When white cowboy hats meet camo military garb

Bill Whitelaw

The tragedy in Ukraine found momentary respite in the hospitality of The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth

It was the strangest of admixtures: white cowboy hats and murderous Russian landmines; colorful cowboy boots and dying Ukrainian civilians.

There was talk of devastation and despair. The was talk of victory and resilience. There was talk of rodeos and rock music.

But as strange a dialogue alchemy as it seemed, the combination made sense as a platform for a particular message.

For the diplomat who delivered it, the communique was uncharacteristically blunt — almost in the way a laconic cowboy might declare something in the straightest of terms. But that frankness, infused with a strong sense of frustration, underscored the point she wanted to convey.

“Your companies have many beautiful words on their websites about the things that they value…now is the time for them to prove it…”

For Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Yuliya Kovaliv, the candor was tempered with a heartfelt plea — and it trumped all the talk about economic development potential.

In a nutshell: “We need your help…and we need it now.”

Background, color, and context: as Calgarians, Albertans, Canadians and global visitors kicked off The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, a tiny corner of downtown Cowtown hosted a discussion about the Greatest Current Human Tragedy on Earth.

In the Calgary Petroleum Club’s Trophy Lounge, a small gathering of business leaders listened to the ambassador and Ukranian parliamentarians discuss daily realities of life in Ukraine. They did so with a candor and directness that was as raw as it was impassioned. And it provided a solemn reminder for a city reveling in its western cultural values that the whole world isn't a big Stampede party.

Far from it.

This was about war. Its brutality. Its costs measured on so many scales, lives lost the heaviest weights. No calf roping or chuck racing applause. No midway games of chance and corndog competition. No beer garden gaieties and country music ribaldries.

Just a country, as parliamentarian Mykyta Poturaiev noted, fighting for its very existence.

But as he stressed, this is the world’s war, as much as it is Ukraine’s.

No one in the room disagreed

Indeed, in the Trophy Lounge, there was optimism.

As is happening across Canada, people are stepping up. In this case the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Calgary and the Ukraine-Alberta Chamber of Commerce coordinated the gathering, a precursor to a much larger Calgary assemblage this fall.

Much was made — and is to be made — about Canadian-Ukrainian relations that date back nearly 150 years, in particular the impact of immigration on western Canadian settlement.

Ambassador Kovaliv spoke to the opportunities postwar reconstruction will bring, across a diverse spectrum of sectors. Energy. Agriculture. Transportation. Infrastructure. Technology.

She stressed the abundance of opportunities, but doubly stressed the context of global energy and food security that will underpin Ukraine's effort to “build…and build better.”

Currently, received wisdom puts that impact number around $411 billion, but many consider that conservative. Others use trillions to define the carnage.

Kovaliv also addressed the dynamics of risk, and detailed steps already taken to deal with Ukraine's long-standing challenges, real and perceived, with corruption. When paired with aspirations for European Union and NATO membership, and new legislative measures, there's significant efforts contributing to the de-risk calculus.

The conflict has aged to the point where it falls in and out of the news cycle, the gathering heard, but if anything, the need for outside help — “and mutually beneficial partnerships — continues to grow exponentially. That help is critical to victory.

“Since 2014, we've been fighting for Ukraine, but we have also been fighting for world order,” noted Kovaliv. “We will win…we will be victorious…and we will get there with your support.”

As often happens in Calgary, there was the “white hat” ceremony, which confers official Calgarian status on the recipients.

It’s intended as a symbol of hope…and of community.

Four of those white hats are headed back to a war zone — to the Greatest Current Human Tragedy on Earth.

* Bill Whitelaw is Managing Director, Strategy and Sustainability at geoLOGIC systems ltd. He was among some 35 guests, including more than two dozen representatives of Alberta-based businesses engaged in construction, large-scale project-management, electrical power generation/transmission/distribution, agribusiness, and transformative high tech invited to a business roundtable held in Calgary on July 7 (the first day of the 2023 Calgary Stampede) with a visiting Ukrainian delegation consisting of Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada – Yuliya Kovaliv, three members of Ukraine’s Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) – Mykyta Poturaiev (Chair of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy), Yevheniia Kravchuk (Deputy Chair of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy) and Iryna Herashchenko (merited Journalist of Ukraine and former First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada), together with Ukraine’s Consul General from Edmonton – Oleksandr Danyleiko. The purpose of the roundtable was to receive an update on the current situation in Ukraine and for key Alberta-based businesses to learn about emerging opportunities to participate in the monumental rebuilding and reconstruction effort that awaits Ukraine upon Russia’s ultimate defeat in the war. The event was hosted and co-sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Calgary, the Alberta-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Edmonton.

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