New York State is thinking of culling 170,000 Canada Geese from the estimated state goose population of 250,000. News reports say this is "five times the amount that most people would find socially acceptable."
This is apparently a "one-of-a-kind plan" according to media reports and part of a large Canada Goose cull of about 500,000 birds in 17 Atlantic states. It is alleged that some state plans "do not include all the scientific background." The New York plan is to capture the geese, crate them, transport them to a "secure location" to be euthanized and buried.
Critics are saying it is not clear that there are really five times as many Canada gees as there should be and calling the plan "a little extreme." DUH!
The motivation for this cull seems to be a result of the Hudson river crash landing in January 2009 when geese flew into the engines of the jet. This is hardly a fool proof solution since another bird killing spree near New York La Guardia is reported to have reduced birds hitting airplanes by 80%. Hardly a reassuring statistic that says air traffic is safe enough die to bird kills. We don't know how big the La Guardia bird problem was, how big the cull was and what metrics were used to determine success. Not very helpful really
I sure do not condone the proven negligence of Syncrude in the loss of 1600 ducks in their tailings ponds two years ago but it pales in comparison to what New York state is proposing to do intentionally, not negligently.
We know from our research going back to 2005 that one of the dominant and consistent values preferences for Albertans in resource development is wildlife habitat protection.
Resource development is not the same as urban airline safety but the respect for biodiversity and for our species becoming more integrated in the natural balance and flow of nature is a major human value that is becoming a more important public policy issue. As a result New York should be looking for a more humane, integrated and adaptive approach to bird control around airports rather that euthanizing 170,000 birds of inconvenience.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Albertans Want a More Comprehensive & Integrated Approach to Oil Sands Development
The narrative being promoted about the oil sands is not enough of the story to gain the public confidence. Here is the news release from the Government of Alberta indicating the emphasis they will take to the other provincial Premier's in meetings in Winnipeg this week.
This message is like water is to soup. Essential but insufficient. I say that as a result of a recent conjoint study on values associated with responsible and sustainable development by Albertans on their oil sands.
Albertans overwhelmingly (89%) recognize the importance of the oil sands in term of economic prosperity. I expect people in other provinces, like Newfoundland especially, feel much the same way about the economic importance of the oil sands. So talking up the oil sand contribution to Canada's GDP, the job creating and the secure source of North American continental energy supply is important it is not the entire message that Albertans (and others ?) want to hear.
According to our study Albertans also want to know what is happening around reclamation, wildlife habitat protection efforts and what is being done about ecological monitoring of oil sands development. They are concerned about CO2 and greenhouse gases as well as water usage in oil sands development. What is government and industry doing in these areas are just as vital to Albertans as the pure economic elements when they consider oil sands development.
The oil sands debate, such as it is, is polarized where government and industry seem to avoid talking about the stewardship duties of oil sands development and hard line environmentalists do the same by overlooking the economic and energy security aspects of this vital resource. This is just not helpful in the long run for anyone, and the public confidence in particular.
I think the public is smarter than that and is longing for an adult conversation about the oil sands. Question is how much more is the public losing confidence in government, industry and ENGOs to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth on oil sands development? Albertans clearly want their oil sands resources developed and to benefit from the wealth and opportunity they create. Albertans are even more concerned these days that the development is being done with the highest levels of stewardship possible. We want to benefit and be proud of how our oil sands are development. Those are not mutually exclusive aspirations of the people of Alberta.
This message is like water is to soup. Essential but insufficient. I say that as a result of a recent conjoint study on values associated with responsible and sustainable development by Albertans on their oil sands.
Albertans overwhelmingly (89%) recognize the importance of the oil sands in term of economic prosperity. I expect people in other provinces, like Newfoundland especially, feel much the same way about the economic importance of the oil sands. So talking up the oil sand contribution to Canada's GDP, the job creating and the secure source of North American continental energy supply is important it is not the entire message that Albertans (and others ?) want to hear.
According to our study Albertans also want to know what is happening around reclamation, wildlife habitat protection efforts and what is being done about ecological monitoring of oil sands development. They are concerned about CO2 and greenhouse gases as well as water usage in oil sands development. What is government and industry doing in these areas are just as vital to Albertans as the pure economic elements when they consider oil sands development.
