Category: 2008 Alberta Provincial Election

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Ed Stelmach

the laws of god and politics in alberta.

With only days left in the 2008 Alberta election campaign, here’s a look at what’s making waves…


– Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock PC MLA and Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski is running for his ninth term as MLA and has released a series of hard hitting ads in his constituency. The ads from the Speaker of the House touched on hard hitting issues that matter to voters. They are highlighted in the first point in Kowalski’s ad in this week’s Morinville Mirror:

“While human beings can create laws, the laws of God must take precedence.“

– Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft is talking about bringing the Legislature on the road and back to the people.

– Tory leader Ed Stelmach has clarified his position on the 300,000 jobs that he said Kevin Taft’s climate change plan would cost.

On Tuesday in Calgary, the question arose again, and as Stelmach was formulating an answer, his communications adviser jumped in with some prodding: “Across Canada, make that clear, premier, Alberta and across Canada.”

The Tory leader then said, “Yeah, these are 300,000 jobs across the country of Canada, and that’s a small amount given the fact that 745,000 jobs rely on the oil and gas industry in the country of Canada.”

– Appointed Chinook Health Board member Donna Bier is under fire for taking out an ad using her appointed position to endorse the Tory candidate running against Lethbridge-East Alberta Liberal MLA Bridget Pastoor.

– Watch out for Green candidate Joe Anglin in Lacombe-Ponoka. I’m expecting some interesting number in Anglin’s race against Tory Ray Prins on Monday, March 3.

– Sherwood Park Tory Iris Evans got shrugged off by Edmonton Tory candidates on her proposed Strathcona Country veto on regional planning.

– 75% of Tory MLAs who responded to a Pembina Institute survey think that tarsands development in Fort McMurray shouldn’t go unchecked, something Ed Stelmach disagrees with…

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Edmonton-McClung Stephen Mandel

mandel at mcclung.

found its way into my inbox this week:

This month’s Young McClung meeting will be held on this Thursday, February 28th, from 7-8PM at the Wolf Willow Starbucks (corner of 69ave and 170st)! We will be graced with the presence of his Worship, Mayor Stephen Mandel, who will be speaking on his role as Mayor of our city and taking questions!
*Please note that Mayor Mandel will not be taking questions regarding the 2008 Alberta provincial elections.

Young McClung is a non partisan Youth political group which runs out of the Edmonton-McClung constituency that meets monthly over coffee to discuss various topics in politics.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Chris Kibermanis Conflict-of-Interest Legislation Edmonton Castle Downs Thomas Lukaszuk

cro fiasco spreads to edmonton-castle downs.

The Tory CRO scandal continues after it was uncovered that the Returning Officer in Edmonton-Castle Downs is the former Executive Assistant to the current Tory MLA Thomas Lukaszuk. Earlier in the campaign, it became public that after the current Tory government ignored recommendations by the Chief Electoral Officer to clean-up Alberta’s election system, lists of appointees for these positions continued to be generated by the PC Party and the Premier’s Office.

In 2004, Castle Downs was the home to the closest race in the province after Lukaszuk defeated Alberta Liberal Chris Kibermanis by 3 votes after three judicial recounts.

Read previous posts on the CRO fiasco here, here, here, and here.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Iris Evans

strathcona veto.

Sherwood Park Tory Iris Evans believes that Strathcona County should get a veto on the newly created Edmonton-area planning board:

That contradicts Premier Ed Stelmach’s government’s plan to allow a new regional board to make binding decisions — no vetoes — on regional land-use planning and intermunicipal transit.

“Once a regional plan is approved it has to be adhered to by all,” said the government statement outlining its decisions in December.

Evans said Tuesday county residents have always feared a waste-management facility would be forced upon them. Even though there’s no talk of such a thing, the fear lingers, she said.

So, Evans is advocating for a change to the regional planning agreement that took so long to finally become a reality over something that no one is even talking about? Keep up the good work, Iris…

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election

ed stelmach and the global zombie war.

