Guest Blog: Don’t Blame the Premier for ‘Mansplaining’ J-C Couture and Stephen Murgatroyd

“Basically all of us have had the best of everything and have not had to pay for what it costs.” This regrettable slip from Premier Jim Prentice that awkwardly attempted to summarize the contested history of our province has understandably evoked outrage from many quarters including advocates for the one in ten of Albertans (including the 48,000 children) who live in poverty. Then there is the pesky problem of the growing disparity between women and men documented in a recently released study by Queen’s University law professor Kathleen Lahey. As her report illustrates, Alberta women’s full-time earnings – now the lowest in Canada compared to men - were 63% of men’s, much lower than in neighbouring Saskatchewan, where women earned 80%.

For many Albertans the premier’s unintended dismissal of a variety of economic and social conditions linked to ‘women’s issues’ cannot be ignored. We need to look no further than the cuts being contemplated to public education in the coming budget. The projected loss of 2,000 teachers this fall will devastate the teaching profession, 78 per cent of whom are women and who work an average of 56 hours a week – more than any of the OECD countries except Japan. Then there is the fact that Alberta remains one of the last three provinces in the country to introduce full day kindergarten or that we remain the one of the lowest performers on the United Nations’ indexes for readiness to learn and support for daycare. All of these realities fall disproportionately on the laps of Alberta women who already do more hours per week (35) of unpaid housework than any other province.

While these conditions blow apart the Premier’s assertion that Albertans have had “the best of everything” rather than joining in on the frenzy of twitter and piling on our hapless Premier - who we actually believe wants to get it right – we would rather take pause and consider more sympathetically “mansplaining” as a way to understand the Premier’s mystifying comments. 

Perhaps if Premier Prentice had read, “How to be a man in 2015” by the Guardian columnist, Max Olesker, his troubles could have been avoided.  As Olesker writes, “I’m not sure when I first heard the term “mansplaining” – the act of a man explaining something condescendingly to a woman – but I do know that as soon as I became aware of it I felt terrified that I’d inadvertently done it at some point.”

After considering his comments as an example of ‘manslpaining’, one would hope that Premier Prentice is as mortified by his comments as many Albertans are. Whether it is the Premier’s unintended dismissal of women’s issues or the prospect that he may hollow out public education and support for Alberta’s children and youth, whatever course he chooses in the upcoming March 26 budget, hopefully he will not resort to another episode of ‘mansplaining.’

Instead he could chose to focus on making Alberta one of the most equitable communities in Canada. The evidence is clear that the more equitable a society is the healthier it is, the longer people live, there is less crime, more students finish school, college and university and wellness and happiness rise. Unequal societies make sure that some do well whilst most do not.

Alberta is becoming more unequal - we can see this in our school systems and the way in which those with special needs are neglected and included into classrooms which make no sense to anyone: too many students, not enough support and too little capacity to manage these complex situations all thoroughly documented in a recent independent report.

Teachers, perhaps when looking in a mirror, don’t blame themselves – they look to a systems failure to imagine and then delivery a better future for all Albertans. Meanwhile, as documented by our colleague Pasi Sahlberg of Harvard University, it is well-established that the road to educational development is through a commitment to gender equality at all levels of society.

Yet here in Alberta, we are quickly losing the capacity for schools to be great places for all students especially in the context of the growing diversity and complexity of Alberta’s school communities (see here for an in depth analysis).

So rather than ‘mansplain’ this away, Premier Prentice might want to start to explain why he is seeking to promote inequality, embrace austerity and become the voice and representative of a small cadre of Alberta’s elite who are - not by accident -  typically males.

Dr. J-C Couture coordinates research with the Alberta Teachers’ Association. Stephen Murgatroyd is a freelance writer, consultant and imaginer. Although self-professed nurturing males they too struggle with ‘mansplaining.’ 

What do we Know About Wildrose Premier Prentice?

What do we know now about Wildrose Premier Jim Prentice? What does his actions, words and behavior tell us about him? This is what I am observing:

He is imperial – he expects his instructions to be followed, for example by Committees of the House over which he has no jurisdiction. He alone rules. He sees his cabinet members as followers not colleagues and we have seen several of them blindsided by his decisions or contradicted.

He has partial hearing – he listens with one ear to the corporate entities that have supported the PC’s for over 40 years and doesn’t listen at all to those who take a rational cold look at Alberta’s situation. He is quick to ensure that people know he cant hear them by repeatedly denying major opportunities for transformative change. This is coupled with the fact that he is partially sighted – he can only see in one direction.

He has visions – he sees where others can and is sure that his visions represent the ‘new reality’ of Alberta. A much smaller, leaner and meaner public service; a more compliant public; a less needy group of people even if they are working poor, single parents, disabled or otherwise in need of our collective support.

He is positioning himself as a saviour without the necessary characteristics of compassion, engagement, healing or ability to inspire. Indeed, he is fast becoming an anti-saviour, having engendered more resentment in a shorter time than any of his PC predecessors.

 He is not to blame. Indeed, he positions himself as faultless and his government as having been sent by some divine process to “save Alberta”. The fact that almost all the people around the cabinet table conspired to get us into the situation we now need saving from is ignored in the new rhetoric of “Prenticism”.