The oil sands debate, such as it is, is polarized where government and industry seem to avoid talking about the stewardship duties of oil sands development and hard line environmentalists do the same by overlooking the economic and energy security aspects of this vital resource. This is just not helpful in the long run for anyone, and the public confidence in particular.
I think the public is smarter than that and is longing for an adult conversation about the oil sands. Question is how much more is the public losing confidence in government, industry and ENGOs to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth on oil sands development? Albertans clearly want their oil sands resources developed and to benefit from the wealth and opportunity they create. Albertans are even more concerned these days that the development is being done with the highest levels of stewardship possible. We want to benefit and be proud of how our oil sands are development. Those are not mutually exclusive aspirations of the people of Alberta.
What Do Albertans Expect as Owners of the Oil Sands?
There is a PR and spin battle going on for the hearts and minds of the public over oil sands. The battle is between the Government of Alberta the oil sands industry and some segments of the ENGOs (Environmental Non-government Organizations.)
The prime targets are Albertans, Canadians, businesses outside of Alberta who benefit from oil sand development and key American politicians who are fixated on a “dirty oil” message around the oil sands. The tactics being used to various degrees by all contestants are paid advertising and PR spin.
We see the ENGO tactic of Corporate Ethics International paying for bill board advertising in a four select US cities calling for a “Rethink” of traveling to Alberta due to our so-called “dirty oil.” There were some significant factual errors about the size of oil sands mining operation in the Corporate Ethics messages. It became a game of “he said - she said” generating more heat than light about the reality of the oil sands.
But there are other media motivated manoeuvres being employed by ENGOs. Just yesterday Greenpeace performed another one of its publicity stunt and will get a bunch of media coverage as a result. They hung a banner from the iconic Calgary Tower and message was “Separate Oil and State.” Two protester wearing Premier Stelmach and Prime Minister Harper facemasks were chained to oil barrels with “Dirty Oil” written on them. Eight of these Greenpeace protesters were arrested and that will give the story some legs in the media.
We see the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers running magazine and television ads using real people involved in oil sands technology, research and reclamation in an attempt to get an authentic human connection to the industry efforts to justify their social license to operate.
The Stelmach government is launching another quarter million dollar newspaper advertising push to “tell the world about the oil sands.” Early indications are these ads are aimed at Albertans and Canadians and if that is the case that is hardly “telling the world.” The recent rejection of a Letter to the Editor by Premier Stelmach to a Washington DC newspaper resulted in the purchase of a half page ad in that paper to run the letter as a way to get the message out to key US politicians. Last time the Alberta government launched a paid advertising campaign on the oil sands it earmarked $25 million dollars glossy advertisements. There was also some misleading in the content and context discovered in the campaign and it was quietly abandoned.
That is all by way of background for what I really want to talk. If you want to connect with the hearts and minds of the public you should try to find out want is on their minds and in their hearts first. Then you should talk to the public about oil sands matters that concern them. There is a need for a conversation between government and industry about the responsible and sustainable development of the oil sands. After all it is Albertan’s who own the oil sands.
But are paid advertising campaigns anything close to a “conversation” with the public. The paid advertising approach is often seen as self-serving one-way messages to the public. There is a place for paid advertising in communications. But in complex matters like oil sands development advertising alone is no substitute for substantial, authentic, accurate, clear and resonant conversations with the public.
So what is it about oil sands development that the Alberta public is concerned about? What information do they want? What do they believe ought to be the values used by decision makers as their oil sands are being developed? How confident are they in the decision makers in government and industry about oil sands development? At Cambridge Strategies we have designed and deployed a random sample survey with 1032 Albertans to get at what is on their minds and in their hearts about oil sands development.
I will be doing more blog posts on this in the future but for now I want to delve a bit deeper into a survey finding that was reported in the Edmonton Journal today under the headline “Many Albertans Onside with Gov’t Handling of the Oilsands.” It is very difficult to take a statistic and isolate it from the larger context and write a meaningful headline that also grabs attention. So I will temper my criticism because while the headline is accurate I am not sure it really captures all the implications and essence of the findings. That requires a bit more reflection and interpretation.
