Since things are rolling along so well here, we really should pay them based on merit, like they’re considering for B.C. teachers.

Oh, before we actually pay our MLAs, I think we should just sort out a few little problems before we cut those cheques.

Let Albertans know when you’ve got this short list complete:

• wait times are reasonable in emergency rooms
• required operations are performed quickly in Alberta
• Alberta has no deficit
• there are no homeless people in Alberta
• real wages have increased for Albertans
• there are sufficient long term care beds for seniors
• big business is no longer subsidized
• oil & gas royalties are in line with other countries
• Albertans are protected from gouging by electric & gas utilities
• we see real enforcement of environmental regulations
• A chicken in every pot – oops. Wrong list.

That ought to be enough to keep you busy. Let us know when you’ve got that list done and we’ll add a few more things. Don’t want to overload you.

Stephen Mandel was re-elected as mayor of Edmonton.

While the results of Edmonton’s civic election Monday were disappointing in some respects, they were quite positive in others.

On Monday I talked about my choices for Edmonton city council, mayor and Edmonton Public School Board. Unfortunately only one of my three choices was successful.

It was a tough, bitter and divisive campaign with the Edmonton City Centre Airport being probably the biggest issue of the entire campaign.

Should it have been? I don’t think so. I think taxes, a new arena and the LRT are far bigger issues going forward, but leave it to a special interest group to hijack the entire election for their own purposes. I know we haven’t heard the last of this issue.

City council and the Edmonton Public School Board should also be working together on the issue of school closures.

City Council – Ward 7 Scott McKeen

I actively campaigned for Scott McKeen and unfortunately he fell short. I have to give Scott a lot of credit for his positive campaign, positive vision and putting together a great campaign team in a short period of time.

The incumbent won with 7,138 votes to Scott’s 5,269. My hope is that there will be another run, but only time will tell. I truly believe that Scott McKeen had the best vision for Ward 7 and I think city council could certainly adopt some of his ideas.

His ideas have certainly provoked me to look at my community association in a new light. Thank you for running Scott. It was an honour and a privilege to work with you on your campaign. Good luck in your future endeavours!

Public School Board trustee – Ward B

Unfortunately the candidate I chose for Ward B came in dead last. I really liked Darryl Lagerquist’s platform. I will be keeping an eye on the incumbent for the next three years though. I am not sure how many people who voted for him are aware of his voting to close schools. Perhaps they’ll be more aware in this next school review when he votes to close their school.

I think school closures are a critical issue in Edmonton and one that our new city council should be much more active in combatting. With flawed decision criteria, EPSB can destroy neighbourhoods with their decisions. EPSB can blame the province for flawed criteria, and no doubt the government of Alberta can take a large portion of the blame for crappy legislation and education underfunding.

One of Scott McKeen’s main planks in his platform was halting urban sprawl. School closures are really a direct result of sprawl as development occurs mainly on the outside edges of the city while older schools at the center of Edmonton languish. School closures in older Edmonton neighbourhoods will only accelerate the sprawl as residents evacuate Edmonton’s core looking for newer schools they’re sure won’t close.

Edmonton mayor – Stephen Mandel

Stephen Mandel was re-elected with a handy majority. As I stated before, if there had been another worthy candidate for mayor, I would have voted that way.  Mandel was the best choice this time.

One would hope that Mandel’s resounding victory would put the City Centre Airport to rest, but that’s not going to stop Envision Edmonton from suing the city or newly elected Ward 11 city councilor Kerry Diotte from pushing for an airport plebiscite. If this were Wheel of Fortune, the first three letters I’d choose are: W T F.

It’s time to move forward and make sure the development is all above board and strictly in the best interests of Edmontonians. Perhaps Kerry Diotte and Envision Edmonton didn’t get the message that all the incumbents won in Monday’s election.

Voter turnout was a disappointing 34.3 per cent for 2010, but it was an improvement over the 27.24 per cent voter turnout in 2007.

I feel positive about Edmonton’s future, and the next three years ought to be very interesting.

“Why do we make such shit here?”

He defends his comments as trying to help Canadians be the best they can be.

