Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

In 2008, Prime Minister Harper apologized for the shared government and church-run Indian Residential School System. As part of that apology, an independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission was struck, using a model practiced by only a handful of countries worldwide. Its mandate runs through 2014, and in June and July it will hold local public hearings in Alberta- hearings where former students and others will stand before us and tell their stories. What does this kind of courage have to do with Albertans and Canadians? What is the TRC trying to address, and why? Should we care? Should we attend? This presentation will address these questions, and invites you to bring your own. Speakers: Julie Graham and Mike Frank Julie Graham is the human rights Education and Campaigns Coordinator for KAIROS, the social justice organization of eleven national Canadian churches and church agencies, represented in Lethbridge by an energetic local chapter. The daughter of immigrants, she is from Coast Salish territory in BC and has Mennonite and United Church roots. Graham is an educator and writer and has worked on right relations and Indigenous rights for the past 20 years. Currently her work focuses on the TRC and what Indigenous rights mean for non-Indigenous Canadians. Mike Frank is the Director of Operations for the Blood Tribe Department of Health. His background includes working as a health support worker with the Indian Residential School program, Lethbridge College Instructor and Peigan Board of Education Instructor for their Native studies programs and most recently been the Chief Electoral Officer for the Kainai Chief and Council elections. Mike is also a graduate of the U of L and a member of the U of L FNMI Alumni chapter.

The practice of enhancing physical performance with ingested substances has been around since ancient times. The Greeks were known to use a form of opium; other cultures have used mushrooms and even strychnine. But in modern times, the use of synthetic drugs to enhance athletic performance, commonly referred to as doping, has exploded, as evidenced by the recent massive doping scandals involving legendary athletes in the Tour de France and Major League Baseball. In response, a number of anti-doping organizations have been created to aggressively pursue what they regard as fairness in competition. The moral and ethical landscape surrounding doping is far from simple. How should we as society determine what are acceptable strategies for performance enhancement and what are not? The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), set up in 1999 by the International Olympic Committee to combat illegal performance enhancement in sports, defines doping as use of drugs that meets two of three criteria: enhancement of athletic performance, harm to health or safety, and violation of the "spirit of the sport". While this provides useful guidelines, there are still many complex questions to be debated in the coming years. What are the precise health risks of doping? In the race between scientists who are developing ever-more effective and clandestine performance-enhancing drugs, and those who are developing strategies to detect them and measure their risk, who is winning? How should we weigh the achievements of modern athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs against those of athletes from the past? The speaker will describe the evolution of testing procedures etc. Speaker: Tim Takahashi Tim Takahashi has been a Certified Athletic Therapist and Exercise Physiologist working in private practice in Lethbridge since 1998. He worked as a Doping Control Officer at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 in Whistler and has been a member of Team Canada’s Medical staff at multiple Canadian National Judo championships and Canadian National track and field championships. He holds a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Calgary and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Tim is a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Kinesiology and is the current two – time Men’s Judo Lightweight Masters Canadian National Champion. He currently serves as a sports injury and sports performance consultant to many local high performance, Olympic level and professional athletes at the Rebound Health Centre at the University of Lethbridge Sports Medicine Centre.

The practice of enhancing physical performance with ingested substances has been around since ancient times. The Greeks were known to use a form of opium; other cultures have used mushrooms and even strychnine. But in modern times, the use of synthetic drugs to enhance athletic performance, commonly referred to as doping, has exploded, as evidenced by the recent massive doping scandals involving legendary athletes in the Tour de France and Major League Baseball. In response, a number of anti-doping organizations have been created to aggressively pursue what they regard as fairness in competition. The moral and ethical landscape surrounding doping is far from simple. How should we as society determine what are acceptable strategies for performance enhancement and what are not? The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), set up in 1999 by the International Olympic Committee to combat illegal performance enhancement in sports, defines doping as use of drugs that meets two of three criteria: enhancement of athletic performance, harm to health or safety, and violation of the "spirit of the sport". While this provides useful guidelines, there are still many complex questions to be debated in the coming years. What are the precise health risks of doping? In the race between scientists who are developing ever-more effective and clandestine performance-enhancing drugs, and those who are developing strategies to detect them and measure their risk, who is winning? How should we weigh the achievements of modern athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs against those of athletes from the past? The speaker will describe the evolution of testing procedures etc. Speaker: Tim Takahashi Tim Takahashi has been a Certified Athletic Therapist and Exercise Physiologist working in private practice in Lethbridge since 1998. He worked as a Doping Control Officer at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 in Whistler and has been a member of Team Canada’s Medical staff at multiple Canadian National Judo championships and Canadian National track and field championships. He holds a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Calgary and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Tim is a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Kinesiology and is the current two – time Men’s Judo Lightweight Masters Canadian National Champion. He currently serves as a sports injury and sports performance consultant to many local high performance, Olympic level and professional athletes at the Rebound Health Centre at the University of Lethbridge Sports Medicine Centre.

