Eliminating the long form census is a systemic step towards making decisions with less information.

It is a decision that supports ignorance over knowledge.

Fear this decision because it is subtle yet far reaching.

This is a perfect example of Harper’s use of populist sentiment (I.e. we don’t want to bother Canadians with that pesky intrusion of Government into thier private time & information) to kite an erosion of the Canada that more than 70% of us recognize is good for us.

Diversity is a fact in our society that we need to know as much about as possible IF we want to accomodate it AND thrive through it.

Fear Harper on this because it is an act that is carefully considered.

This is not a straight forward rejection of complexity. It is a move that is made with full understanding of it’s complex implications and a bet that you are too dumb or too busy to care.

This move is not intended to advance the interests of Canada but to appeal to your lowest common denominator sensibilities (who wants to give up more info and time to government? Not me!) and, under cover of ignorance, advance a prescriptive alternative vision of Canada.

This is an alternative that little by little is giving you a minority view of how Canada “should” be rather than striving to accomodate and design for who we are and how we have been evolving.

Witness Harper’s fine art in the politics of obscurity vs. the demand and trend toward transparency.

Stay at home.  No national critic’s role.  Go hand to hand and share the infectious passion that made you a Liberal where it is needed most.

Raise money.  BBQs & coffee parties.  Play the piano.  Do what it takes and get it done.

This is a solution that is plausible, desirable and optimal.

Bob could put this battle into a proportionate crucible that serves the country well.  This frees Mr. Ignatieff and other high profile Liberals to focus on the war with Steven Harper and reaching out across party lines to the array of progressive Canadians including authentic fiscal Conservatives, Green Party environmentalists who know in their hearts the only achievable route to Canadian leadership on climate change and NDPers who for example, want national day care now rather then more talk about it.

Jack Layton style politics are giving us Steven Harper’s Canada.

Jack knows he is not playing to be Prime Minister.  His is not the battle for the leadership of Canada.

Jack is welcome to join the Liberal Party.  Bob did.  Scott Brison did.  Belinda Stronach did (and this list can go on).  Each joiner brings new strength in diversity.  This is not about the leadership or culture of the Liberal Party of Canada.

This is a battle for the commitment of all Canadians who really want an alternative to Steven Harper.  It is up to everyone who is authentically dedicated to progressive, responsible government in Canada to make a personal commitment to deliver it.

Talk about a coalition between the NDP and Liberals maybe a great headline grabbing tactic but defeating Steven Harper is not about grabbing headlines.

A merger between the NDP and Libs is only the most controversial possible solution to defacto PM Harper but it is not the most plausible, the most desirable or the optimal solution.

This pattern of kicking around the most controversial for the sake of grabbing headlines propagated by a few (less than a dozen?) old school power seekers in Canada is the Jack Layton style of politics that we need a strategy against.  When more than 70% of Canadians do not support the current government, these antics sell newspapers and light up televisions with political theatre but they only secure Mr. Harper further.

You could even have Bob Rae and Toronto-Danforth Liberal candidate Andrew Lang swap ridings.  But I don’t advise it.  That is a waste of time and energy and it would defeat the purpose.

The purpose is to call on Bob Rae to focus his talents and make a difference.  Toronto-Danforth is the battle.  Liberal Party President, Alf Apps calls it “ground zero in the next election”.  I think a D-Day/Normandy metaphor is appropriate.  This is the beach head that turns the tide.  Get engaged in the heat of this battle and everything else will fade as a distraction.

By the way, this is a call that goes beyond the duty of Michael Ignatiff.  This is a call that red liberals across the country can make.  (Side Note:  What is a “red liberal”? Anyone committed to the centre.  Kinda like a thinking-type “Mama Grizzly” only better looking and smarter.)

Leave a comment below.  Write to Mr. Rae in Ottawa (raeb@parl.gc.ca) or Toronto (raeb1@parl.gc.ca).  Leave a comment on his Facebook wall.

While you are at it, feel free to write to his brother John Rae who has a hand in Canadian power politics. Write a blog post or change Roy Romanow’s wikipedia page.  Let’s make him Captain to General Bob Rae.  Warren Kinsella – I love you man and your nasty past so I am sure that you will take this in the best punk rock spirit possible – time to be a Soldier Boy in Toronto-Danforth.

