There are some photos that say a million words. There are some photos that make you say “huh?”
This photo from Edmonton-Centre Conservative candidate Laurie Hawn‘s Facebook Page is certainly one of the latter.
Caption contest?
Category: Alberta Politics
The Liberal Party released its full campaign platform today. The announcement was live-streamed online, and contrasting the closed-and-controlled Conservative Party campaign, the Liberals gave online viewers the opportunity to ask questions about their platform.
Andrew Leach, an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta School of Business, asked some key questions about what the platform includes for climate change and Alberta in his recent Globe & Mail column:
The Liberal Party’s key climate change policy announcement, and by far the most important environmental position taken thus far in the campaign, was buried on page 46 of its policy platform.
You are forgiven if you missed it since Michael Ignatieff did not mention it once. In fact, when asked a direct question on the Liberal Party’s policies on climate change, he listed removal of oil sands tax credits and a re-vamped green tax credit program.
He did not mention that the Liberals have committed to an aggressive cap-and-trade program which would, “set a ceiling on the total amount of permissible greenhouse gas emissions by large industrial facilities.” By not discussing this policy at all, the Liberals have left many key questions unanswered. Read more…
During his campaign kick-off in Edmonton on March 26, NDP leader Jack Layton only briefly mentioned the oil sands, an issue that he elaborated on further in a visit to Montreal during the following week later.
The 2010 Financial Disclosure forms from Alberta’s political parties have been released and posted on the Elections Alberta website.
Progressive Conservative (disclosure): The rumors of their death have been greatly exaggerated. A year of low numbers in the polls numbers did not stop the PC Party from fundraising $248,960 more than in 2009. With $2,857,374 in assets, the PC Party proves that it is still the most well-funded political machine in the province.
Liberal Party (disclosure): Last year was a tough year for the Liberals and it is reflected in their fundraising numbers. The Liberals raised $247,849 less in 2010 than they did in 2009. The good news for the Liberals is that their legacy of internal debt was nearly slayed in 2010, giving the party an opportunity to grow in 2011.
Wildrose Alliance (disclosure): Last year was an impressive fundraising year for this party, as they raised $1,791,093, proving that the party has been cultivating a strong base of financial donors (especially individual donors).
Alberta NDP (disclosure): The NDP raised a healthy $728,460 in 2010, an increase in total donations and an increase in contributions over $375. The NDP are still battling their significant campaign debt, which has accumulated over the past few elections.
Alberta Party (disclosure): Small but significant financial growth for the Alberta Party in 2010. The large majority of the $91,626 donations would have likely been raised in the final months of 2010, following that party’s Annual General Meeting and Policy Conference.
Alberta’s Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Jonathan Denis has penned this letter to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff asking him to clarify his position on federal government funding of professional sports arenas. On March 14, 2011, Mr. Ignatieff told reporters in Quebec City that a federal Liberal government would support funding a new hockey arena in Quebec City.
Edmonton City Council will receive a new package of reports today from City Administration on the proposed downtown arena project focusing on governance framework options, public engagement options, impacts of an arena in downtown, and the Community Revitalization Levy and boundary. The reports will be discussed by City Council on April 6, 2011.
Dear Katz Group,
I watched the promotional video that your wholey-owned subsidiary (Revitalize Edmonton) created in response to a public campaign by critics of your downtown arena proposal. My first thought after watching it was that whoever you are paying to make your videos, you are probably paying them too much.
To add some context to that comment, here is a video response that I made on my Macbook in 25 minutes.
Enjoy.
For some reason, some people cannot see the embedded video. Here is a link to the YouTube page.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is on the right track:
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he wants public transit to become an issue in the federal election campaign after Calgary’s system received only a middling score on a new international ranking.
Public transit in Calgary was ranked 13th out of 24 in the world by the Toronto Board of Trade’s Scorecard on Prosperity.
Although Edmonton was not ranked in the Scorecard, the city faces similar challenges as Calgary in terms of public transit, commuter time, and urban sprawl. These issues may not fall directly under the jurisdiction of the federal government, but as community leaders our MPs can play a positive role in encouraging the development of smart public transit in our cities.
Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper made a brief visit to the Edmonton area on Monday, March 28, to deliver a campaign speech to a friendly crowd in the Town of Beaumont.
