There is so much going on politically these days - if you are paying attention. The Alberta Party is about the busiest with all the action and events going on as we get organized on policy, leadership campaigns, constituency origination and organization, fund raising, potential candidate conversations and meeting fellow Albertans who are yearning for democracy and real change.
We have constituencies to organize and areat an amazing pace. West Yellowhead was the latest to organize last night and is the home constituency for Glenn Taylor, my choice for Alberta Party Leader. My constituency is Edmonton Glenora. Here is a link to an online e-zine run by the Journalism students at Grant MacEwan University. It will give you some background on what I see happening in the Alberta Party and where we are going. The mainstream media is now paying serious attention to the Alberta Party even if the pollsters have not yet caught on to this citizen's movement phenomenon.
We have an Alberta Party leadership contest in full flight with three diverse candidates - so far - maybe more by the time the Nomination deadline of April 18 rolls around. It promises to get interesting leading up to the May 28th Convention in Edmonton when the leader will be voted in.
We are selling memberships like crazy and just broke the 1000 level with momentum picking up every week. As leadership candidates get organized and going they will attract even more Albertans who really want to see the Alberta Party succeed as we "Do Politics Differently."
Constituencies are hosting local events all over the province to give neighbours a chance to meet local Alberta Party members and leadership candidates in informal conversations. Check out the action and satisfy your curiosity about the Alberta Party and attend an event in your area of Alberta.
Busy crazy and exciting times. Also very unnerving times as there is so much uncertainty about what is really happening in Alberta. The economy is strong but only in sectors like energy. The social pressures of the last boom have not been fixed yet and we are heading into another damaging boom that we are not ready for. Just look at the continuing infrastructure deficit and the remaining unattended pressures on health care, education, on seniors and vulnerable Albertans.
The rich-poor gap in Alberta is getting worse and worse, faster and faster and the middle class is under more and more pressure just to keep up. This is not a sustainable society, never mind being even aspirationaly optimal. That is not good and there is no indication we have learned lessons from prior booms so we can predict it will get better in the next time.
Many people who are the heart and soul of Albert are becoming very nervous and timorous in the face of such rapid and uncontrolled change. This angst is everywhere outside the power elites, and they seem unaware of the consequences. Albertans are wondering who they can trust to responsibly manage Alberta's growth. Last May 45% of us said none of the current political parties and leaders were trusted to to the job right. Things have become a lot more uncertain since then - even with indications of economic recovery.
The Alberta Advantage was supposed to help the economic tide rise in Alberta. The indications are in the rising Alberta tide only the yachts go up, the rest of us get swamped and some actually sink in the face of wealth. Not the way to run a rich province.
So change is in the air and it might be radical - who knows. The municipal elections all over Alberta last October saw a wide spread and amazing rejection of incumbent politicians. Some towns threw out entire councils others culled the contented and complacent politicians from their positions. Could that be a prelude to a citizen's movement to do a house cleaning in the Legislature next election. I would not be surprised. Lougheed did it back in the day. It is time again. It could happen again. It would not really surprise anyone except those politicians who are seriously out of touch with the values and aspirations of the real Alberta.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Raj Sherman - Hero or Zero? Stay Tuned
I had coffee with Raj on Friday and talked about a wide range of topics from political to professional to ethics. He is going to table documents on Monday March 7th that he says will begin to back up his dramatic allegation in the Legislature last week. Raj says he does not play Poker but he knows he is "all in" over these issues, allegations and public policy concerns.
This very thorough and comprehensive feature article by Sheila Pratt of the Edmonton Journal will provide the background and context for anyone wanting to catch up and follow this very important set of events and allegations.
I am going to be as interested as any other thoughtful citizen of Alberta in what Raj will table as he starts to provide the evidence to back up his dramatic assertions.
If you want clearer and cleaner politics along with better government and governance you have to be monitoring the Raj Sherman story. Tomorrow promises to be very interesting. Stay tuned.
This very thorough and comprehensive feature article by Sheila Pratt of the Edmonton Journal will provide the background and context for anyone wanting to catch up and follow this very important set of events and allegations.
I am going to be as interested as any other thoughtful citizen of Alberta in what Raj will table as he starts to provide the evidence to back up his dramatic assertions.
