This month’s Alberta Venture magazine is out and on line. I was able to participate in The Right Call business ethics panel discussion lead by Fil Fraser. This month's topic is on the widely publicized Tim Horton firing of an employee for giving away a Timbit.
BTW - My friend Mark Anielski made the Alberta's 50 Most Influential People listing in Alberta Venture this edition too. I promote his best selling book The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth every chance I get. He just won Gold in the Conscious Business Leadership category at the Nautilus Book Awards in Los Angeles. He won the BRONZE at the Axiom Business Book Awards in New York earlier this year.
Mark's passion is the Genuine Progress Indicator movement and it is gaining strength. People like Mark are the guiding lights. He has done some great work on GPI measures for Alberta. They would give us a much better sense of what it really going on in our province. We should be measuring the good, the bad and the cumulative consequences of our comprehensive economic development activities to really evaluate our growth plans.
Mark recently participated for a Learning Day in Leadership Edmonton on how we can all make the human venture more effective and meaningful. I gave a copy of Mark's book to Premier Stelmach a month ago and sure hope he reads it. It would be good for Alberta to look at how we define our progress as a province more progressively.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Don't Let Bad Politicians Play Politics With the Planet
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.
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.
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.
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