Hancock Shows the Path Forward for Public Education in Alberta

I highly recommend that every Albertan read this blog post by Dave Hancock, Alberta's Minister of Public Education.  It presents a great compilation of what he and his department is doing to rethink, revise and retool our public education system in anticipation of the needs of the next Alberta. This is all being done under the banner of Inspiring Education.

Dave puts a challenge to all the new and returning School Board Trustees to pick up their game and assume their responsibility to ensure Alberta continues to have one of the leading public education systems on the planet.  Ensuring a quality, relevant and effective Public Education is a place were every citizen can and should become engaged - even if you don't has kids in school.   A quality public education system is one of the best legacies one generation can leave for the next.  We sure could use some serious examples of positive legacies that we are leaving for the next generation in Alberta these days.

We have such an amazing public education system now.  It has its flaws and failures like any human endeavour but that is a challenge not a detraction. The Inspiring Education process has given Albertans some insight and a  serious sense of how we can make it even better.

Public education is (and ought to be) a source of pride for all Albertans.  Hancock knows and believes this.  His blog post shows that pride and that sense of challenge.  Definitely worth a read and reflection.

If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org/rsvp

Progressive Reflections on the Alberta Elections

The local elections in Alberta last night were significant, maybe even momentous.   The single-minded media focus on the culture wars between the right wing parties for political power shifted last night.  This happened in many municipal mayoralty contests around Alberta but nowhere more dramatically than Edmonton and Calgary.  As someone who has been focused on getting the progressive voice of Alberta back into the political culture, I have to say last night was gratifying and encouraging.

Elections all over urban Alberta last night sent a strong message to the other orders of government that this province has a new progressive narrative that is forward thinking, intelligent, vibrant and very very energized.  The significant increase voter turnout in the big cities shows that people want change and it is not good enough to merely offer a choice between very right-wing Progressive Conservative Party agenda and extremely right wing Wildrose Alliance Party agenda. 

There was the emergence of a progressive political agenda in evidence in these municipal elections.  It came to life in many parts of urban Alberta last night.  I know that progressive political agenda came to life in the Mayoralty contests in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Hinton and County of Strathcona. 

The Mayor and entire town council of Rimbey were sent packing.  It was discovered through FOIP that they were using taxpayer funds to go to conservative related fundraising dinners and incurring other inappropriate expenses.  They were all replaced by some progressive thinking Albertans who want values in their local government and value for their tax dollars. I am sure there are other examples but I have not had time to research them yet.

The contests had different contexts but the consequences are the same.  The old hierarchical, command and control, top down, power broker model of politics in Alberta is no longer acceptable in much of urban Alberta.  I’m betting that rejection of the outmoded model of politics will translate into Alberta provincial politics both urban and rural.  It is sure not a preferred governing model for the not-for-profit, NGO and the rest of the voluntary sector in the province.

Nowhere was this more evident that in the Edmonton and Calgary mayoralty campaigns.  Progressive candidates for Mayor trounced the status quo and conventionally hide-bound conservative candidates in both cities.  Progressives found new ways to enhance the typical election campaigning by networking and creating communities of ideas and issues through social media.  

Progressives found a new, young, articulate, cosmopolitan candidate in Calgary and stuck with a revered forward thinking imaginative candidate in Edmonton.  The revitalized progressive citizen realized these two men they could believe in and trust.  These two candidates came to their campaigns with forward thinking, creative ideas for a modern vibrant and sustainable city.  They outline their ideas in platforms that resonated with the aspirations that progressives want for their cities.  They were pushing towards designing and delivering a better tomorrow while the opposition candidates wanted to hit the pause button to stop progress, or in some cases, go to rewind and take us back 50 years in our thinking.  Nenshi and Mandel both showed grace and dignity in the face of some very nasty but unfounded personal smears and slanders in some vicious but anonymous campaign attacks.

Calgary progressives showed up in droves (50%+ turnout) to send a message to the presumptive (and past?) power brokers that they really don’t own or run that town any more.  Nenshi’s enormous and dramatic win as an outside progressive underdog undid and devoured the Harper Cons election machine that ran the McIver campaign.  Then it defeated and devastated the old Klein cum Dinning election machine that recruited and promoted Higgins.  Those “front-runner” campaigns never saw this comeuppance coming.  Watching the coverage I could tell both conservative based campaigns were obviously shocked on election night by the severity, size and soundness of their rejection by the revival of progressive Calgary voters.

