June 9th, 2009
I’m seeing a communications rift here in Alberta, and perhaps Alberta’s bloggers have noticed it as well. The Government of Alberta (GOA) appears to be stumbling and fumbling around, and common criticism is that they just don’t listen to Albertans .
On one hand, when the public criticizes Governmental action, be it Bill 44, or Bill 19 or whatever, the phrase “Lack of Public Consultation” is trotted out as the raison d’être for the current governing power’s apparent disconnect with the average Albertan. But on the other hand, the GOA appears to be doing a decent job of trying to get Albertans involved in the public consultation process. The Government of Alberta has a website that lists ongoing and completed public consultation projects taken out by the GOA, and provides a link to this content on the main page.
It would appear that the Government of Alberta is somewhat unique in Canada for having such a website dedicated to centralizing content regarding public consultation. If you go to the GOA’s main page, in the left hand column, under “feedback” it hyperlinks the text “public consultation” to a very organized website that aggregates all public consultation content into one spot. This is somewhat unique in Canada, because not all provinces do this. I just had a look at each and every provincial government’s main page, and it turns out that Quebec and Saskatchewan are the only two other provinces to actually do this. In the rest of Canada, you have to search the website for the phrase “public consultation”, and then wade through search results until you find what you’re looking for.
So what gives? It would appear that the GOA is making some very strong strides ahead of other provinces when it comes to communicating their desire for citizen feedback, but on the other hand, “Lack of public consultation” seems to be a common criticism of the Government. If I could posit some reasons, they might be:
1. The GOA is doing a good job comparable to other provinces when it comes to making its desire for public consultation known, and Albertans just never really go to the GOA’s website, so are left with the impression that the GOA has not consulted them. Albertans might prefer a different medium for engaging in public consultation.
2. It’s all window dressing. The GOA consults with Albertans on low-intensity issues, but avoids consulting on the big issues of the day. This presumably avoids a lot of work, as things can get messy when people feel strongly about the issues.
Of course, others will have different ideas and comments are definitely welcome.
But did you know you can participate in public consultations before getting all worked up about how the government doesn’t listen to Albertans? For example, if you have thoughts on nuclear energy in this province, there’s a public consultation for that. If you have some opinions about the regulation of home building inspectors, you can share your thoughts on that, too. Of course, you could have your say, and the government might not listen, but the point of participating in these public consultation processes is to make your voice heard. A government that fails to listen to such input is bound to fail.
Our Government might not be listening to us, but are we as Albertans even piping up in the first place and making our voices heard?
The incongruency I’m seeing here has many probable causes. It’s my hunch that the average Albertan does not know that the GOA has a website dedicated to the public consultation process, nor does the average Albertan realize that this aggregation of content is somewhat unique amongst the websites of provincial governments. Even if Albertans were aware, they might not trust that their government even wants to listen to them anyhow.
If it’s the case that most Albertans are unaware of this, the Government of Alberta needs to advertise its public consultation in other forms of media, be it radio, television, or ads in public washrooms. 
How about blogs? What if members of Alberta Blogs placed a link or button directly to the GOA’s public consultation website? What if we just started blogging about our experiences with public consultation in Alberta? If you’re noticing this rift in communication between the GOA and the public, then by all means, start talking about it.
I believe the onus is ultimately on Albertans to stay informed before assuming every project is carried out and policy impemented without adequate public consultation. Granted, I can’t find anything on Bill 44 yet, nor can I find research about what subjects Albertans want to be consulted on. But the point is, it’s there, and you can get involved. That’s all.
-A. Braaten,
Calgary, Alberta
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
