Last May I did this blog post suggesting the Alberta Health Services Superboard should go...(along with regional PDD and Children's Service boards).
The $11Billlion budget is out and if it passed without a debate or even a question about that much money being spent by appointed people, where is the due diligence, the oversight and the responsibility to public duty of such an entity. Don Braid of the Calgary Herald covers some of these concern rather well in his column.
I have no trouble with the quality and character of the people on the Superboard. I just don't know what value they add to solving the concerns around health care in Alberta. Those should be handled by the government itself. It seems like the disbanding of the regional boards for political reasons and the set up of the Superboard, for other political reasons, was just another Liepert induced level of bureaucracy that distances political policy makers from the problems.
This structure is confusing about who is in charge. It does not enhance transparency, accountability or assure citizens of integrity and fiscal responsibility for our tax dollars. It does not help health care providers or the government meet their responsibility to provide health care for Albertans.
Time has come to disband the Superboard and make the Minister and his administration directly accountable. The evidence is that since Gene Zwozdesky took over they are very capable of doing the job and don't need or want an buffer from the realities and challenges.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Daveberta Disagrees With Me on Danielle and I Respond
HI Dave - good to have you comment. But I have to stand by my concerns over the Wildrose Alliance Party being a scary alternative and not open to open political debate and good governance.
Of course the WAP AGM as a well produced and well-managed event -but that is not the point. The reporting on the event was that is was more like "stage managed" to ensure only certain and deemed acceptable voices of the membership were heard.
Of course there are fringe elements in every party. I was part of one of them in the PCs for years but it never stopped me from speaking up. It occasionally got me chastised and denied me access and influence on the power structure of the PC government. But that was not often and besides, that is the price one must be prepared to pay for being an independent voice in the face of old style politics.
Of course the fringe elements might hurt the WAP if they got the spotlight. And the media loves to distort the attention to the conflict not the content or substance of the debated issues. Look at the recent G20 television coverage for evidence of that.
However, if those fringe voices truly do not represent the mainstream thinking of the WAP then let them be heard, be openly debated and then defeated on principle by a vote of the membership. Lets not decline into political manipulation or pandering pragmatism just to stifle and hide the truth of those voices in the "big tent" merely because they may embarrass us. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Fringe elements who are not persuasive should be defeated in a vote of all party members, but only after being heard, respected and understood. In many cases if it were not for fringe elements nothing would change. Wasn't it GB Shaw who said to the effect if it were not for the unreasonable man there would be no progress at all? Is not the unreasonable man the essence of a fringe element? All change happens at the margins why shirk from the margins?
The culture of refusing to listen to the other side of an argument is the essence of old style politics and undemocratic and a slight to free speech.
I was talking about the undisclosed influence of certain powerful private sector funding sources for theSmith leadership campaign not the WAP election campaign. When we don't get to know who is paying for the Smith leadership campaign we need to worry about where we are headed as a democracy. That same can be said for the Morton, Oberg and some of the Stelmach PC leadership donors too.
The reason Smith says she will not disclose is because her donors are afraid of the government. That is interesting. I applaud Smith's AGM speech for spotlighting the intimidation innuendo and threatening culture in some parts of the PC government saying communities and organizations will be cut off government funding, even if the money serves some of our most vulnerable citizens. They are being told there will be consequences if they don't be quiet, compliant and show support the PC party. as government. I have been a victim of that kind of subtle bully of late since I quit the PC Party last December.
I don't see why any political party leadership campaign is not subject to the same campaign funding disclosure rules as elections. Then your comment Dave about us getting to see the leadership campaign funding sources would be true. But now that disclosure is only about election campaigns where the laws are strict and clear. It is not a means however of us getting to know now who, if any, is pulling the strings of party leaders
I think is it disingenuous at best, for private citizens and private sector funders to be allowed to use fear as a reasonable excuse not to exercise your citizenship rights to support whatever political candidate they may wish. If this degree of fear is true, then our democracy is in deeper and more dire straits than even I think. A political culture of fear leads to the decline and eventual demise of open representative democracy. I do not want to say fascism is around the corner but it is definitely down the block if this is truly the case in Alberta and allowed to continue.
