Is Pension Scheme Good for Us or for Mutual Fund Managers?

There is a need to get Canadians saving for their retirement.  No argument there.  The need to expand access to pensions is critical too. No argument there.  There is a role for the private and the public sector in this effort as well.  RRSPs are the model for the private sector play and the CPP is the public part in the process.

So now we have a scheme proposed that will enable people to set up private pension arrangements that don't get them from employers or the self-employed.  The theory is good but the execution and regulation of the program  is the concern.  This is on the face of it a Christmas gift to the financial institutions who will get enormous fees, the ability to leverage pooled funds and do not have to worry about investment performance as they play with the hopes and aspirations of possibly millions of individual Canadians.

I am told by pension fund managers that Canadians pay some of the highest, if not the highest, fund management fees in the world.  Will that change in this pooled pension scheme?  Will there be competition - I mean real competition - not price fixing collusion amongst fund managers for fees and investment performance?  Will the average Canadian even know how to monitor and evaluate the management service and fund performance they are getting?  Will contributors be fragmented individuals  no consumer or political clout who give their retirement nest eggs to fund managers with minimal accountability, transparency and responsibility?

This "solution" seems to be potentially more disastrous than the problem it is trying to solve...unless there is serious government regulation and over site...not lax enforcement and political over sights that is characteristic of the Harper political style to date.  Is there any reason for citizens to trust the political motives and in public interest integrity behind this scheme?

I am a free enterprise kind of guy and think capitalism is a great tool for economic growth.  But these are man- made concepts that only work if there is confidence and trust by the public who must feel assured that the public interest is the goal, not private greed.  We saw what happens when big fees and private greed takes over brokers and fund dealers.  Just look at the U.S. Sub-prime mortgage disaster that almost put the world into a depression "saved" by trillions of taxpayer dollars paid to bail out the "too big to fail" banks who were the "masters-of-the-universe types" who were ripping off everyone...or the Bernie Madoff example...just to name a few.

Free market capitalism only works with real competition and that only happens with the assurance of appropriate government regulations.  Market based competition is not  the solution to all the social, economic and environmental challenges we face - there is a fundamental role for good government.  We need both for a happy, wealthy and wise society.

I need to know a great deal more about this scheme and how it will be regulated and controlled by my government before I will buy in.  I need to know why the expansion and extension of the CPP was not an accepted Canadian-way alternative?  I need to be convinced this approach is about sound fiscal policy and not hard core Harper Conservative dogma wagging a poorly thought out public policy agendas.

Feeling an Uneasy Redux of the '60s

The Beatles Revolution #1 was of its time but those times may be returning to become our times.   What with Climate Change, Democratic Deficits, Economic Meltdowns, enormous personal debt levels, recessions, changing political power structures, tribal wars instead of state conflicts....the list goes on...and on...and on.  Are we ready for a revolution and transformation in how we live - like within natural limits?

Is this Beatles tune an anthem to hope...or cynicism?  It was ringing true then but is it also ringing true for today?  What is your anticipation of what the next year will bring?  Are you making a New Years Resolution or a Revolution?  Are you adaptable enough?  Is Alberta adaptable enough?  Are we wise enough to do what is right and required without a crisis.  Are we thinking for a change?

"When an old culture is dying the new culture is born from a few people who are not afraid to feel insecure." - Rudolph Bahro

What is our responsibility?

What choices do we make?

Do we choose to be awake?

Do we choose to practice the future now?

We should not be seduced by hope or fear.

(VIA MEG WHEATLEY)

Are You Alberta Party Curious?

There is an interesting piece in the Sunday Reader section of the Edmonton Journal on the Alberta Party written by Sheila Pratt. It shows that the Alberta Party is drawing attention and capturing the imagination of progressive thinking Albertans.  The article shows that there is a significant yearning for a different way of doing politics in our province.

