Category: Alberta Politics

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Alberta Politics

homeless count numbers show that progress is being made.

The results of the 2010 count of Edmonton’s Homeless population was released this morning as the 7-City Road Home conference started in our city. It was positive to see that the number of homeless counted this year was 2421, which is a decrease from the 3,079 counted in 2008. According to the organization that conducted the count, Homeward Trust, this year’s numbers are the lowest since 2004, when Edmonton’s homeless population was counted at 2,192 people.

These numbers are positive for our city and show the progress that has been made through the creation of housing-focused programs that provide stability, rather than band-aid solutions. Many of these programs were only made successful through the cooperation of the City of Edmonton and the provincial and federal governments.

“Edmontonians have said that homelessness is unacceptable” said Mayor Stephen Mandel. “With the adoption of the ten year plan and its implementation through Homeward Trust, working with the Homeless Commission and our city’s agencies and service providers, we are already seeing tremendous results in the first two years.”

The numbers are positive, but also show how much more work needs to be done in order to reach the goals set in the 10 year plan to eliminate homelessness. The work done over the past two years also signals a shift by the provincial government, which spent much of the 1990s cutting funding for many of the social and mental health programs. Those cuts created an environment where chronic homelessness became the only option for some of our City’s most vulnerable people.

Over the past year, I have volunteered at two of the Homeward Trust-organized Homeless Connect events at the Shaw Conference Centre and for the recent homeless count, from which the numbers released today were collected. As I have written before, they were both sobering and fulfilling experiences. As someone who is lucky to have a stable life and home, I find it is sometimes easy to forget about the people in our city who are not so lucky. Volunteering at these events have been both a healthy reminder and a way to help some of our neighbours who are not as well off.

The result of the economic slowdown over the past three years has affected the numbers, which show less strain on homeless shelters and a higher vacancy rate, but there have also been over 900 people housed through the programs funded through Homeward Trust.

In a media release distributed this morning, Homeward Trust Executive Director Susan McGee clearly described the successes and continued challenges facing our city when it comes to ending homelessness:

“We’ve seen signs of success in implementing the provincial and civic plans to end homelessness” said Susan McGee, Executive Director of Homeward Trust Edmonton. “Over 1000 people have found homes through Housing First, and overnight shelter use is decreasing. But the need for services and programs remains high, and with over 2400 Edmontonians still without a home, there is still a lot of work to be done.”

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Alberta Politics

my closing remarks to the alberta party conference.

A few weeks ago, Alberta Party President Chris Labossiere asked if I would be interested in sharing some closing remarks to this past weekend’s policy conference. I accepted Chris’ invite and shared some closing remarks this afternoon in Red Deer. After the remarks a few people have asked if I could post my remarks on this blog, so here are the rough notes from my closing remarks.

Alberta Party Convention Closing Remarks
November 14, 2010

I want to thank Chris Labossiere for inviting me to give the closing remarks to this weekend’s conference. We have all had a long weekend and some of us have a long ride home this afternoon, so I am going to keep my closing remarks short.

When I met with Chris over breakfast to chat about the Alberta Party a few weeks ago, we spoke a lot about why we were looking for a new kind of politics. We both came from different political experiences, but we both see the need for change.

I want to share with you why I participated this weekend and why I have joined the Alberta Party.

For many years, I was involved in a different political party. I had great experiences in my previous political life and met great people, many who I consider to be close friends, but as a member I came to feel disenfranchised by both the political system and the party of which I was a member. After I let my membership in that party lapse two years ago, I was very hesitant to join any political movement.

As a politically active citizen, there were a number of things that pushed me away from the institutional parties.

To quote Bing Crosby: “You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.” I found the negativity in opposition politics to be too much to stomach.

The current government is many things, but not everything they do is bad. One of the biggest problems we face is not bad leadership from our government. It’s extremely mediocre leadership from our government, which in many ways feels almost worse, because we can see the potential that is not being realized.

