Categories
Alberta Politics Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Jim Dinning Ted Morton

shakin’ up the alberta scene.

This great editorial from today’s Calgary Herald touches on some of the same points surrounding the myths of Alberta’s “new political forces” that I’ve talked about for some time now…

Shake up party from inside out
Brent Johner, For The Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Alberta’s new premier may be know affectionately as Steady Eddie in small town coffee shops, but his cabinet selections — chosen more for their loyalty than for their brilliance — are seen by many here in Calgary as the Special Eds.

And despite this city’s willingness to give the new guy a chance, many find it hard to believe that a white, middle-aged, male and mostly rural group of conservative cabinet ministers will ever feel comfortable with urban Alberta’s growth-and-change agenda.

So what’s to be done?

What are the alternatives should Steady Eddie and the Special Eds turn out to be Harry Strom and the Socreds reincarnated?

At least one Calgary columnist is predicting the imminent collapse of the Alberta PCs and is calling on Ted Morton and Jim Dinning to flee with their supporters to the Alberta Alliance Party — Alberta’s newest protest party.

He’s not alone. Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail is also wondering aloud if it isn’t time for a new political alignment in Alberta.

Like many pundits, Simpson disdains the current opposition and looks to the formation of a new party in the event that Steady Eddie proves “too steady,” boring and old-fashioned for Albertans focused on a growth-and-change agenda.

“The name ‘Liberal’ is just too toxic in Alberta,” writes Simpson. “The desire for political change in Alberta runs not through an established political alternative but some new political force.”

He’s wrong, of course. But he can be forgiven for being so. Many people, professional historians included, have looked at Alberta’s history and have come to exactly the same utterly incorrect conclusion.

The brilliant success of two protest parties — the United Farmers of Alberta (1921-1935) and the Social Credit Party (1935-1971) — blinds people to the fact that more than 20 other “new” parties have failed to gain any traction whatsoever in Alberta.

In fact, only a tiny fraction of Alberta’s “new” parties have been able to elect any members to the provincial assembly and with the exception of the two just mentioned, none were able to garner enough support to form a government.

It is nearly three generations now since a new political party in Alberta has gained sufficient momentum to seize the reins of government.

Witness the spectacular lack of success now enjoyed by new parties such as the Alberta Alliance and the Alberta Greens.

A single MLA between them doesn’t give much credence to the arguments put forth by new party proponents.

Even the federal Reform Party (what a monumental waste of time and energy that proved to be) has now slipped below Alberta’s political horizon after failing to achieve anything more than forming the Official Opposition for a few brief years.

So much for the Manning model. So much for Simpson’s “new political forces.”

A much better idea, if history is to be accepted as our best instructor on this subject, is to take an existing party and remake it. That’s what Peter Lougheed did. Or at least, that is what Lougheed is often credited with accomplishing.

In 1965, Lougheed inherited a failed party and a “toxic” brand. Two years later, his Progressive Conservatives formed the Official Opposition. Four years after that, they formed the government.

How did Lougheed do it? He didn’t. At least, not really.

Albertans did it. Specifically, voters in Edmonton and Calgary who had been voting for Social Credit candidates for decades, brought about the government’s sudden collapse.

In 1971, they decided that the Socreds were too steady, boring and old-fashioned. They looked at the dim lights and rural faces perched on the cabinet benches and decided that enough was enough.

After 36 years of one-party rule, the time had come to make a change.

So they switched to a different party — not a new party, but an established party.

It was an enormously practical decision. Not a minute was wasted trying the reinvent the wheel.

Change came in an instant. Without warning, Albertans put a new government formed from an old party on track toward a growth-and-change agenda valued by a new generation of urban voters.

And in doing so, they permanently changed the political landscape.

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

ministerial musings of the third kind.

Over the weekend, I had some thoughts on Alberta PC Premier Ed Stelmach’s new Cabinet… I was originally going to write them down in Haiku, but I decided this was easier…

ALBERTA PC CABINET 2006 – Composition…

SEX: It’s a great time to be a white male Alberta Tory MLA between the ages of 40 and 60. You scored big! There are only 2 women and no visible minorities in Stelmach’s first Cabinet.

GEOGRAPHY: Rural Alberta scored big over Alberta’s two biggest cities in this cabinet (see map).