There were some survey questions that were attitudinal and not part of the value choice questions in the conjoint study. So they are more like opinion polling questions and relate to a moment in time only. The value choice conjoint questions on what Albertans believe should guide and drive policy decisions on oil sands development are a more reliable source of what people want and expect over time for oil sands development.
Here is a more comprehensive look at how “onside” Albertans are with the government handling of the oil sands.
The question asked was: “The Alberta government is responsibly managing the oilsands.” The response was:
- Completely Agree 6%
- Agree 25%
- Slightly Agree 34%
- Slightly Disagree 17%
- Disagree 13%
- Completely Disagree 5%
What is it that would make Albertans in the middle group move one direction or another? If the hearts and minds of 51% of Albertans are up for grabs what would influence them to shift one way or another about how they feel their government is doing in terms of responsible management of the oil sands. This is not a minor issue because the survey also found that 89% of Albertans believe the oil sands are either Extremely Important (47%) or Very Important (42%) to Alberta’s prosperity.
Another serious influence on this question is how much confidence Albertans currently have in the political leaders and parties who must make public policy about what constitutes responsible and sustainable oil sands development. That result is also in the Edmonton Journal story but it needs to be more directly related to the first question. Again this must be looked at in terms or a possible trend.
The question was: “Who do you trust the most to responsibly manage Alberta’s growth.” Premier Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Party was at 23%, Danielle Smith of the Wildrose Alliance was 19%. David Swann of the Liberals was 9% and Brian Mason of the NDP came in at 4%. The largest segment was None of the Above at 45%. This indicates some potential for change in Alberta politics but there is not viable political alternative in the minds of most Albertans these days.
There is great deal more opinion related results in the survey and they are published at the Edmonton Journal Notebook Blog too. It is important to review them all and consider the implications as whole and not just individual questions.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Change is Not Easy But Committing Makes It So!
On the other blog I write called RebootAlberta I did a post citizen empowerment as a consequences of individual commitment to a cause, issue or concern. Once someone makes a commitment then things start to really happen. I found a great quote by Goethe to make the point.
I expect we will see people going into and coming out of Reboot 3.0 with a clearer sense of what needs to be done in Alberta for us to become the best we can for the world and why that is worthy of our efforts.
Progressives found in Reboot 1.0 that they were not alone. There are many of us. In fact we are looking at the Reboot Values random survey and seeing how many of those folks align significantly with the Reboot progressive value set. It will be a rough approximation of the size of the progressive population in Alberta.
In Reboot 2.0 we discerned and researched who we are and what we considered as important values as progressives in Alberta. That research is discussed in this blog post http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2010/06/alberta-progressive-values-align-well.html and in the context of the priority of the values held by the Reboot community and everyday Albertans.
In Reboot 3.0 there is a sense of some need for focused action on what is of importance to progressives in Alberta. We will be designing the event to let people select what they want to talk about, what they see as winnable issues and what it will take to embed progressive values in the Alberta political culture going forward.
I expect we will see people going into and coming out of Reboot 3.0 with a clearer sense of what needs to be done in Alberta for us to become the best we can for the world and why that is worthy of our efforts.
Progressives found in Reboot 1.0 that they were not alone. There are many of us. In fact we are looking at the Reboot Values random survey and seeing how many of those folks align significantly with the Reboot progressive value set. It will be a rough approximation of the size of the progressive population in Alberta.
In Reboot 2.0 we discerned and researched who we are and what we considered as important values as progressives in Alberta. That research is discussed in this blog post http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2010/06/alberta-progressive-values-align-well.html and in the context of the priority of the values held by the Reboot community and everyday Albertans.
In Reboot 3.0 there is a sense of some need for focused action on what is of importance to progressives in Alberta. We will be designing the event to let people select what they want to talk about, what they see as winnable issues and what it will take to embed progressive values in the Alberta political culture going forward.
Stages of a Political Relationship & Thoughts for Change
I was recently given a schematic showing a model of the evolution of relationships that was mostly intended to describe personal situations. When I saw it I was fascinated on how well it worked for the political relationship between citizens and politicians/political parties.
