Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes | Video on TED.com

Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes | Video on TED.com

Here is a video with great insight about public education when the school is no longer the place to get the information but the place to learn how to use the information.

All vital to Inspiring Action on Education and Learning Our Way to the Next Alberta

GOTTA LOVE TED.COM

Canada Called "Climate Criminals" Over Oil Sands

Here is a link to a blog post and a 7 minute video of a protest on the oil sands on the EU-Canada free trade deal that is starting to be negotiated in Brussels.

As an Albertan and therefore and owner of the oil sands, I feel we have to be more aware about what is being said about us in the international community.  Equally as important I am concerned what my provincial and federal government are saying and doing about the development of the oil sands, in my name and with my property.  Do other Albertans feel the same way? I would love to hear your perspectives in comments.

Then I feel I have to know more about what my tenants, the oil sands developers are doing to exploit my resource in a responsible and sustainable way...along with paying a fair rent to me and future generations by way of royalties.

For the typical citizen it is hard to get the information and when you do get something from the usual sources it has so much spin and propaganda we all know we can't believe it and we start to mistrust the sources.  A perfect example of this is the response to my non-scientific blog survey showing about 6% of participants were prepared to trust our governments to monitor the ecological impacts of the oil sands.

The spin and propaganda from governments these days is so obvious we have simply decided to ignore them as a trustworthy source of  factual information.  This is a dangerous situation for an effective democracy. Something has to change and the climate for more open, transparent and accountable government is not good

SEE Magazine Captures Spirit of Alberta Party People

Maurice Tougas has an interesting piece in the most recent issue of SEE Magazine that captures the essence and spirit of the people joining the new Alberta Party.  Many of the early adopters and the energy for the the idea of a new progressive political party emerged from the Reboot Alberta movement that started in November of 2009.

Lots has happened since and a lot more needs to happen for the Alberta Party to be viable contender for the hearts and minds of Albertans who are tired of the pointless rhetorical positioning of a Spin  Doctor politics.  This kind of change is not easy.  Real change never is.  But there is a growing group of Albertans who know we can and must do better. We know that good governance, quality government and public-service politics with informed engaged citizens can make this happen.  After all, the politicians work for us.  Not the other way around.

I want to share some comments of an apolitical friend who sent me an email as she contemplate the need for change in how Alberta is governed and growing.  I don't have permission to use her name and I am only quoting part of what she told me by email.

My correspondents came to her realization that she need to start participating politically through her involvement in Reboot Alberta.  She says she "...thought it was time to begin a conversation about the  current state of Alberta and how we, together, could 'reboot' Alberta to the province we all knew and loved...and we knew that the concern for the well being of our province was, perhaps, more far-reaching than we anticipated."  She goes on to note "...that many folks, myself included, had a clear idea of what it meant to be both Canadian and Calgarian, (or what ever municipality we were from) but very few had given much thought to what it meant to be an Alberta, or had a vision for Alberta...it occurred to me that many of us, myself included, had taken for granted the stewardship that is our responsibility."    

She describes her transformational moment that brought her to the tipping point of dusting off her citizenship and re-engaging in the political culture of Alberta. She was listing to the CBC "about goings on at the Legislature" and the "combined bumbling that caused me to think aloud in the words of my old cartoon pal Popeye the Sailorman 'That's all I can stands...I can't stands any more.'  Upon returning home I
immediately went to the Alberta Party website and joined and left a note saying put me to work.'"

She has taken on the role of Calgary coordinator for the Alberta Party leadership bid of Glenn Taylor and has started reaching out to people in Calgary to get involved.  She has been in touch with her network of fellow Albertans and at New Years, she asked them (and all of us) "...to count your blessings and consider the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead."

She closed her note to friends and family and said "...please put Alberta on your list of things to think about.   The way you may choose to help impact our future is, of course, up to you.  It may or may not be political - you may want to get more involved in your community or with causes that are important to you or it may be with me in this new party or perhaps in a party where you are already a member - any of these will make our province stronger."

This email was an important statement of a personal commitment to engage in assuring a prosperous, inclusive future for Alberta that lives with ecological integrity.  Our prosperity is not assured in a spirit of pure competition where the goal is to be the best place in the world.  It will be found the more profound and personal testament of an aspiring Albertan, like my friend.  That more profound personal and collective aspirations for Alberta is to be the best place for the world. That is the foundational motivation for me in my journey to pursue the political transformation I see as possible through the Alberta Party.  It is good to see and know that I am not alone.

