I'd Tweak Warren's #9

Your next leader - and your team and your policy book - should be bursting with ideas, ideas, ideas. That is how you will defeat the Trudeau phenomenon: with smart ideas, not by making lame selfie jokes.

Ideas?  Absolutely.

From the leader, though?  From the backroom folk?  That's not really the conservative brand, is it? That brand is about avoiding the nanny state and giving agency to Canadians proper, isn't it?

Trudeau is a likeable leader, a strong presence, and - if the Tories frame him the right way - a bit of an autocrat.  

The way to counter this, carve out turf and actually do right by the country isn't to have a Britannica of ideas to sell the nation, but to develop a Wikiplatform where Canadians can express their own hopes and dreams, challenge each other's narratives, explore options and then map everything out to see where their are gaps to be addressed.

Happens to tie into one of the Harper government's narratives, too, and could help reframe some of Canada's concerns about that era.

Just sayin'...

What Syrian refugees bring to the table

It is our hope that this video might help shift the conversation from what these refugees cost (what other challenges they might bring) to a conversation about what we are gaining by welcoming them to our countries. 

It's a sad fact -the bullies always get more attention than the bullied.  When we talk about oppressive regimes, or war-torn countries, the people are often the B or C story.  So when we do talk about, say, Syrian refugees, it's in the context of ISIL, or Assad, or war in general.  They are refugees, they are potential terrorists - we view them through the frame of the bully first, rather than focusing on their own narratives.

Back in 2001 while backpacking through Europe, I spent a fair bit of time in the former Yugoslavia making friends and hearing stories.  One story stands out in particular - a couple of English teachers talked about being students when war broke out, and how it slowly creeped into their lives.  They were doing their homework, thinking about the things they wanted to do, the boys that annoyed or intrigued them; the war was an over there thing until one day, a bomb exploded near their homes and blew out their windows.  

The main thing they wanted me to take away - we aren't war people, they said.  We're people.  We want good jobs, and families, and to enjoy our friends.  We didn't want the war and while it has shaped us, it doesn't define us.

It's no different where Syrian refugees are concerned.

We can choose to look at them as victims, or as representatives of a society at war, or as being somehow associated with ISIL - but is that how they define themselves?  What are we losing out if we choose not to understand these new Canadians for what they have to offer as well as what they have lost?

At its best, Canada is an incubator of ideas, solutions, culture.  At it's best, Canada represents the confluence of the best from everywhere else, a salad club of opportunity.

It's easy to forget this latent potential when we focus on what we have to lose.

Thank you to the TSO, Jeff Melanson Kinan Azmeh for reminding us that our humanity is something we have in common, and that in welcoming new Canadians we all have much to gain.

Ways to Help Syrian Refugees (by Zareen Muzaffar)

Zareen Muzaffar is a young journalist with a passion for story-telling.  She has become both a partner and an inspiration on the #WelcomeHomeTO project. She's working on a really cool story-compilation project that I know you're going to love!

Here are some tips she has for those looking to welcome Syrian Refugees as new Canadians but not sure where to start:

Wish to help the Syrian refugees?

According to the latest article in Toronto Star, Syrian refugees will begin arriving in Canada by mid-December. The federal government said this week that Canada could welcome as many as 50,000 refugees by the end of 2016, including those who are being privately sponsored.

What can we, as Canadian citizens, do to make the transition easy for the Syrian refugees? What’s required at this time is a better dialogue between the government and settlements agencies. WelcomeHomeTO aims to promote and maintain a culture of openness where the newcomers feel welcome.

Those who wish to assist in helping Syrian refugees can contribute in different ways. Here are some ways you can help make the transition smoother for the refugees arriving in different parts of Canada.

LifeLine Syria: This community engagement initiative plans to actively participate in Canada’s commitment to resettle Syrian refugees. They aim to help recruit, train and assist sponsoring groups over the next two years to welcome and support refugee families during their first year in the GTA. LifeLine Syria also plans to work with the Syrian community in the GTA to ensure that they help shape and participate in this initiative. For more information visit their website or read their plan of action here.

GTA Refugee Assistance Hub: This group was created to help people find/supply donations of clothes, household goods and other immediate needs and required services for Syrian refugee families arriving in Toronto. All members are welcome to post requests/offers for items, questions, offers of time/skills, etc.

In-Kind Donation Collection: Located right by the subway station (Dundas West), this center has 21 Certified Information and Referral Specialists and five Arabic speaking staff members. They hope to receive winter clothing, bedding, kitchen ware, computers among a range of other necessities. For more information, visit their page here.

The Clothing Drive: What started out as a post on Facebook quickly turned into a national campaign for donations. The Clothing Drive collects clothes, organizes them and delivers the packages to the incoming Syrian families. They describe their inititave as, “This drive is a "Room for More" initiative on behalf of several sponsorship groups. The mandate is simple: collect clothes and only clothes for the soon to arrive Syrian Refugees.While the immediate need is for winter clothing and outerwear - we will accept clothing for all seasons”. Join their group on Facebook  here.

Save a Family from Syria: The First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto has partnered with the Muslim Association of Canada(MAC) and specifically their Masjid Toronto to work together to bring families to Toronto and settle them into a new life here in Canada. Volunteers can sign up on the website. You can also read stories on their webpage here.