Let me take you on the latter journey in the Alberta political context...knowing that it may also apply to Canada. As a Reboot Alberta instigator, this diagram helped me get a better appreciation on where we are as Albertans and what options we have before us. Not all of them are generative. Some are even tending to the nihilistic. But in a free will, free speech and democratic society, all options are open to us.
First we have the Romance stage. Here we get entranced or at least excited about the possibilities of the relationship. I know in the early stages after Stelmach's PC leadership win there was lots of romance with Albertans.OK maybe not with the conventional oil patch but they needed a less patronizing way to relate to government anyway. Too band that never happened as evidenced by the rapid retreat on reasonable royalty rates for the owners of the oil and gas in the ground .
The same romance thing happened with Danielle Smith and the WAP. The Wildrose romance was especially strong amongst the mainstream media who saw the bright articulate and media-savvy Smith as a real challenge to the tired, tepid and too-long-in-the-tooth Tory government. There is a sleeper relationship issue for the WAP. The Social Conservative wing of the Wildrose Alliance was badly beaten by Smith in the leadership contest. She humiliated them on a 75-25 leadership vote split.
That dramatic rejection of a Social Conservative leader was even after another staunch social conservative candidate withdrew from the campaign to stop a vote split. Will the social conservatives stay quietly within the WAP and let Smith run the show...or will they go away? If they go away will it be quietly? I would not take any bet on any odds that the social conservative forces in the WAP stay quiet for long, inside or outside the bosom of the Wildrose Alliance Party.
That WAP sleeper issue segues nicely into the next relationship stage; the Power Struggle. This stage is the essence of the current right-wing political culture war we see going on in Alberta between the PCs and the WAP. We are being told we will need an election to sort it out...but the false presumption is that there are only two viable voter options...PCs or WAPs. So far that seems to be the case as the centre-left alternative parties are not resonating.
If the sense of limited viable election options persists to the next vote and our only choice is between a reactionary right-wing and an extreme right-wing government I will expect an even lower turn out next election and a more vulnerable democracy as a result.
The relationship options coming out of the Power Struggle stage are interesting. They are Apathy (tell me about it...on second thought - don't bother). This is where most Albertans seem to be regarding their "engagement" with politics. In essence the disengagement or who cares what happens politics is the norm. Government is seen as not listening so why try.
Next is the Transcendence option which shows up as non-engagement. That non-engagement is were we care what happens but in some sense for some people, they seem themselves above politics. The passive progressives, indifferent Influentials and the majority of thought-leaders in Alberta are these days seem to fall into this non-engagement category. They are safe and secure themselves and can afford to disengage and wallow in disillusionment without taking any responsibility to apply their skills and experience to change things. The reason for non-engagement comes from a past of anti-intellectualism in the provincial government's political class. Arrogant abdication? Absolutely...by both sides!
We also have Separation that shows up as alternative coming out of a Power Struggle. That leads to a sense of abandonment of hope for the future as social cohesion breaks down and a "we versus they" attitude emerges. It is seen in the rhetoric of in real political separatist who are still around in Alberta who believe the federal government is expropriating Alberta's wealth and giving it away to others, most notably Quebec. The Alberta Separatists are below the radar, on the fringes but they appear to be quietly infiltrating the WAP.
There are others who feel separated in their relationship with government and governors. They have started to abandon hope as they get marginalized and misused. They are those people who are over-extended, burned out and over-burdened trying to constantly do more with less in the voluntary not-for-profit groups. These folks are now also being bullied and intimidated by government politically and administratively into alleging a feigned loyalty to the status quo of the current government. They are particularly vulnerable because they do a lot of work for government and depend on good political relations for fiscal and operational survival.
There are many tragic stories from these people who are now afraid of their own governors but who merely want to serve the greater good and public interest to the best of their abilities. They are qualified, caring and compassionate people but they are turning into cowering compliant operatives who are abandoning any hope of being effective in their work or in taking truth to power. This is especially true in these times of a political Power Struggle in a pending election. Power, it would seem, is not interested in truth. It has it's own agenda...retain power at all costs.
The more hopeful and generative option coming out of the Power Struggle is Curiosity and that leads to Integration where the struggle is resolve issues or at least mitigate the consequences through Integration. Integration in a political cultural sense is what progressive Albertans in Reboot Alberta want to see happening in a renewed and revived democracy. Progressives see Integration as a political and public policy tool to redefine and determine a different destiny for Alberta where control is returned to citizens and citizenship matters again.
