Category: 2008 Alberta Provincial Election

Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Ed Stelmach

alberta election 2008 almost here…

With platforms being released, campaigns being launched, and final candidates being nominated it’s pretty clear that a provincial election is nearly upon us in Alberta.

At 3:00 P.M. today, Lieutenant Governor Norman Kwong will read the Speech from the Throne that will highlight the legislative agenda of the Spring 2008 session of the Legislature that might not start until Fall 2008. With a writ drop expected following the Speech from the Throne (either today or tomorrow) watch for Kwong’s speech to have an uncanny similarity to the platform of the 37-year-old Progressive Conservative government of Ed Stelmach. 
It will be an exciting afternoon at the Alberta Legislature and I will be there to report back on all the the drama and intrigue of the afternoon.
Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Liberals Alberta Politics

it’s time. kevin taft launches alberta liberal campaign 2008.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft was joined last night by hundreds of supporters and over 50 candidates as he launched his party’s 2008 election campaign. The campaign launch also included the release of his party’s plan for Alberta titled “It’s time. A Real Action Plan for Alberta.“

Having given the platform a read, I’m fairly pleased with it. It succeeds in presenting positive alternatives to Ed Stelmach‘s 37-year-old Tory government and outlines five key policies including immediately eliminating health care premiums, re-regulating Alberta’s out-of-control electricity utilities, investing 30% of all royalties, capping greenhouse gases in five years, and providing hospitals and training new health care professionals that Alberta needs. On a more specific note, I was pleased to see that this plan includes the re-legislation of Alberta’s post-secondary tuition policy, which was de-legislated by the Tories in May 2007 (allowing tuition policy to be changed in closed-door Cabinet meetings rather than in open public debate in the Legislature). The plan also includes reforming campaign finance rules, fixing election dates, and the creating a Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform to study other forms of election systems.

Not unexpectedly, Tory spinsters have already begun to criticize Taft’s plan for either:

a) including too much spending, or
b) not including enough spending details.

Both criticisms seem a little rich when you look at the pile of giant novelty cheques that Ed Stelmach has been handing out over the past two weeks.

It has also been interesting to watch the difference between the Kevin Taft of the 2004 election and Kevin Taft in 2008. Taft has become more comfortable in his role in public and is starting to show his fun-side during speeches by energizing and interacting more with the crowd (something that he should do more of during the upcoming campaign). Here’s one quote of the speech that I particularly enjoyed:

Is it any wonder then, that the issue over-riding all others is that after 37 years, it is time for a fresh start. This morning, on national radio, Peter Lougheed was asked, “Can one party be in power too long?”

His answer? (Quote.) “Never did I anticipate that our party would exceed the time in office that Social Credit were in office. I remember campaigning back in 1971 – can you believe this Social Credit party has been in office for 36 years. It is a problem for the current party to be in office for that length of time.” (End quote.)

And I say, and all of us say, and Albertans in growing numbers are saying, let’s… fix… that… problem.

With a growing group of Albertans (and former Tory voters) parking their votes in the undecided column in pre-election polls, Taft’s challenge will be to convince those Albertans that he and his party can provide the solid management and real plan that Albertans are looking for after 37-years under Progressive Conservative governments.

Here are the YouTube videos of Kevin Taft’s 2008 election campaign launch:

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Liberals Alberta Politics

it’s time.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft launched his party’s election campaign by releasing their platform and plan for the future at last night’s Alternate Speech from the Throne (which doubled as a campaign rally). I’ll take some time later this afternoon to write a more in depth post the platform and the energy at the rally, but until then you can check out the Alberta Liberal plan “It’s Time” for yourself.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

building schools where children live.

– An Alberta provincial general election call is expected within days – a February 4 or 5 writ drop following the Speech from the Thone is what most pundits are pointing towards. In preparation for the 2008 Alberta Election, I am planning to highlight and profile (as well as make some bold predictions) some of the ‘hot races’ in constituencies across Alberta. I’m making a list of ‘hot races’ to cover, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, shoot me an email at daveberta.ca@gmail.com.

