Maps: Where are women nominated to run in Alberta’s election?

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I am excited to collaborate with ParityYeg to help them with a live dashboard tracking how many women are being nominated as candidates to run in Alberta’s next provincial general election. The leaders of the three main political parties have expressed their intent to recruit and nominate more women to run as candidates in the next provincial election.

As of today, in Alberta’s 87 electoral districts:

19 of 60 nominated United Conservative Party candidates are women (31 percent)
14 of 42 nominated Alberta Party candidates are women (33 percent)
13 of 25 nominated New Democratic Party candidates are women (52 percent)
2 of 3 nominated Green Party candidates are women (66 percent)
0 of 5 nominated Alberta Liberal Party candidates are women (0 percent)

Earlier today I posted maps showing where each of Alberta’s major political parties have nominated candidates. The maps in this post show where the NDP, UCP and Alberta Party have nominated women candidates, as of November 9, 2018.

Alberta NDP nominated women candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

United Conservative Party nominated women candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

Alberta Party nominated women candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

As noted in my previous post, I realize that these maps do not clearly show the electoral districts in Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and the Edmonton area. I hope to have updated maps with those communities included in the near future.

In the districts missing from these maps, the New Democratic Party has nominated Maria Fitzpatrick in Lethbridge-East, Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West, and Barb Miller in Red Deer-South, the Alberta Party has nominated Ryan Mcdougal in Red Deer-South, and the United Conservative Party has nominated Tracy Allard in Grande Prairie Adriana LaGrange in Red Deer-North.

Note: I am a little embarrassed to admit that I forgot to shade-in Calgary-North West for the UCP, where Sonya Savage is nominated to run. I will fix this in my next map update.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

Maps: Where are Alberta election candidates nominated?

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Over the past year, I have been tracking and regularly posting updates about the nomination contests that will choose the candidates who will be on the ballot in next spring’s provincial general election in Alberta. With significant changes to Alberta’s provincial electoral boundaries coming when the next election is called, many Albertans might not be familiar with the new electoral map. Here are maps showing where each of Alberta’s three main political parties have nominated candidates, as of November 9, 2018:

Alberta NDP Nominated Election Candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

United Conservative Party Nominated Election Candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

Alberta Party Nominated Election Candidates (as of November 9, 2018)

I realize that these maps are missing some electoral districts in Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and the Edmonton area, so I hope to have updated maps with those communities included in the near future. In the districts missing from these maps, the New Democratic Party has nominated Maria Fitzpatrick in Lethbridge-East, Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West, and Barb Miller in Red Deer-South, the Alberta Party has nominated Paul Hardy in Red Deer-North, Ryan Mcdougal in Red Deer-South, and the United Conservative Party has nominated Tracy Allard in Grande Prairie Adriana LaGrange in Red Deer-North.

Note: I realize that forgot to shade-in Edmonton-McClung for the NDP, where Lorne Dach is nominated to run for re-election. I will fix this in my next map update.

Dale Nally secures UCP nomination in Morinville-St. Albert, Nicholas Milliken wins UCP race in Calgary-Currie, and the latest candidate updates

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Dale Nally

North of Edmonton in the new Morinville-St. Albert district, Dale Nally defeated past Wildrose Party candidate, Joe Gosselin, Legal town councillor Trina Jones, and former Sturgeon County mayor Don Rigney to win the United Conservative Party nomination.

Nally lives in St. Albert and works as a Senior Director of Learning and Development at Loblaw Companies Limited. He earned a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University in the mid-2000s and was a spokesperson for Canada Post in the late 1990s.

This new district north of Edmonton was created from areas in the current Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater and Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock and the northeast corner of St. Albert. It is also is the area where I was raised and many of my family members still live.

Nicholas Milliken defeated past Wildrose Party candidate Terry Devries, Amoriza Gunnink, Dan Morrison, and Bettina Pierre-Gilles to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Currie.

Nicholas Milliken

Milliken is a lawyer and CEO of Brolly Legal Recruitment. He is also the great grandson of Alberta MLA William Howson, who represented Edmonton in the Alberta Legislature from 1930 to 1936 and led the Alberta Liberal Party from 1932 to 1936.

New Democratic Party MLA Barb Miller is expected to be chosen as her party’s candidate in Red Deer-South at a meeting on November 8, 2018.

Here are more of the latest updates to the list of candidates running for party nominations ahead of Alberta’s 2019 provincial general election:

Banff-Kananskis – Brenda Stanton is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Stanton is the owner of Back to Basics Hospitality Training & Consulting and is the former president of the Canmore/Kananaskis Chamber of Commerce and former vice chair of Tourism Canmore/Kananaskis.

Calgary-Falconridge – Paramjit Singh Mann is seeking the NDP nomination. Ricky Dhaliwal and Harwinder Kang are the latest candidates to enter the UCP nomination contest in this district. Kang is a real estate agent and President of the Taradale Community Association.

Edmonton-Mill Woods – Nazia Naqvi is seeking the UCP nomination.

Edmonton-South – Inderdeep Sandhu has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest.

Livingstone-Macleod – Allen MacLennan is seeking the UCP nomination. MacLennan was a candidate for the right-wing Confederation of Regions Party in the 1993 election in Calgary-McCall. He earned 129 votes in that race.

St. Albert – Cameron Jefferies is seeking the Green Party nomination. Jefferies is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and the University of Alberta where he researches environmental law, natural resource law, ocean law and animal law and sustainability law.

Devin Dreeshen appointed in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake?

Devin Dreeshen

The only electoral district in Alberta where the UCP does not have a nominated candidate or nomination activities is in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, where MLA Devin Dreeshen was elected in a July 2018 by-election.

There is speculation that the UCP board of directors could appoint Dreeshen as the party’s candidate in that district. The argument in favour of appointing Dreeshen is said to be that he already won a hotly contested nomination vote earlier this year and that his electoral district will not face any significant boundary changes when the election is called.

Dreeshen’s appointment would be a contrast to the situation faced by his fellow rookie UCP MLA Laila Goodridge, who was elected in a July 2018 by-election in Fort McMurray-Conklin and recently won a contested nomination in the redrawn Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche district.

Dreeshen is a former political staffer and is the son of Red Deer-Mountain View Member of Parliament Earl Dreeshen.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

MLA Robyn Luff removed from NDP Caucus after speaking out “about culture of fear and intimidation”

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Photo: Calgary-East MLA Robyn Luff and Premier Rachel Notley at a roundtable on education affordability in 2017 (photography by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta)

Calgary-East MLA Robyn Luff has been removed from the New Democratic Party Caucus after releasing a public letter announcing she would not sit in the Legislative Assembly “in protest of a culture of fear and intimidation that leads to MLA’s being unable to properly represent their constituents in the legislature.”

Writing that she “felt bullied by the NDP leadership for over 3 and a half years” and faced “a culture of fear and intimidation,” Luff’s letter details the grievances she feels as a backbencher in the government caucus, which include whipped votes and reading scripted questions and private members statements in the Assembly.

Luff wrote in the letter that she would not return to the Assembly “until a resolution has been presented.” It is now likely that when she does return it will be as an Independent MLA.

Robyn Luff MLA Calgary East NDP Press Release

MLA Robyn Luff’s letter on November 5, 2018

Luff is correct that many of the prepared statements and questions that backbenchers are frequently required to read in the Assembly are scripted, and sometimes comically so. Many provinces do not provide time for government backbench MLAs to ask questions in Question Period, and anyone who has watched an episode of QP will likely see why. Known colloquially as “puffballs,” the scripted questions asked by backbench MLAs are rarely challenging and exist to provide cabinet ministers with an opportunity to read government talking points into Hansard.

“People are permitted to speak their minds, and they have an opportunity to do that,” said Government House leader Brian Mason in response to Luff’s letter. “Everybody in a caucus, especially large caucuses, is frustrated from time to time.”