Political Progress and the Emerging Ridicule of the Alberta Party

While I will direct my mind to the Alberta Party, much of the paradigm I will describe applies to the evolution of the Wildrose Alliance and the PCs, Liberals and NDP as well...we are all just at different stages and phases of this process.

I am inspired by a quote that I believe came from Schopenhauer.  He said to the effect that all truth passes through three stages.  First it is ridiculed.  Second it is violently opposed and third it is accepted as being self-evident.  I was reminded of this quote in a recent workshop I attended on "Unstoppable Conversations" that I thoroughly enjoyed.  It helped me get a handle on a framework for many of the thoughts about changes and transformations in the Alberta political landscape that I have been rumbling through my brain lately.

Back to Schopenhauer' s quote and the evolving nature of "truth."  First off, I don't hold much stock in truth.  It is too subjective, temporary and perceptually ambiguous a concept to deserve the weight it has in our political culture discourse.  I can accept the de Bono concept of a proto-truth.  To me that is something we hold on to as self-evident until something better (or just different???), comes along to occupy the mind space of a society.  That sense of a proto-truth is very alive in the context of the Schopenhauer quote too.  Truth changes.  It is not absolute.

THE OLD LINE PARTIES ARE AT STAGE THREE OF THE "TRUTH"
The image of the PCs, Liberals and NDP are all at the third stage of  truth in Schopenhauer's world.  The self-evident niches for each of them are embedded in the political cultural context of the times and perceptions about them are set in the minds of citizens.  The PCs after 40 years in power are the natural governing party but they are off their game of late.  The Liberals are the oldest political party in Alberta but marked with a cultural meme that ties them to the federal party and the alleged evils of the often reviled National Energy Policy.  To many misplaced beliefs and mythologies make them a political non-starter for most Albertans. The NDP are not extreme but just not mainstream enough to be seen as ready to govern.  We like the NDP as critics of government in service of the public interest - but no more.

These conventional political parties seem to be able to sustain and reaffirm their political space on the left-right spectrum in the minds of most Albertans.  Otherwise they would lack a sense of significance and could just as well disappear from the consciousness of the everyday Albertan.  They tend to oppose each other in a political game of oppositional posturing and positioning, politely called "spin" but is in fact mostly just hard ball propaganda. They are not seen as nimble nor adaptable to the changing times or competent given the complexity of a shrinking world culture, globalized economy or the realities of an interdependent environment.

THE ALBERTA PARTY AND WILDROSE ARE DIFFERENT
The Wildrose Alliance Party, in my perception, is moving into the second stage of truth, that of being violently opposed.  I say that because I am one of those who are actively opposed to the Wildrose Alliance governing philosophy of Libertarianism social policy and Monetarism economic policy and an environmental policy that is based on Climate Change Denial.

However, I would not call my opposition to the Wildrose Alliance Party "violent."  The rancorous rhetoric of the extreme right in the USA and the linkage of that rhetoric alleged to encourage actual physical violence.  Political based violence like the killings it Tucson and the murder of abortion doctors by radical hardcore conservatives of the assassinations of the 60s some say is returning.  The question is why and who, what and where is that level of violent opposition becoming normative in the States?  We know how it is becoming normative.  The gun culture of the United States of America and the decline of education standards, opportunity erosion and increasing fear, uncertainty and doubt about the future for too many Americans.

Back to Alberta.  I am more at the vehemently opposed level to the governing philosophy and political culture of the Wildrose Alliance.  My opposition to the Wildrose is is a matter of conviction and vigour, not hate and anger. I  do not want Alberta to be governed by that, or any other similar political dogma. My opposition, like every other moderate progressive I know or ever met, is intellectual and philosophical, not a matter of force and violence.  I am a democrat and will defer to the will and decision of an informed and engaged majority of voter.  Those who win elections with a mere 40% turnout casts a serious suspicion of those criteria being met in our elections.  We need both democratic and electoral reform beyond tinkering with advertising rules and rates of special interests groups.

