Kyle Harrietha nominated as Liberal byelection candidate for Fort McMurray-Athabasca

Big news out of Northern Alberta, where on Saturday evening in a contested nomination, my friend Kyle Harrietha was nominated as the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate for the upcoming by-election in Fort McMurray-Athabasca.

The vacancy was created when Conservative MP Brian Jean decided to call it quits early after a period of thoroughly uninspiring representation in Ottawa (remember the crosswords?). For all the talk of supporting the oil sands we get out of the Conservatives, there are huge pressing infrastructure issues in the region that the feds have ignored, and the concerns of local indigenous populations have also been paid little attention.

The byelection, whenever it is called, will bring these issues into national focus, and I can think of no one better to carry the Liberal banner than Harrietha. To support his campaign, make a donation to the Fort McMurray-Athabasca Federal Liberal Riding Association today.

Below is the speech Kyle made to the nominating meeting last night. Good luck Kyle! Looking forward to paying a visit during the campaign.

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Hello Everybody

It’s great to be here today and see so many new Liberal Members from across Wood Buffalo.

My name is Kyle Harrietha and I’m here to ask for your support and your vote as I seek the Liberal nomination for Fort McMurray—Athabasca in the upcoming by-election.

I’d like to begin by thanking Bill Loutitt for nominating me today.  I’m humbled by your support and I appreciate your friendship.  I’d also like to thank Chris Flett for putting his name forward for the Liberal nomination. It’s no small thing to allow your name to be on a ballot and I commend Chris for his commitment to this community and the Liberal Party.  Regardless of the result, this is a contest among friends, and I’ll certainly be there to support Chris in the upcoming by-election if the outcome today is in his favour.

As an active resident in this community which I love and call home, I believe we need a strong presence in our nation’s capital dedicated to ensuring our government makes a difference across our region. I’ve spent 16 years working for responsible and sustainable development — a just society that respects Aboriginal and minority rights, and accountable, fiscally responsible, transparent government.

I spent 7 years on Parliament Hill as a legislative and executive assistant for several Liberal Members of Parliament. I’ve also worked extensively on parliamentary committees including the Environment and Sustainable Development committee and Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics committee. I have a proven track record working for local non-profit organizations including the Cumulative Environmental Management Association where I spent 5 years as an Administrator for the Reclamation Working Group which develops guidelines for mine site reclamation. And I’m currently the McMurray Métis General Manager where I oversee an organization of seven staff and more than 300 members dedicated to pursuing the advancement of the Métis people of Northeastern Alberta.

A Member of Parliament is expected to advocate for local interests, address the concerns of residents, help in the creation of laws, and examine the work of our government and how it spends our money. Our previous Conservative Member of Parliament, who walked out of the job before his contract with voters was done, reduced his duties to taxpayer-funded mail outs with crossword puzzles and attack ads.  His only commentary involved finger-pointing at the failings of other levels of government while remaining silent on the Conservatives’ lack of action addressing federal issues affecting the future of Northeastern Alberta.  He even claimed the most pressing issues facing this community are largely out of federal hands.  Once you start working through the list of federal issues not being addressed, it’s obvious that’s false.

Our oil sands are the heart of Canada’s resource development industry and underpin hundreds of thousands of jobs, and yet, as Justin Trudeau has stated, the Conservatives have failed to move the yardsticks on one of the most important infrastructure projects in North America — the Keystone XL pipeline; which would ensure our oil sands get to market. They’ve also neglected to make the meaningful infrastructure investments required to ensure we maintain quality of life for residents in the face of the growth that comes with rapid industrial development.

According to an investigation published by the CBC there were over 2,600 Federal funding announcements across Canada in 2013 totalling almost $8.5 Billion. Does anybody here know how much of that was announced in Wood Buffalo or for Wood Buffalo? The answer is $0.  Not one Federal dollar was announced in or for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in 2013. Think about that.  $0 despite all the infrastructure issues and various other issues we’re facing.

