Canada's National Newspaper Talks About the Arts and Alberta...YES!

The Globe and Mail is covering Stelmach's Alberta in more than just energy business or environmental terms...they are looking into the Arts in Alberta too...Terrific.

I spent some time on the phone recently with Alexandra Gill who penned the piece for the Globe and Mail. Here is the link in case you missed it.

The artistic soul of Alberta has long been in Edmonton where there is more variety, depth, diversity and tradition...but Calgary is coming on strong. The emergence of other areas like Red Deer, Athabasca, Lethbridge to name a few are adding to the new Alberta too. It is time we got beyond the redneck and roughneck caricature imagery that has become a stifling cliche for what the rest of Canada has come to see as Albertan.

Arts, culture and heritage has been ignored for far too long by the GOA. I expect that will change with a new Premier. The leadership campaign saw a few candidates appreciate the creative spirit that beats in the breast of the new Alberta. I trust this “political will” shall persist then quickly evolve into some serious support.

There is a new sense of what it means to be Albertan in every corner of the province. There is a more vibrant and vital definition about what quality of life really means emerging throughout Alberta today. I did a Policy Channel interview with Simon Brault, the Vice Chair of the Canada Council on the role and importance of the arts to society and the economy. Here is that link as well

The arts, culture and heritage are 21st century public infrastructure in a knowledge based economy and technologically sophisticated society like Alberta, just as roads and rails were in the early industrial economy.

"How Morton Made Stelmach Leader"

Link Byfield has provided his “take” of the PC Party Leadership results from last Saturday’s voting. I can agree with Link that Morton was a “backbencher” but to claim he had no “media or public support” is a stretch. How did he “knock out four Cabinet Ministers,” on the first ballot, divine intervention?

I have said before that the reality of modern politics is the facts, while interesting, are almost totally irrelevant to people. It is how you frame issues and how they activate people’s values and beliefs that make the difference. Link is a master at taking a set of facts, framing them in such a way that he sets them up to generate the reaction he wants and he invites people to share his pre-conceived conclusion. This is “spin” at its most sophisticated level.

Here is what he has done in this “Commentary” piece. His preconceived conclusion is that Ted Morton is the real cause of the Ed Stelmach victory. He says as a fact that, “Then because most of his (Morton’s) supporters chose Stelmach as their second pick, Morton’s camp gave Stelmach his whopping majority over Jim Dinning.”

Link also concludes by saying, “So only one of the three finalists was actually defeated, not two. Say what? Are we to believe from this statement that Professor Morton somehow won this election too? I don’t think so.

For the record, Stelmach moved from #3 to #1 between the first and second ballot. What if Morton was second and Dinning had been third and out of the second count? Would Link be as quick to conclude that the Dinning’s camp gave Stelmach the victory because his voter’s second preferences went to Stelmach. Obviously then too “only one of the three, (Morton in this case) was actually defeated?” I don’t think so!

More that 10,000 Morton supporters did not mark Stelmach for second choice and, can you believe this, over 4000 of Morton supporters picked Dinning as second choice. If Morton was the real “cause” of the Stelmach victory those 14,000 votes would have been there for Ed too, wouldn’t you think?

Next he goes further by wrapping all this in another “issue frame”, the same old lets pick a fight with Ottawa. He obviously expects Ed to pick a specific “Morton identified” fight with Ottawa which is based on the myth that the Feds are taking more money out of Alberta than they are entitled to.

The fact is Albertans’ pay federal income and corporate taxes, just as do all Canadians from every province. Albertans make more money and therefore pay more taxes. Duh! This is the essence of progressive income tax models we use in Canada. So much for the facts!

Now Professor Morton believes “…that Albertans must learn to stand on their own feet and reduce the massive outflow of Alberta money to the federal treasury.” Firstly I don’t think Albertans feel very incapable of standing up for themselves, contrary to Professor Morton’s belief.

