Susan Boyle According to Doyle

John Doyle in the Globe and Mail today cynically and sardonically asks “Have we been expertly manipulated” over the Susan Boyle phenomenal performance in “Britain’s Got Talent.” The You Tube video of Boyle's performance has had over 34 million hits since she sang on April 16, 2009. Doyle says that is more people than watched the televised Academy Awards this year.

According to Doyle viewing this video is a “heartwarming experience” and we seem somehow “vindicated” when we view it. What is wrong according to Doyle, the Susan Boyle event reveals “our collective hypocrisy about realty TV, beauty and talent.” He rightly says “If American Idol…actually featured a lot of people who looked like Boyle, then hardly anybody would watch.”

He notes “The attention given to Boyle is the exception that proves the rule – we are relentlessly superficial. It isn’t the fault of television. It’s a collective weakness, as we get the popular culture we deserve.” He laments that Boyle may be the vanguard for the next phase of reality TV lead by “middle- aged ordinary looking people.” The Jerry Springer Talent Show on television perhaps? Would that surprise anyone? I don’t think so.

What is happening on a world-wide scale given this catalytic moment in what was supposed to be merely entertainment? Doyle posits that the Boyle phenomenon is quite possibly being “foisted upon us.”e laments that Boyle may be a vangH He suggests that “… we’re not facing up to the collective hypocrisy that Boyle reveals to us. We are congratulating ourselves for cheering her on…” He challenges us to consider if we are “deluding ourselves about our honesty and fairness.”

Well I think Doyle is very right but not entirely right. The main stream media hype on the Boyle story is superficial and perhaps we are being hypocritical. But the internet participants who initially found the Boyle story from friends on Facebook, Twitter and were encouraging others to go to YouTube to see the phenomenon was not superficial, nor hypocritical. It was community based, heartfelt and human – no hype and hubris from the media machine that followed.

Boyle is a Cinderella story in real life and has been accessed and enjoyed “virtually” around the globe. It was another collective triumph of the power and influence of the internet as a creator of connected human community. That video link invited us to enjoy but also to revisit and reflect on our humanity, our sense of decency and our respect for people.

I know it made me reconsider an ill-considered recent blog post that I subsequently deleted because while it attempted political satire, it could be easily construed as cruel. That cruelty was pointed out by some anonymous comments that I in fact posted. Upon reflection I came to the realization of how easy it was to unfairly prejudge Susan Boyle. I deleted the post.

What the Public Wants From Public Education.

My firm, Cambridge Strategies Inc., recently finished a community based research project for the Edmonton Public School Board as part of their work on improving their processes school closure and system sustainability.

Our goal was to find out relative value preferences on the role of public schools by the citizens of Edmonton. We used a technique called Discrete Choice Modeling which requires value trade-offs to be made that determines relative value preferences and the degree of commitment to such preferences.

We always make value trade-offs in the real world that determines real preferences between competing interests. That is why this research technique is so much better than mere opinion polling that only gives a snapshot but also lack any depth of insight behind in value drivers of the “opinions” in traditional polling.

We surveyed on seven value attributes with 706 Edmontonians that profiled the Stats Can demographic profile of Edmonton in early December 2008. We compared the following value attributes: proximity of schools, the programming of schools, the use of school facilities, costs and space issues, the educational focus, the operating structure of a school and the size of schools.

We found Edmontonians had two very dominant value preferences they expect of their public education system. All other attributes were equally important but less significant compared to the top two preferences

FOCUS ON EDUCATION: The most dominant value preference was in terms of sustainability of the system. The focus needs to be on the nature of the education being provided with a major emphasis on providing students with skills around creativity, thinking and adaptability. Related to this value was a desire to have schools meet the needs of individual students and prepare them for post-secondary education. Part of this attribute was to create a skilled workforce and prepare students for citizenship.

The focus on test results that is emphasized by some think-tanks and public education critics was not seen as preferred focus of public education. That does not mean test results are not important. It means that they are relatively unimportant compared to other competing values about where the focus of the public education system should be.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY NEEDS: The second most significant value driver for public education in Edmonton was in the context of the role of schools to local communities. A decision about closing a school needs to responsive to community needs and the system needs to respond to growth trends in the city. There is a recognition that for a school to stay open there has to be sensitive to enrollment levels and the school to be viable has to be able to provide quality programming. There is no support for just providing a basic 3R’s education and lots of support for extended education programming. Very few were saying a school should stay open regardless of costs.

Meeting community needs included support for schools partnering with others to meet community’s social needs including early childhood education. Schools need to be available to the community for use after hours and to be more integrated into the local community. There was no sympathy for a school to be only focused on exclusively serving the K-12 student population.

