Author: Dave Cournoyer

…by-election, that is.

The PMO has dropped the writ for a By-Election to be held in the Federal Riding of Labrador on May 24, 2005.

It’s April 17… where did the month go!?!

Two final exams done last week, only two final exams left this week. More daveberta original political commentary to come after that.

What do you think? Election or no election? I’ve bet $20 on it being this year and $5 on it being in the fall. So, either I win $25 or $15. I’m set. 🙂

I added some new links to the sidebar for your blogging pleasure. Check them out when you get the chance.

Cheers.

D 🙂

Well, as promised, here is my recap of what went on at the Budget 2005 announcement at the Alberta Legislature this afternoon – a BIG THANKS to my favorite MLA for getting me a pass for the afternoon. : )

Well, this budget was labeled by the Tories as an investment budget, the first budget of the new debt-free Alberta. The air of excitement never caught on. These guys have been in power for 34 years and it shows. No new ideas…

So, instead of giving you budget details which you can easily find here, here, and here, I decided to give you a recap of my exciting adventure at Budget Day 2005 in Edmonton.

Enter scene: Cloudy spring day in Edmonton, Alberta. No sun, just clouds (it had rained the night before).

2:10pm – Left work, hopped on the LRT at University Station and waited 5 minutes for the LRT to show up…

2:20pm – Finally arrive at Grandin LRT Station, get off and run over to the Legislature Annex to pick up my pass for the Public Gallery. Got it! Yeah! Talk to some people I know and shoot the breeze for 5 minutes.

2:40pm – I run over to the main Legislature building with a friend of mine who works over there, get in (pretty lax security). On the elevator ride up to the fourth floor.

2:45pm – I join some people I know, in the Public Gallery overlooking the MLA’s in the Assembly. The MLA’s below are debating about snowmobiles or something… Tory MLA Wayne Cao says something about restaurants…?

2:50pm – Talk about an upcoming Federal Election begins amoungst us. Someone said they thought the Tories could win up to 5 seats in Quebec, someone else said they thought the election would be in mid-May. I still think it’ll be in the fall.

2:55pm – Speaker of the House, Ken Kowalski calls for a 5 minutes recess before the Budget announcement by the Finance Minister.

3:00pm – MLA’s start filling back in to their seats. ND MLA Ray Martin is in a wheelchair (I think someone said that he broke his leg – that sucks). More people begin filling into the Members and Public Galleries. I notice the disproportionately large amount of white haired men presumably over the age of 60 in the Galleries.

3:05pm – Finance Minister Shirley McClellan begins her speech. I notice that a rep from the Alberta Federation of Labour is sitting next to me and some folks from the good ol’ Parkland Institute are sitting in the row in front of me.

3:10pm – Promises, promises, promises…

3:25pm – Shirley McClellan is still talking. Tories cheer. Man, she’s boring. I think the next time the Tories pick a Finance Minister, they need to pick someone with a little more ‘ompf’ than Mrs. McClellan. I think the perfect person would be…

3:30pm – Shirley McClellan is still talking and I think one of the old guys in the Members Gallery across from me has fallen asleep. I try to count the amount of grey haired MLA’s in the Assembly. I lose count.

3:35pm – Shirley McClellan is still talking. I notice that one of my favorite Tory MLA’s has been conspicuously missing from his seat the entire time… hmmmm, very very very interesting.

3:40pm – It’s finally rapping up… Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft responds to the speech, says he looks forward to the debate beginning tomorrow morning.

3:44pm – We all file out, I say hi to Dan McLellan from the AUPE. He doesn’t remember me.

3:48pm – I take the stairs down to the Rotunda to check out all the media scrums going on. There are probably a few hundred reporters, MLA’s and staffers, spies and Tory goons, and political hacks like me wandering around. I listen to some of the scrums – Education Minister Gene Zwozdesky, Health Minister Iris Evans, the Finance Minister, and the gang. ND MLA David Eggen has a nice tie (yellow and blue), I like it.

4:00pm – I’m really thirsty, need a drink. I go and find a water fountain. Come back and the orgy of scrumming is still going on. I bump into Edmonton Gold Bar MLA Hugh MacDonald. We say hi and he asks me if I’ve seen some reporter from the CBC, I say no, he continues his hunt.

4:07pm – I go and check out what Advanced Ed Minister Dave Hancock is saying (He’s organizing for a bid at the Tory Leadership). I get semi-accosted by one of Mr. Hancock’s goons; he wants to know who I am, who I work for, and why I want to listen. What a nice man. 😛 After my beating, I got to meet Mr. Hancock. He seems like an interesting person. I think he must have dyed his hair at least 7 different times and colours since being elected in 1997. Out of all the Tories here in Alberta, he is the only one which I (grudgingly) *like*… I move on…

4:12pm- I run into Liberal MLA’s David Swann and Weslyn Mather, the critics for Environment and Childrens’ Services. Nothing for their departments in the budget… I guess clean air and cute kids (see the picture in my previous post) aren’t good enough for this budget… I have a nice little chat with the two of them…

4:22pm – I continue to mull around and check out the scrums. Things are starting to wind down, still no Ted Morton. To bad, I wanted to say hi.

4:29pm – Things are really winding down. I’m hungry, time to go home and get something to eat. (I exit stage left)

END SCENE

I took the test…

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Why can’t our elections be fun like the one’s in the UK?

“Gentlemen,

This is not a discussion club for like-minded intellectuals!This is a very beginning of a proactive and practical organization that is seriously planning to take power in the United Kingdom.

