Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics Craig Chandler

the chanderlistas are marshalling their armies.

Along with Craig Chandler running as an Independent candidate in Calgary-Egmont, the Chandleristas will be following their glorious leader into the battle for social conservative votes in Calgary…

Jim Blake – Running as a Wildrose Party candidate or as an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary Currie.
Sid Helishauer – As an Alberta Alliance Party candidate or an Independent in the Constituency of Airdrie Chestermere.
Harley Shouldice – As an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary North Hill.
David Crutcher – Either as an Alberta Alliance or as an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary Glenmore. David Crutcher will be delivering a message very clearly to the Deputy Premier, Ron Stevens.

Merry Christmas, Ed Stelmach?

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics Craig Chandler

monday nomination updates!

Couple of nomination updates…

Calgary-Egmont: Craig Chandler and the Chandleristas are marching in full force against Ed Stelmach in Calgary.

“They picked the wrong guy to push aside — they’ve underestimated me every step of the way.” Chandler also announced three of his supporters who also plan to run as independents in the next election.

This includes former Calgary Egmont association president David Crutcher, Concerned Christians Canada national chairman Jim Blake, and Chandler’s campaign manager Harley Shouldice.

Chandler also announced that he’ll be launching a human rights complaint and suing the Alberta Progressive Conservatives for at least the $127,000 he spent campaigning to be their nominee.

As an independent candidate, Chandler will face former Calgary Catholic School District Chairperson and Alberta Liberal candidate Cathie Williams and the yet-to-be-chosen Tory
candidate.

Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview: Former Tory MLA Tony Vandermeer will take on ND MLA Ray Martin and Alberta Liberal candidate Dawit Isaac. Vandermeer was the MLA for Edmonton-Manning from 2001 to 2004. He was recently defeated by Peter Sandhu in the Edmonton-Manning Tory nomination meeting.

Edmonton-Gold Bar: It looks like Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald will be facing expected to be nominated ND candidate Sherry McKibben and Tory candidate David Dorward. in the next election. Sherry McKibben served one-year as a Ward 3 City Councillor from 1994 to 1995.

In 1994, McKibben was elected in a by-election after Judy Bethel was elected as Federal Liberal MP for Edmonton-East, but was defeated in the 1995 municipal election by Robert Noce (yes, Robert Noce actually defeated someone during his political career). McKibben then ran in Edmonton-Norwood in 1997 as the ND candidate but was defeated by Alberta Liberal Sue Olsen (Tory MLA Andrew Beniuk was defeated in this election. Beniuk is now a candidate for the Stelmach Tories in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood).

Hugh MacDonald was first elected as Edmonton-Gold Bar’s in 1997 after the retirement of Bettie Hewes (Hewes was the Alberta Liberal MLA for Gold Bar from 1986 to 1997). In 2004, MacDonald was re-elected with 62% of the votes and the second largest margin of victory in that election.

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

scattered nomination updates.

The Alberta PCs are holding their nomination meeting in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview tonight. A Conservative bird informed me that the Tories in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview were causing a stir a couple of months ago when they threatened to hold a “protest nomination meeting” to protest the PC party’s nomination rules.

Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview should be an interesting race and is definitely in the ‘one’s to watch‘ column. With NDP MLA Ray Martin running for re-election, he will face a strong challenge from Alberta Liberal Dawit Isaac. Depending who the Tories nominate in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, it could get even more interesting. Martin defeated Liberal-turned-Tory MLA Julius Yankowski in 2004. Yankowski was elected as an Alberta Liberal in 1993, but quickly crossed the floor to wilt away in the Tory backbenches until 2004.

Further south, there’s the question of what’s going on in Calgary-Montrose. It seems that all has been quiet on the Calgary-Montrose front with no Tory nomination meeting schedules for this east Calgary constituency. With Calgary-Montrose Tory MLA Hung Pham (aka the MIA MLA) having ties to those connected with the Ward 10 scandal in the 2004 Calgary municipal election, I’m sure Pham is a caucus member that many Tory MLAs wouldn’t miss being associated with. In 2004, various Calgary-Montrose Tories ended up in court after challenger Gus Barron was disqualified from the Tory nomination race.

The ND’s have been nominating a flurry of candidates across the province. In the new hotbed of the New Democratic revolution, Tophie Davies will carry the NDP banner against Tory Luke Ouellette in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. Also in the ND corner, Sidney Sadik was nominated in Edmonton-Decore. Sadik will face incumbent-Alberta Liberal MLA Bill Bonko and Tory candidate and former Catholic School Trustee Janice Sarich.