– Calgary Grit has a good run down on Ed Stelmach‘s 20-year capital plan which commits to continue projects that are already under construction and to build schools where children live (rather than where they don’t live…).

– Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft was in Ontario yesterday speaking to the Economic Club of Toronto about his plan to transform Alberta into a Western Economic Tiger and how other provinces can take part of Alberta’s oil-boom wealth. Taft announced the Alberta Liberal plan to replace natural gas rebates with incentives to encourage energy efficiency. Providing incentives for energy efficiency is smart long-term strategy, but the optics of announcing the replacement of natural gas rebates while it’s -54C outside might not make fans of short-term thinkers.

Kevin Taft will be delivering his Alternate Speech to the Throne tomorrow night on the University of Alberta campus.

– Today’s Edmonton Journal editorial has an interesting take on Ed Stelmach‘s bizarre posturing at the recent Premier’s Conference in Vancouver and asks the question: “Would the real Ed Stelmach please stand up?” Perhaps someone really did misappropriate Premier Stelmach’s personality…

– Coming soon… an edstelmach.ca fiasco update…

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

who’s your candidate, alberta?

With an provincial election potentially only a week away, Albertans are stepping up to stand for election in constituencies across the province. Here’s an update:

Calgary-Montrose – Hung Pham has been the Tory MLA since 1993, but he’s not the nominated Tory candidate. The Alberta Progressive Conservatives have succeeded in defeating a group of Calgary-Montrose PC volunteers in a controversial lawsuit stemming from the 2004 Calgary-Montrose PC nomination scandal. What is it with these guys and lawsuits?

Edmonton-Glenora – It looks like Brian Mason’s NDP may have lost a candidate. Where did he go? NDP candidate and U of A Engineering Professor Brian Fleck has been removed from the list of candidates on the NDP website. Fleck’s website now forwards to the website of Edmonton-Whitemud NDP candidate Hana Razga. Edmonton-Glenora Alberta Liberal MLA Bruce Miller narrowly defeated ND candidate and former ATA President Larry Booi in 2004.

Edmonton-Strathcona – Edmonton-Strathcona candidate Tim Vant was joined by Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft as he was nominated as the Alberta Liberal candidate at a packed nomination party last Thursday. Vant is a the owner and manager of popular Edmonton-Strathcona restaurant Fiore’s Italian Cantina. Vant is a lifelong resident of the Edmonton area and a staunch supporter of Edmonton’s arts community. Three-term NDP MLA Raj Pannu is not seeking re-election.

Red Deer-South – Former Red Deer Public School Trustee Diane Kubanek has been nominated as the Alberta Liberal candidate. Kubanek will face-off with rookie Tory candidate Cal Dallas. Four-term Tory MLA Victor Doerksen is not seeking re-election.

Strathmore-Brooks – Arno Doerksen was nominated as the PC candidate to replace retiring Tory Finance Minister Lyle Oberg. Doerksen defeated Mara Nesbitt and Don Weisbeck in the second ballot of Tory voting.

Wetaskiwin-Camrose – The Alberta Greens have nominated their Elections Coordinator Midge Lambert. Watch for a strong push by the Greens in Central Alberta constituencies such as Ponoka-Lacombe and a hand full of Calgary constituencies.

The full list of nominated provincial election candidates can be found here.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Arts and Culture in Alberta Ed Stelmach Hector Goudreau Kevin Taft

alberta not civilized – tory minister.

With a provincial election call potentially less than 10 days away, both of Alberta’s main political parties are presenting their ideas and plans for the future. As a fan and follower of the arts community in Edmonton (and more specifically L’Unitheatre and the Varscona Theatre) I took notice of when both the Alberta Liberals and Tories made arts and culture announcements this week.

