Embrace the Act of Imagination

I was at the Sir Ken Robinson lecture in Red Deer last night.  This amazing event drew over 700 people and was sponsored by the ATA, Red Deer College, Creative Alberta and the Red Deer Advocate.  Another indication of a yearning for real change in Alberta.

The lecture was video taped and I hope we will be able to feed the need for change at the next Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta events in Edmonton March 17th.  You can get tickets online using this link. It promises to be another inspiring evening.

I received a tweet from a teacher who was at the SirKen event. She bought his recent book and asked him to write a line to new teachers when he signed the book.  What he wrote resonated with me, and I expect with most of the readers of this blog. He wrote: "Embrace the Act of Imagination."

This is not an abstract ephemeral aphorism but more of an admonition that the status quo for our society is unsustainable, socially, economically and environmentally.  I would even say our adversarial  and personally nasty approach to political culture is unsustainable.  

There is a shifting consciousness starting amongst a growing group of previously apathetic Albertans that we need to start thinking for a change.  It is not a groundswell yet but it is gathering momentum.  The opportunity for the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party and the Alberta Liberal Party to respond to the change will come from the results of their pending leadership decisions. The same can be said for the newer, smaller but intriguing Alberta Party as an agent for positive political change is these revived citizens seek a leader.

Full disclosure I am an Alberta Party member and working on the Glenn Taylor campaign to lead this new movement.  I also had an Alberta Liberal Party membership to support David Swann' s leadership and as a PC member I supported Dave Hancock's leadership bid in 2006 and moved my support along with Dave to Ed Stelmach on the second ballot.   I have let both of these memberships lapse and feel a bitter sweet irony that both these gentlemen are now leaving political leadership positions and I expect politics as well.  

My sense is the Alberta Party with it aim of "doing politics differently" is the closest thing Albertans have  as a choice that will pick up and deliver on the spirit behind Sir Ken Robinson's advice to "Embrace the Act of Imagination."  Alberta is ready to move beyond the Alberta Advantage of corporate tax cuts, royalty breaks and industry subsidies.

The next Alberta is about a struggle for defining narrative about the Alberta Aspiration.  What does that mean and how will we see in ourselves and define ourselves as we move forward into the creative age and not just the industrial age of resource extraction as our reason to be.  The new narrative will be written by Albertans in part as a result of who these political parties choose for leadership.  Another big part of writing the next Alberta narrative will be decided when we citizens select and elect our new government as we pause about  how we are poised for striving and thriving in the changing world we must all face individually and together.

Granting your consent to be governed is partly a forfeiture of personal power to a politician so be careful who you vote for.  In a generative time like Alberta is in today full of challenges, threats as well as strengths and opportunities citizenship should be more than merely voting.  It should be the active act of embracing and imagining our aspirations as Albertans.

That is the stuff that motivates me to be so heavily engaged in the Alberta Party and the leadership campaign of Glenn Taylor. Visit his website and the party website and if you are at least curious take the next step and join the party and become a Glenn Taylor supporter.  Be the change you want to see happen.

Glenn Taylor Announces Alberta Party Leadership Bid

This morning at 10:30 am from the Art Gallery of Alberta, Glenn Taylor will announce that he is seeking the leadership of the Alberta Party.  

We will stream it live at http://www.facebook.com/GlennTaylorAlberta?v=app_142371818162 and of course we will  tape it for posting later in case you can't come down or view it live.

This is just the third Tuesday in a row where there has been a game changing announcement that impacts the future of Alberta.  Two weeks ago Premier Stelmach said he was finished with Progressive Conservative politics.  One week ago Dr. David Swann did the same when he stepped down from the Liberal Party leadership.  Both of these leaders deserve our thanks for their service to Alberta.  

Today, on this Tuesday, Glenn Taylor steps into provincial politics from an effective record of service at the municipal level.  Glenn wants to get Albertans to re-engage in the political culture of our times.  Unlike those past Tuesdays where leaders were stepping down, Glenn is stepping up today. He is offering his skills, experience and commitment to Alberta through the Alberta Party.

I wonder what is in store for next Tuesday?

Dave Taylor Joins the Alberta Party

So yesterday was a big day for the New Kid on the Block Alberta Party. It has its first MLA as Dave Taylor moves from disgruntled Liberal to disaffected Independent to the discovery of the Alberta Party.

There was lots of noise over this move in the social media and the traditional media.  I was even taken to task as an Alberta Party member for a blog post I did on January 8, 2010 when two PC MLAs went directly from one party to the Alliance without any cooling off period as Independents to take the temperature of their constituents over such a move.  Give it a read and tell me what you think is the right way for politicians to change their minds.  What about when a political party kicks out an MLA like the PCs did with Raj Sherman and Guy Boutilier?  Should the PCs first consulted with their constituencies to get permission?

There is no simple answer and saying it is just "politics" as usual is not very satisfactory either.  The bottom line in al of this be careful and intentional about who you vote for.  Politicians are given consent to govern us at the ballot box.  We defer to their judgment to make value trade-offs and choices on our behalf all the time.  We also empower them to make laws that will limit and dictate our behaviours.  That is a lot of power.