.
If the Smith leadership campaign donors are truly fearful of retaliation from the PC government did they propose a policy resolution for full campaign disclosure of all political party leadership campaigns? That kind of progressive accountable transparent and honest public policy would go a long way to raising my appreciation that the WAP is offering a different and better way of governing.
We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of hiding behind an excuse of fear of our government as a justification for anonymity - even if it is true, it is not justified. If we are afraid of our government and intimidated from exercising our right or free speech and free association we not only lose them, we invite the dirty political tricks of the Nixon era to be normative again.
When someone aspires to be worthy of our consent to govern us, the fact that they get to do so through an internal process of a private club called a political party is not a sufficient reason not to have full disclosure of leadership campaign funding.
With 40 years of a one-party state, the Alberta population has been lulled into inertia, indifference and overwhelmingly cynical about the consequences of not being informed and engaged citizens. Changing that mindset is the essence of the progressive citizen's movement called Reboot Alberta.
Our conjoint survey research shows that the most important values we progressives want from our political leaders are INTEGRITY, HONESTY, ACCOUNTABILITY, and TRANSPARENCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP. The recent random sample of all Albertans had FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY instead of ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP but all the other values were in the top tier of progressives and average Albertans. There is a values consensus and a longing for political change to align with those basic political values again.
I applaud when anyone offers themselves up as a candidate for the duties and responsibilities of political servant leadership. But I suggest all citizens had better be more vigilant in pursuing evidence from those who aspire to public office or political power to demonstrate these values. They better be at the core of their characters and their campaigns and continue into how they govern.
I don't think the WAP massaging their policy messages just to divert attention away from their "true conservative" principles is any way to show evidence of alignment with those vital political values Albertans require of our political class. We need to be shown and have every right to expect those values be extant from all our actual and aspiring servant leaders...not just the WAP.
As always Dave - great to engage in conversation with you - sorry for the long response.
Of course the WAP AGM as a well produced and well-managed event -but that is not the point. The reporting on the event was that is was more like "stage managed" to ensure only certain and deemed acceptable voices of the membership were heard.
Of course there are fringe elements in every party. I was part of one of them in the PCs for years but it never stopped me from speaking up. It occasionally got me chastised and denied me access and influence on the power structure of the PC government. But that was not often and besides, that is the price one must be prepared to pay for being an independent voice in the face of old style politics.
Of course the fringe elements might hurt the WAP if they got the spotlight. And the media loves to distort the attention to the conflict not the content or substance of the debated issues. Look at the recent G20 television coverage for evidence of that.
However, if those fringe voices truly do not represent the mainstream thinking of the WAP then let them be heard, be openly debated and then defeated on principle by a vote of the membership. Lets not decline into political manipulation or pandering pragmatism just to stifle and hide the truth of those voices in the "big tent" merely because they may embarrass us. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Fringe elements who are not persuasive should be defeated in a vote of all party members, but only after being heard, respected and understood. In many cases if it were not for fringe elements nothing would change. Wasn't it GB Shaw who said to the effect if it were not for the unreasonable man there would be no progress at all? Is not the unreasonable man the essence of a fringe element? All change happens at the margins why shirk from the margins?
The culture of refusing to listen to the other side of an argument is the essence of old style politics and undemocratic and a slight to free speech.
I was talking about the undisclosed influence of certain powerful private sector funding sources for theSmith leadership campaign not the WAP election campaign. When we don't get to know who is paying for the Smith leadership campaign we need to worry about where we are headed as a democracy. That same can be said for the Morton, Oberg and some of the Stelmach PC leadership donors too.