Attention all Canadians looking for an alternative to Steven Harper’s smack down of progressive government in Canada: you can make a difference.

Join the battle.  The purpose is to call on you to change the course of the war.

Track down a vote swap.  Man up on Liberalist for Toronto-Danforth.  Support Toronto-Danforth through social media.  Put your money down.

Check it out …

Are you excited about the 2010 Olympic Games being held in Vancouver, but you can’t make it out West. Your only chance to take part and enjoy the festivities is to attend the Official Torch Relay making its way across Canada. The only problem is, if you do not live in a Conservative riding your chances of getting a peak at the torch is limited. Check out why at http://bit.ly/7nf75l

Cheers,

Michael

The only time that I have met Chris was while he was networking at a Rotman event, working the same circles as David Peterson and an auspicious collection of Canadians who care about our country’s future.  He mentioned East Coast Connected.

A while back I launched a blog designed to help connect the over 700 Mount Saint Vincent University graduates in the Toronto area and I have written my share about social media, so ECC immediately interested me.  I looked it up, joined and the success of this initiative continually impresses me.  Score two for Chris …

At the time, Chris was about to start as the Director of Investments at Social Capital Partners.  In my view (and I am not alone), social capital is key to a new economic model that is emerging and Chris’ commitment to this kind of economy can not be questioned.  Score two more Chris …

Above all, I think Chris is part of the solution.  I think he is committed to an innovation led economy.  A lack of innovation and productivity is not a East Coast problem, it is a Canadian problem that in my view requires a cultural shift.

I am not a personal or business connection of Chris’.  I hope this post is received with the conviction that it written.

Sincerely,

Michael Cayley

If you have made comments in the past and they are not posted on the site, our apologies. Please, please, please post them again.

We assure you that no attempt was being made to stop the conversation, it was just a result of admin overload (i.e. real jobs getting in the way of this volunteer effort).

Feel free to @redliberals on twitter with comments or email me at michael at socialcapitalvalueadd dot com and now, once again … comment here and we will respond accordingly.

It will be disappointing if the motion does not pass on many levels.

Since 2004, when broadband connectivity overtook slower connections for the first time in North America, we have experienced a giant shift in the scale of an individual’s ability to project their opinions through online forms of social networking and social media.

The Reform and Conservative parties were motivated to change the relationship that they had with individual members in advance of this shift.  They could no longer afford to maintain the distance between MPs & their staff, party organisers, former Senators and ex officios running the party and members who are paying for it. They were primarily motivated by fund raising.

Now Liberals have this same motive, plus, undeniable trends in individual empowerment which are attributable to:

- a tripling of bandwidth every six months,
- mobility (i.e. portable computing power & connectivity through smart phones & ultra light weight laptops), and,
- integration of GPS (anyone can use an iPhone application that uses GPS to help us listen to and connect with local twitter users).

Some perceive adopting the forms of organization and communications that are designed to cope with these trends as a potential loss of control and a threat the Party status quo.

The truth is that the methods to adapt to these irreversible changes in broadband connectivity, mobility and integration of GPS are not the threat or the source of loss of control.  In fact, just the opposite …

The underlying trends of broadband connectivity, mobility and GPS integration are the source of loss of control.  The only way to manage in this new context is to adopt new forms of organisation and communications that are designed for the new scale of individual influence.

One Member, One Vote is a fundamental shift in the right direction but in my view it is more symbolic than anything else.

It is more important that we recognize that all of our institutions … corporations, government and the Liberal Party are changing to adjust to the new architecture required by individuals who have a different scale of power and influence.  This not my idea. It is known as the Canon of Proportions and was first articulated by a Roman architect and then depicted in a diagram 1500 years later by a guy named Da Vinci.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg

This is not theoretical mumbo jumbo.

The reality is that individual roles in leadership (power and politics) can no longer be reduced to a vote every few years.  Hard wiring constant engagement and empowerment of our members and Canadians into our systems is critical to developing, delivering and defending success.

If we do not accept this at our core, then we will experience instability both within our party and in any government that we may form.

