rebooting citizen engagement and democracy in alberta.

Earlier this month, when I asked what an empowered Alberta would look like, it became clear to me that the majority of Albertans do not see value in participating in the traditional liturgy of our established democratic institutions. I also made two reflections that have stuck with me since:

1) As our society has changed in monumental ways, we have seen very little change in our democratic institutions.
2) Creating value in citizen participation is key to re-engaging the millions of Albertans who have disengaged from our democratic institutions and the process governing them.

Because of these two reflections, I am excited to be attending Reboot Alberta in Red Deer this weekend. I have no clue what ideas the discussions at this weekend's event will produce, but I am excitedly anticipating meeting, debating, and sharing stories and ideas with other Albertans who are passionate about the future of our province. Bloggers Alex Abboud, Chris LaBossiere, Alexander Muir, the Unknown Studio, and Ken Chapman (among others) have written passionately about why they are attending this weekend. You can follow Reboot Alberta on Twitter at #rebootab.

As I have written before, it is only a matter of time before we witness a big political shift in our province, but it will be up to Albertans to decide what this change will embody. I love Alberta and I am eager to continue participating in the debates that will shape this change.

dave hancock sends trustees to the principal's office.

PC Education Minister Dave Hancock scolded members of the Alberta School Boards Association at their annual general meeting today in Edmonton for their participation in the Stop the Cuts campaign. Here is an excerpt of Minister Hancock's speech:

...the Stop the Cuts campaign is greatly exaggerating the impact to education.

I think all of you know how disappointed I was by this campaign.

In recent months, we have had many honest, informed discussions about what we must accomplish to improve learning in the future. Stop the Cuts has not contributed a single idea to this process.

Don't get me wrong — I truly value and appreciate advocacy. I certainly appreciate Albertans engaging in a discussion about education, its value to our community and society, and our current issues and concerns.

But Stop the Cuts is not aimed at constructive discussion — it really amounts to a digital march on the Legislature, and we're well beyond that.

Public appreciation for education can never be built on fear. Fear is no way to embrace our students' optimism, passion, curiosity and talents — especially when there are so many great learning experiences taking place around our province.

We build public appreciation for education by sharing these learning experiences with Albertans.

So I look forward to the ASBA, ATA and the ASCA putting at least as many resources into a positive campaign about how we are preparing Alberta's students for their future.

The motive behind this speech was likely an attempt to drive a wedge between the traditionally timid group elected school trustees and their coalition partners in the Alberta Teachers Association and the Alberta School Councils' Association, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the effectiveness of the Stop the Cuts message in eliciting this reaction.

Recent comments from Premier Ed Stelmach and other cabinet ministers about "tough economic times" have reminded many Albertans of the devastating cuts made by the PC government in the 1990s. In August 2009, Minister Hancock announced that $80 million would be cut from the education budget, including over $50 million from school boards. He is in a tough position, Minister Hancock is the most important ally that the education sector may have inside the PC Cabinet, but it is questionable how much political clout the urban Red Tory-esq Edmonton-Whitemud MLA has in a Cabinet dominated by rural heavyweights like Lloyd Snelgrove, Luke Ouellette, and Ray Danyluk. It is not hard to imagine that many of his PC MLA colleagues are not pleased that the three education groups put aside many of their traditional differences to jointly warn Albertans about the cuts.During the 2006 PC leadership race, Minister Hancock branded himself as the education friendly candidate and reached out to educators, but his recent party solidarity-influenced defence of the controversial Bill 44 raises the question of how much political capital he still has at the Cabinet table. While Premier Ed Stelmach continues to push billions of taxpayers dollars into the unproven science behind the Carbon Capture Scheme and pro-budget cut backbenchers try to make a name for themselves, Albertans should be asking how many of the 70 PC MLAs are standing up against budget cuts for essential public sector services?

In his speech, Minister Hancock criticized the Stop the Cuts campaign for not offering solutions. This is not a completely unfair comment, but Minister Hancock has hardly given the education groups any reason to believe that another round of budget cuts are the real solution to the PC Government's fiscal problem. Minister Hancock is easily one of the brightest members of the provincial cabinet, so instead of scolding school trustees, he should step up and challenge his Cabinet colleagues to debate a critical question:

After years of record-breaking surpluses and unheard of wealth, why is Alberta still dependent on cyclically-priced natural resource commodities?

alberta's political moment of the decade.

With the end of the first decade of the 21st century fast approaching, now is the perfect time to reflect on the past ten years in the politics of our province.

What I would like from you are nominees for the top Albertan political moment of the decade. I will leave the category fairly broad, but similar to Calgary Grit's top Canadian political moment of the decade contest, the point is to find a good balance between what was exciting at the time and what would make it into a Alberta Social Studies textbooks 30 years from now (when the next change in government is due to happen).