Seems like he’s off to a great start. That’s certainly an excellent way to attract quality productions to Alberta and the rest of Canada.

Perhaps he should be handling tourism too? I’m sure he could come up with some great lines like: “Come and see our shit!”

So what would Lindsay Blackett say if he were in charge of other Alberta government ministries? Check this shit out:

• Aboriginal Relations – “Powwows? That’s some cool shit!”
• Advanced education & Technology – “Hopefully kids won’t say ‘shit’ after they get a degree.”
• Agriculture – “Alberta grows shit. Did you know that?”
• Children & Youth Services – “My kids are going to give me shit.”
• Culture – “Been there, done that shit.”
• Education – “What’s with all the shit about Bill 44?”
• Employment & Immigration – “I don’t give a shit if you don’t want foreign workers here.”
• Energy – “Drill baby drill!” (Nobody said this shit had to be original.)
• Environment – “I don’t mind if we dump shit in the water.”
• Executive Council – “Shit, I have no idea what to do here.”
• Finance & Enterprise – “Don’t worry, I’m handling shit.”
• Health & Wellness – “Shitting regularly is good for you.”
• Housing & Urban Affairs – “Let’s fix all the shitty houses.”
• Infrastructure – “This is some dull shit.”
• International & Intergovernmental Relations – “I get to travel and shit!”
• Justice & Attorney General – “We need to put more shitheads in prison.”
• Municipal Affairs – “Don’t come to me asking for more shit.”
• Seniors & Community Supports – “Drop that shit & call your grandma.”
• Service Alberta – “Give me more exciting shit to do.”
• Solicitor General & Public Security – “Protecting you from terrorists & shit.”
• Sustainable Resource Development – “We’ll keep this shit rolling.”
• Tourism, Parks & Recreation – “Come and see our shit!”
• Transportation – “Why do we have so many shitty cars on the road?”
• Treasury Board – “Shit, isn’t this the same as Finance?”

I have a particular obsession for macro photography and I especially enjoy taking pictures of plants, particularly flowers. I normally enjoy taking photos of wildflowers most, but there are certain domesticated flowers I’m fond of, such as the irises we’ve moved with us from B.C.

I think I like taking pictures of wildflowers because of the thrill of finding an unusual specimen in its natural environment. I like to wander in the wilderness or forgotten places searching for these flowers. I may be the only one ever to witness a particular flower in its fleeting beauty. I can be a little annoying as a hiking partner if I’ve got my camera.

Tips for photographing irises. Check out more of the wildlife and flowers in my yard.

They were discussing Alberta’s budget issues and the possibility of a sales tax in Alberta. Evidently I’ve been out of the loop because the Alberta government is floating trial balloons about it. I guess MLA Doug Griffiths has been discussing it.

HST in B.C.

I grew up in B.C., where there is a vicious fight (led by former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm) regarding the widely-despised HST imposed on B.C. residents by Premier Gordon Campbell, who promised in the last election he wouldn’t replace the provincial sales tax with a combined GST/PST in the form of a federal HST.

B.C. residents have achieved their goal in a petition to reverse the HST legislation, but how it’s going to pan out, who knows? B.C. also has recall legislation for its MLAs and if Premier Gordon Campbell doesn’t obey the petition, B.C. Liberal MLAs face a distinct possibility they’re going to lose their jobs sooner than the next election.

La-la land in Alberta?

Yes, Albertans do live in la-la land, at least from the perspective of sales taxes. There aren’t many places out there that have no local sales tax. Can I name any others? No. I’m not sure I’d find many.

I would expect there’d be a huge fight if a sales tax were seriously discussed here and the Alberta Conservatives might just be signing their own death warrant if they do. Whether anyone really believes the Wildrose Party could win the next election wouldn’t be debated if a sales tax were imposed in Alberta.

It’s like an Alberta badge of honour to not have a provincial sales tax. Talk to residents from other provinces and they’re practically in awe.

So when I listened to the Edmonton A.M. business panel this morning, I had to laugh. I didn’t laugh at the idea that the province needed a stable source of revenue to ride out the highs and lows of resource revenues, which is a serious issue here.

