Paulinate : Paulin8: 2020

When the Going Gets Tough, the TUFF Gets Growing. Rebranding the TUC to the TUFF Corridor
Event page: Rebrand the TUC to TUFF Corridor
https://www.facebook.com/events/534989120766213/

Event Action: Write an email to Minister of Infrastructure Alberta

Background:
Presently referred to as the Transportation & Utility Corridor (TUC), we are seeking a rebranding to the Transportation, Utility, Farm & Food Corridor (TUFFCorridor). This means that 29,000 unused acres in YEG & YYC would also be prioritized for agricultural production and the establishment of an Alberta Food System.

Alberta consumes 66,000,000 food items/day. 24,090,000,000 food items/year.

Developing an Alberta Food System and feeding ourselves is the largest economic development opportunity Alberta has right now.

Event Action specifics:
You can assist this event action by simply writing a brief email to (please cc or bcc us at policy@growcalgary.ca):

To: infrastructure.minister@gov.ab.ca

Subject Access to TUC Land & Rebranding the TUC

Attn Prasad Panda, Minister of Infrastructure Alberta

1. Please identify which lands are available through the TUC Agriculture Lease process.

2. Please send me an application form for this land.

3. Please change the name of the Transportation & Utility Corridor (TUC) to the Transportation, Utility, Farm & Food Corridor (TUFFCorridor) to better reflect its potential.

4. Please use TUFF Corridor land assets to grow food, build a powerful food system, create thousands of JOBS & for #FeedingAlberta.

Respectfully,

Your name

ps You can also cc premier@gov.ab.ca & your MLA.

Post your letters & responses. Together we can get Alberta Growing!

When the Going Gets Tough, the TUFF Gets Growing.

1 year ago Grow Calgary had a commitment for new land from the Alberta Gov + Infrastructure Alberta. This is not an action about Grow Calgary exclusively. It is about access to almost 30,000 acres of unused land in Edmonton & Calgary presently (mis)managed by Infrastructure Alberta so that we can build hundreds, even thousands of farms and projects to stimulate our economy in these unprecedented times. Access to land is step #1 in building an Alberta Food System.

ABC's of an Alberta Food System

A=Access Land
B=Build the small scale infrastructure
C=Cultivate
D=Distribute
E=Eat
Repeat.

A global pandemic & a year later, #FoodSecurity is more important than ever. It is very unfortunate that Infrastructure Alberta manages 29,000 unused acres of land in our 2 largest cities in the arbitrary & myopic manner they do.
They stubbornly refuse to allow access to even small parcels of land (1-20 acres) and they've denied Albertans access to this land for 40 years.

Cuba became so reliant on the Soviet Union for food they failed to create their own food system. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it resulted in severe food shortages for Cuba. Alberta & Canada’s dependence on the USA/China for our food is risky and a gamble we do not have to take.

Enough is enough. Albertans require access to land in order to create new jobs by building an Alberta Food System that is independent, resilient, robust, local and does not rely solely on foreign food production to #FeedAlberta.

Beginning on 01April2020, the joke is no longer on citizens. There is no longer any justification for withholding this enormous land inventory from citizens wanting to build a resilient, robust, accessible, fair & local food system.

A campaign to call out Infrastructure Alberta on their 4 decades of hoarding land is being launched. Join us in asking land assets to be used for growing food, building a powerful food system, creating jobs & #FeedingAlberta.

Now is the time to put pressure on Infrastructure Alberta and convince them that Infrastructure isn't exclusively roads & bridges. A healthy food system should be part of our infrastructure priorities. This is referred to as Social Infrastructure or Heart Infrastructure, as opposed to Traditional/Hard Infrastructure.

Thank you for your efforts everyone!

Growing Together!