Calling on his supporters to “paint Alberta blue” on May 2nd, Mr. Harper singled out Edmonton-Strathcona candidate Ryan Hastman, who is running in the election against NDP MP Linda Duncan. Mr. Harper’s campaign speech weighed heavily in predictable partisan rhetoric about low-taxes and how the “coalition” of opposition parties in the House of Commons forced this election.
NDP leader Jack Layton was in Edmonton on Saturday, March 26, delivering the message that only his party can defeat Conservative MPs in the city.
The NDP are focusing their resources in the region on the campaigns of Edmonton-Strathcona MP Linda Duncan, Edmonton-Centre candidate Lewis Cardinal, and Edmonton-East candidate Ray Martin.
In the land where federal election results are typically much ado about nothing, the election scheduled for May 2, 2011 is not much of an exception. As the Liberals and NDP fill ballots across the province with last minute paper candidates, with few exceptions Alberta remains safe electoral territory for the Conservative Party of Canada.
If any riding in Alberta changes hands in this federal election, it will be Edmonton-Strathcona. It is the only riding represented by an opposition Member of Parliament and Conservatives have made it their goal to unseat NDP MP Linda Duncan, who defeated Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer by a slim 463 votes in 2008. After campaigning for two years, the Conservatives hope that candidate Ryan Hastman is the one who can do the job.
As the NDP’s Environment Critic in Ottawa, Ms. Duncan has gone against the grain of other Alberta MP colleagues by criticizing the oil sands and its impact on the environment. In a campaign stop in Edmonton this weekend, NDP leader Jack Layton only briefly mentioned the environment, suggesting that he may have been avoiding the issue while in Alberta (he also did not take media questions while in the province).
The Green Party has nominated Environmental Economics and Policy student Andrew Fehr, who faces the challenge of convincing Green-leaning voters that actually voting for a Green Party is a better choice than a strategic vote for Ms. Duncan. The Liberals have not yet nominated a candidate and appear to be a non-factor in this contest.
The highly polarized geopolitics of this riding have the Conservatives drawing strong support from polls in the east and NDP drawing strong support from polls in the west. Both candidates will lean heavy on financial and organizational support from their national parties, making this riding too close to call.
The irony is that the NDP could increase their vote total across Edmonton at the same time they could lose the only riding they currently hold.
In Edmonton-Centre the real contest to watch is not to defeat door-knocking/hand-shaking/baby-kissing election-machine Conservative MP Laurie Hawn. The real contest is for second place. The Liberals hope their candidate Mary MacDonald can regain the support they lost in the last election and maintain their position as the de facto alternative to the Conservatives in this riding. The NDP are hoping that their candidate Lewis Cardinal can help build the kind of support needed to cut the Liberals down to third place. This is similar to the multi-election strategy that helped the NDP make gains in Strathcona.
The Liberals held this riding from 1993 until 2006 when Mr. Hawn defeated Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan. Mr Hawn’s vote share decreased in 2008 while his margin widened substantially as the Liberal vote collapsed. The Greens have nominated 2008 candidate David Parker and also running is Mikkel Paulson, leader of the Pirate Party of Canada.
Edmonton-East MP Peter Golding is what I would refer to as a wall-paper backbencher. Since he was first elected in 1997, Mr. Goldring seems to only pop into the media spotlight when taking up odd causes like exposing the “truth about Louis Riel” or joining the bizarre drive to get the obscure Caribbean Islands of Turks and Caicos to join Canada.
The NDP have steadily increased their support in this riding since the 2004 election and former MLA Ray Martin is hoping that this trend continues. Mr Martin is an NDP institution in northeast Edmonton, having been elected as an MLA from 1982 to 1993, a public school board trustee from 2001 to 2004, and once again as an MLA from 2004 to 2008. This is the fourth time Mr Martin has sought a seat in Parliament since 1997. The Liberals have nominated IT management consultant Shafik Ruda.
Edmonton-Sherwood Park was the second closest race in 2008, when Independent Conservative James Ford nearly defeated Conservative candidate Tim Uppal. It was a city mouse versus county mouse game as many voters in Strathcona County and Fort Saskatchewan were upset with the Conservative nomination process that led to County Councillor Jacquie Fenske defeat and allowed Edmontonian Mr. Uppal to win the nomination.