The Alberta Party is just emerging on the political radar screen in Alberta.  As a result of such attention other partisans are stepping up the rhetoric and ridicule.  That puts the Alberta Party very much at the first stage of the "truth" - the ridicule stage. This stage one level of ridicule is coming from some supporters of the other parties but not the parties themselves.  This link is a perfect example. Here is a blog post with point of view on the political context of the stage one ridicule too.

I think this is all in good humour and pretty slick political PR too.  It is important because it is an attempt to frame the Alberta Party as something it is not before the party has a chance to express its own narrative of what it is and aspires to be come.

This is not a new tactic for hard core conventional political party operatives.  Harper spent an enormous amount of taxpayer supported money on television ads leading up to an election.  This negative campaign timing was pretty cynical because this stuff was pure political campaign advertising but done just in advance of an election so it would not be controlled nor limited by campaign spending laws.  Harper was successfully framing Stephane Dion, as the new leader of the Liberal Party in the public consciousness before Dion could set out his own narrative in the public mind. 

This kind of negative adverting is universally denounced and universally used - because it works.  Some Alberta unions did a high cycle television ad campaign in the last Alberta provincial election saying Stelmach Had No Plan.  That resulted in new legislation sponsored by the Stelmach government limiting third party election spending in the province.  So much for electoral free speech and opinion through advertising in Alberta.  Not a big deal really, because there is scant evidence that such advertising changes opinions in any event.  But as an offence to free speech...and government control of free speech - its a big deal.

A CIVIL AND PROFESSIONAL POLITICAL CULTURE IS WHAT WE NEED
The Alberta Party is trying to change the nature of the discourse with a policy of MLA Guidelines aimed at returning civility and professionalism back into Alberta politics.  I applaud those efforts.  They may be naive but the sentiment is not misplaced.  The theatre of the absurd that is Question Period or the pathetic discourse that passes as debate, dialogue and even public consultation in Alberta is disheartening.

My contribution to this effort at more civility and professionalism in politics in Alberta will be on this blog.  I will continue to be critical of the politics and the tactics of those with whom I disagree but I will not engage in personal attacks about politicians at least not without evidence-based justification.  When it comes to comments on how various political philosophies and promoted propaganda, I intend to be vehemently opposed where I disagree. But I will try my best not to be disagreeable in the process.  I hope my readers support this position with non-anonymous comments that are aligned with this approach.  I hope readers will be civil and vigilant in helping me keep to my word on this.  Just a small step but one worth taking.

What Raj Sherman Should Do - and WHY!

I did a blog poll on this question of Raj Sherman's future in politics last week.  This is a non-scientific sampling of 174 self-selecting anonymous people.  The results are merely anecdotal, so look at the results lightly and in that light.  However the outcomes of this polling there is a clear indication of gratuitous advice to Raj Sherman, the ousted PC caucus member.  The results are interesting.

Full disclosure, I am a member of the Alberta Party, the Edmonton Glenora constituency President but I in no way speak for the Alberta Party.  This blog, as always, is just my personal perspective.  For the record, I have had a number of email exchanges, phone chats and face-to-face meetings with Raj since he was ejected from the PC Caucus. I expect we will stay in touch. I want him to join forces with the Alberta Party and will give some reasons for this later in this post.  Not a big surprise to anyone I expect.

THE OPTIONS - OR NOT!
Here is the non-scientific but still intriguing blog poll outcome.  Raj should join the Alberta Party according to 45%, or join the Liberal Party according to 14%.   The other options all cluster between 6%-9% so they are not really significant.  Raj has already rejected the idea of quitting politics. That option only had 7% support anyway.  That is the same number who thought he should go back to the PCs.  There were 6% who felt he should join the NDP and 8% preferred that he sit with the Wildrose Alliance Party.

In this post I am going focus mostly on reasons  to join or not to join the Alberta Party and the same for the Liberal Party.  I cautiously discount the other alternatives.  The Wildrose is a political force with a core of supporters.  My sense is their protest support is as deep as a dime and there is a lingering mistrust that pervades them.  They have a history and we are not sure what  they really stand for anymore.  We are cautious about what the strong social conservative element might do to Alberta, once in power.  Look at Bill 44 that targeted homosexuals and teachers as an example of social conservative influence on politics and policy.  Google Bill 44 in Alberta if you are unfamiliar with this draconian piece of legislation.