Alberta is a great place to live, but it could be much better. If we want to create that better Alberta, we cannot focus on the negative, on what is wrong. Let’s talk about what is right, what’s almost there, and what we can do to push it forward.

We also need to respect Albertans. We have all heard opposition candidates or leaders in the heat an election defeat call Albertans “stupid” or say “they got what they deserved” because we have elected the same governing party for the past forty years. Albertans are not stupid. When presented with a positive alternative, Albertans will consider and embrace it.

But it is not just about replacing Party A with Party B, what we need is a change in how governments operate in Alberta, we need to change the way we do politics.

This week, it was revealed that the Energy Minister has been consulting a secret council of oil sands experts. Our elected officials should always be consulting the best and the brightest in their fields, but when it comes to our most valuable natural resource, we deserve to know who is influencing our elected officials. I do not believe that the decision to hide the identities of these secret advisors to be malicious or nefarious. It is a sign of a governing party that has lost its way. A governing party who holds stakeholder meetings instead of talking with Albertans. They have forgotten how to talk with Albertans.

There is an appetite for a new kind of politics. A new kind of participatory governance. We saw it in the recent municipal elections in villages, counties, towns, and cities across Alberta. People stepped up and took the risk to challenge not only institutional candidates, but an institutional culture. A top-down institutional culture that has driven many Albertans away participating in their politics and governance. In many ways, we are all taking a similar risk.

We can see political change all around us. Our province is a different place than it was even ten years ago. Our politics has not reflected that, but it is starting to. This weekend we provided Albertans with proof that politics can change. Let’s challenge them let’s challenge the other parties to do better.

In closing, last weekend some friends and I scrambled up one of the peaks of Mount Lougheed in Kananaskis Country. It was tough and it was hard work. On our way up the mountain, we switchbacked left and right, left and right, but we kept on leaning forward up the mountain. When we reached the summit, it made me think of what a great metaphor that day was for what anyone trying to change politics in this province. It made me think of what a challenge it must have been the last time someone changed the way we do politics in this province.

As David King described in his opening remarks yesterday morning, forty years ago, it was a group of young forward thinking Albertans, led by Peter Lougheed, who changed the way we do politics in this province. When I look at the group of people here this weekend. When I think of the positive and respectful debate that I participated in this weekend, I know that it is possible that if we keep leaning forward, we can reach the top of our mountain and change politics in this province forever.

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Alberta Politics

photo post: alberta party policy conference.

I attended this weekend’s Alberta Party conference in Red Deer and took some photos along the way. You can find more photos on Flickr.

The participant package for the 2010 Alberta Party policy conference.
Alberta Party Chief Financial Officer Paul Ney was a rock star on Saturday night of the conference.
About 150 people participated at the Alberta Party conference.
Alberta Party Board Member Chima Nkemdirim shared stories from his role as Campaign Director for Naheed Nenshi's successful Mayoral campaign in Calgary.
Almost all of the weekend's conference was taken up by debate and discussion about policy proposals.
Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given spoke to conference participants about his recent election.
Alberta Party President Chris Labossiere votes during one of the many policy discussions.

Alberta Party Board Members Josh Kjenner and Christel Hyshka were two of the key players in organizing the policy conference.
Participants discuss policy on the final day of the conference.
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Alberta Politics

live from red deer: alberta party policy conference.

I am in the City of Red Deer this weekend attending the first policy conference of the new Alberta Party. About 150 people are participating at the conference, which is pretty good for a party that barely existed just a year ago. Energized by some of the results in the recent municipal elections, there is a sense of optimism in the air about this conference and the growth potential for this party.

The policy debate sessions today have focused on the four most common themes identified in the Big Listen process: Environment, Democratic Renewal and Meaningful Citizen Engagement, Education, and Health Care. Some sessions have been more heated than others, but there has generally been a focus on collaboration and respect in the discussions.

At the sessions I have attended, I sensed a mixed sense of caution and boldness among the participants, who understand that the decisions they make today will shape how this party will be perceived by Albertans.

