These are tough times in Our Alberta. they have been for quite some time.  The “recovery” looks like it will be the unsustainable and unfair “K” model.  That’s where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle-class continues to languish no matter how hard they work. For some Albertans, they have been down so long the bottom look like up.

We can and must do better.  Can we learn from countries like New Zealand and Iceland, and Scotland too, where well-being matters and gets measured!  We are at a place, as a province and a people, where our character will matter, not just in our leaders, but in ourselves.  Is it time to move beyond the grossly misleading and data deficient GDP as a measure of prosperity?  Can we reimagine an Alberta fit for the 21st-century?

Is it finally time, where the Next Albertans could embrace the sentiments in these words of Robert F. Kennedy from back in 1968?

“The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”  – Robert R. Kennedy 1968

We have the opportunity to change. Do we have the will to really change?  If we do not dedicate ourselves to a more responsible, sustainable, fair, and future-forward mindset we are destined to a downward spiral of despair, decline, and ultimate disappearance of our democracy.