Northern Alberta specifically scored big with eight MLA’s making it to the Cabinet table: Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace), Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky), Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo), Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul), Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster), Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert), Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain), and Iris Evans (Sherwood Park). And of course, Tory Premier Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville).

Central/Southern Alberta has six Cabinet Ministers rolling the die at the Cabinet table. Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview), Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane), George Groenveld (Highwood), Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks), and Rob Renner (Medicine Hat). Lethbridge is left out of the cabinet room this time around as three long-time Lethbridge and area Tory MLA’s Clint Dunford (Lethrbridge West), Barry McFarland (Little Bow), and David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod) have been sent to the backbenches. The City of Red Deer’s representatives Victor Doerksen (Red Deer South) and Mary Anne Jablonski(Red Deer North) are also not missing from the Cabinet table. This is the first time Red Deer has not been home to a Cabinet Minister in over 15 years.

Edmonton now has only one Cabinet Minister – Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud) – and Calgary has only thee – Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore), Ron Liepert (Calgary West), and Greg Melchin (Calgary North West). The only other “urban” MLA’s being Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) and Rob Renner (Medicine Hat). This leaves “urban Alberta” with 6 representatives at the Cabinet table.

PORTFOLIO: New powerful Cabinet portfolios include a newly created President of the Treasury Board – manned by the untested new Cabinet Minister Lloyd Snelgrove, Advanced Education and Technology – manned by former Ag Minister Doug Horner, Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry – manned by Iris Evans, and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing – manned by Ray Danyluk. Gone are the Ministries of Gaming (phew~!), Innovation & Science, and RAGE to name a few. Downsized is the Ministries of Finance held by former PC leadership candidate Lyle Oberg.

THE BOOT: Ministers from Ralph Klein’s last dynastic Ministry who have been put out to pasture include Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler), Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House), Gary Mar (Calgary Mackay), Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo), Heather Forsyth (Calgary Fish Creek), Denis Herard (Calgary Egmont), Barry McFarland (Little Bow), Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West), Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake), Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti), Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater), and Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake).

POST-LEADERSHIP: It should be interesting to see if Premier Ed Stelmach is able to build this caucus in to a functional team. With nearly 40 of the 62 PC MLA’s supporting Calgarian Jim Dinning in the Alberta PC Leadership race, it should be interesting to see how they react to leader Ed Stelmach in the coming months. Considering that all but one Calgary PC MLA supported Jim Dinning (Hung Pham (Calgary Montrose) supported Ted Morton)I expect to see a large number of PC MLA’s retire before the next election.

TO BE SEEN: With Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski (Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock) openly endorsing Jim Dinning before the second ballot of the Alberta PC leadership race, will Kowalski be able to muster support to be re-elected Speaker when Premier Stelmach reconvenes the Legislature in Spring 2007? Or will Premier Ed Stelmach attempt to purge the Speaker’s Office and make way for a new Speaker?

How will the lack of Calgary Minsterial representation effect the political psyche of Calgarians? Edmontonians are used to it, but until Ralph Klein‘s selection as PC leader and then Premier in 1992, Calgarians were waining in their political support for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives (as shown in 1989 when Calgarians elected 3 Liberal and 2 NDP MLA’s in their midst). Will the northern Alberta based Stelmach Conservatives see a backlash for their downsizing of the Calgary Cabinet contingent? A strong indicator will be a potential by-election in Ralph Klein’s riding of Calgary Elbow following his resignation on January 15, 2007. The Alberta Liberals had a strong showing in Calgary Elbow in 2004 despite Klein’s Premiership. The results will no doubt be interesting…

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

alberta’s new cabinet.

Alberta’s new cabinet has been announced

Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville) – Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury Board

Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster) – President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Service Alberta, (Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office)

Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) – Minister of Advanced Education and Technology

Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) – Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry

Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky) – Minister of Energy

Dave Hancock (Edmonton-Whitemud) – Minister of Health and Wellness, Government House Leader

Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul) – Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing

Ron Liepert (Calgary-West) – Minister of Education

Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane) – Minister of Children’s Services

Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) – Minister of Environment, Deputy Government House Leader

George Groeneveld (Highwood) – Minister of Agriculture and Food

Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks) – Minister of Finance

Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) – Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation

Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore ) – Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Deputy Government House Leader

Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) – Minister of Seniors and Community Supports

Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) – Minister of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations

Ted Morton (Foothills-Rocky View) – Minister of Sustainable Resource Development

Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain) – Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security

Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace) – Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture

Definitely some interesting picks that caught me off guard… thoughts?

