CivicCamp’s “The Big Question”
It’s Saturday, December 04, 2010 from 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM (MT)
If you’re unaware of CivicCamp’s mission they’re essentially a group of concerned Calgarians that have decided to enact change at the local level by working together to enact change in council and in the Calgary community. They had quite the impact in October’s municipal election and, according to some, pushed Mr. Nenshi into the mayors seat.
I highly suggest going if you’re interested in helping out a good cause or if you’re curious about Calgary’s municipal political scene.
So what have I been up to?
If you’ve been staying on waiting for a post since my declaration of a mini-hiatus in September… thank you. You have shown more patience than I would. And here’s your treat: I promised an update on my projects.
I’ve been mucking around in three things over the last three months: trying to fix-up a riding association for the Liberal Party of Canada in Calgary East, trying to get a feel for politics / public service through my University’s Students’ Union, and doing elections readiness preparation for 2011.
On the first point, of myself being appointed the Liberal Party interim chief in Calgary East, I’ve been working tirelessly with a team on pumping up membership, getting a board together, and prepping for an election. We’ve already increased the membership a heck of a lot (I’m not at liberty to say how much), we’re set to have an Annual General Meeting on January 14th to have the member of Calgary East select their own board.
It has been absolutely nuts trying to build a constituency from the ground up. Luckily, I’ve had help from the Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta Provincial Territorial Association, our Calgary-region co-chair, and the effort by regular people in the riding. In fact, the work done so far would have been impossible without the effort of a select group of young women that you can see over at www.CalgaryEastEDA.ca.
On the second point, I’ve been trying to figure out if I wanted to become a politician or not by engaging as one at my university as a Faculty of Arts Students’ Union Representative. You can see my efforts online at www.ArtsRep.ca.
From my experiences over the last seven months is that politics and public service is hard. Really hard. Then, coupled with this difficulty, there’s a sinking feeling of not being appreciated by the folks who I try to help on a daily basis. It’s depressing. However, for every moment of this feeling there’s a feeling, few and far between, of participating in a process that is helping students (even if by a little).
And that small spark makes it all worth it. Sort of.
Really, from my experiences as a Students’ Union rep I’ve found that I do and I don’t want to be involved in politics after university. I’m still torn as to whether or not I want to pursue this as a career path. While it has highlighted the great aspects I have also bore witness to its negative aspects as well. So I’m still muddled.
One the third point.. Well, I can’t talk about that.
Anyways, I’m moving to a weekly post on Sunday mornings now. Posting every day was rather tough with everything I’ve been mucking around with and it was extensively exhausting. So check back next week on Sunday for another post. For random things that happen I’ll through up a quick post but I can only really guarantee a weekly Sunday posting.
Alberta Liberals have Duckett Fired.
If you watch the media over the last few days you’ll notice a consistent trend.
The Liberals are talking. The Liberals are tweeting. The Liberals are making noise, banging pots, and, most surprising of all, the media are listening. Lets’ let that sink in for a moment.
The media are listening to the Liberals.
The amount of positive press for the Alberta Liberals has been absolutely amazing and the ability of the caucus communications office in its communication doubly so. Just watching their caucus twitter account, their partisan accounts, their leaders’ accounts, their effective lines of communication with the media, and the membership’s talking points, it’s an amazing coordinated feat of communication skill and ability. With their coordinated efforts, their firm call to have Duckett fired this week barely a day after the incident, the Liberals have managed a coup in the Albertan politics.
As a side note, the Wildrose had chosen to ‘one up’ the Liberals in a membership email blast (yes, I do receive their talking points–they’re a tad bit bland, to be totally honest) by saying rather than having Duckett fired the Alberta government should go straight to fully dismantling the AHS. When their email popped into my inbox after the Liberal’s, well, I could do nothing other than laugh at them.
Now back to the main point: the Liberals have secured a level of media communication that I have never seen before. When met with a (and I hate this word) “-gate” they launched right into action and had a firm control over their message. This exhibits a high level of skill and precision that I neither have seen before or noticed within the caucus.
And now, barely thirty five seconds ago, I have received icing on this cake: the Liberals have sent out a media update talking about the greater threat of what was behind Duckett–the governmental policies, the sickness I highlighted previous in Edmonton, and the supreme lack of leadership from the governing party. This is almost 45 minutes after Duckett had his resignation shown on CTV.
Do I smell change in Alberta? Damn straight I do.