Mr. Ford is running again and the Liberals and NDP, represented by Rick Szostak and Mike Scott, are expected to play minor supporting roles in this contest. The big question is whether voters in the county still feel that Mr. Uppal’s candidacy is the great injustice they believed it to be in 2008.
Over 200 people braved the cold this afternoon to rally in support of a public inquiry to investigate the intimidation of health care professionals.
See more photos on Flickr.
Categories
alberta politics notes 3/25/2011
Federal Election
Alberta looks like safe Conservative Party territory with the exception of the eclectic Edmonton-Strathcona, where NDP MP Linda Duncan will fend off a strong challenge from Conservative Ryan Hastman. NDP leader Jack Layton will make his first campaign stop in Edmonton at a downtown rally tomorrow. A recent Postmedia poll showed the Conservatives leading support in Alberta with 54%, followed by the Liberals at 23%, the NDP at 17%, and the Greens with 5%. These are unusually high levels of support for the opposition parties and I would expect future polls to show lower support.
HQCA advisory committee
The appointment of former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and retired Judge Allan Wachowich to an advisory panel to the Health Quality Council of Alberta may weaken opposition calls for a full Public Inquiry into the intimidation of health care professionals. The Liberals have made it their key issue in the spring session and the Friends of Medicare are preparing to rally for it tomorrow, but the presence of the province’s highest profile Liberal will make it difficult for Liberal leader David Swann to criticize the HCQA investigation.
Stelmach comes out
The Edmonton Journal’s Graham Thomson has written an interesting article about the new energy Premier Ed Stelmach has found since announcing his resignation in February 2010.
Wildrose fundraising
The Wildrose Alliance released their 2010 fundraising numbers showing that party took in almost $1.8 million in revenue, with $1.4 million in donations from over 5,100 donors. As mandated by the Elections Finances Act all parties are required to submit their annual financial contribution statements by March 31 of each calendar year.
Koch lobbyist in Alberta
The Alberta Federation of Labour has asked Premier Stelmach to reaffirm his government’s commitment to Collective Bargaining after discovering that Koch Companies of Wichita, Kansas has hired a lobbyist in Alberta. Koch Companies is owned by the billionaire Koch brothers, who have donated copious amounts of money to Tea Party Republicans, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Governor Walker’s government recently stripped workers in that state of their rights to collective bargaining.
Alberta Party goes Obama
The Alberta Party is bringing in Jeff Blodgett to help train their constituency association volunteers on April 1 in Calgary. Mr. Blodgett is the Founding Director of Wellstone Action! and was the Minnesota State Director for President Barack Obama‘s election campaign in 2008.
Categories
who wants a federal election?
Gearing up for the seemingly inevitable federal election, political parties have been holding a flurry of nomination meetings to complete their slates of candidates in Alberta.
Conservatives
Dominating the political scene in Alberta, the Conservatives have a fully nominated slate of 28 candidates including 25 incumbent Members of Parliament. New candidates include Ryan Hastman in the NDP held riding of Edmonton-Strathcona, Michelle Rempel in the vacant Calgary-Centre North riding, and Jim Hillyer in the Lethbridge riding being vacated by the retiring Rick Casson.
Best Alberta showings in 2008 election:
Crowfoot: 39,342 (82%)
Macleod: 35,328 (77%)
Calgary-Southeast 41,425 (74%)
Wetaskiwin 32,528 (77%)
Vegreville-Wainwright 34,493 (77%)
Liberals
The Liberals have only around half of their slate of candidates nominated in Alberta. Longstanding nominated candidates include Mary MacDonald in Edmonton-Centre and Kevin Taron in Edmonton-St. Albert. Recently nominated candidates are Stephen Randall in Calgary-Centre North, Cam Stewart in Calgary-Northeast and Karen Young in Fort McMurray-Athabasca.
Best Alberta showings in 2008 election:
Edmonton-Centre 12,661 (27%)
Calgary-West 13,204 (22%)
Calgary-Northeast 7,433 (20%)
Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont 7,709 (19%)
Calgary-Centre 8,402 (18%)
New Democrats
The NDP have or are about to nominate the full-slate of candidates in Alberta. The party appears to be focusing their resources behind three candidates: Alberta MP Linda Duncan in Edmonton-Strathcona, former MLA Ray Martin in Edmonton-East, and Lewis Cardinal in Edmonton-Centre.
