Linkage

A couple articles that make good reading over this holiday break:

Place still matters

Parliament will fight

La drame des régions

Decoding the Decade

Holding NB in Disdain

Everyone wants to jump ship from a losing team. Isn’t that the saying, or something close to it? Whatever it is, the sentiment also works for government in a declining region, i.e. New Brunswick.

You should be forewarned, I’m about to rant.

I had a lively conversation in a pizza place early this week about why people leave the province. (Yes, this ignores the latest figures from Stats Canada. David Campbell provides his thoughts on the numbers here.) A couple others joined what had by then turned into a heated debate midway through.

Everyone involved were from the province. All were educated at University here and all have since left. I hope it was exaggerated by the beer but their frustration with NB was deep. They lamented not being reached out to by government to move back, low starting salaries, language politics, a weak brand, few opportunities, and no economic niche. It got dizzying.

While one can have a legitimate argument about these complaints, there was a crazy conflation between what they should do and what government should and can do. They were quite firm that government creates opportunities. And to a worrying extent, that what opportunities exist in government symbolize available opportunities in the province.

If this is what students leaving New Brunswick think, we’ve got huge challenges. When I asked if they had looked into private sector opportunities and started listing companies doing cool work – Radian 6, Ambir Solutions, Vision Coaching – this had not been part of the equation. Of course, if you want to work in government policy than options are going to be limited, especially during a recession. But as far as I know this person wasn’t looking explicitly for a government job. Government has a huge interest in making it easier to find work, but it is not government’s sole problem or what should be their core competency. These non-government organizations do it well, here and here.

Moreover, to think that government should be subsidizing companies to create opportunities for youth, as was argued to me, greatly misunderstands the role of the private sector. Yes government can, should and does help create opportunities through youth employment programs and internships. But almost all opportunities would not exist without the private sector and nonprofits to do the hiring (or pay the taxes to run government). To rely on government for subsidies creates a free-rider problem that could foster less employment for recent grads as firms wait to hire until government grants them funds to do so.

I do not deny there are deep problems with how we create work opportunities for young people. Lower salary levels are a big problem. Policy discussions and hiring pitches are dominated by baby-boomers talking about the high quality of life in the province, as if the quality of life for someone 24 is the same as the 64 year old about to enter retirement.

In order to fix these things though we need to better grasp what government can and should do. And what we as individuals need to be responsible for.

Being Bold

Dave Veale, CEO of Vision Coaching and one of our Visionary Council members, made this short video reflecting on his 2009. Last year at this time he made a promise to himself to be bold. Since boldness is one aspect of leadership I thought it was worth sharing his reflections. Dave is going to be giving a workshop to the 21 Leaders in Moncton on coaching.

A Vision for the Future

[Here] magazine has a good piece summarizing the 21 Leaders provincial tour in this week's magazine. Check it out [here]. Some good quotes form the Leaders too, giving their perspective on the experience.

Networking at Conferences

I was invited by Ben Peterson, co-founder and Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights to write a post for his increasingly popular blog. He asked for a post on networking at conferences and for some silly reason it was much harder than expected to write. Anyways, it's up now so check it out and let me know your thoughts.

To : Mr Urquart (MLA), From: Female Reproductive Organs (B.Soc.sc., M.A.)

I hate it when people say that young people are not interested in politics. We are - we just don't necessarily participate in the same way as other (older) generations. Many of us may not chose to be card-carrying members of political parties, but we are certainly active by being activists, writing for school newspapers, discussing politics over a beer at the pub, and yes (dare, I say) post links on our Facebook pages. While I truly believe this, I have come to admit that we must also participate in traditional or convention forms of political participation, if we want to be spared the *sigh* Young people these days' monologues.


So, I had committed to writing a letter to a politician (and ideally, one of my political representatives) for while. But alas, procrastination and a busy schedule took-over, and it sat on the back-burner for a while, when EUREKA! Carl Urquhart used his Facebook profile to make a political statement : "Girls, we need more babies or we will never be able to support our future."


Heck, I was so inspired that I decided to start a blog where I'll post my letters to politicians. That's where you'll find my letter (warning: your French Immersion will be tested).


What Mr Urquhart told the "girls" (if that wasn't a red flag) of New Brunswick that:

1. Our (only? best?) contribution to the province is through our reproductive organs (oops, I guess I could have saved on student loans)
2. We must want to have children (or what kind of woman would we be?).
3. Men are not equals in reproduction and child-raising.

I am annoyed by posts like this one and comments linked to internet coverage of the event. This has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with reinforcing sexist assumptions and institutions. Comments like Mr Urquhart's contribute to our socializing children that men have a natural ability to be powerful politicians, and women are born to be caring mommies. This is socialization 101 : "Je suis qui vous me dites, que je suis"...I am who you tell me I am.


Side Note #1 : See my friend Marc's post on the NB Human Rights Commission panel on Pay Equity in New Brunswick.


Side Note #2: Yesterday, a male building manager from where our workplace rents, called one of the VP's the non-profit I work for "sweetie". Afterwards, when I told her "I'm glad he said that to you, and not to me", she replied "Oh, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me". To which my thought is, but it should - you should make a point of it.

Ding, ding, ding...bring on the debate.

What Do You Do With Opportunity?

How do I want our 21 Leaders to treat opportunity? By the end of the program if they're anything like Tracey Morgan we've done our job:

"They say when opportunity knocks you should let it in and invite it to sit at your table. Fuck that -- when opportunity knocks, you should take it captive. Beat that shit down. I've got opportunity tied to a chair in my basement with a ball gag in its mouth. Opportunity ain't even thinking about leaving my house. If you keep quiet for a second, you'll hear it whining."