A statement released by the NDP Caucus late on November 5, 2018, stated that “NDP MLAs have lost confidence in her ability to participate as a productive and trustworthy member of the government caucus.”

Despite her family roots in the Alberta NDP (her grandfather Alan Bush was an Anglican minister who stood in the federal NDP in northern Alberta in the 1965 and 1967 federal elections and ran against Grant Notley for the leadership of the NDP in 1968) a breach of caucus solidarity this large was not going be treated lightly.

There is no doubt Premier Rachel Notley runs a tight ship and because of it the NDP have imposed an impressive level of caucus discipline since forming government in 2015. Since their election victory, the NDP have largely avoided the types of bozo-eruptions and embarrassing scandals that have sometimes become weekly occurrences in the Wildrose-turned-United Conservative Party Caucus.

Caucus discipline is nothing new. It is a characteristic of most functional parliamentary democracies. But the level of control exerted on individual MLAs by party leaders and their staffers is something that could feel incredibly stifling for some backbench MLAs, especially those who might feel more naturally inclined to sit in the opposition benches.

Backbenchers who do not feel they are being valued or given an opportunity to speak up and advocate for the issues they or their constituents feel are important can create resentment towards the political leadership. Providing some sort of relief valve to deal with backbencher frustration is important.

In the mid-1990s, rookie backbench Progressive Conservative MLAs Jon Havelock, Mark Hlady, Lyle Oberg, Murray Smith, Ed Stelmach, and Lorne Taylor formed “the Deep Six” by attempting to drive an agenda of cuts to spending and government services, or at least that is the political narrative that was created.

The short-lived sequel to the Deep Six, the Fiscal Four, was formed by Doug Griffiths, Jonathan Denis, Rob Anderson, and Kyle Fawcett after the 2008 election. The group of PC backbenchers soon expanded to include three or four other MLAs, but it did not last long after Anderson crossed the floor to the Wildrose Party in 2010 (and the “Fiscal Seven” did not have the same ring to it).

Aside from being allowed to play minor theatrical roles as the internal opposition to government, most backbench MLAs were largely compliant during the PC Party’s 43-year reign. The caucus and party revolt that ended Alison Redford’s political career in 2014 was a notable exception, but the most significant actual rebellion by backbench MLAs in Alberta’s history was the Social Credit backbenchers revolt of 1937, which nearly toppled Premier William Aberhart’s nascent government.

It is not uncommon for disgruntled MLAs to leave their caucus to sit as Independent MLAs or join other parties, like Sandra Jansen did in 2016 and Rick Fraser and Karen McPherson did in 2017, but Luff’s decision to refuse to take her seat in the Assembly is not a tenable long-term strategy.

Without knowing more, it is not clear that anything Luff wrote she has experienced is new or unique to the NDP Caucus in Alberta, or if she is alone in feeling this way. It is also unclear what Luff’s political future outside the NDP Caucus will hold over the next five months until the 2019 election is called.

Whether publishing that letter was politically smart or political suicide, it took courage for Luff to speak up. And speaking truth to power is something that we should encourage our elected officials to do more regularly.

UCP leads nominations with candidates selected in 58 of 87 districts

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Photo: United Conservative Party candidates Rajan Sawhney, Mickey Amery, Jasraj Singh Hallan, and Elisabeth Hughes.

Good evening, here is the latest update of nomination races and candidates preparing to run in Alberta’s next provincial election. As of this evening, the United Conservative Party has nominated candidates in 58 of 87 districts, the Alberta Party has nominated 42 candidates, the New Democratic Party has nominated 24 candidates, the Liberal Party has nominated 5 candidates, and the Green Party has nominated 3 candidates.

The UCP held five candidate selection meetings over the past week.

Mickey Amery defeated Roshan Chumber, Sherrisa Celis and Emile Gabriel to secure the UCP nomination in Calgary-Cross. Amery is the son of former Progressive Conservative MLA Moe Amery, who represented Calgary-East from 1993 to 2015 and ran in east Calgary in every provincial election between 1986 and 2015.

Peter Singh defeated Matthew Dirk, Issa Mosa, past PC Party candidate Jamie Lall, former city councillor Andre Chabot, and Manjit Jaswal to win the UCP nomination in Calgary-East. Singh is the past president of the Fiji Canada Association of Calgary and he ran for the PC nomination in Calgary-Fort ahead of the 2015 election.

Jasraj Singh Hallan defeated Amarjit Banwait, Usman Mahmood, and Jangbahadur Sidhu to win the UCP nomination in Calgary-McCall. McCall is currently represented by New Democratic Party MLA and cabinet minister Irfan Sabir and was represented by Liberal MLA Darshan Kang from 2008 to 2015.

Rajan Sawhney defeated Anand Chetty and Mandeep Shergill to secure the UCP nomination in Calgary-North East. Sawhney is Vice President of Business Development for Fracture Modeling Inc. Pakistan Canada Association Calgary general secretary Tariq Khan’s nomination was not accepted by party. Shergill works as Chief of Staff to Calgary-Greenway Independent MLA Prab Gill, who left the UCP caucus in July 2018 following allegations of ballot-stuffing at a constituency association annual general meeting.

Elisabeth Hughes defeated Ian Crawford, Payman Parseyan, and Nawaz Panhwer to secure the UCP nomination in Edmonton-Whitemud. She currently works as a constituency assistant in the office of Edmonton-Riverbend Member of Parliament Matt Jeneroux.

Nomination Meetings this Week

There are three scheduled nomination meetings being held this week:

November 5, 2018 – 2015 Wildrose Party candidate Terry Devries, Amoriza Gunnink, Nicholas Milliken, past federal Conservative nomination candidate Dan Morrison, and Bettina Pierre-Gilles are seeking the UCP nomination in Calgary-Currie. Anthony Parker’s candidacy was not accepted by the UCP. Gunnink has been endorsed by Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt and Pierre-Gilles has been endorsed by Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon.

November 6 & 7, 2018 – Former Morinville town councillor and 2015 Wildrose Party candidate Joe Gosselin, Legal town councillor Trina Jones, Dale Nally, and former Sturgeon County mayor and 2015 Wildrose nomination candidate Don Rigney are seeking the UCP nomination in Morinville-St. Albert.Gibbons town councillor Amber Harris withdrew her candidacy for the nomination on November 2, 2018. Rigney’s endorsements page on his website appears to have been reused from his 2013 mayoral re-election campaign, including a testimonial from now deceased former Social Credit MLA Keith Everitt.

November 8, 2018 – NDP MLA Barb Miller is expected to be acclaimed for her party’s nomination in Red Deer-South. Miller was elected in 2015 with 35.9 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

Here are some of the latest updates to this list of candidates running for nominations ahead of Alberta’s 2019 provincial election:

Angela Kokott

Calgary-Falconridge – Raman Gill is seeking the UCP nomination. Happy Mann’s candidacy appears to have been rejected by the UCP. Mann was alleged to have been involved in a incident where a local reporter was assaulted. Mann was the Wildrose Party candidate in Calgary-McCall in the 2015 election and Calgary-Cross in the 2012 election.

Calgary-Mountain View – Long-time radio journalist Angela Kokott has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate. Many Calgarians will know Kokott as the host of Calgary Today on NewsTalk 770. She is the third 770 host to jump into provincial politics in recent history, following Dave Taylor, who served as the MLA for Calgary-Currie from 2004 to 2008 (as a Liberal, then an Independent and Alberta Party MLA), and Mike Blanchard, who ran for the Wildrose Party in Calgary-Buffalo in 2012.

Calgary-North – Melanie Wen has withdrawn her candidacy for the Alberta Party in this district. She had been nominated on October 4, 2018.

Edmonton-Manning – Keli Tamaklo is seeking the Alberta Party nomination.