Here’s a bit of a look around the start of the last week of Alberta’s 2008 provincial election campaign…

– Hey, Ed! You say Kevin Taft‘s environmental plan will cost Alberta 300,000 jobs. Where’d ya get your numbers? Kim Trynacity would like to know (Rumour has it that Ed’s source also thinks that Taft’s environmental plan will cause the breakdown of civilization and ignite a global zombie war).

– What would Preston think? Former Reform Party communications guru Ron Wood fires off a letter of support to the Alberta Liberals.

– Ed Stelmach pulls out the Ken Lay card in the final week of the campaign, but a Tory insider thinks Stelmach is playing from the wrong deck:

“Taft is not the problem — it’s the 18 per cent undecided that’s the problem,” the Conservative said. “They’ve got to be running a campaign in the final week to get the undecided off the couch.”

“Now that you have their undivided attention, start talking about your campaign, your candidates and what you will do. Don’t send out bulletins obsessing about Taft.”

– Some are more equal than others. Why are rural Albertans worth more than city folk?

– Keep it classy, folks. Aman Gill, Alberta Liberal candidate in Edmonton-Mill Creek, is the target of racist vandalism.

– Calgary-Egmont is the “Baskin Robbins of the Conservative Party.“

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Podcasts

new daveberta.ca podcast.

I’ve uploaded a new podcast, this time recapping Thursday night’s Leaders’ Debate.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics Calgary-Currie

alberta election 2008: calgary-currie.

Created in 1971, Calgary-Currie was a reliably Progressive Conservative stronghold until 2004.

From 1993 to 2001, Tory Jocelyn Burgener easily held this Currie for her party. In 2001, Burgener was replaced by PGIB-backed Calgary Alderman Jon Lord. Lord was easily elected as a Tory in that election. In 2004, Currie was home to a high profile race when the Alberta Liberals attracted high-profile candidate Dave Taylor, a popular QR77 Radio host in Calgary. With a strong campaign and a slight redistribution of Currie’s boundaries (taking in Liberal-friendly areas of Calgary-Buffalo), Taylor defeated Lord by over 500-votes. In 2008, Currie is seen as one of the hot races in Calgary as both the Alberta Liberals and Tories are fighting hard for this constituency…

Before he was first elected in 2004, Taylor was a well-known radio host on QR77, and had also been involved in the Feed the Hungry Dinner at St. Mary’s Cathedral and with the Christmas Hamper Program at McDougall United Church. Since being elected in 2004, Taylor has served Alberta Liberals Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister of Advanced Education and Housing. I worked closely with Taylor while I was Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students last year in fighting against former-Advanced Education Minister Denis Herard’s move to de-legislate Alberta’s tuition policy (which now allows the PCs to change Alberta’s tuition policy in a closed-door cabinet meeting, rather than allowing public debate in the Legislature). Though I’ve had people tell me that Taylor’s aggressive style rubs them in wrong way, the same people have also said that they think he’s a hard working MLA (apparently, Rod Love does as well…).

PC candidate Arthur Kent was a correspondent for NBC when he made a name for himself as the “Scud Stud” during the first Persian Gulf War in 1990-91. Kent graduated from Carleton University and worked as an independent journalist until joining NBC. He left NBC in 1992 and worked for a number of international media outlets since then. Though he benefited from initial excitement when he was first nominated as Currie’s Tory candidate, Kent’s shine quickly wore off following his faux-public dispute with Ed Stelmach (Kent is being a little more strategic in his “anti-Ed” strategy than one former Tory candidate). Kent wasn’t helped when the National Post’s Don Martin took aim at the “Scud Dud” early in the campaign. It doesn’t look like the bad publicity is hampering Kent, as he continues his campaign against Taylor (to his credit, Kent is also hosting a video blog on his website).

NDP candidate Marc Power is a University of Calgary Political Science graduate, social activist, and debater. As much as it pains me to give advice to an ND candidate, here’s my bit of advice for Power: you look like a good candidate and would probably do well in a constituency where the NDs stand a chance (ie: probably not in Calgary). Unfortunately, in this race, Power is easily overshadowed by the two high profile Alberta Liberal and PC candidates.

