Alberta: Get Rich or Die Trying

Edmonton arts goings-on

In the last couple of days I've had a chance to get my pasty buns out of hibernation and over to a couple of very Edmonton-y  events which, thanks to our 8-month-long winter, have invigorated me with the confirmation that there is indeed a world outside of my apartment, my office, and the liquor store. Since even I'm tired of hearing about our fantastically incompetent provincial government, I thought I'd mix it up a little bit and talk about something that doesn't involve, say, entire flocks of ducks dying horrible deaths in massive poisonous cesspools.   

photo: http://dawn.cbcr3.com/nmc/16/16916/Images/CadenceWeapon.jpg

1. On Thursday night, I ambled over to the McDougall United Church for a show by Edmonton's own Rollie Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon), who was opening up for Nova Scotia's own Buck 65. I think that they must have been advertising the concert in the church's congregation newsletter or something, because it was the most literally all-ages show that I've ever had the pleasure of attending. The crowd truly ran the temporal gamut, from the 3-year-old girl near the water-cooler who informed me that the holy-water-holder-looking-thing wasn't a garbage can so I shouldn't throw my used cup into it, to the 70-ish grandmas who were milling about the back of the church and apparently held a meeting of some sort in the basement between the opening and headlining acts.

This provided an unpretentious and, as I said, very Edmonton-y backdrop for what was a very entertaining performance by Edmonton's most noted musical export of late. Pemberton is an engaging performer who's not afraid to get really, really sweaty while doing his thing, which includes multiple trips onto the floor and into the crowd, and creative and hilarious variations on the "clap-your-hands" admonition that is typically issued to a concert-going crowd. A particularly good example of this occurred during his performance of "Black Hand." During the first chorus he issued the fairly typical "put your fist in the air" command, but on the subsequent chorus he pantomimed a Fightin'-Irish type motion and told the crowd to "move your fist like this, like you're punching someone." Ha!

His sense of humour is quite evident in his music, and it definitely made it's way into the performance. Ever a proud Edmontonion, I would like to think that growing up in a city that didn't take itself too seriously (I say "didn't" here because it seems this is changing) has contributed to him not taking himself too seriously. Whether or not this is actually the case or simply me trying to somehow claim a small fraction of credit for his success, I don't know, but in any case it certainly contributed to my enjoyment of the proceedings.

image: http://www.fifteen.ca/theroyalbison/

2. Emboldened to again leave my house, this morning I headed over to the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair put on at the Cosmopolitan Music Society building in Old Strathcona by local illustrator Raymond Biesinger. After paying a $2 admission fee, I had a chance to rationalize spending way too much money on all manner of things that could generally be described as "neat." There was quite a selection of wares for sale, including paintings, drawings, clothing, soap, magazines, yo-yos, records, weird guitar amps, and a large smattering of general knick-knackery, all made locally and vended* by very friendly vendors. I made a few purchases, but the one I'm probably the most excited about was a sort of illustrated dance-move drawing from a series done by Sean Borchert. I plan on studying it intensively to enhance my repertoire for the bevy of weddings I'll be attending this summer. 

"The Bison" runs today until 5 and tomorrow from 10-5 -- I'd urge anyone interested to check it out.

*I can't actually believe "vended" is a word, but I didn't get any red underlines when I typed it...

In the news

Lots of interesting stuff going on today. Here is a roundup of links:

Photo: Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail has a good article detailing the 'in and out' scheme the Conservative Party of Canada allegedly used during the last election to finance national campaign advertising and exceed their allowable spending under the Elections Act by over $1 million dollars (and has resulted in yesterday's RCMP and EC raid of their headquarters). According to the Ottawa Citizen, this is the first time in Canadian history that a political party headquarters has been searched by the RCMP. I always new PM Harper would be a path breaker.

UPDATE: CBC's Politics with Don Newman is reporting that the RCMP are executing a criminal search warrant, granted by a Toronto criminal court at the request of Elections Canada. In fact, the ongoing search may have nothing to do with the 'in and out' scheme investigation and this may just be an attempt on the CPC to mask the real reason the cops are there.