The recent municipal elections have shown dramatic evidence of that thirst for change all over the province.  Many incumbent  candidates were rejected by the electorate in cities, towns. municipal districts and counties.  Edmonton is the exception but we made that shift in consciousness two elections ago.  We liked the direction and destination of our city and it continues to move forward with a progressive council and mayor.  So all incumbents in Edmonton were all re-elected.  The exception that proves the rule.

CHANGE IS WANTED BUT A CHANGE TO WHAT?
The problem about a change is what is the alternative to the traditional left versus right tedious model of politics as usual.  That old-style thinking about ideological and manipulative politics is very distrusted by most Albertans.  The majority of us respond apathetically by simply not voting.  The consciousness is changing now and people realize if they don't participate politically as informed  citizens, there are negative consequences. Disillusioned apathetic citizens can give away their political power to an alternative that is not reflective of their values and not aligned with their aspirations for Alberta.  Apathy is not just boring - it is dangerous.

There are some Albertans with hardcore social conservative and libertarian values that believe the Wildrose Alliance is the change answer for our political culture.  Their approach is to essentially eliminate government then privatize public policy on the presumption that the marketplace is the answer to all the social, environmental, economic and political problems we face, including health care.  That is not consistent with the dominant values of most Albertans.  But most of us don't vote so we could end up there by default...with nobody to blame but ourselves.

There are many who are nominally supportive of the Wildrose Alliance because they see it as a "place to park your vote and frown sternly at the PCs"  as University of Lethbridge political scientist Peter McCormick says in the Journal article.  But given another viable balanced, moderate and progressive political alternative like the Alberta Party, one has to question the real level of committed public support for the fundamentalist hardcore conservative politics of the Wildrose Alliance.

No doubt the Alberta Party has a long way to go and very little time to get ready for the next election - which is expected within a year.  It is making progress, getting traction and picking up speed.  I am told membership has doubled to over 900 in the 6 weeks since the end of October Policy Conference.  More Albertans are buying memberships and engaging the start of constituency associations, looking a leadership campaigns and considering being a candidate....but still more is needed for the Alberta Party to be a contender in the next election.

It will have over 40 constituency associations formed by the end of January and the rest of the province will be organized right afterwards.  The party leadership campaign begin in the new year.  The leadership campaigns will bring mainstream media attention to the Alberta Party and that will attract the attention of everyday Albertans to this new fresh political movement.  Albertans will become more Alberta Party curious as they hear about how we can do politics differently and move forward to a progressive future.

In the last Alberta election 60% of eligible voters could not be bothered to get informed about the candidates, the leaders, the party platforms or ever show up to vote.  The Alberta Party will be fishing in that large pond of citizen disenchantment.  It will offer a viable alternative to politics-as-usual and will attract soft and swing support from all the traditional political parties who are fed up with the old-style politics.

There are reasons for the Alberta Party to be cautiously optimistic about gaining greater voter support.  The citizen disaffection for all of the current political offerings and the longing for change is obvious.  There are some of us who were there in 1971 when Lougheed led the dramatic change from the tired, tedious and out of touch Social Credit government to a new modern, youthful forward thinking and energized kind of government.

There are signs that we are back to the future.  There is the emergence of a revitalized voter who showed up in the recent local elections in larger numbers and with a message to politicians.  This is another reason to believe things can change quickly and dramatically in the political culture of our Alberta.  The rejection of so many conformist incumbent candidates is another encouraging sign of the coming of real political change.  The election of so many younger, imaginative and progressive thinking candidates to local governments and school boards also adds to the sense of a sea change shift that is emerging in the political culture of the province.      

ALBERTANS ARE MORE PROGRESSIVE THAN CONSERVATIVE
On top of all that is some interesting research results we have discerned from the work of Reboot Alberta on the degree of shared values of progressive thinking Albertans compared to a random sampling the everyday average Albertan. The results are enormously encouraging for the progressive and fresh thinking of the Alberta Party.  We studied 22 value attributes of 644 self-selecting Alberta progressives within the Reboot Alberta citizens movement.  We wanted to find out what were the most vital values for progressive Albertans and what they wanted to see guide and drive politics and policy decisions of their government.