The progressive citizen's movement within Reboot Alberta seeks a new trajectory for the province in all aspects from the economy and environment as well as social policy and democratic and political reform. Integration in these terms would be a renewed governing and political philosophy that would ensure that social, environment, economy and democratic elements are all taken into account in any public policy decisions that were being considered and the best outcomes for each governing element would be accommodated.
Integration simply means; all things considered, consider all things. Integration and integrity are closely related and would be achieved even if all these elements were embraced in some honest, open, obvious and authentic public policy, political or governance approach.
What emerges out of Integration is a Commitment to a direction and a destination for Alberta that is based on the clear intention as well as the expressed and committed will of the governed (citizens) as well as the governing(politicians and policy operatives). The consequences of Commitment is action but action that is about being together on achieving a clear intention and goal. The action step is not to vote or not vote. It is much more complicated than that, even though voting is key to creating change.
The lawyer in me knows the concept of being together and intentional about a direction and a goal is captured int the Latin phrase "ad idem" When parties are ad idem, they are of the same mind and spirit. It helps enormously to be ad idem in reaching agreements and in contracts for example. When misunderstandings or differing interpretations appear, ad idem parties can return to intent and spirit of the agreement to resolve, reconcile or even revisit the agreement based on going forward towards even more mutual respect and trust. This is all about being adaptive. Being able to learn and to create a culture of practical applied wisdom instead of the win-lose adversarial model that merely breeds litigation as the default solution space to settle disagreements or misunderstandings.
What comes out of being ad idem in action and intent is a nice framing for the next relationship stage known as Co-Creativity. This is were there is a possibility to synergistically change everything but still reaffirm what is important and vital to our society, our sense of self-respect and overall well-being. I will share in later blogs my sense of the change of everything we need as we strive for as Albertans to integrate all things in a progressive approach. I will explore how we can ensure we are clear on our political values as we express our individual and inter-dependent intents. I will look at how we can, as citizens, use our democracy to insist and be assured that our governors act accordingly to our values and align policy decisions with our aspirations.
The outcome of this Co-creativity is described as Renewed Imagination. I can't think of a better working definition of Romance in political cultural terms than "Renewed Imagination." When this happens we get progress, learning, wisdom and the culture of adaptive change that we want and will benefit from. This is the path being proud again to be a citizen of and a co-creator in designing and delivering the next Alberta. And that stages leads to a new romantic period and starts the whole relationship building process anew.
So my fellow Albertans - it is time to rethink the trajectory we are on as a province and to set another course. We have to come to grips with the harsh reality that way we are being governed is broken. We have to fix it by rethinking the decision making criteria we use as citizens when we show up at the ballot box to grant politicians our consent govern us. We need to become better informed and more engaged in our roles and responsibilities of citizenship. And then we need to show up to vote in a way where we are least make a conscious positive decision about who we want to run our province instead of a forlorn choice between lesser evils.
We have to insist that we get offered a better choice than picking one set of SOBs instead of another group of SOBs to recklessly abuse their political power for their own ends. Abdication of citizenship is a luxury we Albertans can't afford anymore. The world is run by those who show up. Wouldn't it be nice if those who showed up knew what they wanted and had a positive progressive alternative.
That can happen but progressives are going to have to make it happen. Reboot 3.0 is all about starting to make that happen. It is in early planning stages but it is happening November 5-7 in Edmonton. You will get time to talk and plan with others who are longing and yearning for a positive progressive political alternative for Alberta. Block off this time to become a citizen again. It is time to revive your love of this province and restore your pride as an Albertan.
Here is a link to an earlier blog post that will give you a sense of what Albertans are thinking about politics and politicians these days. It will give you some context of how other progressives in Alberta are thinking and feeling.
Join the Reboot progressive citizen's movement and send a message to the powers that be that the status quo is not good enough - nor are the options that we are currently being offered. Start making a difference and start making a different Alberta. Reboot 3.0 is where it will all start. Plan to be there.