The reason Smith says she will not disclose is because her donors are afraid of the government. That is interesting. I applaud Smith's AGM speech for spotlighting the intimidation innuendo and threatening culture in some parts of the PC government saying communities and organizations will be cut off government funding, even if the money serves some of our most vulnerable citizens. They are being told there will be consequences if they don't be quiet, compliant and show support the PC party. as government. I have been a victim of that kind of subtle bully of late since I quit the PC Party last December.
I don't see why any political party leadership campaign is not subject to the same campaign funding disclosure rules as elections. Then your comment Dave about us getting to see the leadership campaign funding sources would be true. But now that disclosure is only about election campaigns where the laws are strict and clear. It is not a means however of us getting to know now who, if any, is pulling the strings of party leaders
I think is it disingenuous at best, for private citizens and private sector funders to be allowed to use fear as a reasonable excuse not to exercise your citizenship rights to support whatever political candidate they may wish. If this degree of fear is true, then our democracy is in deeper and more dire straits than even I think. A political culture of fear leads to the decline and eventual demise of open representative democracy. I do not want to say fascism is around the corner but it is definitely down the block if this is truly the case in Alberta and allowed to continue.
.
If the Smith leadership campaign donors are truly fearful of retaliation from the PC government did they propose a policy resolution for full campaign disclosure of all political party leadership campaigns? That kind of progressive accountable transparent and honest public policy would go a long way to raising my appreciation that the WAP is offering a different and better way of governing.
We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of hiding behind an excuse of fear of our government as a justification for anonymity - even if it is true, it is not justified. If we are afraid of our government and intimidated from exercising our right or free speech and free association we not only lose them, we invite the dirty political tricks of the Nixon era to be normative again.
When someone aspires to be worthy of our consent to govern us, the fact that they get to do so through an internal process of a private club called a political party is not a sufficient reason not to have full disclosure of leadership campaign funding.
With 40 years of a one-party state, the Alberta population has been lulled into inertia, indifference and overwhelmingly cynical about the consequences of not being informed and engaged citizens. Changing that mindset is the essence of the progressive citizen's movement called Reboot Alberta.
Our conjoint survey research shows that the most important values we progressives want from our political leaders are INTEGRITY, HONESTY, ACCOUNTABILITY, and TRANSPARENCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP. The recent random sample of all Albertans had FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY instead of ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP but all the other values were in the top tier of progressives and average Albertans. There is a values consensus and a longing for political change to align with those basic political values again.
I applaud when anyone offers themselves up as a candidate for the duties and responsibilities of political servant leadership. But I suggest all citizens had better be more vigilant in pursuing evidence from those who aspire to public office or political power to demonstrate these values. They better be at the core of their characters and their campaigns and continue into how they govern.
I don't think the WAP massaging their policy messages just to divert attention away from their "true conservative" principles is any way to show evidence of alignment with those vital political values Albertans require of our political class. We need to be shown and have every right to expect those values be extant from all our actual and aspiring servant leaders...not just the WAP.
As always Dave - great to engage in conversation with you - sorry for the long response.
Proud to be on Alberta Venture's 50 Most Influential Albertans for 2010
I am proud to be on the Alberta Venture Magazine list of 50 Most Influential Albertans for 2010. I know many of the others and agree with their designation.
My "influence" comes from my recent political stands and my work with Reboot Alberta. If you are a progressive thinker and want to see the future of Alberta NOT veer to the far right from the political culture war that is currently being waged between the Wildrose Alliance Party and the "Progressive" Conservative Party, you might want to join this citizens movement called Reboot Alberta. You will find your tribe if you are a progressive thinker.
My "influence" comes from my recent political stands and my work with Reboot Alberta. If you are a progressive thinker and want to see the future of Alberta NOT veer to the far right from the political culture war that is currently being waged between the Wildrose Alliance Party and the "Progressive" Conservative Party, you might want to join this citizens movement called Reboot Alberta. You will find your tribe if you are a progressive thinker.