Alberta Health and Wellness minister, Ron Liepert, has laid out his plan for the next year. The press release is seemingly benign. Some highlights include expansion of addiction and mental health services and a renewed strategy for regional health planning by June 15th. As they say though, the devil is in the details (and also the forthcoming provincial budget). I'd expect some healthcare-related controversy when Alberta Health's 'long term sustainability' plan is released in 9 months, if not sooner. Especially given Liepert's stated support for the Manzankowski and the 2006 Health Policy Framework reports and his general lust for 1990s-style, slash and burn budget cuts.

The Edmonton Journal's Todd Babiak has changed his tune (somewhat) on Edmonton's bid for the National Portrait Gallery. His column yesterday paints quite the rosy picture of a revitalized downtown arts and culture district. I like to think his newfound optimism is the direct result of  reading this blog...

Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians warns that if Canada doesn't revist NAFTA, Canadian governments can expect litigation by foreign oil companies if ever a water shortage were to halt oil and gas production.

Health Canada looks ready to ban bisphenol A. This endocrine disruptor mimics the effect of estrogen and has been linked to breast and prostate cancer. The bad news is that bisphenol A is in many clear plastic bottles (water bottles, water cooler jugs, clear/tinted nalgene bottles) and it is also used to line tin cans. The good news is that it can be avoided somewhat. See Green Edmonton for advice on that.

Finally, this gem. Apparently Vancouver transit cops have been tasering fare-cheaters. Even the non-violent ones. SHADY.

Is Ottawa hogging our national treasures?

An article in today's Edmonton Journal details development firm Qualico's bid for Edmonton to become the home of Canada's new National Portrait Gallery. This is not really news as speculation about an Edmonton bid has been swirling since the collapse of a proposal to build the gallery in Calgary's new Encana tower. However, given Qualico's  growing determination to see its bid to fruition, perhaps it is time to debate the merits of their proposal. I for one, am torn on this issue.

The former Liberal government had originally planned to build the National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa, which is, after all, the nation's capital. Commentators like Edmonton's own Todd Babiak have pointed out that most self-respecting countries like France or the US tend to build their national galleries, museums, and monuments in their capital cities and that this is where these sorts of national treasures belong.

But I kind of like the idea of having a national gallery in Edmonton. Admittedly, my bias is probably related to my somewhat selfish interest in seeing Edmonton blossom into Canada's new metropolitan city. Nonetheless, I think there is merit to Qualico's proposal.

First, Canada is not like other countries (especially European ones) in that we have a huge and sparsely populated land mass. Canadians are divided by vast swaths of countryside interrupted only briefly by larger urban centers. Thus, it is likely that many people living in Western Canada may never venture out to central Canada to visit our national treasures (especially if our more popular modes of travel--driving and flying--become more prohibitive with climate change). Despite this, we continue to concentrate a vast majority of important Canadian institutions (public and private) in central Canada (namely Ottawa, but to a lesser extent Toronto as well). Perhaps we should spread the love more evenly across the rest of the country?

Second, after having made two recent and short trips to Ottawa I can say that I hardly had time to thoroughly check out the National Art Gallery of Canada, let alone the Museum of Civilization, the War Museum and of course, Parliament Hill.* Perhaps if more of these types of attractions (with the obvious exception of Parliament) were scattered across the country's other urban centres, more Canadians would have a chance to see them and we wouldn't need to spend 2 weeks in Ottawa to enjoy them (not to mention several return trips a year to see temporary exhibits, like the Joe Fafard exhibit currently running at the NAC, which is excellent by the way). In addition, this might be a good way to encourage tourism to other parts of Canada and culturally enrich other cities. Might I dare suggest that it may also help combat regional antagonism and *gasp* promote a stronger sense of Canadian identity in areas outside of central Canada?

Anyways, I haven't made up my mind on this issue and I  am quite curious to know what other people think about the placement of national archives, monuments and museums outside of Ottawa. The National Portrait Gallery in Edmonton, yea or nea?