In a flurry of nomination meetings held over the past few weeks, the NDP have nominated Berend Wilting in Fort McMurray-Athabasca, Lyndsey Henderson in Westlock-St. Paul, Al Brown in Calgary-East, Colin Anderson in Calgary-Nose Hill, Kirk Oates in Calgary-Southeast, Collette Singh in Calgary-Northeast), Shawna Knowles in Calgary-West, Nadine Bailey in Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont and Mike Scott in Edmonton-Sherwood Park. The NDP have also scheduled nomination meetings for March 24 in Calgary-Centre (candidate Garry Lehmann) and Calgary-Centre North (candidate Paul Vargis), March 25 in Edmonton-Spruce Grove (candidate Catherine Chaulk-Stokes), and March 29 in Vegreville-Wainwright (candidate Ray Stone) and Yellowhead (candidate Mark Wells).
Best Alberta showings in 2008 election:
Edmonton-Strathcona 20,103 (43%)
Edmonton-East 13,318 (32%)
Edmonton-St. Albert 8,045 (16%)
Calgary-Centre North 7,413 (15%)
Edmonton-Centre 6,912 (15%)
Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont 6,297 (15%)
Greens
The Green Party has nominated 21 of 28 candidates in Alberta.
Best Alberta showings in 2008 election:
Calgary-Centre 7,778 (17%)
Calgary-Centre North 7,392 (15%)
Wild Rose 6,390 (13%)
Calgary-West 6,722 (11%)
Calgary-East 3,403 (11%)
(Thanks to Pundits’ Guide for keeping track of the constant federal nomination updates)
With a federal election call potentially around the corner, election promises are being dealt out like playing cards. Promise this, promise that. Trying to win back regional support lost over the past decade, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said that he supports funding for a new arena in Quebec City.
Not surprisingly, Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples used a recent column to lead the Katz Group Arena cheer parade, praising Mr. Ignatieff as a saviour for his pre-election suggestion. Of course, no one should be surprised by Mr. Staples column given his past columns on the topic, which have demonstrated his strident support for the proposed Katz Group Arena.
I have written before that if Canadians believe that professional sports clubs are a business sector in need of public financial support then this is a role that the three main levels of government – federal, provincial, and municipal – need to discuss. That said, raising the suggestion of public subsidies and committing to give a public subsidy are two different things, especially when the promise is packaged on the eve of an election.
The thing I find the most disappointing about Mr. Staples recent column is that he labels arena skeptics as zealots, which distracts from the legitimate concerns being raised about the public funding and construction of the Katz Group Arena. There are legitimate reasons to question about the presence of public funding and the decision to construct the Katz Group Arena in the downtown core. There are zealots on both extremes of this issue, but there are legitimate reasons to oppose and support this public policy issue.
I am not opposed to the construction of a new arena, I have not been convinced that the construction of a mega-project like a new NHL Arena will result in the kind of vitalization for the downtown core that its proponents suggest.
Even Edmonton Journal business columnist Gary Lamphier, who has described himself as a supporter of a new arena admits that many key questions remain unanswered about proposal. Proposals under negotiation would have the City of Edmonton fund around $400 million and take a large portion of the financial risk for the project, which would end up being privately owned by the Katz Group.
In the rush to push forward a City Council vote on the project, a frustrated Mayor Stephen Mandel:
“Either we build a new arena or we become a second-class city”
While Mayor Mandel soon after admitted that his “choice of words probably wasn’t right,” this comment epitomized how much boosterism has become a central part of the Katz Group Arena debate. The debate is not about whether it is smart public policy for a municipal government to finance the construction of a private arena or even whether the presence of the Katz Group Arena in the downtown core will actually lead to the “revitalization” that the company promises. It has been overshadowed by the driving desire to become a “world-class” city, though no one is quite clear about what exactly that means.
When I think of “world-class” cities like Paris, London, Vancouver, Montreal, or New York, it is not the sports arenas, tourist attractions, or expensive gimmicks that make me appreciate those cities. It is the people who live there that make those cities impressive.
This kind of boosterism is not limited to the arena debate. The decision by the federal government to not fund Edmonton’s bid to host the 2017 Expo bid also drew the ire of Edmonton’s “boosters”, who lashed out at the federal Conservatives and even made ridiculous statements about how it would lead to the Tories electoral demise in northern Alberta (a recent Angus Reid poll showed Conservative support in Alberta sitting at 69% province-wide, with the Green Party with 12% support, and the Liberals and NDP tied with 9%).