Will Danielle Smith Deliver Us From Evil?
So we are supposed to believe the kinder, gentler more moderate mask of the Wildrose Alliance Party coming out of their first AGM! I’m not buying it and I doubt any thoughtful Albertan will either.
We are being told by the WAP leader that “We’ve enough of socialists and liberals masquerading as conservatives.” Well we are about to get a snoot full of moderate masquerading to divert us from the realities of the reactionary and radical republican like Wildrose. They will try to tell us they are more like true blue caring conservatives and not the Wild West reformers of the past.
Be afraid Alberta. Be very afraid. We need transformative change in Alberta’s political culture for sure. We don’t need to return to the ways of thinking and acting back in Eisenhower’s and Nixon’s days. That is where the WAP would take us – back and backwards. We need to move forward and while the PCs are increasingly inept, the WAP is not the kind of political alternative that is in the best interests of Alberta and Albertans moving forward.
Let’s look at some of the outcomes of the WAP “coming out party” this last weekend at their AGM in Red Deer. First, it was hardly a ”coming out party” when you look at just how much of the authentic and actual beliefs of the social conservative base were gagged and stuffed in the policy and platform closet. Keeping the reactionary radical right base of the WAP out of sight and out of mind is the hope and strategy of the WAP power elite as they pursue personal political power in our province. Instead of bringing Albertans some clarity about the true policy intentions of the WAP we now have more opaqueness and obfuscation as we saw the policy resolutions orchestrated and staged.
Calling themselves “the true conservatives” this group of libertarians and social fundamentalists is still the same as they were before the weekend in Red Deer. They are still playing politics the same old HarperCon way. Say whatever you need to say to get elected then do what you want with the political power at your disposal. Most of the Harper Con MPs are working for the WAP including such enlightened luminaries as MP Rob Anders. The new kids on the block are being well mentored
There is a quote from the Edmonton Journal about a resolution debate on granting “unequivocal right to own firearms” that sums it up so far as the true conservative beliefs behind the soft peddling of policy resolutions. One WAP delegate is quoted as saying regarding establishing the right to bear arms in Alberta “basically I support…what is written here, I’m just worried about how this may be received in the public and portrayed in the media, so I am voting no.” So much for integrity, honesty, transparency, accountability and trustworthiness of the WAP approach to a different kind of politics. It’s the politics of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld being imported into Alberta.
We are all supposed to stay asleep at the switch and suspend our disbelief about the cold cunning and calculating fundamentalist heart of the social conservative base of the WAP. We are supposed to pretend there is a shift in the “true conservative” thinking of the WAP towards the political centre. I think this is no shift to the centre. It is merely a cynical calculating crusade to take political power and move Alberta society to the far right as fast as possible.
I find it eerily ironic that the education guidelines for the Bill 44 amendments to our Human Rights laws by the Stelmach PCs as an appeasement to the social conservatives came out this week too. To refresh your memory, Bill 44 was successfully pressed on Stelmach by guys like Rob Anderson, WAP floor crosser. It allows religious fundamentalists to persecute teachers if they don’t get advanced notice where religion, sexuality and sexual orientation even come up in class. With those restrictions it may be dangerous to even teach the Canadian Charter of Rights, and the Catholic schools are already seeing the dire consequences to their faith based education rights. That is just one example of the kind of socially regressive and intentionally oppressive laws we can expect more of with a WAP government in Alberta.
The “inching to the centre” by virtue of carefully worded revisionary framing of key policy issues are that are to appease the average Albertan and lull us into staying inert politically. Let’s look at some of the manipulation of language to manufacture a myth of WAP’s new found moderation. They watered down a resolution aimed at killing unions and passed a policy to “allow individual workers the choice to determine their membership in labour organizations.” That is the law now! There is nothing transformative, useful or even intellectually honest in that pointless policy stance. It is bound to be overturned on a Charter challenge anyway but that is the fundamental philosophy of the WAP policy approach.