I laughed at Deborah Yedlin and Paul Marck for their ridiculous suggestion that the Alberta government could sell residents on it by saying it would be revenue neutral. The natural question would be, so why bother? They suggested that personal and business taxes could be reduced.

Umm, did you guys not listen to your own conversation? You’re saying Alberta has a revenue problem and not a spending problem. So, why would you want a sales tax that would just be revenue neutral? It doesn’t seem to take care of the problem you’ve identified. You need to think before you talk. Seriously.

Diversifying Alberta’s economy

University of Alberta in Edmonton

I don’t want a sales tax, but I do agree Alberta needs to do something about the boom/bust cycles in its economy. If the government had a long-term vision, it would actually look at diversifying the economy.

Alberta currently relies on oil and gas far too heavily. Other major industries include forestry, tourism, agriculture and mining.

What about high tech? Since moving to Alberta I’ve been rather surprised at the tech industry in this province, especially in Edmonton. It’s a surprisingly large, growing and successful community, but it really flies under the radar.

What I do see is a way to balance out the Alberta economy by getting away from primary industry and moving towards a high tech economy in a big way. I wouldn’t include high tech companies that are reliant on the oil and gas sector.

Alberta could be an energy leader, not just an oil and gas leader. High tech companies researching and producing alternative energy products would make sense. The Alberta government doesn’t seem to get that Alberta’s expertise should be energy, not just oil and gas. It’s rebranding, but also rethinking. I don’t see much rethinking in our government though.

If the province is really going to move forward, that’s one step it needs to take. Are we just going to import solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and other alternative energy technology, or are we going to develop it here?

In addition, the Alberta government needs to support and encourage other high tech industries. There are many examples of successful Alberta software companies such as Bioware (video games), Yardstick Software (learning management system software) and many others.

Alberta has a successful nanotech industry. We have a lot of creative people that are working here now and we need to keep here

Economic diversification key: Education

What the Alberta government should do a much better job of is to support its education system from kindergarten through university. Instead it’s choked off funding, particularly at the university level, forcing students to take on more debt at the same time universities are scrambling for funding and laying off staff.

If anything, the Alberta government should recognize that education is an investment in the future of the province and not simply a line item in the budget. If we had leaders in our province with vision, they’d know this. Sadly, we do not.

We should be reducing the cost of education and encouraging as many Albertans as possible to get training in the high tech industries of the future. The province also should not be burdening students with massive piles of debt. This debt also acts as a disincentive for students to attend university here, or staying here once they’ve finished. With a massive debt load, students will run to locations with the highest wages and are less likely to stay here.

Back to sales taxes

If Albertans trusted the government to spend wisely, not blow tax dollars on various projects and not simply cut social services every time there’s a downturn in the economy, there might be more chance Albertans would accept a sales tax. Yeah right, who am I kidding?

I agree that the government should increase its revenue, but it should also spend responsibly. Instead of further subsidies to the oil and gas sector, it should be investing in the future of Alberta: education and high technology.

With the current crop of politicians, I just don’t see it happening. A sales tax may be the way to even things out, but it can’t be revenue neutral. It has to generate real income for the government, but is a sales tax the best way to do it? I’m not sure and I’m not sure anyone in the Alberta government now has the balls to do the right thing anyway. They’re just too worried about continuing their reign.

Ann Coulter is in Canada to eat your babies. No, seriously.

Canadians are now able to bear witness to the typical political spectacle normally reserved for our American friends.

If you haven’t heard by now, American conservative ‘pundit’ Ann Coulter has been on a speaking tour in Canada and she ran into some opposition at the University of Ottawa.

Coulter is known for pushing the limits of free speech and, ironically, is claiming she may file a human rights complaint after a letter from a University of Ottawa provost Francis Houle reminding Coulter about Canada’s laws on hate speech.

This came after her speech at the University of Ontario where Coulter told one Muslim student who questioned her about past remarks about Muslims that if they didn’t like being denied a flight they could “ride a camel” or a magic carpet.

