Conversing with Alberta politicians on Twitter

Twitter has proved to be a pretty powerful tool for democratic engagement. The Bill 44 debate cemented that belief because MLAs were having conversations on Twitter with constituents well into the night as the live debate in the Legislature continued.

I think the argument put forward by Ian Bushfield over on his blog "Terahertz" regarding the seemingly futile nature of the debate - his post is titled "Get over it: Social Media is not going to change the world" - is a good one. Twitter and social media are just tools; you still have to have a strong message that is convincing. Same as always.

But I don't want to debate the pros and cons of social media here. Instead I just wanted to create a list of Alberta politicians on Twitter. Step one in creating a strong message - for whatever your issue or political sway is - is to listen. So I invite you to listen and then converse with the following folks. Hopefully this will create even greater understanding among us all moving forward.

This kind of direct access to politicians is something new that we should all take advantage of. I know I've had some great conversations with these individuals and I hope you do too.

Provincial:
Progressive Conservative:
GriffMLA
KyleMLA
JonoMLA
RAndersonMLA
CindyAdy_MLA
JaniceSarichMLA
LindsayBlackett
ElniskiMLA
DaveHancockMLA
premierstelmach

Liberal:
darshankang
chasemla
davidswann
calgarycurrie
calgarybuffalo

NDP:
bmasonNDP
RachelNotley

And there are even some municipal politicians on Twitter too:
BillGiven (Grande Prairie)
aldjohnmar (Calgary)
doniveson (Edmonton)
ben_hen (Edmonton)

Most of these accounts are updated regularly and are operated by the politician themselves, although the odd one is manned by a staffer. Which certainly lessens it's impact and usefulness. No Twitter user is looking for regurgitated press releases. This is something the politicians will learn over time if they REALLY do want to be engaged with constituents. (Basically if they care. Or rather, have the time to care.)

I'll update this post as more Alberta politicians join Twitter, but if you know of someone I missed please DM me on my Twitter or add it to the comments of the post, and I'll update the list. Thanks in advance!

A final issue to push you to the polls?

As you no doubt know, today is election day in Alberta. So if there is one thing you plan on doing today it should be getting out to your local polling place and marking an X next to the candidate/party of your choice. You can find your polling place by visiting www.elections.ab.ca.

Have you made up you mind who you'd like to vote for yet? There are many issues that you (or I) can choose to go into the voting booth with at the top mind. Health care, education, the environment, and the royalty review will no doubt be popular ones this time around. But I'd like to draw your attention to another issue that doesn't get the same about of "air time" in Alberta: Arts and Culture.

It's an issue that effects us pretty much ever moment of every day. It is the building blocks of quality of life and standard of living. Without it you can't belong and you become just some loser in your dark basement typing (which is ironic actually...).

The Calgary Professional Arts Alliance (along with their Edmonton counterparts, PACE) provide a good run down of each party's platform when it comes to arts and culture. I present them here for your review:

CONSERVATIVES:
Although not listed in their election platform, the PCs announced a new Cultural Policy called "The Spirit of Alberta".

• Ensure stable and predictable funding
• $12 m in the next provincial budget including a 30% increase to the AFA
• Provide support for arts festivals, post-secondary artist-in-residence programs, community presenters,Aboriginal arts camps, traveling exhibitions, public galleries and the acquisition of art
  
• Encourage greater private charitable giving to non-profit organizations by increasing the tax credit for charitable donations
  
• Provide funding for communities to plan, build and upgrade cultural and recreational facilities
  
• $1.6 million for the Alberta Film Development Program

LIBERALS:

• Double Alberta Foundation for the Arts funding immediately and triple it within three years.
• Pursue Status of the Artist legislation.
• Launch an Alberta Arts Festival, equivalent to the Alberta Games.
• Create an Alberta Film and Television Tax Credit.
• Pilot an Alberta Publishers Fund.
• Develop a capital investment strategy for heritage and cultural facilities.
• Eliminate entrance fees for youth to cultural facilities.

NDP:

• Create a separate Ministry of Arts and Culture to coordinate arts funding and programs, and offer stable funding to arts groups.
• Improve the living and working conditions of artists by helping artists to establish thriving markets for their art, gain easy access to information about building their careers, and support collective bargaining in those sectors where the artists want it.
• Introduce $30 million in new funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Ensure the independence of the Foundation’s board.
• End political patronage in board appointments.
• Allocate 1% of all large capital projects for the commission of arts projects. Increase fine arts curriculum in elementary and secondary schools.
• Expand and coordinate Alberta’s network of museums, historical sites, galleries and libraries.
• Promote Alberta arts and artists on the national and international stage.

WILDROSE ALLIANCE:

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that the arts, music and physical education curriculums are fully funded in Alberta’s public schools.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage and support through funding for community projects and school programs such as music, art, theatre, dance, sculpture, reading-writing and other arts and cultural activities as an essential enrichment of life and integral part of Alberta’s communities and cultural diversity.

GREEN PARTY:

• The Alberta Greens will encourage diverse community arts programs and cultural centers by providing up to 3 years start-up money for community-initiated proposals.
• Proposals would be expected to be self-sustaining after three years.
• Stable funding would come from the general revenue, and not be dependant on lotteries.

The CPAA and PACE have a great table on their websites too which shows each parties' stance on several key points around this issue. Please check it out if you have a moment.

If you haven't made up your mind on who to vote for yet, hopefully this will help, and perhaps arts and culture will be your "top of mind" issue today.

Now get out there and vote before 9pm!

China Airlines you have not broken my will yet! But Stelmach has broken Hung Pham's

Well here we are, however many god-forsaken China Airlines survived hours later, in Taipei. (BTW, I'm pretty sure I know what Canada's contribution to China's development was: they gave the old Air Canada planes to China Air.) Yeah, it wasn't the most fun 12 hours I've ever spent. Especially when the flight started off sitting on the Vancouver tarmac for an hour waiting for them to de-ice the plane.

So far in Taiwan the only difference I can see is that their airport's computers are all in Chinese (I hope I remember what buttons to click in Blogger to actually make this post). But on the bright side they are free which they weren't in Vancouver. [On that, note if anyone needs internet access and they happen to be at the international terminal in Vancouver airport I've got 35 minutes of time saved on the internet kiosk by Gate 54. Drop me a line, I'd be happy to provide you my login.]

So, there isn't much to report on the cultural front yet. An airport is an airport is an airport I guess. The Amazing Race should've taught me that. But we still have one flight more to go and then we can begin the real fun part of the trip: exploring. We'll be in Kaohsuing in a little over two hours from now. Where I look forward to having a shower.

Until then, remember what they say on China Airlines, "Sir, please sit down." I might have lost something in the translation, but they said it enough times to so many different people it must have more cultural meaning than I have found as of yet.

I hear the rumour from Pierre Trudeau Is My Homeboy that the Alberta election may be called tomorrow (today? what time zone am I in anyway?). This would be a little surpising as they would be jumping the gun. Not that I think it really matters. The Alberta Liberals and NDP are probably as ready as they'll ever be and I know the Alberta PC Party is ready. (Although the Calgary-Montrose debacle could not have been handled worse after Ed Stelmach's comments last week about selecting a candidate if he has to and it might not be Hung Pham. Pham blasted back earlier today announcing he will not run.) If the election is called while I'm away, I'll try my best to stay updated before I get back when I'll provide you with my two cents on each Calgary riding. Election! Whoo!