ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Dear Listeners,
Who gets to decide?
That question sits at the heart of this week’s episode and am starting right here at home in Saskatoon. Regrets from Christina, we'll aim to be back together next week.
We dig into homelessness and the Avenue K encampment, the decision to change this year’s Point-in-Time homelessness count, and what happens when the people who are hardest to see are also the hardest to count. We look at housing, safety, neighbourhoods, protest, evidence and the uncomfortable reality that municipalities are often left dealing with the very visible consequences of systems they do not control.
Then we turn downtown.
DEED. The proposed downtown entertainment and events district ... aka ... arena and convention centre. There be a citizen petition for the city to then conduct a referendum.
Contemplating...Who gets the street? Who pays? Who benefits? When do we trust elected councils to make difficult decisions, and, when does the scale of a decision demand something more from our democracy?
In our second half, taking that same question beyond Saskatoon.
Saskatchewan is contemplating an enormous expansion of nuclear power while positioning itself for massive AI data-centre development. We look at electricity, water, jobs, public investment and beyond.
Then east and west we go. Quebec has elected a Parti Québécois minority government, reopening questions about sovereignty, federalism and what voters actually authorize when they elect a government. And, Alberta is heading toward an extraordinary ten-question referendum (!), including a question about whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the process toward a future binding vote on separation.
All while Ottawa and Alberta are joining forces behind Pacific Link, a proposed million-barrel-a-day pipeline to the West Coast being described as a project of national interest.
This raises another question, and others...
When governments say ‘national interest’, who gets to define the nation and its interests?
From an encampment on Avenue K to the future of Confederation, this episode is really about power, legitimacy and participation.
Being consulted is not necessarily the same thing as having power.
And democracy is about much more than voting. It is the architecture we build for divergence and convergence.
Have a listen. Think about it. Disagree. Agree. Somewhere else. Eat peanut butter. lol. Talk about it.
Because citizenship is not a spectator sport.
Stay curious. Stay civic.
Lenore
Civically Speaking- Saskatoon Saskatchewan's #1 show about civic issues.
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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