Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, and I wanted to post this list of events that will be happening around the city of Calgary.

- The Military Museums, 4520 Crowchild Tr. S.W. Ceremony begins at 10:40 a.m. Free parking and admission. Always a large event, so come a little early to get parking nearby/ a good spot.

- Jubilee Auditorium, 14th Street and 16th Avenue N.W. Doors open at 9:30 a.m., service begins at 10 a.m., followed by a small ceremony at the Memorial Park Cenotaph, 4th Street and 11th Avenue S.W, at 11 a.m. There will be a more extensive service and wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph at 12:15 p.m.

- Naval Museum of Alberta, 1820 24th St. S.W., 11 a.m. ceremony on HMCS Tecumseh Drill Deck.

- CPR service, Gulf Canada Square, 10:45 a.m.

- Battalion Ridge, overlooking Westhills Towne Centre. Ceremony with scouts from Dover and Victoria Park starts at 9 a.m.

Personally given the importance of the day and the meaning it holds for me given my family history I prefer to attend a public event, as a statement of sorts. To my mind it is most important to remember, but it is also important to remember together. If the purpose of the day is to memorialize sacrifice then it is also important to think about what sacrifice for the common good can mean, so it seems appropriate to do so as a community standing together. This year I will be volunteering at the Military Museums ceremony as well, in order to contribute a little bit to making that event run smoothly.

Both of my grandfathers volunteered in 1939/40, and it was the middle of 1945 before either of them returned to their homes. They spent longer in uniform during the war than I have spent working on acquiring a PhD, voluntarily giving up a large chunk of their lives and accepting considerable danger because they felt it was the right thing to do. We take our safety and prosperity sufficiently for granted that we often fail to consider the obligations imposed by our privileges - the responsibilities that are the twins of our rights.

Come on out tomorrow and join other members of our community remembering those who have accepted their responsibilities to us, and paid a price for doing so.

The PC AGM and Alberta

Been a busy week buried in the late 1920's, but this weekend's Alberta PC AGM is too interesting not to say something about. I'm still waiting to hear from the people I know who were there, but interesting commentary is starting to appear. A few examples, to be amended once the weekend is over and the commentators have time to mull things over.

David Climenhaga:
http://diary.davidclimenhaga.ca/2009/11/77-solution-its-good-enough-for-now-but.html
Dave Cournoyer:
Before - http://daveberta.blogspot.com/2009/11/whats-going-to-happen-at-pc-leadership.html
After - http://daveberta.blogspot.com/2009/11/774-proof.html
Alex Abboud:
http://alexabboud.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/state-of-alberta-at-a-crossroads/
Ken Chapman:
http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-alberta-about-to-enter-empire-of.html
Chris LaBossiere:
Before: http://www.chrislabossiere.com/chrislabossiere/2009/10/25/run-up-the-middleto-the-right-of-centre.html
After:http://www.chrislabossiere.com/chrislabossiere/2009/11/8/evolving-thoughts-on-ed-stelmach-and-the-pc-party.html
Duncan Wojtaszek:
http://www.phendrana.ca/2009/10/red-deer.html

My personal view is that the leadership 'review' was always something of a manufactured story, given that Premier Stelmach was recently elected to an overwhelming majority and the PC party here in Alberta certainly doesn't need any self-inflicted wounds at this time. The Premier's 77+ % support was actually lower than I had expected, but in a free vote it qualifies as an overwhelming win. Of course the people voting are those who are shelling out the $400 or so to attend the convention, and are members of the party and have a vested interest in the success of the government.

What is really going to be interesting about this weekend's event going forward is whether or not the PCs are able to move forward with any sense of unified purpose or clarity. The party has, along with the government, appeared limp and lost for several years. With a new challenger arising on its home turf the Alberta PCs will, along with the opposition parties, have to take stock and tighten themselves up. Has the AGM helped the party do that, or are a number of the people the party is going to need moving forward still drifting away to either disengagement or other parties?

As a final point it is worth noting that calling the Wild Rose Alliance a 'mortal threat' or anything along those lines to the Alberta PC government is like calling the Colorado Avalanche the Stanley Cup champions based on October's play. Far too early, and these are the games that count the least. It is years to the next provincial election, folks, so lets see where we are in the weeks to come and how that moves forward.

Besides, the government can hardly look much worse after the disastrous budget numbers, the H1N1 mismanagement, the rising unemployment and general communications incompetence of the last few months. Much like Toronto's suffering Leafs they almost have to get better - don't they?

