End The Protests Now

I attended the funeral of a good friend of mine on Oct 15. He was part of what Tom Brokaw described as “The Greatest Generation in History.” At age 15 Ernie Bagstad left small town Alberta for the West Coast to work the fishing trawlers. At 17 he was heading to Europe as a private in the Seaforth Highlanders. Ernie would be wounded at Ortona, Italy only to return to battle a few months later when he was captured and made a prisoner of war.

At war’s end he returned to Alberta, and despite his struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ultimately become a plumber. He and his wife Lydia would raise four children all of whom became contributing members of Canadian Society.

Ernie would spend his retirement at the Military Museums volunteering to lead school and Remembrance Day Programs. Ernie really was the very best example of the “Greatest Generation.”

So what is the point of all this?  I thought about Ernie as I drove by the “Occupy the Something Though We Are Not Sure What” protests in downtown Calgary.

A couple of hundred people with nothing better (read job, family etc) to do on a Saturday afternoon came out to protest something (even they can’t put a finger on it). They want no capitalism, no taxes (except on 1% of some population), debt forgiveness, high paying

jobs, a better environment etc. etc. If there 200 people out there, there were at least as many incoherent demands.

Most of us missed the gathering. We were doing something productive like going to jobs, playing with our kids or delivering eulogies.

On a day when my friend Ernie, who never asked for anything but an opportunity to work hard and succeed, was buried a bunch of whiners, many living on the government dole (paid for by Ernie and others taking responsibility for their lives), thought taking over a city street and camping out in Olympic Square was “free speech.”

It is not. Free speech is just that speech: verbally, in writing or even video. It is not taking over public space paid for by all citizens for common use. It is not marching so that taxpayers have to pay for policing, EMS and clean up. And it certainly is not living in a tent hamlet in the center of downtown Calgary.

Some say let it burn itself out. Winter is coming - that will test their convictions.

That is an insult to Ernie and everyone else who sees the opportunities Canada has to offer. We must enforce the law and end the fake protest now.

A Vision for Canada

This article was written by Preston Manning and appeared in the Globe and Mail



 Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
And what is the lesson of this little rhyme,
A lesson with meaning for us in our time?
The lesson is this and its meaning is true:
There are certain things that the state cannot do.
If all the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Cannot put an egg together again,
Is it not a false hope, an illusion, a sin
To ask civil servants to reconstruct men?

The difficulties being experienced by the British government in addressing, let alone remedying, the root causes of that country’s riots ought to remind us that governments, like everything else in the universe, are subject to limits.

In the physical world, science advises that we can’t travel faster than the speed of light, that we can’t reduce temperatures below absolute zero, and that certain physical processes once initiated – like scrambling an egg or altering the germ line of an organism – can’t be reversed.

Likewise in the political world, despite the conventional wisdom of the past half a century that virtually every problem can somehow be remedied by government action, governments, too, are subject to absolute limits that need to be more explicitly recognized and respected.

They can’t, for example, continuously spend more money than they collect in revenue, or continuously increase their borrowing and taxation levels without hitting a financial and political brick wall. This is a reality with which most governments in Canada had to come to grips in the 1990s and which is now at the heart of the debt crises in the United States and Europe.

There are also distinct limits to what can be achieved by the public services and programs of the modern welfare state – from education and health care to pensions and welfare. Important as these are, as administered by governments, they are limited in their capacity to alleviate ignorance, illness, poverty, racial tensions, spiritual bankruptcy, personal irresponsibility, family breakdown and whatever other factors contribute to criminal violence and social unrest.

Does acknowledging the financial or social development limits of governments mean abandoning such goals as economic, environmental and social security or denying that governments have a key role in achieving them? Of course not. It means seeking a new division of labour between governments and other components of society – families, communities, businesses, religious and educational institutions, NGOs and the volunteer sector – to achieve these goals.

It means enlisting the creativity, abilities and resources of what British statesman Edmund Burke once referred to as “the little platoons” in putting Humpty Dumpty together again, rather than relying exclusively on “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men” to do the job. It means adopting a more modest role for government as a facilitator of economic and social actions by other stakeholders, rather than looking to government as the prime mover without whose initiative or concurrence nothing gets done.

To be fair to the British, who invented the modern welfare state, both Tony Blair (through his New Labour program) and David Cameron (through his Big Society emphasis) were groping in this direction. Let’s hope that the British succeed, and that we can learn from both their mistakes and their successes.

Let’s also be encouraged that Canada is well-positioned to make a major contribution toward this new division of labour between its governments and civil society. We’re in better fiscal shape than both the British and U.S. governments, and recent polling shows most Canadians increasingly supportive of the concept of government as facilitator, enabler and partner.

The challenge for our political leadership is to apply this concept in concrete situations, to improving Canadian productivity through innovation, reforming health care and other aspects of social security, and achieving a better division of labour between the public and private sectors with respect to environmental conservation.