Alberta Alliance candidate Ken Mazeroll is a sheet metal worker who, according to his online biography, is blue-collared and proud of it. The Greens candidate is Graham MacKenzie.

Between 2004 and 2006, Currie’s population grew by 24.64%, bringing over 6,000 new registered voters to this constituency. Currie’s diversity makes this an interesting constituency: 24.1% of Currian families have income levels about $100,000 and 29.3% have income levels lower than $40,000. Also interesting is that 45% of Currie voters are between the age of 25 to 44.

Controversy!
Robin Darsi was appointed Calgary-Currie’s returning officer after he lost the bid for the Tory nomination against Kent.

Calgary-Currie 2008 Election candidates

Alberta Liberal – Dave Taylor
Green – Graham MacKenzie
ND – Marc Power
PC – Arthur Kent
Wildrose Alliance – Ken Mazeroll

Calgary-Currie Past-Election Results

2004
Dave Taylor, Lib – 5,046
x Jon Lord, PC – 4,412
Kim Warnke, Grn – 813
Robert Scobel, NDP – 468
Ken Mazeroll, AA – 348
Voter Turnout: 45.3%

2001
Jon Lord, PC – 6,922
Pat Murray, Lib – 2,667
Garth Mundle, NDP – 1,114
J. Bruce Miller, Ind – 434
Voter Turnout: 48.3%

1997
x Jocelyn Burgener, PC – 5,952
Mairi Matheson, Lib – 3,636
Liz Blackwood, NDP – 712
Jeff Townsend, SC – 610
Richard Shelford, NL – 109
Voter Turnout: 49.1%

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election YouTube

weekly youtube roundup.

Here’s a quick look at some of the Alberta 2008 election-related YouTube videos that caught my attention this week. If you come across some good ones, email me the link at daveberta.ca@gmail.com and I’ll post them next Friday.

Edmonton-Centre MLA Laurie Blakeman on CityTVs Breakfast Television

Calgary Alderman Druh Farrell endorses Calgary-Foothills Alberta Liberal candidate Mike Robinson in this video.

The PC-Elections Officials fiasco continues as CBC Calgary has uncovered another story, this time in Calgary-McCall…

Wildrose Alliance Leader Paul Hinman delivers a zinger…

And finally, the makers of “No Plan” have brought Albertans a sequel – “Money.”

Click here to check out more YouTube videos.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Leaders' Debate

alberta election 2008: analyizing the charisma hour (aka leaders’ debate 2008).

(This post was cross-posted with more comment at CBC YouCast, so check it out!)

Overall, I don’t believe that there was clear winner of tonight’s debate. To varying degrees all of the leaders looked pretty uncomfortable in this debate, though do I believe that each of them can walk away with something to be proud of:

Tory leader Ed Stelmach survived the debate. Walking into this debate, the expectations for Stelmach were so low that even if he did moderately well, it would be seen as a win for him. For the most part, Stelmach remained calm and did better than I had expected. Though he could have broken out of his cardboard form and smiled more (or shown any sign of emotion for that matter), I think surviving this debate can be counted as a personal win for the Tory leader (though not a win or the PC Party). With the debate over, Stelmach probably feels like the world has been lifted from his shoulders (until tomorrow morning when campaigning resumes, that is).

Alberta Liberal Kevin Taft tried to portray a positive image. He was calm and composed for most of the debate, though there were times where it seems like he came close to going off message. Throughout the debate it was clear that Taft was picking his fights carefully, but he should have been more aggressive in challenging Stelmach. He did his best to appear Premier-like, but I’m not sure if he was able to ignite the spark that Albertans were looking for in this debate. To his credit, Taft didn’t let Brian Mason get under his skin and only snapped back at Mason once, which was a feat considering how aggressive Mason was attacking him.

