Less than 48 hours after the Progressive Conservatives filled their slate of 87 candidates, three-term Calgary-Shaw MLA Cindy Ady announced on her website that she will not be seeking re-election. Ms. Ady served as Tourism minister from 2008 until 2011. Here is the message she posted:
For the past decade, I have had the honour and privilege to serve as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and to make a difference in the lives of Albertans. I have decided it is time to transition and explore new opportunities. As such, I will not be running in the upcoming provincial election.
I wish to thank the constituents of Calgary-Shaw for their inspiration and energy. Their hopes, vision, and determination have led to remarkable growth in our community. In just 10 short years, we have built schools, new healthcare facilities and better transportation systems that will shape the lives of Calgarians for years to come.
I am well aware that there is more work to be done. The hospital project and the Ring Road are two good examples. Rest assured that I will work closely with the future MLA of Calgary-Shaw to ensure a smooth and effective transition.
I would like to express my appreciation for the excellent leadership and counsel I have received from Premier Redford and my colleagues during my time as MLA. The support provided to me and my family, and the opportunities to serve the people of this province have been life changing.
Hector Goudreau demoted, not running for re-election?
Dunvegan-Central Peace PC MLA Hector Goudreau has resigned as chairman of the Cabinet Policy Committee for Community Development after defending himself from allegations he bullied school board officials in his constituency. CTV News is reporting that Mr. Goudreau has also decided against seeking re-election, though other news outlets have not reported this.
Mental health funding increased
In a pre-election announcement yesterday morning, Health & Wellness Minister Fred Horne told the media that the government has allocated an additional $15 million towards much needed renovations and expansion of services at Alberta Hospital Edmonton. The hospital’s future looked bleak only a few years ago when then-CEO of Alberta Health Services Stephen Duckett canceled previous plans for upgrades, claiming that the site buildings were too old and decrepit.
Sherman accuses government of intimidating U of A
Meanwhile, Liberal Party leader Raj Sherman is accusing the provincial government of intimating the University of Alberta‘s interim Dean of Medicine & Dentistry Verna Yiu. Dr. Sherman tweeted that he could not understand why the interim Dean cancelled his grand rounds and suggested that the decision was caused by “the intimidating arm of the #pcaa.”
13 replies on “cindy ady not seeking re-election, hector goudreau demoted, and raj sherman tweets about university intimidation.”
Sherman might yet see his poll numbers climb out of the cellar
With Ady gone, Shaw has now becomes a riding of interest. I met the Shaw WR candidate and came away very unimpressed. He did not know who Boessencool is, nor could he place Myron Thompson – the long time federal PC now marketing the WR, nor did he know of the 2008 WR candidate in neighboring Lougheed. He is young and this lack of what is/has been happening does not bode well for WR in Shaw constituency. I’m thankful I’m not voting here as I might have to look at who else is running.
It certainly was shocking to see Ady suddenly announce that she is not running; it definitely makes the Shaw contest that much more interesting — especially for me!
I’m very curious to see who is nominated in her place, and if it is a Redford appointment, I am curious as to how the voters in Shaw will respond to someone hand-picked by the premier being dropped in.
The Wildrose have many unimpressive candidates. Mike Blanchard, Richard Jones, and Happy Mann.
John Carpay is pretty good though.
The Dean of Medicine being intimidated by the PCs to cancel Raj’s rounds? I wonder if Raj is able to publicly offer any proof to back these serious allegations against my alma mater?
With all these PC Party conspiracies he claims are being orchestrated against him, I have a hard time taking him seriously anymore. Take a breath before you accuse Raj.
