Category: Alberta Politics

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Alberta Politics

The Energy East Blame Game. Who blames who?

Today’s announcement by the TransCanada Corporation that it would no longer pursue the construction of the Energy East Pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Saint John, New Brunswick triggered a storm of statements, accusations and criticisms from politicians trying to drive their political narratives.

While the reasons for the TransCanada Corporation withdrawing its plans are likely influenced more by economics than by politics, there will certainly be political implications for the politicians – like Premier Rachel Notley – who have tethered their governing agenda to the approval of pipeline projects.

So, politics being politics, here is a quick look at who is blaming who for the demise of the Energy East Pipeline:

The TransCanada Corporation blames existing and likely future delays caused by the National Energy Board regulatory process, associated costs and challenging “issues and obstacles” facing the project.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley blames “a broad range of factors that any responsible business must consider.”

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant doesn’t blame the TransCanada Corporation, but recognizes “recent changes to world market conditions and the price of oil have negatively impacted the viability of the project.”

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall blames Justin Trudeau, the federal government, and Montreal mayor Denis Coderre.

Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr blames the decision to cancel the pipeline project as a business decision.

Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer blames Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Alberta Liberal MPs Randy Boissonnault, Amarjeet Sohi and Kent Hehr blame “current market challenges related to world market conditions and lower commodity prices.

Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel blames “Liberal ideological opposition to the wealth and prosperity of western Canada, to the detriment of the nation as a whole.”

United Conservative Party interim leader Nathan Cooper blames the Alberta NDP.

UCP leadership candidate Brian Jean blames Rachel Notley, Justin Trudeau and Denis Coderre.

UCP leadership candidate Jason Kenney blames the Alberta NDP carbon-tax and social license, and the Trudeau Liberals. He later also blames Denis Coderre.

UCP leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer blames Justin Trudeau and Rachel Notley.

Alberta Party leader Greg Clark blames the Alberta NDP.

Alberta Liberal leader David Khan blames economic factors, describing the decision as “a business decision by TransCanada based on current economic and political realities.”

UCP MLA Drew Barnes blames Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

UCP MLA Prasad Panda blames the Alberta NDP’s carbon tax.

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Alberta Politics

MLA Karen McPherson bids farewell to the Alberta NDP

Karen McPherson Jamie Kleinsteuber Calgary NDP MLA
Karen McPherson Jamie Kleinsteuber Calgary NDP MLA

Photo: Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill MLA Karen McPherson (right) and Calgary-Northern Hills MLA Jamie Kleinsteuber (left). Source: Facebook

There have been a lot of changes on the opposition side of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly this year, but today marked the first time since 2015 that we saw a decline in the number of MLAs on the government side.

Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill MLA Karen McPherson unexpectedly announced on social media this morning that she was leaving the governing New Democratic Party caucus in order to sit as an Independent MLA. Elected in the Orange Wave that swept Alberta in 2015, McPherson has kept a relatively low profile in the Assembly while serving as chairperson of the Standing Committee on Private Bills.

In a statement that in parts sounded somewhat similar to what former UCP MLA Rick Fraser wrote last month when he announced he was sitting as an Independent MLA, McPherson wrote:

“Alberta, in fact the world, is changing quickly and I believe our political processes need to reflect these shifts. Continuing to do politics the way it’s being done will lead to further polarization. We are missing the middle where we have more in common with each other than we are different. Albertans need political choices that inspire them, not scare them.”

McPherson’s letter was short on details but included statements about the need to transform the health care and education system and the role of technology in the economy, including expanding high speed internet to all rural communities (she also mentioned this in a promotional video produced by the NDP caucus in July 2016).

As a backbench MLA, McPherson’s departure is not likely to have any significant impact on the functions of the government. But it does mark the most significant breach of party discipline the NDP has experienced during their first term in government. To their credit, Rachel Notley‘s NDP have done an impressive job enforcing MLA discipline in the government caucus, avoiding the kind of embarrassing bozo-eruptions that have plagued the Conservative opposition benches over the past two years.

Despite her low-profile and her insistence that the decision was made without malice, McPherson’s departure does add fuel to the narrative that the NDP is weak in Calgary, which is expected to be a key electoral battleground in the next election.