The Progressive Conservative Party has been the governing party for more than four decades in Alberta for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that there has rarely been a viable alternative party with enough support to move from the Opposition to the Government benches. In almost every political system that employs a single member plurality electoral system the opposition parties merge into one party (or a coalition) to provide an alternative to the government. But in Canada we have done the opposite by creating multiple parties that do not cooperate during elections. So the rebirth of the Alberta Green Party is not a surprise but is it a good thing for democracy? The speaker will argue that the re-emergence of the Alberta Green Party is important to democracy for two reasons. She will argue that the most serious issues facing the Alberta economy are environmental and Alberta’s economy will be devastated if we don’t start moving quickly toward the new, smart, greener way of doing things. Secondly, she will argue that there is a deep political malaise in Alberta, as evidenced by low voter turnouts and deep cynicism about politics and politicians, that can only be corrected by doing politics differently, a main tenet of the Greens. Unlike traditional parties, the Greens put the public good ahead of advantage to the party itself, including electoral reform and cooperation with other parties. Speaker: Janet Keeping, Leader of the Green Party of Alberta Janet has a B. Sc. In Art and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both an M.A. and a law degree from the University of Calgary. After articling with the Calgary law firm Bennett Jones, Janet co-founded and became the first Executive Director of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. For twenty two years Janet did legal research and public legal education for the Canadian Institute of Resources Law at the University of Calgary. Since 2006 she has served as President of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.

The Progressive Conservative Party has been the governing party for more than four decades in Alberta for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that there has rarely been a viable alternative party with enough support to move from the Opposition to the Government benches. In almost every political system that employs a single member plurality electoral system the opposition parties merge into one party (or a coalition) to provide an alternative to the government. But in Canada we have done the opposite by creating multiple parties that do not cooperate during elections. So the rebirth of the Alberta Green Party is not a surprise but is it a good thing for democracy? The speaker will argue that the re-emergence of the Alberta Green Party is important to democracy for two reasons. She will argue that the most serious issues facing the Alberta economy are environmental and Alberta’s economy will be devastated if we don’t start moving quickly toward the new, smart, greener way of doing things. Secondly, she will argue that there is a deep political malaise in Alberta, as evidenced by low voter turnouts and deep cynicism about politics and politicians, that can only be corrected by doing politics differently, a main tenet of the Greens. Unlike traditional parties, the Greens put the public good ahead of advantage to the party itself, including electoral reform and cooperation with other parties. Speaker: Janet Keeping, Leader of the Green Party of Alberta Janet has a B. Sc. In Art and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both an M.A. and a law degree from the University of Calgary. After articling with the Calgary law firm Bennett Jones, Janet co-founded and became the first Executive Director of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. For twenty two years Janet did legal research and public legal education for the Canadian Institute of Resources Law at the University of Calgary. Since 2006 she has served as President of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.

Our understanding of brain development and function has fundamentally changed in the past decade. Brain development embody much more than just the simple unfolding of a genetic blueprint but rather represents a complex dance of genetic and environmental events that interact to adapt the brain to fit a particular environmental context. Thus, it is now clear that prenatal, postnatal and early childhood experiences set the brain on a trajectory that profoundly influences not only how children learn and develop but also contribute to health and wellness throughout the lifespan. The speaker will expand on this fascinating topic and also very briefly touch upon the possible effects common drugs and injuries (concussions) may have on the brain. Speaker: Dr. Bryan Kolb A native of Calgary, Bryan Kolb has been professor at the University of Lethbridge for 37 years and was the co-founder of their Neuroscience Department. He has published five books, including two textbooks with Ian Whishaw and roughly 350 articles and chapters. Bryan Kolb was awarded a Killam Fellowship from the Canada Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a former President of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science and of the Experimental Division of the Canadian Psychological Association. Kolb is currently a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s program on Child Brain Development. His recent work has focused on how neurons of the cerebral cortex change in response to various factors including hormones, experience, drugs, neurotrophins, and injury, and how these changes are related to behaviour.

Our understanding of brain development and function has fundamentally changed in the past decade. Brain development embody much more than just the simple unfolding of a genetic blueprint but rather represents a complex dance of genetic and environmental events that interact to adapt the brain to fit a particular environmental context. Thus, it is now clear that prenatal, postnatal and early childhood experiences set the brain on a trajectory that profoundly influences not only how children learn and develop but also contribute to health and wellness throughout the lifespan. The speaker will expand on this fascinating topic and also very briefly touch upon the possible effects common drugs and injuries (concussions) may have on the brain. Speaker: Dr. Bryan Kolb A native of Calgary, Bryan Kolb has been professor at the University of Lethbridge for 37 years and was the co-founder of their Neuroscience Department. He has published five books, including two textbooks with Ian Whishaw and roughly 350 articles and chapters. Bryan Kolb was awarded a Killam Fellowship from the Canada Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a former President of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science and of the Experimental Division of the Canadian Psychological Association. Kolb is currently a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s program on Child Brain Development. His recent work has focused on how neurons of the cerebral cortex change in response to various factors including hormones, experience, drugs, neurotrophins, and injury, and how these changes are related to behaviour.

