Feb 05 2012
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Canada

Women in Politics

There was a lot of talk this weekend on the twitterverse on the lack of representation of women in the House of Commons. Paul Dewar, who is running in the NDP leadership race, released his policy paper on more equal gender representation in our democratic institutions by having women fill at least half of Cabinet, tying public funding to the number of women candidates political parties attract and making the Status of Women as a full government department.

This segment between Sam and Ainsley on the West Wing sums up a lot of my feelings on this topic:

By having quotas or affirmative action, we’re dealing with symptoms of the problem and not the root cause. And unfortunately, sometimes a turnover of a generation is needed to make large strides in an issue like women’s rights. My sisters and I are incredibly lucky to tread the paths that were blazed by our foremothers, and we do have it better. When we choose to stay at home and be the primary parent, its a choice that we make for our families rather than a default that is expected of us. When we’re in the boardroom, we don’t need to be aggressive for others to take us seriously but would rather be using our natural talent for compromise to get consensus and can be assertive without being called a bitch.

I know a lot of my  friends will disagree with the second half of this sentence but for me, being a woman is like being of Indian descent- I was born that way and don’t deserve any different treatment (positive or negative) because of these traits. I would much rather you like me or not based on who I am and judge me based on what I’ve done. As a woman interested in politics, I have seen the way women candidates get treated and the comments made in backrooms, which can fill the spectrum from insipid to insulting. Some of these are by other women. Sometimes it makes me happy that these women don’t think of womanhood as one big exclusive sorority party in which we all have to stand together. By playing the gender card less often, people get judged based on ability and not by the stereotype developed around their gender identity.

Glass ceilings are cracking and women are running countries as well as Fortune 500s. Let’s not chalk this up to being from a woman, but rather because these people have been gifted, insightful and hard-working. Let’s get closer to the day when our daughters and sons will be incredulous that people were judged on anything but the inside…

Note: The reason this post more or less took the whole weekend to write was because I got distracted by family dinners and the Superbowl…  Woah, fulfilling both gender steorotypes FTW!

Jan 30 2012
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Uncategorized

#3thingsthatItrytoliveby

Disclaimer: My thanks goes out to all who have allowed me to be influenced by them and thus beg/borrow/steal their ideas.

I had a lovely conversation a few weeks ago about the frameworks and values we use to evaluate our world and how it affects our perspectives. I’ve always tried to live my best life now and be a highly effective person (and a myriad of other self-help book titles) but sometimes, the values that build our metanarrative are a lot simpler. I realized that mine could be easily packaged into three words, a simple mantra that could (in l33t speak) help me level up and not live just another ordinary life.

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I needed to write a blog about this, just to be able to hold myself to account. So here are my #3thingstoliveby:

  1. Humility: This ethos goes down to the very core of who you are as a person. Only with having the humility and self-awareness to know who you are as a person can you build on your strengths and mitigate your weakness.
    At the risk of sounding like crotchety old woman, I think this is one value that my generation doesn’t seem to grasp. We’re all raised to think that we’re unique little snowflakes whose every word is a winner. One of my favourite new quotes sums up this phenomenon quite nicely: “Even if you are one-in-a-million, there are 7000 others just like you.”
  2. Honesty: Seems like a simple tenet to live by but can be a very charged concept as it reflects who you are to the world. Honesty is not a one-time act but rather a way of life which only gains credibility with consistency. It means saying “I don’t know” and “I was wrong” and believing that those admissions are going to grow you, rather than cripple you.
  3. Hunger: As a first-generation Canadian, I’ve seen my parents’ work ethic and I’ve seen the rewards that it brings. (Like seriously, who actually buys their house outright anymore?! Apparently, my parents do.) Coupled with the first two points, hunger acts as the engine that can propel you forward in the right direction. Without ambition, intelligence and creativity seems to be forever condemned to stay in its pretty plastic packaging.

So there you have it. Good luck to you for taking advice from a twentysomething!

Nov 23 2011
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Budget, Calgary

Governing in Prose

I spent the better part of my Monday following City Council’s public hearing on the 2012-2014 municipal budget- on twitter, through webcasts and in person. A lot of the budget was familiar; nonetheless, it was very interesting to hear all the different perspectives

So here are the three things of note on the budget for me:

1) The thing I wish I had seen some more of: Benchmarking.