SHOCKER: Callaway endorses Kenney

If McPherson’s announcement came out of nowhere, the decision by Jeff Callaway to drop out of the United Conservative Party leadership race to endorse Jason Kenney was the exact opposite. Most political watchers I have spoken with believe that Callaway’s only real reason for entering the UCP leadership race was to attack Brian Jean on Kenney’s behalf.

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Alberta Politics

We will not be divided.

Photo source: Premier Rachel Notley's Facebook page.

“We will not be divided” was the message delivered by political leaders in Edmonton and Alberta after an apparent terrorist attack that began with the attempted murder of an Edmonton police officer outside a Friday night football game at Commonwealth Stadium.

While it is too soon to tell what the longer-term impacts of this weekend’s incident will be, it is hopeful that our leaders have stepped up with calls of vigilance, love and solidarity, rather than vengeance and fear.

“We will not give in to hate, we will not give in to discrimination and we will not give in to terrorism,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley told a crowd of hundreds gathered at a vigil organized by the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council.

We will not be divided.

Here are the statements made by Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and Premier Notley:

Mayor Don Iveson:

We​ ​have​ ​all​ ​been​ ​tested​ ​by​ ​this​ ​attack:​ ​Edmontonians​ ​of​ ​every​ ​faith,​ ​Edmontonians​ ​of every​ ​culture,​ ​and​ ​especially​ ​the​ ​Edmontonians​ ​who​ ​protect​ ​and​ ​serve​ ​us​ ​every​ ​day have​ ​been​ ​tested.

But​ ​we​ ​have​ ​already​ ​shown,​ ​and​ ​we​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​show​ ​here​ ​tonight,​ ​where​ ​we​ ​stand.​ ​We stand​ ​together,​ ​all​ ​faiths,​ ​all​ ​cultures,​ ​We​ ​will​ ​not​ ​be​ ​divided.

Radical​ ​violence​ ​is​ ​about​ ​creating​ ​panic,​ ​sewing​ ​divide​ ​-​ ​we​ ​can​ ​either​ ​succumb​ ​to​ ​that, or we​ ​can​ ​rise​ ​above​ ​it.

In​ ​the​ ​last​ ​24​ ​hours,​ ​we​ ​have​ ​shown​ ​what​ ​we​ ​are​ ​made​ ​of.​ ​That​ ​Canadians,​ ​and especially​ ​Edmontonians,​ ​are​ ​filled​ ​with​ ​compassion​ ​and​ ​love​ ​for​ ​the​ ​victims,​ ​for​ ​our​ ​first responders,​ ​and​ ​for​ ​all​ ​our​ ​fellow​ ​Edmontonians.

This​ ​love​ ​and​ ​faith​ ​will​ ​be​ ​tested​ ​in​ ​the​ ​days​ ​ahead.​ ​You​ ​may​ ​start​ ​to​ ​hear​ ​persistent whispers​ ​or​ ​even​ ​shouts​ ​about​ ​certain​ ​faiths​ ​and​ ​groups​ ​in​ ​this​ ​strong,​ ​diverse community​ ​of​ ​ours.

I​ ​urge​ ​all​ ​of​ ​you​ ​to​ ​reject​ ​that​ ​hateful​ ​line​ ​of​ ​thinking​ ​by​ ​holding​ ​this​ ​loving​ ​thought​ ​in your​ ​heart:​ ​we​ ​are​ ​strong,​ ​stronger​ ​together,​ ​and​ ​we​ ​will​ ​not​ ​be​ ​divided.

It’s​ ​understandable,​ ​still,​ ​for​ ​us​ ​to​ ​be​ ​worried​ ​about​ ​our​ ​safety.​ ​That’s​ ​exactly​ ​what​ ​the forces​ ​of​ ​of​ ​extremism​ ​want.​ ​However,​ ​all​ ​evidence​ ​so​ ​far​ ​points​ ​to​ ​this​ ​being​ ​an isolated​ ​act​ ​by​ ​a​ ​single​ ​individual.​ ​And​ ​remember,​ ​too,​ ​that​ ​our​ ​well-trained, well-equipped,​ ​and​ ​courageous​ ​Edmonton​ ​Police​ ​members​ ​are​ ​out​ ​there​ ​working​ ​for​ ​us every​ ​day.

