Author: Dave Cournoyer

Why doesn’t Ted Morton for for Parliament? It would probably a more effective waste of taxpayers dollars than having him pontificate as a backbench Tory MLA in the Alberta Legislature…

Here’s part of an email we recieved from the “ConnecTed” Group…

“It’s a New Year! Let’s get a new Federal Government!

Hello Fellow Friends!

In just a few days, we’re going to have a Federal election. Ted has been campaigning with a number of Conservative MPs and candidates as he supports the efforts to get a new, clean Conservative Government elected.

He’s been door knocking in Edmonton-Centre with Laurie Hawn, the former fighter pilot who’s poised to send Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan back to a law school somewhere. And with Mike Lake, the young family man who will be replacing another Edmonton Liberal, Dave Kilgour.

Ted has also been out with Blaine Calkins, another first-time candidate, who will be the next MP from Wetaskiwin. He’s been helping a couple of incumbent MPs as well, including Jason Kenney, one of the Conservative stalwarts in Calgary, and Rahim Jaffer, one of the young stars of the Conservative team in Edmonton-Strathcona.

It’s nice to see that voters in other areas, especially Ontario, are starting to get the message that the Liberals are not worthy of getting rehired to be the Government. If you had employees who made mistake after mistake, wasted company resources, and told whopper after whopper, you wouldn’t hesitate to fire them. You wonder why it’s taking so long for some people to grasp what has been so obvious to Albertans for years. But let’s do all we can to make sure that this time, there is a change in Ottawa.

If you have friends, relatives or colleagues in Eastern Canada, make sure they understand that a vote for a Liberal is a vote for more waste, squander, scandal and mismanagement. Is that the way they run their personal and business affairs?

ConnecTed wants Ted Morton to be the next Premier. We also want Stephen Harper to be the next Prime Minister. What a one-two punch that will be in making this a great place to live, work, invest and raise a family!”

… well, not really. But maybe Dave Duceppe or Dave Layton…

“Got a party leader’s name? Hop on board, free
CBC News

If your surname is Harper, Martin, Layton, Duceppe or Harris, you could be flying high after the federal election and at no cost.

A new promotion by WestJet is offering free airfare anywhere in Canada to anyone with the last names of the federal party leaders.

The offer goes to “all Canadians who share their names with any of the contenders for Canada’s next prime minister,” said Bob Cummings, vice-president of marketing for the Calgary-based airline.

There are some catches in the WestJet Gets Political promotion.

The trips must be booked by Thursday at 7 p.m. MT, and flights must be taken the day after the federal election Jan. 23. Travellers also have to pay all taxes, fees and surcharges.“

At least Don Martin will be getting a good deal.

The Second Session of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of Alberta will convene on February 22, 2006 at 3:00 p.m.

Speaking of a culture of entitlement…

From the Edmonton Sun…

“Paula Tyler is back.

The former Alberta deputy minister who made headlines in New Zealand over her abrupt departure midway through a contract is going to work for Capital Health.

Cabinet approved a deal yesterday that would enable Tyler, the partner of Ralph Klein’s chief of staff Peter Kruselnicki, to maintain her provincial government benefits while working for the regional health authority.

Klein said last year that Tyler would not be returning to work as a deputy minister in his government after he hired Kruselnicki to replace Rod Love.

The order in council passed yesterday appoints Tyler to the position of senior official, health services, but she’ll actually be seconded by Capital Health to serve as vice-president of mental health, said Alberta Health spokesman Mark Kastner.

…

“There seems to be a lot of soft landings if you are in the top echelon of the Conservative government,” said NDP MLA Ray Martin. “It seems to me to be a very unusual approach.”

Tyler made headlines in New Zealand when she quit midway through a three-year contract as CEO of the Kiwi Child, Youth and Family Services Department to return to Alberta after Kruselnicki’s appointment.“

(For more info, see previous posts here and here)

While the national Conservative campaign rides a wave, the Liberals campaign stumbles with the dexterity of a beached whale*, and the NDP try to be heard, Edmonton’s candidates from all parties are door-knocking, canvasing, and getting ready to get out the vote on January 23rd.

But, as some Edmontonians may have noticed, many local Conservative candidates in ridings across Edmonton have been missing from local all-candidates forums and meetings.

