Corb Lund says Alberta diversification bound to happen

Despite Alberta's economic downturn, a self-described sixth-generation Albertan Corb Lund says that the economy and its industry need to diversify, but he thinks the province "will figure stuff out."

Lund, a country musician, played in Regina and Saskatoon this past week. He spoke with Saskatchewan Weekend host Eric Anderson about how he sees the oil's slumping value affecting his fellow Albertans.

He recently toured through wild rose country.

"My sense of the situation is when they came to our shows, it was a big chance to party and forget about all that [stuff], you know?" Lund said.

We can't just depend on oil. That's silly. I'm not anti-oil or anything like that. It's just common sense.- Corb Lund, country musician

Lund added thatt he made a point to thank everyone for coming out to his shows.

"It was meaningful that people came out in a time of economic uncertainty," he said. 

Of the recent downturn in the province's economy, Lund said he thinks "it was maybe due for a correction."

"So, oil boom, oil bust; we need to be looking beyond that. We need to have been doing it 25 years ago," he said. "Like I'm a sixth-generation Albertan. I've got a triple-great-grandpa in Mountain View buried in the cemetery. My desires for the province and my hopes are very wide and long reaching."

In his opinion, Lund said Alberta "can't just depend on oil."

"That's silly. I'm not anti-oil or anything like that. It's just common sense, especially if the Saudis can flap their butterfly wings half a planet away and affect us like this," he said.

Lund said he thinks it makes sense for Alberta to diversify its industry.

"I don't think that's revolutionary idea or anything," he said.

Lund said that's likely to happen soon for the province. 

"We got a lot of brain power over there, and a lot of industrial know-how. So I'm pretty sure that people will figure stuff out," he said.