What are the top three issues for most people in the Calgary-Varsity constituency? This is what I’m hearing: Healthcare, education, and fiscal responsibility. December 1st, I participated in a 300-person dialogue in Calgary hosted by Minister Lukaszuk. Alberta Ed wants to know what educators, and other people who care about education in Alberta, have to say [...]
Building Community Integrity through Volunteering
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011It’s a three-legged stool: Government, Family & Community. Acting together, these three legs of the stool provide stable support for citizens. Last Friday, I was invited to speak at a TEDx conference on volunteering –Volunteering Better—and I’d like to share some of the powerful messages about how all of us strengthen the community—one of these [...]
Community Integrity – Respecting Seniors
Friday, November 11th, 2011A week ago, I formally announced I’m running for the PC nomination in Calgary Varsity. This campaign is a wonderful opportunity to talk to people in this constituency about issues that matter to them. What matters to people in Calgary Varsity? Our community is diverse, and there are lots of different priorities. Yet, one priority [...]
Alberta’s Oilsands: Regeneration as the Aspiration
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011The story-line is familiar: Big Oil wants to produce, transport and market Alberta’s Oilsands at a pace needed to sustain economic yields and Canadians’ quality of life. Environmentalists want to slow down, contain, restrain, even stop, Oilsands activity to sustain the Earth, the ecology and human habitat. Both economists and environmentalists focus on ‘sustainability’ as [...]
Alberta tops all of U.S. in June job creation
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011By: Gary Lamphier Just how awful was Friday’s bleak U.S. jobs report? Let us count the ways: Alberta created more new jobs in June (22,000) than all 50 U.S. states combined (18,000), even though the U.S. population is 85 times larger than Alberta’s; The shockingly weak U.S. jobs tally was more than 80 per cent [...]
Oilsands monitoring needs scientific rigour: panel
Thursday, July 7th, 2011From CBC News Environmental monitoring in the Alberta oilsands is insufficient and needs to have “rigorous scientific design and execution” to be effective, a provincially-appointed expert panel concluded in a report released Tuesday. “Monitoring organizations suffer from inadequate funding, weak scientific direction and a general lack of resources to take on the enormous challenge of [...]
Corporate repentance: The art of apology
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011When a company causes harm, we demand accountability (e.g. liability, fines). And, we expect an apology….a sincere apology. In my early days in the oil patch, no corporate spokesperson would have dared to apologize without stern coaching from a lawyer. You wouldn’t want to assume legal liabilities without a fair trial. Many companies have [...]
Are Lawyers and Accountants failing to keep capitalism honest?
Sunday, June 19th, 2011I’m a lawyer, and I’m married to an accountant. Our eldest son writes his Chartered Accountancy exam this fall. Not surprisingly, a headline in the Sunday New York Times newspaper denouncing the integrity of lawyers and accountants caught my attention: “Lawyers and Accountants Once Put Integrity First” Just two days ago, I was invited to [...]
Alberta band’s challenge: ‘Too many chiefs, not enough Indians’
Saturday, June 4th, 2011By: Kevin Libin Along the side of the road into Morley, headquarters of Alberta’s Stoney Nakoda Nation, just north of the busy stretch of Trans-Canada between Calgary and Banff that bisects this portion of the reserve, is a parade of signs advertising more than a dozen projects the tribal government has set up or proposed [...]
Pluralism in Canada –How can we talk with people we don’t trust, don’t like?
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011People can dismiss Calgary as soul-less. A place full of people chasing money and speaking in the monotone language of economics. Let me refute that myth. Emphatically. In a twenty-four hour span of time, 3 Calgary-based community groups host 3 amazing speakers this week in Calgary: 1. Last night, The Western Muslim group hosted Dr. [...]