I know it is Canada Day. This is the time for pancake breakfasts, picnics, beer, BBQ’s and fireworks with family and friends. But it is also a time for reflection about our pride and our country.
I am reflecting today on where we are going as Canadians in the global context and what the hell is really going on in our nation these days...especially in terms of our environment, our economy and our society.
With all that churning in my cranium, I open my morning newspaper and here before me is a sweet voice of reason and wisdom from the MSM. This piece is some sound advice for engaged citizens who are thinking for a change. (sic)
Gary Mason’s column in the Globe and Mail today adds perspective to what is happening on the carbon-tax/green-shift/climate change political pranks that we are witnessing. This is a great column and well worth a reflective and careful read.
Let’s not let those misguiding politicians who are telling us everything is alright. They are telling us the only thing going wrong is bad policies that lead to higher gasoline prices. They are from the Don’t Worry Be Happy short-sighted school of government. But in our heart of hearts, we know those politicians are, in Gary Mason’s words “… playing politics with the planet.”
The increasing carbon and other GHG emissions are the enemy and taxing carbon is a way to get us to start adapting our behaviours and using our enormous human inventiveness and creativity to resolve the carbon crisis.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Canada Day Message 2008
In 2002 I published a book by my business partner Satya Das. The title is "The Best Country, Why Canada Will Lead the Future." You can buy it on Amazon or send me an email and I will make you a deal.
Back then there was reason for a national optimism about what kind of people we were and how we were doing as a nation.
We used to be at the top of our game on most of the UN Human Development Index rankings. Boy have we ever slipped, as a country, since then. We have become complacent and self-satisfied. As a result we have lost competitive ground, especially to other countries who have improved significantly. Looks like our national mythology no longer aligns with our global reality!
Ann Golden, the head of the Conference Board of Canada has a Canada Day message in this video that puts our country and our declining place on the world stage in perspective.
So celebrate Canada Day tomorrow but also contemplate what the hell we are doing with our potential as a people and as a nation. It is time to stop going to our default role as a citizenry as pragmatically cynical. It is time to re-engage in the future of Canada.
The Dion Green Shift Policy Conversation Amongst Canadians is Starting
Looks like Garth Turner is turning into the aggregtor for thoughtful blogosphere commentary (and the usual Blogging Tory screed) on the Dion Green Shift plan. He is worth a visit and read the comments too. Lots of insight and interesting perspectives being expressed.
For some insight on how the Bush Republicans and Harper Cons work their black magic on the public consciouness - including fooling much of the MSM - read this op-ed in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27aamodt.html?ex=1372305600&en=2bb9e9c384a1c7fe&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
For some insight on how the Bush Republicans and Harper Cons work their black magic on the public consciouness - including fooling much of the MSM - read this op-ed in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27aamodt.html?ex=1372305600&en=2bb9e9c384a1c7fe&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Torqued Story Claims Enviroment Falls to #3 Issue - Balderdash
The front page of yesterday’s Globe and Mail has torqued a story so badly that it can’t go without comment. The story is about a new poll from the Strategic Counsel just did for the Globe and CTV.
The torqued headline says “Energy Crisis Supplant Environment as Top Concern.” The sub-head torques even more and says “Poll reveals a shift in attitude that could prove fatal to Dion’s proposed carbon tax.”
First, Strategic Counsel does great work and I have no comment or concerns over the poll or its results. What is so bad is the actual interpreting and reporting on the poll results by the Globe and Mail.
The story says…”The environment, last year’s top issue has been pushed to No. 3 with just 16 percent of Canadians now saying they now consider it their primary concern.”
The fact is the poll found the top three primary concern issues were Economic/unemployment at 18%, Gas Prices at 18% and Environmental at 16%. The poll of a 1000 people in the field for 10 days in June has a margin of error of 3.1% The three issues are all statistically of equal concern given the margin of error. To say environment has dropped to #3 is absurd. In fact, with the margin of error the story could be torqued the other way to say the Environment is still the #1 issue. But that would be wrong too.
