In our daily lives we rely so much on trust in government, we forget how it impacts us.

I am a private pilot. I fly for fun and I own an airplane. I fly far too little to be considered a serious pilot, yet I get in my airplane, because I trust the system. How so you might ask?

The propeller spins, because the engine works. The engine works, even though I have no idea exactly why, and all other pieces are verified to be safe. So I fly it, because every year the government-licensed mechanic inspects my airplane and verifies that it is safe to do so. Everyday we get into airplanes, drive through green traffic lights and drink our tap water, because we trust the system that is designed to protect us.

I fly my airplane because that mechanic, who is licensed, has promised me that his skill and ethics are held to account by a government I expect to ensure it. You drink tap water based on the same confidence. Both of these “risks” are taken on the basis of a confidence in “the system”.

So, considering this, isn’t it reasonable that we hold our elected officials to a high ideal?

It is not enough that you are “crafty” and can hold onto political power. Political success is one layer, but simply the lowest. Public trust is an absolute necessity, which makes us confident in the system. For politicians, a commitment to uphold it is your bigger duty.

I frankly don’t expect perfect. Hell, we are all so far from perfect. But I expect honesty when challenged about your record. I expect a commitment to transparency when I want to know more about a scandal, and I expect you to hold the public’s trust as an impenetrable ideal. When you play games with the public trust, you undermine a whole way of life.

It’s simply not good enough to be able to outsmart your political competition. It is an absolutely necessity that you live up to some kind of minimum public standard of ethical behaviour. Otherwise, the system fails.

So…to those politicians who are seemingly only interested in doing what’s necessary to hold onto power; who are only telling a version of the truth to keep themselves ahead of your political competition, but ignoring the real reason people need you to maintain a faithful system…. you are fucking up a really good thing.

In a time where politics seems to be a polarizing endeavor, he bucked the trend by building a community and council that rallied behind him. He did that with tremendous confidence in himself and his community. The man has presence and the man is a great leader. In the words of another great Edmontonian, Dr. Bob Westbury, Mayor Mandel possessed something he calls the “Royal Jelly”.

What is that Royal Jelly?

To me, it’s the ability to command a room through never wavering confidence, presence and a drive to find consensus. He consistently called out a short-term vision for what it is, and rarely “suffered fools”.  Willing to take a position against those thinking that good is good enough, Mayor Mandel was happy to work tirelessly in the back rooms, often sharing the work-load through a number citizen-led taskforces, and always building consensus, especially with his council. The Mayor has a great vision, but that was never enough; he worked tirelessly with his supporters to implement it.

In the past month, I had the pleasure to be in a meeting chaired by the Mayor, and witnessed the magic of his leadership. He took time to compliment and yield the floor to each of his council peers. He is clearly a friend of most everyone he works with, and he is pleased to share a good idea and the limelight with those he trusts. It is reciprocated in the obvious support he found on the many tough decisions this council made to further our city.

In today’s moving speech, the Mayor took the time to recognize those who helped him succeed. It was obvious that he feels his success was because of the support of others, and especially the support he received from his council, citizen-leaders, Premier Ed Stelmach and his Chief of Staff, Patricia Misutka.

As we embark on a new era for Edmonton politics, I can only hope he has left behind a successor who possesses some of that Royal Jelly. It’s a nearly impossible combination of presence, patience, persistence, experience and acumen.

Perhaps no one candidate has that perfect combination, just yet, but we can hope that someone has been watching… and learning.

Because they can do something, which might seem smart on paper, does not necessarily provide the moral gateway to do it. Yes, America can use technology to target the “heads of the snake” and use drones to kill enemy leaders. Yes, this might even kill less than conventional war, with bombs, guns or missiles. But maybe drone strikes are TOO easy…

Drone strikes are a”discriminate” yet dehumanized method which make the US feel superior; but actually make the US seem insensitive to the cultures that have no choice but to feel terrorized by them. Drones are technological hubris with warheads.

The young people of the World are sophisticated and worldly now. In Yemen or in Chicago, they are cynical and understand good policy and even choose irony/sarcasm more than they do brute force, as a way to change the World. So when the US chooses to flex their unparalleled strength, hidden behind a joystick; those who even WANT to be allies of the US are forced to ask what kind of friend would kill indiscriminately. Just because they can?

A MUST watch in my opinion.

From www.UpWorthy.com

Danielle Smith - WRP Leader

Yesterday the Wildrose Party of Alberta came together and laid the foundation for a more moderate policy framework, mostly by removing or clarifying their contentious social policy. It has yet to be submitted to the approval of the membership, but I think that’s a formality.