Also, it looks like the ND’s are setting up to nominate an ND-sized big candidate in Edmonton-Gold Bar to take on Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald (Janice Melnychuk?). Edmonton-Gold Bar has been one of the strongest Alberta Liberal supporting constituencies since 1986 when former Edmonton City Councillor Bettie Hewes was elected. Hewes served as MLA until 1997, when Hugh MacDonald was first elected. In 2004, MacDonald was re-elected with the second largest margin of victory in the province.

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

nomination updates and more…

Some nomination updates for your Wednesday afternoon reading pleasure…

Calgary-Egmont – Disavowed Progressive Conservative candidate Craig Chandler is threatening to sue Ed Stelmach’s PC party for:

the $127,000 he claims he spent on his campaign to secure the party’s nomination in Calgary-Egmont.

And he may run for the seat in the next provincial election as either an independent or for a different party.

It looks like me like Craig Chandler is looking for is a political home to keep him warm and cozy for the holidays. Maybe these guys can help him out

Calgary-Nose Hill – Len Borowski has been nominated to run for the Alberta Liberals against first-term incumbent Tory Neil Brown.

Edmonton-Strathcona – The PCs have nominated Hughena Gagne. I really don’t know any more about Ms. Gagne than that she defeated Whyte Avenue pretty-boy Chad Blake (who demonstrated his impeccable grammar skills here). Gagne will take on already nominated ND Rachel Notley and Green Adrian Cole.

West Yellowhead – Alberta Liberal candidate Lisa Higgerty will take on PC candidate Robin Campbell. West Yellowhead has been known to hold a strong non-conservative base (see: Jasper vs. Banff). From 1989 to 1993 New Democrat Jerry Doyle held the seat. Doyle was defeated by Alberta Liberal Duco VanBinsbergen in 1993 and VanBinsbergen was defeated by Tory Ivan Strang in 1997.

Strang is not seeking re-election this time around. A local rumour has it that nominated Tory candidate Robin Campbell has a little too many NDP connections in his recent past than the local PC establishment can stomach, leaving many local Tories questioning whether they will have the time to give in the next campaign. The NDs have yet to nominate a candidate in West Yellowhead.

Categories
Alberta Politics

ed stelmach invokes closure on bill 46.

As part of his government’s priority of Accountability and Transparency for Building Tomorrow’s Secure Alberta Future, Ed Stelmach has taken a hold of the reigns of democracy by invoking closure on the debate of controversial Bill 46. Official Opposition MLAs were only given four hours to debate the Bill before Stelmach shut down debate on the Bill.

Alberta Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman:

“The Conservatives aren’t even allowing their own members to speak to it,” Blakeman says. “If you think electing a Conservative MLA will put you on the inside of government, you’re wrong. They’re shutting down their people.”

This is the first time the Stelmach government has used closure. The Klein government used closure 38 times in 14 years but it seldom used closure on more than one stage of a bill.

“Stelmach is Klein on steroids,” Blakeman says. “He’s hyper-Klein.”

The Tories introduced amendments to the Bill this week, but a group of central Alberta landowners (including Lacombe-Ponoka Green candidate Joe Anglin) responded with:

In Bill 46, including the new amendments tabled today, if a person is directly and adversely affected by a proposed project the new commission can still make any decision or issue any order without giving notice or holding a hearing if the commission is satisfied the applicant followed the rules respecting each owner of land. No one knows what the rules are in respect to each owner of land and the rules have not been made or defined. What’s troubling is, Bill 46 allows the commission to make rules and regulations that supersede legislation. In essence the new Commission will be able to make rules to circumvent legislation.

Furthermore, the public can have no confidence in Bill 46 if section 24(1) remains. Section 24(1) allows the Commission to make any decision or issue any order without giving notice or holding a hearing if the commission considers the matter urgent or for any other sufficient reason. Simply stated citizens have no right to notice or to a hearing in Bill 46. Finally, in Sec 9(4) the Commission does not have to afford an opportunity to a person to be represented by counsel.

Categories
Alberta Politics Craig Chandler Ed Stelmach

gary mar, a golden parachute, and more.

A bit of a look around…

– Gary Mar has strapped on his golden parachute and is on his way to a +$230,000 taxpayer funded gig in Washington DC.