Props to the anonymous commentor with the press release link…

Categories
Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Ralph Klein

i swear.

I went to Premier Ed Stelmach‘s swearing-in ceremony today on the steps of the Alberta Legislature.

It was an interesting event. Watching now FORMER PREMIER RALPH KLEIN official hand his resignation letter to Lueitenant Governor Norman Kwong and Premier Ed Stelmach being sworn in after that was a little exciting.

Premier Stelmach’s acceptance speech (is that what you call it?) was folksy. I can see that he has one-on-one appeal but it remains to be seen how his communication skills will emerge when attempting to communicate with a couple million Albertans through electronic mediums.

I also had a nice chat with Dave Hancock and Ken Chapman at the swearing-in-ceremony.

On another note, I’m sure Stelmach supporters are still spinning in joy following his come-from-behind win in the Alberta PC leadership race against Jim Dinning and Ted Morton.

Not too much to report other than that. Still waiting to see what Premier Stelmach’s first cabinet will look like…

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

alberta’s new ministries announced…

Here are the new Ministries announced in Premier-designate Ed Stelmach’s first cabinet. Looks interesting – Housing in at the table with Municipal Affairs. Science & Innovation is back with Advanced Education. Aboriginal Affaris merges with Intergovernmental Affairs. Community Development becomes Tourism, Parks, Recreation, & Culture. It should be interesting to see how the Treasury Board concept works.

Also, four new “Cabinet Policy Committees” were created in place of the Tory caucus-only Standing Policy Committees… will there be a difference?

More analysis later (as usual…)

Premier
President of the Treasury Board
Advanced Education and Technology
Municipal Affairs and Housing
Energy
Health and Wellness
Employment, Immigration and Industry
Education
Children’s Services
Environment
Agriculture and Food
Finance
Infrastructure and Transportation
Justice and Attorney General
Seniors and Community Supports
International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations
Sustainable Resource Development
Solicitor General and Public Security
Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach predictions

daveberta lays it down…

So, here are my cabinet predictions. Keep in mind that we are not sure which Ministries will survive a predicted crunch. We now know that we will know the cabinet by this Thursday.

daveberta’s Predictions on Stelmach PC Cabinet 2007

Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Development: Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake)
Advanced Education (Incl. Innovation & Science): Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster)
Agriculture & Rural Development: Luke Oullette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake)
Children’s Services: Mary Anne Jablonski (Red Deer North)
Community Development: Gary Mar (Calgary Nose Hill)
Economic Development: Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky)
Energy: Greg Melchin (Calgary North West)
Environment (Incl. Sustainable Resource Dev.): Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview)
Finance: Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud)
Government Services (Incl. RAGE): Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo)*
Health and Wellness: Iris Evans (Sherwood Park)
Housing: Yvonne Fritz (Calgary Cross)
Human Resources & Employment: Rob Renner (Medicine Hat)
Infrastructure & Transportation: Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul)
Intergovernmental & International Affairs: Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert)
Justice & Attorney General (Incl. Solicitor General): Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore)
Municipal Affairs: Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks)
Seniors: Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West)

As you can see from above, I don’t think there will be a massive purge of senior Ministers as I would predict that Iris Evans, Ron Stevens, Pearl Calahasen, and Greg Melchin will all keep their jobs as “Steddy Eddie” wants to keep some semblance of stability and experience in his first cabinet while bringing in new faces like Ray Danyluk, Mel Knight, and Lloyd Snelgrove to prominant cabinet posts.

For the apparently valuable “Deputy Premier” position that the media seems to be fixated on as uber important, I would gander a prediction that Premier Stelmach will take the route of Prime Minister Harper and simply disolving the position of “Deputy” (which is only a symbolic title in reality).

(*I changed my prediction about Harvey Cenaiko…)

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

ed stelmach’s musical chairs.

By Friday December 15, 2006 Albertans should know for sure what the face of the first Ministry of Premier Ed Stelmach‘s Tory government will look like.