How #WelcomeHomeTO can help avoid this

If you live in Toronto and are interested in supporting the sponsorship and settlement of Syrian Refugees, you might be interested in this presentation by the Arab Community Centre of Toronto  (ACCT) happening December 2nd between 7:45 and 9:45 pm.

Of course, you might be interested in attending this presentation on the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Policy Options & Implications for Canada.  It's also happening December 2nd, between 7pm and 9pm.

You obviously can't do both though; they're happening at different places in town at the same time.

Competition is all well and good, but when we're looking at a national project, you want to maximize the opportunities, information and capacity for collaboration everywhere you can.  Having two related events happening at the same time is something that can and ideally should be avoided.

Did the two organizing teams know they were looking at the same time and space, and would end up competing for each other's attention?  I imagine not.

Could they have been?  Could whoever booked second have found out there was another related event happening at the same time on the same day and potentially picked a different time to book their event?

Can the people attending both events proactively share input and thoughts through a shared platform - or different platforms, but still have everything aggregated in one place?

You can see why something like the WelcomeHomeTO page at Shape My City could be useful.

Sales, Terrorism and A Place to Belong

"Do you have a second?  I'd love to get to know you!"

Not something you'd expect to hear from a stranger on a sidewalk as the dark and chill of a fall evening settles upon the town.

The voice belonged to a bright-eyed, brilliantly smiled young woman, beautiful in a wholesome way. How could you say no?  How could you reject that extended beam of warmth and light as the cold lonely shadows of winter creep around you?

I offered her a light smile and shook my head no.  "I'm late for a meeting", I said.

"No worries!" came the cheery reply.  "Maybe when you come back."

The young woman in question was one of the amazing street marketers collecting donations and direct-withdrawal partners for Because I Am A Girl.  The agency they work for is a model anyone looking to hustle for donations should look to - from hiring to scripting to training to presentation, their team knows exactly how to hook in their targets.

My event was a Why Should I Care chat about Syrian Refugees.  How many should come to Canada? What concerns should we have about screening and whatnot?  What's really happening on the ground there - and what is the process involved for settling a New Canadian from a completely different cultural context?

Part and parcel of this conversation - especially in light of the Paris attacks - is the threat of terrorists sneaking in with a mandate to terrorize our society and destroy the fundamental freedoms that make us Canadian.  

And you can't talk about terrorism without touching on radicalization.

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While our economy runs on money and we in the West tend to look at the world as a series of accounts rather than a societal system, the best salespeople will tell you that value is a personal thing that must be thoroughly understood if you want to close a deal.  Facts tell stories sell.  Don't tell me why I should care about a service, or product, or cause - tell me about why it matters to me.

Largely, this comes down to two things - a sense of empowerment and a sense of belonging.

Yes, there's the stuff you need - shelter, food, some comfort to make the days pass a bit more easily - but beyond all this, there's the need for that something more.

Powerful wealthy people don't keep doing what they do so they can afford another car or beach condo in the Bahamas - they could retire and, if they manage their money well, have all the good stuff others only aspire to and be content to the end of their days.  

They do what they do because the status that comes with their actions matters.

Likewise, people don't join and stick with political parties for the policy - policy positions shift over time and, as have been widely commented, all parties tend to act within the same narrow policy window that appeals to non-base voters.  You need to throw some meat to the base now and again, clearly, but by and large they're there because being a conservative, a liberal or a NDPer is part of their personal identity.  

Same holds true for Leaf fans or band followers or any other social tribe - brand, the empowerment that comes with that brand and of course, the basic of being part of a community matters.

Whether it's at the top of the power totem pole or in the pages of history or on the 50 under 50 to watch list or a church group or a terrorist group, what matters most is a place to belong.

"Do you have a second?  I'd love to get to know you!"

You matter to me - I give you status.  I could be your conduit to the place where you belong.

Belonging - that sense of being a welcomed and desired part of a community - isn't a key part of how we do things in Canada.  We're all about the hustle, means-of-production style; I've got the place, you gotta prove to me you deserve access.  And it's all transactional.

Yet we recognize that status and belonging matter when it comes to sales; if we want to make a sale, the key frame and cues will be about that, not the product or service or cause.

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Part of the Centre for Social Innovation's secret sauce - the thing that has propelled it to the top of the co-working space paradigm and made it a model that is being copied around the world, with even government exploring its potential - is community, a place to belong.  What was Trudeau's winning line?  You can be part of the change through hope and hard work.  

Read anything about radicalization - it could be They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children or Friction or whatever.  At the base of the process are those two same things things that drive any sale - a sense of status and a place to belong.

A question raised at last night's WSIC chat - "what about the risk of these people bringing their culture in and taking over?"  It's a common undercurrent among anti-immigration arguments; they aren't part of this community and whatever they bring, be it bombs or barbaric practices, they are a threat.

They don't belong.

Imagine you are a first-generation Syrian Canadian.  Your parents, lacking Canadian Experience, have trouble finding work.  They start a business of some kind, but business itself fluctuates based on what's in the headlines.  On the news and in media, the only people who look like you are either bad guys or victims, but almost always rural and technologically backwards.  You have trouble finding work, but peers with the same (or less) education and experience than you do get ahead; none of them look like you.

The politicians say "terrorist" and speak of radicalization, and they know they're talking about you. On the subway, you feel the eyes of strangers assessing you as a threat.  

