Western Standard - Anti-lockdown rodeo rally planned in Bowden Alberta

00:00:00.000 hey there welcome to a western standard rodeo special you know i've been i've stated in past

00:00:08.040 broadcasts and in articles i'm looking to see good rational pushback against the lockdowns

00:00:14.760 i'm looking to see more people realize the human cost of the restrictions and and what it's doing

00:00:20.460 to people it's crushing businesses traditions families all sorts of things unfortunately a lot

00:00:25.980 of the uh demonstrations pushback have just been not the sort of thing your your average person

00:00:31.420 wants to take part in uh i went you know i went the other weekend to to one of those anti-lockdown

00:00:35.980 rallies and and they were uh just just out to lunch i i couldn't support them uh that same brad

00:00:42.460 kerrigan i saw a video of him this week i guess he was trying to i don't know force his way in

00:00:47.000 with a bunch of protesters to a whole foods outlet without masks or something i don't know where

00:00:50.760 they're going but we did see for one of course the the grace life church uh protests and people

00:00:57.360 standing up for that church that's been fenced in and in just a horrifying scene that's an

00:01:01.280 embarrassment to the country uh at least people are standing up for themselves they're being polite

00:01:06.720 they're crazed uh you know leftist style protesters and such and it's i was thrilled to see uh something

00:01:14.680 going around popped up in my scroll with a no more lockdowns rodeo rally and and this is great this

00:01:20.400 is two events in one there's going to be a three-day rodeo going on in bowdoin just what an hour out of

00:01:26.080 the city of calgary uh events full rodeo competitors guest speakers concessions if you look on the

00:01:33.760 poster it says there's no beer gardens because uh there's other challenges and i'll get a little

00:01:38.560 more into that still i wanted to make sure this is legit you know i mean this what's going on here

00:01:43.200 it sounds great um and and uh it was being run by a fellow named ty northcott of northcott rodeo so if

00:01:49.960 you want to look this up and i'm going to repeat this a little later uh if you look up northcott

00:01:53.600 rodeos on facebook he's got information and details on there and he keeps updates going

00:01:58.260 uh as well the address to buy tickets if you want to buy them in advance it's $15 for adults

00:02:04.340 $10 for 7 to 17 and kids under 7 are free you can email rodeo.rally at gmail.com and it looks like

00:02:14.600 they're going to have a gate admission to so you can just go and and purchase at the gate so uh i

00:02:22.160 jumped in the car i well i made a phone call and and uh jane and i headed up to bowdoin area and met

00:02:27.940 with ty because i just really wanted to see details about what was going on with this this is ty here

00:02:33.000 with uh one of his is his horses so ty uh northcott is from a family with generations and generations of

00:02:40.560 raising rodeo stock this horse is named uh third rock it's the one that's in the background throughout

00:02:46.120 the rest of this this broadcast here and uh by the way the the photographer's name was was billy jean

00:02:52.120 uh i believe or billy jean duff i gotta write my notes better but i mean you know the the other

00:02:58.180 thing that was striking going around the property with ty just so people know like these guys love

00:03:01.980 their animals as ty will say in an interview i got a little later they're family to them this is this

00:03:07.160 is their whole life this is what they're about these are well cared for animals and they've all

00:03:11.720 been locked up like any other athletes doing nothing for a year and and uh this is costing in

00:03:19.000 many levels uh yeah so there you see third rock in the background quite a horse um this is another

00:03:26.120 business like i want people to realize the human side of what's going on and rodeo in the west i mean

00:03:32.920 this is as albertan as it gets as traditional as it gets and these businesses are on the brink of

00:03:38.220 dying so uh as ty said he's down to half or less than half of the amount of his usual standing stock

00:03:43.080 because you can't just you know throw the cattle on the shelf for a year uh the bulls and the uh and

00:03:49.100 the horses and that and wait until things reopen these are animals that need to be trained they need

00:03:53.900 to be fed they need to be exercised you can't just put it on hold so these guys are in dire dire

00:04:01.240 trouble it's expensive and they've got no revenue there's no rodeos entertainment in general i mean

00:04:06.520 we should point out whether it's bands or the arts they're hurting and we're not hearing about it again

00:04:11.560 we're not hearing about the real human cost and this is is we're losing whole family traditions and

00:04:19.380 that's why ty's backs against the wall he's holding this rodeo because he's got nothing to lose like so

00:04:24.140 many businesses you know and when we see um uh the gentleman scotch up there with the the whistle

00:04:31.780 stop and mirror these restaurants they put their heart and soul into them and hey you can only 0.98

00:04:37.280 bankrupt them once they're not standing up just to be jerks they're doing because they got their 0.96

00:04:40.420 backs against the wall there's nothing else they can do so ty northcott what does he know how to do 0.98

00:04:45.920 he knows how to put on rodeos so he's gonna put on a rodeo and let's get to this whole family thing