Some portions of the weekend conference will be live-streamed online, including a panel discussion this evening with Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given and organizers from the campaign teams of Naheed Nenshi, Stephen Mandel, and Don Iveson. The panelists will be sharing some experiences and stories from the recent municipal election campaigns.

I will be delivering the closing remarks for the conference tomorrow morning at 12:30pm, which you can watch online via live-stream (I will post the remarks on this blog afterwards). You can also follow the conference participants on Twitter at #abparty.

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Alberta Politics

alberta politics notes 11/11/2010

Alberta Party Conference in Red Deer
The upcoming Alberta Party policy conference in Red Deer is getting attention from the political class, including provincial Tories who are nervous about the links between the new party and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi‘s campaign team. On the Saturday evening of the conference, Mayor Nenshi’s Campaign Director and Chief of Staff Chima Nkemdirim and campaign Communications Coordinator Richard Einarson will be participating in an political discussion panel (which will also include Mayor Stephen Mandel‘s Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager Patricia Mistuka, Councillor Don Iveson‘s campaign manager Chris Henderson, and the new Mayor of Grande Prairie Bill Given).

No room for good ideas?
Proving that the current political climate in Alberta is not always friendly to thought-provoking ideas, Battle River-Wainwright PC MLA Doug Griffiths is feeling a lash back by the political establishment within his party and the opposition. After trying to start a public discussion about how a provincial sales tax could  reduce government dependency on natural resource revenue, Mr. Griffiths became the target of his own colleagues who shot down his idea at the recent PC Party convention and by the Wildrose Alliance, who have used Mr. Griffiths’ comments as a fundraising-focused attack campaign.

Maybe it is something about Battle River-Wainwright, because this is not the first time an idea coming from that constituency was shot down by the political establishment. At the 2008 PC policy convention, that constituency association brought forward a motion supporting fixed elections dates. The motion passed at the policy convention and was soon after introduced as a private members bill (Bill 203: Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates)) in the Assembly by St. Albert PC MLA Ken Allred.

Mr. Allred’s private members bill was attacked by Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills PC MLA Richard Marz, who claimed that the creation of fixed election dates would allow public sector unions to schedule strikes near election dates (because as all Albertans know, it is those evil public sector Unions who have been standing in between the PC Party and majority governments for the past forty years… oh wait…). The fixed election dates bill was tabled to be discussed six months later. Two years later, the bill remains tabled and there is no sign that any debate will reassume.

On a similar note, Edmonton-McClung PC MLA David Xiao hopes to start a discussion on mandatory voting in Alberta. While the idea probably has enough merit to deserve the opportunity to be debated and fully discussed, it is likely doomed to reach the waste bin of ideas to combat electoral disinterest.

Liberal Environment Policy
Edmonton-Centre MLA Laurie Blakeman released the Liberal Caucus environment policy yesterday, which includes a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions by 2017 and a provincial groundwater inventory and water quality monitoring program.


Water
The fight over access to fresh water may be one of the next big fights on the political horizon as Premier Ed Stelmach has said that new water storage will need to be created in Southern Alberta to help increase industrial development.

As part of a country-wide speaking tour, Council of Canadian chairperson Maude Barlow was in Edmonton in October and warned against the creation of water markets that could open the sale fresh water from Alberta to corporations and overseas markets. Ms. Barlow believes that water should be held in a public trust and has outlined her beliefs in a new book, Blue Covenant: The Global The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water

Read more in the Alberta Politics Notes archive.

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Alberta Politics

ron liepert’s secret oilsands advisors.

Energy Minister Ron Liepert has created a secret panel of oilsands advisors.

From the Calgary Herald:

Energy Minister Ron Liepert has assembled an energy kitchen cabinet of sorts, an exclusive group of roughly 25 top executives from oilpatch and investment firms to keep him abreast of challenges facing Alberta’s largest industry.

They met behind closed doors for the first time on Oct. 29 in Calgary, as Conservative members converged on the city for the party’s annual convention. Liepert said he hopes to meet with the group about five times a year. He wouldn’t reveal who’s part of his advisory panel, saying only that they’re industry leaders.