We had a lot of benchmarking that showed the past performance of a particular business unit but not enough on how we fare compared to other cities. I think that we have a comparative advantage with our low tax rates (which leads to overall levels of affordability) as well as a great service value for what we pay. But that’s based on anecdotal evidence at best. We need to see the quality of the service we provide as a City to evaluate whether or not we need to continue funding the service.

2) The term that was most misused: Efficiencies.

As my friend Chris Harper mentioned, efficiencies are found in the process and not in the budget. You find cuts in the budget. I think we also use efficiencies as a catchall phrase for effectiveness and efficiency- both of which are great guiding principles but has to be used in the right place to achieve the right objectives

3) The thing I wish more people had caught on to: Payoffs.

Like a true econ nerd, I think of the budget in terms of payoffs. Of course, we could all choose to pool all of our money and have the City provide every service under the sun but I don’t think that option is available to us. I think we need to change our thinking on some of the City’s processes and find some savings that way, but the vast majority of the difference that can be made in such a mammoth budget is through raising the revenue or making significant cuts. Though each expenditure can be justified by the paltry amounts it comes to for each household or resident, the underlying principle of fiscal responsibility is compromised. We as a city have to know what our equilibrium point is: how much are we collectively committing to pay and for what?

Nov 16 2011
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Calgary, Middle East, Montreal

Protesting to Uphold the Right to Protest

As a newly minted adult, university is an exciting place to be, with its freedoms and challenges and fascinating people. For most of us, its the place where we came into our own. My own alma mater of McGill University was all these things and more, which is why I was a little shocked to hear about riot police coming on campus, assaulting and arresting students who were protesting by occupying the Principal’s office.

A part of this wonderful democratic experience we call the Western civilization is the right to peacefully congregate and protest. And the fact that this right seems to have been violated while on the grounds of an academic institution dedicated to intellectual honesty and challenging what is known is more than a little ironic.

Movements like the Arab Spring and the more recent Occupy Wall Street  (which has since then taken the rest of North America by storm, including my fair city) has made reflect a lot about engagement and the right to protest. Even my birthplace of Kuwait has not been immune, with protesters storming the parliament building demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister (a member of the ruling family)- an action that has been hitherto unheard of. I think that unhappiness with the status quo (be it higher tuition, corporate greed or an autocratic regime) requires people to express their dissatisfaction in a way that promotes constructive dialogue.

I think the student body (and staff) at McGill had the right response. On Monday, many from the wider McGill community (undergrads, staff, grads, profs, etc) gathered together under the umbrella “We are All McGill” to protest the presence of riot police on campus. With a schedule and everything! By gathering people together to protest the treatment of students by the riot police who stormed campus (not sure where McGill Security was in all of this), I think this community showed that they are not going to shy away from asking the tough questions and demanding answers. For when we lose the ability to ask our questions, I think we take a huge step back in our collective human progress.

Disclaimer: While most of what I write is based off of other accounts (ie. the news), I have used first and second hand accounts on the McGill protests from people who are still a part of that community. Any bias is on my part and not theirs.

Nov 13 2011
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Alberta, Canada, Environment, Oil & Gas, United States

And All for None

This weekend, the Keystone XL decision came back with the recommendation to have a new environmental assessment, which essentially means that TransCanada needs to go through the 2-3 process all over again. The comment that my cousin once told my motley crew of friends after failing to do something classy yet again seems to ring true: “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

For the United States, the “nice things” of stable supply of oil from their closest ally (in distance, culture and regulatory climate) won’t materialize, while for Canada, the dream of a pipeline from northern Alberta to the southern US and all the revenue that would have come with it will not materialize for a while yet.

The troika of an upcoming election, NIMBYism and forceful environmentalism ensured the pipeline wouldn’t be approved for the end of this year. While it won’t change American energy habits or save the environment, it can change the way that Canada trades with the world.

Before I start sounding like I cut down rain forests in my spare time for fun, I just wanted to say that as an individual, I weigh my choices through the environmental lens all the time through actions like carpooling/transit, less red meat and lower electricity usage.

