The Alberta Rally for Arts happened in Edmonton near the end of the federal election campaign. It was one of many events across the country to protest the Harper Party arts and culture funding cuts and to mobilize people to get involved in the election. I was asked to help out and here is a clip of part of my comments.
Based on the turnout being the lowest in history one wonders if people are grumpy but not angry enough to get seriousy engaged in effective citizenship.
The culture creatives and progressives in Alberta are a key group that need to re-engage in civics and citizenship if we are to have a cohesive, inclusive and creative society. I am a big believer that the world needs more Canada but Canada has to be more than mere myths of creativity, innnovation and inclusion.
I intend to try to continue to engage progressives and culture creatives in public policy design and development from now on. So you can expect some more "Free Speech" blog posts to those ends going forward.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Canadian Election - The Daily Show
This insight into Canada and our relationship with the USA and our election is so much fun. I love being Canadian just for the reasons Jon Stewart talks about.
Alberta Includes Midwifery Under Health Care Services - Finally
The Stelmach government once again shows its progressive side by including midwifery in the fully funded public health care system. This has been a long time coming and credit is due to the Stelmach government in this positive policy position.
I acted as legal counsel for the Alberta Association of Midwives many years ago and managed to get them legal status as a profession. A breakthrough in the “negotiations” happened when a Red Deer doctor complained to the RCMP about a mother having a home birth that had no complications. Charges were laid and the public saw this as ridiculous and abusive – which it was. It was also seen as by the public as turf protection by some members of the medical profession. To their credit, not all physicians had this attitude.
The mom hired a lawyer to push the matter through courts and I pursued it in the court of public opinion. We won in both courts and midwifery became legal as the political barriers that many backward thinking politicians had put up suddenly disappeared. Midwives became recognized as a profession under Alberta law – but the province refused to include them in the health care system for years.
Midwifery services have always been part of the access to services and wait times solution. With the shortages and aging of family physicians and obstetricians midwifery service is not so much an innovation as a necessity.
Alberta is slow to get up to speed on midwifery services compared to other provinces. We were never able to get them included in the public health care system for pure political reasons. The same backward attitudes slowed down seatbelts, smoking bans and unfunded teacher’s pension liability. Well Ed Stelmach has changed all that and now he adds enlightened policy on midwifery to his accomplishments. Congratulations Premier Stelmach and to all those who involved in this wonderful decision.
I acted as legal counsel for the Alberta Association of Midwives many years ago and managed to get them legal status as a profession. A breakthrough in the “negotiations” happened when a Red Deer doctor complained to the RCMP about a mother having a home birth that had no complications. Charges were laid and the public saw this as ridiculous and abusive – which it was. It was also seen as by the public as turf protection by some members of the medical profession. To their credit, not all physicians had this attitude.
The mom hired a lawyer to push the matter through courts and I pursued it in the court of public opinion. We won in both courts and midwifery became legal as the political barriers that many backward thinking politicians had put up suddenly disappeared. Midwives became recognized as a profession under Alberta law – but the province refused to include them in the health care system for years.
Midwifery services have always been part of the access to services and wait times solution. With the shortages and aging of family physicians and obstetricians midwifery service is not so much an innovation as a necessity.
Alberta is slow to get up to speed on midwifery services compared to other provinces. We were never able to get them included in the public health care system for pure political reasons. The same backward attitudes slowed down seatbelts, smoking bans and unfunded teacher’s pension liability. Well Ed Stelmach has changed all that and now he adds enlightened policy on midwifery to his accomplishments. Congratulations Premier Stelmach and to all those who involved in this wonderful decision.
The MSM Seems Fixated on the Dion Demise While the World is in Turmoil
So here we go through the mainstream media silliness of the Dion demise and death-watch. Of course Mr. Dion is done as Liberal leader. Nobody with a three-digit IQ will likely misunderstand that reality. But the competitive MSM seems to be panting to be “first with the story.” That race to be rapid rather than right means they sacrifice facts and accuracy for being able to claim they "broke the story."