There is significant support for schools to provide specialized spaces like shops and music rooms and services like librarians and teacher assistance. This all aligns with achieving the major value drivers of schools focusing on creative education and local community needs. The size of schools and how far they are away were not significant value drivers about what contributes to a quality public education in Edmonton.

DECISION SUPPORT FOR SOUND POLICIES: These findings show a clear path to the future for the EPSB to pursue in how to provide the public want they believe is important to the future of public education. Of course there are costs and resource constraints that do not always make these decisions easy.

Wisdom and judgment by the Board will still have to be exercised in reaching final decisions about the closure of a school. Some things are very clear from this research. If you need to close a school you need to carefull consider the local community needs and how best to use the facilities if they are no longer viable as a school. A focus on providing 21st century skills for students is by far the most preferred destination and direction of our public education system in Edmonton. Moving overtly and effectively to all those ends will ensure continued public support for a successful and sustainable public education system in our city.

Lois Hole's Love for Libraries Remembered

My Name is Earl (J. Woods): At Long Last, a Little Love for Libraries

Ran across this Blogger because he started to Follow me on Twitter (kenchapman46). So I returned the Follow and checkout his Blog. This post revisits a speech he wrote for the late and great former Lt Gov and friend of Alberta - Lois Hole.

Lois had a passion for gardening, libraries and literacy among other things - like hugging everyone she met. Now we have the Lois Hole Library that is an innovative and unique digital institution - built in her honour and in her spirit.

It was nice to be reminded or the warmth and humanity of this wonderful woman. Thank you Earl.

This is especially sweet given the recent provincial funding announcement for the advancement of our beleaguered Alberta libraries. Well done Minister Ray Danyluk and Alberta Library System Promoter Punch Jackson. Consider yourselves hugged gentlemen!

Cap and Trade Sucks - Get Real Alberta and Start Taxing Carbon

There is lots of buzz about cap and trade as a scheme to reduce carbon emissions. I think it is merely wealth transfer and a petrie dish to grow a culture of more corporate corruption. To get some context read Stephen Murgatroyd's blog post on the subject.


This Edmonton Journal story on the Alberta perspective on carbon pricing is more context. And we are being told Canada has to rationalize with the US standards - and Obama is pushing cap and trade too.

The $2B Alberta investment in carbon capture and storage is pretty impressive. The Americans ponied up $1B for CCS and the Chinese are into it for $6B but look at the investment per capita and Alberta is definitely a leader in this effort. That is a longer term and capital intensive solution and will not solve the political issue of cap and trade versus carbon tax options.

This issue of how to respond to the CO2 emissions puts Alberta in the political, ecological and fiscal cross-hairs big time and on a world scale. We have dipped our provincial toes into the CO2 emissions issue with some legislation that is timid and tepid and hopefully temporary. We tax carbon now at $15 a tonne based on intensity targets. That is a start but the political credibility of this policy has lost its lustre long ago. As we grow the oil sands we allow emissions to grow in absolute terms and that is not a viable solution to the GHG issue for Alberta.


The experts say the real cost of CO2 is about $125 a tonne so we have long way to go to get realistic about paying the piper and not passing the problem on to future generations. Alberta Environment Minister Renner questioned on the Alberta price of carbon is quoted as saying: It probably would do better if it were higher." You bet Mr. Minister.


The perennial concern is what happens if Alberta pays a realistic price for carbon and others do not. Will our economy will suffer? That is known as the "Edge Effect" where everyone knows what is the right thing to do but can't agree on the right time to do it. I'm hoping Alberta takes the first serious step and taxes carbon as a carrot and a stick to get serious about encouraging new technologies and penalizing those who refuse to invest to reduce their carbon footprints.


A made-in-Alberta for Alberta carbon tax keeps the cash in Alberta. Transferring wealth out of Alberta with a cap and trade policy to pay who knows what for what kind of flaky schemes that alleged ecological advantages is stupid and breeds greed and corruption. Surely we have seen enough of that these days with the market meltdown. We are all enduring this recession/depression thanks to the under-regulated American financial system and the breathtaking personal greed and corporate corruption in that sector.


Albertans want the problem solved here - not just a fiscal surcharge penalty that somehow absolves us of the duty to adapt our economy to better serve the environment. The best way to do that is to park the ideological posturing about taxes and use taxes to change behaviour. We know that works and it is easier to monitor and evaluate effectiveness.


That way the money raised with such a tax stays in Alberta to foster investment in things like a state of the art mercantile upgrader so more bitumen gets processed here with jobs and value added benefits here too.


