daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics and Elections

No Joe Volpe or Jean LaPierre desktop wallpaper…? darn.

We thought this was a little funny… check out where this little link directs you: pierretrudeau.ca.

From the Globe & Mail…

Researchers found that, contrary to popular belief, success doesn’t necessarily bring happiness but rather that happy people tend to be more successful.

“This may be because happy people frequently experience positive moods and these positive moods prompt them to be more likely to work actively toward new goals and build new resources,” said lead author Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside.

If you like your job, you’re probably going to do better at it… Duh!?!

It’s Sunday. It’s winter. And we’re slightly stressed out (as usual). Haven’t bought any Christmas gifts yet… waiting until the 23rd…

anyway… NEW STRONG BAD EMAIL!

As we first began here, we’ve decided to update the list of Edmonton Federal Election 2006 candidates…

As before, we’ll keep updating the list as more candidates are declared, nominated, appointed, or turfed.

ELECTION 2006 MANIA!

EDMONTON CENTRE (2004 results & profile )
Laurie Hawn – Conservative
Donna Martyn – NDP
Anne McLellan – Liberal
Peggy Morton – Marxist-Lenninist
David Parker – Green
Chandra Segaran Swamy, Independent
(Marijuana Party candidate Lyle Kenny dropped out of the race)

EDMONTON EAST (2004 results & profile)
Trey Capernhurst – Green
Arlene Chapman – NDP
Peter Goldring – Conservative
Nicole Martel – Liberal
(Canadian Action Party candidate David Vanzella and Marijuana Party candidate Ken Kirk both dropped out of the race)

EDMONTON LEDUC (2004 results)
Jim Jacuta – Liberal
Ben Pettit – Green
James Rajotte – Conservative
Marty Rybiak – NDP

EDMONTON MILLWOODS BEAUMONT (2004 results & profile)
Kate Harrington – Green
Neal Gray – NDP
Amarjit Grewal – Liberal
Mike Lake – Conservative
Kyle McLeod – Independent (according to nodice.ca)
Naomi Rankin – Communist

EDMONTON SHERWOOD PARK (2004 results & profile)
Ken Epp – Conservative
Laurie Lang – NDP
Lynn Lau – Green
Ron Symic – Liberal

EDMONTON SPRUCE GROVE (2004 results & profile)
Rona Ambrose – Conservative
Brad Enge – Liberal
John Lackey – Green
Jason Rockwell – NDP

EDMONTON ST. ALBERT (2004 results & profile)
Stanley Haroun – Liberal
Peter Johnston – Green
Mike Melymick – NDP
John Williams – Conservative

EDMONTON STRATHCONA (2004 results & profile)
Linda Duncan – NDP
Dave Dowling – Marijuana Party
Mike Fedeyko – Progressive Canadian
Andy Hladyshevsky – Liberal
Kevan Hunter – Marxist-Lenninist
Rahim Jaffer – Conservative
Cameron Wakefield – Green
(Click here for more info on Edmonton Strathcona)

USA Today is reporting that John Spencer, who played the character Leo McGarry on the awesome TV show, The West Wing, has died of a heart attack.

LOS ANGELES — John Spencer, an Emmy-winning original cast member of NBC’s The West Wing, died suddenly Friday morning of a heart attack, according to a statement released by his publicist.

Spencer, four days short of his 59th birthday, is best known to viewers as Leo McGarry, the chief of staff to West Wing President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen). This season, McGarry was the vice presidential running mate for Democratic nominee Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits).

Spencer’s portrayal of McGarry, a tough politico and recovering alcoholic, earned him an Emmy for supporting actor in a drama in 2002. The character actor, a veteran of theater and film work, also received four other Emmy nominations for the role and a Golden Globe nomination.

Spencer, who grew up in New Jersey, also played streetwise attorney Tommy Mullaney on NBC’s L.A. Law. His film roles include Presumed Innocent, Black Rain and Sea of Love.

Read the rest here…

From Derek’s recap of week 2 of the election…

“Now it’s rumoured that former vice-regal and Manitoba relic Ed Schreyer, 70, is lined up for the NDP in Selkirk-Interlake. Somebody, for the love of god, hide the corpse of Che Guevera before it’s drafted as an NDP candidate.”