Some of us are not very liberal, many are not very green. Generally, we are not especially nice and several are outright dangerous. We all have different ideas and beliefs. This is OK (for now). We will sort what is right and what is wrong on the way, but first let get things rolling, pots boiling, sausages sizzling….Let us became a Power, after that we would have plenty of time for intellectual discussions, arguments and bonding.

If you feel being a part of “mp3-generation”, “mp3-community”, join us now !!!

Let kick some shit together!!!

Ruslan G. Fedorovsky (temporary Leader)”

Check out the rest of them here

Well, what an interesting week in Alberta politics.

1) It looks like David Kilgour, MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, is interested in rejoining the Tories. How many “cross-the-floor” monopoly cards does Mr. Kilgour have?

This contridicts rumours I have been hearing for a couple of months that he was planning on retiring before the next election. Maybe this is his way of distancing himself from the Feds and then retiring with somewhat of a good name? Though he’s a Liberal MP, I have never really considered him to be a liberal, his right leaning views tend to clash with some of the basic principles of Canadian liberalism (he was a PC MP from 1979 to 1993, then crossed to the Libs). This aside, he has served the constituents of southeast Edmonton for 25 years and has obviously gained their respect (and votes!).

2) According to the latest EKOS poll (which has been covered in about 99% of Canadian blogs minus this one) was released recently, here are the numbers.

Canada-wide
Conservative – 36.2%
Liberal – 25%
NDP – 20.5%
Bloc – 12.6%
Green – 5%

The breakdowns has the NDP leading in BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the Tories leading in Alberta (no suprise), Ontario, and the Maritimes, with the Bloc taking a massive lead in Quebec.

This doesn’t look good for the Federal Liberals no matter which way they spin it. Interesting times ahead.

3) The Alberta PC convention rapped up last weekend with internal infighting and political divisions displayed front and centre. Premier Klein told leadership candidates to “cool their jets.” But, I guess if by “cool[ing] their jets” he meant:

-set up campaign websites (such as this one and this one),

-host networking parties (ie: free booze and food),

-take out newspaper Ad’s (a la Mark Norris),

-and print up some buttons,

then the Alberta Tories are one big happy family. Let the entertainment begin! : )

4) The Provincial budget is being released on Wednesday (13 days after the fiscal year began) – as noted earlier, I will be there and will bring you all the good gossip – apparently the government will finally be raising the AISH subsidy (still not even close to living wage though), present the already promised money for education, and won’t be dealing out any tax-cuts. So, it looks pretty lackluster so far.

This is all for now.

D 🙂

wait a minute… when and how did that happen?

damn. I swear, God just does this to see my reaction…

I didn’t think so…

I’m going to the Budget announcement at the Legislature on Wednesday.

See you there?

Check out Daveberta’s thoughts on the First-Ballot of the Alberta PC leadership race…

(Make sure to check out the updated list of MLA endorsements in the Alberta PC leadership race.)

Well, I promised it, and here it is – some gossip from my ‘source-on-the-floor’ of the Alberta PC Convention at Northlands in Edmonton this weekend.

Apparently, other than the disturbingly large amount of delegates wearing ‘Lyle Oberg for Leader’ buttons, the Tories made some interesting decisions related to their ‘youth’ wing.

In order to address the lack of youth involvement in their party, Alberta PC delegates came up with a truly Alberta Tory solution. They have voted to change the definition of ‘youth’ from 14-25 to 14-35. So, that means, if you were a 35 year old Regular PC member yesterday – today you are now a member of the Progressive Conservative Youth Association…

Oh oh! but it gets even more bizarre – under the new category, ‘youth’ members who are +26 are not voting members of the ‘youth’ association even though they are technically members…. does this seem really weird to anyone else?

And just when you thought there couldn’t be anymore juice!!

The big ‘renewal initiative’ that the Tories undertook after being slapped around in the last election recommended that they hire a staff member to support the youth-wing with organizing, etc. Well, apparently the President of the PC ‘youth’ association got up to the mike and spoke vehemently against this motion – to the chagrin of the ‘youth’ membership which he supposedly represents… the motion was defeated…

Wow, these guys are better than pay-per view TV!

Mornin’

Shannon the Futon Revolutionary has some great posts about the Tory Leadership contenders. It’s a good laugh to start out your day!

Cheers.

D : )

PS. I noticed that since I put the site metre up a month ago – over 830 people have visited. Wow. Thanks!

For those of you interested:

It’s about 1:56am and Pope John Paul II’s funeral is about to begin in a couple of minutes.

They say that there are over 200 Heads of State and Government who have come to the Vatican to pay their respects. Millions of people in Rome and millions watching on television from around the world. Including me.

The Alberta Tory convention is this weekend. Apparently, there are no hospitality suites allowed! Now, say my name was Josiah and I was a Conservative party member who was coming to the convention in Edmonton all the way from Cardston or Cereal or something, and found out that there weren’t going to be any hosptiality suites simply because the ‘illustrious and *benevolent* leader-for-life of my great great great government for the millennia’ Party didn’t want his rivals to shmooze and party it up – I would be very bent up in the wrong direction.

Does anybody else think that it is quite ironic that Premier Klein is the one who doesn’t want the boozefest of hospitality suites to flourish and spread their wings of alcoholic bliss upon the PC Convention?

But alas, I am sooo glad that i’m not in that situation and that I belong to a Party who knows how to party it up with the best of them.

On another PC leadership related note, I thought this was fun and a little ironic. Go to google.com and type in “elect dave hancock’. I was as shocked as you will be…

Ah, and soon to come: my review of Summa Theologica by our good friend, St. Thomas Aquinas.

-Keepin’ it real since 1983-

D : )

According to the Canadian Association of University Teachers, 0.3% of University Professors count themselves as Pagans.