Edmonton-North West– Emerson Mayers is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Mayers was recently a candidate for City Council in Ward 4. He ran for the Progressive Conservative Party in Edmonton-Strathcona in the 2012 election and previously sought the Liberal Party nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 1997, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 2008, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in 2012, and the PC nomination in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview in 2015.

Richard Feehan

Edmonton-Rutherford – Richard Feehan is seeking the NDP nomination for re-election in 2019. Feehan was first elected in 2015, earning 63.9 percent of the vote. He now serves as Minister of Indigenous Relations and Deputy Government House Leader.

Edmonton-Strathcona – It was never in doubt, but Premier Rachel Notley has officially announced her plans to seek re-election in the district she has represented since 2008. Notley was re-elected with 82.4 percent of the vote in 2015. With the exception of one-term from 1993 to 1997, this district has been represented by the NDP since 1986.

Grande Prairie – Grant Berg is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Berg is the owner of Grant Berg Gallery and the former general manager of Big Country FM and 2Day Fm.

Lesser Slave Lake – Juliette Noskey is seeking the UCP nomination. Noskey is executive director of the Loon River First Nation.

Red Deer-South – Haley Wile has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest after it was revealed she accepted an illegal campaign contribution from the Red Deer Motors car dealership. Corporate donations to political candidates were prohibited in 2015.

Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright – Chris Carnell has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest. Carnell has served as a trustee with the Lloydminster Catholic School Division since 2012. He previously served as a councillor in the Village of Frontier, Saskatchewan, and was nominated as the Green Party candidate in Cypress Hills-Grasslands ahead of the 2011 federal election but did contest the election.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

24-hours in the life of a student leader the day tuition was removed from legislation

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Photo: ACTISEC President Jon Hoffman, Public Interest Alberta executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Liberal MLA Dave Taylor, NDP MLA Raj Pannu, and CAUS Chairperson Dave Cournoyer in the media room at the Alberta Legislature on May 9, 2006.

This week’s news about the Alberta Government extending the tuition freeze and legislating the formula to increase tuition reminded me of the day I came very close to being kicked out of the Legislature.

Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt introduced Bill 19: An Act to Improve the Affordability and Accessibility of Post-Secondary Education in the Legislative Assembly this week. If passed, Bill 19 will implement a new framework that will regulate tuition and mandatory non-instructional fees and provide a new measure of fairness for students enrolled at Alberta’s colleges and universities.

Bill 19 will cap each post-secondary institutions average tuition and apprenticeship fee increases to the Consumer Price Index and allow the minister to regulate mandatory non-instructional fees and international student tuition. It also gives student leaders a more meaningful voice in the process.

These are significant changes but, closer to the heart of this writer, Schmidt is bringing Alberta’s tuition policy out from behind the closed doors of the government boardrooms and returning it to public light in legislation.

In 2006, I was elected Vice-President External of the University of Alberta Students’ Union and chosen as chairperson of the Council of Alberta University Students, an organization that represented undergraduate students from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge. It was a interesting time to be a student leader in Alberta. The price of oil was high and political change was in the air.

After 13 years as premier, Ralph Klein was approaching the end of his time in office, and he was backtracking on a pledge made during a 2005 televised address that Alberta would have the most affordable tuition in Canada.

It happened that May 9, 2006 was an exciting and dramatic day to step in a new role as chairperson of CAUS. Then-Minister of Advanced Education Denis Herard announced he would introduce Bill 40: Post-secondary Learning Amendment Act, which would remove the tuition formula from the Post-Secondary Learning Act and move it into regulations. The formula as it then existed was complicated and needed to be reformed, but removing it from legislation meant that future changes to how much tuition could be raised in Alberta would be made in a closed door cabinet meeting, rather than required to be debated in front of the public on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.

The leaders of Alberta’s student movement were concerned that removing the policy from legislation would lead to further increases, rather than the affordability Klein had promised.

We decided that a quick response was best.

My first full-day as CAUS chairperson started with an early morning press conference in the media room in the basement of the Alberta Legislature Building.It was my first time participating in a press conference of any kind where I would be front and centre.

I was joined by Public Interest Alberta executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon, ACTISEC president Jon Hoffman, and the Advanced Education critics from the Liberal and New Democratic Party critics, Calgary-Currie MLA Dave Taylor and Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Raj Pannu.

It was a big deal at the time that the Liberal and NDP critics joined us at the press conference, and it may have been the first time the two parties had ever participated in a press conference together. I remember there were some moments of heated dispute between staffers from the two opposition caucuses about which critic would speak first, and I recall the issue was settled in favour of Pannu because the NDP Caucus had booked the media room for the press conference.

The media room was packed with reporters as we read our statements arguing for transparency and accountability of the cost of education. It was the first time I had ever done something like this and it was nerve racking. Without the help of Moore-Kilgannon (who is now Minister Schmidt’s Chief of Staff) and the incredibly resourceful Duncan Wojtaszek, then-executive director of CAUS, I am not sure I would have even had my talking points straight.

It was political maneuvering on our part to hold the early morning press conference. We hoped to pre-empt a press conference that the minister of advanced education was scheduled to hold on the same topic later that morning. Little did we know that Herard would never show up to his own press conference.

After our media event ended we did a few more interviews and later joined the representatives from the University of Calgary Students’ Union for a tour of the Legislature. While on the tour, NDP Caucus staffer Tony Clark rushed to tell us that the minister had canceled his press conference and snuck out of the building before the media could track him down.

With that news in hand, we held an impromptu media scrum on the third floor of the Legislature. It wasn’t until I spotted Klein walk past our scrum that I realized that we had planted ourselves right outside the doors of Room 307 – the Premier’s Office – which was apparently considered a major security violation.

To our surprise, after the scum ended and the reporters disbursed to file their stories, U of A SU president Samantha Power and I were escorted by Legislature security to the front doors of the building. The guards gave us a stern talk about why we weren’t allowed to hold a scrum outside the Premier’s Office. After some heated negotiations, we convinced the guards that evicting us and presumably banning us from re-entering the building would result in us holding another press conference on the Legislature steps minutes later.

I didn’t believe that day could get any more exciting but I was proven wrong when CAUS received an urgent call from the Minister Herard’s office. He wanted to meet with us as soon as possible.

We met with the minister a few hours later in a conference room at the Delta Hotel in downtown Edmonton. The meeting was memorable but completely underwhelming. The minister listened to our arguments why keeping the tuition policy in legislation would ensure transparency and accountability for students but he offered nothing more than platitudes and strange metaphors in return.

Herard’s short time in cabinet would be remembered for his desire to “cross the wisdom bridge” and “build an army of mentors.”

Eight days later, Progressive Conservative MLAs voted to remove the tuition policy from legislation by passing Bill 40. The minister was shuffled into the backbenchers later that year when Ed Stelmach entered the Premier’s Office.

At the press conference early that morning, I told the assembled media that students were prepared to wait until the next time the legislature met to have a new policy implemented, so that the policy would be embedded in an act of the legislature. If the tuition policy was not in legislation, it was no good to us, I said.

I never expected the policy to ever be returned to legislation. And while the fight to lower the cost of and eliminate tuition fees needs to continue, 12 years later the tuition policy is finally out from behind closed doors and back where it should be – enshrined in legislature. And it is a big deal.

Episode 22: Special guest Jamil Jivani, author of Why Young Men

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Jamil Jivani joined Dave and Ryan on the podcast this week as we discussed his new book, Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity, and delved into how Political Action Committees are shaping politics in our province and how they might impact the next election, this weekend’s New Democratic Party convention, and the latest candidate nomination news.

We had such a good conversation with Jamil that we didn’t get to our mailbag this week. Thank you to everyone who sent us questions, we will answer them in an extra long mailbag segment in our next episode.

The Daveberta Podcast is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB Financial. The networks includes more than 30 Alberta-made podcasts, including We Are Alberta.

You can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you find podcasts online.

We would love to hear what you think of this episode, so feel free to leave a review where you download, comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at podcast@daveberta.ca.

