Dialogue City Episode #015: Politics Beyond the Economy, part 1
Emotional. Economy. Enraging.
(Part 2 should be up later today…)
We’ve been on a long hiatus, but the frustrating election season in Alberta has reunited Grant and Jeremy, along with our newest co-host, Mel Vee, for another episode of Dialogue City.
Admit it. The 2019 provincial election has made you wonder how we are all going to get along the day after the vote, no matter where you are on the political spectrum.
The three of us sit down to talk (rather than yell, scream, or call each other names that we instantly regret right after) to talk about life, the world, and topics not limited to:
- How do we talk about race and immigration in this province?
- How immigrants are contributing (a lot) of our economy
- Social costs versus social investments
- Taking the current political, economic, and environmental climates/crises and turning them into opportunities instead
- Happiness, survival, and thriving
- And of course, as our episode title suggests, politics beyond the economy
The podcast is split into two episodes as we dive deep into topics, but we hope you consider our conversation as something more than the 30 second news sound byte and something to think about beyond the election.
More Questions
We welcome your contributions to the discussion on these questions, in the comments below.
- How can we have a meaningful conversation about environmental issues?
- How can we have a meaningful conversation about race and immigration?
- How do we properly and meaningfully balance both the short-term problems of individuals struggling in today’s economic problems versus the long-term environmental sustainability of the planet?
- Are we going to have a future? Are we going to be able to build a future for future generations?
- How do we restructure our economic system?
- Howe do we restructure our society with the upcoming environmental issues we face and with technological changes?
- Are we undervaluing and underestimating the power arts and culture in our lives, our economy, and its contributions to society?
- Will the oil and gas industry be obsolete in this lifetime?
- Are the existing universal basic income pilots comparable to what it could be in a major urban/metropolitan area?
- What kind of society are we voting for?
Groups and Resources Mentioned
End Notes
We want to welcome Mel Vee to the podcast. Thanks for taking the time to talk about the election.
You can find this episode and more on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Reach us on Twitter, Facebook, and via email at dialoguecity@gmail.com.
Show Notes
- The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (PCAA) was the provincial government that held power from 1971 until 2015 before the New Democrats took power. They dissolved (de facto) in 2017 when members of the Wildrose and PCAA agreed to form the United Conservative party. However, the PCAA and Wildrose parties still exist on paper — both with UCP leader Jason Kenney as their leaders, and both are running a single candidate in the election, in NDP leader Rachel Notley’s riding, to maintain their legal status.
- Some have commented that water could be the next big “gold” with the pressures of population growth and climate change. An example article can be found below
- The carbon tax is a tax policy where taxation is levied on direct and indirect forms of fuel or fuel consumption that emit carbon dioxide in an effort to reduce CO2 footprint.
- Methane reduction is important as the effects of methane is 25 times more powerful (over a 100 year period) as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
- An extended conversation on universal basic income or guaranteed annual income can be found by listening to Dialogue City Episode #004.