The whole thing feels like it’s been scripted. Coincidentally, Ezra Lavant, not one to shy away from confrontation or attacking human rights commissions, was present for the festivities as master of ceremonies. How apropos. (I read this after I wrote this blog post. I think Neil MacDonald did a great job and it really reinforces the thought I had that this whole thing seems scripted. It’s not the first time Ezra ‘Chicken Little’ Lavant’s been up to this.)

I’m all for free speech, and think that people should be able to push things a little further than maybe our human rights commissions may be comfortable with. Coulter is well aware of the reactions to the kinds of things she says. She’s trying to evoke that reaction in audiences.

Ann Coulter has a truckload of t-shirts to sell. Get'em before they're gone!

Of course Coulter’s friends and fans are trying to frame the issue as a violent riot and that Coulter was scared (kind of like Democrats have been threatened in the US). One random, unverified comment on the Small Dead Animals blog apparently about huge Egyptian student union/club member overturning a table gets turned into ‘they were throwing tables.’

Somehow the pulling of a fire alarm is equated to yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre. Well, it’s a theatre alright; the theatre of the absurd

Coulter’s fans are also trying to frame her opponents as being opposed to free speech, ironically while exercising their own right to free speech.

The absurd theatre will continue at the University of Calgary but, now that she’s really whipped everyone into a frenzy about the apparent lack of free speech in Canada and crazed left-wing mobs, comes the real reason for her visit. I heard it from one source that she has a semi-trailer full of Obama Joker t-shirts and she’ll be selling them at her speech in Calgary.

She’s got so much attention here now that everyone will want a memento from her speech. Well, it’s either that or she is trying to get some free healthcare while she’s here in Canada, sort of like Rush Limbaugh did when he was in Hawaii. Oh, wait, no. Apparently everyone can get healthcare in the U.S. now. Forget it.

What Ann Coulter has done with her bit of performance art is to remind us that Canada is not at all like the USA in its political discourse. Thank you Ann.

With the reigning Conservatives on the ropes in terms of their approval ratings, the Wildrose Alliance has seen support rise for its party. It seems like a natural thing, since they both occupy similar real estate in the political spectrum.

The Conservatives are especially defensive after the defection of two MLAs to the Wildrose Alliance. This defensiveness apparently has spread to the Wildrose Alliance now that the Alberta Party has merged with the Renew Alberta movement

The Wildrose Alliance has the attack dogs out on the Alberta Party questioning a number of things such as the party apparently suspending its constitution as a result of the merger, appointment of board members, etc.

I had to laugh at Jane Morgan’s claim:

“Sorry to disappoint the WAP detractors; but the WAP has absolutely ZERO to do with this. It’s just lil’ol me typing away on an otherwise boring weekend; trying to get to the bottom of some very bizarre switch-a-roos.”

Using someone else to do your political dirty work, paid or unpaid, is a political tactic as old as the hills and helps politicians maintain plausible deniability. I get the impression Ms. Morgan is now a former party official, though I do not know what role she played in the WAP.

I understand what they’re doing. They’re hoping to frame the debate about the Alberta Party as one that is acting illegitimately, in violation of its constitution and without the support of its members.

The Alberta Party could potentially siphon off support from every party as Alberta voters don’t seem to be satisfied with any party at this point. No surprise that the WAP sees the AP as a threat. WAP would like to be the protest party of choice for Albertans. Having two out there muddies the already very murky political waters.

My view of the Alberta Party

Anyone who knows me, knows I have some strong views on politics and I’m suspicious of political parties in general.

I am interested in what is happening with the Alberta Party and may yet participate in their “Big Listen.” Will I vote for them? I can’t say at this point. It really depends on a number of factors.

I think it’s fair to raise questions about the party’s constitution and how that was handled. Political parties do need to ensure they operate according to the rules they’ve laid out for themselves and to ensure they’re in compliance with any government legislation.

I would also like to see what policies develop out of the “Big Listen” process and subsequently at any policy convention. I’m not worried, as some anonymous poster is, that the “Big Listen” is similar language used by Hillary Clinton; oh, and also that poster was concerned about “starting conversations.”