On Wednesday, Kevin Taft’s Alberta Liberals announced of a new policy titled Fuelling an Alberta Renaissance: Policies to Invigorate Arts and Culture in Alberta, proposing some key changes to how the Alberta Government interacts and provides support to Alberta’s struggling arts community. Ed Stelmach’s Tories followed their lead with an Arts announcement two days later. Much like Ed Stelmach’s environment announcement earlier in the week, the Stelmach Tory arts announcement was short on substance and big on pictures.

I heard through a media source in Calgary that at the media scrum following the announcement, Ed Stelmach struggled to answer the straight forward question of “who are your favorite Alberta artists, Mr. Premier?” (couldn’t even name Corb Lund?).

As if it wasn’t indicative enough of the Tory Government’s attitude towards the arts that the Premier had a hard time naming an Alberta artist, but I was blown away when I read Peace River Tory MLA and Tourism, Parks, and Culture Minister Hector Goudreau’s speaking notes from the policy launch:

“We can build a civilized society that aspires to excellence and beauty…”

Wow. Thanks, Hec.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Climate Change Ed Stelmach Nuclear Power

alberta’s green plan: what’s the point?

After taking a look at the recently released Alberta Tory green plan, it’s pretty clear that only a trained monkey (or the staunchest Tory partisan) would be running to the front lines to defend and promote it as the great green hope of the Province of Alberta. Here’s what I’ve gathered from a look at the report released by Ed Stelmach yesterday:

1) Alberta will allow greenhouse gas emissions to rise until 2020 (for another 12 years).

2) Alberta will deliver a 14-per-cent cut in emissions over 2005 levels by 2050 (something for Ed Stelmach to celebrate at his 99th Birthday party!)

3) The Tories will create a council of government and industry officials to to study studies which have been studied by government and industry study groups before before, which they will use to create a new study.

4) Ed Stelmach‘s Tories like pretty pictures, because this document is 70% pretty pictures.

5) The announcement also mentioned future investment in wind and solar power, but failed to mention anything about the Tories recent love-in with Nuclear power and the controversial proposed Nuclear power facility in Peace River. Why was this left out?

6) And lastly, it says quite a bit about the Stelmach Tories’ green plan when Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking a stronger stance on climate change…

Alberta’s greenhouse gas targets lag far behind the federal government’s commitment to cut emissions 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020, and 60 to 70 per cent by 2050.

Ottawa plans to stop the rise of greenhouse gas emissions within five years, whereas Alberta is looking at 12 years.

If you’re going to the job seriously, why bother at all? Today’s Edmonton Journal editorial said it all:

The government’s vague announcement sets weak long-term targets, proposes little concrete action and calls for yet another industry-government council to figure out how to build a carbon-capture-and-storage network.

Alberta can and should be a leader in fighting climate change, instead, our Tory government has chosen quiet complacency and mediocrity. Maybe this is what happens after 36-years in power?

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election polls

i’m part of the 45.5%.

Yes, a poll is a poll, but polls tend to become a little more interesting to look at when they’re released 10 days before an expected election call:

Tories: 32%
Alberta Liberals: 18%
NDP: 7%
Wildrose Alliance: 6%
Greens: 3%
Undecided: 26.6%
Not voting: 7%

Gov’t Should Be Re-Elected: 34.5%
I would prefer a change in gov’t: 45.5%

Graham Thomson has an interesting take on this poll in today’s column.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

they didn’t have a plan.

You know it has to be election-related when the Alberta Tories start putting serious money into post-secondary education. I have no desire to highlight the pre-election goodies that will be dolled out by the Stelmach Tories. Rather, I think it is important to point out an extremely bizarre comment from University of Alberta Board of Governors Chair Brian Heidecker. When asked about the cash infusion, Governor Heidecker – a well-known and connected Tory-supporter and former Tory candidate – responded:

“Being 100 years old means a lot of deferred maintenance.”

Actually, no.

The U of A being 100 years old [and doing a piss poor job of taking care of public infrastructure] means a lot of deferred maintenance.