But I don’t think that we as a society can continue to consume energy like its going out of style and then demonize the people who produce and transport said energy. We can’t protest just for the sake of protesting and then wonder why we didn’t make change. Just like in the international marketplace, you can’t be for free markets on the way up and then protectionist on the way down.

Even though it seems that most of the Calgary oil & gas companies were counting on Keystone to be the path to send more of our energy exports down south, this decision might actually be a blessing in disguise. Though this horse has been beaten to death, the future of the global economy lies in the developing world and their rising middle class. Canada needs to look to other markets (eastward, westward, and more southward) and projects like Gateway will help us to slowly move all our eggs from the Star Spangled basket.

Nov 11 2011
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Calgary, Canada

Lest We Forget…

This past week at work, I’ve been blessed to hear some personal stories of grandfathers and uncles who were in World War II. With Remembrance Day around the corner, these stories were poignant and inspiring, focused on sacrifice for a cause bigger than themselves.

Coming from a South Asian background, I’ve always been in awe of these stories from my friends of European descent. My family’s history has been far removed from fighting and bloodshed which makes their stories even more fascinating. But the more I dwell on it, the more I realize that these stories of believing in a cause enough to put yourself on the line is a part of all of our history. As a Canadian, we have a strong legacy of making the ultimate sacrifice to protect lives and values that align with peace.

For me, Remembrance Day isn’t just about remembering those who have gone before us to fight for our freedoms but also the ones who continue to do so today to maintain peace around the world. The world is growing ever smaller and no longer do the challenges of human suffering like wars and famines remain contained by national borders.

I know some of these men and women who are serving in uniform in some of the diciest parts of the world. Amazing people who didn’t have to do this but couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Though I think of them often, there is something powerful about setting aside a day for collective remembrance.

In Calgary alone, there are many reminders of their sacrifice. Take a drive down Memorial Drive and look around. As we lament the war-dead, let us honour their memories through the pursuit of peace and bring every soldier home.

“They shall beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up swords against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.”

Apr 09 2011
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Pakistan, United States

Joints Out of Place

A decade ago, Pakistan was touted to be the ally that the United States needed to intervene in Afghanistan to dismantle al-Qaeda in response to the 9/11 attacks. Now, all joint operations between the ISI and the CIA are on hold.

The ISI, as the de facto rulers of Pakistan, must have been none to please to hear about CIA contractors in their own backyard. But its a little naive to assume that this is a surprise. US-Pakistan relations have been fraying a for awhile now, compounded by the fact that while the Americans have been trying to salt the ground in Afghanistan in terms of terrorist threats, Pakistan has been allowing these influences to flourish. Pakistan’s democratic-autocratic cycles has given root to anti-democratic, hyper-Islamist factions that not only threaten Pakistan’s own national security (without which Pakistan can’t really cultivate economic growth or steady foreign investment- both necessary to integrate the country into the international political economy). With not being able to berate or convince using force, Pakistan and the US remains at a stalemate.

It must be incredibly frustrating to continue supporting an entity that uses the cover of an alliance (Karzai, anyone?), especially when its costing the Americans about $1.5B in economic assistance to Pakistan to barely tolerate each other. When the government came as close to a shutdown as it did this week, the first thing that gets cut is foreign aid. It is hard to justify why the US should keep doing the same thing when there is no real improvement to be discerned. After all, that’s what Einstein defined as insanity.

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Apr 03 2011
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Afghanistan, Canada, NATO, United States

The Ugly Face of Globalization

The world is growing smaller. With advancements in technology and telecommunications, it is easier to keep in touch with people from all over the globe. Businesses seek to be multinational corporations and capital markets seek to extend their reaches to new places.

While there are some that think that globalization tampers with sovereignty and growth, I welcome it for many reasons. In particular, I really like the idea that people can learn from the counterparts in another part of the planet, to come up with new efficiencies and networks that alleviate the human condition. The Quran burnings in Florida stands as a pungent antithesis to this idea of collaborative understanding.

