This new weekly feature, called Edmonton Blog Watch, takes a look at some of the interesting, compelling or outstanding blog posts from members of the Edmonton online community. It’s a round-up, my friends, as compiled by yours truly. And I’ll be posting these every Monday morning, unless something terrible or exciting happens.

Let’s take a look at some of the insights you might have missed from last week (in no particular order):

• City and Dale’s Kendall Barber shares her experiences on a video shoot last week, though she’s mum on exactly what it was for. I’m looking forward to seeing the results of her hard work.
• Jeff Samsonow, former Editor-in-Chief of the now-kaput Edmontonian, made a poignant commentary on the recent dust-up between the Drift Food Truck and Grandma Lee’s Bakery on Capital Boulevard.
• Dave Cournoyer posted about Danielle Smith’s relationship with Mayor Mandel and the City of Edmonton. Dave says Danielle Smith’s and Stephen Mandel’s lukewarm relationship means the city has all the time in the world to develop a better relationship with the Official Opposition.
• Nadine Riopel, the Savvy Do Gooder, reminds us that being a philanthropist is more than just donating money.
• Jay n’ J posted a slider — their mini-podcast episodes — about he new movie Battleship, named after the boardgame. Jay had Gregg Beever on the slider this week. Find out if Battleship is worth the price of admission.
• Girls and Bicycles author Sarah Chan and her husband Don Iveson had their second child last week. Welcome to the world, Alice!

Image by Mack Male on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

Unfortunately, the attendance cap prevented a whole pile of people from going to check out the talks (which were phenomenal, by the way. Read my very brief comments about it here). As a result, local political blogger Dave Cournoyer created a Facebook event which he called ALEx, invite people to come out and drink in lieu of attending the exclusive (and admittedly costly) TEDx event.

Turns out the demand for an ALEx was pretty overwhelming. That’s why we’re doing another one tomorrow evening at Original Joe’s Varsity Row.

This edition of ALEx may (or may not) feature actual speakers… In truth, it’s just an excuse to drink and discuss the issues of the day with people who are interested. It’s part networking, part education, part leisure and part alcohol — hence the fact that ALE stands for “Alcohol, Leisure and Edutainment.”

Come join us for a delightful summer gathering. You’ll learn something new, and you’ll meet some great new people as well!

From my perspective, it started with the Reboot Albert discussion, manned by progressive conservatives like Ken Chapman and Chris LaBossiere. Variously disenfranchised with Alberta’s current political mix — particularly in light of Bill 44 — these guys formed part of the movement towards a post-partisan dialogue, founded on the agreement that the party system is far more than simply imperfect: it’s broken, and doesn’t engage citizens anymore.

So they sought to open a dialogue with like-minded progressives. Big “C” Conservatives would have you believe this is nothing more than a bunch of liberals getting together to whinge about politics in Alberta. They’re wrongfully dismissive of something that I believe will become a significant political movement.

That last phrase — “significant political movement” — is why I’ve decided that I will go to Reboot Alberta 2.0 this weekend (26–28 Feb) in Kananaskis.

I’m going into the event with zero expectations of an outcome. I’m trying to keep my mind open to discussion from every corner of the province, from people whose views I do and do not share. And the reason for this is simple: I’m tired of the rhetoric, I’m tired of the naysaying, I’m tired of being one of the people who feels roughed into this arbitrary political construct that doesn’t work for me anymore — that maybe never worked for me.

And I look at it this way: either I can sit idly by and let these discussions take place without me, I can scoff and criticize and speculate about the successes or failures of this new movement. Or I can get off the pot, get over myself, and find a way to contribute to the future of politics in Alberta.

That’s the choice I’ve made. And I’m excited about it.

Both Adam and I are former contributors to the University of Alberta’s very own student newspaper; I was an avid contributor and delivered papers around campus for a year, Adam had the slightly less respected position of Editor-in-Chief. Now, many of you are probably aware of our past with this institution, but you may not be aware that many of our guests are also former Gatewayers.

It’s the Unknown Studio’s Gateway rundown!

Don Iveson (Episode 2)
Ramin Ostad (Episode 3)
Scott Lilwall (Episode 4)
Cary Williams (Episode 12 – check that photo credit!)
Karen Unland (Epsiode 13)

Dave Cournoyer (Episode 9) didn’t write for the paper, but being involved in student politics makes you a frequent Gateway topic.

As an added bonus, Edmonton uber-blogger Mack Male has also left his mark on the paper.

Now I’m not saying we’re playing favourites by booking former members of our exclusive newspaper club. We are however more inclined the book them. Because we like them.

Next Time: Communication

Organized by Don Sherman, Michael Brechtel, former Cabinet Minister David King, and increasingly disengaged PC member Ken Chapman, the weekend event is billed as an opportunity for progressive-minded Albertans to work together to develop a vision for our province, and start to explore how to bring that vision to life.

When we had Dave (and Duncan Wojtaszek!) on the Unknown Studio, we talked a lot about hope for the future of politics in our province and country. Grassroots events (though I loathe the over-use of the word “grassroots”) like this are the harbingers of hope, I think. It means that regular citizens — the same ones who are forced by our political structure to vote based upon the antiquated notions of parties — are getting fed up with the way things are and taking matters into their own hands.

A lot of this is possible now because of the fantastic communication bridge social media provides.

We were asked to cover this for the Unknown Studio, but by the time I learned about it, it was too late. Fortunately, there’s a whole community of Albertans out there who are eager to be part of Reboot Alberta.

Take Edmonton citizen Michael Janz, for example:

I’m going to Reboot Alberta because I’m concerned that the current leadership is not prepared nor capable of tackling the big problems that my generation will be inheriting. We need to stop our myopic decision-making based solely on how things are today and think about how things will be in ten years, and how they should be in twenty.

Alex Abboud, a political hack in the best way, thinks the province needs more than just a little reboot:

Without getting into semantics too much, I don’t believe Alberta needs a reboot; it needs an upgrade. A reboot implies that problems exist, but the current system will suffice to handle them. I respectfully disagree. I believe the system, and most importantly, the paradigm around which we’ve based it, need to evolve. The world is changing, and what worked for us in the past is no guarantee for future success.

Ken Chapman, one of the organizers of the Reboot Alberta event, frames the concept behind this movement nicely and simply:

There is a growing sense amongst progressive thought leaders that Alberta is not living up to its potential economically, its responsibilities environmentally and it duty socially.

If you care about the future of this province, you should be in Red Deer this weekend.

Is there any hope for the electoral and governance systems in Alberta and Canada?

In short: yes.

I think we may have even gotten a few words in there about Star Trek, as part of my nefarious plot: to make this podcast about Star Trek at all costs.

Send us your comments, questions and show suggestions. And enjoy the episode!