The classic reporting is of rumours from anonymous sources about when Dion will announce something. This is promulgated in a pack-journalism culture as if it was “news.” It is not even pedantic infotainment. It is pure gossip. Dion is going to consider and consult because he is a team player and that kind of momentous decisoin takes time and attention. This change of leadership has to be done right for the good of the country and not just the benefit of the Liberal party and in consideration of Dion's future role.
We all need help to understand the implications of the Dion demise to the effectiveness of the Liberal Party functioning as the Official Opposition in this minority Parliament. We need to have some analysis on the reality surrounding the timing and process of a leadership change. This is critical for the Liberals and for what it means for our Canadian democracy and the political culture of the country.
Thankfully the Globe and Mail is on the job. The great columns in today’s newspaper by Jeffery Simpson ( “There is Life After Leader) Lawrence Martin (“The Forecast: Dion out by year’s end, Harper before the next vote.”) and the thoughtful comments (that I disagree with in part) on the state of our democracy by Ed Broadbent (“21st Century Canada, Home of 19th-century Democracy”).
Depth perception and dialogue from authoritative and knowledgeable news sources seems to be missing in action these days. We need to move beyond the hardball hyperbole of the recent election. The 24 hour news cycle and the instantaneous and viral nature of the internet all tends to dumb down the news into a culture where quickness trumps quality. Facts get framed to fit into sound bites and analysis is mostly anal and listless. We have never had more communications but with less information.
As I write this the TSX has dropped below 9000, oil is down over $5.00 on the day and is under $70 - and more big banks are getting taxpayer bailouts in Europe and the States. At least hurricane OMAR is moving towards open water and not likely to hit land. Time to get focused and serious about the economy, the environment and our society.
The classic reporting is of rumours from anonymous sources about when Dion will announce something. This is promulgated in a pack-journalism culture as if it was “news.” It is not even pedantic infotainment. It is pure gossip. Dion is going to consider and consult because he is a team player and that kind of momentous decisoin takes time and attention. This change of leadership has to be done right for the good of the country and not just the benefit of the Liberal party and in consideration of Dion's future role.
We all need help to understand the implications of the Dion demise to the effectiveness of the Liberal Party functioning as the Official Opposition in this minority Parliament. We need to have some analysis on the reality surrounding the timing and process of a leadership change. This is critical for the Liberals and for what it means for our Canadian democracy and the political culture of the country.
Thankfully the Globe and Mail is on the job. The great columns in today’s newspaper by Jeffery Simpson ( “There is Life After Leader) Lawrence Martin (“The Forecast: Dion out by year’s end, Harper before the next vote.”) and the thoughtful comments (that I disagree with in part) on the state of our democracy by Ed Broadbent (“21st Century Canada, Home of 19th-century Democracy”).
Depth perception and dialogue from authoritative and knowledgeable news sources seems to be missing in action these days. We need to move beyond the hardball hyperbole of the recent election. The 24 hour news cycle and the instantaneous and viral nature of the internet all tends to dumb down the news into a culture where quickness trumps quality. Facts get framed to fit into sound bites and analysis is mostly anal and listless. We have never had more communications but with less information.
As I write this the TSX has dropped below 9000, oil is down over $5.00 on the day and is under $70 - and more big banks are getting taxpayer bailouts in Europe and the States. At least hurricane OMAR is moving towards open water and not likely to hit land. Time to get focused and serious about the economy, the environment and our society.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Is Harper Changing Priorities?
And so the positioning begins…and it is a good thing. Prime Minister Harper moved his tone in his victory speech last night using much of Dion’s language to indicate that empathy was not a foreign word in Harper’s vocabulary.
Harper is clever enough to know that with a much weakened Dion and an overly enthusiastic Layton the ploy of making every vote a confidence matter will not work this time. Dion has nothing to lose if he is on his way out anyway, why not call Harper’s bluff and cause another election. Harper is a bully but he is not foolhardy.