They whitewashed the prior policy to disallow teachers to strike to simply review what services in Alberta are to be deemed essential. Cute and cunning but the motivation to still punish teachers and unions prevails notwithstanding the vague and vacuous wording change.
I love the resolution to establish an Alberta Constitution. That is a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. There are about 8 to 15% of Albertans who are separatists and they are mostly lurking in the bowels of the WAP these days. The idea of a sub-national constitution is absurd, unless of course you intend to pursue separation from Canada. That is the hidden agenda behind that resolution otherwise it makes no sense.
Then there is a semi-secret society of serious and self-serving oil money in Calgary that was behind Smith’s leadership and now they seem to be pushing the WAP itself. They were originally out to spank Stelmach and they did that rather well. They were after Stelmach because he was not one of them and not their puppet – at least not in the first year of Stelmach’s Premiership. Now they are out to unseat Stelmach. Have they found a new and more compliant puppet in Danielle Smith so why even bother to intimidate and bully Stelmach anymore? There is a certain faction within the Alberta energy sector that has effectively become the natural governing party in this province. The operate behind closed doors and were especially influential in controlling the economy and environmental policy under Klein. They seem intent to continue to wield quiet power and behind closed doors influence through Smith and the WAP, just as they did through Klein.
These energy sector tenants have all but effectively taken over the title to the natural resource property that Albertans actually own. And Albertans need to wake up to that reality and change it. The WAP is not the way to take back control of our democracy and reassert the citizen ownership of our resources. Just consider Smith’s response to the recent negligence conviction of Syncrude over the dead ducks in its tailings ponds. She did not assert the proxy position of the people of Alberta. She sided with the company calling for “common sense and restraint I how the verdict is applied.” Not a thought about beefing up enforcement and monitoring or environmental laws and regulations behind that attitude! No calling out the industry tenants of our natural resources for negligence and risking being seen as not worthy of their social license to operate their businesses responsibly in service the public interest as well as stockholders. Nope – Smith was all about not ruffling the feathers of big oil and she chose to dance around any debate on enforcement by using escape clause language like “common sense and restraint.”
There is change in the political air in Alberta but I don’t see the change offered by the Wildrose Alliance Party as anything more than the same old pursuit of political power for its own sake. What is worse is they are already showing they are intellectual dishonestly, a lack of integrity and a less than robust commitment to transparency. Albertans are going to demand those values be demonstrated not just talked about in stage managed political theater before any trust will be bestowed on any political party or leader. Means justify ends in Wildrose country and that is not good enough.
We are being told by the WAP leader that “We’ve enough of socialists and liberals masquerading as conservatives.” Well we are about to get a snoot full of moderate masquerading to divert us from the realities of the reactionary and radical republican like Wildrose. They will try to tell us they are more like true blue caring conservatives and not the Wild West reformers of the past.
Be afraid Alberta. Be very afraid. We need transformative change in Alberta’s political culture for sure. We don’t need to return to the ways of thinking and acting back in Eisenhower’s and Nixon’s days. That is where the WAP would take us – back and backwards. We need to move forward and while the PCs are increasingly inept, the WAP is not the kind of political alternative that is in the best interests of Alberta and Albertans moving forward.
Let’s look at some of the outcomes of the WAP “coming out party” this last weekend at their AGM in Red Deer. First, it was hardly a ”coming out party” when you look at just how much of the authentic and actual beliefs of the social conservative base were gagged and stuffed in the policy and platform closet. Keeping the reactionary radical right base of the WAP out of sight and out of mind is the hope and strategy of the WAP power elite as they pursue personal political power in our province. Instead of bringing Albertans some clarity about the true policy intentions of the WAP we now have more opaqueness and obfuscation as we saw the policy resolutions orchestrated and staged.
