Public Consultation and Alberta Politics: What’s Going On?

The fate of liberal democratic governments hinges importantly on building and sustaining political support for their agenda. Public consultation is one tool governments may use to secure this support. Public consultation, a very broad concept, may be regarded generally as the effort political and government leaders make, to seek input or comments from non-governmental actors. Consultations may be more or less inclusive, more or less wide-ranging. They may solicit the opinions of the public generally or only of selected stakeholders (individuals or groups with a particularly important interest or concern in an issue). Public consultation also is risky. Governments may not receive the feedback they expect or would like to receive from whatever version of the public they consult. For this reason, governments may be tempted to shape consultation processes in ways privileging their preferred policy approaches. This presentation will focus on the government’s public consultation approach regarding the development of coal mining in Alberta. Specifically, the speaker will discuss the current UCP government’s communications and public consultations on the future of the Eastern Slopes, and the recent controversy over the Terms of Reference for the Coal Policy Committee. Speaker: Dr. Ian Urquhart Dr. Ian Urquhart is the Conservation Director of Alberta Wilderness Association and a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Alberta. His 2018 book Costly Fix: Power, Politics, and Nature in the Tar Sands was shortlisted for the Canadian Political Science Association’s Donald Smiley Prize, the award given to the best book published relating to the study of Canadian government and politics. Date and time: Monday April 26, 2021 at 10:00 am MST YouTube Live link: https://youtu.be/JE85PrsxKO0 In order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. Please do so well ahead of the scheduled start time, so you’ll be ready. Go the YouTube Live link provided in this session flyer and on the top right of your browser click the “sign in” button. If you have Google or Gmail accounts, they can be used to sign in. If you don’t, click “Create Account” and follow along. Once you are signed in, you can return to the live stream and use the chat feature to ask your questions of the speaker. Remember you can only participate in the chat feature while we are livestreaming SACPA’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernAlbertaCouncilonPublicAffairs/videos For further info visit the SACPA website: http://www.sacpa.ca