I expect some people to attempt to make federal funding for the Katz Group Arena or the denial of Expo funding an issue in the next federal election, I do not believe either of these issues has legs on the federal scene.
At a meeting last week, I joined a diverse group of eight Edmontonians to discuss local issues with a group of five of the city’s Conservative MPs. Over the course of the two hour meeting, we talked about a wide-range of issues from LRT, immigration, crime, digital economy, health care, and housing, but the words “arena” or “expo” were never mentioned.
Categories
alberta politics notes 3/18/2011
Public Inquiry.
As a third case of doctor intimidation was made public, opposition MLAs continued their chorus calls for a full public inquiry. The Health Quality Council of Alberta released the terms of reference for the investigation ordered by Premier Ed Stelmach last week. Meanwhile, the opposition held up a letter from Alberta Medical Association President Patrick White in Question Period today claiming that even the doctors’ union wanted a public inquiry. According to the Globe & Mail’s Josh Wingrove, Dr. White later clarified that the AMA is not calling for a public inquiry, but would support one if it were called.
The debate among politicians has shifted to now focus on doctors intimidation and away from the focus on patient outcomes that dominated the debate during the 2010 Fall session of the Assembly.
Mar enters, Redford makes a mark.
Former cabinet minister Gary Mar entered the PC leadership contest with a slick campaign speech, his own Twitter hashtag – #GOGARY, and an endorsement from cabinet minister Iris Evans. Candidate Alison Redford distanced herself from her party’s unpopular property rights legislation, criticising the Land Stewardship Act for not having “the appropriate balance” between the rights of individual property owners, industry and environment.
Former MLA supports Raj for Liberal leader
Conservative MLA turned Liberal leadership hopeful Dr. Raj Sherman has the support of at least one former Liberal MLA. Bharat Agnihotri, who served as MLA for Edmonton-Ellerslie from 2004 to 2008, left a gushing endorsement on Dr. Sherman’s Facebook wall.
Meanwhile, another former Liberal MLA, Maurice Tougas, takes a more critical look at Dr. Sherman’s politics.
Gibson’s back, not going quietly.
Former Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson is suing the Government of Alberta after his sudden dismissal in March 2009. Mr. Gibson was dismissed from his role after releasing two reports with over 100 recommendations on how to improve Alberta’s election laws. Seen by many as a scapegoat, his dismissal was the result of a vote by PC MLAs at the Standing Committee of Legislative Offices.
Draft Chima
He says that he is not interested, but that is not stopping his supporters from trying to convince Chima Nkemdirim to join the Alberta Party leadership contest. A Calgary-based lawyer and smart growth advocate, Mr. Nkemdirim was the campaign manager for Naheed Nenshi‘s successful Mayoral campaign and now serves as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff. Mr. Nkemdirim is the former President and a founder of the new Alberta Party. Other candidates in the race are Calgarians Tammy Maloney and Chris Tesarski, and Hinton Mayor Glenn Taylor.
More candidate nominations…
I have updated the list of declared provincial election candidates
The Calgary-Foothills Wildrose nomination has attracted two candidates, Dustin Nau and Walter Wakula. Foothills is represented by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Len Webber, who has also been nominated as his party candidate for the next election. Said Abdulbaki will seek the Wildrose nomination against Chestermere Town Councillor Heather Davies in Chestermere-Rockyview. John Hilton-O’Brien in Calgary-Bow. Mr. Hilton-O’Brien will be facing Tim Dyck in his party’s nomination contest. Bow is represented by backbench PC MLA Alana DeLong, who was first elected in 2001. Beiseker Mayor Bruce Rowe has announced his intentions to seek the Wildrose nomination in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
The Liberals will nominate candidates in Calgary-Foothills on April 8 and Edmonton-Riverview on April 15 , where Arif Khan is the only declared candidate.
Meanwhile, a number of PC MLAs have been nominated for the next election: Mary Anne Jablonski in Red Deer-North, Cal Dallas in Red Deer-South, Yvonne Fritz in Calgary-Cross, Manmeet Bhullar in Calgary-Greenway, and Naresh Bhardwaj in Edmonton-Ellerslie.
Read more in the Alberta Politics Notes archive.