Brandon’s Beard to Brandon: “Please shave me”
Hector Goudreau’s letter is just another example of how he also overseen Municipal Affairs, with intimidation, misleading statements and outright lies. Rural ratepayers have every reason to not trust this man in any position that he has been involved with. At a public meeting Sept/11 (thankfully taped but unknown to the investigators), Goudreau’s selected Investigators overseeing two Petitions presented for an enquiry into the affairs of a Village, were told as Ratepayers we have no right to attend Council meetings and question Councillors. Council has the right to fine us (ratepayers) $10,000.00, put us in Jail and take our property. Don’t you just love what the PC’s have done to this province and how they enforce laws. A full investigation is required to review Goudreau’s previous Mun. Affairs portfolio-there are some serious issues that need to come to light and the sooner the better.
Don’t know about Raj Sherman’s charge. But, Matt, your alma mater, like all the universities in Alberta, is easily intimidated. Remember the controversy around Ralph Klein’s essay for Athabasca University which was 27 percent plagiarism? AU (my university)treated the issue as a PR issue, not an academic issue, and Klein paid no academic penalty. But the other 3 universities of the time outdid us in slavishness to the Tories. When Advanced Ed minister Lyle Oberg asked their presidents to send letters to the local newspapers lauding Klein’s pursuit of post-secondary education (and happily ignoring the way he was going about doing his assignments), they all complied.
The minute I heard about Cindy, I knew who would be parachuted in – Redford’s Leadership Campaign CFO. He was on the list for Calgary West but they had to make that one look like democracy! So we know the backstory of Ady – needed a place for the “chosen” to run.
Hector and PC politics have the sun shone on them – and I agree with Glenda S – there is a whole portfolio that needs some sunshine when Hector was in Municipal Affairs. But a whole lot od sunshine is needed in a lot of dark corners.
It shows that absolute power corrupts absolutely!
Transition allowances in Alberta are worth a great deal more money than those in any other province – in some cases more than twenty times what’s found elsewhere. All retiring MLAs will receive those excessive (in my view) allowances now. I anticipate this may change after the MLA compensation review, but that’s not expected to be implemented until after this provincial election.
today it was announced that we could not see the report until after the election (does this look like a pattern) despite the head of it saying it would be ready be Apr 1. Albertans should have a say.
This is what happened last time – not a word – and the WOW they upped their wages and started this Committee nonsense. So watch out!
I fear the report will indicate that they need to be paid like the private sector (company size etc), so any guess what all the lawyers will be worth? Albertans hide your wallets!
i agree wholeheartedly that HECTOR GOUDREAU”S era in municipal affairs needs looking into. we reported to him last year that our county had changed our zoning without telling us, were taking us to court of queen’s bench to get an order to remove livestock off of legal FARMLAND.
this was dead against the municipal act (although this varied according to whom we spoke to there, the phone agents or whatever they are were quite nervous about pointing this out to us, which says alot about how that department is run and what a big no-no that was for the county to try and pull off)
instead of honestly telling us our rights and looking into the guilty parties in our county, goudreau told to get a lawyer “as painful as it may be.”
we had appealed to our mla, GEORGE VANDERBURG, who also looked the other way, for which he was rewarded by being made SENIORS MINISTER
we were not able to find a lawyer who practices in the area of land issues so
we had to represent ourselves, but we lost because THE HEAD PEACE OFFICER OF OUR COUNTY SWORE A FALSE AFFADAVIT WHICH WAS THEN WITNESSED BY THE COUNTY HEAD OF PLANNING.
we reported this to the the SOLICITOR GENERAL JONATHAN DENNIS, who has refused to look into and reprimand his SS TROOPERS,
unless we first report all the details to our council, who are the ones responsible for devising the plan in the first place!
all criminals would love to investigate themselves, but it’s only the government who gets to.
we don’t yet know what the “land advocate” thinks they would do with this one, but it would be interesting, further to which, how’s the funding for that office because they will be swamped from the day they open for business, guaranteed.
This happy mann, a Wildroser has swindled about 20 people. I heard one poor guy lost nearly 1 million dollars and this poor sap is living in a basement with 2 daughters. Hardial Singh Mann from Calgary needs to be thrown in jail.