Your whole life, you've felt like you don't belong.  That you're unwanted, a cancer on society.  

Then a confident, clean-looking young man approaches you on the street.

"Do you have a second?  I'd love to get to know you!"  You matter to me - I give you status.  I could be your conduit to the place where you belong.

That's how it starts.  It could be a gang, it could be a recruiter for a terrorist group - but it doesn't have to be.

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Last week, I attended a chat with Dr. Curt Rhodes of Questscope.  He's a white American man who has lived and worked with disadvantaged people in Syria for more than 30 years.  Both his daughters have "Muslim" names.  During the conversation, I asked about the soft element of community integration - status and belonging. Rhodes painted a picture with words of a young family arriving on Canadian soil for the first time, confronted with a whole new world of sights, sounds, people and colours that simply aren't present where they come from. 

As someone who's spent some time as a stranger in strange lands, I knew the feeling.

Then, Rhodes asked us to imagine (taking into consideration cultural differences) that someone was there to meet you, embraced you like a neighbour and kissed you on the cheek, then picked up your children and did the same.

Imagine, in other words, that Syrian refugees fleeing the homeland that is a place of belonging no longer touched down in a strange place and were given status as welcomed neighbour right from the beginning.

"It's like we're old friends.  They want to hear about me, they value me - I could belong here."

We talked a bit about how digital tools could facilitate the integration process, how Apps like iamsick.ca could help find familiar foods and doctors who speak native languages.  I through out the idea of Jane's Walks of welcome and community barbeques.

All these things - they can happen, if we organize, I said.

"Inshallah", Curt said.

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Friends of mine - a married couple - are expecting their first child, a girl.  They are understandably excited.  They're going through the ritual of all expectant parents - getting bombarded with advice by family and friends, planning baby showers and visits and going through all the things they need to properly welcome their baby girl into the world.  

Part of that process is picking a name - conveying a form of status.  Who will their daughter be? What will be her name to the world, the thing that identifies both who she is and what her parents want her to represent?

Both parents are insistent on including a First Nations name, either as first or middle.  They have a lot of research to do and want to be respectful, but for them it's critical that their daughter reflect Canada's roots.  In some way, this is a way of giving status to a people who have consistently been devalued, stripped of status (in truly Orwellian status) and have been made to feel as outsiders on their traditional lands.

My friends are both New Canadians - he comes from Algeria, she from France.  Both embody, to me, what Canada is all about; the creation of community, a place of belonging.

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I don't have to ask if you're busy.  I know the answer to that one already.  Busy is our default these days - it's why we don't have time for each other.  We're too busy for friends, too busy to communicate with our employees, too busy to give time (especially unpaid time) to causes.  

A customer service rep in a store, smiling and chatty when you just want to browse.

A stranger on the street, struggling with English, stops to ask directions - sorry, no time.

A cold-call asking for help - or even someone we asked for help, but turns out not to have what we want (or in the way we want it).

The homeless man on the street.  

"I don't have a second.  I could care less who you are."  You don't matter.  You don't belong here.

Our social model has steadily become an unsocial model.  Transactions have edged out relationships. Sales has taken over from engagement, messaging has replaced communication and empathy - reaching out - has given way to selfishness.  It's Objectivism - the exact opposite of community.

Yet in times of tragedy, we still turn to community.  In times of optimism, we still turn to community.

When it matters, we still long for community, above all else.  We want to be recognized; we want to belong.

Those who are most susceptible to radicalization aren't poor, or uneducated - they are those who feel excluded.

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To me, Canada is an idea; at its best, this country is a social garden with space for everyone. Difference doesn't provide a threat to some standardized, impregnable Canada - that entity never existed.  Canada is ever-evolving, ever-adapting, ever adding new ingredients to the mix and becoming something greater as a result.

The idea of a wave of New Canadians settling on this soil with all the challenges and opportunities they bring is a gift that we can be prepared to accept.  

If we can find the time to get to know these New Canadians, they can get to know us.  Instead of risking apathy and radicalization, the furthering of silos, we can show the world a better way - a community of engagement.

The Canada I see is a place to belong.

It's not my Canada - it belongs to all of us.  We all grow it together.  In so doing, we create something stronger and more appealing than terrorist calls to burn the earth and live like kings on the ashes.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and get to know me a little better.

I'd love to hear from you, too.

How might we make this place to belong, together?

Flying Harper's Colours

Previous Liberal governments' use of the luxury planes was among the things Harper used to needle them about when he was opposition leader.

But once he became prime minister, he would use the planes to fly his own family across Canada and to the U.S. for hockey or baseball games or purely partisan events, flights for which the taxpayer was reimbursed, though whether that was done fairly was often in dispute.

Harper either missed the subtle genius of this move, or he's past caring.  I'm leaning towards the former.

There is no official sound bite of Harper admitting that he lost to Justin Trudeau.  That was by Harper's design; he knew any such clip would be played, ad nauseum; you can't spend years decrying an opponent as light weight and not expect that to be thrown in your face when he beats you.

Despite how mean-spirited Harper was to Justin Trudeau, by all appearances Trudeau has been magnanimous in victory, with this last flight just one more example of our new Prime Minister taking the high road.

Though there's nothing written that you can't accomplish two things at once.