Let me take you on the latter journey in the Alberta political context...knowing that it may also apply to Canada. As a Reboot Alberta instigator, this diagram helped me get a better appreciation on where we are as Albertans and what options we have before us. Not all of them are generative. Some are even tending to the nihilistic. But in a free will, free speech and democratic society, all options are open to us.
First we have the Romance stage. Here we get entranced or at least excited about the possibilities of the relationship. I know in the early stages after Stelmach's PC leadership win there was lots of romance with Albertans.OK maybe not with the conventional oil patch but they needed a less patronizing way to relate to government anyway. Too band that never happened as evidenced by the rapid retreat on reasonable royalty rates for the owners of the oil and gas in the ground .
The same romance thing happened with Danielle Smith and the WAP. The Wildrose romance was especially strong amongst the mainstream media who saw the bright articulate and media-savvy Smith as a real challenge to the tired, tepid and too-long-in-the-tooth Tory government. There is a sleeper relationship issue for the WAP. The Social Conservative wing of the Wildrose Alliance was badly beaten by Smith in the leadership contest. She humiliated them on a 75-25 leadership vote split.
That dramatic rejection of a Social Conservative leader was even after another staunch social conservative candidate withdrew from the campaign to stop a vote split. Will the social conservatives stay quietly within the WAP and let Smith run the show...or will they go away? If they go away will it be quietly? I would not take any bet on any odds that the social conservative forces in the WAP stay quiet for long, inside or outside the bosom of the Wildrose Alliance Party.
That WAP sleeper issue segues nicely into the next relationship stage; the Power Struggle. This stage is the essence of the current right-wing political culture war we see going on in Alberta between the PCs and the WAP. We are being told we will need an election to sort it out...but the false presumption is that there are only two viable voter options...PCs or WAPs. So far that seems to be the case as the centre-left alternative parties are not resonating.
If the sense of limited viable election options persists to the next vote and our only choice is between a reactionary right-wing and an extreme right-wing government I will expect an even lower turn out next election and a more vulnerable democracy as a result.
The relationship options coming out of the Power Struggle stage are interesting. They are Apathy (tell me about it...on second thought - don't bother). This is where most Albertans seem to be regarding their "engagement" with politics. In essence the disengagement or who cares what happens politics is the norm. Government is seen as not listening so why try.
Next is the Transcendence option which shows up as non-engagement. That non-engagement is were we care what happens but in some sense for some people, they seem themselves above politics. The passive progressives, indifferent Influentials and the majority of thought-leaders in Alberta are these days seem to fall into this non-engagement category. They are safe and secure themselves and can afford to disengage and wallow in disillusionment without taking any responsibility to apply their skills and experience to change things. The reason for non-engagement comes from a past of anti-intellectualism in the provincial government's political class. Arrogant abdication? Absolutely...by both sides!
We also have Separation that shows up as alternative coming out of a Power Struggle. That leads to a sense of abandonment of hope for the future as social cohesion breaks down and a "we versus they" attitude emerges. It is seen in the rhetoric of in real political separatist who are still around in Alberta who believe the federal government is expropriating Alberta's wealth and giving it away to others, most notably Quebec. The Alberta Separatists are below the radar, on the fringes but they appear to be quietly infiltrating the WAP.
There are others who feel separated in their relationship with government and governors. They have started to abandon hope as they get marginalized and misused. They are those people who are over-extended, burned out and over-burdened trying to constantly do more with less in the voluntary not-for-profit groups. These folks are now also being bullied and intimidated by government politically and administratively into alleging a feigned loyalty to the status quo of the current government. They are particularly vulnerable because they do a lot of work for government and depend on good political relations for fiscal and operational survival.
There are many tragic stories from these people who are now afraid of their own governors but who merely want to serve the greater good and public interest to the best of their abilities. They are qualified, caring and compassionate people but they are turning into cowering compliant operatives who are abandoning any hope of being effective in their work or in taking truth to power. This is especially true in these times of a political Power Struggle in a pending election. Power, it would seem, is not interested in truth. It has it's own agenda...retain power at all costs.