By doing this, the rigid social conservatives, those who joined the party to protect ideologically based “Family / Christian Values” will simply be made to feel unwelcome. Which is tough; but the choice of the ideologue, not the Party who strives to align itself with the majority of those it wants to represent. These beliefs fit in a home or a church, but not in a government, which must be responsible to a diverse constituency. Surely Danielle Smith has always known this and now the Party looks to be bending to her will. Which it must if it wants to form government.

I don’t begrudge this. I believe that this is the basic principle of representative government. Go where the people want you to go. The ancient social beliefs of the party were again and again contrary to what the majority of Albertans believe. From climate change to conscience rights… they were offside.  The Wildrose are doing what they are supposed to do… we can’t criticize them for that.

What will obviously happen, is a fracture in their party along the right side, but that is certainly expected; and I suspect Danielle Smith is discreetly thankful for it.

The big story is not that the Wildrose are doing late what every other party has done before them. That was inevitable. The big story is that by doing this, they eliminated the only legitimate reason that most rigid fiscal conservatives were staying away.  These people, have been holding their nose and staying with the Alberta PC Party, which really has become a confused home for everybody who was against the “old version of the Wildrose”, from forming government.

Maybe it’s time?

Maybe it’s time to break apart what is a tired and ill-focused PC government. Maybe it’s time to have a healthy debate about what the solution to our deficit and debt problems should be. Maybe it’s time to challenge how big or small government should be, how ever-expanding health care delivery costs can be controlled, what it means to make meaningful long-term budgets and business plans, and of course how services can be improved.

There are so many of these debates we have avoided for the last 6-8 years, because the PC Party has built their entire existence around being against the Wildrose and not for a better, bigger future for the Province. All it takes is one look at the way they campaigned just a year ago, and the polar opposite positions they have taken since gaining power. They simple expended every bit of energy and political capital they had to hold onto power…. now they are in trouble.

At least the Wildrose have clarified where they stand in the political debate.  They have dropped the ideological background noise that was hurting them and will be fighting on ideas. These ideas will be about smaller government, cost reduction – over any new revenue streams, and a culture of personal responsibility as a cornerstone of the social safety net. Agree or disagree with where they stand; agree with me that these are the debates that we need to be having. One’s really worth having.

The PC Party had better realize what happened to them yesterday and find some ways quickly to define what they really stand for. Why their ideas are better than the Wildrose’s.

Or maybe it’s time?

Maybe the PC Party needs to recognize the dissonance that exists within it. The rigid fiscal conservatives who have only ever stayed to hold onto shortening strings of power, or because they couldn’t live within the social conservative confines of the old Wildose Party…. or… the Lougheed-modelled Progressive Conservatives who hope to find a vision in the balance between smart government and enabling a vision for the future of a post-energy Province. The PC Party of today is neither of these things and rest assured, the mandatory Leadership Review of the Premier this fall will expose and likely exacerbate this dissonance.

Or just maybe… a complete explosion of the Party might be the best thing for the Province and its political landscape. Let new lines be drawn and reestablish for Albertans where they might fit if they were looking for something to believe in.

Premier Klein also balanced the damn budget.

Ralph wasn’t idolized just because he balanced the budget, which was formidable enough; the success he enjoyed politically was for these two simple reasons:

1. He did what he said he was going to do.
2. He acted authentically.

That we idolize a human being, for acting in what should seem to be a natural and authentic way, says a great deal about the actual rarity of these traits in any person, let alone a politician.

You could argue that being Ralph Klein today would be impossible, or at the least, political suicide. Now our politicians are under attack from all angles. Social media is a 24/7 source of badgering from the peanut gallery, cameras carried on every person, and nary a spoken or written word goes undocumented or un-scrutinized.

But I think this is where the mistake is being made. Politicians have stopped being real, in exchange for trying to become something manufactured.

The mistake in shaping your behavior to some kind of “public-opinion ideal”; is that the shiny, sharp-edge of authentic leadership is dulled. I can’t follow you if you’re spending more time programing your character, than you are demonstrating your real one. Even if that means you might make a mistake. Mistakes are not blemishes, if the intent is good. They are the inevitable by-product of advancing towards something.

Which brings me back to Ralph. He had a vision, albeit a simple one for Alberta. Restore the Alberta Advantage. Come hell or high water, Ralph was going to bring us back from the brink of a $23 Billion debt. But here was the magic of Ralph:

Knowing the hardships we would have to go through as a Province, Ralph knew that people wanted a leader who would stand with them as they go through them. He recognized the willingness in Albertans to take some bitter medicine, as long as he was the first to take it with them. Wearing a denim shirt, as he took it. That’s the Cowboy Way really, isn’t it?

