Edmonton • Portrait Gallery
Frustrated Ambitions
Plans for the National Portrait Gallery are on hold, likely never to materialize again.
Edmontonians got their hopes up when both Qualico Developments and local architect Gene Dub placed bids to build the gallery in Edmonton. But once again, Edmonton was disappointed.
Still, it seems strange that cancelling the project would cause such uproar (and get the front page of the Edmonton Journal.) Even if we’d gotten the gallery, it might not have made much of a difference. Sure, it would have been a nice addition to our downtown arts district, but would people really travel to Edmonton for a bunch of portraits? Doubtful. Would our arts scene suddenly become more vibrant? Hardly.
Edmonton needs to stop looking to others for recognition, and start investing that money and energy into the smaller-scale projects we can do. That’s what will make us a more vibrant, livable city. 

Alberta • Giving
Bloated Lotteries
A tightening of the purse strings in Alberta has lotteries fearing they will not be able to donate money to charity this year.
If it were any other kind of business, the slight dampening of expectations would be understandable, if not desirable. But the whole point of most lotteries is charity.
In the case of the Changing Lives Provincial Lottery, spending $25, $100 or even $200 on a bunch of tickets not only buys a chance at winning iPods and plasma
TVs, it’s also supposed to give the buyer a sense of beneficence. After all, if they lose, the money goes to deserving groups like Big Brothers and Sisters and the Kids Kottage Society.
It's too bad charities feel they need to invest in high-priced and lots of advertisting in order to lure people into giving, especially considering how much those kinds of activities can cost.

Canada • Elections
Boosting Voter Turnout
Elections Canada should be praised for looking at how to better reach voters.
The government agency will spend $900,000 on surveys, including $25,000 specifically on how to reach Aboriginals, youth and other groups known for their infrequent trips to the ballot box, according to the Canadian Press.
Some MPs are railing about misuse of taxpayers’ dollars, but considering that free elections are the cornerstone of our society and that we are seeing fewer and fewer people recognize that, $900,000 seems like a piddling sum to look into the situation.
After all, only 59 per cent of Canadians voted in the 2008 election, the lowest on record.
Elections Alberta should take note. In the last provincial election, the Blood and Piikani aboriginal groups didn’t even have their own polling station, and had to drive to the nearest town.