If you have an hour and a belief if we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it you will want to watch this first televised presidential debate. It is eerily reminiscent of today some 50 years later. I am old enough to have watched this on September 26, 1960 and sad enough to wonder if democracies are making headway with the political structures, cultures and institutions we have. Are they dated and deficient? Do we need to redesign our political culture, parties and democratic institutions to reflect a different world we have today? I leave that for you to reflect on. Also reflect on the detail and depth of this debate compared to the emotional hot-button rhetoric and propaganda we see from our political discourse of today.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
Sunday, October 03, 2010
The Eyes of the World Are On Alberta's Oil Sands
Here is a link to yet another excellent Sunday Reader feature in the Edmonton Journal by Sheila Pratt on what it might take to get a reconciliation between industry the environmentalists and our governments on what is appropriate oil sands development approaches. I was interviewed by Sheila for this piece and pleased to participate.
What we need now is an adult conversation in Alberta and by Albertans on how we want to see our oil sands resources developed. The basis for that conversation should be framed from the findings of our resent research at Cambridge Strategies Inc. on the values Albertan's want to see guide and drive oil sands development was done in collaboration with OSRIN (Oil Sands Research and Information Network)
The citizens of Alberta need to create the place and space for that conversation to take place. That can be in community meetings, church basements, coffee shops, service clubs, business groups, union halls, educational institutions, political gatherings and kitchen tables, just to name a few. That conversation can begin where ever one Albertan takes the time to asks another about what they want to see done to assure us that our natural resource is being responsibly developed so we can be proud of all the outcomes.
I am quoted in the Edmonton Journal story saying Albertans are starting to lose pride in the province. I believe this to be true partly because our research shows only 31% of Albertans believe the oil sands resource in being managed well. The Influentials in the province are at the forefront of this emerging sense of a loss of pride in being Albertan. When asked if they tell others great things about living in Alberta only 51% of Influentials agreed or strongly agreed and only 45% of them would strongly recommend living in Alberta to a friend.
UPDATE: REX MURPHY ASKS WHY AREN'T WE PROUD OF THE OIL SANDS? This industry also needs a human face and not just the nice folks who work in the industry that populate the full page colour newspaper ads the industry is wasting money on - as if that would persuade us of authenticity, trustworthiness and integrity
The reason the opinions of Influentials are so important is because they are trend setters and opinion leaders. These are the people the rest of the population relies on to help form our own thoughts on issues, ideas and many of the decisions we make in our lives. Some have suggested what Influentials think today is what the general population will be thinking in 12 to 18 months from now.
That is why government and industry better start a more meaningful, serious and adult conversation with Albertans about what we want to see happening with the development of our resource. After all it is Albertans who own the oil sands. Industry is a mere tenant that depends on public confidence to gain and sustain a social license to operate their businesses be it forests, oil and gas or oil sands.
As for government their equivalent of a social license it to be seen worthy of the citizen's consent to govern. Right now all of the political parties and their leaders in are seen to be less than adequate to the task of effectively managing the growth of Alberta. When Albertans were asked who did they think was best able to responsibly manage Alberta's growth the results were astonishing. Premier Ed Stelmach was the choice of 23%, Danielle Smith garnered 19%, David Swann had 9% and Brian Mason only 4%. None of the Above was the assessment of 45% of the 1032 Albertans who were in the random survey done last May.
Change is in the air and alternatives are needed based on this survey result. If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
What we need now is an adult conversation in Alberta and by Albertans on how we want to see our oil sands resources developed. The basis for that conversation should be framed from the findings of our resent research at Cambridge Strategies Inc. on the values Albertan's want to see guide and drive oil sands development was done in collaboration with OSRIN (Oil Sands Research and Information Network)
The citizens of Alberta need to create the place and space for that conversation to take place. That can be in community meetings, church basements, coffee shops, service clubs, business groups, union halls, educational institutions, political gatherings and kitchen tables, just to name a few. That conversation can begin where ever one Albertan takes the time to asks another about what they want to see done to assure us that our natural resource is being responsibly developed so we can be proud of all the outcomes.