Allowing Harper one last flight is, in my opinion, the right thing to do.  It will also be much more painfully obvious of who the adult in the room is if Harper's successor and former caucus maintain the mean-spirited tone of their former leader in spite of such gestures.

Beyond this, though, there was no way to avoid the media's scrutiny of Harper's history with the challengers in light of this last flight.

He was against them until he made solid use of them - much like he did with the Senate.

Harper has always been against excess - and yet here he is, taking one last turn on the taxpayer's dime.  Is this a reflection of Harper as a hypocrite, or has he come, finally, to recognize the importance of such sociological phenomenon as altruism and consideration?

It doesn't matter.  For all Harper's careful avoidance of providing the world a direct quote admitting that he and his bitter politics were beaten by sunny ways, we now have this story, this image to focus on.

One would assume that Harper understands the power of symbolism.  

Anyhoo, we wish him well in retirement - or, as seems to be the case, some time spent as a teacher.

For the rest of us, it's onward and upward.

Trudeau's Wood

"Give me better wood and I will make you a better cabinet."

- Sir John A MacDonald

As offering thoughts on Canada's new Cabinet is the thing to do today, here are my thoughts based on who/what I know:

First off - the Liberal Party was fortunate to have a lot of fine wood from which to build our Cabinet. That matters.  Having said that, much credit goes to Gerry Butts, Katie Telford, Trudeau himself and whoever else was part of the selection process.  

Gender parity.  Regional representation.  Ethnic diversity.  Seasoned vets and fresh blood.  Political acumen and real-life experience.  They really managed to hit every box they needed to.  That's all surface, mind you - the real test comes when the work starts and we see how well this group functions at a team.  It bodes well that they have a cheerleader/teacher as their stone.

Now, the people:

Justin Trudeau (Quebec) - Prime Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth

Remember the chiding he got for being the youth guy?  Note the youth turnout this past election? It's a smart move, this.  Same is true for holding the Intergovernmental Affairs file.  This is Trudeau playing to his strengths, thinking strategically and being what the Prime minister is supposed to be, all in one.

Stéphane Dion (Quebec) - Foreign Affairs

I don't know how you can be a follower of Canadian politics and not admire this guy.  He's not the most gregarious or charming of people - I remember struggling to find something we could connect over when we met during his leadership run - but he's smart, and dedicated to his country and his belief in what Canada to be in ways not enough people truly appreciate.  We're lucky to have him.

John McCallum (Ontario) - Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

The moment I saw this, I poked at friends in the Canadian Arab Institute and let them know things were in good hands.

Carolyn Bennett (Ontario) - Indigenous and Northern Affairs

Carolyn is a WSIC veteran and a fan of Terri Chu, so it's not hard to see why I'm a fan of hers.  She's a warm person, dedicated, passionate, does her homework, great at outreach.  There are many voices in Canada's Indigenous communities excited to see her in this file - and that really says all that needs said.

Scott Brison (Nova Scotia) - Treasury Board President

I know Brison more by reputation and performance than as a person, but from what I've seen he's going to get along famously with the Canadian Open Community.  While Clement did some good stuff on opening public data for business, Brison will truly understand why OpenGov is about much, much more.  

We're gonna have fun.

Navdeep Bains (Ontario) - Innovation, Science and Economic Development

You can't know Navdeep and not love him.  The guy is a big teddy bear and his mom makes amazing cookies.  I got to know him on a couple Mississauga-area campaigns, and he was magic at the door.

I can't speak to his familiarity with his file, but he's smart, organized and has some business savy to him.  Really interested to see how he does with this file

Which, for the record, is completely different than pure science.  Thank god Team Trudeau recognized this.  If you're focused on sales, you're focused on product, which is not what pure science is about.  Science is about understanding how things work and what things can do.  Science can be turned to marketable opportunities, eventually, but it is smart to keep these two files separate.  I'm crediting this one to GMB.

Kirsty Duncan (Ontario) - Science

Breaking the CBC's order, but it kinda makes sense to put Science next, don't you think?

Full confession - when I first met Duncan, I thought she was fake.  I remember sitting at Queen's Park during a media event with Positive Change and thinking "nobody that empathetic can be successful in politics, so it's gotta be a show."  

Which of course it wasn't.  She really is that empathic.  I have no idea how she does it - I would be so completely drained if I cared as deeply about so many as she did, especially in relation to communities that have faced such hardship.  She truly is a wonder.

Oh - and the Nobel Prize thing, and the Spanish flu research.  They help too.

Maryam Monsef (Ontario) - Democratic Institutions

I can't be the only person that teared up a bit as Maryam Monsef gave the oath.  Such a powerful story, such an inspirational human being.  It's the sort of story that, to me, exemplifies Canada at its best.  Monsef has her work cut out for her, but her sincerity and passion shine and you bet she's committed to a strong, dynamic democracy.

I don't know her, but as my folks' MP I hope to have the chance.  

Hunter Tootoo (Nunavut) - Fisheries and Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard

An inspired choice that I'm also going to guess was a GMB pick.  

Harper has continuously failed to deliver success of any kind on Canada's North and our northern waters in particular.  He simply didn't understand what was necessary.  The North can't just be a border and some potential resources, so far away from mainstreet Canada - it has to be a community, it has to be a part of the whole.  There needs to be a human stake which, of course, there is.