Canada Not Immune

(This article first appeared in the Calgary Beacon)

I have to admit to being a news junkie. And just like any junkie it is hard to stop your drug of choice.

On Monday August 8 even I almost overdosed on news. Between the US government having it s credit rating downgraded and the Dow Jones crashing (yes, I know they are connected) it was quite the day.

As a business consultant, and small businessman, I am always surprised just how little Canadians, and especially small business people, pay attention to the news. They seem to think that somehow we are safely cocooned in Canada and safe from the economic storms waging around us.

With over 70 percent of our foreign trade locked in with the US we should be paying more attention than usual right now. As I write this the predictions are the stock markets will continue their decline, wiping out the gains made over the past year. On Monday alone the US market lost over $1 trillion dollars in value. Oil continues to fall and gold continues to rise.

If you, as a small business person, are asking so what does that have to do with me, let me help out.

First, most Canadian small business serves big business. Those big businesses do a lot of trade with the US. If the big boys slow down small business screeches to a halt. This is even truer in Alberta where so much of the economy is tied to how oil companies are doing. Remember, oil prices are falling and that means less profit for oil companies which means less money for expansion and...less work for small business.

Small business suffers in other ways. I was in Waterton National Park last weekend. It is hardly a scientific poll but business owners told me that business was down because American tourists aren’t coming like they used to. Why aren’t they travelling? Because they are uncertain of their jobs and hoarding cash.). Who hurts the most? Small business.

Yes, most Canadians are happy and employed. However, if the US economy does not right itself, and soon, that could all change. Small business will survive – but that is just not enough.

So, start paying attention to what is going on south of the border. Their problems could be here sooner than we think.

Norman Leach is a business consultant, University lecturer and writer who lives in Calgary. His company is focussed on developing strategic, integrated knowledge for his clients.

Canadian Peacekeepers Day - Aug 7

As many of you know I am an Honourary Life Member of the Canadian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping. Each year on August 9^th we stop to remember those Canadian peacekeepers who have given their lives serving on UN duties.

The official ceremony in cities across Canada will be this Sunday – August 7^th(the Sunday closest to the 9^th). In anticipation of the ceremony our President, Ron Griffis, has sent out the following message. Please feel free to pass it on to anyone you think might be interested.

Cheers

Norman Leach

President’s Message

Canada’s annual Peacekeeping Day falls on August 9^th. It is not an official day off school for children nor a statutory holiday; it is a day for commemoration.

This date was chosen to mark an event in Canada’s history when nine Canadian servicemen were killed while on United Nations Peacekeeping duty.

They were the crew and passengers of an unarmed Canadian military Buffalo transport aircraft on United Nations service shot down over Syria on August 9^th, 1974, this remains the largest loss of life in a single incident in Canadian Peacekeeping history.

The Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping is Canada’s pre-eminent Peacekeeping Association.

Our Association holds commemoration ceremonies across Canada.

On behalf of our Association I want to “Thank” all those who participate in these ceremonies.

It tugs at my heart strings to realize that all of our Chapters and other Veterans Associations will be remembering those Canadians who have given their life in the service of CANADA.

Not for a moment am I forgetting those brave Canadians who were killed in World War I and II, there were 516 Canadians killed during service in Korea, and since 1949, up to and including today there were 272 Canadians killed whilst serving with and under the United Nations auspices. Of these numbers 157 were killed in Canada’s most recent contribution to service in Afghanistan. I am not forgetting two RCMP Officers, Chief Superintend D. Coats and Sgt M. Gallagher who were killed while on United Nations service in Haiti.

There were also four civilians killed while serving Canada overseas.

They are:

J. Thurrott External Affairs in 1954

A.Cannon, External Affairs in 1957
J. Turner External Affairs 1965 and
G. Berry in 2006 in Afghanistan.

Please do not think for a moment that August 9^th is the only day we remember our fallen comrades. On a daily basis throughout the year we remember them and keep them in our thoughts.

We can stand taller; we can stand prouder, knowing that we have made a difference in so many lives around the world.

In conclusion let me “Thank” the many thousands of proud Canadians who have served CANADA and are presently serving CANADA under the Maple Leaf and the United Nations flag.

Those Canadians killed in the shoot down of the Buffalo aircraft were:

Captain G.G. Foster

Captain K.B.Mirau
Master Corporal R.C. Spencer
Corporal B.K. Stringer
Captain R.B. Wicks
Corporal M. Kennington
Master Warrant Officer C.B. Korejwo
Master Warrant Officer G. Landry
Corporal M.W. Simpson

R. R. Griffis

National President
Canadian Association of Veterans In United Nations Peacekeeping

New Article

I was recently interviewed by Canada's New World Magazine on the topic of International Trade. They focused on my role as a director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada. Thought you might like the article so here is the link:  http://www.canadasnewworld.com/news/?news_action=view&news_id=83&ret=%2Fnews%2Findex.php

Launching for Success Overseas

Living next to the biggest economy in the world is both good news and bad news for Canadian businesses looking to expand internationally.