Ed Stelmach doesn’t want to meet with Calgary-Egmont nominated Progressive Conservative candidate Craig Chandler. Stelmach and his inner circle will meet on December 1st to decide whether PC members in Calgary-Egmont made a better decision than a small group of Conservative lawyers.

Concerned Christians Canada are calling it a witch hunt, but I tend to agree with Don Braid:

All this happened because local Conservatives, demoralized after Jim Dinning’s leadership defeat, didn’t have the will to fight off Chandler even though they saw him coming months ago.

– A number of candidate nominations happened yesterday. For the Alberta Liberals, Greg Flanagan was nominated in Calgary-Bow and Tony Vonesh in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. The Tories nominated Lindsay Blackett in Calgary-North West.

Alberta’s Bill 46 battle continues, pitting rural landowners versus the Stelmach Tories.

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

more alberta nominations.

A whole load of candidates have been nominated in the past week. In Calgary, three Alberta Liberal candidates were nominated last night Laura Shutiak in Calgary-Fish Creek, Lori Czerwinski in Calgary-Lougheed, and John Roggeveen in Calgary-Shaw.

The saga of Craig Chandler and his victory in the Calgary-Egmont Progressive Conservative nomination continues as the constituency President is now demanding a seat at the table when Ed Stelmach and the PC Inner Circle meet to decide Chandler’s fate this weekend.

In Edmonton…

Edmonton-EllerslieNaresh Bhardwaj was nominated as the PC candidate to take on Alberta Liberal MLA Bharat Agnihotri in the next election. Bhardwaj ran for the nominated against 1993 Edmonton-Ellerslie PC candidate Bas Roopnarine and 2001 PC candidate Sukhi Randhawa (of ‘Booze for Votes‘ fame). In 2004, Edmonton-Ellerslie was a three-way race between Agnihotri, Tory Gurnam Dodd, and ND Marilyn Assheton-Smith.

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – Former Liberal/Independent/PC MLA Andrew Beniuk defeated T.J. Keil for the Tory nod. Though I was rooting for T.J. (yes, I was rooting for a Tory), I think Beniuk’s name recognition might help him do decently against ND leader Brian Mason in the now merged constituency that Beniuk formerly represented.

Edmonton-Meadowlark – The Alberta Liberals have nominated Debbie Cavaliere to run for the spot of retiring MLA Maurice Tougas. Cavaliere will take on PC candidate Raj Sherman in what is sure to be a hot and probably close race. In 2004, Maurice Tougas surprised many when he defeated backbench Tory MLA Bob Maskell by a slim margin of +100 votes. Edmonton-Meadowlark was also a close race in 2001 when Maskell unseated Alberta Liberal MLA Karen Leibovici.

Edmonton-Mill Woods – The Tories have nominated Carl Benito to run against Alberta Liberal MLA Weslyn Mather. Benito ran unsuccessfully against MLA Don Massey in Edmonton-Mill Woods in 2001. Mather was elected in 2004 with a margin of +2,000 votes over Naresh Bhardwaj (who is now the nominated PC candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie).

Other recent nominations include Robin Campbell for the Tories in West Yellowhead and Horst Schreiber for the Alberta Liberals in Battle River-Wainwright.

Click here for an up to date list of Alberta provincial election candidates.

Categories
Alberta Politics

stopping bill 46.

This ended up in my email inbox this evening…

KILL BILL 46 RALLY ¬
What: A Rally of citizens concerned about the negative effects of the Government’s proposed Bill 46 on peoples rights to participate in energy and utilities regulatory proceedings.

When: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 12:00 Noon sharp
Where: Alberta Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Ave.
Edmonton, AB

Why: Bill 46 is about to be passed into law by the Conservative Government even though it will have very dramatic negative effects on the ability of the citizens of Alberta to effectively intervene into proposed energy and utility projects that will directly affect them, their lands or the environment. There has been widespread opposition to the Bill and now is the time to show Premier Stelmach that Albertans do not want Bill 46 to be passed into law.

Who: Concerned citizens, landowners, environmentalists and social justice activists – everyone interested in fair and transparent government.

Contacts: Southern Alberta: Mike Judd, 403-627-2949
Central and Northern Alberta: Joe Anglin, 403-843-3279

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

trustees everywhere…

With parties nominating their candidates left, right, and centre, there are a noticeable number of former school board trustees being nominated.

