www.ChrisLaBossiere.com

I am back from spending a week, one day at the PC Association of Alberta annual general meeting. I intend to provide a series of blog posts on my observations, but I really want to be careful to ensure I give it a lot of thought and proper consideration.

But one thing I feel needs to be said relates to my previous posts on Premier Ed Stelmach. I have been in the same room with our Premier four times in the same number of days, and have had the chance to engage him in conversation. I owe him recognition for something that really stood out for me. He has many of the character qualities that I want to see in the Premier of this Province. I am the first to admit that I find it easy to criticize the day-to-day tactics of the Government. I'm sure I'll continue to do that; but I need to be clear and say that this is a man who makes up for many mistakes by providing me with comfort in his intent.

I don't think I am alone in my observation. In fact I would argue that the 78% of PC party delegates who voted to support him in the leadership review, did so because they want to give him as much chance as possible to make some of the changes necessary, in his own way. I also saw many indications that we will see some changes sooner rather than later.

I know what you're thinking... "this LaBossiere character is a fat, hypocritical, flip-flopper". Well firstly, that was a bit harsh, and you should take it back. But also, I want you to know a little something about me:

1. I don't believe in absolutes. I may speak in absolutes when I get passionate about something, but I also try to fight cognitive dissonance. That not only means revisiting my thoughts on something again and again, but I also want to see the same quality in my leaders. If you speak in absolutes all the time, you can find yourself in a hard spot trying to defend yourself when you're wrong. (Ed strikes me as someone who maybe questions himself too much)
2. When taking the inventory of the character of a person, I don't weigh all attributes equally. We should all do that, as none of us are perfect. So if it was a recipe, I'd say one-part honesty or humility, will always be worth more than it's equal part communication skills or political astuteness.

But, rest assured, this is not me giving the PC Party or Premier Stelmach a free pass. I saw many things this weekend that troubled me about the party. I'll be blogging about those, and even offering what I think it should be doing differently. I know that you can't just intend to lead the Province, you have to do it. It's just that something tells me, based on personal observations this weekend, that the Premier also sees some of these problems.

Of course I might just be proven wrong, and as you know from my previous posts, that wouldn't be a first. Luckily for you however, you didn't vote for me, and your tax dollars are not used in the creation of this blog. So you can leave and not feel bad about the value you have received in the creation of it. If you stick around for a bit, I will have to at least consdier why reinventing the PC party might  be an even money bet vs. adopting a party that has it's origins from a Social Conservative, far-right movement.

On the topic of betting however, I am always one to hedge my bets, and will be looking forward to bringing this mindset to the over-subscribed Reboot Alberta event at the end of the month. I also look forward to the continued commentary of my other-minded friends and admired thoughts-leaders.

I have heard and often use the saying "Out of the Room, Out of the Deal". It makes a great deal of sense in many different settings, and is very pertinent when we talk about politics. Like my last post about ChangeCamp Edmonton, I have very little sympathy for politicians who were "Out of the Room". They are for the most part "Out of the Deal" when it comes to new media circles and a new engaged citizenry who are using new technology to congregate.

Well the other side of that, is the often regular occurence where regular citizens are out of the room, usually because the door was closed to them in the first place. Again however, I think there is a place for new technology particularly web-based tools like Twitter and Facebook, to force the conversation back into the public's hands.

The perfect example in recent history is the Bill 44 debate that occured last spring. I still maintain that this debate was a revolutionary shift in the way political debates are held, as regular citizens began debating in real-time, at 4:00 am in fact, directly with MLA'a who were sitting in the legislature during the 3rd reading of the contentious bill. Not only was that unexpected by the MLA's, but those of them who were not on Twitter were signing up from the floor, so they could get their words in edgewise. Frankly they couldn't resist the momentum, and mostly because of Twitter discussions that were happeneing around "Hashtags" like #bill44. This simple string of text allows Twitter users to follow anything being said about this topic, in real-time by anyone in the World. You can still see that the conversation is still alive, largely due to Twitter, and I am hoping to keep that discussion going.

So, introducing www.LiveGov.ca. A web-project that I have started which will be an EVENT based website focused on live political events while they happen. My goal with LiveGov, is to bring focus to events, even if they are private or behind walls that typical Albertans simply can't attend. I plan to use the tool to create discussion around the Hashtags used in Twitter, and I plan to also "cover-live" the events when they reach their natural culmination.

LiveGov.ca will not be a website that you have to visit often, but it will always be there between events to create the hashtags, and allow individuals (Twitter users or otherwise) to follow the conversation. Using the Twitter API, anyone can see the discussions, based on hashtag, but also post directly to Twitter from there.

The magic (I HOPE), will come during the hours of the event when the discussion is at it's peak, to get people from all walks of life to join in. Using a tool from www.CoverItLive.com, during the events, even regular non-Twitter users will be able to participate in the discussion, add comments, upload photos, videos, etc. The number one hope I have is that with enough "Tweets" on a hashtags, we will DRAG the establishment into the discussion on Twitter, and LiveGov.ca will aggregate the conversation for every Albertan to see.

The first event I plan to cover is the Progressive Conservative Association - Annual General Meeting on November 7th. If you can imagine, these are the three hashtags I hope get a lot of discussion:

• #pcagm (general discussion on the event)
• #stelmach09 (discussion around the leadership review of Premier Stelmach)
• #bill44 (furthered debate on the future of this contentious bil)

Imagine with me for a second the ability for regular citizens to participate in the debate, without having to be at the convention or even PC party insiders. Then imagine if you will that we might start to see PC Insiders and MLA's use Twitter to respond to the comments of those citizens. It might be like having the convention in the living rooms of all Albertan's.

If this is a success, I plan to cover other types of live events:

• Sessions inside the legislature
• City Council meetings
• Party events
• Rally's and protests

Using the CoverItLive tool during those events, I can easilly have guest producers and posters contribute to the conversation, and using the embed ability of CoverItLive, let them embed the discussion in their blog or website. Allowing their readership to participate in the event.

If you would like to be a live contributor to the PC AGM event, let me know and I will be happy to grant you access to the tool. If you have Hashtags you would like to add or suggest, please comment here.