00:04:51.280 why is he so dedicated this picture is of harvey northcott the other thing he loved beyond rodeos

00:04:56.000 apparently was his budweiser's as you can see he's pictured with it here's the late harvey north

00:05:00.340 thought so that's ty's father uh this was a rodeo man quite well respected and renowned for a long

00:05:05.780 time here's a poster with a picture of him on a bronc back in 71 uh when they were advertising and

00:05:11.720 you know i'm not looking just to give a history of rodeos and such here but i'm just trying to drive

00:05:15.400 home like we've got some really established traditions historical families historical

00:05:22.280 businesses and they're going down in alberta if we let these restrictions crush them they aren't

00:05:27.600 coming back we're losing more than just a little business we're losing whole family traditions and

00:05:32.700 and where are they going to spring up from where is it going to spread out from how do you rebuild

00:05:36.660 something like this so you know and this is a a thing for by the way so even ty's wife gail 0.84

00:05:43.380 her grandfather was art johnson again you know a a well-renowned uh rodeo supporter as as you can

00:05:50.700 see what this was given back in the the alberta 75th uh uh recognition so you know this is all at

00:05:57.740 risk right now these these families these businesses they're going down and thankfully ty's standing up

00:06:04.740 and said you know what i'm holding the rodeo i'm gonna do it i'm doing it in boden it's going on for

00:06:09.080 three days and it's great i mean he's got the stock he knows the facilities he knows the

00:06:13.360 competitors he knows how to set this sort of thing up concessions the work so it's happening

00:06:17.200 so mark it in your calendars this is the way we can push back because yes alberta health within

00:06:22.940 days of that going up in facebook they were trying to track them down they were sending warnings

00:06:27.000 they're saying you can't do this we're going to stop you from doing this and ty's saying just you

00:06:31.540 try and i love it i just love it he's pure albert and he's a great guy i sat with him so i interviewed

00:06:37.680 him and as i said i picked up and rushed out of here in a hurry uh it's going to be you know you might

00:06:41.640 have turned the sound up a little bit uh my i just uh did the interview with a phone but you get to

00:06:46.320 know ty here with a five minute chat and see what motivated him and and what kind of person this is

00:06:51.620 again it's not some crazed protester it's not some political lunatic this is a genuine uh salt of the

00:06:58.080 earth hard working alberton who just wants to continue making a living as his family has done for

00:07:03.140 generations in alberta and he's going to do it no matter what the ahs or the government tells him

00:07:08.200 all right so thank you very much for talking to me ty i i'd like to start with the background

00:07:14.960 you're from a well-established alberta family that's been involved in agriculture and rodeo for

00:07:19.740 for a long long time but can you begin with letting us know a little bit about what your

00:07:24.060 your history is here yeah i grew up around rodeo uh my dad was a stock contractor since 1967 and

00:07:31.460 we've been in the business for oh i think we started in the late 80s myself personally

00:07:37.000 okay and then uh so as you said the the industry is getting a lot of pressure these lockdowns i mean

00:07:43.840 it's been a year of reduced turnouts or complete cancellations of events and so on uh you provide

00:07:49.840 rodeo stock along with with other things and you said your stock is now down to a much lower level than

00:07:54.900 it used to be yeah we've had to uh cut back on our animals just for the fact that uh the cost of

00:08:01.280 wintering them and and the upkeep with them uh we've just had to take and probably reduce our numbers

00:08:07.040 to 50 from what they would have been in 2019 early 2020 yeah so it's not like you can start on a dime

00:08:14.020 it's not like other businesses where you can just take the stock and put it in a warehouse and leave

00:08:17.740 it alone and bring it back out when when things change these are these are living creatures that have

00:08:22.960 to be maintained uh veterinary bills feeding and and so forth so yeah we've uh these are all specialty

00:08:29.620 animals that we use like they're especially raised to do the jobs that they do and and uh you just

00:08:35.260 can't go down the road and buy one anywhere at any given time it's uh it's not like walking into your

00:08:40.860 grocery store and buying a head of lettuce or anything these are animals that that we've spent

00:08:45.960 years to get them to the point where they're at and and uh now we're having to sell a lot of them

00:08:51.600 off some of them are like family members and and uh we hold close to our heart a lot of these animals

00:08:57.340 yeah well i believe the term you used was animal athletes or something along those lines and

00:09:01.760 yeah they're they're all athletes uh they've all got certain genetics and traits that make them what

00:09:08.440 they are and uh at the end of the day they're as much athlete as a cowboy themselves yeah and uh with

00:09:15.360 any athlete too you can't just stop for a while it takes training and ongoing uh you know exercise

00:09:21.140 and so forth so yeah all these animals uh we take them put them on certain diets throughout the

00:09:28.220 winter and then they change the diet come spring and summer as to when they're when they're competing

00:09:32.700 and doing their thing so with your upcoming scheduled rodeo out here which is is looking

00:09:38.600 to be quite fun is it going to be a full event uh like any other rodeo or yeah it's a it's a full

