Alberta Climate Dialogue

(ABCD)
! A five-year project (2010-2015) exploring how direct
participation by citizens in policymaking deliberations can
enhance Alberta responses to climate change at municipal and
provincial levels
! Funding through SSHRC Community-University Research Alliance
(CURA) grant
! University, government, civil society and industry partners,
including C2D2
! Researchers and practitioners from Canada, US, Europe, and
Australia contributing their expertise to Alberta-based practice
and learning
Core research questions
! How the shape of citizen deliberation
! Choices about deliberative process
! Scale, how participants are selected, duration
! Extent of linkage to policy processes
! shapes outcomes like
! Participant attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
! Influence on policy decisions
! Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of broader public
Three deliberations
! Citizens Panel on Edmontons Energy and Climate
Challenges (2012)
! Energy Efficiency Choices (2013)
! Water in a Changing Climate (2014)
Citizens Panel on Edmontons
Energy and Climate Challenges
! From October to December, 2012 ( six Saturdays)
! Used professional polling firm to recruit 56 demographically
representative and attitudinally diverse Edmontonians
! Hosts: ABCD, Centre for Public Involvement; City of Edmonton
! Panelists heard from City representatives, industry, and university
experts
! Diverse forms of deliberation used, along with keypad voting
! Key documents: Edmontons Energy Transition Discussion Paper
and Citizens Panel Handbook
! The Panels Final Report was completed in January 2013 and was
presented to City Councils Executive Committee on April 15th,
2013
VIDEO
! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5yMpnQlUF0
Citizens Panel Some
Practitioner Findings
! Reinforced importance of values-based work in citizen
dialogue; provided the decision-making framework to
consider technical choices
! Common ground achievable with attitudinally diverse
citizens critical for political credibility
! Dual framing of energy and climate challenges created
more space for dialogue
! Benefits of practitioner and researcher collaboration
outweigh challenges
! Working Paper coming out soon (ABCD website)




Water in a Changing Climate


- A citizen deliberation that examined the
intersections between water and climate change;

- Internal aim: reframe climate change in the context
of water to round out Alberta Climate Change
discussions (shift from energy and mitigation to
water and adaptation; local focus)



Objectives
! To have an informed
dialogue, including sharing
hopes and concerns, about
the future of the
watershed;
! To identify the public
values that resonate most
on this issue, and where
there is common ground;
! To identify key areas that
warrant more community
involvement and policy
development, including
recommendations for
consideration by the
Oldman Watershed Council.
Design challenges
! Short time frame (one day
rather than multi-day
deliberation);

! No existing policy question
to address climate change
is not addressed by OWC;

! Very little direction / input
from sponsor organization;

! Alternative framing of the
issue (ie. not mainstream)

Event description

One day event held at University of Lethbridge, Alberta on
Saturday, February 22, 2014;
Informed dialogue: participants provided with background
information (climate change and water; deliberative
democracy

Facilitated deliberation (5 facilitators and 1 lead
facilitator)
33 invited participants
- Diversity across gender, age, occupation,
geographical location
AGENDA
8:30 9:00 Arrival and registrations
9:00 9:45 Introductions & Ice breaker
9:45 10:30 Guest speaker: Regional climate change
and water
10:45 12:15 Initial explorations mapping of concerns
12:15 1:00 Lunch
1:00 1:30 Presentation: Oldman Watershed Council
1:30 1:45 Overview of Deliberative Democracy
1:45 2:45 Exploring perspectives on key concerns
3:00 3:50 Developing best advice moving forward
3:50 4:30 Large plenary bringing it all together
4:30 5:00 Wrap up and conclusion
Findings/Learnings
! Demonstrated capacity to get to value based
discussions in short time;

! Focus on delivering results within set
constraints led to some tokenistic conclusions
(richness of earlier discussions not necessarily
reflected in final recommendations);

! More time required to train facilitators (gap
between self-stated capacities and actual
capacities to guide deliberative work).
Energy Efficiency Choices
! Developed in partnership with Alberta Energy
Efficiency Alliance.
! Virtual deliberation (online, with option of
telephone access). Each participant spent two
hours in one of six available sessions.
! Recruitment by Probit; 164 participants.
! Facilitated plenary and small group discussions.
! Draft report and follow up survey shared with
participant; final report to be released soon.
Research on Energy Efficiency
Choices
! Participant surveys before and after,
including issues of deliberative quality,
trust in government, political efficacy.
! Focus groups and questionnaires on
experience of volunteer facilitators,
including around training and support.
! Linking participant surveys with questions
in Alberta-wide population survey.
Questions/Discussion