And a big thanks to our producer, Adam Rozenhart, who keeps us on track and makes each episode of the Daveberta Podcast sound so great.

Thank you for listening!

Recommended Reading/Watching:

“The Road Home: An Afternoon with Jamil Jivani, October 30, 2018 at the Shaw Conference Centre
How racial profiling hurts everyone, including the police by Jimal Jivani (TEDxToronto, October 8, 2014)
Canadian Car Dealers Raise Money For Politician In Hopes of Banning ‘RHD Asian Vehicles’ (Jalopnik, October 25, 2018)
Convention offers NDP faithful a dose of enthusiasm amid bleak odds, by Keith Gerein (Edmonton Journal, October 29, 2018)
Former NDP leader Brian Mason says farewell with words of wisdom and warning, by David Climenhaga (AlbertaPolitics.ca, October 28, 2018)

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A Big Nomination Candidate Update: Airdrie-Cochrane to Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright

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Photo: Alberta Election candidates Janis Irwin, Miranda Rosin, Janet Eremenko, and Rebecca Schulz.

It has been a busy few weeks for provincial candidate nominations in Alberta. I fell a bit behind last week with my updates, so here is some of the latest candidate nomination news ahead of Alberta’s provincial election:

Airdrie-Cochrane – Peter Guthrie defeated Morgan Nagel, Mauri Stiff, and Laura Talsma to secure the United Conservative Party nomination on October 20, 2018 in this new district northwest of Calgary. Ian Chitwood‘s candidacy was not accepted by the party before the vote was held.

Guthrie is a former owner of a Mr. Lube franchise in north east Calgary and a former co-owner of a ranch near Castor. He was endorsed by former sportscaster and recent Airdrie-East UCP nomination candidate Roger Millions and former Rocky View County councillor and Calgary-Centre Member of Parliament Eric Lowther. Stiff had been endorsed by Airdrie UCP MLA Angela Pitt, who is running for re-election in the neighbouring Airdrie-East district.

Banff-Kananaskis: Miranda Rosin defeated Scott Wagner and Michael Zubkow to secure the UCP nomination in this mountain and foothills district west of Calgary on October 27, 2018. Rosin was endorsed by UCP MLAs Leela Aheer, Drew Barnes, Angela Pitt, MP Blake Richards, developer Cal Wenzel, and Canmore town councillor Rob Seeley.

Calgary-Acadia: Former city councillor Brian Pincott will be nominated as the New Democratic Party candidate in this district on October 25, 2018. Pincott represented Ward 11 on Calgary City Council from 2007 to 2017.

Lawyer and UCP activist Tyler Shandro defeated Amina Beecroft and David Guenter to secure the UCP nomination on October 28, 2018.

Shandro had the blessing of Calgary’s conservative political establishment with the endorsements of UPC MLAs Ric McIver, Nathan Cooper, Jason Nixon, Mike Ellis, city councillors Sean Chu, Jeff Davison, Ward Sutherland and Peter Demong, MPs Ron Liepert and Len Webber, and former Progressive Conservative MLAs Harvey Cenaiko, Jim Dinning, Karen Kryczka, Donna Kennedy-Glans, and Rick Orman.

Calgary-Bow: Demetrios Nicolaides defeated Calgary Board of Education trustee Lisa Davis, Cheryl Durkee, and 2015 PC Party candidate Byron Nelson the UCP nomination contest on October 23, 2018.

Nicolaides was endorsed by UCP MLA Richard Gotfried, Nathan Cooper, Calgary MP Stephanie Kusie, Ontario MP Pierre Pollievre, and Calgary-Buffalo UCP candidate Tom Olsen and Calgary-Glenmore candidate Whitney Issik. Davis was endorsed by UCP MLA Mike Ellis.

Calgary-Cross: Farhan Baig’s candidacy in the UCP nomination contest has not been accepted by the UCP.

Calgary-Currie: Lindsay Luhnau was nominated as the Alberta Party nomination in this district. Past candidate Tony Norman withdrew from the contest before the vote.

Calgary-East: Robert O’Leary’s candidacy in the UCP nomination contest has not been accepted by the UCP.

Calgary-Elbow: Janet Eremenko was nominated as the NDP candidate on October 18, 2018. Eremenko was a candidate for Calgary City Council in Ward 11 in the October 2017 election where she finished third with 20 percent of the vote.

Calgary-Falconridge: Gurjinder Dhillon and Jesse Minhas are now seeking the UCP nomination in this district. Minhas previously withdrew from the UCP nomination contest in Calgary-Cross. Minhas ran for the PC Party nomination in Calgary-Cross ahead of the 2015 election and was the Wildrose Party candidate in Calgary-East in the 2012 election.

Calgary-Glenmore: Scott Appleby is seeking the Alberta Party nomination

Calgary-North East: Jerry Gautreau and Manjit Jaswal have withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest in this district.

Calgary-Shaw: Rebecca Schulz defeated past Wildrose Party candidate Mark Mantei, party activist and party activist and past federal Conservative nomination candidate Jack Redekop, and Daniel McLean to win the UCP nomination on October 20, 2018.

Schulz is the director of marketing and communications at the University of Calgary and until 2016 was the director of communications for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. She was endorsed by MP Stephanie Kusie, UCP MLAs Nathan Cooper and Jason Nixon, and former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

Calgary-Varsity: Jason Copping defeated Lesley Doell, John Huang, Michael Kim, Grace Lane, and John Volponi to win the UCP nomination in Calgary-Varsity. Copping was endorsed by MP Len Webber, former Calgary-Varsity PC MLA Murray Smith, 2015 PC Party candidate Susan Billington.

NDP stalwart Anne McGrath was acclaimed as her party’s candidate in this district.

Green Party leader Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes has been nominated by her party to run in Calgary-Varsity. Chagnon-Greyeyes was selected as her party’s leader in an October 2018 leadership race.

Edmonton-Ellerslie – Yash Sharma was disqualified as the Alberta Party candidate in this district.

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood: Educator and community advocate Janis Irwin was acclaimed at a nomination meeting on October 23, 2018. Irwin currently works as a Director of Stakeholder Relations in the Office of the Premier and previously worked on the curriculum changes being implemented by the Department of Education. She ran as the federal NDP candidate in Edmonton-Greisbach in the 2015 federal election, placing a strong second behind Conservative candidate Kerry Diotte.

With exception of a brief period from 1993 to 1997, most of this district has been represented by the NDP since 1986. Irwin is succeeding former NDP leader Brian Mason, who has represented the district since 2000 and is retiring when the next election is called.

Tish Prouse defeated Brian Gratrix to become the Alberta Party candidate in this district on October 9, 2018.

Edmonton-Manning: Harjinder Grewal is seeking the UCP nomination.

Edmonton-Riverview: Katherine O’Neill is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. O’Neill was the PC Party candidate in Edmonton-Meadowlark in the 2015 election. She later served as president of the PC Party and left the party shortly after Jason Kenney won the leadership in 2017. Before entering politics, O’Neill was a reporter for the Globe & Mail.

Edmonton-West Henday: Nicole Williams defeated Leila Houle on October 22, 2018 to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in the newly redrawn Edmonton-West Henday district. A third candidate, Lance Coulter, was disqualified after comments made following a week long fiasco involving the three candidates posing for photos with members of the anti-immigration white nationalist Soldiers of Odin vigilant group.

Williams is a senior associate with Canadian Strategy Group and previously worked as an assistant to various MLAs and cabinet ministers in the old Progressive Conservative government.

Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche: Rookie UCP MLA Laila Goodridge defied rumours of an impending defeat by securing the UCP nomination on October 26, 2018. Goodridge defeated former Lac La Biche County councillor Gail Broadbent-Ludwig and former Wood Buffalo mayoral candidate Allan Grandson.

Lesser Slave Lake – John Middelkoop is seeking the UCP nomination.