Your​ ​safety​ ​—​ ​each​ ​and​ ​every​ ​one​ ​of​ ​you​ ​—​ ​will​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​be​ ​foremost​ ​in​ ​our​ ​minds as​ ​we​ ​work​ ​to​ ​support​ ​our​ ​law​ ​enforcement​ ​agencies.

If​ ​I’m​ ​worried​ ​about​ ​one​ ​thing,​ ​it’s​ ​this:​ ​it’s​ ​a​ ​refugee​ ​child​ ​going​ ​to​ ​daycare​ ​tomorrow and​ ​feeling​ ​scared.​ ​But​ ​if​ ​we​ ​find​ ​it​ ​within​ ​ourselves​ ​to​ ​care​ ​for​ ​that​ ​child​ ​in​ ​the​ ​coming days​ ​and​ ​months​ ​and​ ​years,​ ​that​ ​person​ ​will​ ​look​ ​back​ ​on​ ​this​ ​moment​ ​and​ ​have​ ​felt supported​ ​-​ ​and​ ​included​ ​as​ ​part​ ​of​ ​our​ ​community.​ ​But​ ​I​ ​can’t​ ​do​ ​that​ ​for​ ​them​ ​alone, our​ ​police​ ​service​ ​cannot​ ​do​ ​that​ ​for​ ​them​ ​alone,​ ​and​ ​their​ ​family​ ​cannot​ ​do​ ​that​ ​for​ ​them alone.

We​ ​must​ ​do​ ​this​ ​all​ ​together.​ ​That​ ​is​ ​why​ ​we​ ​cannot​ ​be​ ​divided.

Therefore​ ​we​ ​will…​ ​all​ ​of​ ​us…​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​reject​ ​racism,​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​reject​ ​islamophobia,and​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​reject​ ​radicalization​ ​in​ ​all​ ​its​ ​forms.​ ​Because​ ​we​ ​will​ ​not​ ​be​ ​divided.

Premier Rachel Notley:

“The horrific events last night in downtown Edmonton have left us shocked and angry. It’s left us shocked at the indiscriminate cruelty and angry that someone might target their hatred at places where we gather with our families and friends.

“Our first responders are incredible people. Thank you to each and every one of our police officers, paramedics and firefighters who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Thank you, also, to the women and men who dropped everything to help their fellow Albertans. Your bravery in moments of fear and your compassion in moments of chaos are what’s very best about us.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their loved ones, and with everyone who witnessed last’s violence.

“As we learn more about what happened last night, I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and to listen to law enforcement authorities.

“Hatred has no place in Alberta. It’s not who we are. We are in this together and together we are stronger than any form of hate.”

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You’ll be surprised who is on Elections Alberta’s list of banned candidates

A ruling by Court of Queen’s Bench Mr. Justice William Tilleman has lifted a ban imposed on past election candidate Jamie Lall, allowing him to run in the next provincial election if he chooses. Section 57 of Alberta’s Election Act allows the Chief Elections Officer to deem an individual as prohibited from being nominated as a provincial election candidate for a period of eight or five years if they fail to file the proper financial statements with Elections Alberta following the election.

Hugh Sommerville
Hugh Sommerville

Before changes were made to Alberta’s elections laws in 1983, the head of Elections Alberta had the authority to rule individuals indefinitely ineligible to stand for provincial office if they failed to submit their financial returns on time. Three individuals are still listed as being indefinitely ineligible to run as a candidate.

“These things can happen when you’re 22 years old, and get talked into running,” wrote Hugh Sommerville in an email to the publisher of this website. The respected Drumheller-based lawyer was surprised to learn that 38 years after he stood as a provincial election candidate, he is still listed by Elections Alberta as being indefinitely ineligible to run again.

Sommerville has been elected to the board of the Law Society of Alberta and was appointed to the Alberta Health Services Board of Directors in 2015, but in 1979 he ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the Three Hills constituency. He earned 222 votes.