As Ed Stelmach is such an unknown political quantity for many Albertans (even many political folks) the MLA’s in his cabinet will define what many Albertans will see as a first impression, it will be very important to see who gets which cabinet portfolio. Here is my predictions on who is in and who is out in the first cabinet of PC Premier Ed Stelmach:

New to Cabinet:
Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul)
Mary Anne Jablonski (Red Deer North)
Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky)
Ted Morton (Foothills-Rockyview)
Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster)

Staying In Cabinet:
Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake)
Clint Dunford (Lethbridge West)
Iris Evans (Sherwood Park)
Yvonne Fritz (Calgary Cross)
Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert)
Gary Mar (Calgary Nose Hill)
Greg Melchin (Calgary North West)
Luke Oullette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake)
Rob Renner (Medicine Hat)
Ron Stevens (Calgary Glenmore)

Back in Cabinet:
Ed Stelmach – duh (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville)
Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud)
Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks)

Out of Cabinet:
Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo)
Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater)
Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary Buffalo)
David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod)
Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake)
Heather Forsyth (Calgary Fish Creek)
Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti)
Denis Herard (Calgary Egmont)
Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House)
Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler)
Barry McFarland (Little Bow)
George VanderBurg (Whitecourt-Ste. Anne)
Gene Zwozdesky (Edmonton Mill Creek)

Tune in Tomorrow to see my very own predictions on who will get which chair at the cabinet table…

Categories
Alberta Tories Cabinet Shuffle Ed Stelmach

poka.

I’m gone to Lethbridge tomorrow, so no blogging until the weekend (most likey).

Until then, let’s play a little game called – NAME THAT CABINET!

In this game, you’re Ed Stelmach… who will you put in your cabinet?

Finance Minister Lyle Oberg?
Justice Minister Gay Mar?
Children’s Services Minister Ted Morton?
Infratructure Minister Ray Danyluk?
Health Minister Doug Horner?

Post your predictions…

Categories
Alberta Tories Calgary Elbow By-Election Mark Norris

i love by-elections!

I heard a rumour today that Mark Norris has replaced Peter Elzinga as Executive Director of the Alberta PC party. I wonder if there any truth to this…

Also, what do people think will happen in Calgary Elbow if Ralph Klein’s resigns as MLA? By-Election…

Here are the 1997, 2001, and 2004 results from Calgary Elbow:

2004 (margin 2,020 votes)
x-Ralph Klein, PC – 6,958 (51.5%)
Stephen Brown, Liberal – 4,938 (36.5%)
Allison Roth, Greens – 668 (4.9%)
Diana-Lynn Brooks, Alliance – 488 (3.6%)
Becky Kelley, NDP – 345 (2.6%)
Trevor Grover, SC – 69 (0.5%)
Lloyd Blimke, Ind 51 (0.4%)

2001 (margin 5,680 votes)
x-Ralph Klein, PC – 10,213 (66.8%)
Harold Swanson, Liberal – 4,533 (29.7%)
Mathew Zachariah, NDP – 369 (2.4%)
Monier Rahall, Ind – 166 (1.1%)

1997 (margin 3,042 votes)
x-Ralph Klein, PC – 8,237 (57.90%)
Harold Swanson, Liberal – 5,195 (36.50%)
Lera Shirley, SC – 421 (3.00%)
Shawn Christie, NDP – 307 (2.10%)
Frank Haika, NLP – 75 (0.50%)

Categories
2006 Alberta PC Leadership Race Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Ralph Klein

something about a new premier?

To millions of Canadians (and maybe a million Albertans), Ed Stelmach is not a familiar name. When the 13 year political veteran was selected as the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta last weekend, this quiet little known political entity was thown into the political spotlight.

For those of you not totally familiar with Premier-designate Ed Stelmach’s background, here’s a bit of it…

A farmer from south of the Village of Andrew, Stelmach served as Reeve of Lamont County until being elected MLA for the newly created Vegreville-Viking riding in 1993. The election saw Stelmach defeat two-term NDP MLA Derek Fox (MLA for Vegreville 1986-1993). Stelmach was re-elected in Vegreville-Viking in 1997 and 2001. In 2004, Stelmach ran in and was elected MLA for the newly created Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville riding.

After entering Ralph Klein’s Cabinet, Stelmach served as Minister of Agriculture from 1997 to 1999, Minister of Infrastructure from 1999 to 2004, and Minister of Intergovernment and International Affairs from 2004 to 2006. Years of Cabinet experience aside, I seriously cannot name anything that Stelmach did while he was a Cabinet Minister. Can someone help me on this one?

