‘It was mandatory’
The Calgary Stampede will not go forward this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials announced Thursday.
This year’s event was scheduled for July 3-12, but was deemed unworkable given the ban on large gatherings and the need for physical distancing.
“This is very, very tough. Stampede is such an important part of who we are as a community, and it’s hard for me to even imagine what a July without a Stampede will look like,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said. “But this year, with this risk, we simply cannot continue to do that.”
Tom Sampson, chief of Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said these types of decisions are mandatory given the state of the pandemic in Alberta.
“I think I’ve been in denial. But there was no choice here,” Sampson said. “It was mandatory. It was a decision that needed to take place.”
The cancellation is a major blow to a city and province already reeling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns coupled with the collapse of energy prices.
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-stampede-covid-19-2020-announcement-1.5542680
We Say
The Int’l Fund for Horses have been after the corporate sponsors for years to stop funding these unnecessary and archaic rodeo events — all of it, not just the chuckwagon races.
Now is the time for Calgary to come up with something to replace Stampede rodeo events with, something that doesn’t rely on animal brutality, suffering and death.
There already is something — a superb something — as mentioned in a related CBC Stampede news item:
The Stampede is Calgary’s largest arts and music festival
While a few Calgarians and a few more Canadians will be happy to see the Stampede cancelled this year — and hope that it will never resume — what they don’t realize is that the Stampede is not just a rodeo, and it’s not just a huge money generator for the city of Calgary . . . what a lot of people don’t realize is that one of Canada’s largest and most diverse arts festivals has also just been cancelled.
It is also a huge music festival. The Stampede has four music venues and anywhere from 80 to 100 bands performing, creating what is essentially a 10-day music festival. Read more »
Manitoba Stampede also cancelled
Canada’s Global News service reports that the Manitoba Stampede scheduled to take place July 16-19, 2020, has also been cancelled due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
Featured Image: The Globe and Mail: Cowboy turfed from Calgary Stampede for whipping horse during event, 10 Jul 2015.
Tuesday's Horse 
And also, the video was in support of the Stampede being cancelled.
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Just a point of information for all who follow this site. The website policy says:
“We will never censor comments based on the political or ideological point of view they espouse.”
I asked them to post a video of a horse owner (yes a wagon driver) commenting on why it was the correct decision to cancel the Calgary Stampede but it was cute as some of his horses photobombed his video. It was on no way promoting wagon racing.
The administrators refused to post it, so I guess they don’t follow their own policy.
They may refuse to post this as well.
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We have not refused to allow you to comment. We simply did not accept your posting request which we are fully entitled to do.
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You refused to post my comment (video). I fear this falls into the “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with facts.” category.
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You conveniently left out your comments regarding why you wanted the video posted.
“For those who think chuckwagon drivers are monsters, watch Mark Sutherland’s “terribly abused” horses photobomb his video clip.”
Omission by lying is still a lie.
Trying to pretend you liked it for the “cuteness”, and cuteness only, is disingenuous. The problem is that having cute photo-bombs proves nothing. In no way does it mean that the chuckwagon races are humane.
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I told them they could post the video WITHOUT ANY COMMENT if they wished.
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You missed the point.
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Your point was that I left out my comments, but as I said they could post it without my comments if they wished. So my comments would be irrelevant.
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OK (◔_◔)
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Is it okay to say,”So what?” Horse abuse is gone and perhaps the arts suffer a bit as well.
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It’s absolutely OK to say “so what”. Look at both sides of any issue, formulate your opinion, and then express it in a reasonable and respective manner (as you and many others do).
My issue with this site is that they say they will never censor and then they do censor things if it doesn’t align with the administrator’s opinion.
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We are not obligated in any way, shape or form to accept other people’s content. This is our blog. It is our publication. We will repeat what we told you before. Please try to follow. We do not censor comments. This is the comment section we are in right now. You have not been blocked or censored. You requested we post something of yours, and we decided we did not wish to. It is simple as that. The more you go on, the more you prove that we were totally right to turn down your request to guest post. Be warned. If you continue on in this bullying manner, we will block you from commenting, which is our right and privilege to do. Thank you.
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1) Yes, it is your site to manage as you wish. No disagreement there.
2) Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion and, if you check my comments, you will see I have been respectful of everyone’s opinion, and most have respected mine as well. I have no problem with that.
3) I have NEVER bullied anyone, If you can show me an example of bullying, please let me know and I will apologize to whoever I bullied.
My point is that you say you don’t censor, but you do. If you wish to censor people that have a different opinion than you, that is fine. It’s your site, but admit that you do.
Look at what you said in the same comment:
“We have not refused ….”
“We simply did not accept …”
You could probably get a job writing speeches for politicians..
Finally thanks for letting me have my say.
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Just a thought from Daniel Webster, FWIW.
verb
examine (a book, movie, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it.
“my mail was being censored”
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You’re absolutely right Phil. And yes the website administrator certainly has the right to censor things they find “unacceptable”, because it doesn’t agree with their position.
My only point is, don’t say you don’t censor when you do.
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The cancellation of the Calgary Stampede MIGHT result in many chuckwagon drivers having to quit the sport, maybe even the end of the sport. But be careful what you wish for. 36 drivers compete at the Stampede and they own 30-60 horses each. Many others don’t qualify for the Stampede each year. So conservatively 50 drivers with 40 horses 🐎 each means 2,000 horses to the slaughter house if the sport ends.
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We get what you are saying. We hate that might happen, of course. However, here’s the flip side.
Rodeo folks dump the horses they don’t want or can’t use in slaughterhouses as a matter of routine, year in and year out. It goes on regardless. This is one of the many, many reasons why horse slaughter must be stopped.
People like the rodeo types we are talking about (and those of their ilk) could care less about the well being of the horses in their power, and are happy to dump the ones they can no longer use or want in a slaughterhouse. And they might even get a few bucks from a kill buyer who will happily take these horses off their hands, so they don’t even have to load the horses up and take them to auction or haul them to a slaughterhouse themselves.
There are too many horses bred with absolutely no accounting for their futures because horse slaughter plants exist. That is another contributing factor.
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It sounds like you are saying that if the race ends it will result in the execution of 2,000 horses. It appears you have dis-compassionate feelings for the horse owners and their plight? Are all of these horses going to the slaughterhouse?
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Some may. All of them? No.
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The reply was for the original post, however, I would like to also comment that I don’t care of 36,000 or 36,000,000 owners/drivers/anything leave the sport and cause it’s demise. Haven’t yet figured out, and here’s a seed for you, how to create a stimulus package to shut this shite down.
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We are working on it. They always cite how much money it generates, or people it employs.. you know. The same old drill. As if that changes the game. Smh.
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Thanks Phil. They have all sort of other events going on that are really cool alongside the rodeo part. We didn’t realize that ourselves until this year! They have art, music, crafts and more. They could create an awesome event out of what they already have — The Calgary Art and Music Stampede. I believe eliminating the cruelty, abuse and death that comes with the outdated rodeo “entertainment” part of it, they would actually draw many more people. It’s worth suggesting?
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That is nice in theory, but the fact is the tickets people buy to watch the rodeo and wagon races is what provides the funds for the art, music, crafts and other, many free, events.
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This is to reply to Daniel Webster’s statement. Censoring is “to examine and suppress unacceptable PARTS” and by that definition they haven’t censored. They simply elected not to publish.
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