So, Democratic party leadership candidates have a monopoly on listening and starting conversations? Does using similar language mean that you have the same policies? Please. Pull your head out of your ass and start listening. Hell, start a conversation while you’re at it.

A key issue for me is the autonomy of party MLAs and party discipline. I believe in free votes on everything.

Political parties should not impose their will on duly elected MLAs. An MLA should always be free to vote according to their conscience and the will of their local electorate. I don’t believe in small- or large-scale authoritarianism. This is one of my main problems with virtually every political party.

I don’t tend to be a labeler and bristle at attempts to label me. I like ideas from across the political spectrum and, really, I am a centrist if you’d like to use the term. Frankly labeling is an overused American political tactic to short-circuit critical thinking. Many Canadian political parties are importing this tactic. Why? I guess their critical thinking skills have been short-circuited. Judging by the political situation in the US and how well everything is going there, do we really need ANY political tactics or policies imported from there?

Open finances

Another concern of mine is that the Alberta Party’s finances be completely open and transparent. That goes for political campaigns as well as leadership campaigns. I have some serious concerns about WAP leader Danielle Smith hiding her leadership campaign supporters and donations from public scrutiny. What does she have to hide?

Furthermore, how can the WAP leader have a party policy of an “open and comprehensive Freedom of Information Act” as well as wanting to “institute strict conflict of interest guidelines facilitated through the Provincial Ethics Commissioner’s office” yet not have her leadership campaign fully open to public scrutiny?

It seems more politics as usual. Money talks and I wonder what money is talking to Danielle Smith? I can bet I know. It’s the same money that talks to everyone in politics in Alberta. That concerns me.

The energy lobby in Alberta is obviously tremendously powerful. We need governments that are transparent, open and not unduly influenced by any lobby. We need a government that implements policies that are in the best interests of Albertans as a whole and do not cater to any lobby.

The citizens of Alberta elect governments, not businesses. That’s not to say that business is not important. It’s not a dichotomy. A balanced approach is appropriate. I’ve been a Chamber of Commerce director and I am fully aware of the needs of small business. I also know that governments tend to focus more on the needs of large business, typically at the expense of small business.

I also believe in a balanced regulatory approach between government and business. The economic meltdown we’re still in is proof that there has to be regulation of business. Business operating without regulation is, quite simply, stupid. Government’s role is to look out for the public interest. Laws and enforcement of those laws is how we keep things fair for everyone.

The supposed architect of the boom and bust, Alan Greenspan, a noted Ayn Rand sycophant, admitted he was wrong about essentially letting business regulate itself. How is it that some could claim one group, government, can’t sufficiently look after the public interest, yet put blind faith in business to do the same? It’s either stupidity, willful ignorance or outright duplicity.

Looking to Alberta’s future

Unfortunately, Alberta governments really haven’t looked that far into the future, looking more towards the next election and staying in power. We need governments that are looking generations ahead. We haven’t had it here. In fact, most governments operate much like large corporations, by the quarter, it seems. Maybe it would pay for Alberta governments to think of Alberta citizens as shareholders? We do have all the voting rights and should be the ones collecting the dividends.

This short-term thinking has to stop. We are facing serious issues on this planet, and while the Alberta government, whatever its political stripe, isn’t going to solve them, it can play a role in not making those problems worse and also look after the interests of Albertans.

These are just some of the things I will be looking at in the Alberta Party. I’ll give them a fair shot, like I have with every other political party. For now I am willing to engage in the listening and conversation, and so should every Albertan because the discussion transcends just one political party.

Yes, I know, Edmonton is a big city and it’s a big job. Tell me something I didn’t know. What I do know is that I grew up in a place that got a hell of a lot more snow than Edmonton and it was dealt with just fine. Obviously when you get hit with a big dump of snow, the roads will suck for a while.

How the City of Prince George, B.C. deals with the roads now, I don’t know, but I know they actually did a pretty good job when I was growing up. They’d have graders and loaders out clearing main roads and residential streets and make pretty quick work of them. The graders even had drop gates to clear the front of your driveway so you didn’t have a three foot tall mountain of ice to clear.

Before I moved to Edmonton I had been here in the winter before, including during April 2005 when it snowed about a foot in one day. What a gong show! It seems better now, but marginally.