Two former school board chairs have been nominated in Calgary. In Calgary-Egmont, former Calgary Catholic School District Chair Cathie Williams will be taking on Tory star candidate Craig Chandler. In Calgary-Mackay, former Calgary Board of Education chair Teresa Woo-Paw is the Tory candidate taking a run for Gary Mar’s soon to be vacated seat as Mar leaves on a taxpayer funded jet plane for the posh life in Washington DC. Another former CBE Trustee, Carole Oliver, is the Alberta Liberal candidate in Calgary-Fort. Calgary-North Hill PC candidate Kyle Fawcett is also a former CBE Trustee.

In Medicine Hat, former trustee Karen Charlton is running for the Alberta Liberals.

In Edmonton, former Catholic School Trustee Janice Sarich will carry the Tory flag against current MLA and former Public School Board Trustee Bill Bonko in Edmonton-Decore. In Edmonton-Whitemud, former Trustee Nancy Cavanaugh is mounting a campaign against Tory Health Minister Dave Hancock as the Alberta Liberal candidate. And last week in Edmonton-Meadowlark, former Catholic School District chair Debbie Cavaliere was nominated as the Alberta Liberal candidate. And according to his official candidate bio, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview ND MLA Ray Martin is still the Edmonton Public School Board trustee for Ward D!

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

a look around.

– I went to the latest Young Rutherford coffee night yesterday and enjoyed some great conversation about municipal affairs in Edmonton with Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Rick Miller and Ward 5 City Councillor Don Iveson.

– Mary Christa O’Keefe has written a great article on former Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair in this week’s VUE Weekly.

– I’m excited to see underdog T.J. Keil take on former MLA Andrew Beniuk in the the Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood PC nomination.

Andrew Beniuk has a mixed political past as he was originally elected in 1993 as an Alberta Liberal in Edmonton-Norwood (defeating then-New Democrat Leader Ray Martin). Beniuk then sat as an Independent MLA in 1995 before joining fellow social conservative Liberal MLAs Julius Yankowski and Paul Langevin in joining Ralph Klein’s PC caucus in 1996.

Beniuk ran for re-election in 1997 but was defeated by Alberta Liberal Sue Olsen (Beniuk actually placed third in Edmonton-Norwood, behind Olsen and New Democrat candidate and former City Councillor Sherri McKibben). In 2001, Beniuk was also defeated in his attempt to unseat Alberta Liberal MLA Bill Bonner in Edmonton-Glengarry (now Edmonton-Decore).

Categories
Alberta Politics

unfunded resolution in alberta?

– After a bizarre year of seemingly picking fights with the Alberta Teachers’ Association, it looks like there finally might be some resolution to the long-smoldering teachers unfunded pension liability issue.

Yesterday, the Tories announced that they will be investing $6.4 billion to deal with the issue. I haven’t any details of the deal, but this is a long-standing issue that has been on the mind of a lot of Albertans for a long time. Hopefully this issue will be resolved so that the government can now deal with the other critical issues facing Alberta’s education system.

– I attended session in the Alberta Legislature yesterday afternoon and have two main observations…

1) It was a little rich of Ed Stelmach to praise Stephen Harper’s electoral redistribution that gives Alberta five more seats in the House of Commons while at the same time 2/3’s of Alberta’s population is represented by under half of the seats in the Alberta Legislature.

I also noticed that Drayton Valley-Calmar Tory MLA Tony Abbott boisterously cheered the disparity when Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft pointed out urban Alberta’s underrepresentation in his response to Stelmach.

2) The bizarre contradictions that Ed Stelmach and disgraced Energy Minister Mel Knight continue to make regarding Auditor General Fred Dunn’s allegations that the Tory Government failed to collect up to $6 Billion in royalties over the past 7 years due to mismanagement and gross incompetence.

In Question Period yesterday, it was pointed out that on November 7, Ed Stelmach told The Canadian Press that as a Minister in Ralph Klein’s cabinet, he was never made aware that reports from the Department of Energy recommended that Alberta’s royalties be increased.

Here is where the contradictions begin…

Stelmach to CP: “In the time that I was around the Cabinet table…there was nothing coming to me…”

Mel Knight in the Legislature: Knight said he couldn’t release internal documents itemized by the Auditor General in his review of royalty rates because of “legislative protection with respect to some information that’s provided to the Cabinet.

How can a document both not exist and be secret at the same time?

I think Stelmach may need to get someone other than Tom Olsen to write his talking points.