New Democrat leader Brian Mason played his role well as the relentless attack dog of the debate. Though he did spend time attacking Stelmach, it seemed like Mason spent most of the debate attacking Taft, which isn’t surprising considering that the NDP will need to take support away from the Liberals if they are going to gain any seats. I don’t think that Mason accomplished his implied goal of knocking Kevin Taft out of the debate, but I do think he succeeded in staying on target.

I’ve never realized until tonight how similar Wildrose Alliance leader Paul Hinman looks like Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Going into this debate, I didn’t really have any expectations for Hinman, but I believe he performed well and may just have succeeded in drawing a chunk of right-wing voters away from the Tories to his Wildrose Alliance.

Not invited to the debate was Alberta Green Leader George Read. Read will be releasing his response to the debate via YouTube, so I encourage everyone to check it out.

Has this debate helped undecided voters make their decision? Has this debate helped voters change their minds on who to vote for? I’d bet no, but I’m not taking any bets in this election.

Check out more reactions from Calgary Grit, ES Nation, Election Notebook, Joel Kom, and AlbertaTory.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Leaders' Debate

post-debate poll.

I’ve posted a post-debate poll on the sidebar… voter early and vote often…

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Leaders' Debate

welcome to the charisma hour! live-blogging alberta’s leaders’ debate.

Welcome to daveberta.ca liveblogging of the 2008 Alberta Leaders’ Debate.

6:28 PM: It looks like the Mr. McLean and Mr. Markusoff from the Edmonton Journal’s Election Notebook will be giving me a run for my money as those two intrepid journalists try their hand at liveblogging the debate.

Game on, Gentlemen!

6:39PM: We need change. Change. Change. Change. I think the leaders have said “change” at least 50 times by this point.

You can comment on CBC.

6:41 PM: Short commercial break… thoughts so far? After a short technical glitch, I finally have the debate on fully…

6:44 PM: For some blatantly partisan Tory liveblogging, make sure to check out my friend Blake’s blog at albertatory.

6:45 PM: Kim Trynacity asked a question to Taft about health care. Taft gives a decent answer. Hinman responds, talking about incentives for hospitals? C’est quoi? Innovative ideas… sure. Ed Stelmach is talking about a health care high school…

6:49 PM: Paul Hinman says “I agree with Mr. Mason” and tears a hole in the space time continuum.

6:53 PM: CalgaryGrit and Joel Kom are liveblogging too.

6:54 PM: This is a pretty disappointing debate so far…

6:58 PM: I’m watching the CBC coverage. Duane Bratt from Mount Royal College is on talking about the back to back health care questions. I feel like I’m watching TSN… the coverage style is fun…

7:00 PM: Segment #3 is beginning! Let’s get some more questions! “Convince the viewers that you are a leader and a strong leaders for Alberta!” IN 30 SECONDS! GO!

7:01 PM: Kevin Taft: “Charisma never built a hospital or balanced a budget.”

7:02 PM: Stelmach isn’t actually doing that bad. So far, they’ve all been cut off. Brian Mason: “My wife thinks I’m charismatic.”

7:05 PM: Phew! All the leaders think Alberta’s a great place… it’s a pretty unfair question to ask for responses in 30 seconds…

7:08 PM: Graham Thomson to Kevin Taft: Is it time for a policy to slow down the oilsands and Alberta’s heated economy? Taft gives a pretty solid response, need to pace development and respect the environment.

Stelmach is attacking Jean Chretien!!!

7:11 PM: Hinman attacks Stelmach: you’re not listening to industry, you’re listening to your heart. Brian Mason sob story… it’s about the little people, not big oil. Stelmach cares about the little people – Alberta is a beacon of hope.

7:14 PM: As I predicted, Stelmach is doing better than people predicted (which really isn’t saying much considering the expectations were pretty low). He answered the leadership question pretty well, but has stumbled on other questions. Mason has been pretty aggressive. Taft is staying collective and picking his fights, but needs to get in there more.

7:18 PM: Taft: “If you protect the environment, you protect jobs and the economy.” Taft did a pretty solid job answering the question on the environment.

