Sergeant at Arms Tom Tait opened this week's meeting with a nod to everyone who wore a Christmas sweater to the meeting. He also acknowledged the First Nations of Treaty 7 and the Metis Nation, who came before us.
Manon Mitchell and Michael Pierson led the singing of O Canada, and this week's greeter Jill Conroy delivered the invocation.
President Rick thanked this week's volunteers Garry Moyes, Chris Marra and Bob Junker.
Club secretary Jennifer Lavier-Jankovic welcomed visiting Rotarians Ian Schofield (Rotary Club of Canmore), Rick Grass (Rotary Club of Airdrie) and Melanie Todd (Rotary Club of Calgary Millennium). In addition to welcoming this week's guests, Jennifer announced the two club members celebrating birthdays this week.
Our "Did You Know?" segment featured Christmas traditions from Rotary Clubs in Regina and Huntsville, Ontario. The Rotary Club of Regina hosted its 79th carol fundraiser that featured thirty choral groups from the Queen City and surrounding areas. Each year this event raises $15,000 for partner charities. As well, the Rotary Club of Huntsville is planning to raise $50,000 for its partner charities through its annual Christmas auction.
Announcements:
Rick Erven announced the club's receipt of an initial payment of $850,000 from the Marmie Hess estate. The donation is directed to our Stay in School programs.
Madeleine King is putting together a group of volunteers to work with Calgary Reads. This group will work with the management of Calgary Reads to determine how we can best support this worthwhile organization going forward.
George Brookman told us that while the Christmas Hampers program has achieved its $35,000 goal, we still not have achieved our internal goal of having 150 club members donate $250 each. If it is within your means to do so, please consider donating to the Christmas Hampers program.
There will be no regular club meeting on December 17th as the club's Christmas Dinner takes place at the Calgary Golf and Country club on December 18th.
Finally, the Rotary Club of Calgary West's "after hours" club is raising funds by selling bags of roasted coffee. Please contact Barbara Young if you wish to support this fundraising initiative.
The Rotary Club of Calgary invites Rotarians and their partners and guests to our annual Christmas dinner, featuring traditional Christmas fare, at the Calgary Golf and Country Club. Advance ticket purchase only; no tickets will be available at the door. The cash bar cannot process debit or credit cards, and there is no ATM in the clubhouse.
The CGCC requires mobile devices to be in silent mode.
Tickets are $75.00 if purchased by December 12th and increase to $90.00 if purchased on or after December 13th.
Beginning with our first meeting in January, we will be distributing short surveys following each Tuesday luncheon meeting. Please take a few minutes each week to tell the programs committee what you thought of each speaker.
Brian Guichon introduced Zain Velji, Vice-President, Strategy at Northweather, a leading digital marketing company. In his presentation, which he titled "How We Got Here," Mr. Velji addressed the question of the state of our political discourse. He said the result of the 2019 federal election revealed a fascinating interplay between voter mindsets and the compounding actions of the political parties to manipulate voter behaviours.
Mr. Velji shared his insights into the mindset of the Canadian voter, who is far more connected today than was the case a few years ago. Additionally, the volume of data generated has exploded. Mr. Velji told us 90 percent of the data we consume is less than two years old and that by 2022, 95 percent of our data will be less than two years old. At the same time, we are witnessing the decline of network television news and the traditional print media. As a result, people have fewer shared experiences despite being more connected than ever before.
He also described the typical approach to decision-making as making snap judgements, then rationalizing them. People value facts that confirm their biases while ignoring those running counter to them. We are becoming irrational beings who follow the dictates of our tribes, allow emotion to dictate our opinions and reach the conclusions we desire. We become more polarized as we selectively expose ourselves to media that confirm our biases, while the major news networks play to our preconceptions.
As well, people increasingly exhibit the Dunning-Kruger effect, another bias in which people assess their cognitive abilities as being better than they are. This bias occurs because people cannot objectively evaluate their competence. People also fall for the false consensus effect, in which we overestimate the extent to which our social circles represent society.
In summary, despite being ever more connected, we tune out what we don't like, treat facts as subjective, and barely understand each other. On top of that, we have unreasonably high expectations in all aspects of our lives, including our politicians. The electorate misses shared experiences, is overloaded with information, is always connected, is increasingly fractured and makes decisions subjectively, based on emotion.
Political campaigns understand the electorate very well and are adapting to a changing electorate in the following ways.
Microtargeting allows political campaigns to send contradicting messages to different segments of the electorate based on what they want to hear.
Political campaigns heavily leverage influencers to create interest without directly engaging voters.
Campaigns craft messages that contain hints of truth, making the entire messaging hard to dispute. False narratives often encase facts.
Campaigns become nimbler by creating temporary "brands" that are associated with political parties without being directly linked. Campaigns quickly discard these brands as circumstances change.
Campaigns use Internet bots and trolls to create senses of overwhelmingness and inevitability.
Campaigns weaponize polls as the quality of polling declines precipitously.
As local media erodes, opinion replaces balanced journalism, and a fragmented electorate loses shared experience and becomes polarized.
Campaigns leverage third-party advertising to carry issue-specific and negative advertisements.
Following his comments on the characteristics of today's society and how political campaigns are using this knowledge to manipulate voters, Mr. Velji shared his impressions of the recent federal election.
He stated that the "west wants in" but also wants out. Compounding the lack of representation in the Liberal caucus and the federal cabinet is the current talk of Wexit, which is beginning to drive investment away from the province. While the current provincial government is federalist, it has not taken any steps to diffuse western alienation. Additionally, messages from the west regarding what we want from the federal government have been inconsistent and unclear. The federal Liberals know the pathway to their next majority government does not run through Alberta. While Alberta does not factor into its electoral calculus, the federal Liberals must dedicate themselves to restoring national unity.
He also stated that Justin Trudeau knows how to read a map. The Prime Minister knows he must win back the seats won by the Bloc Quebecois to achieve a majority government, and he will focus his attention on making progress in Quebec. The Prime Minister will rely on Chrystia Freeland to manage and repair the relationship between westerners and the federal government.
In response to the electoral map, the Prime Minister did not include any western representation in his cabinet. The Prime Minister may symbolically appoint a westerner into a senior staff position.
The Prime Minister must rely on Chrystia Freeland to be Canada's minister of "national healing" and everything else. She has the difficult task of managing two unity crises while serving as the Deputy Prime Minister and chief NAFTA champion.
Mr. Velji predicted that the federal government would build the Trans Mountain expansion and will then sell its stake in the pipeline.
Finally, Mr. Velji predicted that Andrew Scheer would not last as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada until his mandatory leadership review in April 2020.
Following a short question and answer session, Walter Chayka thanked Mr. Velji for his informative presentation.
COG Staff - December 3rd, 2019
Editor
Craig Henderson
Photography
Ralph Lundberg
Rotary Club of Calgary - Chartered April 1914 as Club #949
Suite 305, 105-12 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 1A1
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