As I have been travelling across Alberta these past few months I've been involved in a lot of conversations about how the Alberta Party might do politics differently. In this blog post I'm going to capture a little of where my mind is at when it comes to this question...
Most often when we think about Doing Governance Differently, we automatically turn to public policy as a descriptor or guide to what “differently” means. While some nuance of differently MAY show up in policy . . . meaningful “difference” will most often happen in the means through which the policy is carried out.
It seems quite likely that most of Alberta’s current political parties will continue to outline their story for the future of our province in their policy and it is also likely that this policy will all look quite similar; “strong and vibrant economy”, “diversified energy platform”, “best educated citizenry in the world” – you get my drift . . . However, as I have often said, it’s in questions about how we will achieve these ends that Albertans will begin to understand what governing differently really means.
Will we continue to restructure health care every two years, will Ministries work collaboratively, will decisions be made as close to the issues as possible, how will government connect to and hear the voice of those who have put their faith in them . . . the list of how’s is endless and through the how we will begin to understand what governing differently really means.
The how I want to discuss is Meaningful Citizen Engagement. Our Leadership Team, the team that is working to help elect me as Leader for the Alberta Party, has been thinking about what meaningful citizen engagement really looks like. I submit that meaningful engagement means a process that will foster collaborative dialogue intended to share mutual knowledge, and discover NEW opportunities for action. It will welcome all voices that want to be heard, will ensure anonymity when requested and will treat participants as equals.
Let me unpack this process stuff just a bit.
Dialogue is NOT simple conversation, or debate, or one individual answering the questions of another. The etymology of Dialogue is Greek with dia meaning flowing or passing through and logos meaning, umm, well, meaning, I guess. So . . . meaning flowing through. I like that descriptor.
If we have authentic dialogue that allows for the sharing of knowledge the discovery of new opportunities will often take those who participate not only to a new understanding, but more importantly, to the discovery of new answers. The meaning will flow through to the actions needed.
I envision a process where we suspend any supposed rank so that we all participate as equal citizens in a method lightly facilitated that allows the conversations to go where they need to. We don’t need to invent something new either, there are well researched, designed and tested processes that can lead participants to EUREKA moments that are well supported by the systems to develop new answers and new beginnings.
We just have to be bold enough to try a new way in governance.
Isn’t that what we are looking for – New Answers – not the same old answers wrapped in different wrapping paper and given every election as the new way – but truly new answers! New beginnings that we can develop together.
After all, if we are going to do politics differently then we have to ensure that we actually do it differently. Entrenched governments tend to use force - economic, influence, fear and funding - to gain their ends; our job is often to resist that force. If we end up using the same means to gain our outcomes, will we end up being any better than them? Will we be different? I don’t think so.
It’s not enough to win. We have to win without becoming that which we are struggling against.
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