Now we have a house here and pay taxes here. So, we have a right to complain. Period. If the city isn’t doing a good job of spending the tax dollars of Edmonton residents and is proposing to raise taxes by eight to 10 per cent, we have a right to complain. Period. It would also help if we suggested ways of improving how they go about spending our money.

In that vein, I will throw a few suggestions out there and make a few observations.

In this sprawling city (whose fault is that?) there are a lot of streets to clear and the major routes should be the priority. I do find it puzzling that when I was sitting in a restaurant at 137 Ave and 97 St. on Friday night I saw nine snow plows in a row heading north on 97 Ave. Spread out a bit guys.

I was out driving the next day on 137 Ave and it was a mess, and that was down towards 66 St. They can’t even cut the snow back to the curb. I would think three plows should be able to clear the entire two lanes to the curb. Done.

And get the windrows as close to the curb as possible. I know it can be tough. God knows driving in Edmonton can be brutal when you’ve got people chit-chatting on the old cell phone, even in snow. I saw that yesterday too. Seriously.

I do wonder about how efficiently those resources are allocated out on the streets when this kind of dump of snow happens. I understand they won’t get to my street for a while, if ever, but at least do the major routes properly! They really aren’t.

I was also puzzled last year when I watched out my window after a snowfall, as at least three or four graders cleared snow on my street one day. I swear they must have made three or four passes each, and it’s a two lane street.

WTF? I’ve never driven a grader, but I’m convinced I could clear my damn street in fewer passes. I might even move a few neighbours’ cars off the street in the process. (Snow route anyone?)

End of season snow clearing

I have talked about the city’s end of season snow clearing a few times, perhaps even ranted. I’m prone to that, but I’m justified. (Usually)

Why, particularly on a residential street, do I need the snow cleared from the side of the roads at the end of the season? I took a bunch of pictures of the City of Edmonton snow clearing efforts in the early spring of 2009. There were:

• Three graders
• One large snow blower
• One flag person
• Someone in a City of Edmonton pickup following the snow blower
• A fleet of semi-trailer trucks hauling away the snow

I understand the city likes to recycle the gravel it spreads on the roads. Recycling is a shrewd and lofty goal. Sand and gravel are expensive, and recycling it makes sense. Here’s an idea though: let the snow melt. Novel, I know, but you’re going to send the street sweepers around anyway.

One sweeper with a couple of trucks (smaller and cheaper ones, I might add) to haul the gravel away is far more efficient than a whole fleet of people hauling away snow that will melt.

I would love to see the accounting analysis on this. Considering all the machines processing and hauling away that snow, I just can’t see them hauling enough loads of gravel per hour to make the activity pay.

How much does the city pay per load of sand? What’s the total cost per hour to do this snow clearing to recover the sand?

So, why not let it melt and let the sweepers pick it up? Yes, there will be more loads of sand, but it will be concentrated. You’ll need fewer, smaller trucks and they’ll only be hauling sand, not larger, more expensive trucks hauling a fraction of the amount of sand. That should save some money in the budget.

Street sweeping obsession

I have also noticed that Edmonton seems to have a bit of a street sweeping obsession. It’s not a bad thing that we like clean streets here, but I think there are limits. I swear I saw a sweeper on my street at least three times this summer, well after the spring sand and gravel had been picked up and well before my street had been repaved.

I would watch as they drove by, sweeping up virtually nothing! I was a little puzzled at that. Why not only sweep areas that actually need it? Don’t just sweep for the sake of sweeping. More money saved in the city budget.

Police directing traffic

As if the preceding cases weren’t insane enough, I have repeatedly seen Edmonton city police out directing traffic. At first, I thought there was an accident. Drug bust? Murder? Umm, parade? Nope.

Construction! Yes, our police, who apparently cost around $100,000 per officer, are out directing traffic through construction areas. Are you kidding me? I don’t care if they’re part of traffic services. They should be out stopping the speeders, red light runners, drunk drivers, texting drivers and others who make this city such a danger to drive in.