The good news is that the Americans are a lot like us. They have an open and democratic government, their legal system parallels Canada’s, the predominant language is English and we share the world’s longest undefended border. It is logical that the first stop for many Canadian companies is the United States.

The challenge is that the very things that make business in the US easy makes it difficult for Canadians to do business with other countries. The international trade focus has been decidedly southward. Canada/US bilateral trade is roughly $1 billion a day. Canadian companies sell more to Home Depot USA each year that we sell to France. All of our annual trade with India only amounts to 19 days of trade with the US. The US is our largest trading partner buying 75% of our exports. Our next largest partner? The United Kingdom which buys only 2.7%.

In the past the US was seen as simply an extension of the Canadian market. All of the Canadian rules seem to apply. Find a young salesperson in the company who doesn’t mind travelling, send them to a trade show, schmooze some potential customers, get home, follow up by email and sales will follow. For success - repeat the formula.

The reality is that outside of Canada and the United States these rules do not apply. International trade is just not that easy.

With the exception of some spectacular successes like Research in Motion and its Blackberry, Canadians have not done well in the larger world of international trade. We are well behind other countries which have made international trade a serious focus, including the Japanese, Chinese and many European countries.

What are the solutions?

1)      It is all about personal relationships. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney once said that “If a person does not believe that personal relationships are important in diplomacy then that person understands neither.” So it is with international business. It is only in Canada and the United States where we believe that email can replace a face to face meeting; that a fax machine can replace a handshake or bow. It all starts with people.

2)      We need more generalists. Canadian governments and educational institutions have driven us to be over credentialed. There is a degree and a designation for everything. The challenge is that to be successful internationally companies must hire people who not only understand business but know, and understand, domestic and international law, political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics and geography. Remember it is all about people not degrees.

3)      We need linguists. There is a joke heard anywhere English is not the first language. “What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. “Two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language/? North American.!” In India all university students are required study English; China is poised to have the largest population of English speakers in the world. In Europe, high school students graduate speaking three or four languages. In Canada we still fight over official bilingualism. The rest of the world has moved on. They realize that speaking the language of the customer is what counts toward success– not domestic politics.

4)      We need long term goals – and cooperation. Our competitors are in international trade for the long term. They realize you cannot plan based on the next business quarter or the next election cycle. In many countries Canadians are considered fair-weather business partners - there when business in going well – out as soon as the sledding gets a little tough. International trade requires both courage and stamina. Governments, educators and business must develop, work together on, and stick with a, comprehensive long-term international trade strategy.

There is no question the United States, if for no other reason that proximity, will always be our largest trading partner. We should celebrate, and jealously protect, the close relationship we have with our southern neighbours and ally.

However, developing new markets and new relationships should also be a national focus. Every business knows survival depends on holding old customers close and finding new ones at the same time.

Other countries understand the rules and it is time Canada really got into the game.

(THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON THE TROY MEDIA WEBSITE)

When Okay is Good Enough

It always amazes me when we try to use social policy to overcome human nature. Since the first caveman outran another in trying to get to that new fangled invention – fire – human beings have been competing against each other.

Competition is what has made our society one of the greatest in history. Competition has put men on the moon, has cured diseases and has led to artistic masterpieces. The reality is that human beings love competition and we thrive on it.

And yet the National Post reported this week that some schools in Alberta and BC have decided to cancel awards for individuals who excel in academics and sports.

In a twisted bit of logic the National Post reported one principal as saying their school had to get rid of the awards because they were actually holding back good students. 

“Someone who would usually get that award or is a strong learner will focus on the criteria and hit the checklist to get the award instead of going further with their learning,” said George Couros, principal at Forest Green School in Stony Plain, Alta.

So rather than changing the criteria to make the awards more challenging the solution is to remove them all together? Mr Couros uses another piece of strange logic to defend his decision. At his school, instead of the awards students will now be receiving regular encouragement from their teachers. Shouldn’t teachers have been doing that for the last 100 years or so?

It is not just at the elementary or high school level that this logic prevails. Multiple academic papers can be found on the internet espousing allowing students to grade themselves and each other. Some of my Univeristy students believe that simply showing up for class is enough not just to pass the course but to get an A.

All of this should be frightening to business people in any country. In the next five years 45% of Alberta’s work force is due to retire. They won’t all leave but they will be able to. For the first time in our history there will be more jobs than workers.

Who will be filling in the gaps left by retiring baby-boomers heading to warmer climes and sandy beaches? The young workers who are being taught that it is okay to be mediocre and that placing 115^th is just as good as being 1^st!

There is our future work force. People who don’t just believe competition is wrong – they won’t even understand the word. 

If it is the responsibly of schools to prepare future citizens to function at high levels (and I believe it is) then eliminating individual awards for excellence is exactly the wrong thing to do. 

In a world that is getting smaller – and ever more competitive – we don’t need kids who want to be in the middle of the pack. We need kids who want to be, and are equipped to be, real leaders.