I just read a news release on values of 2500 Canadian high school and post-secondary students. The headline grabbed me: "Happiness Rules: Canada's Youth Don't Live for $$$"
I wanted to see how the student values compared with the Influentials and Cultural Creatives in Reboot Alberta and the random sample we did of everyday Albertans on the same values.
First the students are said to be "idealistic, optimistic and confident in their abilities to accomplish goals. They seem not to be entrepreneurial nor interested in great wealth accumulation with happiness being more important as a value driver. The reasons stated were because this cohort placed low value on collaboration, innovation and leadership and they were risk adverse.
This is not good from my perspective. If ever we needed a value shift in our culture it is now and this is needed in areas like collaboration, innovation and leadership. The other side of the value coin for students was interesting too. They reported a high importance on compassion, integrity and optimism and they believed that they would not change their values much between now and 2020. They look forward to spending time with friends and family, getting more education, living a healthy lifestyle with a career and living in a safe and secure environment.
The top value drivers for the Reboot Influentials were around what they wanted policy makers and politicians to use when making decisions so they do not compare directly with the context of the student values. Rebooters want a government that had integrity, that was honest, accountable and transparent with a strong sense of environmental stewardship. Next priorities were applied wisdom, a focus on well being and equity along with fiscal responsibility and respect for diversity.
If you share these values you should join Reboot Alberta and become part of a citizen's movement Pressing for Change to a more progressive political culture in Alberta. Block off November 5-7 for the next gathering of progressive thinking Albertans and help frame a progressive provincial political agenda and figure out what actions we need to take to make it happen.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Why I Love Edmonton
Ok - so I am a homer...not of the Simpson variety. Here is a great video that captures my sense of my home town...Edmonton, Alberta. Enjoy!
Lots of Moving Parts in Politics and Policy These Days
Lots of different things on my mind this morning. So here is a sampling of some of them:
Alberta Party gets a fund-raising boost with a major donor.
I have done a piece for The Mark on some of the political and policy findings we discovered from the oil sands study we did in collaboration with the Oil Sands Research and Information Network.
I have noticed that Lawrence Martin has a great Op-Ed on the Incredible Shrinking Tory Tent of Control Freak Stephen Harper. He details some of the many reasons we need to remove this man from the highest office in our land and real soon too.
Lots of real work to do today but Twitter is never far away. Follow me there @kenchapman46
Alberta Party gets a fund-raising boost with a major donor.
I have done a piece for The Mark on some of the political and policy findings we discovered from the oil sands study we did in collaboration with the Oil Sands Research and Information Network.
I have noticed that Lawrence Martin has a great Op-Ed on the Incredible Shrinking Tory Tent of Control Freak Stephen Harper. He details some of the many reasons we need to remove this man from the highest office in our land and real soon too.
Lots of real work to do today but Twitter is never far away. Follow me there @kenchapman46
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
RebootAlberta Blog Has New Post on Progressives in Alberta
I am using another blog site to deal with progressive thoughts and ideas in the Alberta context called RebootAlberta. This is not a www.rebootalberta.org site - it is my own blog. I will send links to it from time to time for readers of this blog to follow. My purpose is to connect you with on my work to help generate a progressive citizen's movement in Alberta to influence the political culture in Alberta.
Here is a link that I invite you to follow to see an example of what I am doing over there.
Here is a link that I invite you to follow to see an example of what I am doing over there.
Water Act Enforcement Kind of Slow by Alberta Government
It is good to see that the provisions of the Water Act in Alberta are being enforced.
Water is a critical issue for Albertans in so many ways including environmentally, socially as well as economically. There are lots of politics involved too, including agricultural, conservation and wildlife habitat concerns. Water is a serious complex issue for all Albertans beyond the oil sands uses.
There is a serious water shortage currently and even more coming in southern Alberta and abuses like this example by this company in Calgary is not helpful. I can't understand why there is no fine and why it took almost 4 years from September 2006 when the company was informed to change is water sources. Now they have given them over three more months to find an alternative water source and then all the way to Feb 1, 2011 to get the proper authorization for and implementation of the alternative water supply. Seems Albertans are entitled to a bit more information as to why this abuse of water sources took so long to enforce and why the finding and implementing of alternative sources seem to be not a matter of urgency.
Kind of ironic when the Alberta government news release closes on this matter with the line: "Enforcement orders are issued under the authority of Alberta's Water Act and are designed to ensure immediate action is taken to correct the situation. (Emphasis added) Seems like there is no sense of urgency here nor has the offence resulted in any punishment of the company.
Hardly a message that abuse of our water legislation carries serious consequences. One thing we have to be careful of as citizens is that while government that is too big is a waste and often an interference, too small a government is incapable of doing the job we as citizens expect of it. This is not a question of balance between big and small government. It is a question of ensuring governments are properly resources in staff and expertise to do the job we expect of them.
Water is a critical issue for Albertans in so many ways including environmentally, socially as well as economically. There are lots of politics involved too, including agricultural, conservation and wildlife habitat concerns. Water is a serious complex issue for all Albertans beyond the oil sands uses.
There is a serious water shortage currently and even more coming in southern Alberta and abuses like this example by this company in Calgary is not helpful. I can't understand why there is no fine and why it took almost 4 years from September 2006 when the company was informed to change is water sources. Now they have given them over three more months to find an alternative water source and then all the way to Feb 1, 2011 to get the proper authorization for and implementation of the alternative water supply. Seems Albertans are entitled to a bit more information as to why this abuse of water sources took so long to enforce and why the finding and implementing of alternative sources seem to be not a matter of urgency.
Kind of ironic when the Alberta government news release closes on this matter with the line: "Enforcement orders are issued under the authority of Alberta's Water Act and are designed to ensure immediate action is taken to correct the situation. (Emphasis added) Seems like there is no sense of urgency here nor has the offence resulted in any punishment of the company.
Hardly a message that abuse of our water legislation carries serious consequences. One thing we have to be careful of as citizens is that while government that is too big is a waste and often an interference, too small a government is incapable of doing the job we as citizens expect of it. This is not a question of balance between big and small government. It is a question of ensuring governments are properly resources in staff and expertise to do the job we expect of them.
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