EDMONTON – The new president of Alberta’s rural municipalities association moved from Calgary back to the family farm in southern Alberta because of his love of rural Alberta.
“I’m passionate about rural Alberta,” said Don Johnson, who moved back to the farm in 1990.
He said his family had an “itch” to return home to Barnwell, near Taber.
“I was born there. You got that dirt under your nails you can’t get rid of,” said Johnson, who grows sugar beets, dry beans, grain and grass.
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On a stressful day he and his daughter play tag on horseback in the stubble field.
Johnson was elected president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties at its annual meeting. He took over from Jack Hayden of Stettler.
Johnson, a former administrator with Mount Royal College and a chair with the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, said he is a team player.
He wants to build a stronger partnership with urban municipalities to strengthen communities.
A former president of the Family and Community Support Services Association of Alberta, which is in charge of family support services, he said he took the organization from one that was failing to one that is listened to by government.
Johnson said he believes in the need for regionalization to help rural communities work together and survive.
