During the spring session of the Legislative Assembly begins, Calgary-North MLA Muhammad Yaseen will continue to pursue his goal of making rodeo the official sport of Alberta.

In December, MLA Yaseen introduced the first reading of Private Member's Bill 212 for something he believes has been obvious since he immigrated to Alberta in the late 70s. The bill's introduction came late in the fall session, and now needs to make its way back to the floor.

'I will do whatever it takes to make this go to our next meeting and the meeting after until it becomes our official sport," says Yaseen. "So I will do my best to work with other private members who have their number before me."

Yassen spent his first few years in Alberta working in the energy sector in rural communities before eventually moving to Calgary.

He says he was unfamiliar with rodeos when he first arrived in Canada but quickly discovered how it is an important community builder. 

"I began to see rodeos, and it's something that brought people together, brought communities together, brought friends together, brought neighbours together, brought everyone together, and they had fun."

"It's a culture that is so collaborative, so cooperative, so caring, so compassionate," says Yaseen. "I became part of that culture for a couple of years and I learned a lot."

There's a lottery for private member's bills. others are currently ahead of Bill 212 in the order of discussion, and he plans to reach out to these MLAs with the hope of leapfrogging them in order to keep the discussion alive.