He is strategically naïve. He is presenting himself as a strategist, yet his policy positions are imported (cut Government, promote austerity, ensure the rich are happy) – which is no strategy for Alberta. What Alberta needs is honest straight-talk – without looking in a mirror – a systematic, results based approach to budgeting, selective and strategic budget reductions in Government departments, a rethink of health care, strong devolution in education (massively reducing the role of Government and trusting school boards and schools), a new regime for revenue which follows the advice of the Premiers Council on Economic Strategy and a much more effective, transparent and engaging system and process of governance for Alberta. His strategy – import Republicanism and take a shotgun to the budget rather than a snipers rifle – is not a strategy at all.

He is not a leader. Genuine, authentic leaders engage and inspire. He has enraged and created despair amongst those who have spent their life rethinking Alberta and trying to help Alberta communities and Government become the Alberta the world needs to see.

So that is what I think we know about our Wildrose Premier. He does dress well, is articulate and seems to be a stable and mindful person. I am sure he genuinely believes he is doing the right thing. The trouble is, it is not right for Alberta.

Alberta is One of The Wealthiest Places on the Planet - Why Do We Have a Financial Crisis?

Let us get one thing clear. Alberta is a very wealthy place. Here is a table of GDP per capita for each Canadian Province / Territory and the UK (source Statistics Canada and Gov.UK)

State / Province	GDP/Capita (US$) 2014
UK	36,202
Canada	41,889
BC	47,590
Alberta	80,516
Saskatchewan	72,156
Manitoba	45,970
Quebec	44,428
Ontario	49,940
Newfoundland and Labrador	65,958
Nova Scotia	40,473
PEI	37,967
New Brunswick	41,723
Nanuvit	65,222
Yukon	72,880

We have more than twice the tax room of the UK, yet our Government behaves as if we are “maxed out” on taxation for corporations, individuals and resources. While all agree that services should be provided as efficiently as possible, almost no one agrees that this should be the only way in which Alberta responds to the incompetence of the present Government (which got us into this mess by not thinking clearly about its dependency on royalty revenues).

Part of the problem is that the GDP/per capita figures masks the rising nature of inequality in Alberta. We have a growing number of working poor, poverty is rising and women, FNMI, recent immigrants and those facing energy poverty get hit hard by rising prices and the cost of housing. Those at the top of the pile want to preserve the status quo (and they bankroll the present government), those at the bottom of the pile have no voice.

This is why the current debate about budgets and the role of Government is so important. Wildrose Premier Jim Prentice has a chance in a generation to fundamentally change the paradigm and do the right thing. From all he is saying, he will keep the paradigm and reinforce its key idea: let the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and we can screw the middle class (especially the public servants). This is pure Republicanism come to Canada. It is the tragedy that is about to happen in Alberta.

There will be fancy rhetoric, all sorts of doom and gloom and all sorts of promises that “front line services will not be impacted by any of our decisions”. Its all a smoke screen for what is about to happen. Just follow the money – see who wins and who looses.

It is “trickle down” economics with a touch of austerity and a big dose anti-professionalism. Klein-Smart. It is the new Republicanism, the new cocktail for the rich. All of which we have clear and compelling evidence that it will not work and is more likely to make things worse than better.

What is interesting is that we have no opposition to speak of. No alternative to vote for in the snap election that Wildrose Premier Prentice seems likely to call. This too is part of the new Republicanism – we replace monarchy with monarchy and call it something else.

Alberta is in trouble. It need not be. But it is. Will anyone offer to save us from the new WIldrose Premier?

Who is Wildrose Jim Prentice Listening To?

Lets ask a simple question. When the Wildrose Premier of Alberta says “he is listening to Albertan’s” who is he actually listening to?

We don't really know But we can guess. Given that he has ruled out all of the solid recommendations of  all of the leading economists, including the very smart people associated with the Premiers Council on Economic Strategy, we know he is not listening to those who have studied the problem.

We also know that he is not listening to those who have day to day direct contact with those Albertan’s most in need. That would be social workers, health workers, teachers, community development workers, foster care parents, mental health workers, First Nations outreach workers. The fact that he says that many of these are overpaid (he never says the same about bankers, oil and gas executives, engineers, and corporate executives) tells us he is not talking to them.

Nor is he listening to the growing number of poor people in Alberta. Nor is it possible that he is really listening to single parent mothers, the growing number of working poor or those who struggle with three jobs to pay rent, put food on the table. He is not listening to Public Interest Alberta or the Parkland Institute who champions the issues faced by these people.

So who is left? Well his own caucus members feel “left out”, at least according to some. He is not sitting down with the NDP, whoever remains in the Liberal Party or the Alberta party and asking “what can we agree to do which will really transform our economic position and end our dependency on oil and gas revenue?”.

So I am left with the working assumption that he is listening to a select group of oil and gas executives (and their bankers) who are telling him to keep their taxes low, to keep royalties crazy  low, not to introduce any new taxes on sales and to argue that all of this is in the name of “competitiveness”. I also think he spends his evenings in an echo chamber listening to himself.

This is why we have the broken Ralph Klein message and really poor thinking. This is why we are going to see conflict between those with power and those without. This is why he will take on the public intellectuals who challenge him and the bloggers who will be key to laying out an alternative narrative, given that our political opposition seems “dead in the water”.

No doubt a response to this will be that we are surveying Albertans. Really. Look at the questions NOT ASKED in that survey and, more significantly, read the last statement on the survey which makes it a political statement.  Also, ask what difference these surveys will make to the policies which come out of the echo chamber.

As one of my respondents has suggested, we are past the time of trying to help the Wildrose Government and Premier hear us, we need to start using street politics to get them to understand just in how many ways they are misunderstanding Alberta.