| It can be lonely being an activist or even a passive leftie in Calgary, Canada’s most conservative city, where it doesn’t take much to be labelled a radical pinko.
But there are no doubt thousands of progressive Albertans out there looking for a place to share ideas on how to take action and make the province a better place for all, not just the rich or politically well connected. And that’s where the second Alberta Social Forum comes in.
From February 25 to 27, activists from around the province will meet in Calgary to discuss various issues of concern – everything from the negative repercussions of globalization to how to improve life for Alberta’s burgeoning number of homeless and low-income citizens.
"It’s overcoming the isolation a lot of people feel and the sense of feeling overwhelmed," says Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, a left-wing lobby group. "Instead of feeling overwhelmed, people can get involved."
Moore-Kilgannon will speak at the forum about his experiences while attending two World Social Forums, one in Porto Allegre, Brazil and the second in Mumbai, India, where organizations and individuals from around the world developed strategies to take global action on issues such as poverty. Moore-Kilgannon says social forums are gaining momentum all over the world as people seek ways to join together on various causes.
Grant Neufeld, one of the organizers of the forum, will be leading workshops on alternative banking and culture jamming. He says such events are necessary in Alberta due to the province’s "massive democratic deficit," where the same government has been in power for more than three decades, but often doesn’t feel the need to consult with Albertans before taking the province in a different direction.
"There’s a strong need for people to develop democratic dialogue in this province," says Neufeld.
Diana Gibson, research director at the Parkland Institute, will be presenting a workshop on envisioning a new future for Alberta. She says the forum will offer people a chance to share their hopes and dreams about what kind of a place they want Alberta to become.
"We’re at a crossroads in the province where the debt and deficit are gone," says Gibson. "Now we can step back and examine what we want from the future."
Gibson says two of the most important issues to address in the province are the growing gap between rich and poor, and ensuring that our current oil and gas wealth creates a strong future.
Gibson says the province has an "increasing reliance on the firesale of our non-renewable resources" and little thought is going into what the province’s future economy will be based on.
"It’s like gambling on the Titanic – you know it’s going to sink, but you continue gambling," she says.
Gibson says the Conservative government should be collecting more royalties from oil and gas companies so that the money can be used to ensure a continuing high standard of living.
And Alberta also needs to do something about the growing level of poverty in the province, she says. Gibson acknowledges that the average income of Albertans is higher than that of the average Canadian, and that the province has a very low unemployment rate. However, she says life is tough for the people on the bottom who aren’t benefiting from the province’s economic boom.
Use of food banks went up by 11.9 per cent across the province between 2003 and 2004 and homelessness is also rising rapidly, she says. Almost 55,000 people used food banks between 2003 and 2004. In Calgary the number of homeless people has increased by 23 per cent in the last two years, and in Edmonton homelessness rose by 11 per cent between 2003 and 2004. Gibson also points out that social assistance rates haven’t increased for years and have been eroded by inflation. She says the promised increase in minimum wage from $5.90 to $7, while a positive step, won’t be enough to move people out of poverty.
"It doesn’t build community to have this type of poverty," she says. "If we want safe, secure communities you need equitable distribution (of income)."
For more information on the social forum, go to www.albertasocialforum.ca. |
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