In Edmonton the full court press by Envision Edmonton was intended to undermine Mayor Mandel.  It didn’t just fizzle – it imploded and then burst into flames.  The Envision Edmonton effort in citizen participation unraveled in scandal.  The admitted fraudulent dirty-trick political activities by a key Envision Edmonton volunteer sealed the demise.  The man who managed the Envision Edmonton petition drive fraudulently posed as a Seattle newspaper reporter and deceitfully created a controversy that destroyed the credibility and respect for an otherwise laudable effort at citizen engagement.

He falsely accused Mayor Mandel of personal and political corruption in the potential redevelopment of the municipal airport lands.  Instead of undermining Mandel he energized progressives to actively support the Mandel campaign.  When they showed up on Election Day they made a big difference in the size of the Mandel win and the size of the wreckage that was wrought on the Dorward campaign.  Sadly, I think the deceit and dishonesty of the Envision Edmonton impostor was a cause for voter concern about the integrity, ethics, honesty, accountability and transparency of the entire Envision Edmonton airport effort.  Envision Edmonton made matters worse by refusing to distance and denounce this perpetrator for his dirty tricks and fraudulent actions.  He also unfairly implicated the Dorward campaign under similar suspicions because Dorward was the Envision Edmonton endorsed candidate for Mayor. 

Dorward said, in a post-election CBC radio interview, that he does not think that the Envision Edmonton meltdown or the fraudulent blogger hurt his campaign.   Perhaps he is right.  We will never know for sure but I think it did.  Consider for a moment that Envision Edmonton pushed the fact that the 90,000+ signatures on their petition needed to be heeded by Edmonton City Council.  Well, only 58,000 voted for Mr. Dorward.  Where did the rest go or did they really care about the airport issue in the first place?  Did Dorward pick up many new votes as a result of the scandalous anonymous and inaccurate attacks on Mandel?  Many people sign a petition with no intention of being really engaged on the issue.  Do these low voter numbers for Dorward compared to the number of petition signatures show that, or was it a more serious rejection of his campaign?  Don’t know but it does matter, especially if you want a working democracy based on integrity, honesty, trust, transparency and accountability.

So what does this all mean for changes I see coming towards a more progressive political culture in Alberta?  Some things are clearer than others.  For sure dirty trick and fraudulent politics will not be tolerated.  It will cause a significant portion of voters, and progressive citizens in particular, to take offence and rise up to oppose such tactics.  There is a need for a more refined level of media literacy especially in the new and digital media world.  There is a growing group of Albertans who know that it is just not enough to denounce these activities…you have to show up, expose them and defeat those who engage and acquiesce in the perpetration of such incorrigible activities.  Progressives did that in Edmonton and Calgary, on-line and at the ballot box.  

There is also a new value set that is emerging in Alberta.  Many progressives will want a hand in writing that new narrative and want to help design and deliver the next Alberta That new narrative is not going to be about continuing a simple-minded conservative ideology bent on perpetually lower taxes as a way to chase/attract foreign investment then coupled with royalty give-aways.  It is going to be about the current generation paying its way and leaving asocial, environmental and economic legacy to the future we can be proud of.

The new narratives are in the hearts and minds of progressive thinking citizens who see themselves coming back to democracy and electing servant leaders not political power brokers.  They see the economy working for the society not the other way around.  They see the economy and society embedded in the environment and that we must work in harmony with the ecosystems of the plant instead of just trying to engineer our way around Mother Nature.

The winning progressive candidates for Mayor in Edmonton, Calgary and other cities campaigned to create communities that are vibrant, diverse, dynamic, inclusive, conscious, meaningful and imaginative. They wanted to ensure public policies and local politics integrate economic, environmental and social concerns based on shared political and other cultural values. These progressive candidates see a positive role for government that creates a shared means to protect property, provide effective institutions and quality infrastructure to support and sustain citizens and their families.  They seek to make municipalities that are responsible, safe, caring and compassionate societies where individuals can realize their personal potential and in turn contribute in ways that advance their lot in life and also add value to the greater good. 

Progressives are not prepared to stand back and allow the contemptuous policy approach of many fiscal conservatives who see the marketplace as the only public policy option.  Too many fiscal conservatives are not trying to get value for taxpayer dollars in ways that advance our society.  They mostly want to cut taxes to levels that will starve vital public services like education and health care.  Without sufficient taxpayer provided resources these sectors simply can’t do their jobs.  By pushing a tax policy designed to under fund public services they ensure these public services will fail to perform.

The next step is for the libertarian or ultra-conservative dogma to kick in and demand that the private sector comes to the “rescue.”  Historically that has been a failed and expensive strategy because the taxpayer inevitably has to bail out the private operator. Remember the recent bankruptcy of the private surgical clinic in Calgary we spent millions to sustain as a case in point?  That is not an isolated case and we must not allow it to become the norm.