One of the challenges that Stelmach faces as Premier is articulating a vision for which direction he would like to lead Alberta. Stelmach’s campaign, which was largely vague on policy, was as far as I can tell based on “Honest Ed” or “Steady Eddie” being a moderate conservative comprimise candidate between social conservative Ted Morton and Corporate Calgary Dauphin Jim Dinning. This said, I have nearly no idea where Stelmach stands on most issues.

It should be interesting to see just how different Stelmach is from Klein as Premier and if Stelmach is able to heal the body-wounds his party delivered to itself during this race in preparation for the next General Election.

Speaking of the next General Election, since 1993 the Alberta PC’s have centered their image around a single man – Ralph Klein. Since 1993, many Albertans voted for “Ralph’s Team” or “Ralph” himself not knowing who their actual PC candidate was (it’s like an intense form of leader-based elections). Also, the PC Party generally polled lower support than Ralph Klein. With Klein out of the picture, can the Alberta PC’s survive once his card is removed from the deck? Can Stelmach sucessfully replace Ralph Klein as the central figure of the PC Party? Will Stelmach be able to appeal to the broad cross-section of Albertans that Klein was able to?

Also, it should be interesting to see what Stelmach’s new cabinet looks like. Which MLA’s are rewarded and which are put to pasture. As well as what the configuration of the Cabinet Ministries look like as there is a good chance that some Ministries may be merged to create a smaller Cabinet (which I believe currently has 23 Ministers).

Should be interesting…

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2006 Federal Liberal Leadership Race Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Federal Liberals Jim Dinning Stephane Dion

premier-designate ed stelmach.

Saturday December 2, 2006 was a very bad day for political frontrunners.

We saw Stephane Dion ride from fourth place on the first ballot to defeat frontrunners Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae at the Federal Liberal leadership convention in Montreal.

We also saw Ed Stelmach ride from third place on the first ballot of the Alberta PC leadership race to overwhelm both frontrunners Jim Dinning and Ted Morton on the third ballot.

I did make it out to the Alberta PC leadership party at the aviation centre and I can say it was quite an entertaining peice of political theatre. As with the Federal Liberal race, I did enjoy seeing the frontrunners go down in a blaze of glory. (and I’ll give a shout out to Duncan, Allie, and Blake who were all there).

So, what does an Ed Stelmach led-PC Party mean for Alberta’s political scene?

– Ed Stelmach is the first Alberta Premier from rural Alberta since Social Credit Premier Harry Strom from 1968-1971. Will Ed Stelmach take the Tories the root of Social Credit…
– This race very much manifested itself into a Northern Alberta/Edmonton (Stelmach) v. Calgary (Dinning) & Southern Alberta (Morton).What affect does this have on Tory support in urban Alberta? In southern Alberta? Calgary?
– Can Ed Stelmach appeal to Edmonton and Calgary voters? Does Stelmach’s victory bode well for Kevin Taft’s Alberta Liberals?
– What happens to Ted Morton? It was Ted Morton’s supporters who pushed Ed Stelmach over the top on the third ballot (to the effect of 28000 for Ed Stelmach to 4000 for Jim Dinning).
– What happens to Jim Dinning and the Calgary crew? Jim Dinning was Calgary’s candidate…
– What does Ed Stelmach stand for? This isn’t a personal attack, just a legitimate question. Ed Stelmach’s policy positions on this campaign were not exactly the most well developed. We shall wait and see…

I will have more thoughts on “What now?” later this afternoon…

Categories
2006 Alberta PC Leadership Race Alberta Tories Dave Hancock Ed Stelmach Jim Dinning Mark Norris Ted Morton

selected alberta pc leadership selection results…

Here are the main and selected riding results from yesterday’s Alberta PC leadership selection…

First Ballot
Jim Dinning – 29,470
Ted Morton – 25,614
Ed Stelmach – 14,967
Lyle Oberg- 11,638
Dave Hancock – 7595
Mark Norris – 6789
Victor Doerksen – 873
Gary McPherson – 744

Second Ballot
Ed Stelmach – 51,764
Jim Dinning – 51,282
Ted Morton – 41, 243

Third Ballot
Ed Stelmach – 77, 577
Jim Dinning – 55,509
(Morton to Stelmach – 25,813)
(Morton to Dinning – 4,227)