Head on over to www.changecamp.ca to read up on the kinds of issues that will become part of the mainstream debate and Liberals have a chance to lead on.

Can you imaging Harper winning on the issue of “open government”?

Let’s open this post with a little announcement … our experiment here at www.redliberals.ca is being extended.  We had originally planned to can our learnings on January 27th and switch our focus towards engaging within the party on the issues of change.  After the first ChangeCamp event, we feel that we can learn & share more by staying engaged in this movement.

We are still going to focus our efforts here on coming up with a Liberal 2.0 Manifesto as quickly as possible and we hope that everyone who participated in ChangeCamp as well as those broader circles that we have connected with over this short time will help us.

Our main motives for launching www.redliberals.ca was to connect with great people & ideas in the drive to embrace change.  Check out all of the discussions and people who were contributing at ChangeCamp. It is all irresitable!  www.redliberals.ca and our twitter stream @redliberals is the best place to channel our enthusiasm.

Now a more focused reflection ..

There has been a lot of focus on the creation of a new software application that will emerge from ChangeCamp and that will be exciting.  I think that is part of the heritage of applying the “Camp” approach, which has its roots in social technology to public policy and governance issues.

Perhaps more exciting was the intensity of having almost 200 people together, most of them not part of the paid political clique or bureaucracy, all of them locked in deep, action oriented collaboration about what is wrong and how to drag our country into the 21st Century.  #ChangeCamp was a breath of hope of freedom from the closed social networks of political parties, entrenched interest groups and faceless government institutions.  It was an adhocracy at work.  Robert H. Waterman, Jr. defined adhocracy as “any form of organization that cuts across normal bureaucratic lines to capture opportunities, solve problems, and get results.”

That potential heritage of #ChangeCamp deserves as much attention focus.  Who & where will the next ChangeCamp be hosted within the next 30 days is big question in my view.”

SUBJECT:      Transparency and Open Government

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Government should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.  Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.

Government should be collaborative.  Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.  Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open Government Directive.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

This memorandum shall be published in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

January 21, 2009

nice work … what does “responsible government” mean to you?

With President-Elect Obama’s inauguration only a few hours away, I’ve been reflecting on the campaign and the profound changes that I have already seen in American Politics. Seeing our American neighbors using technology to unite and mobilize for a cause they believe in renewed my hope in the political process.

What struck me most is how fast these changes happened. From redefining social media’s role within a political campaign to creating unprecedented channels of fundraising and grassroots mobilization, I for one learned it doesn’t have to take decades to transform old systems.

Change can happen fast and it can happen now. We are welcoming the world’s first Internet President, and as Canadians we should definitely be taking note.

In the last few months we have seen Obama’s transition team introduce weekly Youtube addresses, online policy brainstorms via Change.gov and a nation wide survey encouraging people to meet and discuss the changes they would like to see in their country. Notably, the emphasis is and remains to be on PEOPLE impacting change. It sounds so simple when you say it, but it is something that is so often overlooked: we have to bring the changes we need to government.

The Obama campaign showed us what was possible, but it is up to us to carry the spirit of his message forward especially to Ottawa. We have become too lax in our own governance. Parliament is on the brink of dissolution and we have a Prime Minister who seems to be more concerned with hoarding power then acting in the best interest of the Canadian People.

So what do we do about? A lot. Get involved. There are several initiatives like this site being launched to provide Canadians with a platform for new ideas to push us forward.

My good friend, Mark Kuzniki has created a collaborative crowdsourced event called ChangeCamp which will help bring members of the public and members of political parties together to examine where our system is failing and how we can help fix it.

Let’s get involved. Right now.

Rahaf

From the Centre for Social Innovation news letter:

Saturday, January 24th
8:30-5:00pm
MaRS Centre
101 College Street

ChangeCamp is a participatory and web-enabled face-to-face event that brings together citizens, policy-makers, technologists, design-thinkers, change agents and media creators to answer one question: “How do we re-imagine government and governance in the age of participation?”

This is the first ChangeCamp Canada event, which is intended to ignite a national, distributed and self-organizing movement. For more information, please visit the ChangeCamp Canada Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/changecamp. A web site for the event will be launched soon at http://changecamp.ca/