Instead the City of Edmonton installs green light cameras, like that’s going to solve the problem. It’s certainly going to chip away at the $20 million extra the Edmonton Police Service was hoping to get this year.

Why do they need $20 million more this year? I guess the City of Edmonton is going to be doing a hell of a lot more construction next year!

Why not get the EPS out stopping drivers causing problems and not directing traffic? Are we to believe there are no flagging companies who would like to bid on a city contract to control traffic in Edmonton construction zones? Are there not enough unemployed people in this city to fill the inevitable positions that would come out of this?

I know flag people don’t each cost $100,000 per year. More money saved in the budget and hopefully some dangerous drivers off the road.

Citizen auditor: Alain Saffel volunteers

Maybe our city needs to start ripping apart a few departments at a time and make sure they’re doing things properly. I have cited only a few examples here that just don’t make sense. Maybe an outsider perspective is needed? I’d be happy to help out. I’ll be a citizen auditor. I’m sure there are plenty of people in the city who would also like that opportunity.

For those who are telling people to leave the city if they can’t handle a bit of winter, you’re missing the point. It’s about efficient allocation of resources, and there are legitimate questions about how the City of Edmonton allocates its resources. I would prefer that the City does not waste a single tax dollar, especially when they want to raise taxes again. Every citizen in this city has the right to hold our city councillors and the accompanying bureaucracy accountable for its actions.

I’m sure we can find plenty of money to save in these tough times, with a sharp pencil, creativity and a critical eye. Can I just ask for one teensie weensie little favour please?  Could we spend some of those savings on taking care of the sewer smell that seems to be so pervasive in this city?

If you hadn’t heard about ChangeCamp happened October 17 at Lister Hall at the University of Alberta. The goal of ChangeCamp was to answer the question: “How do we re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation?” It’s an “unconference,” which means that there’s no set agenda. The agenda is set that day by the participants in the room.

Our goal was to get 150 people out to the event and it seems that we succeeded. The room was full and we had about 25 people pitch topics to discuss that day. There were so many interesting topics; I would have really liked to have been at more sessions.

Overall, I was really impressed with how smoothly the event was run. The team running the event did an excellent job! I heard a lot of good feedback and everyone seemed pretty happy.

Who was missing?

Many people attended who billed themselves as “average citizens” which was nice to see. If political change is going to happen anywhere, in my opinion, it has to start from the bottom up. There are a lot of unhappy citizens out there. The evidence? What was the voter turnout in the last Alberta election? 40%? There are a lot of people frustrated with status-quo politics.

The rumour was that provincial employees were ordered not to attend. We only saw a few local politicians and, I believe, two MLAs. Granted, our politicians are busy people and this is the first ChangeCamp event we’ve had, but a few more would be nice. I’m hoping we have more ChangeCamps and get better attendance by our leaders.

There are some great posts I’ve listed below that go more in depth about what happened and their views on the events of the day. I’ll let the video and audio content I’ve posted speak for itself.

Technical stuff:

I was able to record the audio from several sessions and video from a few. That consumed quite a bit of my time on the day and I learned a lot from covering the event. I hadn’t planned on bringing my video camera, but I’m glad I did. I focused on individual sessions and tried to cover them completely. I’ll be posting to Flickr, YouTube and other locations as I get the files processed.

I haven’t watched all the footage but it seems good, generally. I’m not a post-production video guy, so processing the video and posting it has been a learning experience. I’d just like to say I hate YouTube’s 10 minute rule.

Things I’d do differently?

• Bring my video camera charger and an extra battery.
• Bring more SD cards for my video camera.
• Bring a proper microphone for my video camera.

What I did right

• I brought my tripod (I hate shaky video).
• I brought two audio recorders & fresh batteries (to record sessions I wasn’t in).
• Brought my point and shoot digital camera.

I really enjoyed covering the event the way I did (I still miss being a reporter). While I didn’t participate as much as I would have liked, I felt an obligation to record what was happening so it wasn’t lost.