It’s about properly maintaining the public infrastructure so that the generator in university *Building Z* that was meant to last 30 years actually lasts 30 years (and not only 10 or 15 years). It’s about not only taking past investments into public infrastructure seriously, but taking current public funds and taxpayers dollars seriously. It’s about having a plan.

With roughly half-a-billion dollars in deferred maintenance at the U of A alone, it’s clear that the those in the University of Alberta administration and in the Tory Government charged with the responsibility of maintaining the public infrastructure in Alberta’s post-secondary sector haven’t been taking that responsibility seriously.

They didn’t have a plan.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election

candidate nomination updates.

I’ve updated the list of nominated Alberta provincial election candidates. Candidate updates include:

Alberta Liberals:
Patricia Robertson in Banff-Cochrane
Herb Coburn in Foothills-Rockyview
Augustine Ebinu in Grande Prairie-Wapiti
Bal Boora in Lethbridge-West.

Alberta Greens:
Kevin Mahoney in Calgary-North Hill
George Read in Calgary-North West
Sean Maw in Calgary-Varsity
Cameron Wakefield in Edmonton-Riverview
Valerie Kennedy in Edmonton-Whitemud
Stephen Lindop in Leduc-Beaumont-Devon

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election

alberta online poll results.

In other news, yesterday’s 630 CHED online poll asked 630ched.com readers and listers who they were going to vote for in the next Alberta provincial election… it may be just an online poll, but here are the results…

Liberal 42.62%
PC 41.46%
NDP 4.69%
Other 11.21%

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

no plan for alberta.

As has been written about numerous times over the past couple days, a group calling themselves “Albertans for Change” have released a series of attack ads aimed at Ed Stelmach in the run up to the expected February/March provincial election. I’ve had a number of thoughts on this topic over the last couple days.

It should be interesting to see how Albertans react to these attack ads. Albertans aren’t usually exposed to such advertising in their living rooms, so is this a sign to come for the next election? It’s disappointing that the two groups who seem to be behind Albertans for Change, the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Alberta Building Trades Council, didn’t roll out the ads more publicly. I think this may have given some people the idea that they were trying to hide who they were (which I don’t think they were).

On the subject of the ads themselves… I’m not exactly their biggest fan, but I don’t think I’m their target audience. It will be interesting to see how they play out in defining Ed Stelmach as Premier (as attack ads have helped to define another political party leader). A year into his term, Ed Stelmach is still struggling to define himself and there are no shortage of Albertans (including Albertans for Change) who are racing to beat him to the punch.

On this topic, this email ended up in my inbox yesterday…

Graham Thompson’s and Jason Fekete’s articles in Tuesday’s Edmonton Journal caught my eye. In particular I was taken by the outrage of Stelmach’s spokesman Tom Olsen. He accused the ads’ sponsors of “firing from the shadows” and urged them to release the full cost of their campaign and who was funding it.

In the spirit of openness that seems like a reasonable request to make.

In exchange, perhaps Mr. Olsen could give us the names of the contributors to Mr. Stelmach’s leadership campaign. As Albertans recall, Mr. Stelmach promised he would divulge the names of ALL his contributors. Instead he has held back the names of 80 persons who prefer to remain anonymous. Why? Is there something to hide? Are there people on that anonymous list who received plum government appointments or contracts during Mr. Stelmach’s time as Minister?

I’m not saying there are.The problem is we just don’t know.

Mr. Stelmach and his public relations team work hard to create the image of an honest down-to-earth politician. Revealing the names of the mystery donors would add some much-needed substance to that image.

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election

it’s about rep-by-pop.

With an Alberta provincial general election predicted to be only weeks away, I thought it would be important to put a little more attention on the issue of representation in the Alberta Legislature. To be specific, this is the issue of representation by population. Representation by population is a pretty simple concept that is taught in elementary social studies classes (or at least was when I went to elementary school), but the people who draw Alberta’s constituency boundaries may have missed that lesson at school.

