his service in a heavy agricultural riding, Casson said his upbringing in the community and his ownership of farmland provided background that served him well.
“What would be here if we didn’t have agriculture and irrigation? How big would Lethbridge be if we didn’t have irrigation? That’s been a real driver of development in this country, is that water, and it’s getting to be more and more precious as time goes by.”
The riding also has more cattle than any other, so the discovery in 2003 of BSE in Alberta remains one of the blacker days in his memory. The United States, the largest importer of Canadian cattle, immediately closed its border to Canadian imports and cattle prices tanked.
“When I got the call to say that there’d been a confirmed case of BSE in Alberta, I didn’t fully understand. I knew it was serious, I knew it was bad, but I didn’t fully understand what the ramifications were going to be. But it damned near took the whole industry down.”
That it didn’t is a tribute to cattle producers, feedlot owners and investors, said Casson, but the industry still isn’t fully recovered from that blow.
The former volunteer firefighter is proud of getting a $3,000 tax break for firefighters into the Conservative budget, which he said will be implemented if the party wins the election.
He also initiated a law relating to confiscation of materials used to make child pornography, and another law relating to visitation of children with terminally ill parents.
Through every election campaign and term, Casson said he was guided by one message from a constituent.
“We got this note, with very shaky handwriting, and it had a $10 cheque stapled to it. …It simply said, ‘I don’t have much but I will give you what I can afford.’
“We pinned it to the wall, this little shaky handwritten note, and the cheque. It’s about realizing every dollar you collect or spend, it’s somebody’s dollar. It’s not your dollar. Whether it’s tax dollars you spend as a government or money given to you in a campaign, treat it with respect.”
Jim Hillyer of Stirling, Alta., is the new Conservative candidate in the riding.
He will be running against Mark Sandilands of the NDP, Michael Cormican of the Liberal party and Geoff Capp of the Christian Heritage Party.
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