Spec Stories On Stelmach's Cabinet Are Spin - Not News.

I read with interest the two different speculation stories on the new Stelmach Cabinet from Neil Waugh of the Edmonton Sun and Jason Markusoff of the Edmonton Journal. These two MSM outlets are fierce competitors and especially these days as they battle over political stories around a new government.

I see that same gamesmanship is continuing in these “spec” stories on the new Stelmach Cabinet. In a competitive media market the media goal appears to be around getting the story first more than getting it right. Is that what is happening this morning in the Cabinet spec stories in these two papers? Both these writers will have “sources” and both have different takes on what they say Premier Stelmach has decided about his Cabinet. As if they or any of their “sources” actually know…they don’t…and shouldn’t. So don’t get fooled Alberta.

I often speak to journalists on matters of public policy and offer personal opinions on political events and public policy and have often been a MSM source as a result. Media relations is part of my business. The right and responsibility of the Premier to announce his Cabinet when and how he wishes is nobody’s business but the Premier’s. Full disclosure, I am not one of the sources for either of these writers on these speculative stories. I have no inside information on the cabinet making process and results - nor should I.

Nobody but a very small group of advisers, who are totally loyal to the Premier or senior government administrators, who are duty bound to the government, knows the outcome of this process in advance. They would never get ahead of the Premier and be a media “source” on a matter so crucial to his leadership.

Citizens, including myself, are content to let the Premier make his cabinet decision in his own way, for his own reasons and in his own good time. To otherwise speculate on the Premier’s decision from the outside falls in the same category of gossip like what changes Mr. Katz will make to the Oiler organization. There will likely be changes but only Mr. Katz knows for sure and anybody else who thinks they know the final decisoin in advance is delusional.

Cabinet making is the work of political leaders and at the heart of public policy leadership. It is so important to the successful launch of a new government. That is why the Premier has to keep his own counsel on such important decisions. At the end of the day he alone has to make up his mind and deal with the consequences of his choices. He alone has to take the time to brief his Cabinet Minister's on his expectations of them and to do this in his own way and on his own terms.

In the mean time anybody else who the MSM quotes as “in the know” on such matters are simply not. They are gossiping and spinning and speculating - or very naive…nothing more. That does not mean you won’t get people, especially pundits, lobbyists and even bloggers talking about the make-up of new Cabinet. But rest assured none of them actually knows anymore than anybody else.

The MSM media will naturally be nosing around the margins of the political class for any tidbit, piece of gossip or rumour from “insiders” or “reliable sources” in advance of the final Cabinet announcement. These “insights” from so-called insider’s are mere rumour, gossip and pure speculation.

Remember MSM is a competitive business. They are all prone to speculation on such newsworthy events. They will even “sex them up” up as a “news” story from time to time and then claim that they got the “story first.” This is the nature of the media and for any politicians to complain about it is as about useless as a sea captain cursing the ocean.

This speculation approach is fine for op-eds and other opinion pieces but the public should not confuse them with “news.” Speculation on personality politics is fun, entertaining and engaging but that is all it is – it is not news. If these items are presented and perceived as “hard news” they do nothing to add to the battered credibility of the MSM. This approach to cover gossip as hard news does nothing to enhance the public’s perceptions of the reliability of the MSM either.

We need the MSM to be authoritative, credible and reliable because the alternative news source of the world-wide-web is so deplorable on these criteria. Citizens need an informative news source they can continue to believe and believe in. That reliability and credibility is the ultimate differentiating factor for traditional media these days as the Internet encroaches on their news source territory and their market share for readers.

Let’s hope the proper role of the opinion piece does not get conflated with hard news in our newspapers like entertainment has conflated with new on television. They all have a place but they ought to be very clear and distinct from each other.

So polish up your media literacy and read these spec pieces on the makeup and implications of the Stelmach Cabinet appointments today and realize that it is spin, speculation and supposition…but not fact based news. If the speculation turns out to be “accurate” that will be by coincidence only not because of the authoritativeness of the media’s “sources.”

Wolf Kill Draws Wrath of Albertans.

The recent top stories in the Edmonton Journal media on the proposed wolf kill and sterilization have been particularly interesting to me. The Oil Sands Survey done last November indicated that Albertans were mostly concerned about wildlife habitat and GHG emissions and the key issues around the responsible and sustainable oil sands development. The other top issues related to water use and reclamation issues.

The announcement of a cull of the wolf population and sterilization as a government supported university “study” has been front page news. It has also caused a barrage of Letters to the Editor deploring this interference with nature.