Collaboration is going to have to be the governing model. We saw Harper back down when his bluff is called on matters like getting Elizabeth May into the debates and even rushing out a policy platform in the final week of the campaign.
The economy is fragile even with strong fundamentals and everyone knows it. Harper is finally admitting it publicly and moving from “I am in charge and will Do Nothing” to now he is bolstering the banks with a $10B cash injection and a “safety net for money markets mutual funds.”
Canadian Press is reporting a more malleable PM who is saying he is “…ready to meet with opposition leaders to discuss economic issues.” First Ministers will meet without him and he can't have that happne. Last time he insisted opposition leaders meet with him so he could “prove” Parliament was “dysfunctional” so his pretense of an election had “credibility.” Everyone saw through it but he called an election for his personal hubris and naked grab for power anyway. He has never delighted in meeting with his provincial inferiors but maybe times have changed.
The Harper Party is backing off Senate Reform – Duh – in this economic climate we are going to spice it up with the additional fun of Constitutional reform? Sure we are. Harper is backing of his Crime and Punishment legislation so 14 year olds are safe from life sentences – for awhile at least.”A conciliatory tone pervaded his news conference” according to the CP report.
The economy is clearly job 1 – as it should be. Too bad we had to spent $300,000,000.00 and about 5 weeks of wasted time to end up in the same place we started. Pretty expensive way to just target and cripple Stephane Dion don’t you think?
Is anyone really happy with this result? Dion's feeling have to be obvious with the lowest level of support for the Liberal Party - ever! Harper hasn't got it done with three times at bat and has to be wondering how much more he has to give to Quebec to get them on side. Layton has proven he is not Broadbent. Duceppe can't too pleased with being identified as saving English Canada from a Harper majority. May might win one day but no time soon. She can use the time until the next election to raise her support and profile.
Harper is clever enough to know that with a much weakened Dion and an overly enthusiastic Layton the ploy of making every vote a confidence matter will not work this time. Dion has nothing to lose if he is on his way out anyway, why not call Harper’s bluff and cause another election. Harper is a bully but he is not foolhardy.
Collaboration is going to have to be the governing model. We saw Harper back down when his bluff is called on matters like getting Elizabeth May into the debates and even rushing out a policy platform in the final week of the campaign.
The economy is fragile even with strong fundamentals and everyone knows it. Harper is finally admitting it publicly and moving from “I am in charge and will Do Nothing” to now he is bolstering the banks with a $10B cash injection and a “safety net for money markets mutual funds.”
Canadian Press is reporting a more malleable PM who is saying he is “…ready to meet with opposition leaders to discuss economic issues.” First Ministers will meet without him and he can't have that happne. Last time he insisted opposition leaders meet with him so he could “prove” Parliament was “dysfunctional” so his pretense of an election had “credibility.” Everyone saw through it but he called an election for his personal hubris and naked grab for power anyway. He has never delighted in meeting with his provincial inferiors but maybe times have changed.
The Harper Party is backing off Senate Reform – Duh – in this economic climate we are going to spice it up with the additional fun of Constitutional reform? Sure we are. Harper is backing of his Crime and Punishment legislation so 14 year olds are safe from life sentences – for awhile at least.”A conciliatory tone pervaded his news conference” according to the CP report.
The economy is clearly job 1 – as it should be. Too bad we had to spent $300,000,000.00 and about 5 weeks of wasted time to end up in the same place we started. Pretty expensive way to just target and cripple Stephane Dion don’t you think?
Is anyone really happy with this result? Dion's feeling have to be obvious with the lowest level of support for the Liberal Party - ever! Harper hasn't got it done with three times at bat and has to be wondering how much more he has to give to Quebec to get them on side. Layton has proven he is not Broadbent. Duceppe can't too pleased with being identified as saving English Canada from a Harper majority. May might win one day but no time soon. She can use the time until the next election to raise her support and profile.
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