I'm really excited to see what Tootoo brings to his files.

That's it, my initial thoughts on the people.  Additionally, of course, there's Cabinet Committees - one thing at a time though.  

Parting thoughts:

- Watching the swearing in, I almost felt I looking at the CSI community (albeit in fancier clothes) than a cabinet.  It feels, looks, sounds different than anything we've seen before - and that's a good thing.

- Having said that - did the new Ministers individually choose their outfits, or was there a coordinated effort by the Centre to tell a story?  Freeland's dress in particular stands out.  It's a little thing, this, but potentially concerning if Team Trudeau is scripted down to their attire from day one.  Something to watch out for.

That's all I've got.  What were your thoughts?  Don't feel shy about commenting below!

Could Brownell Night Go Federal? (What JT could learn from JB)

Trudeau graciously thanked Harper, and promised to work with the Conservative Party in the future.

"Conservatives are not our enemies, they are our neighbours," he said.

Lots of talk lately about Trudeau's commitment to make half of his reduced Cabinet women.  Why that's a good thing is clear to many and, over the coming years, will make sense to most: the things that define us shape our world view, our priorities, our challenges and our opportunities.

The more policy-makers can reflect the general population, the closer we will get to policies that work towards everyone's best interests.

Diversity is strength.  The task of leadership is empowering all these different people, perspectives, sectors and systems to be more than the sum of their parts.  A big piece of that is knowing how to listen, make connections, nurture relationships - the stuff of community building.

This the challenge Justin Trudeau has taken on.

It's a challenge my old boss Jim Brownell and I are familiar with, though on a much smaller scale.

Anyone who worked for the Ontario Liberal Party or its MPPs during Jim's time at Queen's Park will remember him fondly.  Jim was a dedicated constituency guy, a strong advocate for rural Ontario and all things history and heritage.  He was also a great mentor and the kind of boss most people dream of having; a retired teacher, Jim had mastered the art of balancing direction, guidance and space to help his staff become the best public servants they could be.

Jim's legacy is written all over Ontario (some examples can be found here) but what political staff remember him for the most is the community incubator he started - Brownell Night.

On the surface, Brownell Night was a simple concept - once a month, Jim would host a gathering at the Duke of York, a pub not far from the Legislature.  Political staff and friends would come together, have a few drinks, tell a few stories, meet some new faces.

Of course what Brownell Night did was something much more profound.  

There aren't a lot of opportunities for political staff - especially staff for a governing party - to connect beyond the transactional level.  You may attend some meetings, you may attending some briefings, regional caucus roundups and maybe even a training or two, but on the whole there's no real opportunity (or incentive) to build relationships.

Without relationships, you don't have community.  Community is a breeding ground for opportunity, for idea sharing, problem identification and solution-building.

Community is what creates a whole that is more than a sum of its parts - that turns diversity into strength.  Put plainly, community-animating is the number one function of leadership, and is what Justin Trudeau has set out to do.

I didn't realize it at the time, but what we did - what Jim nurtured - was community animation.  

Now that I'm literally writing the book on community animation for CSI Regent Park, I find myself reflecting on the genius of Brownell Night and Jim's unique gift for bringing diverse groups of folk - people from his community, staff at Queen's Park, sector stakeholders, even public servants - together in celebration of the things we have in common.  

As Jim liked to say, no deals were ever struck at Brownell Night - that wasn't the point.  Instead, friendships were formed, ideas were explored and new opportunities emerged.  It still tickles me pink that an introduction I made at Brownell Night led to a marriage (the couple just celebrated eight years together - man, how time flies!)

One thing I always hoped to do with Brownell Night but never quite achieved was to make it more multi-partisan.  I felt then as I do now - that if political staff who were often nudged into viewing their counterparts from other parties as foes could hang out over drinks, chat issues and really get to know each other, we could change the "blood sport" nature of politics into something more collegial.

We never got to the point where Brownell Night was as open as I wanted it to be; if Jim had stayed for one more term or if another MPP had taken up the mantle (believe me, we tried really hard to make that happen), I know we could have gotten there.  

As it stood, I did get to know a couple of amazing folk from the other side of the political spectrum, in particular Megan Boyle and Beth Corbett).  It's no surprise that we disagreed on a lot of issues. 

What shouldn't have been surprising but was - the underlying intent of our positions often turned out to be the same.

Not only did I get to meet and know some amazing people, those two Conservative operatives challenged me and opened me to new perspectives.  I would never have had that opportunity if I'd only looked at them as foes.

To quote another Trudeau: "We can be in total disagreement with someone without denigrating them as a consequence."

Without community, diversity is opposition.  Community is the pot in which different ingredients become a stew of possibility.  Leadership, of course, is what brings it all together.

That's what politics should be and can be - committed public servants, elected representatives and political staff hacking issues and finding the best solutions.

It's totally doable, too.  Jim Brownell proved that.

As the Conservatives and NDP seek to find their footing in our new political reality, there's some consideration being given to Trudeau's sunny ways and what lessons can be learned from his approach.

Trudeau and his team have a long-standing commitment to do politics differently, too, with a clear emphasis on looking at the other parties as neighbours rather than opponents.

There are many ways Team Trudeau can build the bridges of community with their peers, if that's something they mean to follow through on.  

A monthly gathering of political staff from all parties would be a great one.