When Wood Buffalo gets less money out of the Prime Minister’s Office then Senator Mike Duffy you know there’s a very big problem. And it’s not just with the old Duff.

Across the entire riding there were 3 announcements for Portage College in Lac la Biche, Wild Rose Senior’s Villa in Boyle, and a safe school’s grant in Wabasca.  Total: $11.2 million. And now the Conservative Government has the gall to demand $24-$60 million as the cost to Alberta taxpayers of purchasing or leasing the Willow Square land for our seniors. A rip-off if there ever was one.  It should be clear from those numbers alone that the Conservative Government takes this Region for granted.

The Conservatives have rolled back regulatory and environmental oversight to the point where First Nations and Métis communities have little confidence that their rights and traditional lands are being protected. This includes changes to the Navigable Waters Act taking most of the waterways in Northeastern Alberta off the list of water bodies under Federal environmental protection. And undermining Canada’s oldest Environmental legislation; the Federal Fisheries Act.  Enacted for the first time in 1868. It always used to be used to protect fish habitat.  Not anymore. And it doesn’t end there.

Trade unions have been undermined in the collective bargaining process they engage in to protect the rights and wages of thousands of workers across our region. There’s little support for the many new Canadians in Fort McMurray-Athabasca struggling with credentials recognition, a lack of support for skills training, and the ability to reunite in Canada with family stuck overseas due to our inefficient immigration system. It’s time for a change.

To bring about that change requires positive and collaborative action and a lot of hard work. It requires a Member of Parliament with a track record of working with stakeholders in our region including industry, other levels of government, Aboriginal groups, and NGOs. I’ve had the opportunity to live and work across Canada including Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta. If there’s one thing you learn when living in Wood Buffalo it’s that Canada and the world lives here. And that we’re not just building a community in this region, we’re helping to build a country.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that leadership does not begin with a select few – it must be embodied by all of us. It’s about individual responsibility, mutual trust, and accountability. We’re the party that promotes the empowerment of the many. We’re not governed by one decision maker at the top.  We’re governed by the voters who put us there. If we want real change we will need to develop policies that inspire citizens to build a better community. And we must be there to support them.

Change will require all of us talk to our neighbours as we convince them to express confidence over doubt, to pick optimism over frustration, and to choose success over stagnation. We must always stand for a fair, open, and honest approach that generates change from the bottom up – and captures the hopes and aspirations of every community. And make no mistake – accountability is a conversation not a monologue.

I’m asking you choose conversation. To chose dialogue. And to help support a campaign like we’ve never seen in our community.

Thank-you for being here today and thank-you for voting.

I hope I can count on your support.

All the best.

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Kyle Harrietha's speech to Liberals about membership

As I speak Kyle Harrietha, who I'm proud to support for Liberal membership secretary this weekend, is speaking to the nearly 3000 delegates at the Liberal biennial convention about his vision for membership and for the Liberal Party. Here's his speech, which so far I have to say he's knocking out of the park...

• Delegates…members…amis Liberaux

• Bienveue à Ottawa and thank you for your dedication to our Liberal Party.

• My name is Kyle Harrietha and I am asking for your support in my campaign for National Membership Secretary.

• Over the past 15 years I have had the honour of working on Liberal campaigns from Nova Scotia, to Ontario, to Saskatchewan and now in Alberta.

• And what I have learned is that leadership does not begin with a select few – Leadership must be embodied by all of us.

• I would like to talk about the ways in which we can empower every Liberal to spearhead the ideals that will transform our Party and our country.

• Leadership is about individual responsibility, mutual trust and  accountability.

• Yet, until now, we have allowed for the development of two parallel parties.

• A party for insiders and another for the rest.

• That…must end.

• We must commit ourselves to becoming a Party that promotes the empowerment of the many and puts an end to control by the few.

• We should not mimic the Conservatives who are governed by one decision maker at the top. We can’t wait for a messiah; it’s up to each of us.

• Real change requires policies that inspire every member to build local organizations in their communities.

• Nous avons des choix à faire. We have choices to make.

• The choice between confidence and doubt.

