in the bleak

QEII, December 10, 2020 

red pickup passes on the right.

window sticker reads "Fuck Trudeau"

black truck with an unsecured load passes on the left

driver is texting

one semi after another passes

not one pulled over

i'm going 117 on the QEII

hoar frost and gray sky 

getting grayer 

snow on snow

wind-drifted crystals float across 6 lanes of traffic

pump jacks

rusted cranes

empty shops

 "China virus! Buy the book!” 

"AB COVID. New Health Orders in Effect” 

Alberta

bleak midwinter

Welcome to the Panel of Foregone Conclusions

Dear Committee Members:

Greetings and welcome to the new panel on foregone conclusions!

In the interests of open government, designed to improve transparency and ensure better collaboration between government and citizens, the Alberta government is pleased to accept your participation in the upcoming [panel/review/roundtable/online survey/consultation/submission-based engagement] based on your [cronyism/neoliberal ideology/donations to the party/blind loyalty/unwavering devotion to the petrostate].

Thank you for providing your input in the area of [finance/education/healthcare/food services/policing/building construction/municipal governance/addictions/automobile insurance/fisheries/agriculture/energy/the arts/mental health/crime/the hours of the day/condo boards/employment standards and wages].

Recognizing that while Albertans pay the lowest taxes in Canada, they pay the most for public services while getting the worst results, and furthermore acknowledging that rules and regulations stand in the way of economic progress, and also reminding the world that Alberta is open for business, and by that we mean anything the public sector does, the private sector can do- if not better, then at least cheaper, and if not cheaper, most importantly for profit- and further accepting that Alberta has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and reminding Albertans that the government has a mandate to save Alberta from the evils of socialism, we ask that you provide input into this initiative using your [specialized expertise/jurisdictional research/globally endorsed best practices/selected previous engagement feedback /clever writing skills/impeccable reputation] all completely devoid of any ideological interference on the part of the current government and the political party it represents.

Your participation will help inform potential changes to [legislation/policy/regulations/public sector/overall way of life for all citizens] that are expected to be introduced in the [spring/summer/fall/winter of 2020/at some unforeseeable date].

Talking points may include any of the following: 

• Albertans have told us that…
• We need to get rid of inefficiencies
• Motherhood statements
• References to the Alberta Advantage
• Glorification of our energy based economy
• Eliminating waste will lead to a reduction of our already absurdly high taxes
• We don’t need more stinking rules
• Reducing red tape will encourage investment
• Propose something something that already exists but state it in such a way that it sounds like a new idea
• Turn one group against another
• Say the government is really NOT going to do something it has never done anyway
• Remind people the previous government created unsustainable debt that will cripple the lives of their grandchildren so now we can’t afford government services
• State that the actions of the previous government were ideologically based. Whatever the panel recommends isn’t.
• Something something foreign funded European environmentalists

Recommendations

• Include in your final report a couple of unpopular suggestions that we will immediately admit are great but promise not to implement which will soften people up when you…
• Further propose a whole bunch of stuff that changes the fundamental nature of the province including…
• Passing responsibility for the impact of underfunding onto municipal government and elected and appointed boards
• So many reductions in public services that people will cry out for privatization
• And a lack of regulations so profound that it will be like we have no rules at all
• Then, just so the public knows we are still “listening”…
• Propose more public engagement in the form of [round table discussions held only in major cities to which only selected people are invited/online surveys that are worded to provide the results that further our agenda/ask people to submit online feedback to which we won’t respond]

We look forward to working with you in this important initiative that will restore confidence in Alberta’s economy and make life better for (some) Albertans and thank you once again for your service to the people of the great province of Alberta.

Sincerely,

The Government of Alberta

P.S. You do not have to pretend you are listening to all Albertans, that is our job.

cc.

1.     Curriculum Advisory Panel
2.     Auto insurance reform
3.     Skills for jobs task force
4.     Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances
5.     Minimum wage expert panel
6.     Vision for student learning engagement
7.     Choice in Education
8.     Photo Radar in Alberta
9.      Fair Deal Panel
10.   AHS Advisory Review
11.  Glenora Building-Former Royal Alberta Museum
12.  Mental Health Act Engagement
13.   Red Tape Reduction Panel
14.  Tobacco and smoking reduction review
15.  City Charter Engagement
16.  Food regulation engagement
17.  Condominium rules consultation
18.  Mental health and addictions
19.  Fisheries engagement
20.  Alberta Energy Review
21.  Arts Professions Act Engagement
22.  Daylight saving time engagement
23.  Employment standards engagement
24.  Farmer led research engagement
25.  Road testing engagement
26.  Rural crime engagement

Rules, Morality, and the Place You Call Home

“How do you know the difference between right and wrong?” A question that comes up from time to time in the classroom.

Some kids will tell you they know the difference because they know they will get punished if they do the wrong thing. Some will say they know something is wrong because it’s against the law or against the rules. 