Stelmach's response to the Pembina Report

The batting around of numbers in political discourse is an ongoing source of frustration to me, since the context that gives the number relevance is often (or even usually) omitted. This is especially prominent in discussions of economics or economic policy, where to put it crudely there are a lot of numbers to choose from.

For a recent example, and some demystification, I strongly recommend this post by Aaron Braaten on his excellent blog. http://www.grandinite.com/2009/10/30/ed-meet-data-data-ed/

More Climate Change Policy Conversation

Just a quick post to share some information.

First of all a link to Jeffrey Simpson's article in today's Globe and Mail regarding Canada's policy toward the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference. To quote -

"Once before, Canada went to a climate-change conference, at Kyoto, and made promises it could not and did not keep. It would appear a repeat performance is in the making. Or, to put things differently: new government, same script."

The article is worth a read.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/once-again-climate-change-promises-ottawa-cant-keep/article1342392/

On a more inormative note a report is now available on the topic from the Pembina Institute/Toronto Dominion Bank/David Suzuki Foundation & can be found here:

http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/climate-leadership-report-en.pdf

For other policy nerds the math which supports the above report, from MK Jaccard & Associates, can be found here:

http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/mkja-climate-targets-report.pdf

Thanks to Trish Audette of the Edmonton Journal for pointing me to the links.

Minister Prentice's response to the report was certainly not positive - "The conclusions [the report] draws are irresponsible" - but he hasn't advanced any data or analyses on behalf of the government. It is my profound hope that the government provides us with something more interesting than the obviously empty platitudes that have been advanced for the Copenhagen delegation. I am not wedded to any particular policy at this point, but I have become actively interested in doing research into the sustainability of our current economic models. I would also like to point out that Climate Change, or global warming if you will, is only a small part of the sustainability question. I look forward to a positive program from Minister Prentice at the earliest date!

Globe article on Mr. Prentice's response:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/climate-change-report-irresponsible-prentice-says/article1344485/

*Late Edit* Read some thoughts on this from Ken Chapman on his blog here:

http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2009/10/climate-leadership-and-economic.html

Reboot Alberta

In ironic counterpoint to the exasperation of my last point I have booked myself a trip to Red Deer in November to take part in the Reboot Alberta event.

This event has the potential to be a very interesting thing, building on the success of events like Change Camp Edmonton (http://www.changecampedmonton.ca/) and Civic Camp Calgary ( http://www.civiccamp.net/index.php?title=Main_Page). The statement of intent reads "a weekend for Progressive Albertans to spend some time together for creating and exploring a new public policy map for the next Alberta. It will be an open-ended experience for progressive thinking Albertans to consider what their political voice should be in the next Alberta. It will be about how to get the progressive voice heard in the governance and politics of our province."

I am excited to see what develops at the event, especially in terms of finding ways to increase people's day-to-day engagement with their government and the development of good public policy.

Reboot Alberta site:
http://rebootalberta.wordpress.com/

Ken Chapman (organizer)
http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2009/10/reboot-alberta-is-about-to-happen-what.html

Dave Cournoyer (mentions it in his blog)
http://daveberta.blogspot.com/2009/10/reboot-alberta.html

Off to a Good Start, Apparently

Nice to see that the Alberta Legislature is opening with intelligent and mature debate on the issues. (Sarcasm Alert)

Premier to Brian Mason: "I'll take the word of this nurse [Min. Fritz] over the word of a bus driver any time" (via @davecournoyer and @JProssa)

an obviously unworthy ad-hominem attack, which led to an amusing question via twitter:

@BreakenNews @davecournoyer I wonder why he didn't identify himself as a university drop-out.

Wouldn't it be nice if our elected representatives could keep their eyes on the public-interest ball as opposed to venting their partisan passions on one another?

Security Certificates Extinct?

While catching up on The Economist this morning I found this little article on the failure of Canadian Security Certificates law to pass muster with the courts. http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14700736

It has been my opinion that the certificates are fundamentally flawed as a legal mechanism, and so their tenuous future is to my mind a good thing. The Anti-Terrorism Act already covers the procedures necessary, and is not an egregious exception to the general practice of our common law. What did catch my attention was the last paragraph, for several reasons.

"This is not a government that admits its mistakes, so there will be no public repudiation of the certificate programme for use in catching terrorists. It will be quietly discarded. But that may not be the last Canadians hear of it. One of the former detainees has publicly mused about suing the government now that he is free."

That summary is, sadly, quite accurate, and the lawsuit will more than likely be successful.