I bet if he were asked nicely, Jim Brownell would even help out.  He's just that kind of guy.

A community builder.  A leader.  A teacher.

Remind you of anyone?

Open Canada: Trudeau's Number

Liberal campaign chief Katie Telford has a thing for numbers.

Lots to cover, so let's dive right in - and, as Katie always suggests, I'll include a call to action at the end.

Justin Trudeau has made some bold commitments around Open Government and Open Data.  These particular promises were more than a way to define the Liberals as different than the Tories - changing the way government works is something his inner circle has been committed to for a long time.

One commitment that has a lot of people both outside and inside the public service excited:

– Involve Canadians in policy-making: The Liberals would use technology to engage more Canadians in the development and evaluation of public policy.

So, here's a question:

How can Canadians play a meaningful role in policy-making, impact-checking and avoiding unnecessary duplication, gaps and overlaps?  Government has a hard enough time doing this on its own, which is why silo-busting change management/culture development are popular pursuits right now.

Policy Hacks and Civic Engagement

Under Tony Clement, the federal Open Government team has done some amazing work around opening data and engaging Canadians with the goal of empowering citizens to turn public data into profitable enterprises.  The Canadian Open Data Experience was the largest hackathon in Canadian history.

At the same time, some Virtuous Schemers from that team have been exploring ways to strengthen engagement between the public service and every day political citizens with the intent of addressing structural concerns and wicked problems like poverty and climate change.

All of this should continue.  In addition, it would be amazing to see more engagement/hackathons between public servants and other players to hack policy issues and solutions that don't necessarily have to originate from government. (Think Civic Design Camp, Civic Tech, Community Solutions Lab)

MP Committees and touring consultations and whatnot are great - imagine they could tap into local/regional/national policy-making groups that were using open data to assess, prototype and refine policy, programs, co-design opportunities that could be citizen-led and private-sector/foundation funded?  Imagine government was a facilitator of civic leadership rather than CEO?

This is all happening in small-scale ways across the country.  What's needed to bring it all together is a stone in the soup, a source of inspiration (and, let's be honest, permission) - in short, someone like Justin Trudeau.

ACTION ITEM #1: Task the new President of Treasury Board/their Parliamentary Secretary to do a landscape assessment of groups, orgs and initiatives already in this space and start convening them in collaborative ways, offering them moral support, connections to funders/partners.

Open Data/Data Stories 

Opening up public data for public use is a monstrous task, not made any easier by the fact that different levels of government and even different departments of government aren't all in agreement with processes or platforms or even definitions.  There are even governments out there with significant caches of data still being kept on paper.

Worth remembering - what we're talking about here is a massive culture change.  If you've ever had a secretary who was insistent on keeping paper records because they didn't trust/feel comfortable with computers, picture that on a national scale.

As has emerged from Ontario's Open Data Directive process, it's not enough to make new demands of the public service - major culture change, support and a shift in agency to younger staff more comfortable with new ways of doing this is required to really make Open Government a reality.  More on this in the next point.

Beyond all this - who is Open Data for?  Is the goal to reach out to hackers or entrepreneurs, foundations focused on impact investment or not-for-profits?  If it's for everyone, what needs to be done to make it easier for Canadians in general to be aware of open data and comfortable navigating it?

This is a mighty challenge, but a doable one.  If Apple could transform computers from tools for the elite into necessities in daily life, there's no reason Canada can't do the same thing with data.

ACTION ITEM #2: Develop a national campaign geared towards increasing public awareness of Open Data and its value.  This campaign will also target governments, encouraging/enticing them to strengthen existing efforts to standardize data and data presentation.  (sales analogy: public = kids, government = parents, data = cereal)


That's Open Data - what about Data stories?

No offence to Katie; numbers may tell, but stories sell.  Stories also have the power to transform complex data sets into narratives people can wrap their heads around (instead of focusing on ingredients, talk about what those ingredients can make)

Here's where maps come in - GIS, data layering, money-tracking and all that fun stuff.

Picture sitting down at a computer and opening up a map-based portal that allows you to layer data in comprehensible ways to see how different sets interact.  Imagine this portal could even animate data presentation so you could see changes over time (and even predict them to a degree, like weather maps).

An example - I go to this portal with a particular interest in, say, Eastern Ontario.  I'm given the option to pick some data layers to add in:

- age demographics
- employment rates
- existing/planned healthcare infrastructure
- time frame of 2000-present

The portal would create a map that displays all these things in visual terms (a bit more sophisticated than what WellbeingTO does) and let's me see how they have evolved over time.  Down the road, the system might even add value by recommending related sets to add in for a more robust picture.

From another angle - imagine this portal could map demographics, quality-of-life-indicators, services offered locally, providers and funding.  Where is money being spent to achieve specific goals, but those goals aren't being reached?  What best practices exist on a small scale in one region that could be invested in and expanded?



A platform like this would address so many concerns funders, service-providers and end-users (citizens) have right now.  Entrepreneurs looking for new markets and new opportunities could use this platform to find gaps - as could governments themselves.  Government wouldn't need to be the owner of such a tool, just a supporter. There are brilliant young changemakers playing around with concepts like this right now like Oohee Lee (not even a Canadian citizen, worth noting, but none-the-less a person adding incredible value to the country).

