For Doug Horner, politics and agriculture are in his blood. Alberta's Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, Horner and three generations before him have been involved with agriculture. His father, Dr. Hugh Horner, was a former minister of agriculture, and several uncles were also politically active. In conversation with senior writer Lisa Williams, it's clear that Horner is passionate about investing in education and technology not only to meet the needs of a booming economy and population explosion, but also to ensure that the needs of future generations will be met. Excerpts from their conversation follow.
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Q. You have a diploma in business from SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology); how did that education inform the work you're doing now?
A. We're all a compilation of our education and our experiences, and I've been blessed with a career in international marketing. I lived in the United States for three years where I worked for a large corporation, but also did a lot of international travel. I had the opportunity to see what other economies and jurisdictions were doing in different areas, not just in agriculture, but in their business and economy sectors.
I think the training that I had with the SAIT business diploma really did form the basis for my business career. It put me into the banking industry, which led me to finance, and then into marketing. It just followed that it was along the lines of agriculture because of the value-added products that I was marketing worldwide.
This job gives me a sound appreciation of the importance of post-secondary education, not only to the individual but to the province as a whole. It gives me an interesting perspective on the international marketplace which we compete in. Alberta is going to be more and more under the gun to be globally competitive as individual businesses and provinces in a knowledge-based economy. If we don't put the investment in today, then our citizens are going to be at a disadvantage.
Q. One of the committees you're a member of is the Treasury Board and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Managing Growth Pressures; could you speak to what that committee is all about?
A. Every province has a treasury board, as does the federal government. The Treasury Board is the committee of MLAs and cabinet colleagues who reviews items of a financial nature as it relates to our spending and our revenue. We've separated the Minister of Finance as the chair, and created a new position as president of treasury board. I think it was a good move when you have the kind of growth that we have going on in the province - 38, 000 people moved into the City of Calgary last year. That's the size of a small city anywhere.
There isn't a community in my riding that doesn't have at least one new subdivision. It's amazing because with 38,000 people, even if they only brought one family member with them, think of the impact on the schools, the hospitals, roads, etc. These are all huge growth issues that we have to deal with, and then you start to think about what is the growth pressure that we're facing today, and how is that going to affect us 10 years from now?
Q. Three generations of your family were involved with agriculture, and your father, Dr. Hugh Horner, was a former Minister of Agriculture. What type of advice did he pass to you, and what sort of impact did that have on your career?
A. He gave me lots of advice...I come from a family that obviously was very keen on the land. My grandfather was a senator and two or three uncles also ran as elected officials federally. I'm very proud of my family history.
Something that I learned from watching my father, and actually working with him and one of my brothers in our oat and barley processing facility, was that his credo was integrity and honour. If you didn't have those two things, he didn't have much time for you. And that blends into loyalty and being able to stand up. If I picked up 80 per cent of what he did, then I'm a happy camper.
I tell my kids this now: if you start telling things that aren't true, and if you start acting bigger than you are, both of those things are going to come back to bite you in a big way. It's just so much easier to shoot from the hip, say what's in your heart and recognize your limitations, but shoot for far beyond them.
Q. Is either of them interested in pursuing a career in politics?
A. I would say if you'd asked me at their age, early 20s or teens, if I thought I was going to be in politics, I'd have laughed at you and said, never in a million years. And I'm sure they would say the same thing right now.
Lisa Williams is senior writer with InterGovWorld.com. She can be reached at lwilliams@intergovworld.com.
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