Lethbridge-East/Livingstone-Macleod: Nathan Neudorf has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest in Lethbridge-East and is now seeking the UCP nominaton in Livingstone-Macleod.

Morinville-St. Albert: Shane St. Arnault has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest. St. Arsenault is the owner of Shane’s Guardian Pharmacy in Redwater.

Red Deer-North: Catholic School Board trustee Adriana LaGrange defeated former Wildrose Caucus staffer Cole Kander and Red Deer City Councillor Lawrence Lee to secure UCP nomination on October 27, 2018. LaGrange has been endorsed by Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garnett Genuis and former Red Deer-North PC MLA Mary Anne Jablonski. Kander had been endorsed by Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, and UCP MLAs Drew Barnes, Scott Cyr, Grant Hunter.

On October 3, 2018, LaGrange hosted an event for the right-wing Parents for Choice in Education group, an advocacy group that has been a vocal opponent of student-initiated Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in Alberta schools.

Dr. Paul Hardy has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in this district. Hardy is one of the founding members of the Society for Fair and Transparent Health Funding to Central Alberta,

Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright: Jenelle Saskiw is seeking the UCP nomination. Saskiw served as the mayor of the Village of Marwayne and currently works as a senior advisor to Alberta Counsel, an Edmonton-based lobbyist and legal firm founded by former Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw and lawyer Jon Wescott.

Note: The Alberta Party nominated a whole batch of candidates immediately before their recent annual general meeting. I am trying to get the list of those candidates straight, so I will try to include those candidates in my next nomination update.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

Notley NDP launch “Fighting for You” campaign for re-election, Tribute to Brian Mason, and Vegreville Ford breaks from the MDA-Kenney Pact

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Alberta’s New Democratic Party has focused a lot of energy attacking Jason Kenney and honing in on United Conservative Party nomination candidate bozo-eruptions in hopes of building a narrative that casts the UCP as having a big problem with its social conservative elements. But while Kenney and the UCP were frequently mentioned at the NDP convention at the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton today, the governing party put a lot more focus on what might become the positive narrative of their campaign for re-election.

With “Fighting for You,” “Fighting for Jobs,” “Fighting for Healthcare,” “Fighting for Public Education,” and “Fighting for Public Services” projected on the large bright screen at the front of the convention hall, NDP officials and cabinet ministers took to the microphones to test talking points and remind delegates about the changes the party has implemented on childcare, climate change, education, health care, and workplace safety since the 2015 election.

The convention feels like it was designed avoid the kind of controversy that was generated at the recent UCP policy convention or the last time there was a big NDP gathering in Edmonton. And unlike previous conventions, there were no contentious debates about halting pipelines, disaffiliating from the federal NDP, or merging with other political parties. Delegates instead reaffirmed their support for Notley’s fight for oil pipelines and a range of progressive policies that included expanding broadband internet in rural Alberta, eliminating racism, expanding affordable childcare, and opposing education vouchers.

Premier Rachel Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci took part in a panel discussion moderated by Edmonton-Manning MLA Heather Sweet. The discussion was very friendly, allowing Notley and Ceci to highlight their familiar narrative that investment in public infrastructure and public services was a better choice for Albertans than cutting frontline public services when the price of oil dropped in 2014.

The second day of the NDP convention also featured guest speakers. Chief Billy Joe Laboucan spoke about the historic agreement signed with the Lubicon Lake Band this week. Former Calgary Board of Education chairperson Joy Bowen-Eyre spoke about the need to protect funding for public education. And University of Alberta professor Russell Cobb spoke about how austerity and tax cuts in once-oil rich Oklahoma has led that state down the road to massive public service cuts.

Overall, the second day of the convention was a very well-stage managed event.

But despite a lack of controversy on the convention floor today, the group of more than 1,200 delegates appeared upbeat, energized and ready to hit the doors to campaign in 2019.

“Rachel’s Team” coming to a billboard near you

We can expect a larger focus on Premier Rachel Notley going into Alberta’s next provincial general election. The NDP has already begun to quietly exchange its party logo in many of its public documents in favour of Rachel Notley’s name. It has been clear since 2015 that Notley is her party’s greatest asset, so it is not surprising that she will play the central role in her party’s 2019 re-election campaign.

When next spring arrives, I would not be surprised to see “Rachel’s Team” billboards popping up across the province.

Notley is scheduled to deliver her keynote speech to delegates on the second day of the convention at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 28, 2018.

Ceci criticizes feds for “moving the goal posts” on Olympic funding

Joe Ceci scrums with reporters at the NDP convention.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci accused the federal government of “moving the goal posts in the fourth quarter,” following news that the federal Liberal cabinet had decided to fund up to $1.75 billion towards the potential Calgary 2026 Winter Olympics, but only if the Alberta government and City of Calgary match the total. The Alberta government said it will not budge from its $700 million commitment to Calgary’s Olympic Games.

The news from Ottawa gave Ceci an opportunity to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, something that is rarely a negative in Alberta politics. Expect NDP cabinet ministers to continue to distance themselves from their former federal allies in the coming months.

Tribute to former leader Brian Mason

NDP MLAs gather on stage during the tribute to former party leader Brian Mason.

The lunch break featured a tribute to Brian Mason, the retiring cabinet minister and MLA from Edmonton-Highlands-Nowood who led the NDP through the muddy trenches of Alberta politics from 2004 to 2014. Mason was introduced by Notley and joined on stage by former party leaders Raj Pannu and Ray Martin, and dozens of his fellow NDP MLAs.

Brian Mason (source: The Gateway, November 1974).

“Work hard, give lots, take nothing for granted, and never, ever, ever give up,” Mason told convention delegates.

Mason has been a fixture in Edmonton and Alberta politics for decades, first as a prominent activist and student leader at the University of Alberta in the 1970s, then as an transit driver turned Edmonton City Councillor in the 1980s and 1990s before jumping into provincial politics in 2000.

Respected community advocate and educator Janis Irwin has been nominated as Mason’s NDP successor in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.

Big difference from the last NDP convention I attended

Mason was party leader the last time I attended an NDP convention.

It was September 2009, in a dim-lit windowless ballroom in a downtown Edmonton hotel, the most contentious topic of debate was a proposal from a small group of New Democrat founders of the Democratic Renewal Project.

The DRP advocated the creation of an electoral arrangement or cooperation agreement between the NDP and the Liberal Party to prevent vote splitting by progressive voters. Both opposition parties had major loses in the previous year’s election, with the NDP dropping from four to two MLAs.

The ideas put forward by the DRP sounded sensible to me at the time but were soundly rejected by conference delegates.

Nine years later, the NDP are no longer debating vote splitting or electoral coalitions. They are holding their final convention before going to the polls to ask Albertans to grant them a second-term as government.

Vegreville Ford breaks from MDA support for Jason Kenney’s PAC

Vegreville Ford

Brian Baron, the dealer principal of Vegreville Ford, posted a message on his car dealership’s Facebook page this week, distancing himself from the dozens of car dealerships across Alberta that have donated $170,000 to Shaping Alberta’s Future, a pro-Jason Kenney political action committee:

“Although we are a member of the MDA, we have chosen not to contribute to the “Shaping Alberta’s Future” 3rd party marketing campaign. Our position is that we do not feel that this action supports what we feel the MDA’s or our purpose should be. Vegford is nonpartisan and it neither endorses nor supports financially any politician or political party. Our job is to take great care of our customers and our staff. We care about Albertans and we vote, but in a world that is already too divided, we feel no need to engage in controversy.”

UCP dominates third quarter fundraising, pro-UCP Shaping Alberta’s Future PAC flush with car dealership cash

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Elections Alberta released the financial disclosures showing the results of political party fundraising in the third quarter of 2018.

Here are my quick thoughts on the latest fundraising numbers:

The United Conservative Party raised more than $1 million for the second quarter in a row, demonstrating the dominant conservative party’s ability to raise significantly larger amounts than any of the other parties. There is no doubt that the UCP is an impressive fundraising machine and will not be hurting for money when the next election is called.