Calling themselves “the true conservatives” this group of libertarians and social fundamentalists is still the same as they were before the weekend in Red Deer. They are still playing politics the same old HarperCon way. Say whatever you need to say to get elected then do what you want with the political power at your disposal. Most of the Harper Con MPs are working for the WAP including such enlightened luminaries as MP Rob Anders. The new kids on the block are being well mentored
There is a quote from the Edmonton Journal about a resolution debate on granting “unequivocal right to own firearms” that sums it up so far as the true conservative beliefs behind the soft peddling of policy resolutions. One WAP delegate is quoted as saying regarding establishing the right to bear arms in Alberta “basically I support…what is written here, I’m just worried about how this may be received in the public and portrayed in the media, so I am voting no.” So much for integrity, honesty, transparency, accountability and trustworthiness of the WAP approach to a different kind of politics. It’s the politics of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld being imported into Alberta.
We are all supposed to stay asleep at the switch and suspend our disbelief about the cold cunning and calculating fundamentalist heart of the social conservative base of the WAP. We are supposed to pretend there is a shift in the “true conservative” thinking of the WAP towards the political centre. I think this is no shift to the centre. It is merely a cynical calculating crusade to take political power and move Alberta society to the far right as fast as possible.
I find it eerily ironic that the education guidelines for the Bill 44 amendments to our Human Rights laws by the Stelmach PCs as an appeasement to the social conservatives came out this week too. To refresh your memory, Bill 44 was successfully pressed on Stelmach by guys like Rob Anderson, WAP floor crosser. It allows religious fundamentalists to persecute teachers if they don’t get advanced notice where religion, sexuality and sexual orientation even come up in class. With those restrictions it may be dangerous to even teach the Canadian Charter of Rights, and the Catholic schools are already seeing the dire consequences to their faith based education rights. That is just one example of the kind of socially regressive and intentionally oppressive laws we can expect more of with a WAP government in Alberta.
The “inching to the centre” by virtue of carefully worded revisionary framing of key policy issues are that are to appease the average Albertan and lull us into staying inert politically. Let’s look at some of the manipulation of language to manufacture a myth of WAP’s new found moderation. They watered down a resolution aimed at killing unions and passed a policy to “allow individual workers the choice to determine their membership in labour organizations.” That is the law now! There is nothing transformative, useful or even intellectually honest in that pointless policy stance. It is bound to be overturned on a Charter challenge anyway but that is the fundamental philosophy of the WAP policy approach.
They whitewashed the prior policy to disallow teachers to strike to simply review what services in Alberta are to be deemed essential. Cute and cunning but the motivation to still punish teachers and unions prevails notwithstanding the vague and vacuous wording change.
I love the resolution to establish an Alberta Constitution. That is a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. There are about 8 to 15% of Albertans who are separatists and they are mostly lurking in the bowels of the WAP these days. The idea of a sub-national constitution is absurd, unless of course you intend to pursue separation from Canada. That is the hidden agenda behind that resolution otherwise it makes no sense.
Then there is a semi-secret society of serious and self-serving oil money in Calgary that was behind Smith’s leadership and now they seem to be pushing the WAP itself. They were originally out to spank Stelmach and they did that rather well. They were after Stelmach because he was not one of them and not their puppet – at least not in the first year of Stelmach’s Premiership. Now they are out to unseat Stelmach. Have they found a new and more compliant puppet in Danielle Smith so why even bother to intimidate and bully Stelmach anymore? There is a certain faction within the Alberta energy sector that has effectively become the natural governing party in this province. The operate behind closed doors and were especially influential in controlling the economy and environmental policy under Klein. They seem intent to continue to wield quiet power and behind closed doors influence through Smith and the WAP, just as they did through Klein.