In my communications with Raj, he was looking at all options but I can't see him aligning with the Wildrose, on principle.  He says he believes the PCs have a surreptitious plan to privatize health care after the next election.  Despite protest to the contrary, no thoughtful observer of the Wildrose Alliance Party could conclude that they would not also privatize health care...once in power.  They are not stupid.  They will campaign on a middle of the road policy platform but their behind-the-scenes brain trust is pure Stephen Harper.  Will they have any moral or ethical problem reversing campaign promises on matters like health care one they form government?  Harper has had no pangs of consciousness in doing just that from Income Trusts to Afghanistan.

Raj has already said he will run again so going back to medicine is a non-starter, at least in the short term.  As for the NDP, you can't fix health care with influence alone, you need power.  Sherman had preferred, front row insider influence in the PC party.  It did little to change things, except his own political fortunes. To consider rejoining the PCs Raj would have to apologize to Minister Liepert. I think that is too bitter a pill for Raj to swallow.

As for staying Independent Raj is quoted as saying "ideally, you need to align yourself with somebody.  The challenge is I'm quite non-partisan."  He is in contact with all the opposition parties in and outside the Legislature. It is pretty difficult, but not impossible, to get elected as an Independent but it is tough to have any impact to change government policy as a lone non-partisan voice in our governance system.  My sense is Raj will join a party, the question is which one, when and why?

The Liberal Party is a definite option for Raj to consider.  However, they have problems getting attention and traction in the political mind space of Albertans.  This should be the best of times for Liberals to be rising in popularity but it isn't happening. David Swann just dismissed his second communications director since he became leader and there is angst in the caucus and in the party itself. Who knows for sure what voters will do to the Liberals, or any of the current and conventional political parties for that matter.  But a one keen and seasoned observer of politics in Alberta said to the effect the Liberals have not captured the imagination of Albertans in almost 100 years and if they can't do it now, they are not a serious alternative political force going forward.  That is not a conclusion but a concern for and about the Liberals.

As stated earlier, my bias is for Raj to take a chance on the emerging Alberta Party because, while it is not non-partisan, it is not a single-minded top down left versus right ideological driven hierarchy driven political machine.  Nor is it a centrally controlled monolith with all the power in the hands of an entrenched leader who is mostly influenced and his or her unelected advisors and undisclosed fund raisers.  The Alberta Party is new.  In fact it is so new that it is just now forming constituency organizations all over the province, and is just starting its leadership process. Raj, in the Alberta Party, can have more influence on the leadership outcome and the election policy platform than he can in any of the other alternatives.  By joining the Alberta Party he can shift public attention, trigger some imagination and bring a new meaning to political participation in our province.

Is the Alberta Party a real force? I say yes it is and while it is very young it is not naive about the challenges ahead for itself as a party, the province and the people of Alberta.  There are outstanding questions of who will lead the Alberta Party. Can they raise enough money to be competitive in an election campaign?  Will they attract enough quality candidates to be taken seriously and gain the confidence of Albertans?  All legitimate issues but as an Alberta Party member, I know the progress on all those organizational fronts is moving along at an amazing pace - and the reception from Albertans is positive, energizing and exciting.

To me the revival of the Alberta Party feels very much like the late 60s.  That was when Peter Lougheed captured the imagination of forward thinking Albertans of those days with his revival of the Progressive Conservative Party.  That was when I got involved in provincial politics, moving beyond student politics at the University of Alberta.  In the late 60's Peter Lougheed was travelling all over the province along with his sidekick (a.k.a. Executive Assistant) Dave King (who is now working hard on the Provincial Board of the Alberta Party). Lougheed was gathering citizen's interest all over the province in the emerging Progressive Conservative Party, one community meeting, one coffee party and one Chamber of Commerce speech, at a time.

Back in the day, the Lougheed PCs came to be seen as the viable option to replace the tired, tedious and too-long-in-the-tooth Social Credit party.  The tipping point came in the 1971 election with the slogan "NOW." Now it is the time for the Alberta Party.  It is now being seen as the progressive viable alternative political voice for moderate progressive Albertans.  What I am grappling with is what will it take to get moderate progressive Albertans to reaffirm their responsibilities and roles as citizens in our democracy.  What is the tipping point to get them to re-engage in changing the political culture and the direction of this province?