I am quoted in the Edmonton Journal story saying Albertans are starting to lose pride in the province. I believe this to be true partly because our research shows only 31% of Albertans believe the oil sands resource in being managed well. The Influentials in the province are at the forefront of this emerging sense of a loss of pride in being Albertan. When asked if they tell others great things about living in Alberta only 51% of Influentials agreed or strongly agreed and only 45% of them would strongly recommend living in Alberta to a friend.
UPDATE: REX MURPHY ASKS WHY AREN'T WE PROUD OF THE OIL SANDS? This industry also needs a human face and not just the nice folks who work in the industry that populate the full page colour newspaper ads the industry is wasting money on - as if that would persuade us of authenticity, trustworthiness and integrity
The reason the opinions of Influentials are so important is because they are trend setters and opinion leaders. These are the people the rest of the population relies on to help form our own thoughts on issues, ideas and many of the decisions we make in our lives. Some have suggested what Influentials think today is what the general population will be thinking in 12 to 18 months from now.
That is why government and industry better start a more meaningful, serious and adult conversation with Albertans about what we want to see happening with the development of our resource. After all it is Albertans who own the oil sands. Industry is a mere tenant that depends on public confidence to gain and sustain a social license to operate their businesses be it forests, oil and gas or oil sands.
As for government their equivalent of a social license it to be seen worthy of the citizen's consent to govern. Right now all of the political parties and their leaders in are seen to be less than adequate to the task of effectively managing the growth of Alberta. When Albertans were asked who did they think was best able to responsibly manage Alberta's growth the results were astonishing. Premier Ed Stelmach was the choice of 23%, Danielle Smith garnered 19%, David Swann had 9% and Brian Mason only 4%. None of the Above was the assessment of 45% of the 1032 Albertans who were in the random survey done last May.
Change is in the air and alternatives are needed based on this survey result. If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Raise a Reader Campaign for Literacy
I applaud the Edmonton Journal and the rest of the Postmedia people for their annual Raise a Reader campaign focused on children's literacy. I was "solicited" this morning to buy a newspaper by Alberta's Education Minister and long-time friend Dave Hancock to make a donation for the cause.
Dave is a big advocate for all aspects of the literacy challenges we face. Alberta is the most literate province in the country but the results are not impressive when you consider the implications of the lack of literacy on the economic, social, health, justice, education, community capacity, costs, well-being and competitiveness of our people.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
Dave is a big advocate for all aspects of the literacy challenges we face. Alberta is the most literate province in the country but the results are not impressive when you consider the implications of the lack of literacy on the economic, social, health, justice, education, community capacity, costs, well-being and competitiveness of our people.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
James Cameron - David Swann & the Plight of Fort Chip People
I had dinner with Liberal Opposition Leader David Swann last night at Rigoletto's, my favourite restaurant in downtown Edmonton. We were talking about the Reboot3.0 and the next steps for the progressive citizen's movement known as Reboot Alberta. I, and others, are working hard at changing the political culture in Alberta. Progressives from all political stripes and walks of life know that we must move Alberta away from the shift to the Libertarian right in our political culture caused by the recent rise of the Wildrose Alliance Party.
David mentioned in passing that he was having breakfast this morning with James Cameron and others from the First Nations people from Fort Chipewyan. David's chat with James Cameron is happening before Premier meets. An interesting prelude and a great opportunity for James Cameron to see another side of Alberta...for sure.
I expect both Swann and Stelmach will be hospitable and curious about Mr. Cameron's observations and reaction to what he has seen and heard in the past couple of days. I hope there is a realization of the enormous good that can happen from responsible development of the oil sands. That responsible potential has to integrate the health and social concerns of the people of Ft Chip as well as the environmental, habitat protection and reclamation responsibilities inherent in development.
The dinner conversation last night reminded me of the first time I met David Swann. Ironically it was two years ago in Ft. Chip at a Keepers of the Water Conference he and I attended with many others. It was while I was working with the Canadian Boreal Initiative trying to figure out a system to compensate for the loss of wildlife habitat from oil sands development with the use of conservation offsets.
