Alberta Business Marketing

In this alberta@noon column on CBC Radio One with host Donna McElligott I talk about the online reaction to the resignation of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and what it might mean to opposition parties. I also discuss the suggestion by the lawyers of Russell Williams that the tweets of journalists were harming the public and that Twitter perhaps should be banned from the courtroom, as well as the Calgary judge’s ruling banning Twitter from the trial of Dustin Paxton for fear that it may it may limit his right to a fair trial and what this may mean for the question “what is a journalist?”. (Yes, I even squeeze in a reference to Walter Lippman.) We also touch on the role social media is playing in the Tunisian and Egyptian protests and what potential reactions are available to their governments, and what the results of that may be.

albertaatnoon Jan 26 2011

Tags: CBC Radio Column, Politics, technology
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While the timing of today’s announcement by Premier Ed Stelmach may be a surprise, his resignation itself should not be. For months there have been grumblings about how the Progressive Conservative party will handle the next election.

The Wildrose Party has positioned itself as an heir apparent making room for all Alberta conservatives. Meanwhile disenfranchised progressives – mainly, but not exclusively PC members – have been toying with what the Alberta Party could be for them. In short, the party that’s been in power for 40 years was being torn in two with only the most ardent supporters who have fought tooth and nail to get where they were inside the party remaining loyal.

Observers and every PC insider knew something had to give. Polls, predictions and even gut feelings all were showing that with Stelmach leading the party into an election they were going to take a beating on all fronts. My prediction was a minority PC government being the outcome. To many, this was a best case scenario.

PC members aren’t stupid however. They could see the future coming too. With so much outsider anger (and even insider for that matter) directed at Stelmach’s seeming inability to gain enough traction with Albertans his fate was sealed. It was just a question whether he stepped aside before or after the next election. Obviously he’d prefer to wait to do it on his own terms, but as things got more and more dim for his party’s future, more and more of his own caucus mates began pondering how to speed things up to save the entire party. And their own seats.

Given all this there was a small movement afoot within caucus to push Stelmach out. However things hadn’t gotten dire enough for it to be a full blown organized coup yet. But if things did get worse, it would be. And for the internal politics of the party to blow up so close to an election would have all but handed the premier’s seat to Danielle Smith. Stelmach, a 25 year veteran, must have seen this too. And so he decided to do what was best for him and his entire party. Today he swallowed his pride and jumped on the grenade.

The table is clear now. The future is whatever the PCs make of it. The Stelmach baggage is gone and there is still enough time for a new leader to set a new tone to rival the other parties and win voter support. The party has had its biggest burden lifted. They still have lots of baggage, but it’s now at least more similar in size to that of it’s competitors.

Next in part 2: what the resignation means for opposition parties.

Tags: Alberta Party, Danielle Smith, Ed Stelmach, Politics, Wildrose Alliance
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This week, the City of Calgary made an announcement that I think deserves more recognition than it got.

It was announced the city has selected a public-engagement firm to talk with us — the citizens — about what we want to see in the upcoming 2012-2014 budget.

It may seem like a no-brainer that the city would actually take time to ask us what services we would like and how much we would be willing to pay for them, but strangely enough it’s not something that’s done often, if ever.

I think the administration and council deserve a huge round of applause for thinking far enough ahead to ensure that this time, they involve the public right from the beginning.

However, my round of applause may look like a standing ovation to some and an ironic slow clap to others.

In hiring a firm — and according to the request for proposals, paying them $250,000 — to “engage the public,” the city is effectively admitting that it doesn’t don’t know how to do this itself.

Which, of course, begs the question: If 14,000 municipal employees don’t have the skills to engage the public, then what they heck are they doing? If there was one thing they were good at, shouldn’t this be that one thing?

To even the untrained eye, however, this has become reality. “Public engagement” has been twisted into “informing the public about a decision that’s already been made,” which obviously is exactly the opposite of what public-engagement processes are meant to be.

This leads us to another question: Whose job is public engagement anyway? I would argue asking us what we want and then making sure it happens is entirely the point of elected officials. After all, if they didn’t do this, then what purpose do they serve?

But if public engagement is the job of our elected officials, I have to ask: When was the last time your councillor asked your opinion on something coming up at city hall?

If it’s the job of the alderman to know what the public wants, we’re in bad shape. Aside from Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra, who is very familiar with the planning charette process, I can’t think of any other alderman with previous experience in this field.