As far as the article suggests, there is no oversight or disclosure on this advisory council, which could include registered lobbyists and donors to the Progressive Conservative Party. For a government that is spending millions of public funds on advertising promoting the benefits of the oilsands abroad, creating secret committees whose identities are even hidden to Albertans is probably counter-productive, and against the spirit of open and transparent government.

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a short post-election news and podcast round-up.

The Campaign Politics in Full Sentences a look at the campaign of successful Calgary Mayoral candidate Naheed Nenshi.

A pundit tries his hand at politics by former Edmonton Journal columnist Scott McKeen, who tried his hand at politics this fall.

Lo-Fi Electioneering. The latest podcast from the Unknown Studio with post-election interviews with Edmonton City Councillor Kim Krushell, former Executive Assistant Leanne Brown, Jeff Samsonow from the Edmontonian and yours truly.

I wrote an op-ed for Vue Weekly on the changes that the election produced for Edmonton’s Public School Board.

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two political gatherings happened last weekend.

Around 100 progressive activists from across Alberta gathered in Edmonton this weekend for the Reboot Alberta 3.0 conference. This is the third Reboot Alberta conference that has been held since fall 2009. I attended the first Reboot Alberta conference in Red Deer, but missed this weekend’s gathering in favour of enjoying a weekend in the mountains. Along with networking and idea sharing opportunities, I am told that representatives of the Liberal Party, the new Alberta Party, and the Democratic Renewal Project were given an opportunity to present their vision for a more progressive Alberta.

Liberal leader David Swann.

Liberal leader David Swann asked for the support of Reboot participants and provided his party’s letter to other parties as evidence of his desire for cross-partisan cooperation. Although I believe that Dr. Swann’s plea was sincere, his party is not completely in step with their leader.

After the letter ad was published in the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald, Liberal Party President Tony Sansotta resigned. On cooperation with Reboot, only a short eight months ago, Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald criticized the group as being “elitist” and dismissed the group by quipping that “It’s renew, Reboot and then recycle.”

Alberta Party President Chris Labossiere emceed ChangeCamp Edmonton in 2009. Photo credit: Alex Abboud. Liscence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Then there is the new Alberta Party which was represented by Chris Labossiere, who has written a summary of his talk on his blog.

There are some interesting growth prospects for the new Alberta Party. As a coalition of former Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Greens, and Independents from rural, urban, and suburban Alberta, it has a diverse core of politically engaged supporters to grow from. This party is also lucky to be starting with a blank slate, which will start to be filled at their policy convention this weekend in Red Deer. The Alberta Party will also choose an interim leader this weekend and begin a leadership contest process soon after that.

Critics have been quick to jump all over the Alberta Party for its focus on policy construction and organization building through the Big Listens, but unlike the already established parties, the tone and process are critically important in the early stages of political organizing. Its growth over the next six to twelve months will likely determine whether this party has the potential to reach to survive into the next election.

Blogger’s Update: I have been informed that the very talented Troy Wason also attended Reboot 3.0 and spoke to the participants as an active rank and file member of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta. I was glad to learn that he was there representing his party. I could not think of a better ambassador to this kind of event than Mr. Wason.

I know a lot of people who get frustrated at the idea of vote splitting and the idea that there needs to be less political parties competing in this province. The challenge for opposition parties is not the number of them, but their effectiveness. As Peter Lougheed proved in the 1967 and 1971 elections, a crowded field of opposition parties can clear out pretty quickly when you work hard to provide Albertans with a competent choice on their ballots.

Where are the NDP?

New Democrat leader Brian Mason.

In Red Deer this weekend, members of Alberta’s New Democratic Party gathered for their annual convention, branded as “Seize the Day.” The convention delegates heard from leader Brian Mason about his hope to take advantage of vote-splitting between the PCs and the Wildrose Alliance in the next election. A conservative vote split could help the NDP in a handful of constituencies in central Edmonton, but without a significant voter-base elsewhere, significant gains will be harder to achieve.