None of this surprises me given how strong and intensely Albertans feel about preserving wildlife habitat. It is a below the surface issue for most policy makers and advisers but Albertans heads and hearts are with the animals.

The sentiments in those Letters to the Editor are strong and firm. Comments include concerns that “(we)…should be monitoring the natural cycles that exist between predator and prey without callously interfering in order to please a small sector of the human population. The project has been called “unethical” by other letter writers. The government is being called to task for “sanctioning a grizzly bear hunt even while the numbers of bears plummeted every year.” Another noted, “I read the article on the wolf kill with dismay and disgust. How self-serving! Mankind has caused tremendous upset to the balance of climate as well as animal and plant species.”

The times are a changin’ and this concern for wildlife and respecting their habitat is now a dominant value for Albertans and on the front burner politically. The key question is if anyone in the provincial power structure know the depth of that concern yet and do they get it enough to do something about kt? The politicians cannot ignore this new value set without bringing on the wrath of Albertans down on their heads.

Memo to Premier Stelmach - Alberta's International and Intergovernmental Department Needs a Very Strong Minister

As Premier Stelmach get out the shop tools and builds his first Cabinet with his own team and mandate there is one key department that needs to be elevated and have a much stronger Minister to head it. That department is International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs.

In the constitutional wars of the 70’s this department was the intellectual powerhouse of the Lougheed government…and it had to be, given the constitutional and other challenges Alberta was facing then with Ottawa. It was an impressive group of minds and focused motivations in those days and the depth of ability is still there notwithstanding the budget cuts of the mid 90s.

The challenges Alberta is facing now on the intergovernmental front are even more complex and critical. That is why this Ministry needs the political leadership from the best and brightest talent available to Stelmach. It has the right stuff in the staffing and administrative leadership. It needs the political leadership to be beefed up significantly. It is not an entry level Cabinet position or a holding tank for under performing Ministers. Nor can it be merely a transition appointment pending retirement anymore.

Alberta has lots of complex issues do deal with on many fronts and with many different influences and influencers. The Alberta-Ottawa dynamics will be heating up significantly over the environment, climate change, transfer payment fairness, immigration and US trade relations, to name a few. There will be uncertainty caused over what appears to be an inevitable NAFTA review by President Obama or Clinton. Alberta will be one of the victims of the enormous desire for much tighter border control and homeland security measures that will undoubtedly be pursued under President McCain, if that is the Presidential election result this November. There is a raft of legislative initiatives in the US Congress that all impact the future of our so-called “dirty oil” from the oil sands development that need to be handled properly.

Then there will be the growing American demand on our oil sands sector to provide secure, reliable and relatively less expensive continental energy supply that will put even more growth pressures on Alberta socially and environmentally. Local upgrading versus shipping raw bitumen into new pipelines that have just been approved into the US refiners will be a friction point. The impact of more foreign direct investment in the oil sands, particularly from China will be a hot international and intergovernmental issues too.

The reconciliation of these different interests the between the integrated energy sector players, American political and economic interests and Ottawa policy approaches will impact Alberta’s control over its own future. These are powerful geopolitical forces and they put Alberta right in the cross hairs and a target in so many ways and at so many levels.

And then there will be the domestic intergovernmental pressures resulting from the growing central Canada angst over the power and influence shift to Alberta and BC from Ontario and Quebec. Alberta has half the population of Quebec and a much larger rate of growth and investment, that along with BC is rivaling Ontario. That power shift to the Canadian west will have to be handled adeptly as well.

The TILMA agreement with BC will be a dynamic intergovernmental situation for Alberta as BC’s Premier Campbell takes over the national leadership stage on the environment on carbon tax and other green alternative initiatives. That effort by BC will put pressure Alberta to match them under TILMA provisions sooner than later. There will intergovernmental issues with BC and Ottawa on how to deal with the Mountain Pine Beetle as it threatens to devour the boreal forest.

I have not even touched on the aboriginal aspect of the department which has its own challenges and urgency's. I could go on but I am sure you get my drift. Premier Stelmach held this portfolio and enjoyed it. Ron Hicks, the Deputy Minister of Executive Council served as Deputy Minister in this department too. They know it and no doubt see its emerging importance in the future of Alberta. I look forward to the Cabinet appointments this week – and the IIA Ministerial appointment with particular interest.

Revisiting Citizenship and Cynicism

I wrote a post way back on August 10, 2006 - one of my very first. It dealt with citizenship and cynicism. A reader recently reminded my of it and its timeliness in Alberta around the concern of a lower and lower voter turnout in elections.