We did the same study with a statistically valid random sample of 568 Albertans so it is accurate at the +/-4% level.  We then compared the random results to the Reboot progressive citizens movement results.  We wanted to get a sense of how many progressive thinking people there are in Alberta.  We looked at the degree of alignment of the random results and compared them to the top quartile of the Roboot results.  This top quartile alignment of the two surveys is an indication of an excellent fit of the Alberta population with the progressive values of Reboot Alberta Influentials.  What we found is that 28% of Albertans are profoundly aligned with the Progressive values. 

When we compared the random results to the top two quartiles of the Reboot survey we found that 63% of everyday Albertans shared the same set of values as Reboot Alberta Progressives.  What is just as important is there was no difference between ages, genders or between rural and urban progressive thinking Albertan when you look at the random sample results.  Rural and urban Albertans share the same values, maybe not the same priority about issues but we Albertans are fundamentally the same kind of people...regardless of where we live.

If this extrapolation of the alignment of random sample of regular Albertan and the Reboot community is accurate that means the red-neck social conservative image of Alberta so "popular" in the rest of Canada is a myth.  It is a myth that needs to be debunked.   It also means there is a large untapped group of progressive thinking Albertans looking and longing for a political home and a political party they can believe in.  Could the Alberta Party be the answer to the quest for change for the 63% of us who want a real progressive government that reflects our values?

LOOK AT THE ALBERTA PARTY AS A PROGRESSIVE ALTERNATIVE
If you are Alberta Party curious, take a chance and go to the website, read the policy document and other items.  If you are curious about what is a Progressive go to that link on the Reboot Alberta  and read the commentaries. Then take a minute and look at the mix of young-old, male-female on the Alberta Party Board and ask yourself if this mix makes sense in how a new political party should look.  Can you see that the Alberta Party is on to something and serious about doing politics differently?  Is this new political movement something worthy of your support and involvement as a citizen? If you want real change we all know it is basically about taking personal responsibility.  We have to be the change we want to see.

So overcome your reluctance about political participation.  Take the leap and buy a membership in the Alberta Party.  Become active in the forthcoming party leadership selection process.  Share your engagement and enthusiasm with your family, friends, co-workers and your community.  Encourage them to revitalize their sense of empowerment as a citizen.  Ask them to consider joining the Alberta Party too.  After all it is still a free country and province...for now but that could change if you choose to stay disinterested in the future of our Alberta.  

Study Shows Fox News Makes You Stupid!

Here is an interesting study about how misinformed Fox News viewers are about the truth.  Seems that the misinformation is deliberate too. This is beyond sad and dangerous to democracy.  Wonder how much Fox News North will mimic their American cousins in this style of "journalism."  I wonder what a comparative Canadian study of Hardcore Conservatives in Canada and Alberta would show.

The fundamental foundations of citizenship and democracy are truth, trust and respect.  Sorely lacking principles by what we see from the political tactics of Hardcore Conservatives - on both sides of the 49th Parallel.

Progressives can't be content anymore with rolling their eyes as this kind of abuse of the truth and assault on informed free speech.  It is morally reprehensible behaviour and must be challenged.  Those who perpetuate and promote this kind of ignorance are in positions of political power or gaining political power.  That power is over the rest of us and we risk losing control of our democracy as a result.  This is a recipe for disaster.

This is happening because too many of us who are progressive, caring and compassionate people are siting on the political sidelines.  We are merely abdicating our duties as citizens by our indifference.  We are inadvertently abetting the erosion of our democracy as a result.  Because of this irresponsible lack of response by Progressive, we are letting the Hardcore Conservatives take over the political and public agenda.  Their goal is all about taking away hard won rights, freedoms and progressive values.  And we are letting them get away with it.

The Hardcore Conservatives can't handle the truth.  They don't feel comfortable considering competing ideas at a time.  It drives them to distraction.  Without the truth and respect for a diversity of opinions politics becomes more and more about deception, subterfuge and misinformation... coercion and suppression.  Citizenship suffers and democracy declines...civil society disappears.