If you want clearer and cleaner politics along with better government and governance you have to be monitoring the Raj Sherman story. Tomorrow promises to be very interesting. Stay tuned.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Albertans are Worried About Reclamation
The Edmonton Journal editorial today reflects the values of Albertans around the importance of reclamation around oil sands. We know that the type of reclamation, habitat protection and ecological monitoring are the top three values that Albertans believe need to drive and guide decisions on oil sands development. The same issues arise in the entire energy sector in Alberta...not just the oil sands.
It is a serious concern and we need to be sure we get it right...starting now - not way into the future when it is someone else's "problem." This is just another issue that current Albertans have to insist government and industry take a long term look. We should not pass on a burden of reclamation to future generations because we refused failed or neglected to meet our duty to mitigate the environmental and habitat damage we must do as part of oil sands development.
Ecological monitoring is being done but the quality is in question and the focus is not understood or trusted. This is a major concern of Albertans. Industry must address this for its social license to operate and political parties and leadership candidates who want to form governments must attend to this concern if they want the trust and consent of citizens to govern in the next election. Integrity is the issue. Not just what politicians or political parties say - but can you trust them to deliver.
We can do conservation offsets to mitigate the energy sector's footprint and fragmentation of the Boreal forest too. This concept is part of the new land stewardship legislation that needs to be retained...but the offsets need to be large enough to actually enhance the prospects of at risk species like grizzly and caribou.
It is all part of a move where Albertans are revisiting values that say we need to harmonize with nature - not just try and engineer our way out of nature.
It is a serious concern and we need to be sure we get it right...starting now - not way into the future when it is someone else's "problem." This is just another issue that current Albertans have to insist government and industry take a long term look. We should not pass on a burden of reclamation to future generations because we refused failed or neglected to meet our duty to mitigate the environmental and habitat damage we must do as part of oil sands development.
Ecological monitoring is being done but the quality is in question and the focus is not understood or trusted. This is a major concern of Albertans. Industry must address this for its social license to operate and political parties and leadership candidates who want to form governments must attend to this concern if they want the trust and consent of citizens to govern in the next election. Integrity is the issue. Not just what politicians or political parties say - but can you trust them to deliver.
We can do conservation offsets to mitigate the energy sector's footprint and fragmentation of the Boreal forest too. This concept is part of the new land stewardship legislation that needs to be retained...but the offsets need to be large enough to actually enhance the prospects of at risk species like grizzly and caribou.
It is all part of a move where Albertans are revisiting values that say we need to harmonize with nature - not just try and engineer our way out of nature.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Don't Let EU Define Our Oil Sands Emissions Policy
Dr Andrew Leach has an interesting vision around oil sand greenhouse gas emissions policy in an op-ed today. Dr. Leach is an Energy, Environment and Resource Economist at the U of A and a fellow blogger.
I will be on a panel with Mike Hudema of Greenpeace and Rich Hyndman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers to respond to Dr. Leach's lecture entitled "How Our Approach to GHG Policy Could Kill the Oil Sands." It is at 6:30 reception and presentation from 7-9 pm March 3 at ETLC Solarium, 2nd floor on the U of A campus.
We at Cambridge Strategies Inc. have recently done some values-based research with the Oil Sands Research and Information Network on what values Albertans what to see guide and drive the development of their oil sands. This research found that 89% of Albertans believed that the oil sands are key to the future prosperity of Alberta. The overarching question for Albertans is not should we develop the oil sands but how should we develop this enormous resource.
Like Dr. Leach I see some of key issues that can't be allowed to compete against each other but must be integrated as as co-creative opportunities around GHG emissions and the development of the oil sands. Co-creative oil sands development opportunities must craft and integrate diverse opportunities for increased prosperity that enhance and harmonize with environmental obligations.
The corporate social license to operate in oil sands development must be part of a cultural shift around oil sands development. That shift must stretch beyond merely qualifying for a social license to operate. We need developers and operators to aspire to be worthy of public acknowledgement as a preferred steward of this vital and publicly owned natural resource.
GHG emissions are the #1 oil sands development value concern for 21.2% of Albertans. It is #4 for all Albertans in a random sample. It is behind concerns over reclamation, habitat protection and ecological monitoring. Water usage concerns are #5 in priority but these values all inter-relate to one another and have to be dealt with as a whole to make a real difference.