Here are some interesting selected riding results…

Calgary Elbow (Ralph Klein’s riding)
First Ballot
Jim Dinning – 1,890
Ted Morton – 656
Ed Stelmach – 360

Second Ballot
Jim Dinning – 2,004
Ed Stelmach – 747

Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville (Stelmach’s riding)
First Ballot
Ed Stelmach – 4,156
Ted Morton – 316
Jim Dinning – 170

Second Ballot
Ed Stelmach – 4,382
Jim Dinning – 193

Little Bow
First Ballot
Ted Morton – 1,784
Jim Dinning – 382
Ed Stelmach – 351

Second Ballot
Ed Stelmach – 1,518
Jim Dinning – 515

Categories
2006 Alberta PC Leadership Race Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Jim Dinning Ted Morton

debate? how about mini-put?

The three last remaining Alberta PC leadership candidates standing – Ed Stelmach, Ted Morton, and Jim Dinning – had it out tonight in a televised debate. Now, one might say,:

“Daveberta, you’re a keen observer of the albertus politicnus. What did you think of the debate?”

Well, my answer to that question is that I didn’t watch the debate.

I spent my evening having a blast at West Edmonton Mall’s Glow-in-the-Dark Mini-put! If you haven’t been, I do recommend. It’s quite fun.

From what I can tell about the debate, it wasn’t exactly exciting (I may be wrong?).

Jim Dinning went on the attack against Ted Morton. This isn’t overly surprising as Dinning has been in desperate-attack mode against Morton since only receiving 30% support on last Saturday’s PC leadership vote. All you have to do is watch and listen to Dinning to feel the sense that he’s extremely desperate to save his political future and pull off a win. Check out this video of Dinning’s rally speech to supporters earlier this week to see what I mean.

Though I’m really at a loss as to predict what the results of Saturday’s vote will be, it should be interesting to see how much support Ed Stelmach has been able to gain over the past week. He seems like the only of the three to have some sort of momentum…

As for the other candidates, I will have my final pre-second/third ballot up tomorrow.

Categories
Alberta Tories Environment Guy Boutilier Larry Johnsrude

john cleese, the mla for fort mcmurray-wood buffalo.

Larry Johnsrude posted a bizarre transcript of an Alberta Energy Utilities Board hearing starring Alberta’s Environment Minister Guy Boutilier who was not answering questions as a Minister, but only as an MLA…

Here’s a portion of the transcript, I encourage you to read the rest, bizarre, monty pythonesq…

Judge for yourself. The following is an excerpt from an exchange between Boutilier and Don Mallon, lawyer for the Mikisew Cree First Nation:

Q (Mallon). I’m going to talk about the paragraph where you look forward to fishing with your grandson, and today you said granddaughter, but I gather from what you said today and what it says in the following paragraph that you don’t have a
grandchild yet, or am I mistaken?

A (Boutilier). Actually my wife and I don’t have a son or daughter yet, but we’re in the process of privately adopting, so as a follow-up to our adoption, we expect to have grandsons and granddaughters.

Q. All right. So I’m going to assume that your grandson is precocious. And has become a river ecologist, a river biologist. And your son advises you as the Minister of Environment that the Athabasca River system’s ecosystem is in danger of imminent collapse and that you and he are not going to be able to fish in that river anymore. And the reason for it is that the flows are too low and that we’re removing too much water. Now, the responsibility that you have, which is an absolute responsibility, then, is to protect the river, right?

A. It’s important to recognize that I’m here as MLA, I’m quite prepared to answer any question, but not as Minister of Environment.

Q. Well, I’m sorry, sir, you don’t get to pick and chose who you are one minute and who you are not the next. You are the Minister of the Environment.

A. Right.

Q. And I’m asking you, sir, that as the Minister of Environment, is it not appropriate, if that ecosystem is in danger, to reduce or completely stop the withdrawal of those flows for the period of time that it takes in order to allow that system to get back to square one?

A. Mr. Chairman, I am here today as the MLA representing the region and citizens.

Q. And we know that Alberta Environment is the protector of the environment in this province.

A. Yes, I’m here today, though not as Alberta Environment but as the MLA.

Read the rest