I have to admit it, while they constantly provide some of the most vocal opposition to the PCs on the Assembly floor, I have never fully understood the Alberta NDP as a party.

The “seize the day” theme reminded me of when I covered the 2009 NDP convention for SEE Magazine. While there I asked a number of delegates why they were in Edmonton and not in Calgary helping their candidate in the final weekend of the by-election in Calgary-Glenmore. The response I heard most went along the lines of “I’m sure that there are some people helping out. Maybe we’ll get a win this time.”

The by-election was won by Wildrose candidate Paul Hinman in a close race with Liberal candidate Avalon Roberts. At the end of the night, Mr. Hinman was elected by 278 votes over Dr. Roberts. NDP candidate Eric Carpendale barely registered on the electoral radar with 1.3% of the vote. The results of this by-election (and the selection of Danielle Smith as their leader soon afterward) helped rocket the Wildrose Alliance from the conservative fringe to Official Opposition-in-waiting.

No one expected the NDP to win or even be a contender in that by-election, but to this day I still cannot understand what  a party that has not elected an MLA outside of Edmonton since 1989 felt it had to lose by taking an opportunity to try and grow its support in Calgary. Instead of being passive observers, those three hundred conference delegates in Edmonton could have made a big difference for their candidate in that last weekend. Given how close the results were, if they had put in an effort maybe the NDP could have helped shape a different result for that by-election.

Just think how different Alberta politics could be today.

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alberta party 2010 policy convention.

The new Alberta Party will be holding its first policy convention on November 13 and 14 in Red Deer and it looks to be an interesting weekend. At the convention, policy resolutions generated from the hundreds of Big Listens that happened across Alberta will be debated (see document below). These policies will help form the basis for the new Alberta Party’s platform.

The weekend is not all policy debates. On the evening of November 13, an all-star panel of political organizers involved in recent municipal election campaigns around the province will hold an open discussion about lessons learned and strategies to engage voters during elections. The members of the panel session, titled “Tales from the Trail – Stories of Effective Community Organizing” will include:

Chima Nkemdirim, Campaign Director, Nenshi4Mayor
Richard Einarson, Communications Manager, Nenshi4Mayor
Patricia Mitsuka, Campaign Manager for Mayor Stephen Mandel
Chris Henderson, Campaign Manager for Councilor Don Iveson
Gayle Rondeel, Town Councilor, Rimbey
Bill Given, Mayor, Grande Prairie

The Tales from the Trail Panel will bring important stories and lessons from the recent municipal election campaigns across Alberta. Panelists will share important learnings on turning citizens into educated and engaged voters, volunteers and community leaders.

I will be participating in the policy debates that will help shape this new party as a new member and I have been invited to give some closing remarks on the Sunday morning of the convention (I hope to have the remarks recorded and put on youtube for readers of this blog).

I have been hesitant to join any political party since I let my Liberal Party membership lapse in 2008, but after participating in a Big Listen and engaging with the people involved with the new Alberta Party, I am excited to contribute and participate.

You can find more details and register for the convention here (you can also download an agenda).

Alberta Party Policy Draft Nov.22

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testing conservative unity.

Calgary-Centre North by-election could be a test of conservative unity in alberta.

As the first major political event on the federal stage in Alberta since the Wildrose Alliance jumped from insignificance to contender in the polls over the past year, the Calgary-Centre North by-election could be a symbolic test of the Conservative Party’s strength in tolerating the provincial split in the conservative movement in Alberta. The resignation of Environment Minister Jim Prentice could open the door for a contested race for the Conservative Party nomination that could highlight some of these cleavages. Could that riding’s Conservative nomination contest become a proxy war in the battle between moderate and ideological conservatives that has exploded on the provincial level?

I have had an number of interesting and frank conversations with federal Conservative Party organizers who are acutely aware of their delicate balancing act. In most provinces, many members of the federal Conservative Party are also members of the equivalent “conservative” party in the provincial level (ie: BC Liberals, Saskatchewan Party, PC Party in Ontario and the maritimes). Alberta’s conservatives are in a different situation.