Secondly, this is not “Alberta money.” That characterization misleads one to think it is resource revenues from the Alberta provincial treasury that are somehow being drained in a “massive outflow…to the federal treasury.”

This money is just the personal and corporate income tax payments of Canadian citizens who live in Alberta. As I said, Albertans make more money than other Canadians so we pay more taxes. Nothing more to it than that! But based on this “blaming” framing of the issue, according to Professor Morton, Premier Stelmach is now supposed to take on Ottawa? And the fight is supposed to be over the personal and corporate taxes we pay just as every other Canadian citizen does?

There are many significant and serious issue facing the Canadian federation and Alberta’s role in it. This Reform/Alliance party manufactured issue artificially framed as a “massive outflow…into the federal treasury” is not one of them.

Link Byfield "Likes" Me - Go Figure!

Early in the morning Sunday December 3rd with the final results of the Stelmach victory in hand, I, Lisa Young (U of C Political Science) and Link Byfield (Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy) trundled down to the CBC studios in Edmonton to tape a segment for the Sunday Edition program for airing on CBC AM later in the day.

Bleary eyed but very energized by the results and looking forward to a chance to spar with Link and have the sweet reason and objective insight of Lisa, we had a great time on air.

This was the first time Link and I met each other, not surprising given the distance between us in philosophy. We enjoyed each other’s company and it reminded me of the years I spend on the CBC Radio Political Panel as the Progressive Conservative “mouth” (not mouthpiece I hasten to add).

In those days I used to spar with fellow lawyer Sheila Greckol of the NDP, now she sits as a Court of Queen’s Bench Justice. This time with Link it was the same kind of “serious fun” but with the other end of the political spectrum.

Yesterday Link sent me his “take” on the Stelmach victory and the following e-mail that indicates he enjoyed the “encounter” as much as I did:

Ken:

It was good to meet you, and to discover that behind all those bizarre, knee-jerk, politically correct, left-wing, lopsided, ill-informed opinions you publish you're actually a very likable individual.

Here's my take on the Stelmach victory. It differs somewhat from the one on your Blog.

I'll put you on our weekly distribution list if you like. Do you like?

Link"

The Commentary he referenced is not yet posted on his website but will be soon I expect. When it is, I will debunk it for you all!

I look forward to reading the weekly updates from the left brain of the “right-minded” (sic) Link Byfield. This exchange proves once again dogs and cats can live together, provided they have enough space between them.

Renewing the One Party State Goes to Porn.

I appears that Renewing the One Party State blog site has been taken over by a porn site. We will be removing the link to the site from this Blog until the matter is cleared up.

I will leave any references to the irony of this situation to others to comment on.

Candidates Disclosure Should be a Condition of Cabinet Apppointment.

It would be a good move if Premier Elect Stelmach required all candidates who want to be in Cabinet to disclose there leadership contributor lists as a precondition for any Cabinet appointment. Since every leadership candidate EXCEPT for Professor Morton undertook to disclose their contributor list; it should not be a burden. Inquiring minds want to know and I bet Premier Stelmach feels he needs to know too.

The public expects open, transparent and accountable government – particularly at the cabinet level. Those principles demand that Albertans know who was behind the leadership candidates, at least those candidates who wish to be in Cabinet – BEFORE they are appointed.

If Professor Morton believes he deserves a Cabinet spot, he should satisfy the test of openness and transparency that full and timely disclosure of his campaign contributors would provide.

We can expect anonymous donors to be respected but we need to know how many there were and the amounts they each contributed, not be all lumped together as a single group. Too many and too much money in that anonymous category will cause concern. We need to know who is behind the scenes and may be trying to influence any leadership candidate cum Cabinet Minister in the future.

If we are going to have a Lobbyist and Contractor Registry, and we should, we should also know who the leadership candidate contributors were too.

Time for Professor Morton to change his mind and disclose his campaign contributors, and if not, he ought to forfeit any aspirations to a Cabinet appointment.