Letter to the Herald about “Alberta’s Black Mark – Why We Don’t Vote”
Author: alla | Date: September 10, 2008 | Please Comment!This letter to the editor was published in the Calgary Herald on Sept. 08, 2008.
My thanks to the Herald for its very effective coverage Alberta’s Black Mark – Why We Don’t Vote. Friday’s coverage of the widespread lack of trust in our politicians and their willingness to do their job. Small wonder that only 40% of people voted in Alberta’s election in March.
So what is the solution – how do we rebuild trust? As a physician I found only one way to have a trusting relationship with people – by being trustworthy. Politicians need to be accessible and open to people, say what we mean and follow through. This is not ‘rocket surgery’, as Don Cherry quipped.
People are watching for indications that government will do what is right, not what is easy or profitable only in the short term. The job of government is challenging but if elected officials do careful analysis to find the right balance for economic, social and environmental values people may begin to re-engage.
Trust is fundamental to working together, and working together is fundamental to creating a healthy society. All of us must be involved in healing our culture of cynicism and distrust.
Signed,
David Swann MD
MLA Calgary MountainView
3:21 pm on November 13th, 2008
Dr. Swan:
In searching through your web site, I found this letter, which I wish to comment on.
Trust is extremely important to me. I’m sorry to have to say, my faith and my trust in the outgoing leader was severely damaged in June. I won’t go into details here.
I had the pleasure of meeting you last evening (November 12) at the Liberal Candidate’s forum in Red Deer. After listening to yourself, Mo and Dave speak and share your positions, and then after having the opportunity to speak to all of you, I have made my decision as to who I’m voting for on December 12…You!
My reasons are as follows:
1. I like your spunk and your record, politically and professionally. I’m impressed that you were willing to stand up for what you believed in, and even when the job was re offered to you, you turned it down.
2. I like the humanitarian actions you’ve taken in the world.
3. I feel at a gut level that I can trust you. I believe you would be willing to take the risk of telling the Alberta voters the truth.
4. You’ve already taken the initiative to meet with Albertans to discover what is important to them.
5. You are a very genuine and caring person.
6. You are educated and experienced and have a view, a position that few other people in Alberta have, especially in the health arena.
7. You have the ability to succinctly put your thoughts into words without being verbose.
As for your letter, I was involved with my local Liberal candidate during the 2008 campaign and had the opportunity to do a lot of door knocking. My view of the mistrust of Albertans towards the Liberal party is that few of them even know what it means to be Liberal.
I believe the Liberal Party needs to spend some time publicly responding to the concerns of Alberta voters. Not just at their doors, not one on one as they confront us, but in a forum such as this blog.
I would really like to see you use your electdavidswann blog to that purpose. Pose a few profound questions to the Liberal members who have registered to vote in the upcoming leadership election. Questions such as:
* Is Alberta ready for democracy?
* What is democracy – what does it mean to you?
* What does it mean to be a Liberal? What does it mean to you? (This would be a very informative discussion in light of the questions about changing the party’s name.)
Then enable comments on that blog and respond to the comments people leave. That’s what blogs are for…two way communication! There is still almost a month (before the vote) where you could get some really interesting and convincing discussions going.
(Blogs are not just for you to tell your readers what you’re doing! This conversation needs to be more about what concerns your potential voters and is an opportunity for you to respond in a format that isn’t possible any other way!)
Post those questions in your newsletter and invite members to the blog to comment. I think you and the other Liberals will be very surprised at what could come of that simple action.
Finally, I wish you every success in the upcoming Leadership election. I will be very disappointed if you don’t win!
R. Curran