I remember a warm summer evening where David and I whiled away the evening lying on a rock high above a field watching the sun set over Lake Athabasca and gazing at the starlit clarity of the night sky. We talked way into the night on that rock that night and mostly about the future of Alberta. We talked about the need to take an integrated, balanced holistic approach to the development of the oil sands that was respectful to the needs and rights of First Nations people. David and I shared some thoughts, hopes, aspirations and even a few fears for the future progress of our province that night - and we have continued to do so ever since.
The wisdom of Albertans today is that the proper development of the oil sands should be the goal. That includes assuring Albertans, as owners, that the government and development corporations are not being indolent in their duties. Some of those duties is a guarantee that no harm is being done to human health and the well being of wildlife and the quality of air, land and water in the course of oil sands resource exploitation.
I hope when James Cameron and David Swann meet today that they get to share that same kind of great conversation David and I did that night. I hope they get to share thoughts about what kind of energy and commitment it will take for Albertans before we can realize the potential for the province. I hope they get to compare notes and impart to each other a shared sense of common cause. I hope they both agree to commit to help co-create that progressive prosperous and preferred future for Alberta that benefits everyone, not just a few. I hope they connect with the same great intensity and share that same sense of inspiration, hope and obligation David and I felt as we discussed the blessing and burden of being Albertan with the birthright of the oil sands.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
David mentioned in passing that he was having breakfast this morning with James Cameron and others from the First Nations people from Fort Chipewyan. David's chat with James Cameron is happening before Premier meets. An interesting prelude and a great opportunity for James Cameron to see another side of Alberta...for sure.
I expect both Swann and Stelmach will be hospitable and curious about Mr. Cameron's observations and reaction to what he has seen and heard in the past couple of days. I hope there is a realization of the enormous good that can happen from responsible development of the oil sands. That responsible potential has to integrate the health and social concerns of the people of Ft Chip as well as the environmental, habitat protection and reclamation responsibilities inherent in development.
The dinner conversation last night reminded me of the first time I met David Swann. Ironically it was two years ago in Ft. Chip at a Keepers of the Water Conference he and I attended with many others. It was while I was working with the Canadian Boreal Initiative trying to figure out a system to compensate for the loss of wildlife habitat from oil sands development with the use of conservation offsets.
I remember a warm summer evening where David and I whiled away the evening lying on a rock high above a field watching the sun set over Lake Athabasca and gazing at the starlit clarity of the night sky. We talked way into the night on that rock that night and mostly about the future of Alberta. We talked about the need to take an integrated, balanced holistic approach to the development of the oil sands that was respectful to the needs and rights of First Nations people. David and I shared some thoughts, hopes, aspirations and even a few fears for the future progress of our province that night - and we have continued to do so ever since.
The wisdom of Albertans today is that the proper development of the oil sands should be the goal. That includes assuring Albertans, as owners, that the government and development corporations are not being indolent in their duties. Some of those duties is a guarantee that no harm is being done to human health and the well being of wildlife and the quality of air, land and water in the course of oil sands resource exploitation.
I hope when James Cameron and David Swann meet today that they get to share that same kind of great conversation David and I did that night. I hope they get to share thoughts about what kind of energy and commitment it will take for Albertans before we can realize the potential for the province. I hope they get to compare notes and impart to each other a shared sense of common cause. I hope they both agree to commit to help co-create that progressive prosperous and preferred future for Alberta that benefits everyone, not just a few. I hope they connect with the same great intensity and share that same sense of inspiration, hope and obligation David and I felt as we discussed the blessing and burden of being Albertan with the birthright of the oil sands.
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Obama's Rolling Stone Interview
I seem to be getting copies of interesting but long articles these days. Here is the "Obama Fight Back" interview with Rolling Stone magazine. Definitely worth a read.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/209395?RS_show_page=0#userComments
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/209395?RS_show_page=0#userComments
If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org
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