Others say they know the difference because that’s what the Bible or the Quran or the Talmud or Buddha teaches. They might say it’s what their parents taught them or it comes from some fundamental principles that guide them. Others might refer to the little voice inside their head that makes them feel guilty or ashamed- similar to Abraham Lincoln’s statement, “When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion.”

For kids with less sophisticated thinking, we must push a little harder for them to understand not just the social contract, but the difference between morality and legislation. Something isn’t wrong because it’s against the law. It’s wrong because it goes against the moral fabric of society. Right and wrong speak to the choices we make that demonstrate respect for each other so we can live well together. Without those morals, right and wrong are just a matter of what we can get away with.

When I was a naïve university student, one of my profs assigned a paper on discipline in the classroom. In my innocence, I expounded at length on how I, as a teacher, would encourage students to internalize the rules so discipline would not be needed. Students would understand what was right and wrong and act accordingly. Although my prof liked the paper, in the real world of the classroom it did not take me too long to figure out how ignorant I was. Even for those who have a strong moral code, the temptation offered by doing the wrong thing is hard to resist. A laugh from your buddy or the promise of a high mark can make a lot of kids ignore both the rules and their principles.

“I did not break any rules,” says Jason Kenney of his expense claims for “primary” residency in his mother’s basement in her assisted living facility which reportedly does not accept sublets. A basement he visited four times in a given year.

Probably not Jason's wallpaper,, but then again.

“The primary residence is occupied by the Member more often than the other residence,” the guidelines say. “The primary residence is where the Member most frequently resides on weekends and holidays.”

Mr. Kenney apparently did not consider the reasons behind the rules governing residency-rules that were created to allow elected officials -both federally and provincially-to retain a home in their riding while living where the legislature sits without undue hardship. These rules were designed on the principle of fairness. If your home is in your riding in Neerlandia or Stettler but you need to spend a large portion of your time on government business in Ottawa or Edmonton, is it fair to pay accommodations costs in both communities when your counterpart who lives near the legislature only needs one home?

My own MLA and my MP retain primary residences in their home communities. Their homes, where their families live and to which they return whenever possible.

Mr. Kenney said in his statement, “I was afforded the same living allowance that all MPs get for accommodation in Ottawa. All was in line with House of Commons policy, and my principal residence remained in Calgary throughout.”  Like a kid who says "everyone is doing it" as an excuse for misbehaving.

“I owe them everything,” says Mr. Kenney of his parents. Sure. Millions of Canadians would agree. Many of us would love the chance to spend time with our parents if only we could. And plenty of us have lived in our parents’ basement, myself included. All three of my adult kids have furnished rooms in my house, filled with their stuff. They are welcome to return any day. But that's not their home. That's not where they have chosen to make a life. But all of that is beside the point. The point is, most of us don’t use our relationship with our parents to make money off the taxpayer.

“Following my father’s passing, my mother moved into a detached bungalow unit that is part of a retirement community,” Mr. Kenney has said. “Not wanting to leave my widowed mother entirely alone, I also rented the finished basement of the bungalow so that I could assist her and provide company while in Calgary.”

I don't question his love for his mom or his desire to spend time with her. Paying her rent is something he could certainly afford to do as a senior cabinet minister who earned over three million dollars while in office. I also understand that as a senior cabinet minister there were many demands on his time that might preclude visits "home". But claiming a room in this seldom-visited basement in retirement community as his “home” seems like a stretch.

I won't deny there are many definitions of "home".  A traditional bungalow you share with your family, a little apartment you share with a pet, a fancy condo you barely see due to the demands of your job, a  house on a reserve without access to clean drinking water-all of these can be "homes." Places you sleep in, places where you hang your clothes and keep your mementos and your family photos. Not places you visit a few times a year.

The irony is not lost on me that Mr. Kenney and his former comrade Derek Fildebrandt were both former directors of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the euphemistically named organization to which few taxpayers belong. Two men who made careers out of complaining about  abuse of taxpayers' dollars and then, once they were elected to office, turned around and abused those same dollars themselves.  But at least when Mr. Fildebrandt was caught out regarding the fact he rented out his taxpayer funded accommodations as an AirBNB, he owned up to his error. 

Thinking you didn't do anything wrong because you didn't break the rules is the kind of immature thinking I can accept from a high school student. Saying "everyone else is doing it" or using other excuses is also something I have come to expect from kids. But I don't accept it from an adult who aspires to lead. A man who may soon be making the rules.

I don't think Kenney's "rental" of his mom's basement is a scandal. I don't think it has anything to do with whether he is really an Albertan. I don't care if he lives with his mom on his off days, but he shouldn't be disingenuous about it. That's not his primary residence. That's not where his life is.  When a man who chooses to ignore right and wrong in favour of his own self-interest, that concerns me.

Probably not Jason Kenney's kitchen.

Think Like a Teacher

What does it take to be a leader? Because I am a teacher, I think about the skills teachers have that equip them to lead. Are there lessons that political leaders in Alberta could learn from teachers?