Fun side-bar - when you create platforms like these, either in person or online, you end up with entire communities dedicating themselves to support solution-making in communities not even there own. Case in point: Pakathon. Can you think of anything more Canadian than that?

ACTION ITEM #3: In conjunction with the Open Data capacity building campaign, have a challenge/hack/competition that empowers the Canadian community to develop a digital data hub which allows individuals to access public data and use it to tell stories, identify challenges in user-friendly way.

Open Government/Responsible Society

There is a big challenge that comes with Open Data which hasn't been fully addressed.  As more and more data becomes open, we're going to see more and more examples of government getting things wrong.  Money has been spent without results.  Important problem areas have been missed or avoided.  Presenteeism is a big issue in our public services.

Imagine heeding the call and becoming a public servant, excited to make a difference for your country, only to find yourself in a culture where your expertise is dismissed, you're rarely allowed to see the big picture and you're regularly on eggshells, terrified of being the next Public Servant Zero.

That's a common story right now, and this is before open by default has become common practice.

Some big challenges to open:

- a culture of gotcha politics
- a public that has become used to reacting against negatives instead of contributing to solutions
- a culture class between traditional, top-down management structures and a more Millennial, flat-org approach to engagement
- stakeholders focused on what they want/what they aren't happy with rather than systems thinking

It's not enough to say "government, be open!"  There is a lot of supportive work that needs done to enable a culture of openness and engagement within the public service and, just as importantly, between governments, the private/not-for-profit sectors and civil society.

Where to begin?

Real change begins at home.

Government culture change, new forms of internal engagement/cross-pollination, even redesigning working spaces to facilitate the sorts of engagement and results we collectively want are all tough nuts to crack, but great strides have already been made.  There are some cool partners out there to work with, too.

A selfish example - the Centre for Social Innovation has pro-actively developed the kind of working environment and culture that government should be looking to emulate.  Heck, the CSI model is being studied and borrowed across the globe; even Kathleen Wynne has mulled the idea of a CSI Queen's Park.

What would a CSI Parliament Hill look like?

How could the right culture-change and space development empower engagement, resiliency, a can-do mentality and all the soft stuff necessary to help public service transition to Open By Default?

The key thing is that the answer isn't going to come in the form of one-off sessions on culture change; it has to be engaged into the every-day operations of government.

ACTION ITEM #4: Develop a culture change-management strategy for the Canadian Public Service (and Parliament) that emphasizes emotional resiliency, collaboration, systems-thinking, #HowMightWe vs #YouCantDoThat thinking, etc.  

ACTION ITEM #5: Pilot a CSI-style collaboraiton/community animation space on or near Parliament Hill to facilitate cross-pollinated engagement and solution-finding for public servants and beyond.

It's not enough to have a government that's open, however - you need a society that's comfortable and supportive of the bumpy transition it'll take to get there.  Make no mistake - change at this scale is messy.  There will be a lot of things that happen and even more discovered that could (and should) make communities and stakeholders angry.

This is a big reason why successive governments make promises about new ways of doing things, transparency, etc. and don't follow through.  It's not just about falling into behavioural traps; it's a big challenge to change when the public wants change to be painless.

If you want a government that is truly open, you need a society that is willing to work with government through the process that will get there.  You can't have an Open Government without a Responsible Society.

So how do you nurture that?

Anyone in politics has the answer to this question, even if they don't realize it.  What sells a person, product or process best is a third party validator.

Lucky for government, there is an entire movement of people and organizations already playing that role.  It's not just a national thing, either - it's international.  The world wants open.

And if Canadians can position themselves as global leaders of open and engagement, the catalysts for government/civil society engagement change everywhere, I think you'd find a steadily growing amount of Canadians would happily join that movement.

Especially youth and New Canadians.

Which brings us back to our first point about involving Canadians in the policy making process.  If the people see themselves as active, valued participants in a shared mission of transforming Canada into a world leader and catalyst for open, transparent, engaged - moving forward together/leaving no one behind - everything else will fall into place.

ACTION ITEM #6: As part of their landscape assessment, the new Treasury Board President/Parliamentary Secretary will actively nurture relationships with the Open Community (including support of Open events through attendance, social media promotion, etc).  

ACTION ITEM #7: The Open Outreach campaign will develop awareness, capacity and appetite for open gov/open data, but with an emphasis on why this matters and what we might collectively achieve.

Katie Telford likes numbers; numbers tell a story.

To pull a page from Justin Trudeau's book, here's my number - one.

One singular vision of the #countrywewant that can rally, inspire and engage Canadians in common purpose to be active participants in shaping a Canadian whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

It doesn't matter what this vision gets called, though it will definitely help to have a catchy brand.

What matters most is that the leader embodies it.  When that happens, others will follow.


There are 7 action items in this post - that's the number of ideas an organized mind can keep afloat in its working memory at one time.  The last two are really tag-ons to the first two, so you could even say there are just 5, which is a number most Canadians can hold on to.

Which leads to my call to action.

There is nothing on this list that isn't being tackled in one form or other already.

We have hackathons.  We have partnerships between public servants and community groups.

Open Data Days and related events are all trying to build community and empower people to be agents of change.

Speaking of agents of change - CSI is helping empower good ideas for social impact in a variety of ways.