The next piece of torque is to presume this is bad news for Dion’s Green Shift project. It is not just a carbon tax policy and to only focus on that aspect of the proposal is also torque. To presume this is bad news for Dion because there are three dominant issues that all inter-relate to the environment concerns is misleading torque. The Dion Green Shift proposal may in fact benefit from this triumvirate of primary Canadian concerns because they are all part of the comprehensive and integrated aspects of the Dion plan. But the trick is to get folks to read and understand the plan.
We need to look at the consequences of our behaviours, lifestyle choices and future focuses on growth as a society. We need to learn to adapt to some harsh realities about our impact on the environment, the economics of our future and get serious about where our jobs will be coming from in the face of globalization. We need to get focused on what we can do about cleaning up our fossil fuel uses and to aggressively encourage conservation and the development of additional alternative energy sources.
These are part and parcel of the context of the primary concerns of Canadians found in the Strategic Counsel poll. Unfortunately they are not part of the Globe and Mail interpretation of the poll’s findings.
The foundational concept of Dion’s Green Plan is to get Canadians into a serious conversation and decision making mode to deal with these primary concerns. We need the MSM to move beyond the horse race kind of political coverage this story perpetuates.
The Globe and Mail is currently doing an excellent job of bringing serious and considered attention to the reality of mental illness in Canada. Mr. Greenspon, as the Editor of the Globe and Mail, please bring the same journalistic substance to encourage a meaningful public policy conversation in Canada about the way we deal with the environment. Stop the silly horse race personality based political coverage and help citizens to look at our environmental policy options in an integrated holistic way.
We need the conversation to start so we can better understand how our environmental policy changes can be done in ways that sustains prosperity for Canadians and enhances the social dimensions of our country. Canada can and should be a role model as a nation in dealing with these issues. Torquing stories that merely feeds the political horse race does not help move us towards this more serious and significant set of concerns shown in these poll results.
The torqued headline says “Energy Crisis Supplant Environment as Top Concern.” The sub-head torques even more and says “Poll reveals a shift in attitude that could prove fatal to Dion’s proposed carbon tax.”
First, Strategic Counsel does great work and I have no comment or concerns over the poll or its results. What is so bad is the actual interpreting and reporting on the poll results by the Globe and Mail.
The story says…”The environment, last year’s top issue has been pushed to No. 3 with just 16 percent of Canadians now saying they now consider it their primary concern.”
The fact is the poll found the top three primary concern issues were Economic/unemployment at 18%, Gas Prices at 18% and Environmental at 16%. The poll of a 1000 people in the field for 10 days in June has a margin of error of 3.1% The three issues are all statistically of equal concern given the margin of error. To say environment has dropped to #3 is absurd. In fact, with the margin of error the story could be torqued the other way to say the Environment is still the #1 issue. But that would be wrong too.
The next piece of torque is to presume this is bad news for Dion’s Green Shift project. It is not just a carbon tax policy and to only focus on that aspect of the proposal is also torque. To presume this is bad news for Dion because there are three dominant issues that all inter-relate to the environment concerns is misleading torque. The Dion Green Shift proposal may in fact benefit from this triumvirate of primary Canadian concerns because they are all part of the comprehensive and integrated aspects of the Dion plan. But the trick is to get folks to read and understand the plan.
We need to look at the consequences of our behaviours, lifestyle choices and future focuses on growth as a society. We need to learn to adapt to some harsh realities about our impact on the environment, the economics of our future and get serious about where our jobs will be coming from in the face of globalization. We need to get focused on what we can do about cleaning up our fossil fuel uses and to aggressively encourage conservation and the development of additional alternative energy sources.
These are part and parcel of the context of the primary concerns of Canadians found in the Strategic Counsel poll. Unfortunately they are not part of the Globe and Mail interpretation of the poll’s findings.
The foundational concept of Dion’s Green Plan is to get Canadians into a serious conversation and decision making mode to deal with these primary concerns. We need the MSM to move beyond the horse race kind of political coverage this story perpetuates.
The Globe and Mail is currently doing an excellent job of bringing serious and considered attention to the reality of mental illness in Canada. Mr. Greenspon, as the Editor of the Globe and Mail, please bring the same journalistic substance to encourage a meaningful public policy conversation in Canada about the way we deal with the environment. Stop the silly horse race personality based political coverage and help citizens to look at our environmental policy options in an integrated holistic way.