According to the list of electors from the November 2006, here are the constituencies with the lowest number of registered voters:

Dunvegan-Central Peace – 15,142 voters
Peace River – 18,007 voters
Lac La Biche-St. Paul – 18,674 voters
Lesser Slave Lake – 19,553 voters
Bonnyville-Cold Lake – 19,602 voters
Cardston-Taber-Warner – 19,615 voters

Now, take a look at the two Edmonton and Calgary constituencies with the lowest number of registered voters:

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – 26,170 voters
Calgary-Montrose – 24,519 voters

This means that the 15,142 voters in Dunvegan-Central Peace have the same representation in the Alberta Legislature as the 24,519 and 26,170 voters in Calgary-Montrose and Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood. It also means that the 15,142 voters in Dunvegan-Central Peace have the same representation in the Legislature as the 37,529 voters in Calgary-West and 37,613 voters in Edmonton-Whitemud (the two most populated constituencies according to Elections Alberta).

Now, I understand the argument behind the existence of these less populated rural constituencies (and why Dunvegan-Central Peace was given special consideration to have less than 75% of the provincial average) – because it’s more difficult for an MLA to represent a vast less populated vast rural constituencies – but when it comes down to it, fence posts don’t vote, people do. It’s about equal representation for Albertans (the first part of the Triple-E).

I’m not saying that the people of Dunvegan-Central peace aren’t of the utmost quality, but I wouldn’t blame voters in Calgary-West and Edmonton-Whitemud if they became a little confused as to why 1 vote in Dunvegan-Central Peace’s is worth more than double a vote in their constituency.

Now, we’re nowhere close to having rotten boroughs, but the question of equal representation in Alberta between urban and rural Albertans is a critical question that needs to be addressed. After Edmonton lost one seat in the 2003 Electoral Boundary Review, I hope that both the Mayors and Councillors of Edmonton and Calgary will be ready to fight for fair representation when the next boundary review comes along.

But with three of the six least populated constituencies being represented by Ministers in the current Tory government, I wouldn’t blame cynics for not believing that this type of constituency distribution will end anytime soon…

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

not-edstelmach.ca

Here’s a bit of a rundown of some of the political movement on the Alberta scene…

– The list of Alberta Provincial election candidates has been updated as Alberta Liberals have nominated Dick Mastel in Cypress-Medicine Hat and Dale D’Silva in Calgary-North West. For the New Democrats, former City Council candidate and two-time Edmonton-Manning candidate Hana Razga will be running in Edmonton-Whitemud against Tory Health Minister Dave Hancock and Alberta Liberal Nancy Cavanaugh. The NDs will also be running Mel Kraley in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo.

– The Battle for the Calgary-Egmont PC nomination is raging on. Don Middleton vs. Vicki Engel vs. Jonathan Denis. The victor will take on Alberta Liberal Cathie Williams, Independent-turfed-Tory Craig Chandler, Green Party Leader George Read, and New Dem Jason Nishiyama.

– Kudos to Elections Alberta for their swanky new website, it’s a great improvement compared the previous design.

– Jimmy Ford will be running as an Independent candidate in the next Federal election in the riding of Edmonton-Sherwood Park.

– The campaign south of the border gets more interesting as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has ended his bid as a candidate in the Democratic race. I’m still betting on Mike Huckabee for the Republican nod…

Email
Categories
2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics Craig Chandler

the chanderlistas are marshalling their armies.

Along with Craig Chandler running as an Independent candidate in Calgary-Egmont, the Chandleristas will be following their glorious leader into the battle for social conservative votes in Calgary…

Jim Blake – Running as a Wildrose Party candidate or as an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary Currie.
Sid Helishauer – As an Alberta Alliance Party candidate or an Independent in the Constituency of Airdrie Chestermere.
Harley Shouldice – As an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary North Hill.
David Crutcher – Either as an Alberta Alliance or as an Independent in the Constituency of Calgary Glenmore. David Crutcher will be delivering a message very clearly to the Deputy Premier, Ron Stevens.

Merry Christmas, Ed Stelmach?

Email