Economists agree almost unanimously that a consumption tax could help level out the peaks and valleys of our provincial revenue now tied to the price of fossil fuel. If combined with a decrease in personal income tax, a sales tax could lead to increased economic diversification while capturing spending from out-of-province visitors. A consumption tax or a revised tax system could pave the way for a balanced budget in Alberta without severe cuts to services thereby enabling future generations to take full advantage of our resource assets. Alberta is the only province in Canada without a sales tax. While not advocating for implementing a sales tax, the speaker will expand on how the introduction of a revised tax system in the province can be framed so it would be acceptable to Albertans. Speaker: Ron Liepert Ron Liepert was born and raised in Saltcoats, Sask, where his primary education began in a one-room elementary school. After his senior high schooling, he moved to Alberta, where in 1971 he enrolled in the Columbia School of Broadcasting and then worked in media between 1972 and 1980. Liepert was press secretary for Premier Peter Lougheed from 1980 - 85 and he participated as such in a number of federal-provincial conferences including the Constitutional Accord of 1982 and the energy negotiations of the early 1980s. Liepert later served as the Trade Director of Western U.S. Operations in Los Angeles for Alberta Economic Development, from 1986 to 1991. In 1991, Liepert joined Telus and was involved in the company’s negotiations to purchase ED TEL and the BC TEL merger. He also contributed to the rebranding of AGT to TELUS. Liepert spent 2000 to 2004 running his own public relations/communications consulting business and operating a childcare centre in downtown Calgary. Returning to his interest in politics, Liepert sought and won the riding of Calgary-West in 2004 and in December 2006 he was sworn in as Minister of Education. During his term, Liepert was instrumental in negotiating a five year agreement with the Alberta Teachers Association and resolving the longstanding unfunded pension liability issue. Following the general election in March 2008 Liepert was appointed Minister of Health and Wellness. During his term as Minister the government streamlined the provincial health system incorporating all the regional health authorities into one. In January 2010 Liepert was appointed Minister of Energy for the province. He led the competitiveness review of the oil and gas industry which resulted in the changes to the royalty structure that is in place today. Following the PC provincial leadership campaign, Liepert was appointed Minister of Finance in Oct 2011 by new Premier, Alison Redford. He served in that role until May 2012 when he did not seek re-election.

Economists agree almost unanimously that a consumption tax could help level out the peaks and valleys of our provincial revenue now tied to the price of fossil fuel. If combined with a decrease in personal income tax, a sales tax could lead to increased economic diversification while capturing spending from out-of-province visitors. A consumption tax or a revised tax system could pave the way for a balanced budget in Alberta without severe cuts to services thereby enabling future generations to take full advantage of our resource assets. Alberta is the only province in Canada without a sales tax. While not advocating for implementing a sales tax, the speaker will expand on how the introduction of a revised tax system in the province can be framed so it would be acceptable to Albertans. Speaker: Ron Liepert Ron Liepert was born and raised in Saltcoats, Sask, where his primary education began in a one-room elementary school. After his senior high schooling, he moved to Alberta, where in 1971 he enrolled in the Columbia School of Broadcasting and then worked in media between 1972 and 1980. Liepert was press secretary for Premier Peter Lougheed from 1980 - 85 and he participated as such in a number of federal-provincial conferences including the Constitutional Accord of 1982 and the energy negotiations of the early 1980s. Liepert later served as the Trade Director of Western U.S. Operations in Los Angeles for Alberta Economic Development, from 1986 to 1991. In 1991, Liepert joined Telus and was involved in the company’s negotiations to purchase ED TEL and the BC TEL merger. He also contributed to the rebranding of AGT to TELUS. Liepert spent 2000 to 2004 running his own public relations/communications consulting business and operating a childcare centre in downtown Calgary. Returning to his interest in politics, Liepert sought and won the riding of Calgary-West in 2004 and in December 2006 he was sworn in as Minister of Education. During his term, Liepert was instrumental in negotiating a five year agreement with the Alberta Teachers Association and resolving the longstanding unfunded pension liability issue. Following the general election in March 2008 Liepert was appointed Minister of Health and Wellness. During his term as Minister the government streamlined the provincial health system incorporating all the regional health authorities into one. In January 2010 Liepert was appointed Minister of Energy for the province. He led the competitiveness review of the oil and gas industry which resulted in the changes to the royalty structure that is in place today. Following the PC provincial leadership campaign, Liepert was appointed Minister of Finance in Oct 2011 by new Premier, Alison Redford. He served in that role until May 2012 when he did not seek re-election.

Science fiction and science are deeply intertwined. From the space race to nanotechnology scientists are following the predictions of science fiction. This talk will discuss how science fiction has predicted and influenced science and technology. Prof. Jason Donev from the University of Calgary will provide a whirlwind tour of science fiction in books, movies and television and how our world is different as a result. The talk will also explore how Star Trek, H.G. Wells, Michael Crichton, and even CSI influence how we look at science, technology and scientists. Speaker: Jason Donev Dr. Jason Donev is a professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary. He studies how people learn science and teaches about energy issues, especially nuclear power. A long time geek he has enjoyed seeing the interplay between science fact and science fiction. Dr. Donev is also the official mad scientist for the Canadian science fiction and fantasy publishing house, Tyche Books.