Here is the link to a reflection on our declining state of citizenship.

I hope revisiting this post generates some new commentary on this Blog about how we can revitalize civil society and revive a sense of citizenship as both a duty and a right. People died for us to have this opportunity for a free and democratic society and that seems to be cliche now. Sad when you consider that our troops are making personal efforts and sacrifices, in our name, to help others in Afghanistan. They are risking their lives right now so others can have these democratic rights that we are blithely taking for granted.

We seem to have lost our way somewhere along the way as we seem to have adopted the dominant social goal of getting "rich" instead of the more exciting goal of becoming "enriched." Or is that just me talking?

Low Voter Turnout Will Not Be Fixed by Tinkering

Every time I find myself agreeing with Lorne Gunter I am convinced one of us does not understand the issue. His column today about NOT voting is a right too makes some very good points.

We see the losing parties in the Alberta election calling for electoral reform because of low participation rates. Any regular reader of this Blog knows I harp and carp about voters showing up. I also agree that while voting is a “duty” of citizenship and a right as well – it is not a legal obligation. Just as there is freedom of religion in Canada…there is freedom from religion too.
I saw a sign on a mailbox in Edmonton during this election that said it all. It was not the usual

“No Flyers” but rather the more disturbing message of “Don’t Ask Me To Participate.” That is not an unreasonable position to take these days - for many reasons – but it is emblematic of a sad state of affairs.

I too am saddened by the low turnout in Alberta and I share some embarrassment over it too. I do not bemoan this reality as if it were the fault of the voter. It is not. It is the fault of the political class, and political parties in particular. The “fix” is not tinkering with the system like preferential ballots, proportional representation or transferrable votes. The fix is for politics to become relevant to people’s lives. We need to adjust the balance between rural and urban seat in Alberta to be more equitable and that will happen by 2010 – well before the next election.

The big issues for me is how ignorant our citizens are about politics and civics in Canada – and apparently even more so in Alberta. My definition of ignorance is not pejorative but more of an adaptive challenge. Ignorance to me is the absence of all that stuff which could be learned that would be helpful - IF it were learned. This ignorance is masked by excuses for not voting that are mostly of the “my dog ate my homework” variety But the real question is why do people have to make excuses – lame or otherwise?

Low voter participation is not a systemic or an election process issue…it is an ignorance and education issue. Citizens have large gaps in their knowledge of the place, importance and implications of politics in their day to day lives. As a result the rationally conclude politics has little relevance to them. The bickering and belligerence they see in the television news clips coverage of Question Period is not something any reasonable person would respect nor likely see as relevant.

I do not want voters showing up at polls who are uninformed and indifferent and only “participate” because they may face a fine or not be able to renew their drivers’ license. I want informed engaged citizens who value democracy and see a positive role for government and want to have a say in their individual and collective future – and not only at election time.

If we do not start to have politics that are relevant and engaging to citizens we open ourselves up to all kinds of problems from corruption and demagoguery to despair with a disintegration of our sense social cohesion and common purpose.

The world is run by those who show up and those who don’t are mostly content to delegate their democratic rights to those who do get informed and engage…so be it. Political parties, politicians and leaders and the media need to get the gamesmanship out of the process and need to start helping educate the citizens about politics and how they can engage.

There is lots of work to do and it will take time because citizen’s ignorance of the political system has many sources. They include convention and habit, isolation, fear, uncertainty, rationalization, complexity, limits of culture, willful ignorance, belief in an “infallible ideology “, conventional success, geocentricism and constraints of circumstances – just to name a few.

So let’s not get trapped into tinkering with the tools of election processes and thinking that we can fix the citizen engagement situation. The disengagement and dissatisfaction of rational citizens in the politics of our times is not going to be resolved with such superficial solutions.


Democracy to survive and thrive needs an informed, engaged and effectual citizenry. Our political institutions are not fulfilling their responsibilities to the citizenry, their true political masters. This is because they have descended into a gamesmanship and media manipulation mentality.

This predominant adversarial gamesmanship kind of politics that dominates today is merely confirms to rational citizen that our key governing institutions are largely irrelevant and clearly impotent at dealing effectively with the real world concerns of the citizenry. Why would anyone with half a brain and a modicum of self respect want to show up, engage and encourage this kind of behavior that is the basis of our current political culture?

It is not the system that is the problem. It’s the combination of citizen ignorance of politics caused mostly by a stupid “modern” political culture that is the root cause of low voter turnout.