As part of the Reboot Alberta progressive citizen’s movement I have to marvel how fast and far this idea of a progressive Alberta political culture has come in one short year.  The proof is in the increased voter turnout and the progressive election results in Edmonton, Calgary and many other Alberta communities.  Progressives are coming to life again all over Alberta.  I am encouraged by this and know it is not too late for Albertans to take back the political agenda of the province - and it is about time.  The stage is set. The times are a-changin’ and the progressive Alberta voter has to come back to democracy and seems focused on taking back control of the political culture and agenda of our province.  I saw that return to citizenship start to happen on October 18 in local elections all over Alberta.

If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org/rsvp

Edmonton Journal Exit Poll

Here is a link to the Edmonton Journal Exit Poll.  This is an interesting exercise in political participation.  I wonder how closely the on line participants will reflect the final results.  Vote first and then come to the Exit Poll and tell us your story.

If you are not sure where to vote use this like to Elections Edmonton for the polling station in your neighbourhood.  They are open until 8 pm so you have time but be sure to take the time.

If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org

Edmonton Candidates for Mayor Encourage Young Voters

Thx Rick Lee of Sonic Radio 102.9 for this video on encouraging younger people getting out to vote. Thanks also to all the Edmonton Mayoralty Candidates for participating.  AND THANK YOU to all those citizens who have taken the time to get informed on the issues that concern them in this election and who will show up at the polls today to make a difference in the way they see the future of our city.

I have voted in Ward 6 and my choices were Mandel for Mayor, Batty for Councillor and Spencer for Public School Trustee.  Now go make your own choices.  YOU will be glad you did.

If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org

Edmonton Sun Endorses Mandel

OK - the political ground in Alberta is really shifting.  The Edmonton Sun has endorsed Stephen Mandel for Mayor.  Mandel is the most progressive, proven and capable candidate on the ballot this time.  He deserves another term for all the reasons the Sun points out and more.  Mandel is the clear, credible, competent and conscientious choice to lead Edmonton for the next three years.  For the Sun to recognize this is counter-intuitive given their past positions dramatically opposed to progressive values.

BTW the Calgary Sun has done the same thing.  They endorsed Nenshi, the other openly progressive candidate for mayor in Calgary.  The political culture of Alberta is not all right wing and reactionary - not any more.

There is a serious disappointment and clear effort at diminishing our democracy in this Edmonton municipal election. The Mandel opposition has come from the well funded Envision Edmonton group who are mostly a one issue group around the closing of the municipal airport. It has been loud and oft-time loutish with orchestrated heckling and booing of Mandel at forums.  I have no problem with activist and aggressive citizen engagement.  I have encouraged it in this blog for years. What we also need is informed and respectful citizen engagement where we can disagree without being disagreeable.  That has not always been the hallmarks of Envision Edmonton. This is not a condemnation of all the responsible, respectful and dedicated volunteers who have done an admirable job of motivating thousands of citizens to their cause.

The Envision Edmonton efforts have failed to gain momentum and has now in a much deserved decline.  They has lost the respect and forfeited the trust of Edmontonians looking for integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency in politics. The admittedly unfounded and dirty trick smear campaign against Mandel by Nathan Black, the Envision Edmonton petition manger was a dramatic indication that at least this leader of Envision Edmonton was prepared to resort to Nixonian levels of political dirty tricks. Passion is not a free pass to promote and participate in political corruption.

 The fact that Envision Edmonton has stood by Mr. Black shows that they don't understand nor ascribe to the political values of integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency that Edmontonians demand of our political culture.  They, like Mr. Black, are now suffering from self inflicted and fatal wounds.  This citizen's movement has fallen from grace and now should not be trusted by any reasonable voter in Edmonton.

I support the closure of the municipal airport.  I have seen no substantial evidence or proof of Envision Edmonton claims of city council acting undemocratically on the closure issues. They has produced a petition that is too little, too late and contrary to law but pursue the matter in the courts anyway.  I also categorically reject the tactics employed by Mr. Black and Envision Edmonton by association since they have stood by him in the face of his admitted breaches of integrity, honestly, accountability and transparency in politics.

I encourage the citizens of Edmonton to send a clear message that we are tired of old-style politics based on personal power or propaganda where self-interested ends justify any means.  Reject those candidates who are endorsed by Envision Edmonton on October 18.  Send a clear message that we do not want and will not tolerate a Tea Party approach to politics in Edmonton.

If you want a progressive political culture in the Next Alberta register now for RebootAlberta 3.0 at www.rebootalberta.org