The New Democratic Party raised $676,446.91 in this quarter, which is $237,000 more than the party raised in the same quarter in 2017 and a drop from the $856,960 raised in the last quarter. The NDP continues to lag behind the UCP in terms of total fundraising, but the governing party is around $500,000 ahead in total annual fundraising from where it was during last year’s third quarter.

The Alberta Party saw its fundraising totals drop by almost $100,000 compared to last quarter, leaving the third-place party with $28,915 in fundraising reported in the third quarter.

The remnant of the Progressive Conservative Party, which is now legally controlled by the UCP board of directors, disclosed a $2,500 donation from Jack Seguin of Acheson in the third quarter. It is not clear whether this donation was a mistake on the part of the UCP or whether this is an interest payment on the $192,237 remaining debt that was listed in the party’s annual disclosure filed at the end of 2017.

The total number of donations collected by Alberta’s political parties in 2017 and 2018 is somewhat complicated by the fact that donations collected during by-election periods from November 16, 2017 to February 14, 2018, and from June 14 to July 12, 2018 are counted separately from the regular quarterly reports.

During the by-election period that ended on February 14, 2018, the NDP collected $886,591.29 , the UCP collected $840,794.02, and the Liberal Party collected $61,662.19. The financial reports from the by-election period in June and July 2018 has not yet been released but will include funds raised by the parties during that period that might not be included in the third quarter financial disclosure released last week.

Pro-UCP PAC flush with car dealership cash

A billboard advertisement from the Shaping Alberta’s Future PAC.

Not limited by donations laws banning corporate donations that apply to political parties, two pro-UCP Third Party Political Advertisers, known colloquially as Political Action Committees, are flush with cash.

The AAFund raised $261,500.00 in the third quarter of 2018 and a total of $915,454.77 in the first three quarters of 2018. Shaping Alberta’s Future raised $275,000 in the third quarter of 2018, of which at least $170,000 came from car dealerships across the province.

Andrew Robinson

Following a meeting with UCP leader Jason Kenney on September 6, 2018, Motor Dealer Association of Alberta chairman Andrew Robinson wrote in a letter to association members that the MDA board voted to “contribute $100,000.00 to the Shaping Alberta’s Future political action company to assist in the UCP 3rd party advertising campaign.”

In his letter, Robinson noted Kenney would roll back personal and corporate taxes, freeze minimum wage and explore lower wages for young workers, and cancel all reforms the NDP have made the the Labour Code, Occupational Health & Safety and Workers’ Compensation Board.

Robinson wrote that the MDA board voted to solicit its dealer members to contribute to Shaping Alberta’s Future. The letter noted that the “MDA’s goal donation is $1,000,000.00” and that “each MDA dealership write a cheque in the amount of $5,000.00.”

The President of the MDA is Denis Ducharme, who served as the PC MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake from 1997 to 2008.

Speaking to Postmedia columnist Keith Gerein, Shaping Alberta’s Future executive director David Wasyluk denied that the UCP and the pro-UCP PAC have been collaborating. Wasyluk was until recently the spokesperson for the right-wing BC Liberal Party and a research officer for the BC Liberal Party caucus before that party was removed from government in 2017.

Elections Alberta disclosures also show that Edmonton philanthropist Stanley Milner is of the largest individual donors of the AAFund and Shaping Alberta’s Future, having donated around $88,000 to the two pro-UCP political action committees.

The primary contacts for each group are also provided by Elections Alberta. The primary contact for the AAFund is Edmonton lawyer and former Wildrose Party executive director Jonathan Wescott, who is the Principal of the Alberta Counsel lobby firm. The primary contract for Shaping Alberta’s Future is Douglas Nelson, who was previously listed as the Chief Financial Officer for Jason Kenney’s now defunct Third Party Political Advertisers, the Alberta Victory Fund.

Goodridge challenged in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, last-PC MLA Starke could run again in 2019, Alberta Party AGM this weekend, and kd lang named to the Alberta Order of Excellence

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Photo: Laila Goodridge was sworn-in as MLA for Fort McMurray-Conklin on October 11, 2018 (source: Facebook)

Could an MLA first elected in a July 2018 by-election be at risk losing her nomination to run in the next election before the Legislature meets at the end of October? Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA Laila Goodridge is said to be facing a strong challenge from former Lac La Biche County councillor Gail Broadbent-Ludwig and former Wood Buffalo mayoral candidate Allan Grandson for the United Conservative Party nomination in the new Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche district.

Voting for the UCP nomination will take place on October 25 and 26, 2018, only days before the fall session of the Legislative Assembly begins on October 29, 2018. This will mark first time Goodridge, and fellow rookie MLA Devin Dreeshen of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, will sit in the Assembly as MLAs.

The electoral boundary changes in northeast Alberta are significant. When the election is called, Fort McMurray-Conklin will be dissolved and Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche will be created, increasing the population of the district from around 26,000 to 44,166.

UCP MLAs Wayne Anderson and Rick Strankman, have recently faced defeat in their bids to seek their party’s nomination to run in the next election. We discussed this nomination contest on the latest episode of the Daveberta Podcast.

Starke could run for re-election, for who?

Richard Starke

Richard Starke is considering running for re-election, but it is not clear whether the Independent MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster would run as an Independent candidate or join a political party before the election was called. Starke was elected as a Progressive Conservative in the 2012 and 2015, and would be expected to run for re-election in the new Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright district.

“I have not decided yet whether I will seek a third term as MLA,” Starke wrote when contacted. “If I run, it could be as an independent or I may seek a nomination for one of the parties. That decision will be made in due course; I have no timeline for any announcement.”

Starke is recognized by Legislative Assembly Speaker Bob Wanner as a Progressive Conservative MLA, but that recognition does not mean much outside the Legislative Grounds in Edmonton. He declined to join the UCP Caucus when the remaining PC Party MLAs joined the Wildrose Official Opposition Caucus to form the new party in July 2017.

The remnant of the PC Party, which governed Alberta from 1971 to 2015, is now legally controlled by the UCP board of directors. This means, if he does decide to run for re-election, there is little to no chance Starke will be listed as a PC Party candidate on the ballot in the next election.

There has been speculation since 2017 that Starke would join the Alberta Party, which has become a refuge for many of his former PC Party colleagues, including many who endorsed him in that party’s March 2017 leadership contest.

Starke would face at least seven challengers for the UCP nomination in Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright, including his Wildrose Party challenger from the previous two elections, the wife of a retiring UCP MLA, and another past PC Party candidate. It seems unlikely that he would cross to the NDP, but stranger things have happened.

Independent MLAs are rarely re-elected in Alberta. The last time an Independent candidate was elected to Alberta’s Legislative Assembly was in 1982, when former Social Credit MLAs Raymond Speaker and Walt Buck were re-elected. They would form the Representative Party of Alberta in 1984 and were both re-elected under that party’s banner in 1986.

Alberta Party AGM

Lynn Mandel, Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel, and MLA Karen McPherson.

One of Starke’s former colleagues, Doug Grittiths, will be delivering the keynote speech at the Alberta Party annual general meeting, being held on October 19 and 20, 2018 at the Edmonton Expo Centre.

Griffiths served as PC MLA for Wainwight from 2002 to 2004 and Battle River-Wainwright from 2004 to 2015, and served in cabinet with Starke as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister of Service Alberta. Griffiths endorsed Starke in the March 2017 PC Party leadership contest, as did former PC cabinet minister and current Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel.

The Alberta Party has seen its legislative caucus expand from 1 to 3 MLAs over the past year with the addition of former NDP MLA Karen McPherson and former UCP MLA Rick Fraser, but the party has struggled to generate excitement among voters. Four public opinion polls released since April 2018 show support for the Alberta Party ranging from 5.1 percent to 11 percent province-wide.