That could be forgiven by each of them hiring a constituency assistant with these skills. But if any of those assistants have these skills, you wouldn’t know it. Aside from Bob Hawkesworth in 2008 and 2009, no alderman has held a big public priority-setting event.

Ald. Shane Keating gives us some hope, however. Next week, he’s holding an event to gather information about the future of motorsports in Calgary. Granted, the event is not open to the public, but so long as it’s not a town hall-style meeting — a confrontational event format that can’t disappear from use quickly enough — this is at least a baby step forward.

There are infinitely better ways to find out what the public wants. Hopefully the professionals will show them how it’s done, and the city will be able to follow their lead.

Original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/749834

Tags: Calgary, Metro Column, Politics
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Let me welcome you to 2011.

After the election and budget deliber-ations of November and December, our city council has emerged into a new year with all the possibilities in the world before them.

So what now? Well, here’s what to expect:

If you weren’t sick enough of hearing about the airport tunnel during the leadup to the election, I hope you’ve enjoyed your two month respite, because Mayor Nenshi is about to make it something you’re going to hear about every day moving forward.

Figures ranging from $100 million to more than a billion dollars were batted around during September and October, but the time for inflammatory politics is past. The first step for the airport tunnel is to find out how much it actually will cost, then if it can be built. Once that is settled, expect council to begin the debate on the need for such a tunnel in earnest.

Expect to hear a lot about secondary suites — an issue that has put a bug under about a third of our council members including, and perhaps most so, the mayor. The debate about a city-wide policy to give homeowners a less onerous — and less random — process will be a big one with lots of Calgarians getting the chance to have their say.

The future of the southeast LRT is something I expect you’ll be hearing more about soon enough, too. If the money is to be had — and some argue with the bounce back of the economy it more than likely will be — the southeast LRT could rocket to the top of the agenda once the airport tunnel is dealt with.

You can also expect the topic of campaign finance reform to return to council again, this time with a mayor and a couple of councillors who count this as a “pet peeve” actually committed to finding a way to make the change permanent and enforceable.

Don’t be surprised if you see Nenshi enter into a battle over the city’s procurement processes either. With Louise Crossing becoming an issue during the election and the mayor’s humorous public musings about the cost of everything from an internet router for his office, to business cards, to his quest to get a less expensive vehicle, this aspect of our civic government could very well end up under the microscope sooner rather than later.

Of course with all these issues to choose from, you can be forgiven for wondering why fluoridation — a topic that I’m confident councillors heard about rarely when door-knocking during the election — has become the first issue to make it on the 2011 agenda

It’s a good conversation to have, but is it really the most pressing one? The other items listed here should be dealt with next. If they aren’t, then you have my permission to lose faith in our new council’s ability to set priorities.

It looks like it’s going to be a busy few months. Hold on for the ride.

Original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/743399–welcome-to-2011

Tags: Calgary, Metro Column, Politics
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It’s one of those annual rites of passage in Calgary. Early in every new year each Calgary property owner opens their property assessment and promptly proclaims “my house isn’t worth that much!”

Those who feel the value listed is more than their property is worth scream it from the roof tops and often appeal to the City of Calgary using as many dirty words as possible.

Others who find their property undervalued either snicker to themselves and hope no one notices, or dread the day they sell, fearing they’ll only get a pittance of what they think they should.

Either way, no one is ever happy after opening that envelope and everyone remarks what a terrible job the City of Calgary did in putting a dollar figure to their cherished home.

The problem is — and this is hard to wrap your head around — it doesn’t matter how much the city says your home is worth. That dollar value isn’t important; it’s just a multiplier needed to figure out what share of the tax burden you should pay in relation to everyone else in Calgary.

As a result everyone gets mad at entirely the wrong thing.

What is more important is how that listed value compares to your neighbours’ value.
Don’t get me wrong, the city brings the pain on themselves.

The percentage of Calgary’s property value you own does not need to be viewed as a dollar amount, but they choose to show it to you like that; thus leading to all the misdirected confusion and anger. Marc Doll, a local realtor says, “You wouldn’t believe how much time I have to spend teaching people that the city valuations are not market value.”

So this year, forgo the anger at the “value” of your home and instead visit calgary.ca/assessment and view what others are paying. You can even search your neighbours properties to see if you’re paying your fair share compared to them.

Then ask yourself — “Is there a better way to do this?” A topic for another day.

Original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/737048–assessment-not-what-you-think

Tags: Calgary, Metro Column, Politics
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