To me it somehow feels like our Albertan political landscape has become less Albertan. Our politicians no longer embody the scrappy risk taker, pioneer, entrepreneur or even “cowboy-ethic” that is undeniably part of our quirky identity.

There really is something admirable in our identity as hearty trailblazers, and yet we have none leading us. Some may have the ideas, but lacking is the authenticity.

I miss Ralph’s World.

So when the Mayor decided to take a stand, and finally find a way to tell our story, he had the guts to try something different. Council supported his leadership, and myself and Amy Shostack were asked to create a citizen-led initiative that could help improve our image. The typical process, hiring an agency and focus-grouping a vanilla brand, well that wasn’t for us.

So.. we landed on a story we already knew was true about this place. Local storyteller, Todd Babiak, had already started researching and writing about our identity. When he pushed past the river-valley platitudes… he found the answer to why we were here. We come here, or we stay here, because it’s easy to build something from nothing. It’s easy to connect with someone in the community and find volunteers, mentors and facilitators to activate your idea. I can’t list them all.. but the examples are endless. The Heritage Classic, the Commonwealth Games, the Fringe Festival, PCL, Bioware.. even my company, Yardstick. All born of an idea from a few citizens… and then made significant with help from others.

There is no aristocracy here. We help each other succeed. And then… if it was grown here.. we take ownership of it. Which leads me back to the Make Something Edmonton initiative. This is OUR identity and it’s true. Which is why when we challenge Edmontonians to just MAKE SOMETHING, we get a positive feedback and response of action.

But it’s not just fluff… it’s a practical path to image building. Because we won’t spend the typical Millions in creating a tagline and bumper stickers, distilled by advertising agencies into vanilla meaninglessness; we will spend less to get something that is true. Since we have started the Make Something Edmonton idea, we have already levered nearly 1500 volunteer hours. And we have only just begun. Over the next few months, our call to action will inspire and recognize people who are doing things. Major things like raising millions from the citizenry to artistically light the high-level bridge, to tiny things, like a cul-de-sac just finding a way to get outside and get to know each other.

This is our identity.. and although that will never end, an image and brand will emerge. But I am not worried about that right now. We will learn that.. it will emerge. And it will be authentic, because we value that more than we value anything else.

If you want to learn more about Make Something Edmonton, please visit the website of projects underway. If you want to start a project, and want to raise awareness, money or find collaborators, get started.

If you want to further understand what I am talking about, enjoy this video about the initiative, and an example of a great made in Edmonton project:

A Make Something Edmonton project… a beautiful and simple way to connect the community. CommuniTEA.

CommuniTEA

- A 59-year old aboriginal woman who was charged with shoplifting. She was charged with her first criminal offense, after shoplifting 8 bottles of perfume, with the intent of reselling it to feed her family.

According to the duty council, she has been on AISH for most of her adult life, was living with severe depression and in the last four years has lived through the death of her husband, her son, her brother and her mother. According to her, she has been battling depression and was just trying to raise money to buy food for her family, and she earns $1200 a month on social assistance.

- Another lady was a 43 year old Laos immigrant, charged with shoplifting $21 worth of cosmetics. She brought to the judge two letters of reference, one from her employer, Tim Hortons, where she has worked for 13 years. Again her first offense, she did not speak English and had a Laos interpreter with her to help her understand the charges.

Two very sad stories that compelled me to wonder what we could have done as a society to prevent the crimes… let alone, why they were consuming courthouse resources, a judge’s time, a crown prosecutor’s time and the helpful, if not harried duty council there to help them. Of course the interpreter was likely provided by the tax-payer as well.

Then this week, we read about a man who was clearly mentally ill, who killed a homeless man who chose to serve a night in jail instead of paying a $100 fine for jaywalking.

What I wondered… is what all this costs? Not just the dollars wasted on behalf of the tax-payers… but of course how has the system served the public need to reform criminals and prevent crimes? Finally, of course… did a homeless man charged with jaywalking need to die at the hands of a mentally ill person… ? I AM a fiscal conservative who abhors crimes against society… but even I know that the charade I was watching was overwhelmingly expensive and offering very little real societal value.

So why is this important?

Today the Wildrose Party did only what they do well. They mocked the government’s idea for an Alternative Justice System, which would prevent these types of crimenals from having to serve penalties like financial fines (if they can’t pay) or jail time, and instead provide some kind of community service.

It’s obvious that for certain smaller crimes, especially first offenses, we should come up with a way to keep the courtrooms clear for prosecuting greater offenses.

The Wildrose Party… who allegedly care about fiscal responsibility… think that the government’s idea of Alternative Justice is a joke. They have chosen to politicize an intelligent response to a complicated problem, with a hacked-up “sarcastic coupon” offering “one-free-crime” coupons from the Premier and Minister of Justice.