These energy sector tenants have all but effectively taken over the title to the natural resource property that Albertans actually own. And Albertans need to wake up to that reality and change it. The WAP is not the way to take back control of our democracy and reassert the citizen ownership of our resources. Just consider Smith’s response to the recent negligence conviction of Syncrude over the dead ducks in its tailings ponds. She did not assert the proxy position of the people of Alberta. She sided with the company calling for “common sense and restraint I how the verdict is applied.” Not a thought about beefing up enforcement and monitoring or environmental laws and regulations behind that attitude! No calling out the industry tenants of our natural resources for negligence and risking being seen as not worthy of their social license to operate their businesses responsibly in service the public interest as well as stockholders. Nope – Smith was all about not ruffling the feathers of big oil and she chose to dance around any debate on enforcement by using escape clause language like “common sense and restraint.”
There is change in the political air in Alberta but I don’t see the change offered by the Wildrose Alliance Party as anything more than the same old pursuit of political power for its own sake. What is worse is they are already showing they are intellectual dishonestly, a lack of integrity and a less than robust commitment to transparency. Albertans are going to demand those values be demonstrated not just talked about in stage managed political theater before any trust will be bestowed on any political party or leader. Means justify ends in Wildrose country and that is not good enough.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Alberta Progressive Values Align Well with the Average Albertan
As regular readers and subscribers to this blog know, I am very involved in the Reboot Alberta progressive citizen's movement - amongst other things. We did a conjoint study of the most important value drivers for the Reboot Alberta community last February. It was not a random sample of Albertans. It only surveyed those self identifying and self selecting and there were about 644 of them who participated. Here is a link to an earlier blog post on the top values that progressive Albertans want to be used by those to whom we give political power and our consent to govern us.
We have just completed a similar conjoint survey based on the same values as the Reboot Alberta survey, this time it is a random and representative sample of Albertans. It is a small sample of 535 but the findings are so strong and conclusive, the small sample size is not a concern.
We did the random survey to see how much the political and public policy value drivers of the overall population of Alberta aligned with the progressive political thinkers value drivers too. The results show significant similarities and differences too. Here are the comparisons:
Reboot Survey of Progressives:
The progressive political voice is very stifled by the activist social conservative element who are much better organized and overtly engaged in trying to gain political power in the province. Many of the progressives are jaded, cynical and disengaged in the political culture of the times. As a result we end up not voting and getting politicians with policy objectives that we don't like and political directions that we disdain. Nobody to blame but ourselves when all is said and done.
With these survey results the progressives can confidently speak their minds and values. They now know that what they are concerned about how political and public policy decision are being made in Alberta also resonates with the general population. Progressive have to find a reason to re-engage in the political culture of Alberta. They have to find their voice and start making it heard. That is one sure way to return a viable vibrant democracy to the province. I hope it happens.
Reboot Alberta is a place to come and join in this progressive citizen's movement and to start making your voice heard.
We have just completed a similar conjoint survey based on the same values as the Reboot Alberta survey, this time it is a random and representative sample of Albertans. It is a small sample of 535 but the findings are so strong and conclusive, the small sample size is not a concern.
We did the random survey to see how much the political and public policy value drivers of the overall population of Alberta aligned with the progressive political thinkers value drivers too. The results show significant similarities and differences too. Here are the comparisons:
Reboot Survey of Progressives:
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Environmental Stewardship
- Accountability
- Integrity
- Fiscal Responsibility
- Honesty
- Transparency
The progressive political voice is very stifled by the activist social conservative element who are much better organized and overtly engaged in trying to gain political power in the province. Many of the progressives are jaded, cynical and disengaged in the political culture of the times. As a result we end up not voting and getting politicians with policy objectives that we don't like and political directions that we disdain. Nobody to blame but ourselves when all is said and done.
With these survey results the progressives can confidently speak their minds and values. They now know that what they are concerned about how political and public policy decision are being made in Alberta also resonates with the general population. Progressive have to find a reason to re-engage in the political culture of Alberta. They have to find their voice and start making it heard. That is one sure way to return a viable vibrant democracy to the province. I hope it happens.
Reboot Alberta is a place to come and join in this progressive citizen's movement and to start making your voice heard.
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