Many active members of the Conservative Party of Canada remain active members of the four decade-long governing Progressive Conservatives, but many have become active with the Wildrose Alliance over the past year (including Wildrose candidates Andrew Constantinidis in Calgary-West and Rod Fox in Lacombe-Ponoka who are former Conservative Party Electoral District Association Presidents). Two of the Wildroses main political staffers are also products of the federal Conservative school of politics. Executive Director Vitor Marciano and Communications Director William McBeath both left positions in the federal Conservative establishment to join the insurgent Wildrosers since Danielle Smith became leader.

It is somewhat reminiscent of the split that happened among conservative voters in the 1990s with the rise of the Reform Party of Canada and the decline of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although they did not form a functional provincial-wing, the split between the Reformers and the federal PC Party in Alberta also happened during a time of flux on the provincial level. Many Reform Party supporters were drawn to the policies of fiscal conservative provincial Liberal leader Laurence Decore. A few Reformers such as Don MacDonald and Donna Graham ran as Liberal Party candidates. Mr. MacDonald stunned many political watchers when he handily won a 1992 by-election in the Three Hills riding in the conservative heartland. The Liberals also won support in the Little Bow constituency where candidate Ms. Graham came within 262 votes of defeating Tory Barry McFarland. It was a different time.

Following the 1993 re-election of the PC Party led by Premier Ralph Klein, many of these tensions disappeared as many Reformers made amends with Alberta’s natural governing party. Some of these tensions re-emerged under a resurgent Social Credit in 1997, but that year’s election proved to bare no fruit for the antiquated political movement. By 2001, when Reform MP Ian McClelland moved into provincial politics it appeared that all was beautiful, calm, and quiet on the conservative front. What a difference nine years can make.

Back to my original point, it will be very interesting to watch how the Conservative Party of Canada will try to mitigate any migration of the conservative conflict into its ranks in Alberta.

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goodbye for now, jim prentice.

Jim Prentice (photo credit: k-ideas Photo license: Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike)

I do not regularly pay too much attention to federal politics, so I was surprised to learn yesterday that Environment Minster and Calgary Member of Parliament Jim Prentice was suddenly resigning to become Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (apparently most Ottawa-watchers were surprised by the move).

What surprised me most about Mr. Prentice was his ability to handle the environment portfolio, the Conservative’s most toxic ministerial portfolio (no pun intended) without destroying his own political credibility among moderates. I am one of many Canadians who was less than impressed with our federal government’s lackluster participation and irresponsible handling of the COP15 Summit in Copenhagen, but I was impressed from a political standpoint with how well Mr. Prentice managed his role.

There is already mounds of speculation about what Mr. Prentice’s political future holds and there have been some consistent rumors about his political future that I have heard over the past few years (if we assume that his departure is only a sojourn until the next political opportunity presents itself).

1) Going Provincial: I know more than just a few Red Tories who see Mr. Prentice as the heir to Jim Dinning‘s dauphin throne. As a popular MP and long-time PC Party supporter, Mr. Prentice would be well positioned to be the moderate “Calgary candidate” in the next Progressive Conservative leadership contest.

I have no doubt that he would almost immediately receive the support of top level Tory organizers in Calgary, especially those weary of Finance Minister Ted Morton or another candidate from northern Alberta. His entry into provincial politics would also be interesting if he did run in the Calgary-Mountain View constituency, which is currently represented by Liberal leader David Swann (Mr. Prentice was the PC candidate in Mountain View in the 1986 provincial election).

2) Going Federal: As Environment Minister, Jim Prentice took on the most difficult political file for the Conservatives without looking like a buffoon or seriously damaging his own political reputation. Being from Calgary might actually hurt him in the next Conservative Party leadership contest (both Stephen Harper and Preston Manning represented Calgary ridings), but a few years working in the private sector could help to distance him from Prime Minister Harper’s government.