Though Edmonton Strathcona Tory Rahim Jaffer couldn’t find the time to meet with his constituents and attend the all-candidates forum at the Knox-Metropolitan United Church (one of two candidate forums in the riding), it was funny to see that he was able to make the time to pose for some cheap photo-stunts with Alberta Progressive Conservative Leadership candidate Jim Dinning (see left and right).

Way to be a responsible candidate and representative, Rahim!

As well, Edmonton Centre Tory candidate Laurie Hawn was also a no-show at a candidates forum in that riding sponsered by Edmonton’s Pride Centre. The Tories were also a no-show at the Public Interest Alberta City-wide forum at the Royal Museum.

What gives? At this point, it is fairly obvious that the Tories are going to sweep all but one Edmonton-seat, so what are they afraid of? Why is the media not “going after” the no-show Tory candidates who will be Edmonton’s elected representatives? If your Tory candidate can’t even give up 2 hours of their time to attend an all-candidates forum, can we expect them to responsibly represent us in Ottawa?

*Merci a Graham Thomson and for this fun phrase from his weekend article in the Edmonton Jounal.

Scott Proudfoot, Principal from Hill Watch Inc., has released a neat little document which outlines the “key implications” of a Conservative victory on January 23rd in the face of 13 years of Liberal governments.

Parts of the implications have to do with the Conservatives agenda and policies, and the others have to do “with how Ottawa is likely to work under the Conservatives…“

The key implications Mr. Proudfoot lists are:

– Shift of decision-making power back to Cabinet and away from Public Service;

– Some initial confusion about how decisions are being taken;

– Corporate Canada lacks history with the party and will need to establish channels with the new players;

– Expenditure review will be key initial driver of government agenda;

– Retrenchment into federal areas of jurisdiction;

– Repair mode on Canada-US relations; and

– Substantive agenda but business impact is limited with defence being the main area of new spending.

Though many of the symptoms listed in his analysis are probably felt by any incoming government, it is interesting. Check it out.

(100% props to our good friend Howard for passing this along to us)

Well, we can stop blogging now…

We’ve officially reached the pinacle of our blogging career.

From today’s New York Times…

A Conservative Evolves, and Leads a Canadian Race

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: January 16, 2006

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, Jan. 14 – “God bless all of you, God bless Canada!” is the way Stephen Harper finishes every campaign stump speech as he appears to be heading toward a landslide victory to become prime minister.

Although not known for kissing babies, Stephen Harper, campaigning in Huntsville, Ontario, on Saturday, has worked to soften his image.

It is an unusual line in a country where politicians do not customarily talk about God or their religious beliefs, where church attendance is plummeting and same-sex marriage has become legal and widely accepted despite the opposition of many religious leaders.

“It sounds very American,” said Jackie Mitchell, a 45-year-old music teacher who attended a Harper rally on Saturday in this woodsy, rural community. “But what he’s saying is, let’s get the country moving.”

The reference to God may be a signal that Mr. Harper and his Conservative Party are preparing to take the country in a very different direction after 13 years of Liberal rule characterized by a softening of drug laws, an expansion of the rights of gays and a distancing from United States positions in foreign affairs. (read le rest ici)

(95% props to the wonderful Anonymotronic for letting us know about the article – minus 5% for not providing a link to our site, even though he said he would… months ago…)

Since Grant MacEwan’s Students’ Association has been doing a less than stellar job at publicizing this…

Dr. David Suzuki will be speaking at Grant MacEwan College tomorrow evening:

Doors for the general seating event open at 6 p.m. with the presentation beginning at 7 p.m. and a question and answer session to follow.

For tickets, contact the MacEwan Students’ Association at 420-1757 or visit Tix on the Square.

We’ll be there!

The Western Block Party! This bunch of crazies, led by holocaust denying lawyer Douglas Christie, may only be running 4 candidates in this campaign, but they’re sure to win Mrs. Jenkins Grade 2 Art competition…

As well, the NDP have a new game up on their website… Creibility Hunt. We think the NDP may have spent too much of their energy thinking up of these website games, rather than on how to run an effective national election campaign… 😛

And in the weirder than the Western Block Party category… Edmonton’s Northern Star College of Mystical Studies is now accepting applications for the fall semester. Courses at the college include:

• Body Feng Shui
• Meditation
• Massage For Couples
• Reiki – Levels I, II, III
• Certification Programs:
• Aromatherapy
• Flower Essences
• Herbology
• Journey Through The Chakras –
A Pathway To Freedom.

And tuition is only $4650 per year!