My dad, former teacher, school administrator and Mayor of Tumbler Ridge

A lot of my fellow teachers don't have confidence in their leadership abilities but in my small town, teachers are not just the leaders of their large and complex classrooms; they are often leaders in community groups and other nonprofit organizations. They frequently spearhead innovative projects that make our community a better place. Sometimes they enter politics. My own father went from air force pilot to engineer to teacher to principal to assistant superintendent to healthcare administrator to alderman and later, mayor of Tumbler Ridge B.C.

Some of my relatives don't think much of teachers. When Justin Trudeau was elected they said "Trudeau never held a real job in his life, what equips him to lead?"

For those of you who have never taught, let me assure you teaching is a very real job. A job that requires a myriad of skills that equip people to lead. Teaching requires logistical and organization skills, communication skills, and a thick skin. These are skills all leaders require.

The more you teach, the more you get stuck in the mind set of thinking like a teacher. As Justin Trudeau said shortly after election, "Being a teacher is who I am. It's the way I see the world, the way I understand it..." His recent mini-lecture on the basics of quantum computing exemplifies this worldview.

What does it mean to "see the world as a teacher"? Is it really a worldview? Is there such a thing as "thinking like a teacher?"  


I say there is.

In the summer of 2012 I attended an Olympic Soccer event in the UK. Thousands of people congregated in confusion outside the Coventry Stadium. No signage. No people on hand to say "If you are carrying a bag, you must go through this line for security. Then you must go all the way around the building with your security clearance to enter." People were milling around, frustrated and confused. They would get in one line only to get to the front to be told they had to stand in another line. I said to my husband "If the teachers at CJ Schurter had organized this, this wouldn't be happening." Why? Because experienced teachers speculate on every possible way some thing could go wrong. Teachers would walk themselves through each step of the process, thinking of the pitfalls along the way and coming up with solutions to prevent them.

Teachers see disparity and diversity first hand every day. It's not something they pay lip service to-they live it. Their students are culturally and linguistically and personally unique. They have social and economic differences. They do not have all the same benefits. They don't all start from the same place. As teachers, we see it as our job to give all our students the opportunity to succeed as individuals in society, no matter what their starting place is. That is just part of how we see the world. Sure some teachers get jaded and tired and frustrated. But recognizing our differences is the place we start from.

Drafting boards at South Peace Secondary, Dawson Creek. 1967

Teachers think about how to share ideas. You'll be sitting with your teacher friends watching the Superbowl and someone will say, "You know, you could use that ad to teach such and such a concept." Your retired friend says "I don't think that way anymore." A year later he's back in the classroom. Because he does think like that and he always will. Sometimes "thinking like a teacher" leads to the offering of unwanted advice or the correction of people's grammar or the pointing out of misunderstandings about politics. It might not make you popular, but you just can't help yourself.

Teachers know people don't all think the same way. Not just kids but their parents and their peers have different background knowledge and different values and beliefs. Thinking like a teacher means speculating on gaps in understanding.  It means knowing that people have misconceptions.  It means asking yourself "How did [that kid/my neighbour/Alberta's Plebiscite Warriors/the fools on the Facebook Discussion forum] come to that conclusion?" 
Even Alberta Education knows that is what teachers do.

When a teacher begins a lesson, he or she knows what errors in thinking a student may bring to the subject.  A grade seven teacher knows many students will think "a lot" is one word or the word "month" has a "u" in it.  High school teachers know kids might not remember what BEDMAS is, or think Hitler was a communist, or believe the government is to blame for the falling price of oil. 

One thing I have learned in past 30 years is that if there is a way to misunderstand something, someone will misunderstand it.  If there is a distracter in a multiple choice exam that I think no one would ever select-no matter how ridiculous- someone will select it. Guaranteed. 

My great aunt Margaret who taught junior
high special ed in the Peace Country

These are skills teachers have. Today's leaders should try to "think like teachers." When they roll out legislation, think about the diversity of the population. Think about the best way to teach people why this legislation is necessary. And ask "What preconceptions and misunderstandings might citizens bring to this new bill? What possible ways might they misinterpret its intent or implementation?"  

Once leaders have analyzed the misunderstandings, make preemptive strikes. Plan for successful implementation. Don't assume people will understand what you are trying to do. Communicate clearly. Have a back up plan if things get derailed.

You know what?  Being a teacher-like being a leader-often sucks. You are judged from morning till night by everyone. Kid failed an exam? Your fault. Kid misbehaving?  Your fault. Economy in the toilet?  Your fault.  Kid won a scholarship?  Good for him! Economy booming?  Thank industry and the hard workers of the province! The fact that people think that way is something else you accept as part of your worldview.

Thinking like a teacher won't stop the personal attacks. But it might prevent misunderstandings. Think about the diverse citizens of this province and the many ways in which they see the world before you even begin to implement your plans.

Think like a teacher.