Author: Dave Cournoyer
Alberta Liberal candidate Craig Cheffins was elected in tonight’s by-election in Calgary Elbow (Ralph Klein’s former seat).
Calgary Elbow
Craig Cheffins, Liberal – 4801 (46%)
Brian Heninger, PC – 4017 (38%)
George Read, Grn – 611 (6%)
Jane Greydanus, Alliance – 456 (4%)
Al Brown, NDP – 348 (3%)
Trevor Grover, SC – 175 (2%)
Jeff Willerton, Ind – 124 (1%)
Here’s the unofficial poll-by-poll breakdown.
Don’t forget to get out and vote today if you live in Calgary Elbow or Drumheller-Stettler. The by-election polls are open from 9:00am to 8:00pm.
If you don’t know where to vote, you can find your polling station here.
I spent the past weekend campaigning in Drumheller-Stettler by-election for Tom Dooley.
Being in Drumheller, I didn’t expect a warm reception at the doors, so I was pretty surprised at the positive reaction I recieved when I told people I was campaigning for Tom Dooley (quite literally every second door).
It soon became fairly clear that Tom Dooley is a really well known man in the Drumheller area (he’s also a really nice guy). As a local rancher, former County Councillor and Deputy Reeve, I get the feeling Tom Dooley do pretty well in Drumheller.
Even though Tory candidate Jack Hayden is considered the by many to be the frontrunner in this long-time rural ‘c’onservative riding, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a substantial slip in the ‘C’onservative vote this time around. I say this for a number of reasons.
First, it’s a by-election. In by-elections, voters can express their satifaction or disatisfaction with the governing party without changing government.
Second, with four right-wing candidates in the running, there is a good chance that the ‘c’onservative vote will be split between Hayden, Social Credit candidate Larry Davidson (Davidson actually had noticeably more signs on private property in Drumheller than Hayden), Alliance candidate Dave France, and Alberta Independence advocate John Rew. This right-wing split could cause some interesting senarios when the votes are counted.
Third, the Balzac water management issue has exploded in Drumheller. I’m still blown away by how mad the people I spoke with on the doors are about this issue. When the Drumheller Valley Times runs “Liberals show PC’s lied” as their frontpage headline, you know this has become a big issue.
As for the other smaller party candidates, it’s always tough to predict how well the Greens will do, so it will be interesting to see how Jennifer Wigmore makes out (Her husband ran as the Green candidate in the area during the last Federal Election, so there is probably a certain amount of ‘Wigmore’ name recognition in the constituency). As for the New Democrats, well… the ‘Brian Mason’ campaign signs everywhere signal to me that if the New Democrats aren’t even buying signs with their candidate’s name on them, they’ve pretty much given up on these races (I hear the same signs have shown up in Calgary Elbow).
As for the Calgary Elbow race (which most of the media attention has been on), some of the media outlets seem to be calling it already, but I’ve been around enough election campaigns to know that it’s not over until the polls close at 8pm (or on the third judicial recount in some cases). It’s been a hot race between Alberta Liberal Craig Cheffins and Brian “the choker” Heninger, so it should add some excitement to tomorrow’s day on the Alberta political scene.
Nether the less, both the Drumheller-Stettler and Calgary Elbow by-elections tomorrow will be uphill battles for any of the opposition candidates running as both constituencies have been held by the Tories for over 30 years
If you live in either of these constituencies, remember to get out and vote tomorrow!
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stranglehold.
More later, but what?
“I’d choke our premier,” Heninger says to the disgruntled voter, the latest in a string of citizens who have expressed frustration with Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach.
UPDATE: As Dan points out, Stelmach has provided Albertans with an incredibly entertaining update:
According to reports, [Henninger] told a constituent at the door he would like to “choke” Stelmach. The premier said that kind of enthusiasm is exactly what he wants in his MLAs.
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piadvocacy.
Public Interest Alberta held their Annual General Meeting on Saturday (I meant to go, but didn’t make it in the end). At the AGM, Jackie Flanagan, Publisher of Alberta Views Magazine received the “Public Interest Award for her work with the magazine and as an advocate of the public good.” Video clips of Flanagan’s acceptance speech are below for your viewing pleasure:
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budget more.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association has launched a new website calling on Minister of Education Ron Liepert to not short-change our education system and to make education funding a priority. I would have to agree.
The adventures of Honest Ed continue…
EDMONTON — Premier Ed Stelmach admitted Monday that “overzealous” organizers for his Conservative leadership bid wrongly solicited a $10,000 cheque from a municipal garbage agency, money his campaign returned after he won the race.
The premier said the donation last summer from Beaver Regional Waste Management Service’s Commission was legal but clearly unethical, though the Tofield-area body’s records show the cheque was only returned a day before Stelmach’s campaign had officially cleared its debt in February.