We need the conversation to start so we can better understand how our environmental policy changes can be done in ways that sustains prosperity for Canadians and enhances the social dimensions of our country. Canada can and should be a role model as a nation in dealing with these issues. Torquing stories that merely feeds the political horse race does not help move us towards this more serious and significant set of concerns shown in these poll results.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Alberta Liberal Leadership Hopefuls Line Up On the Left.
The line up of the touted and taunted for the leadership of the Alberta Liberal party so far is pretty much aligned (or maligned) on the left. The touted are Edmonton candidates Laurie Blakeman, Hugh MacDonald balanced off by Calgary’s David Swann and Dave Taylor.
Those being taunted, but not biting, are former Deputy Prime Minister of Anne McLennan and current Calgary Mayor Bronconnier. Given the past and present accomplishments of Anne and Dave one would be hard pressed to come up with a convincing reason for them to jump into this political pot-boiler.
There are others toying with the idea – there always are. They don't usually have a hope to win but campaigns matter and they often add spice to the event. They get to say some things in campaigns that the self-possessed front runners may think but don’t dare say. Amongst those wild cards I would keep an eye out for former Edmonton McClung MLA Mo Elsalhy.
Ideally we would see a youthful refreshing idealistic candidate emerge to make some noise. Not Edmonton City Councillor Don Iveson but someone like him who can run a modern successful Web 2.0 political campaign to prove you don't have to spend a million dollars to be successful.
They definitely need a rural candidate or two stepping forward as well. I don’t have any names yet but if someone out there in rural Alberta is kicking the tires, let me know. So who have we got in the hopper (or the blender) so far?
Laurie Blakeman has experience and she has proven political skills. But she is much closer to being a Sheila Copps than a Bette Hewes. That is a big bonus if you like butting heads, like a Sheila Copps, rather than building a province, like a Bette Hewes. Not sure if she could handle the economic and geo-political issues emerging in Alberta. She seems to totally urban in outlook and may be perceived as too Edmonton-centric. If the Libs only want to select a Leader of the Opposition - Blakeman is the best choice.
Hugh MacDonald is the Rodney Dangerfield of the group. He is an accomplished journeyman politician and a strong constituency guy who is chronically nice. Unfortunately he has no royal jelly and therefore will not become the provincial party leader. He would be the farthest left leaning candidate and could easily philosophically pinch hit for Brian Mason of the NDP. At the end of the day Hugh is a salt-of-the-earth guy and will be called upon to patch up the party if the race gets brutal. You don’t have to be a candidate to play that role but it usually helps.
David Swann is the most interesting potential candidate so far. Like Taft he is a reluctant politician who got into politics because he was personally offended by the power structure in the province in the Klein era. Swann was fired as a medical health officer in a now defunct southern Alberta health authority. I believe he was fired for pure political reasons, like supporting the Kyoto Accord I believe. A Calgary MLA in his second term Swann is openly questioning how to get past what some see as the perpetual one-party state called Alberta. His thoughts range from revitalizing the Liberal party to working on a brand new progressive political movement. It will be interesting to see if he runs, which way he goes and what he does and says as a candidate.
Dave Taylor is the quintessential Calgary guy who will be in this race for sure. He is like a Ralph Klein but without a Rod Love to “execute” (every pun intended). Alberta has already done a Ralph Klein and I am not sure we are ready for another one any time soon. Taylor is very media savvy, highly quotable and a “quip thinker.” But that seems to be the extent of his political talent. Populist are fun for the media but they are dangerous in times of uncertainty and serious social change.
Change and uncertainty in the face of abundance is the new Alberta reality. Out of control growth pressures that are creating social problems everywhere along with an emerging urgency over ecological concerns means we need statesmanship in our governing institutions more than ever.
For my money you can keep your charismatic politicians as leaders. They create more problems than they resolve. I want a thoughtful solid citizen with a compassionate sensibility who can handle uncertainty and complexity. I want an intelligent and curious leader with a pragmatic long view of politics. I want a leader who see themselves as a servant-leader and not as some paternalistic authority figure with a hunger for for personal power. If the Alberta Liberals can find that kind leader they might have a chance.
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