There are major political factors at play around GHG. Dr. Leach points to some like the international perceptions of oil sands, the European Union specifically. He also deals with the carbon pricing challenge, and points out that Alberta's "way out of this mess is through carbon pricing." I totally agree but the political ideology/mythology in the right wings that dominate the Alberta political power structure see carbon pricing as a job killing tax and therefore it is "politically"off the table. Ironically Alberta already has a modest carbon "tax" based on large emitters only. It is a penalty approach akin to an "abuser fee" and is so low that it does not really encourage behaviourial changes in industry.
There is another below the radar political reality around CO2 emissions and oil sands development. Our research shows that 57% of Albertans believe that there is some capture of oil sands related CO2 emissions. The truth is virtually none of oil sands produced CO2 is currently captured. While oil sands CO2 emissions are only about 15% of Alberta's total CO2 emissions they get almost all of the media attention, here and abroad.
The facts, while interesting, often have precious little to do with perceptions and in politics perceptions are reality. If Albertans come to realize that the truth of oil sands CO2 capture is vastly different from their perceptions and their expectations there is a potential for serious political consequence. Will Albertans feel betrayed, mislead or worse yet, lied to, once they realize this discrepancy between facts and perceptions? Will the $2billion fund dedicated to carbon capture from other non-oil sands emissions be enough to mitigate what some have referred to as the oil sands CO2 betrayal factor?
There is a tense relationship that is not getting any easier between the citizens of Alberta as owners of the oil sands, the industry who are tenants and the government who are the property managers of this vital resource. Leadership is lacking in all spheres. The acrimonious debates between environmentalists, industry and government produces a great deal of heat. I am not so sure they add much light on the issues so citizens can have a meaningful understanding of what needs to be done, what is being done and is it enough to get it right.
I applaud the University of Alberta students from the Energy Club, the Commerce and Energy and Environment Group from the School of Energy and Environment are sponsoring this series of dialogues of Oil Sands Visionaries. So Albertans, as owners of the oil sands, come out tomorrow night and get some information and insight about how your oil sands can be developed in ways that align with your values.
Hope to see you tomorrow night.
I will be on a panel with Mike Hudema of Greenpeace and Rich Hyndman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers to respond to Dr. Leach's lecture entitled "How Our Approach to GHG Policy Could Kill the Oil Sands." It is at 6:30 reception and presentation from 7-9 pm March 3 at ETLC Solarium, 2nd floor on the U of A campus.
We at Cambridge Strategies Inc. have recently done some values-based research with the Oil Sands Research and Information Network on what values Albertans what to see guide and drive the development of their oil sands. This research found that 89% of Albertans believed that the oil sands are key to the future prosperity of Alberta. The overarching question for Albertans is not should we develop the oil sands but how should we develop this enormous resource.
Like Dr. Leach I see some of key issues that can't be allowed to compete against each other but must be integrated as as co-creative opportunities around GHG emissions and the development of the oil sands. Co-creative oil sands development opportunities must craft and integrate diverse opportunities for increased prosperity that enhance and harmonize with environmental obligations.
The corporate social license to operate in oil sands development must be part of a cultural shift around oil sands development. That shift must stretch beyond merely qualifying for a social license to operate. We need developers and operators to aspire to be worthy of public acknowledgement as a preferred steward of this vital and publicly owned natural resource.
GHG emissions are the #1 oil sands development value concern for 21.2% of Albertans. It is #4 for all Albertans in a random sample. It is behind concerns over reclamation, habitat protection and ecological monitoring. Water usage concerns are #5 in priority but these values all inter-relate to one another and have to be dealt with as a whole to make a real difference.
There are major political factors at play around GHG. Dr. Leach points to some like the international perceptions of oil sands, the European Union specifically. He also deals with the carbon pricing challenge, and points out that Alberta's "way out of this mess is through carbon pricing." I totally agree but the political ideology/mythology in the right wings that dominate the Alberta political power structure see carbon pricing as a job killing tax and therefore it is "politically"off the table. Ironically Alberta already has a modest carbon "tax" based on large emitters only. It is a penalty approach akin to an "abuser fee" and is so low that it does not really encourage behaviourial changes in industry.