Mandel has had a bit of a rough few weeks ahead of this annual meeting, first scrambling to explain to his party’s membership why he agreed to meet with the right-wing Parents for Choice in Education group, disqualifying Yash Sharma as the party’s nominated candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie, and defending a poorly delivered and tone-deaf comment about women in politics.

kd lang named to the Alberta Order of Excellence

Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Notley’s husband Lou Arab, and kd lang. (photography by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta)

Singer and song-writer kd lang has finally received the recognition she deserved this week as she was awarded to the Alberta Order of Excellence. The honour granted to to lang was praised by Premier Rachel Notley, who tweeted that she is “a trailblazer, opening doors and bravely championing many causes, including LGBTQ2S+ rights.” Notley’s congratulatory comments are a far cry from the backwards attitudes and actions of some Alberta MLAs twenty-five years ago.

In January 1993, Alberta PC MLAs blocked a motion to congratulate lang on her musical awards and achievements. Some rural PC MLAs were said to be annoyed at anti-beef comments she had made a few years before, but that was not the only reason. The Globe & Mail reported in January 1993 that some backbench PC MLAs said they did not support sending a message of congratulations to the singer because she had openly declared she is a lesbian.

“Frankly, it makes them look very bad,” said William Roberts, the Edmonton-Centre NDP MLA who introduced the motion to congratulate lang. “I think people would say there are a lot of narrow-minded people in Alberta.”

lang had only a short, cryptic message for her detractors at the time: “Free your mind and the rest will follow.”

Made In Alberta: The Ray Martin Story by Ray Martin and John Ashton tops Edmonton bestsellers non-fiction list

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Photo: Ray Martin and John Ashton

Here is the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended October 14, 2018. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.

At the top of this week’s non-fiction bestseller list is Made In Alberta: The Ray Martin Story by Ray Martin and John Ashton. Martin was the Leader of the Alberta NDP and the Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature from 1984 to 1993 and as the MLA for Edmonton-Norwood from 1982 to 1993 and Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview from 2004 to 2008. Ashton is well known in Alberta’s political circles as a veteran campaign NDP manager and has worked on 25 election campaigns in six provinces.

EDMONTON NON-FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. Made In Alberta: The Ray Martin Story – Ray Martin and John Ashton *
2. Raising Grandkids – Gary Garrison *
3. Out of Line – Tanis MacDonald
4. Right Here, Right Now – Stephen Harper
5. Alberta Images – Daryl Benson
6. The Woo-Woo – Lindsay Wong
7. Dare to Lead – Brene Brown
8. Where Rivers Meet – Stephen Legault
9. Mamaskatch – Darrel J. McLeod
10. Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography – Andrea Warner

EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. French Exit – Patrick DeWitt
2. Orange Shirt Day (children’s) – Phyllis Webstad
3. Glass Houses – Louise Penny
4. Split Tooth – Tanya Tagaq
5. Treaty 6 Deixis – Christine Stewart *
6. An Ocean of Minutes – Thea Lim
7. Women Talking – Miriam Toews
8. In a House of Lies – Ian Rankin
9. Washington Black – Esi Edugyan

* Alberta Author + Alberta Publisher

Episode 21: Jumpin’ Joe Anglin, UCP Interruptions Bozai, and the NDP’s $15/hour minimum wage

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Joe Anglin’s return to Alberta politics, what happens when a white nationalist, anti-immigration group shows up to a United Conservative Party pub night, and what happens now that the New Democratic Party government has implemented its promised $15 per hour minimum wage, are a few of the topic Dave and Ryan discuss this week on the podcast.

We discuss the latest candidate nomination news, including questions about if recently-by-elected UCP MLA Laila Goodridge can win her party’s nomination in the new Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche district (the nomination meeting is being held three days before the return of the Legislative Assembly at the end of October) and how Anne McGrath‘s communist history will impact her chances as the NDP candidate in Calgary-Varsity.

And we dive deep into our mailbag to answer listener questions ranging from the upcoming Alberta Party annual general meeting to the 2018-2022 wild salmon policy.

We are also thrilled to announce Daveberta.ca is collaborating with ParityYeg to create and maintain an online dashboard that tracks nominated and nomination candidates ahead of Alberta’s 2019 election.

The Daveberta Podcast is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB Financial. The networks includes more than 30 Alberta-made podcasts, including the Otherwise Show.

You can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you find podcasts online. We’d love to hear what you think of this episode, so feel free to leave a review where you download, comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at podcast@daveberta.ca. And we would really appreciate it if you could leave a review where you download this podcast and share this episode with a friend.

And thanks again to our producer, Adam Rozenhart, who keeps us on track and makes each episode of the Daveberta Podcast sound so great.

Thank you for listening!

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RJ Sigurdson defeats MLA Wayne Anderson in Highwood UCP nomination, and a preview of this week’s nomination votes

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Former local party local president RJ Sigurdson defeated incumbent MLA Wayne Anderson and two other challengers to secure the United Conseravative Party nomination in Highwood on October 16, 2018. Sigurdson previously served as the local constituency president for the UCP and PC Party in the district south of Calgary.

Wayne Anderson

Anderson faced a nomination challenge from Sigurdson, Carrie Fischer, a former Okotoks town councillor and mayoral candidate who ran for the PC Party against Anderson in 2015, and former Wildrose and PC Party activist Dean Leask.

Sigurdson had been endorsed by from former Highwood PC MLA George Groeneveld, former Okotoks mayor Bill McAlpine, and former PC MP Doug Fee.

Anderson had been endorsed by fellow UCP MLAs Leila Aheer, Nathan Cooper, Ric McIver, Jason Nixon, Dave Schneider, Pat Stier, Glenn van Dijken, and Tany Yao, as well as former PC cabinet minister Jon Havelock and Okotoks mayor Bill Robertson. And Leask had been endorsed by former cabinet minister Ted Morton and former area MP Grant Hill.

Anderson was first elected in 2015 as Wildrose Party candidate and currently serves as the UCP Advanced Education critic. He is the second UCP MLA to lose the party’s nomination to run in the next election. Rancher and political party scion Nate Horner defeated two-term MLA Rick Strankman in Drumheller-Stettler UCP nomination contest earlier this month.

Here are the other nomination meetings taking place this week:

October 17, 2018 – Edmonton-Mill Woods AP

Anju Sharma is expected to be acclaimed as the Alberta Party candidate after two other candidates, James Moore and Walter Espinoza, withdrew from the contest. Abdi Bakal is also expected to be acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate in this district on October 17, 2018. The district is currently represented by New Democratic Party MLA Christina Gray.

October 18, 2018 – Calgary-Elbow NDP

Janet Eremenko is expected to be acclaimed as the NDP candidate. Eremenko was a candidate for Calgary City Council in Ward 11 in the October 2017 election where she finished third with 20 percent of the vote. The district is currently represented by Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark.

October 18 & 20, 2018 – Airdrie-Cochrane UCP

Five candidates are seeking the UCP nomination in this district northwest of Calgary: Ian Chitwood, Peter Guthrie, Morgan Nagel, Mauri Stiff, and Laura Talsma.

Chitwood is director of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. Guthrie is a former owner of a Mr. Lube franchise in north east Calgary and a former co-owner of a ranch near Castor. Nagel is a Cochrane town councillor and previously worked as a organizer for Jason Kenney’s leadership campaign and the Manning Centre. Talsma is a Registered Nurse at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and Bethany Cochrane Long Term Care facility in Calgary.

Peter Guthrie is endorsed by former sportscaster and recent Airdrie-East UCP nomination candidate Roger Millions and former Rocky View County councillor and Calgary-Centre MP Eric Lowther. Nagel has the endorsements of Cochrane town councillors Alex Reed and Patrick Wilson. Stiff has been endorsed by Airdrie UCP MLA Angela Pitt, who is running for re-election in the neighbouring Airdrie-East district. Talsma is endorsed by UCP MLA Jason Nixon and brief UCP leadership candidate Jeff Callaway.