*if you are one of our 6 regular readers, I'll point out that my trips are extraneous to jk's recent sojourn.

Earth Hour is tonight at 8:00pm

The CBC is reporting that according to a recent poll 70% of Canadians plan to turn off their lights for one hour between 8 and 9 tonight. The top potential substitute activities reported include 'getting busy' with someone and stargazing. Perhaps even more interesting is the poll's finding that 85% of Canadians think Ottawa isn't doing enough to address climate change.

Some notable Canadian landmarks participating in Earth Hour include: Toronto's CN Tower and Eaton Centre;  Niagara Falls; Vancouver City Hall and its Olympic Flag; Edmonton's City Hall, as well as Halifax's MacDonald Bridge and Parade Square. Come on Alberta, do your part! In case my begging isn't enough to inspire you, check out this Earth Hour video (complete with cheesy soundtrack).

Alberta: Come for the job, stay for the... tailings ponds?

Several times throughout the provincial election, Premier Stelmach referred to Alberta as a "beacon of hope." He even does it on his website. While the statement is both sensational and very corny, I'll concede that I can understand the logic (not that it's difficult): there are tonnes of jobs here, and a lot of people without jobs move here in search of the proverbial "better life."

My problem with the statement is this: it's indicative of a view that focuses on a pretty narrow conception of what makes a place livable. While jobs are undoubtedly a vital part of the livability equation, there are other very important dimensions that I think we in Alberta are falling behind on.

My thoughts on this crystallized while reading this article from the Toronto Star that talks about the "brain drain" that Alberta is creating on the rest of country. I'm enough of an Albertan that I originally read this as at least partially good news; despite the fact there is a shortage of professional staff, it's good to see that Alberta is actively forcing Canadian provinces to address this problem, and that our province can attract people like the researcher mentioned at the beginning of the story.

Reflecting further, though, I wondered: when is that last time I had met someone not originally from here who hadn't moved here because of either reasons directly related to a job, school, or because they met an Albertan travelling abroad and were lured back (Edmontonians in particular seem to be very adept in this area)? I then thought of growing number of Albertan-born friends who have left the province because a high-paying oil job didn't appeal to them and there wasn't a lot else, in their view, to encourage them to stay.

This is obviously purely anecdotal, but I think nonetheless that it's indicative of a problem in the province. It begs the question: how are we going to attract and retain interesting, talented people when there isn't an endless supply of high-paying employment to bait the hook? And how many interesting, talented people are we missing out on because the prospect of a job isn't quite enough to convince them to move here?

I read a book called "Municipal Mind" by Toronto's poet laureate, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, and he kind of touched on this idea while describing "The Lifestyle Dream," a characteristic of his hypothetical "City of Dread." To spell out the obvious and relate this to the rest of this post, a City of Dread is not the kind of place people are inspired to move to. He writes:

In the the city of dread, lifestyles are the new allegiance. The call of lifestyle accounts for migration, emigration, relocation, new location. People choose cities according to the exigencies of their lifestyles.

... The lifestyle dream -- entitlement without patience, tolerance without empathy, a constant ovation to progress, and the chastisement of history. The lifestyle dream -- "house farms" blessed by a neighbourhood watch, local history sandblasted and secured with locks, and a civic mandate to mind your own business. ...The lifestyle dream -- free of identifications, all but one -- that of the ethic of globalization -- security at all costs, autonomy without detractors, connectedness without intimacy.

Looking through the verbose writing, it seems like Alberta is possibly becoming, in Di Cicco's estimation, something of a Province of Dread -- focused singularly on individualistic wealth creation, to the detriment of things like community and a sense of place that make a place truly vital and attractive by forging stronger bonds than a job typically ever can.

I think this is related to one of the fundamental challenges Alberta faces: creating an identity that extends beyond cowboy caricatures and contempt for the rest of the country.  To attract newcomers, retain the people already here, and to generally improve our quality of life, we need to build a stronger sense of community based on ideas that reflect what this province is and what we want it to be -- not on outdated stereotypes and spite.