7:20 PM: Stelmach is sticking to his script, but isn’t really animated. He should show more emotion.

Brian Mason is spending most of his time attacking Kevin Taft. Taft fires back at Mason for flip flopping the NDP position on emission caps.

7:29 PM: I just did an interview with Global Edmonton for a mid-debate reaction. Check me out on the 11pm news!

7:34 PM: I’m sitting with a bunch of crazy New Democrats while I watch this (including Sherwood Park NDP candidate Katherine Hay).

7:36 PM: Stelmach: “A ten year plan to get rid of homelessness is ambitious.”

7:46 PM: So far, I think Taft and Mason are doing the best, but in two very different ways. Taft is keeping composed and together with his message. Mason is spending most of his time on the attack. Stelmach in the meanwhile is sitting back as Mason goes after Taft. Stelmach is doing better than I thought he would. He’s staying on message, but remains a mysterious cardboard, he needs to show some more life or any kind of emotion. Not sure there is a clear winner yet…

Thoughts? Comments?

7:55 PM: Closing remarks!

Brian Mason used his time to attack the Liberals, Conservatives, and Big Corporations.

Stelmach: We believe in free enterprise, everyone else believes in government control.

Hinman: People can spend money better than politicians and bureaucrats. Don’t be fooled by the other parties. Wildrose Alliance is a common sense option.

Taft: Last closing remarks. Time for Alberta to take its place. 37-years is enough of one government. Time for a change.

Best closing line of the night: Mount Royal Poli Sci Prof Duanne Bratt: “well… Ed Stelmach got through the debate.“

More detailed comment and analysis coming soon…

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Brian Mason Ed Stelmach George Read Kevin Taft Paul Hinman

alberta election 2008: the leaders’ debate.

Tonight is the only Leaders’ Debate of the 2008 Alberta Provincial Election. The debate will be televised on CBC, CTV, and Global from 6:30-8pm. Here’s my rundown of what to watch for from the party leaders:

Ed Stelmach, Progressive Conservatives: It is no secret that Ed Stelmach is not a strong public speaker. Many political watchers have been predicting that his debate performance will mirror the first week of the Tory campaign, I am going to disagree. Though I don’t think Stelmach is a decent debater by any stretch of the imagination, I do think that because the expectations are so low for him that an even moderately okay performance by Stelmach will be seen as a win for him (regardless of how painful the experience is for both Stelmach and viewers).

This will be the only debate that Stelmach will participate in during this election. According to his campaign manager, George Sebest, “the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, Premier Stelmach, will debate only other party leaders in provincial forums,” meaning that Stelmach will be a no-show at the all-candidate forums in his constituency of Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville.

Kevin Taft, Alberta Liberals: In the 2004 televised debate, Kevin Taft performed well against Ralph Klein and Brian Mason, but Ed Stelmach introduces is an untested dynamic in a televised debate. This debate is Kevin Taft’s chance to shine and convince Albertans that he is indeed a Premier-in-waiting. If he can do this without falling into the trap of sounding too stiff and academic and he is able to connect with viewers in a confident Premier-like fashion, he just might be able to convince Albertans that, after 37-years of Tory rule, it’s time.

Paul Hinman, Wildrose Alliance: After being excluded from the Leaders’ Debate under his previous leader in in the 2004, Paul Hinman has won points by just being included in the debates. If Hinman is able to get a word in edge wise and communicate a competent message, this will be a personal win for him.

Brian Mason, New Democrats: Mason issued a challenge to the other party leaders to stick to the issues during the debate. I agree this is a great idea, but I’ll be looking to see if Mason actually sticks to his challenge. Expect Mason to go after Kevin Taft as much or even more than he takes aim at Ed Stelmach. If his party is going to gain seats in this election it will be at the expense of the Taft Liberals in Edmonton, not of the Stelmach Tories.