Calgary-Centre North

Not surprisingly, attention has already turned to some of the rumors circulating about what will happen if a by-election is held in Calgary-Centre North before the next federal general election. Former Mayor Dave Bronconnier and former Ontario MP Robert Nault (who now lives in Calgary) are two names that I almost immediately heard rumoured for the Liberal Party nomination after yesterday afternoon’s resignation. Four names that are already being circulated for possible Conservative candidates are former Alderman Ric McIver, former Mayoral candidate Barb Higgins, current Calgary-Foothills MLA Len Webber, and recent Aldermanic candidate Sean Chu. Rumours aside, under the current circumstances it is difficult to believe that a by-election in this riding would produce anything but another Conservative MP.

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former alberta mla seeking election in nova scotia.

An article from the Shelburne County Coast Guard.
An article from the Shelburne County Coast Guard.

Running in a November 13 by-election in the Town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia is someone who may be familiar to Alberta’s political watchers, but under a different name.

Former Edmonton-Castle Downs MLA Pamela Paul, now known as Pamela Snelgrove-Paul and also formerly known as Pamela Smith, Pamela Smith-Paul, and Pamela Paul-Zobaric has jumped into local politics in her new home of in Nova Scotia.

As a Liberal candidate in 1997, she was narrowly elected by 83 votes and served as the Official Opposition critic for advanced education until she left the Liberal Caucus to sit as an Independent MLA in 1999. She did not seek re-election in 2001, but endorsed her friend and fellow former Liberal MLA Gene Zwozdesky, who was running as a PC candidate in that election.

As an MLA, Ms. Snelgrove-Paul had her personal experiences with domestic violence play out in the media. During her time as an MLA, special security arrangements were made around the Legislature to protect her from her stalking ex-husband, who was eventually sentenced to a year in jail.

Previous to her election as an MLA, Ms. Snelgrove-Paul had served as an Alderman in the City of St. Albert and a school trustee in Drumheller.

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financial disclosures reveal golf vacations, lady gaga, rod stewart, and unpaid property taxes.

Compared to last week’s explosion of political activity in the Assembly, the second week of the fall sitting has been pretty mundane.

The Office of the Ethics Commissioner released MLA financial disclosure forms this week. The majorit of the 83 forms were boring one or two page documents listing MLAs banks and pensions plans, and some the forms also prompted MLAs to disclose gifts that they have received over the past year.

Like many jobs, being an MLA comes with some perks. I do not have a problem with MLAs taking advantage of some of these perks, but it is a matter of judging whether accepting the gifts would put the MLA into a conflict of interest. A ticket to a sporting event or concert might fly under the radar, but an extravagant golfing or fishing vacation begins to present some larger image and integrity issues. While there is nothing scandalous in these disclosures and some of these gifts may seem small on the surface, Albertans should pay attention to who is wooing their elected officials.

Finance Minister Ted Morton was living life to the fullest when he accepted invitations to go Salmon fishing and golfing in British Columbia with wealthy businessman Fred Mannix (Former Premier Peter Lougheed severed as General Council to the Mannix Corporation before entering politics). Not to be outdone, Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky also accepted a golfing vacation in Victoria, BC as a gift from Telus.

It is a mystery to me why Hemisphere Engineering decided to pay room and board for Edmonton-Calder Tory backbencher Doug Elniski to fish for Salmon in Campbell River, BC, but they did. Hemisphere Engineering donated over $27,000 to the PC Party and candidates in 2008 and over $18,000 to the PC Party and constituency associations in 2009.

The disclosure forms also revealed that one Edmonton Tory MLA had neglected to pay his property taxes on four rental properties that he owned. When questioned by the media, classy Carl Benito, the backbench Tory MLA from Edmonton-Mill Woods, actually put the blame on his wife for not having paid rent on his four rental properties. According to Mr. Benito, even though he filed his disclosure forms (including the part admitting he was behind on his property taxes), he still blamed his wife for not paying them until today.