It’s the second time Stelmach has blamed his campaigners for questionable practices, months after public outcry forced him to cancel a $5,000-a-ticket fundraising reception billed as a chance to have a private audience with Alberta’s top politician.
Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, who made public the $10,000 donation in the legislature Monday, accused Stelmach of developing a “conscience of convenience” once the leader had a campaign surplus and knew his finances faced more public scrutiny.
“It was only after they began to feel they would be watched that they developed a conscience and refunded the money,” Taft told reporters.
And yet some people will tell me that donations to leadership races have no business being public.
I’m of the belief that there should be much more accoutability through involvement by Elections Alberta in internal party financial and fundraising rules similar to those of Elections Canada.
Can you imagine an Alberta where an end would be put to massive secret and loophole backdoor out-of-province political donations?
Sigh.
UPDATE: Calgary Grit’s take on Stelmach’s ““The donation might have been legal, it certainly was not ethical.” comment.
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alberta’s new balance of power?
A good friend passed along this message to me:
Alberta’s newfound fiscal capacity has led many to predict it will lead to a new balance of power and perhaps even instability in the federation. How will Alberta choose to exercise this political and economic clout? How will the federal government, and the other provinces, react? And to what extent will this affect the regional balance of power and the national agenda? These were the questions that were asked at a recent Public Policy Forum event held at the Ranchmen’s Club in Calgary.
At the event, presentations were made by the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Tom Courchene, Professor of Economic and Financial Policy at Queen’s University. You can read Minister Ambrose’s speech here and Dr. Courchene’s speech here.
I know I already posted one of the videos already, but four new online videos have been released with Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft speaking about the Alberta Liberal plan for affordable housing, Alberta’s Creative Economy, Alberta’s Water, and Sustaining Alberta’s future.
The official candidates list has been released for the June 12 by-elections in Calgary Elbow and Drumheller-Stettler. There are seven candidates in each race (and there’s no shortage of right-wing candidates to split up the right-of-centre vote).
CALGARY ELBOW
Al Brown, NDP
Craig Cheffins, Alberta Liberal
Jane Greydanus, Alliance
Trevor Grover, Social Credit
Brian Heninger, PC
George Read, Green
Jeff Willerton, Independent
DRUMHELLER-STETTLER
Richard Bough, NDP
Larry Davidson, Social Credit
Tom Dooley, Alberta Liberal
Dave France, Alliance
Jack Hayden, PC
John Rew, Independent
Jennifer Wigmore, Greens
Though it’s not unexpected, I’m still a little surprised at the amount of right-wing candidates that appeared out of the woodwork to run in these by-elections. Though Calgary Elbow still remains a race between Craig Cheffins and Brian Heninger, the Drumheller-Stettler race could end up having very interesting results depending on the vote split between Jack Hayden, Tom Dooley, Dave France, Larry Davidson, and Jennifer Wigmore.
(Apologies for the lame Lord of the Rings reference in the title…)
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note to self.
I’m wondering if this is what Ed Stelmach’s notebook looks like…
Note to self- if the going gets rough, blame market forces!
(I wish I were the one who came up with this, but I stole it from someone far more intelligent than I. I’m sure she won’t mind.)
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two ads.
I thought these were pretty clever. And they’re lot easier on the brain cells than the most recent ads from the other side.
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trouble in toryland.
The outgoing President of the Young Tories took a parting shot at Premier Ed Stelmach on the front page of today’s Calgary Herald.
Outgoing executive members of the Alberta PC youth wing continued their assault Monday against the Tories and the Stelmach government, arguing their policies are rural, stale and ensuring a “slow death march” for the party.
[…]
The entire nine-member executive has resigned from the youth wing, largely due to the party’s and government’s lack of vision and attempts to muzzle young Tories, insist the former executive members.
“PC Alberta will continue its slow death march, to the beat of a rural drum and tired, stale policies,” outgoing president David McColl, 26, wrote in an op-ed letter to the Herald.
There is also a surprisingly nasty letter on the front page of the YAPCA website. The Herald described the situation well.
Some of the outgoing members of the youth wing say they’re disillusioned with the party’s lack of vision and the way it kept the lid on their views and input. It is difficult to gauge the overall mood in the whole wing from a handful of dissenters, but what should worry Stelmach is that these are more people adding their voices to a chorus of disillusionment with his government that is growing steadily louder.
On that note, today’s Herald also included a new poll showing Premier Ed Stelmach’s disapproval rating in Calgary and Edmonton doubling to 29%, from 15% in January. In Calgary, the poll shows that Stelmach’s disapproval rating has soared to 39% (from 18% in January) and is coming close to challenging his approval ratings of 44% in Calgary (down from 52% in January). The poll also showed that 41% of Calgarians believe Premier Stelmach is leading Alberta in the wrong direction (35% think he’s taking Alberta down the right path).