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

big calgary nominations on the horizon.

Following Ed Stelmach‘s selection as leader of the 36-year old Progressive Conservative Government in December 2006, the political landscape in urban Alberta – including Calgary – has become more competitive than it has been in years. This became clear in June 2007 after Alberta Liberal MLA Craig Cheffins was elected in Ralph Klein’s former seat of Calgary-Elbow. Since then, we now see both major parties attracting and nominating some pretty impressive candidates in Calgary in their work to earn Calgarians votes.

Here are four Calgary constituencies ‘to watch‘ with nomination races coming up…

Calgary-Currie PGIB national president and recent Calgary Aldermanic candidate Steve Chapman is going up against former NBC report Arthur Kent for the Tory nomination in this constituency. The nominated Tory candidate will take on well-known former QR77 radio host and Alberta Liberal Deputy Leader and MLA Dave Taylor. In 2004, Dave Taylor upset former Alderman and incumbent Tory MLA Jon Lord by over 400 votes.

Calgary-Egmont – Former Calgary Catholic School Board Chair and Trustee Cathie Williams will be nominated tonight as the Alberta Liberal candidate. For the Tories PGIB Executive Director Craig Chandler, Rick Smith, and Jonathan Denis will duke it out for the nomination on November 17. My money is on Craig Chandler for the Tory nomination.

Calgary-FoothillsMichael Robinson, President and CEO of the Glenbow Museum, will be nominated tonight as the Alberta Liberal candidate. Robinson studied anthropology and law at Oxford and the University of British Columbia, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2005. Robinson will take on one-term Tory MLA Len Webber.

Calgary-North Hill – Former Calgary Board of Education Trustee Kyle Fawcett will go up against Paul Jackson-endorsed businessman Andrew Constantinidis. The nominated Tory candidate will take on already nominated Alberta Liberal candidate Pat Murray.

Other constituencies to keep an eye on in Calgary: Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Fort, Calgary-Glenmore, Calgary-McCall, Calgary-Mackay, Calgary-Montrose, Calgary-Mountain View, and Calgary-Varsity.

Categories
Alberta Politics

alberta politics gets personal (and bizarre).

This past week in the Alberta Legislature has been witness to some bizarre acts.

Graham Thomson takes a good look at Ed Stelmach‘s bizarre attack tactics on Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft earlier this week. In an uncharacteristic attack on Taft, Stelmach abandoned his “nice guy” image by deliberately misquoting a quote of Taft’s from a news article on the royalties issue. This whole story seems to have less to do with Stelmach or Taft, and more to do with a lack of respect for journalists and their work. I’m still amazed that Stelmach and Tom Olsen thought they would get away with trying to pull an act like this.

My friends from the Conservative Party of Canada will surely appreciate Stelmach’s second attack. Stelmach seems to have taken a page from the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin handbook by accusing the Alberta Liberals have having a hidden agenda… sigh… here is ‘Honest Ed’s’ response to a question from Kevin Taft on accountability in the Tory Government’s Annual Business Plans:

What the Liberals would like is to hoard this money, just bring it in and then dish it out to Albertans piece by piece, through his fingers, by having Albertans come on their knees, stand before him, and say, “ Oh, please, give me some of that money back,” that should go to all Albertans. That’s what the Liberal government is all about. It’s not going to happen in this province because I don’t stand for that kind of behaviour.

I think Craig Chandler will fit in just fine.

Categories
Alberta Politics

let’s talk legislation.

Following up from the Spring Session of the Alberta Legislature and last week’s beginning of the Fall Session, here are some of the pieces of legislation up for debate (some have carried over from the Spring Session).