There is another below the radar political reality around CO2 emissions and oil sands development. Our research shows that 57% of Albertans believe that there is some capture of oil sands related CO2 emissions. The truth is virtually none of oil sands produced CO2 is currently captured. While oil sands CO2 emissions are only about 15% of Alberta's total CO2 emissions they get almost all of the media attention, here and abroad.
The facts, while interesting, often have precious little to do with perceptions and in politics perceptions are reality. If Albertans come to realize that the truth of oil sands CO2 capture is vastly different from their perceptions and their expectations there is a potential for serious political consequence. Will Albertans feel betrayed, mislead or worse yet, lied to, once they realize this discrepancy between facts and perceptions? Will the $2billion fund dedicated to carbon capture from other non-oil sands emissions be enough to mitigate what some have referred to as the oil sands CO2 betrayal factor?
There is a tense relationship that is not getting any easier between the citizens of Alberta as owners of the oil sands, the industry who are tenants and the government who are the property managers of this vital resource. Leadership is lacking in all spheres. The acrimonious debates between environmentalists, industry and government produces a great deal of heat. I am not so sure they add much light on the issues so citizens can have a meaningful understanding of what needs to be done, what is being done and is it enough to get it right.
I applaud the University of Alberta students from the Energy Club, the Commerce and Energy and Environment Group from the School of Energy and Environment are sponsoring this series of dialogues of Oil Sands Visionaries. So Albertans, as owners of the oil sands, come out tomorrow night and get some information and insight about how your oil sands can be developed in ways that align with your values.
Hope to see you tomorrow night.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Making Sense of the Alberta Budget
David Berry writes another perspective in the National Post about the underlying philosophy of the fiscal management of Alberta and the recent budget and the issues of our royalty rates in the energy sector.
It makes me wonder if we have a more serious revenue problem in that we are not paying our way for the actual costs of necessary public services. We are using one-time non-renewable resource revenues for current public service operations. The Alberta Advantage idea of having the lowest taxes is part of the cultural DNA of this place. However how much lower do our taxes have to be from those of our competitors? That is the unasked question. The recent Budget showed that Alberta tax revenue spread is $11B less than the next lowest province. Do we need to be $11B lower to be competitive?
By not paying our way on a current basis we end up using capital funds from non-renewable resource revenues to pay for current expenses. This is not right. Albertans are proud people who believe everyone should pay their own way but we don't translate that value into paying the cost of necessary public services from taxes and user fees. We use capital funds from non-renewable resources instead. Isn't this approach just taking away from future generations? What is the legacy we intend to leave them as a result?
There needs to be a clearing of the air on the capital side of the recent budget too. The Sustainability Fund is being misrepresented in the political commentary around the Budget as a "rainy-day" or a "savings" fund. It is neither - and never was. It was the prudent taking of resource based surpluses and banking them for future investment in infrastructure. They are earmarked funds to be used for meeting the necessary infrastructure demands like schools and hospitals. The Stability Fund enabled capital projects to be paid for in total, without borrowing, and at a time after the boom so we could get better prices, not compete with the private sector and generate jobs to lessen the blow of the recession. It is a win-win-win deal.
It is not creating a fiscal deficit. It is fixing an infrastructure deficit. That infrastructure deficit was created by the policy of neglect in the Klein era when there was not enough maintenance of our schools and other public facilities. Debt and deficit reduction got carried away and was done way too rapidly. It left problems of facility neglect and deferral of other facilities we needed like schools and hospitals to respond to the rapid population growth in Alberta from people moving here in the last boom.
We bragged that we paid off the debt in about 7 years, and I believe it was done even faster than that. Debt and deficit reduction was designed as a 25 year prudent program by the then Finance Minister, Jim Dinning. We can't just blame the Klein government for this infrastructure deficit and late response to growth pressures. We Albertans encouraged our politicians to pursue the hyper-rapid debt pay down. We also ignored the more prudent longer range planning that was in place to smooth out the boom and bust cycles and lessen the fiscal excesses that hurt us in both parts of the boom and bust cycles.