This is not the first story we have heard from this backbencher. Mr. Benito was in the media spotlight earlier this year when it was revealed that he had no intention to fulfill a campaign promise to donate his entire MLA salary to scholarships for students in his constituency. I am sure that some people in the PC Party are eager to hit the “eject” button on this embarrassing backbench MLA.

Showing some seriously questionable taste in music, it was also revealed that Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk was gifted two tickets to a recent Lady Gaga concert by Edmonton Northlands and that  Education Minister Dave Hancock was gifted two tickets to a Rod Stewart concert by AltaLink. I tweeted to Minister Hancock yesterday asking what his favorite Rod Stewart song was. I did not get a response, so this is for you, Minister.

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don’t write an obituary yet.

The PC Party is weaker than it was two years ago, but it is far from dead.

As delegates to the Progressive Conservative Party convention gathered in Calgary this weekend, it appears that “re-invention” was in the air. By all accounts, it sounds like it was a pretty good party.

As I first reported here on October 21, the Tories will launch as series of “discussion sessions” billed as “the most democratic engagement process for policy development in the history of any political party in our province.” These sessions will attempt to reconnect the PC party leadership with an increasingly disillusioned membership-base in the year before the party celebrates its fortieth year in government. It is being billed as a process in which any Albertan can participate, except the price of participation is purchasing a PC Party membership. It would be refreshing to see a new kind of politics come from the PC Party, but I am not holding my breath.

(Bloggers note: The new Alberta Party has held hundreds of Big Listen meetings across the province since the beginning of 2010 which have been open to anyone, regardless of party membership or lack thereof.)

As a near 40-year governing party, the PC Party suffers all the problems, challenges, and disfunctionalities that our traditional institutional political parties are facing. Low interest from the general public, high involvement by senior citizens, low interest from the under 40 crowd. The obvious advantage that the PC Party has over its competitors is access to power, which helps draw a lot of people to their ranks (see: Liberal Party of Canada).

The PC Party has hired 2008 campaign manager Randy Dawson as its campaign manager for the next election and plans to have candidates nominated in all 87 constituencies by next Summer. Currently, the Wildrose Alliance 21 nominated or declared candidates, the NDP has nominated 4, and the Liberals have nominated two candidates. See a full list.

A policy proposal to limit the power of unions to spend money on political campaigns was defeated. The defeat has drawn the ire (and conspiracy theories) of some elements of the PC Party membership.

While some political watchers have found it easy to already write the PC Party’s obituary, they are still the most organized and well-funded partisan political machine in this province. The growth of the Wildrose Alliance signals that the PC Party may be weaker than it was two years ago when it swept 72 constituencies across the province, but they are still far from out for the count.

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Alberta Politics

glenora cools down, calder heats up.

Proposed electoral boundaries of north west Edmonton according to the INTERIM Boundaries Report transposed with poll results from 2008 election.

A few months ago, I wrote about the race in Edmonton-Glenora. When the interim report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission was released, former Edmonton-Calder MLA David Eggen had announced his intention to seek the NDP nomination in the Glenora constituency. After the final report was released, Mr. Eggen’s neighbourhood was back in Calder, where he has now chosen to seek the NDP nomination, which is scheduled for November 23.

Proposed electoral boundaries of north west Edmonton according to the FINAL Boundaries Report transposed with poll results from 2008 election.

The PC backbencher currently representing Calder is living in a divided conservative house. Doug Elniski was the only PC MLA to take a public position on the phased closure of the City Centre Airport (against). Mr. Elniski also took a political gamble of supporting Envision Edmonton backed candidate Don Koziak against incumbent City Councillor Kim Krushell in Ward 2 (which includes a large part of the Calder constituency). Councillor Krushell was re-elected in a tight race and as a PC Party supporter, she is rumoured to be furious with Mr. Elniski.

This may good news for the Liberals and NDP, who appear to have now cleared the fields against each other in contests against PC MLA Heather Klimchuk in Glenora and Mr. Elniski in Calder. It is not so great news for the PCs, who now have two contests instead of one.

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