The unanswered question is what guides and drives our ballot box choices and is there just one answer to that question?  Is that answer simple or complex and does it change over time between elections?  Of course all these variable are in play so to over simplify the relationship of the elected and the electors is a mugs game.  Add the other complexity of is a politician beholden to the direction of the constituents or to their own conscience?

How is a politician to know the hearts and minds of constituents and are they fulling informed on the facts, implications as well as the feeling and emotions around any proposed policy decision?  On the other hand how are constituents to know what is in the heart, mind and morality of the politician as they seek wisdom in order to make a values trade-off between competing interests.  All political decision have a moral underpinning to them and that adds to the complexity of communications and comprehension.

Those of us not in Calgary Currie can rant and rave all we want but we are spectators in this contest.  The players are Dave Taylor and the citizens of Calgary Currie.  What they think about his decision to move out of the Liberal Party to Independent is as critical as their reaction to his move from Independent to Alberta Party. That is Dave Taylor making hard political choices and that always means a trade-off of values.

The right to make that choice is Dave Taylor's.  The right to assess and pass judgment on that choice is the right of the citizens of Calgary Currie.  If they want a by-election now to assess Taylor's choice, they can tell him so loudly, vociferously and in great numbers.  If they want to wait until the general election coming sooner than later they will stay quiet and pass judgment on him then. In the mean time the rest of us can armchair quarterback all we want but it is just crowd noise.  Unless Calgary Currie wants to take Dave Taylor to task for his decisions, who are we to judge?

As for the Alberta Party, the Dave Taylor move to join them is a big boost of public credibility and internal confidence.  However, one swallow does not a summer make.  There is a great deal more to do before the Alberta Party is election ready and credibly so.  As for some great commentary on all this to-ing and fro-ing read Graham Thomson of the Edmonton Journal, Josh Wingrove of of the Globe and Mail, Kevin Libin of the National Post and one of my favourite bloggers - The Enlightened Savage.

The next step for the Alberta Party is finding a leader.  A major move in that direction happened yesterday too.  Glenn Taylor, the current and three time Mayor of Hinton took the first overt step towards running for the Alberta Party leadership. He put up the non-refundable deposit as a candidate as a show of good faith and his personal confidence in the Alberta Party.  Now he awaits a final decision to run or not depending on the final rules for the leadership campaign from the Alberta Party Provincial Board, expected February 5th.

Full disclosure, I am working on Glenn's bid for Alberta Party leadership.  So stay tuned for more on Glenn Taylor and feel free to contact me at ken@cambridgestrategies.com if you want to join the Alberta Party and the campaign team.

Are the Feds Ignoring the Mountain Pine Beetle Impact in Alberta?

The Harper government is big into Mountain Pine Beetle spending in BC but seriously lagging in doing anything about the Alberta infestation. The recent conference on the impact of MPB infestation in Grande Prairie pointed out the damages is already done to the forests in BC and the real need for help there is to assist communities and industry to adapt to the post-beetle reality. I will post on these MPB conference comments from the Grande Prairie conference in the near future once the video tapes of the speeches are on DVD and I have them in hand.

If we do not stop it in Alberta, the experts are suggesting it then spreads and reaches out across the boreal forest throughout the entire country. That is devastation that has impacts beyond forest industry and communities, important as those are, but also in the negative effect on the balance of the planet’s entire ecosystem.

The Alberta Forest Products Association has already complained about the political nature of BC pre-election spending by the Harper government on railway upgrades in the name of MPB action.

I have been working with Glenn Taylor, Mayor of Hinton and the Chair of the Grande Alberta Economic Region, (GAER) on some strategic approaches to help the west central Alberta communities adapt to the reality of MPB on their communities. They are very proactive and we have done a video on Policy Channel explaining what the MPB infestation means and what needs to be done. Local governments need the feds and the province to step up and damn quickly if we are to do anythings effective in dealing with the infestation impacts.

No doubt the BC industry and affected communities need help but the Fed response is reactionary at best. The also need to get proactive in Alberta and start putting some of their efforts and funds in here too. Albertans are Canadians too.

Alberta Declares a State of Emergency Due to Mountain Pine Beetle

My posting on adapting to the Mountain Pine Beetle has been getting a lot of hits and attention. With this level of interest I thought readers may want to have more background. The report we did for the Grande Alberta Economic Region in January dealt with the economic, social and environmental costs of the Beetle to this region based on the devastating experience form British Columbia mostly.

I see Premier Stelmach and Minister Morton have declared a state of emergency because of the Mountain Pine Beetle. It is a good thing. Even the southerners are getting concerned and they are not as dependent on the Boreal Forest as norther Albertans are. The beetle is now in Banff and Jasper National Parks in significant numbers now too. that adds a whole new dimension to the problems. This is going to be a national emergency soon too I expect.

We have a video interview coming on Policy Channel shortly with Glenn Taylor, Mayor of Hinton and the Chair of the Grande Alberta Economic Region. If you are concerned about the biota at all you will want to see that interview.

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