When icons collide

On Monday, cowboys on horseback (including Ian Tyson) descended on Calgary to protest against oil exploration in the Foothills region, saying it will cause environmental damage and ruin the lives of their communities.

Now that's interesting. These are Alberta's two iconic images -- the cowboy and the oil rig, or, if you will, the cowboy and the roughneck -- both representing ruggedness and individualism. But guess what? Rugged individualists can clash too.

And then what? Well, the government could step in and order an environmental review. Or the regulations could be changed so that you needed more than a simple agreement between a landowner and an oil company before allowing any exploration. But that would probably be too socialistic. A gunfight maybe?