• The choice between optimism and frustration.

• And the choice between success and stagnation.

• We must create a fair, open and honest Party that generates change from the bottom up – and captures the hopes and aspirations of every community in our great country.

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Kyle Harrietha’s eight-page plan for Liberal membership

Before Christmas, when I wrote about why I was supporting Kyle Harrietha for Liberal membership secretary I spoke about his dedication to the Liberal cause, working for the party on the ground in Atlantic Canada and in Toronto, helping to rebuild a Liberal riding association in Northern Alberta, and working as a staffer on Parliament Hill. I also mentioned he was preparing a rather detailed policy agenda that spoke to not just his priorities as membership secretary, but to his ideas for building a more member-drive Liberal Party. I’m pleased to say that platform has now been released, and I encourage you to take the time to give it a read:

'Open Platform for Liberals' by Kyle Harrietha

Since he first sent me a copy I’ve been teasing Kyle about the length, but the fact is it’s a very detailed and comprehensive document that shows how much he has thought about the issues facing our party, and how seriously he takes the challenges ahead. Presidential candidate Mike Crawley also has a pretty detailed platform but otherwise, I think Kyle's is the most meaty on offer from any of the candidates by a healthy margin.

The platform is divided into four sections. The first focuses on “values & principles” and makes a very simple point: if we’re to be successful as a party we need to lead with our values and our principles and our members need to be able to articulate and carry those values forward. That’s why Kyle would work with members to create a plain-language “Red Book” for Liberals, a ,member’s handbook if you will, outlining our values and principles, our history, our structure, and other information to help members engage in a conversation with Canadians and grow the party.

The second section is focused on “dialogue & relationship building” and recognizes the importance of providing our members the training, tools and skills they need to succeed in whatever they wish to in the party, whether its policy development, communications, or campaign organization. Too often, I can tell you, we’re just tossed into a campaign to sink or swim and any training is ad hoc. Kyle’s proposals include creating a comprehensive curriculum for all aspects of riding and campaign management and an online forum for sharing best practices. I had no formal training before I became a campaign manager in the last election; Kyle’s proposals are very necessary.

The third section is called “transparency & integrity” and addresses an issue dear to my heart: reforming the nomination process. There will be some tinkering around the edges in Ottawa with a constitutional amendment proposed to limit leader appointments to 25 (including any incumbents he or she wishes to protect) but we need to do much more. While he doesn’t commit to supporting an outright ban (I’ll keep pushing him on that) he does suggest a number of other very needed reforms publishing all cutoff deadlines at least three months in advance, having clear and consistent guidelines for nomination candidates, make the “greenlight” process ongoing and timely and approving candidates to seek a nomination in any riding, not just a specific one. While there’s been much debate around candidate appointments, and rightly so, the secretive “greenlight” candidate approval process has been abused for years by the Liberal establishment to stack the deck for their preferred candidates. Kyle is absolutely right to recognize this process needs both serious reform and the disinfectant that is sunshine.

Finally, the fourth section is dedicated to “organization & leadership.” Recognizing the advent of the permanent campaign (well, it’s been here for a little while now but we’re catching-up) Kyle has a number of proposals to modernize our voter identification and mobilization systems, such as micro-targeting data for predictive vote modeling, continuous voter and brand research and creating an open, data-driven culture. I also like his ideas for a 36-36-36 approach to campaign organization, with planned action increasing in intensity in the 36 months, days and weeks leading up to election day. This includes a strategic communications plan utilizing our caucus members into all ridings, regular events across the country, and working with every level of the party, EDA, PTA and national, to define their responsibilities and help them deliver against them.

I think this is a great platform that shows a depth of understanding of the challenges facing our party developed from years of working for the Liberal cause in the trenches, and puts forward concrete deliverables that can begin to move us in the right direction. And it all comes down to membership: recognizing that as members we have not just rights, but responsibilities. This platform will help arm members with some of the tools we need to fulfill that responsibility, and that’s one of the reasons Kyle has my support for membership secretary.

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