I think we Albertans need to get that comprehensive carbon tax happening now and stifle the efforts of those who are pushing a wealth transfer away from Alberta with their cap and trade ecological schemes and bad economic dreams.

It will not solve the Alberta emission challenges and only penalize our economy. Beat them to the punch and put in a realistic tax on Alberta carbon now Premier Stelmach.

When do Albertans Have a Right to Know About Environmental Law Investigations?

OK here is the problem. Which is more important, the public’s right to know or the preliminary process needs of the justice system? This kind of issue is well resolved when it comes to charges against minors. We have legislation that protects the identity of youth facing judicial proceedings. Unfortunately this law sometimes ends up protecting the identity adult bad guys from public disclosure because that might inadvertently disclose the identity of a minor so it too could be better.

We have a formal judicial process to ban publication of the names of those involved in judicial proceedings, not only accused but witnesses too. That decision is made in a formal court application before a judge who decides if a ban on publication of the identity of parties or individuals is in fact in the public interest - and not just the self-interests of the accused party.

So why in Alberta do we not hear of cases where about possible environmental law issue arise until investigations are complete and charges are actually laid? The competing values and the conflict between the various interests are very clear. The Crown Prosecutors rightfully want to gather all the available evidence, review and test it to see if it is sufficient to lay a charge before a charge is laid. If that evidentiary hurdle is overcome there is further consideration to decide if a charge is even in the public interest. Satisfaction of all this reviewing and evaluation may finally result in a charge and the public is then finally informed about the matter…but not until then.

That process and practice serves the interest of the judicial review process and the privacy of a potential accused but it does not serve the greater public interest and our right to know what is going on. The Alberta public owns the natural resources of the province. Our government, as our democratically elected agents/proxy, is legally delegated the duty to protect our environment and to ensure responsible exploitation the public’s natural resources in the service of the greater public good. Simple enough!

When an alleged breach of environmental law happens by actions of a company with a license operate and a duty to obey the law while profiting from our publicly owned natural resources, why shouldn’t the public know about any such allegations right away?

Governments talk accountability, transparency and openness with regularity but do they walk that talk with authenticity, integrity and alacrity? Not so much. This deficiency is not necessarily because government doesn’t want to be overt about such public notice. They have made a choice not to. They have decided the needs of the judicial process are the values that dominate and they dictate otherwise.

I think this is a misplaced virtue when it comes to investigations and pending charges for alleged breaches of environmental laws. The public interest and our right to know what is alleged, against who, the nature of the alleged breaches and extent of the possible damages is the public interest value set that should predominate in all such cases.

Immediate public disclosure ought to be the default position in all such cases. If a company wants a ban then let them go to court and prove to a Judge that concealment of the facts and the identity of the parties involved are in the public interest. Let the corporations and the individuals involved go to Court and get an Order for a ban on disclosure and publication.

What happens now is even the Minister of the Environment is uninformed and unaware of such allegations and investigations of potential breaches of our environmental law and therefore oblivious to the current consequential environmental damages. This is bad governing and bad public policy. Here is why.

When a charge is laid the Minister gets to rightly say he can’t comment publicly because the matter is before the courts. However if an investigation is on-going but no charge has yet been laid, than a Minister can’t use that sub judice tactic if asked about any such matter in Question Period, by the media or the public. In fact open, transparent, accountable governing principles would dictate that the Minister ought to obliged comment on such matters in an informed and comprehensive way.

So, as a consequence, to avoid the duty to comment, it seems the justice system and the government public relations systems seem to have decided not to tell the Minister anything about any such investigations. I am not prone to conspiracy theories and don't believe that is what is happening here. Keeping the Minister willfully blind and the rest of us uninformed and ignorant as a result is a long way from open, transparent and accountable governance. I don't think it is a conspiracy. I think it is cultural and the wrong governing philosophy.

There is another unfortunate consequence of not having early public disclosure of allegations and investigations of possible environmental law breaches. Many of the alleged breaches come from industry self-monitoring and reporting requirements. So the evidence they present, regardless of accuracy and timeliness, would naturally be under suspicion right away. The company and the government would both tend to be seen as not doing their jobs of protecting the environment when such incidences occur. There is no public benefit of the doubt for anyone involved in such situations.

What makes it worse is the Crown Prosecutors have to take the time necessary to carefully gather, evaluate and figure out how to prove the alleged case before they can appropriately lay any charge. The various incidences of breach are rarely simple and straight forward and if they are the evaluation of the resulting damages is always difficult to quantify. Preparing the case to see if a charge is warranted can take years to yield an appropriate answer and justify a charge. Such delay makes a suspicious public think industry and government are in cahoots and neither one is presumed to be serving the greater public interest.