Links, media, photos, video

Photos of ChangeCamp Edmonton

• ChangeCamp Edmonton Flickr group

Youtube videos/audio about ChangeCamp Edmonton

• Accountability journalism – 4 parts – audio (link to part 1)
• Opening video – Mark Kuznicki

Blog posts about ChangeCamp Edmonton

• Chris Labossiere
• Dave Cournoyer – Daveberta
• Alex Abboud
• John Winslow – SirThinks
• Andrew McIntyre
• Robert Burwood – bOpen
• The Edmontonian
• The Edmontonian – Why I’m going
• Debra Ward – Edmonton Ambassador

Media about ChangeCamp Edmonton

• Edmonton Journal
• The Gateway – University of Alberta
• See Magazine
• Metro News
• Vue Weekly
• Unlimited Magazine

ChangeCamp Edmonton – official

• Wiki – day of ChangeCamp
• The Grid – what we talked about

Social media

• Twitter search – #yegchange
• Scribblelive – ChangeCamp #yeg

If you’ve got any suggestions for links to add, please comment. I’ll also add more of my audio and videos from the day of.

The idea behind ChangeCamp is “How do we re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation?”

This is also on the ChangeCamp Edmonton site: “ChangeCamp addresses the demand for a renewed relationship among citizens and government. We seek to create connections, knowledge, tools and policies that drive transparency, civic engagement and democratic empowerment.”

I think those both capture it fairly well, but I feel like I need to inject a bit of my vision, for what it’s worth. This is why I’m involved and this is my view, not necessarily the view of others who are involved in ChangeCamp.

I’m participating in publicizing the event and trying to get various interest groups and interested parties out to the event. It’s a time consuming task to contact all the groups who really should be represented there and who would have a strong interest in what’s going on.

In some ways it reads like a “who’s who” or “the usual suspects,” depending on your point of view. I’m not saying it’s going to be an elitist event where you have to be “in the know” to be able to attend. That’s not the intention of anyone involved, and I wouldn’t want that perception to be out there either.

Value in diversity of opinion

What I would like to see is a good mix of the population represented at ChangeCamp Edmonton, from the business community right down to those living in poverty. I think ChangeCamp needs a broad cross section of the community to talk about the issues around governing, accountability, transparency and citizen engagement.

Does this capture how you feel about politics lately?

Let’s be honest. We are far from having truly accountable and transparent government at any level in Canada, no matter what the party. Citizen engagement is something most politicians seem only to consider up to and including election time. After that? Well, it depends on the politician.

I know the types of people who will show up to ChangeCamp for sure. They’re the same ones that show up for so many of these kinds of events. They’re the type of people who are interested and engaged in what’s happening in our society, and I thank them deeply for that.

The people who are not as likely to be represented at ChangeCamp Edmonton are those who are disenfranchised, poor, frustrated with the system, marginalized, haven’t voted in a long time, have never voted, new to Canada or just plain pissed off.

These are the people, in addition to the rest, that I would really like to see attending ChangeCamp. These are the people that, if they got involved in the political system, have an incredible amount of political power and ability to change things. For a variety of reasons, they’re not represented.

I don’t see ChangeCamp as an advocacy group and it’s not. There are people from across the political spectrum involved. I see it more as a group trying to facilitate a discussion among this country’s citizens to see how we can make government into something that works better for everyone.

Frustrated with politics? Come out to ChangeCamp. Got friends who feels the same way? Bring them too.

I’m not expecting to change the world in one day, but it’s a first step. It’ll be your opportunity to get out and interact with people who are also interested in changing politics, making government more accountable, transparent and increasing civic engagement and voter participation.

I am hoping to see some of our MPs, Alberta MLAs and Edmonton city councillors in the room to participate in the discussion.

Please take the time to attend. It’s important to have your contribution to the process and to have an open, honest, civil discussion about our political system and how to make it better. It’s an “unconference” format where you help to decide on the topics that will be discussed. Perhaps you’d like to help out by leading a discussion on a topic?

There have been other ChangeCamps in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

ChangeCamp Edmonton happens on:

October 17, 2009 Saturday
Lister Conference Centre – Maple Leaf Room, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Lunch will be provided.

You can get involved by signing up to the Facebook ChangeCamp page.

Or register right at the ChangeCamp Edmonton registration page.