00:09:46.080 event it's a semi-pro amateur rodeo uh we have like bareback riding bronc riding saddlebrown

00:09:51.420 barrel racing uh tie down roping team roping and steer wrestling and a couple junior events at it also

00:09:58.600 excellent so what's inspired you i mean you've gotten the letters now and and uh they're already

00:10:04.500 warning you uh the government is is not impressed uh with this uh what are your thoughts on standing up

00:10:11.740 to the state i guess in the sense for the sake of your your industry and family traditions well

00:10:16.500 somebody's got to do it uh we've been locked over for over a year now and uh we're seasonal business

00:10:23.000 people the most of us in the rodeo industry just because in canada here uh our winters kind of

00:10:28.840 prohibit a little bit of our events happening so when it's it's like the farmer making hay when

00:10:34.700 when the sun shines we got to do it and the same with rodeo most of our events are outdoors and

00:10:40.100 and we got to go when it's summertime uh this prolonging us till june july august kind of thing

00:10:45.920 that that the government pulled on us last year and they're trying to pull on it on us again this

00:10:50.600 year it doesn't cut it for us like a lot of our planning takes anywhere from three months to a year

00:10:56.180 to put these events on and and uh when they tell us that we can't do something in april may and june

00:11:01.840 uh or that we're prolonged until you know june july august that doesn't work for us we need the time

00:11:08.600 to plan and do these events and i just decided you know what enough is enough if uh if we've got

00:11:16.240 to do them we've got to do them and and i think there's a lot of people need to start jumping on

00:11:20.180 the bandwagon and coming on the trail with us well that's great and it's so important i mean on so many

00:11:25.100 levels we need to get out and feel human again we need to get around each other we need to socialize

00:11:30.220 and this event's going to kind of provide all of that and hopefully i mean your business is in some

00:11:35.120 pressure right now i mean this is very important just on on your personal level

00:11:38.640 well yeah you can only afford to shut your door for so long and and have no income and then pretty

00:11:44.620 soon you got to totally shut your door and and uh we're past that point uh there's no more shutting

00:11:49.920 our door we're open uh we expect to have a very large crowd at this event uh our entries for

00:11:57.820 competitors uh so far it seems like it's going to be a great entry and uh we're just going forward

00:12:04.060 we're we're we're done it's it's time to make this happen great well have you got any further

00:12:10.460 messages for for folks i mean i'll go into the details and how people can uh buy tickets and set

00:12:15.580 aside time and come out to this it's going to be a heck of a good time yeah i hope to see the rest of

00:12:20.140 the province finally get off their butt and do something uh i'm getting calls out of bc saskatchewan

00:12:25.360 and manitoba right now and and we're going to look in to see what we can do to help them people move

00:12:29.720 forward uh i've done a lot of research in the last year in regards to what's going on and

00:12:34.400 and uh people need to just basically start standing up for their rights uh the government at the moment

00:12:41.220 is trying to push rules and and them rules just don't cut it with me uh we have rights and we need

00:12:47.540 to start looking after our rights and take our freedom back yeah we're albertans we're not going

00:12:53.380 to take this for much longer exactly right on thanks thank you

00:12:58.120 well there you have it ty's not backing down we're not backing down the western standard is

00:13:05.720 going to be following this we're supporting this we are going to encourage this is a good safe event

00:13:12.800 it's good for people get out supporting an alberta business we're not going to let this business go

00:13:17.960 down and die we can't let this business go down and die ty is going ahead with this i really can't

00:13:24.380 encourage others enough to help him out this is uh ty's daughter's bull by the way this is uh

00:13:29.280 called name radioactive uh the picture is by carly boyd again what i'm trying to demonstrate here

00:13:35.320 there's the next generation that's getting in on this this is a family tradition of business his

00:13:40.040 daughter this business could be lost and and she's not going to be able to participate further with

00:13:45.400 these sorts of things we can't let this die it's weeks away people aren't dying the pandemic's in

00:13:53.300 retreat let's get out let's save these businesses while we still can get out there as i said before

00:14:00.160 he needs volunteers uh people out there we certainly need people to attend he's rounding up guest speakers

00:14:06.400 by the way as i said this is two events in one it's not just a rodeo this is a no more lockdowns

00:14:10.880 rally as well it's the two bundled into one this is going to help save those athletes those rodeo

00:14:16.360 riders those those livestock that take part it's just good for everything let's get out the email

00:14:21.820 address again rodeo.rally at gmail.com look up northcott rodeo on on facebook and and ty is active

00:14:31.260 on that site he'll keep you up to date on things and we're going to keep following up on this so mark

00:14:36.960 your calendar set aside it's going to be a hell of a weekend i'll be there i'll see you there

00:14:40.560 we're going to have a rodeo people 0.99

Western Standard - April 12, 2021

Anti-lockdown rodeo rally planned in Bowden Alberta

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