"All men make mistakes but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong and repairs the evil.  The only sin is pride."  ~Sophocles.


"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those, who in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."  ~Dante  

Progressive thinking citizens in ALBERTA have to get re-engaged in the political culture of our times.  We have to do more than just step up to the plate.  We have to upset the Hardcore Conservative applecart as well.

Gwynne Dyer and Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta

Last June I and my company, Cambridge Strategies Inc., was part of the organization a of a symposium and a public meeting entitled Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta held in Edmonton and Calgary.

It was a very popular event with over 700 of active Alberta citizens coming together to become more informed about what we may be facing as Albertans between now and 2030.  We had a number of great speakers about the implications of external, natural and internal events, trends and pressures on Alberta.  Gwynne Dyer presented a most provocative scenario for the future of Alberta.

Dyer was well informed about Alberta, as always, he considers himself as an "honourary Albertan/"  But he was very pointed about what we face and what adaptations we Albertans will have to make to respond to the changes we are in and can anticipate. We taped his comments just over 30 minutes of information and some implications.   

Some salient points include that Dyer is an optimist about Alberta but climate change is the variable.  Alberta has had it easy because we have had the stuff the world wanted and we became rich as a province. But change is in the air with the coming shift away from fossil fuels and the realities of peak oil we can't presume our tomorrows will simply be a reflection and continuation of our yesterdays, economically, ecologically, socially and politically.

We can't  go back to try and relive or perfect our past either.  We have to design and learn new creative ways of living that are flexible, deliberative, innovative, imaginative and yes - prudent if we are to continue to enjoy a superior quality of life.

Dyer muses about what Alberta must do to adapt to face the eventual and inevitable decline of interest in fossil fuels and the shift to alternative energies.  He says one of the major blessing of Alberta are two big cities both with water and a that will be a big asset in the future.  He said we need to immediately build a high speed rail between Edmonton and Calgary and create a utility corridor spine as well.  That will attract the creative economy based on research and development which he believes is the ultimate future forward reality for a sustainable Alberta.  We have attractive countryside, a great deal of room, social cohesion and a diverse dynamic culture with a high quality education and health care...yes we have quality health care - just crappy access!

All this adds to presenting a platform of providing a future of well being and happiness as the self-sustaining quality of life capacity will be the magnet for the best and brightest to want to come to Alberta for opportunity and challenge.  Dyer says we need to spend more money on culture to add to the attractiveness of the place and he said do not think spending money on culture is an indulgence.  I could not agree more.

He observes that there is nowhere else in Canada or between the Mississippi and the Rockies in the USA that can do it like Alberta can if they can do it at all.  But we Albertans are way to complacent and compliant and comfortable in the old way of living and thinking.  We need to get on with the adaptations that are necessary to design, capitalize and optimize our magnificent advantages and with the new narrative for the next Alberta on a vision of possibilities and aspirations, not contentment with a past that is not our future.

That involves some new thinking and engaging by Albertans in citizenship but getting involved in the politics and issues of the day.  It is about stewardship from ecological to the legacy we leave future generations of Albertans.  And it is about servant-leadership in politics but in other key aspects of our society and economy.  But is also demands imagination, creativity and innovation.  We are not overly blessed with those attributes but we can create them and hone them if we wanted to.  We must want to do that and live up to the promise of this place.  We can't presume the future will take care of itself.  The planet will survive climate change and do just fine but there is no guarantee that our species is part of that future.

We are planning another public event next year, building on the Learning Our Way theme.  We are planning another symposium with Alberta and Finland as the highest performing public education systems in the world. We will have another public  event in advance of the symposium too and will build on the consciousness that the presentation of Sir Ken Robinson will make in Red Deer in early February. More to come on this NOT TO BE MISSED EVENT.

You can keep up to date on progress on Twitter via #abfuture, this blog and the www.learningourway.ca website. The website is being redesigned to focus on the next Learning Our Way event. The original material from the first event is still there and recording of the other speakers if you want to give them a listen.