So don't be fooled by talk of the deficit being created in this last budget - from any of the current political parties, including the PCs strangely enough. Why have they used deficit language to describe the conversion of the Stability Fund from cash to physical capital? The Stability Fund is being used precisely for the purposes intended and at a "bust" time when we can get better value for the taxpayer's money.
Lets also look at the Alberta Advantage of low taxes and see if we have gone too far in tax reductions. We are at the point current Albertans are not paying our way. We are misappropriating non-renewable resource money from future generations to be spent on us now. We were motivated in 1993 election to to pay down the debt and deficit in large part because we felt we could not leave that burden to our children. I wonder if we appreciate that we are spending their natural resource birthright now because we are failing, refusing or neglecting to pay our own way today.
That is just one of the adult conversations that has to be held amongst Albertans going into the next election. I wonder if Albertans in 2011 will feel the same way we did in 1993 about our duty and obligation to future generations...or is our sense of entitlement so strong that we just don't care about the legacy we are leaving our children, socially, environmentally or economically.
It makes me wonder if we have a more serious revenue problem in that we are not paying our way for the actual costs of necessary public services. We are using one-time non-renewable resource revenues for current public service operations. The Alberta Advantage idea of having the lowest taxes is part of the cultural DNA of this place. However how much lower do our taxes have to be from those of our competitors? That is the unasked question. The recent Budget showed that Alberta tax revenue spread is $11B less than the next lowest province. Do we need to be $11B lower to be competitive?
By not paying our way on a current basis we end up using capital funds from non-renewable resource revenues to pay for current expenses. This is not right. Albertans are proud people who believe everyone should pay their own way but we don't translate that value into paying the cost of necessary public services from taxes and user fees. We use capital funds from non-renewable resources instead. Isn't this approach just taking away from future generations? What is the legacy we intend to leave them as a result?
There needs to be a clearing of the air on the capital side of the recent budget too. The Sustainability Fund is being misrepresented in the political commentary around the Budget as a "rainy-day" or a "savings" fund. It is neither - and never was. It was the prudent taking of resource based surpluses and banking them for future investment in infrastructure. They are earmarked funds to be used for meeting the necessary infrastructure demands like schools and hospitals. The Stability Fund enabled capital projects to be paid for in total, without borrowing, and at a time after the boom so we could get better prices, not compete with the private sector and generate jobs to lessen the blow of the recession. It is a win-win-win deal.
It is not creating a fiscal deficit. It is fixing an infrastructure deficit. That infrastructure deficit was created by the policy of neglect in the Klein era when there was not enough maintenance of our schools and other public facilities. Debt and deficit reduction got carried away and was done way too rapidly. It left problems of facility neglect and deferral of other facilities we needed like schools and hospitals to respond to the rapid population growth in Alberta from people moving here in the last boom.
We bragged that we paid off the debt in about 7 years, and I believe it was done even faster than that. Debt and deficit reduction was designed as a 25 year prudent program by the then Finance Minister, Jim Dinning. We can't just blame the Klein government for this infrastructure deficit and late response to growth pressures. We Albertans encouraged our politicians to pursue the hyper-rapid debt pay down. We also ignored the more prudent longer range planning that was in place to smooth out the boom and bust cycles and lessen the fiscal excesses that hurt us in both parts of the boom and bust cycles.
So don't be fooled by talk of the deficit being created in this last budget - from any of the current political parties, including the PCs strangely enough. Why have they used deficit language to describe the conversion of the Stability Fund from cash to physical capital? The Stability Fund is being used precisely for the purposes intended and at a "bust" time when we can get better value for the taxpayer's money.
Lets also look at the Alberta Advantage of low taxes and see if we have gone too far in tax reductions. We are at the point current Albertans are not paying our way. We are misappropriating non-renewable resource money from future generations to be spent on us now. We were motivated in 1993 election to to pay down the debt and deficit in large part because we felt we could not leave that burden to our children. I wonder if we appreciate that we are spending their natural resource birthright now because we are failing, refusing or neglecting to pay our own way today.
That is just one of the adult conversations that has to be held amongst Albertans going into the next election. I wonder if Albertans in 2011 will feel the same way we did in 1993 about our duty and obligation to future generations...or is our sense of entitlement so strong that we just don't care about the legacy we are leaving our children, socially, environmentally or economically.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)