And virtuous schemers are attempting the Herculaneum task of changing government culture from the inside out.  These are unspoken heroes whose efforts probably won't be felt for a generation and whose impact they'll never get credit - but they do it anyway.

You can be part of this change.  In fact, the change we seek can't happen without you.

Get informed, get engaged, make a difference.  It's great if there's a central leader who gives us the inspiration, but ultimately the power is ours - and always has been.

Here's one last number to help you get started - 200.

Canada's bicentennial will be celebrated in 2067 - far enough away that we can't predict what the world will be like at the time, but close enough that we could play a major role in actively shaping that future if we put our minds to it now.

There are countless Canadians doing just that, right now.

Are you with us?

Harper's Place in Trudeau's Shadow

"But the prime minister’s gold-braid patriotism, like his tax-cutting conservatism and personal support for the death penalty, crystallises the feeling of many that the Harper era has been a rupture with Canadian tradition."

Canadians feeling like Harper has taken Canada astray with a risky social experiment and economic programs that are oblivious to the concerns of chunks of the nation?

Canadians wanting to get back to a more "traditional" version of Canada - you know, like the Just Society?

AND Justin Trudeau being touted as the guy to reverse the centralization of power and resulting corruption - that thrived under Stephen Harper?

Even though Harper had some successes (like 'em or not) under his reign - to the world, PET is still the leader Canada is most associated with?

That has GOT to sting.

Political Irony in Canada

This man is Canada's Prime Minister.  He's supposed to be Unifier in Chief, the embodiment or at least the public-facing representative of Canadian society.

He's been pushing the "troubles at Canadians shores" narrative for quite some time.  It's ISIS, not CSIS, he tells us, that we should be afraid of.

Meanwhile, CSIS has been telling us the greatest threat Canadians face isn't ISIS, it's home-grown terrorists.

Not doing so hot in the polls, Harper calls in a foreign campaign fixer, this guy:

This foreigner, invited at the behest of the Prime Minister to do work that, frankly, could be done by a Canadian, takes a hard line against Mulisms in Canada, identifying them as the boogeyman Canadians fear most.

The niqab thing.  The niqab thing escalated to the civil service.  The tip-line thing.  The shenanigans around allowing refugees in.

There have been consequences to this, including niqab-wearing women being attacked in Montreal and Toronto and most recently, my friend Farah Mawani suffered a verbal onslaught of Islamophobic remarks.

Which kinda feeds into CSIS point, doesn't it?

In response to this attack @WiTOpoli creates a hashtag, #countrywewant, as a positive counter to the negative attacks and repercussions of the Team Harper strategy.

This grassroots-led move goes viral.  Media personalities, celebritives, community members, even party leaders like Mulcair and Trudeau get on board, sharing their visions of what Canada is rather than what it needs to be defended against.

And at the end of the day, this picture emerges:

This woman is standing proudly in front of the Canadian flag, a new Citizen able to vote for the first time in this election.  She has won the support and admiration of countless Canadians, become a cause to rally behind.

This image should be something Harper and co can use to conjur up fear.  Instead, it becomes a symbolic moment for Canadians stepping up for their individual freedoms against a government who, once upon a time, was all about individual freedoms.

Poetic justice, indeed.

Nation Building

Third mistake?  Mulcair did what Andrea Horwath and Olivia Chow did.  He moved to the right, big time.  On deficits, on defence, on doing just about anything in government: the New Democratic leader didn't sound like a New Democrat, at all.

In his mad dash to get to the centre, he left behind his bewildered core vote - and he left everyone else bewildered, too.  Election time, as Horwath and Chow discovered the hard way, is no time to toss out everything everyone ever believed about you.  Among other things, it's confusing.

Why are the NDP bleeding support?  They've strayed from where they were in the quest to solidify centrists votes; their base feels uprooted and everyone else sees the NDP as a policy tumble weed.

Why have the Harper Conservatives been able to grow?  For starters, they have never abandoned their base, which means their floor has never lowered.  Their roots are deep and the party ain't shifting ground.  

More than a couple positions that keep their base rock-solid, however, are anathema to voters on the other end of the spectrum.  You can't be all things to all people, but you can't win majorities off of your base alone.

So Team Harper has perfected the art of the wedge-issue, essentially side-stepping substantial policy challenges and appealing to people's baser instincts.  You can be a left-leaning, pro-separation Quebecer but hey, if the niqab/scary Muslim things makes you skittish, you might just base your vote on that alone.

That's what modern politics is about, after all - adding just the right pieces to your narrative to expand your coalition into the small percent of non-locked voters to form a majority.

While Team Harper is mighty effective at this, the consequence of their wedge-issue mentality is an increasingly divided, embittered and angry country.   Anger is better than confusion for gaining support - it's so clear, so motivational! - but it's a dangerous state to keep a nation in for long periods of time.

If not anger and wedge-issues, though, how do you add enough support to  your coalition to win? More to the point - how do you not push the short-term effective, long-term destabilizing anger-button when the other guys are doing so and clearly benefiting?

Is it possible for a party to win a big enough coalition with aspiration instead of instigation?  How could you effectively communicate such a message to the niche groups you need to win?

There is a massive difference between winning power and nation-building and increasingly, it's hard for Canada's political parties to play that role - a role they were never intended to play, anyway.

Perhaps the question needs to change.  Instead of parties asking what does it take to win, we should all be asking where do we go from here?