October 20, 2018 – Calgary-Shaw UCP

Five candidates are seeking the UCP nomination in this southwest Calgary district: past Wildrose Party candidates Brad Leishman and Mark Mantei, party activist and past federal Conservative nomination candidate Jack Redekop, communications professional Rebecca Schulz, and Daniel McLean.

Leisheman and Redekop have endorsed the right-wing Parents for Choice in Education group, and Mantei appears to have the support of the right-wing Progressive Group for Independent Business through the group’s president Sid Helischauer and PGIB-backed Calgary-Peigan candidate Tanya Fir, and UCP MLA Tany Yao. Rebecca Schultz is endorsed by Member of Parliament Stephanie Kusie, UCP MLAs Nathan Cooper and Jason Nixon and former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

Calgary-Shaw is currently represented by NDP MLA Graham Sucha and was previously represented by Wildrose-turned-PC MLA Jeff Wilson from 2012 to 2015.

October 20, 2018 – Calgary-Varsity NDP

NDP stalwart Anne McGrath is expected to be acclaimed as her party’s candidate in this redrawn district. McGrath returned to Alberta from Ottawa in 2015 to serve as Principal Secretary in the Premier’s Office in Edmonton and then moved to Calgary to serve as Executive Director of the Premier’s Southern Alberta Office at the McDougall Centre.

Two current MLAs, Stephanie McLean and Michael Connolly, and one other candidate, Julia Hayter, have withdrawn from the contest in this district. Hayter is now running for the NDP nomination in Calgary-Edgemont.

253,900 Albertans got a raise this month

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Labour Minister Christina Gray with Lynsae Moon, co-owner of the Nook Café. (Photo: Government of Alberta)

Alberta’s minimum wage jumped to $15 per hour on October 1, 2018, making our province the first in Canada to reach this mark. The New Democratic Party promised to raise the minimum wage as part of its platform in the 2015 election and quickly began a 3-year phased increase to the minimum wage shortly after Premier Rachel Notley formed her government.

Rachel Notley

“The $15 minimum wage will make life more affordable for women, single parents, families and everyone who has been working a full-time job or more but is still struggling to put food on the table and pay their rent,” Labour Minister Christina Gray said in a September 28 press release.

According to the Alberta Low Wage Profile, the number of employees with average hourly earnings of less than $15 per hour in Alberta decreased from 292,400 in 2016 to 253,900 in 2018. The profile also shows that Alberta has the lowest percentage of low wage earners among the Canadian provinces, followed by Saskatchewan.

The phased-in increase to minimum wage is a challenge that business owners who pay poverty level wages had been forced to confront. And not surprisingly, business owners and their lobby groups have taken issue with the increases since they began after 2015.

Some business owners have warned that pay increases could lead to increased costs for consumers. There is no doubt that an increase to the minimum wage will increase costs for employers, but I am sure they have already found many Albertans will not mind paying a little bit more knowing that the employees who serve their coffee, prepare their lunches, or stock their grocery store shelves are paid better than they were last month.

The leaders of Alberta’s two main conservative parties, Jason Kenney of the United Conservative Party and Stephen Mandel of the Alberta Party, have floated the idea of a lower minimum wage for workers under the age of 18 or workers in the service industry.

Stephen Mandel

Mandel went into detail with his proposal to lower the minimum wage for certain Alberta workers, lowering the rate to $13.60 an hour for workers 17 and under and to $14 an hour for servers who earn tips.

It makes little sense to penalize or devalue the work of the lowest paid workers in Alberta because of their age or the industry they work in. This kind of thinking presumes that most young workers are just earning pocket money to buy V-Bucks for Fortnite and not saving to pay for post-secondary education, helping pay the bills at home or trying to raise their own families.

Around 63 per cent of minimum wage earners are women, more than 37 per cent of minimum wage earners are parents, including around 14,300 who are single parents.

A pay cut for low wage workers could be part of Bill 1: The Free Enterprise Act, which Mandel announced at a gathering of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce earlier this month would be the first law passed by an Alberta Party government. He was mum on what else would be included in this bill, but as the NDP have already lowered the small business tax rate from 3 per cent to 2 per cent, it is possible Mandel would like to see the tax completely abolished.

Kenney initially played coy on the topic, saying he had no plans to roll back the $15 per hour wage but in a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last week he went into detail about his willingness to adopt a system of lower minimum wages based on age or industry.

Jason Kenney

While Kenney was not specific about how far be would roll back wages for young workers, recent UCP leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer, who is now the party’s star candidate in Calgary-Elbow, said last year that he would cut Alberta’s minimum wage by 18.7 per cent from $15 per hour to $12.20 per hour, because it is the “right choice for Albertans whose livelihoods count on it the most.”

Kenney also stated he plans to repeal labour law reforms implemented by the NDP, which updated many Alberta laws not changed since the 1970s. It is not clear whether this would include the occupational health and safety code updates, or other changes expanding compassionate care leave, maternal and paternal leave, holiday pay, and the clarification of termination and temporary layoff rules.

While most media attention is focused on small and medium sized businesses who have had to increase their staff salaries, poverty level wages are not just unique to the private sector.

Support staff including educational and financial assistants, library clerks, maintenance staff, secretaries, typists and custodians who work for the Living Waters Catholic School District in Edson, Whitecourt and Slave Lake are on strike because they were fed up with irregular working hours and low salaries. Some staff members have been turning to their local food bank to make ends meet, according to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, the union representing these workers.

Doug Schweitzer

The $15 per hour minimum wage was a step in the right direction, but it is still lower than the what is considered to be a living wage in some of Alberta’s urban areas. Vibrant Communities Calgary estimated in 2017 that the Living Wage in Calgary is $18.15 per hour, the Edmonton Social Planning Council says a living wage in the province’s capital city is $16.31 per hour, the City of Grande Prairie estimated $17.35 per hour, while in 2016 Central Alberta Poverty estimated that the living wage in Red Deer and Central Alberta was between $13.71 and $14.10 per hour.

Increasing the minimum wage is not a silver bullet to eliminating poverty in our province, but raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will make a big difference in the lives of a lot of working Albertans.

While the current crop of conservative political leaders have decried the wage increase for Alberta’s lowest paid workers, conservative politicians in the recent past have praised increases to the minimum wage:

“This increase to Alberta’s minimum wage is good news for Albertans,” said Premier Ed Stelmach in June 2007, when the minimum wage was raised from $7 per hour to $8 per hour.

”Minimum wage offers protection for workers,” said Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry Iris Evans, also in June 2007. “It sets the minimum rate of pay that employers must meet and ensures that workers, especially women and youth, who traditionally are in the lower income occupations, are making a better wage.”

“We want to ensure that Albertans earning the minimum wage are as protected as possible during these changing times,” Minister of Employment and Immigration Hector Goudreau said in March 2009, when the minimum wage increased from $8.40 per hour to $8.80 per hour.

RAGE against the Government

Luke Ouellette

In light of Kenney’s comments this week about decreasing the minimum wage for young workers, the UCP leader also floated the idea of creating a Minister responsible for de-regulation and cutting red tape. This is not a new idea.

In November 2004, Premier Ralph Klein appointed Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Luke Ouellette as Alberta’s only-ever Minister of Restructuring and Government Efficiency. Known by the nickname the “Ministry of RAGE,” the department quickly became an oxymoronic joke because was a government bureaucracy created for the purpose of cutting government’s bureaucracy.

Aside from some responsibilities related to the Alberta SuperNet that were previously handled by another government department, it was never clear what exactly the RAGE Ministry ever accomplished. And before Albertans could ever find out, the position was eliminated and, in December 2006, Ouellette was appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation.

History will show that the Ministry of Restructuring and Government Efficiency was most notable for eliminating the Office of the Minister of Restructuring and Government Efficiency.