An act of bigotry in one part of the world caused the loss of lives in another, not to mention an undoing of any progress that had taken place in Afghanistan over the last few months. In a race to the bottom, the people of this “church” burned a holy book in a show of extreme intolerance, which was then used as an excuse to kill people (including UN employees who are, by virtue of their position, neutral bystanders).

Fueled by emotion, the mob was able to overwhelm UN guards who chose not to fire on the crowd. Preying on these same emotions, extremists are sure to have a recruiting field-day. It also jeopardizes  the NATO transition process to the Afghans, highlighting just how much of the country remains on the precipice of instability. For countries like the United States and Canada that have already invested so much into the Afghani reconstruction effort, there are lessons to be learned in terms of how ordinary citizens can thwart a national strategy.

When it comes to foreign policy, I think both countries (USA and Canada) have down a bad job of explaining why being involved in Afghanistan is important. No country is a closed network any more with ripples in one part of the world causing big waves in another. Involvement in foreign affairs is for selfish reasons of national security but also to spread more stability through the international system by creating provisions for some sort of liberal democracy. By showcasing the intolerant parts of our democratic system, we just end up winning enemies against our best interests.

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Mar 15 2011
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Middle East

The Fall’s Gonna Kill You

Has anyone noticed that Libya and the democracy movements in the Middle East (or really, anything anywhere else) have all dropped off the media cycle? With the tragedy playing out in Japan, from thousands still missing to fifty people working to contain radioactive nuclear waste, its understandable that people get desensitized and/or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of horrible things that happen around the world.

A quick look at the BBC website tells me that among the things that got buried in the last 24-hours include continuing violence in Libya, dismantling the internal security agency in Egypt and a massive outbreak of cholera in Haiti. In a world in which consequences are interconnected and the attention of the international community is needed to prevent some situations from getting out of hand, it feels like there are too many fires and not nearly enough firefighters.

One response is to be passive and just let circumstances wash over you. The active response requires people to take a stand and take their leaders to task. By remembering the foreign policy commitments our heads of state have made to make the world we live in a safer place that contains security and human rights, constituents can help make sure that leaders need to do what they said that they were going to do- mainly to lead. Leadership is about making tough decisions even though they may be unpopular or difficult, such as committing scarce resources on focusing on sanctions or possible intervention in Libya before the unrest escalates throughout the region (see Bahrain- extremely worrisome due to the Saudi involvement). Though it may not be easy, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice short-term victories to achieve long-term goals.

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Mar 14 2011
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Nuclear

NIMBYism Everywhere

With my two subscribers wondering what I was up to, I’ve decided to triumphantly return to the blogosphere. With my work dealing mostly with municipal issues and my favoured writing involving only 140 characters or less (follow me @priyanKaruvelil if you like West Wing/Star Trek/Star Wars references and Calgary politics), I thought it might be time to renew my longer writing on International Relations.

With events happening in Egypt and Libya being squarely in my area of interest, you would have thought that I would have started blogging sooner. But no, the thing that got me riled up enough to write was all the misinformation about nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Japan.

The taboo around the “nuclear” term is a double-edged sword- on the one hand it has kept an all-out devastating world war from breaking from more than half a century, while on the other it has prevented us from fully utilizing a clean energy source.

It is imperative that nuclear energy needs to be a part of a smart energy mix (just like renewable resources need to be used in this mix), especially for a country like Japan that doesn’t really have any energy resources to maintain self-sufficiency. Other than the obvious takeaway of not building volatile infrastructure on major fault lines, its not reasonable to equate the unfortunate circumstances to a death knell for nuclear energy everywhere.

By playing to people’s fears of a nuclear meltdown (think Three Mile Island), it’s very easy to call for reactionary actions with regard to nuclear energy, which for the most part is stable and clean (though I don’t think it will ever be a perfect alternative for most conventional sources of power). All that does is set us back in our need to address climate change and issues of growing economies like Brazil, India and China that end up using dirtier fuels because of their low cost points.

Energy needs are a vital component for economies to flourish, without which it is hard to maintain a military or secure a border. With energy security becoming a part of the security nomenclature, one can’t discount the importance of renewable fuels to maintain strong and stable states. Because the alternative is much too costly to sustain.

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