Yesterday, we were catching up on the latest from Scotty F’s blogboy site… man, this guy is funny… here’s a post from December 13th…

Dear Blog Boy: After the Liberals win and the Prime Minister makes you a Senator, can I be your faithful hunchbacked manservant? I’ll change my name to Igor and everything. – S.M.

Do I appreciate the offer? Yes. Of course I do. But I’ve been down this road before with hunchbacked manservants. And it’s always the same story. They change their name to Igor and maybe develop a comic-tragic limp of some kind. I go to the trouble of getting their lab coat tailored to fit the precise contours of their hump. And then the problems begin. Igor gets a little sloppy pulling the levers that deliver life-inducing energy to my unholy corporeal abominations that are an affront to nature. Igor starts to ignore the knocks at the door from attractive, underclothed stewardesses whose cars have broken down on foggy nights. Then Igor unionizes my laboratory and joins the Brotherhood of Hunchbacked Manservants, Midget Sidekicks and Steelworkers. And all of a sudden the Invisible Man and Dracula are totally razzing me about it on bowling night. Been there, done that.

Okay… last Chuck Norris reference of the week… but seriously folks, did anyone know about Chuck Norris’ kid cartoon series from back in the 1980’s? Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos.

Not only is this great because we found this action figure pic, but we’ve also tracked down a clip from the actual show!

You can check out a clip from the “Deadly Dolphins” episode here.

It appears that Tory Rahim Jaffer is the first local candidate to come out in support of Edmonton Strathcona’s bustling rural community!

This would be fine and dandy… but last we checked, there weren’t very many farmers in this constituency (which is probably near 100% urban).

No word yet whether Mr. Jaffer is going to take some time off from supporting local cattle ranchers to support post-secondary students (the University of Alberta just happens to be in his riding…)

(To be fair, Liberal candidate Andy Hladyshevsky doesn’t have anything about PSE on his website either, but at least he’s not out campaiging for local farmers… but, NDP Candidate Linda Duncan does! – PSE that is… not cattle ranchers…)

For those of you who don’t know, we’ve become slightly addicted to “you’re the man now, dog!” aka ytmnd.com. The quality of most of the clips on ytmnd aren’t great, but it’s just really funny.

Here are some of our favorites… here, here, here, here, and what has to be one of the nerdiest ones: here.

In addition… this Walker: Texas Ranger clip from Conan O’Brien is ridiculous (apologies for our sick sense of humour)

Interlocutor, over at Civilization As We Knew It, has made four fairly bold predictions about the state of Canadian politics in the upcoming year…

It’s an interesting post. You can check it out here.

We’re hoping we’re not the only one’s who find this ridiculously funny…

(props to the radtacular mr. face for the linkage)

A couple of Alberta political updates…

– It appears that former Tory Cabinet Minister Mark Norris’ campaign for the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership is being backed up by some pretty influential corporate heavy hitters. The list includes Murray Edwards, vice-chairman of Canadian Natural Resources and one of Canada’s wealthiest people; Barry Heck, President and CEO of Westaim Corp; Guy Turcotte, chairman of Western Oilsands; and Edmonton Oilers part-owner Cal Nichols.

We find it very interesting that heavy hitters like those mentioned would come out and support Mr. Norris’ after he lost his seat of Edmonton McClung to Liberal Mo Elsalhy last November…

We also wonder how long it will take before they jump ship to Team Dinning…

– It’s been reported by The Armet Report that former St. Albert Tory MLA Mary O’Neill has been appointed Executive Director of the Edmonton-based Glenrose Foundation. Ms. O’Neill, who served as MLA for St. Albert from 1997 to 2004, was defeated last November by Liberal Jack Flaherty. Our sources in St. Albert tell us that Ms. O’Neill is hinting a run in the next provincial election.

Interestingly, one of Ms. O’Neill’s former colleagues, Drew Hutton (Tory MLA Edmonton Glenora 2001-2004) served as Executive Director of the same organization before becoming an MLA. Glenrose Foundation Trustees include former Liberal MLA Sine Chadi (MLA Edmonton Roper 1993-1997) and former Director of the Edmonton Glenora Progressive Conservatives, Ms. Nancy Cumming.

– We find it quite silly that former Calgary Currie Tory MLA Jon Lord still has his MLA website up and running after being defeated by Liberal Dave Taylor over a year ago… (did someone forget to tell him that he’s no longer the MLA?)