Recent charges were laid resulting from an incident in the oil sands. It was about untreated human waste discharged into the Athabasca River that happened some three years ago. Even the Minister of Environment had no prior knowledge until the charge was laid and in fact he assumed the matter had been disclosed publicly at the time of the original incident. Much to his surprise that was not the case then nor would it be now. He has said this policy must change and the public’s right to know must be honoured immediately in such instances.

Under the current policy when such environmental breaches are finally made public the company and the government end up looking like they were conspiring to delay matters and hide the facts. This serves the best interests of nobody, including the government, the company, the minister, the public and ultimately the public's respect for the law.

This systemic indifference to the public interest came into sharp focus on the famous 500 dead ducks in the Syncrude tailings pond. That incident resonated around the world. Well this time we all knew about it before charges were laid because some anonymous tipster called the media. Thank you very much Anon.

The public got increasingly suspicious about the integrity of the evidentiary review process when it a year passed and yet no charges were laid. The public’s suspicions were so aroused that a private group eventually announced they were going to seek judicial leave to launch its own civil suit against Syncrude for damages about the 500 dead ducks.

Coincidentally, it would seem, the government finally laid its charges just before the private action finally got going. That kind of delayed timing adds to the public suspicions and cynicism. Then we get the icing on the dead duck disclosure cake. We find that the company and government officials knew, for some considerable time, that it was not 500 dead ducks at issue but over 1600 dead ducks that were lost in the tailing pond incident.

That unfortunate updated fact was only disclosed in a company affidavit that was filed in the courts and then caught by the media. The Minister did not find this out about the reality of 1600 ducks until he heard it on the news and read a press release by Syncrude. How does this process circus of delay and non-disclosure serve the better interests of anyone or any institution that is involved?

My solution is not perfect. There is some reputational risk to the corporations who are facing investigations in such circumstances. The public has a poorly developed understanding of the presumption of innocence. We all too often jump to a conclusion of guilt when charges are laid.
What is to prevent the public from assuming guilt at the preceding stage of mere allegation and investigation? Not much except perhaps a better educated public about the importance of the presumption of innocence and an appreciation of the checks and balances about investigations and evidence evaluation.

The judicial process eventually resolves all this one way or another by acting fairly and judiciously in service of the greater public interest. But that takes time and the unwarranted damage to reputations is done and may be irreparable. The finding of guilt will be well publicized, while the finding of innocence – not so much.

That said I think the consequences to public reputation, the need to meet certain corporate social responsibility standards and the duty of corporations to meet social license to operate obligations as the tenant on the public‘s lands and in service of the public interests is a corporate deterrent worth having. The court of public opinion can be more effective as a deterrent than the law and the justice system itself sometimes.

These corporations who are sold leases on public lands and entrusted to develop our natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way that they are all too often way out of line. They seem to think it is their oil and gas or their trees. If they provide jobs, pay taxes and our minimalist royalties and stumpage, they are meeting their obligations to the public interest. Stewardship of land, water, air, habitat and reclamation is always somebody else’s hassle and to be left for another day in the minds of the leadership in those kinds of irresponsible and arrogant corporations. NOT good enough! NOT any more!

Those modest corporate economic accountability measures of serving the public interest are the mere ante of corporations to play the 21st century resource exploitation game in Alberta. In the Alberta public’s mind, anyone who only sets merely meet the minimal ecological requirements and makes no effort to exceed the lowest allowed environmental and social standards are about to see some serious backlash from the public.

And for any government officials who choose judicial process convenience over duties of public disclosure you need to change your approaches and reassess your attitudes too. Ministers of the Crown in the Right of Alberta who may value willful blindness as a defense to avoid doing the right thing and fulfilling your sworn public duty, you are also in for some rude public awakenings too.

US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” That is especially true in Alberta today when it come to the public’s right to know and our need to know what our government and corporate tenants are doing with our ecological and natural resources birthright. Only with full and timely public disclosure will we see a change to a more accountable and open governing philosophy in this province.

We citizens also have an obligation to change our behaviours and adjust our attitudes. We must learn more about our legal system and especially about the place and importance of the presumption of innocence in that system. We have to respect it and to learn to be patient and not jump to negative conclusions at the mere mention of an investigation.

Democracy is messy and cumbersome. Freedoms only survive with usage and vigilance so citizens have to smarten up and show up too. Civic cynicism is a luxury we can no longer afford in Alberta. It is time for citizens to show up an put some skin in the governance game of their province.