We found out this weekend from “top men*” that we are indeed related to Canadian Astronaut and Vaudreuil-Soulanges Liberal candidate, Marc Garneau.

Our great-great-Grandmother, and his great-Grandmother just happened to be the same person (our great-Grandmother, and his Grandmother were cousins).

Not that this means much, it just means that we’re related to someone who’s been in space… ooooooooh!

Top men, indeed.

*Said in a voice similar to that of the CIA agent from the end of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

okay, seriously folks. In this disturbingly entertaining game, you can smash the bejesus out of your favorite (or least favorite) Canadian Federal Party leader…

*note* *don’t take it too seriously…*

The always insightful Interlocutor has written a great post about Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s alleged fondness for everything Star Trek… a little part of us died when we heard the news… the Captain James Tiberius Kirk and the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise just won’t be the same anymore…

“So it turns out Stephen Harper is a huge Star Trek fan (see the revelatory blog post from “The Shotgun Blog” at Ezra Levant’s shitty magazine, as well as a corroborating Edmonton Journal story).

I am saddened on so many levels to hear this, and also profoundly confused.

Why? Because this news grievously undermines one of my long-held theories concerning how this particular pop culture preference reflects political alignment: specifically, as I’m sure everyone knows, conservatives typically prefer Star Wars, and progressives usually prefer Star Trek. (If you’re not convinced, salon.com has an illuminating four-part piece on the subject.)”

We are saddened as well. We recommend you read the rest of Interlocutor’s post here.

As promised, here we go…

Wednesday evening was the night of the second all-candidates election forum in the riding of Edmonton Strathcona. Held at the Myer Horowitz Theatre in the University of Alberta Students’ Union Building, six out of the seven candidates duked it out (Marijuana Party candidate, Dave Dowling, was unaccounted for…).

The evening started out great, the candidates showed up and respectfully lined up on stage, waiting to speak to the mass of about 200-300 Edmonton Strathconians who trekked the -5 snowless conditions to be there.

As things started out, the candidates first answered three questions prepared by the Advocacy Department of the U of A Students’ Union (the wonderful group who organized the event). The three included questions on topics ranging from student debt to youth apathy. Though most of the answers were standard, Conservative incumbent, Rahim Jaffer, brought up the idea of Income-Contingent Student Loan Repayment. An idea, which isn’t bad on it’s own, just that every jurisdiction which has enacted it has seen tuition deregulation and massive tuition hikes, which equals larger student debt.

Mr. Jaffer of course, was a smooth operator as usual. Watching from the audience, you could tell he’d done this a couple times before (finishing his answers 58 seconds on the minute, etc).

Andy Hladyshevsky, the Liberal Candidate, was in our mind, the best speaker of the evening. He answered all the questions with energy, and left you remembering his comments afterwards.

Hladyshevsky Quote of the evening: “I don’t like the way the Conservatives are spreading the word ‘corruption’ like ketchup into every thing that every good person in government stands for.”

Linda Duncan, the New Democratic Party candidate, answered all the questions intelligently, but that was all. Though Ms. Duncan has, in our opinion, the most impressive resume of all the candidates, she didn’t have very many memorable quotes of the evening and didn’t overly impress us (though we still may vote for her on the 23rd).

Mike Fedeyko, the Progressive Canadian candidate, was a pretty good speaker. He also made sense. Other than the Progressive Canadian Party being the Progressive Canadian Party, he made them sound pretty good. Not having actually read their official policy positions on their website, Mr. Fedeyko made their policies sound fairly moderate, centrist, and filled with common sense.

Green candidate, Cameron Wakefeild, also did a fairly good job.

Kevan Hunter, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) candidate (who is rumoured to be the son of Edmonton Centre Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) candidte Peggy Morton), was most definitely the most entertaining candidate at this forum – best quotes of the forum as well! He also continued on the theme of Canada‘s illegal occupation of Haiti…

Here are some of the better Kevan Hunter quotes…

“If we really want to do our part in helping the real world, we need to stop recking it.”

“You have a choice between negative ad’s… and fascism.”

“I think fascism in this country is a serious concern”

As well, some dumbass in the audience asked Andy Hladyshevsky a question comparing the Liberal attack ad’s to Hitler’s tactics in Nazi Germany… Andy had a kick ass response… here is part of it…

“I’ll give you a comment to that, that person may be flat ass wrong. No one is going to trivialize the Holocaust in this auditorium, not in Myer Horowitz’s auditorium!”