The more hopeful and generative option coming out of the Power Struggle is Curiosity and that leads to Integration where the struggle is resolve issues or at least mitigate the consequences through Integration. Integration in a political cultural sense is what progressive Albertans in Reboot Alberta want to see happening in a renewed and revived democracy. Progressives see Integration as a political and public policy tool to redefine and determine a different destiny for Alberta where control is returned to citizens and citizenship matters again.
The progressive citizen's movement within Reboot Alberta seeks a new trajectory for the province in all aspects from the economy and environment as well as social policy and democratic and political reform. Integration in these terms would be a renewed governing and political philosophy that would ensure that social, environment, economy and democratic elements are all taken into account in any public policy decisions that were being considered and the best outcomes for each governing element would be accommodated.
Integration simply means; all things considered, consider all things. Integration and integrity are closely related and would be achieved even if all these elements were embraced in some honest, open, obvious and authentic public policy, political or governance approach.
What emerges out of Integration is a Commitment to a direction and a destination for Alberta that is based on the clear intention as well as the expressed and committed will of the governed (citizens) as well as the governing(politicians and policy operatives). The consequences of Commitment is action but action that is about being together on achieving a clear intention and goal. The action step is not to vote or not vote. It is much more complicated than that, even though voting is key to creating change.
The lawyer in me knows the concept of being together and intentional about a direction and a goal is captured int the Latin phrase "ad idem" When parties are ad idem, they are of the same mind and spirit. It helps enormously to be ad idem in reaching agreements and in contracts for example. When misunderstandings or differing interpretations appear, ad idem parties can return to intent and spirit of the agreement to resolve, reconcile or even revisit the agreement based on going forward towards even more mutual respect and trust. This is all about being adaptive. Being able to learn and to create a culture of practical applied wisdom instead of the win-lose adversarial model that merely breeds litigation as the default solution space to settle disagreements or misunderstandings.
What comes out of being ad idem in action and intent is a nice framing for the next relationship stage known as Co-Creativity. This is were there is a possibility to synergistically change everything but still reaffirm what is important and vital to our society, our sense of self-respect and overall well-being. I will share in later blogs my sense of the change of everything we need as we strive for as Albertans to integrate all things in a progressive approach. I will explore how we can ensure we are clear on our political values as we express our individual and inter-dependent intents. I will look at how we can, as citizens, use our democracy to insist and be assured that our governors act accordingly to our values and align policy decisions with our aspirations.
The outcome of this Co-creativity is described as Renewed Imagination. I can't think of a better working definition of Romance in political cultural terms than "Renewed Imagination." When this happens we get progress, learning, wisdom and the culture of adaptive change that we want and will benefit from. This is the path being proud again to be a citizen of and a co-creator in designing and delivering the next Alberta. And that stages leads to a new romantic period and starts the whole relationship building process anew.
So my fellow Albertans - it is time to rethink the trajectory we are on as a province and to set another course. We have to come to grips with the harsh reality that way we are being governed is broken. We have to fix it by rethinking the decision making criteria we use as citizens when we show up at the ballot box to grant politicians our consent govern us. We need to become better informed and more engaged in our roles and responsibilities of citizenship. And then we need to show up to vote in a way where we are least make a conscious positive decision about who we want to run our province instead of a forlorn choice between lesser evils.
We have to insist that we get offered a better choice than picking one set of SOBs instead of another group of SOBs to recklessly abuse their political power for their own ends. Abdication of citizenship is a luxury we Albertans can't afford anymore. The world is run by those who show up. Wouldn't it be nice if those who showed up knew what they wanted and had a positive progressive alternative.
That can happen but progressives are going to have to make it happen. Reboot 3.0 is all about starting to make that happen. It is in early planning stages but it is happening November 5-7 in Edmonton. You will get time to talk and plan with others who are longing and yearning for a positive progressive political alternative for Alberta. Block off this time to become a citizen again. It is time to revive your love of this province and restore your pride as an Albertan.
Here is a link to an earlier blog post that will give you a sense of what Albertans are thinking about politics and politicians these days. It will give you some context of how other progressives in Alberta are thinking and feeling.
Join the Reboot progressive citizen's movement and send a message to the powers that be that the status quo is not good enough - nor are the options that we are currently being offered. Start making a difference and start making a different Alberta. Reboot 3.0 is where it will all start. Plan to be there.
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