Wildrose mocks good Alberta Government Policy

I have been a vocal opponent of the government on some lack of vision around revenue stabilization and economic diversification, as well as the cuts to the post-secondary education system…. but if the Wildrose “ideas” are our only alternative to the PC government… I would support the PC Party all day long.

Shame on the Wildrose Party. They are using red-meat populism to try and scare you into supporting them. Trust me when I assure you they are half as smart as you… and you should be offended when they play these games to try to win your favour.

Until they come up with reasonable policy, to tackle real-world problems…. Well I think they ARE the problem.

* Updated – I did talk to the dealer this morning because I really didn’t know if they had replaced the engine, which was the only reasonable repair as prescribed by Porsche. They confirmed they have NOT done anything to repair the cylinder damage, and have replaced the coils and spark plugs only. So, the dealer will say that the car is fine and this is normal wear and tear for an engine. I would love to get comments from Porsche experts on the matter.

Here’s a story I didn’t want to tell. Frankly, as an owner of a brand new Audi, in a City with only one Audi dealer, I am probably screwing myself. But I am adequately perturbed and so must share this.

Last October, I bought a Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet from Southgate Volkswagen here in Edmonton. It was used. It was a 2005. I had no reason to expect that it was flawed, and in fact when I bought it (for $51,000), I was reassured with a CLEAN inspection, that it was in perfectly fine mechanical shape.

One week after owning it, the engine light came on, and to avoid a VERY long story, I took it to my local Porsche repair shop. They did an engine scope and found that the engine was very badly damaged (photos). I returned the car to the Volkswagen/Audi dealer I had bought it from, and they challenged my assertion that there was anything wrong. We argued… and argued… and finally agreed that we would take the car to the local Porsche Dealer (Norden) and agreed that if they thought the engine needed to be replaced.. then Southgate VW/Audi would take it back.

Well… of course the engine WAS screwed… and thankfully they took the car back (after MUCH threatening). Life was good and I ended up buying a nicer, newer, Porsche Certified car from the Porsche Dealer.

So.. imagine my surprise, 4 months later to see that the VW dealer has listed the car again for sale. The dealership, which is owned by the same Audi / VW ownership group in Edmonton, has a lot of guts to try and dish this car off again.

In the WEEK before I bought the Porsche from Southgate VW, I had bought a brand new Audi from the Audi dealer (same owner). Before that, I had bought brand-new Volkswagen Golf for my wife about a year earlier. I have also purchased another Audi three years ago (which was maintained at Southgate Audi).

It is ridiculous that the brands we love, are betrayed by dealers who can’t see the forest for the trees. All the owner of the Audi Dealership had to do, was to make the bad car dissapear. He failed the integrity test and ended up listing the car again for sale.

Shitty part? Really shitty part? I bought Jim Allen, the owner, a bottle of nice single malt scotch for taking the car back. I honestly thought I was lucky for avoiding such a major debacle.

I want my scotch back. And another Audi dealer in Edmonton… because I still have to take my car to them to maintain.

It’s so easy to fall in hate with this new World. I have been wiping my eyes and wondering what is wrong with us. I have watched with sorrow and confusion as we attack each other on complicated issues. I wretch in thinking the solutions are too far from our grasp.

I have also thought I hated the politics of the thing.

But then I realized that these are the moments when we need politicians more than any other. These are the crisis moments when our leaders earn every penny, and then some, to lead us.

These are the times for remarkable movement in social legislation. These are the moments we have big-hearted discussions about proactive mental healthcare and where firearms really fit in a modern society.

To the politicians… don’t fuck this up. Seize the sentiment of the people, to make change.

It’s the only good that can come of this. Lasting change, where we can look back and say, we transformed as a society.

In political terms, at least recently in Alberta, a stall may be when the opposition steals your lift…. and the government fails to provide enough power to fly through the dynamic.

Today the government entered a stall. Easily recoverable from, but deadly if you don’t quickly add power and get lift back over your wings.

This legislative session has been defined by the opposition. They have sucked the wind from over the Government’s wings.  The Premier, and the Government have let them do it.

As I have said earlier, it’s an easy recovery. Simply, add speed. In other words, show momentum by talking about vision and momentum. Don’t let the drag of negativity pull you down, when all you need is to talk about the future and positive opportunities for the Province.

The PC government is governing well, considering the legislation being passed. However they are not communicating well, when you consider the lack of vision being conveyed.

It’s time they pushed the stick forward and added power. Otherwise, a STALL handled poorly turns into a SPIN… and well, that’s much more lethal.