George Read, Alberta Greens: Unfortunately, George Read was not invited to participate in the debates (I would have supported Read’s inclusion in the debates). Instead, Read will be contributing to the debates through a YouTube video cast following the election. Make sure to check it out.

I will be live blogging the debates here on daveberta.ca and blogging my reaction on CBC YouCast (you can also watch the debate on the internet thanks to CBC).

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Calgary-McCall

alberta election 2008: calgary-mccall.

Created in 1971, Calgary-McCall switched from the Social Credit to the Progressive Conservative column of MLAs in 1975 when Tory Andy Little defeated Social Credit MLA George Ho Lem. In more recent times, current Tory MLA Shiraz Shariff was elected in 1995 in a by-election after the death of Tory MLA Harry Sohal. In 1997 and 2001, Shariff was easily re-elected, but in 2004, Shariff faced as strong challenge from Alberta Liberal Darshan Kang. Kang came within 300 votes of defeating Shariff. In 2008, Kang is back for a rematch.

Before becoming an MLA, Shiraz Shariff was a child welfare worker for Alberta Family and Social Services and taught in Mount Royal College ‘s Department of Social Services. Shariff is the Deputy Chair of Committees for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Darshan Kang is a realtor and has been an active member in the Saddleridge, Castleridge/Falconridge, and Martindale-Tardale Community Associations. Kang was also involved in ROSH, a group which he helped successfully oppose a slaughterhouse to be built in north east Calgary.

Green candidate Heather Brocklesby graduated from the University of Calgary’s faculty of communication and culture with a minor in political science and works as a legal assistant at a downtown Calgary law firm.

The Wildrose Alliance candidate is Ina Given. NDP candidate Preet Sihota is a local realtor.

With 33% of McCall residents having immigrated to Canada, McCall is one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in Alberta (more than 9% of residents were born in India, more than 4% in the Philippines, and 37% speak a language other than English at home). Between 2004 and 2006, McCall’s population grew by 27.96%, bringing over 6,100 new voters to this constituency. With McCall being a such a close race in 2004, the over 6,100 new McCallians will play a big role in deciding who this constituency’s MLA will be.

Controversy?
Following the 2004 election, both Shariff and Kang leveled charges of improper election and campaign activities against each other. Following the fiasco surrounding the appointment of Tory-connected returning officers in the past few weeks, Naheed Nenshi has told CBC that he was shocked by the behavior of a Calgary Returning Officer and his poll clerks in the 2004 election.

Calgary-McCall 2008 Candidates

Alberta Liberal – Darshan Kang
Green – Heather Brocklesby
NDP – Preet Sihota
PC – Shiraz Shariff
Wildrose Alliance – Ina Given

Calgary-McCall Past-Election Results

2004
x Shiraz Shariff, PC – 3,195
Darshan Kang, Lib – 2,891
Ina Given, AA – 576
Preet Sihota, NDP – 328
Voter Turnout: 33.9%

2001
x Shiraz Shariff, PC – 6,558
John Phillips, Lib – 2,082
Preet Sihota, NDP – 449
Darryl Elvers, AFP – 139
Rory Cory, SC – 121
Voter Turnout: 39%

1997
x Shiraz Shariff, PC – 5,118
Amar Singh, Lib – 2,701
Rory Cory, SC – 876
Voter Turnout: 41.7%

1995 By-Election
Sharaz Shariff, PC – 2,496
Jeet Shergill, Lib – 1,980
Anne McGrath, NDP – 713
Doug Cooper, SC – 470
Peter Hope, COR – 61
Voter Turnout: 28%

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Cardston-Taber-Warner

alberta election 2008: cardston-taber-warner.

Straddling the Alberta border with Montana, Cardston-Taber-Warner was created in 1997 through the merger of the former Cardston-Chief Mountain and Taber-Warner constituencies, Cardston-Taber-Warner is probably the antithesis to my constituency (Edmonton-Strathcona) in the spectrum of Alberta politics.