Bill 1 — Lobbyists Act (Stelmach)
Bill 2 — Conflicts of Interest Amendment Act, 2007 (Brown)
Bill 7 — Private Vocational Schools Amendment Act, 2007 (Webber)
Bill 8* — Vital Statistics Act (VanderBurg)
Bill 9 — Tourism Levy Amendment Act, 2007 ($) (Oberg)
Bill 11 — Telecommunications Act Repeal Act (Dunford)
Bill 13 — Access to the Future Amendment Act, 2007 (Rodney)
Bill 23 — Unclaimed Personal Property and Vested Property Act ($) (Oberg)
Bill 24 — Real Estate Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 31 — Mental Health Amendment Act, 2007 (Abbott)
Bill 35 — Alberta Personal Income Tax Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 36 — Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 38 — Government Organization Amendment Act, 2007 (DeLong)
Bill 40 — Personal Directives Amendment Act, 2007 (Ady)
Bill 41 — Health Professions Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 (Hancock)
Bill 42 — Insurance Amendment Act, 2007 (Rodney)
Bill 45 — Smoke-free Places (Tobacco Reduction) Amendment Act, 2007 (Hancock)
Bill 46 — Alberta Utilities Commission Act ($) (Knight)
Bill 204 — Emblems of Alberta (Franco-Albertan Recognition) Amendment Act, 2007 / Loi modificative de 2007 sur les emblèmes de l’Alberta (reconnaissance du fait franco-albertain) (Oberle)
Bill 205 — Environmental Protection and Enhancement (Conservation and Reclamation) Bill Bill 212 — Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (Johnston)
Bill 213 — Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act (Backs)
Bill 214 — Healthy Futures Act (Blakeman)
Bill 216 — Water Protection and Conservation Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 (Swann)
Bill 218 — Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (Repeal of Ministerial Briefing Exemption) Amendment Act, 2007 (Agnihotri)
Bill 222 — Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (Tobacco Investment Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007 (R. Miller)
Bill Pr1 — CyberPol – The Global Centre for Securing Cyberspace Act (Cenaiko)
Bill Pr2 — Crest Leadership Centre Act (Marz)

Categories
Alberta Politics

week one hijinks under the dome.

Continuing from my post from earlier this week, here are some of my thoughts on the first week of the 2007 fall session of the Alberta Legislature

1) There are three Dave’s (Dave, Dave, and Dave) who should be allowed to speak more often.

2) To reiterate #1, Ed Stelmach should let Dave Hancock talk for him in Question Period. It would be far less painful for everyone.

3) Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft and Ed Stelmach have had some entertaining spars in the first two days over failed Energy Minister Mel Knight and the $6 Billion dollars in resource royalties that the Tories failed to collect over the past number of years. With Auditor General Fred Dunn’s findings backing Taft’s position, I will again reiterate #1, Stelmach should let Hancock do the talking.

4) Ken Kowalski is embarrassed about Alberta’s shortest election. I’m embarrassed for Ken Kowalski (in fact, I shed a tear).

5) The Alberta Liberal Caucus has finally hired a new Caucus Communications Director in the form of Larry Johnsrude, so I’d expect some interesting communication strategy and direction coming out of the Official Opposition (direction on the communications-front has been one of the Alberta Liberal Caucus’ most noticeable weaknesses in recent sessions). Watch out, Public Affair Bureau.

6) It will be interesting to see how newcomers Craig Cheffins (Alberta Liberal MLA Calgary-Elbow) and Jack Hayden (PC MLA Drumheller-Stettler) adapt in their first session.

7) There is some big debate on Bill 46 and it is spilling out into what is supposed to be safe Tory territory. Check out CFSR for more

8) At what point do you think the newly re-elected big city mayors Stephen Mandel and Dave Bronconnier start throwing their weight around?

9) When is Gary Mar resigning his Calgary-Mackay seat to take his patronage post in Washington DC? His name is still listed on the Assembly seating plan.

10) Brian Mason continued railing against the Alberta Liberals with the approval of the Stelmach Tories. The Tories are doing their best to support the New Democrats in the Legislature in hopes that any NDP gains in Edmonton will offset Alberta Liberal gains in Calgary, once again creating a winning situation for the 36-year ruling Tories.

I actually don’t mind the other three New Democrat MLAs, but Brian Mason’s strategy is one of the reasons why I’d have a hard time supporting his party (his mustache is the other reason).

11) Alberta Alliance MLA Paul Hinman… yeah… so… Paul Hinman… there’s no real point in writing any more on this topic…

12) I’m still waiting for Drayton Valley-Calmar Tory MLA Reverend Tony Abbott to do something crazy.

In 2005, Abbott declared that Federal Tory/Liberal MP Belinda Stronach “whored herself out for power” and then proceeded to try to get into a fist-fight with Alberta Liberal MLA Rick Miller in the hall behind the Assembly.

Abbott recently lost his bid for the Tory nomination in his own constituency, so he really has nothing to lose (and has also been rumoured to be in talks with the Wild Rose Party).

13) Looking to the future, you have no idea how much I’m looking forward to a Harry ChaseCal Dallas showdown in Question Period after the next election.

Best-political-names-ever.