Most Albertans are feeling a little uncertain and doubtful about the future.  There is a lingering angst over what the future holds for each of us given all the economic, ecological and social volatility in the world.  We are yearning for a political alternative that is not an extreme.  We are not a province of social conservatives or authoritarian Tea-Party-in-training types we see rising in power in the States.  The Ayn Rand inspired, Libertarian influenced Wildrose Alliance Party conjures some serious suspicions about their real political intentions and where they would take us if they had power. We also know we want to move beyond the rudderless and feckless PCs, who are akin to the old Social Credit party incarnate and failing to adapt to the changing times.

FIX HEALTH CARE IS JOB#1 FOR RAJ:
Raj is clear on one thing.  He wants Albertans to understand and engage in facing the challenges necessary to fix health care in Alberta.  He has recently told reporters and others he is staying in politics and will spend some time touring the province to "...engage people in an honest conversation, a non-partisan conversation...to see how many Albertans care about health care."  Raj can do that very effectively as an independent MLA, in the short term.  He has to be careful he does not become a one-trick pony and morph into just another publicity seeking political protester like Greenpeace has done with the oil sands.

So to help him out with his road show here is some intelligence for him to use in his caravan around Alberta.  This survey data gives a sense of what Albertans are feeling about our health care system.  This data comes from a survey we did of over 1000 Albertans in a random sample in March 2010, just after Raj and Minister Zwozdesky were appointed to the Health Ministry in January 2010.  This data timing reflects more on Minister Liepert's Reign of Error than on Raj's or Gene Zwozdesky's efforts at health care reform.

When Albertans were asked how confident they were in their government effectively managing the health care system only 14% agreed or strongly agreed they had confidence.  Only 21% of us were satisfied with the state of health care in Alberta and just 42% believed we have a world class health care system.  When asked if we had concerns as to whether the public health system in Alberta was sustainable 55% were felt it was not sustainable.  The long term view is even more alarming.  There were 70% of those surveyed who said we need to make changes to our health care system if it will be there for our children.  What kind of changes need to be made is the political and policy challenge.

So there is lots of concern amongst Albertans about a wide range of health care issues.  The Stelmach response last year was a quick and controlled public consultation over the summer and a report that lead to new health care legislation passed last fall.  Has any of that changed the level of public concern or increased confidence in the Stelmach government's handling of health care?  Given the outpouring of public support for Raj Sherman's  recent public advocating for the Emergency Docs cry of a crisis and government mismanagement, I would presume that Albertan are not assured nor appeased by the Stelmach government attempts at policy change.

WHAT IS THE LONGER TERM POLITICAL PLAN FOR RAJ SHERMAN?
So what is Raj Sherman going to do? My advice is stay independent for a bit and go out and talk to Albertans as a non-partisan.  The Alberta Party knows from The Big Listen that people are eager to share their stories, their ideas and express their frustration to anyone in government who will listen and respect their opinions.  Something that 51% of Albertans think is not happening now.

The leadership campaign of the Alberta Party will get going soon.  Progressive minded Albertans will be more aware, engaged and attentive to what is happening with this new progressive political citizen's movement we call the Alberta Party. While Raj is on the road I hope he encourages Albertans to pay attention, buy a membership and use the Alberta Party leadership campaign as a referendum to send a message.  That message is that progressive Albertans are re-engaging in the politics of our time and we want real options and real change and we will reject Libertarian politics or hardcore socially conservative dogma.

As for Raj joining the Alberta Party here is a bottom line as I see it. My sense is Raj Sherman does not need the Alberta Party, nor does the Alberta Party need Raj Sherman,, at least not right now.  However Alberta and Albertans need both of us, sooner than later too.  The synergies of an independent thinking Raj Sherman in a fresh new progressive political movement, like the Alberta Party, would be a positive force to better serve the greater good.  It is the best option for everyone.  Time will tell if that happens.  No predictions, but I have been around politics long enough to know anything can happen, and nothing should surprise us...hope springs eternal.

One thing is certain.  For the first time in 40 years we now have a sense that real political change is coming to Alberta.  What the change will bring, no one knows yet, but Alberta will soon be changed, perhaps in the next election.  Will it be transformed into a model of a 21st century pluralist society with a new prosperity of a  diverse creative economy that is respectful of ecological realities.  Or will the counterclockwise forces of the far right dominate and take Alberta back into a rigid authoritarian dog-eat-dog world where an unfettered marketplace model drives all the social, environmental and economic policy decisions?

To be continued......