In 1997, Cardston-Taber-Warner re-elected Tory MLA Ron Hierath as he easily rode to victory over the Social Credit and Alberta Liberal candidates (Hierath had previously been elected as the MLA for Taber-Warner). In 2001, Hierath was replaced as the Tory candidate by Cardston County Reeve Broyce Jacobs and was easily re-elected against Alberta First Party Leader John Reil. In 2004, Alberta Alliance candidate Paul Hinman narrowly defeated Jacobs by over 100 votes to become his party’s only MLA. Hinman became Leader of the Alberta Alliance shortly after the election.

In 2008, the Tories are targeting Cardston-Taber-Warner in a big way with Broyce Jacobs taking another run at Paul Hinman.

Paul Hinman has had a tough run as Alberta’s only Alliance MLA. In one year, he went from being an irrigation farmer, cow-calf producer, purebred-cattle breeder, feedlot operator and small-business entrepreneur to being the Leader of the Alberta Alliance after the last election. Having watched Hinman’s performance over the past couple years, I’d say that he has become more comfortable in his daunting role of leading the right-wing now-Wildrose Alliance against the well-funded Tory machine. Though I completely disagree with the majority of the views that Hinman and his party espouse, I really think it would be a shame if voters in Cardston-Taber-Warner replaced Hinman with simply another Progressive Conservative backbencher.

Enter Broyce Jacobs. Broyce Jacobs is a well-known name in the Cardston-area after having served 18-years as a Municipal Councillor and 17-years as Reeve of Cardston Country before becoming an MLA. Jacobs graduated from Brigham Young University in 1967 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and currently owns and operates a cattle ranch in Mountain View. I’m sure Jacobs will be taking nothing for granted in his second run against Hinman.

Alberta Liberal candidate Ron Hancock is a provincial tax specialist who is a former Councillor from the Town of Raymond and chairman of the Chinook Health Region Community Health Council on Seniors Issues. In his work with the provincial government, Hancock served as chief economist for the Alberta Housing Corporation, manager of rural business initiatives for Alberta Economic Development, and as a development officer in the Crowsnest Pass.

Green candidate Billy Turner is a University of Calgary Political Science student who spends his summers competing at rodeos all over Alberta in the bareback riding events in the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association and the Calgary Stampede.

One of the big factors in this deep rural southern constituency is the large Mormon population which wields a substantial amount of political influence in the region (Cardston was settled in 1887 by Mormons from Utah who traveled to Alberta in one of that century’s last wagon migrations). Between 2004 and 2006, Cardston-Taber-Warner grew by 3.07%, bringing over 500 new voters to this constituency.

Cardston-Taber-Warner 2008 Candidates

Alberta Liberal – Ron Hancock
Green – Billy Turner
ND – Suzanne Sirias
PC – Broyce Jacobs
Wildrose Alliance – Paul Hinman*

Cardston-Taber-Warner Past Election Results

2004
Paul Hinman, AA – 3,885
x Broyce Jacobs, PC – 3,756
Paula Shimp, Lib – 783
Lindsay Ferguson, Grn – 225
Luann Bannister, NDP – 185
Voter Turnout: 46.7%

2001
Broyce Jacobs, PC – 5,256
John Reil, AFP – 2,557
Ron Hancock, Lib – 1,747
Suzanne Sirias, NDP – 240
Voter Turnout: 53.1%

1997
Ron Hierath, PC – 5,157
Ken Rose, SC – 1,568
James Jackson, Lib – 1,417
Susanne Sirias, NDP – 518
Voter Turnout: 49.1%

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Edmonton-Strathcona

edmonton-strathcona all-candidates forum.

The University of Alberta Students’ Union is hosting an all-candidates forum tonight for the constituency of Edmonton-Strathcona.

Edmonton-Strathcona All-Candidate Forum
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
6:00 p.m.
Myer Horowitz Theatre (2nd Floor, Students’ Union Building)
*RSVP on Facebook

The candidates in Edmonton-Strathcona are:

Alberta Liberal – Tim Vant
Green – Adrian Cole
ND – Rachel Notley
PC – T.J. Keil

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