You will have a few weeks to suggest nominees in the comments section or via e-mail before I put it to a vote. Nominees could include:
- Elections and by-elections (federal, provincial, and municipal)
- Important policies (i.e. royalty review, Bill 44, no debt, LRT expansion)
- Scandals and missteps (Ralph Air, Lyle Oberg being kicked out of the PC caucus, Ward 10 scandal)
- Moments that made Albertans pay attention (ie: Ralph Klein's late night visit to the Men's shelter, Ed Stelmach defeating Jim Dinning)

which way to the high road?

This was bad judgement, but this is untrue:

“That said, [Premier Ed Stelmach] never resorts to the personal and is never pleased when others do.”

There are numerous examples of Premier Stelmach and members of his cabinet taking personal shots at Opposition MLAs and groups (and deceased Prime Ministers) outside of the Legislature.

In most circumstances, actually taking the high road is the best way to claim it.

neighbour power.

I attended the third of three evenings with Jim Diers - former Director of the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods - hosted by the City of Edmonton. Over the course of the evening, Diers shared some really interesting ideas about successful community building and power of neighbourhoods. I am planning to write about some of these ideas in future posts on this blog.

Mack Male, Tamara Stecyk, and George Watts attended some of the evening events and have posted recaps.

tuition tinkering in alberta.

Advanced Education Minister Doug Horner has said that he will accept and review requests from Alberta's Post-Secondary Institutions to increase their base tuition rates beyond what is currently allowed under Alberta's tuition policy. Whatever your thoughts on the cost of tuition - whether you believe in the strength of communities or individual investment (or a mixture of the two) - it is important to understand some of the context in which this posturing is occurring. This is not simply a result of tough economic times, the Government and Institutions have both attempted to and successfully tinkered with the tuition policy a number of times in recent years.

During very prosperous economic times in March 2006, the Presidents of the University of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Athabasca sent a letter to Minister Dave Hancock proposing that tuition increases be based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation plus 3.5 per cent.

In the letter, the presidents warn Alberta is falling behind. "Alberta lags behind the national average in post-secondary spaces, a serious problem as we seek to provide the workforce needed for an expanding economy."

Students are also frustrated the presidents drafted a proposal without consulting them, saying they were under the impression a joint bid would be submitted to Hancock.

[University of Calgary Students' Union President Bryan] West called the proposal a "backroom deal."

"We were all going to put forward one letter, with one profound and powerful voice," said West who sits on the steering committee with the presidents and other stakeholders. "We feel really hurt by this and wonder if they were playing us all along."

The day following my election as Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students in May 2006, I sat in front of the cameras with Liberal MLA Dave Taylor, NDP MLA Raj Pannu, Bill Moore-Kilgannon from Public Interest Alberta, and Jon Hoffman from ACTISEC to oppose the passage of Bill 40: Post-Secondary Learning Amendment Act.

Introduced during the (thankfully) short-lived tenure of Minister Denis Herard, Bill 40 removed Alberta's tuition policy from the Post-Secondary Learning Act, thus removing the insurance that Albertans had that any changes to the policy governing the cost of post-secondary education would need to be debated in a public forum.

“We’re prepared to wait until the next time the legislature meets to have a new policy implemented, so that the policy is embedded in an act of the legislature,” said David Cournoyer, chair of the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) and University of Alberta Students’ Union Vice President External. “If the tuition policy is not in legislation, it is no good to us.”

Universities and colleges in Alberta are currently limited to increasing tuition by CPI inflation (at a maximum), but because the tuition policy is now under regulation it can be changed in the privacy of a closed door Cabinet meeting. No public debate required.

alberta's energy beach.

I have always been fascinated by the debate over the proper name for the "bituminous sand" that spans across and beneath large tracks of Northern Alberta (I like to call them Alberta's Energy Beach). In an elongated public relations war, environmental groups have labelled them as 'tarsands,' while the energy sector and the Government of Alberta have remained strident in describing them as the more friendly-sounding 'oilsands.'

With the oilsands getting a rougher reputation on the international stage and the Copenhagen Conference around the corner, the residents of one of the larger beachfront cabins have coined a new term for their expensive piece of  real estate:

First they were tar sands. Then they were oil sands. Now? Enhanced oil projects. At least according to En-Cana Corp. and its oil-sands spinoff, Cenovus Energy

The pair want to distinguish their oil-sands operations, which employ the underground and more carbon-intensive steam-assisted gravity (SAGD) drainage method, from the more aesthetically offensive open-pit mining efforts that are accompanied by deadly tailings ponds. As a result, the two firms have ditched the term "oil sands" from their lexicon and replaced it with "enhanced oil projects" or just "oil projects."