Jamie Lall PC Chestermere Rocky View
Jamie Lall

“I ended up being ineligible because my campaign spent absolutely no money, and my campaign manager left the province for employment in Saskatchewan without filing papers to say that,” Sommerville wrote. “I was working in Fort McMurray at the time, and my mail was being sent to the family farm. By the time I actually received notice that my campaign manager had neglected to file, I was already on the naughty list,” he wrote.

The other two past candidates listed as indefinitely ineligible are Claire Williscroft, another NDP candidate in the 1979 election, and Barry Cook, an Independent candidate in the 1982 election.

“I suppose I should look into whether it is possible to get my name off the list after 38 years,“ Sommerville wrote, noting that he has no intention of running in any future provincial election.

As for Lall, he is now a member of the United Conservative Party but says he is not sure if he will run in the next provincial election, expected to be held in 2019.

UPDATE: Sommerville has been removed from the list.

Included on the list of individuals prohibited from running or serving as chief financial officers until May 9, 2024, are Edmonton City Council candidates Tony Caterina and Rocco Caterina. The senior Caterina, Tony, ran as a Progressive Conservative the 2015 election, and his son Rocco, served as his chief financial officer.

Tony Caterina told Metro Edmonton in June 2016 that he filed his financial disclosures, but was unable to retire an $11,000 deficit he incurred during the campaign.

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Cast of fringe candidates line up to challenge Don Iveson for the mayor’s chair

Photo: Don Iveson (standing centre-right) with mayoral challengers Fahad Mughal, Bob Ligertwood, Don Koziak and Carla Frost (sitting left to right). Photo source: screenshot of CBC online video

Any illusions that we could see a mayoral horserace in 2017 were extinguished at yesterday’s lunch-hour mayoral all-candidates forum.

Delivering their four minute introductory speeches in front of a group of roughly 120 people in the cavernous Shaw Conference Centre, it became fairly clear, fairly quickly, that none of the 12 candidate challenging Don Iveson in next month’s election have the skills, experience or even temperament to be a successful mayor.

For the most part, the challengers delivered incoherent remarks, with many focusing on fringe issues that may have an audience on the internet, but don’t appear to have much traction off-screen. While some of them are earnest in their bids, the lack of experience and familiarity on municipal issues among the challengers was apparent.

Iveson’s most high-profile challenger, perennial candidate Don Koziak, was unable to deliver a coherent speech in the four minutes made available to him. Instead, Koziak clumsily reminisced about the issues from his previous unsuccessful campaigns for city council without touching on his thoughts on the issues in this election, aside from bizarrely musing that “there will always be homeless people because there will always be people lining up for free homes.”

Two of the candidates, Carla Frost and Bob Ligertwood, had a weird confrontation on stage. An official from the Elections office apparently gave them a talking-to off stage before the speeches began.

Fahad Mughal, who was the first candidate to enter the race against Iveson, was likely the best prepared of the challengers, though his campaign promises and criticisms of the incumbent do little to actually differentiate himself from the pack. I feel that Mughal could have a future in municipal politics, perhaps as a City Council candidate in 2021.

If first impressions matter the most, the 12 candidates challenging Iveson should be thankful there were only 120 people in the room watching the speeches, because there was little to be impressed about.

For his part, Iveson does not appear to be taking the lack of serious challengers for granted. He and his team are campaigning and have released a series of policies dealing with energy transition and climate change, building design and transportation infrastructure, and transparency at City Hall.

Unless something major changes between now and October 16, 2017, Iveson should cruise to a sizeable re-election.

That said, if politics has been characterized by one thing in the last 5 years, it is that an even a very unlikely outcome is still always possible.

Mayoral candidates will take the stage again and be given a chance to answer questions at two upcoming forums sponsored by Elections Edmonton:

City-wide Mayoral Forum
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
6:30-9:30pm
Harry Ainlay Composite High School
4350-111 Street NW

City-wide Mayoral Forum
Wednesday, October, 11, 2017
6:30-9:30pm
Italian Cultural Center
14230-133 Avenue NW

Note: I am a supporter of Don Iveson and played an active volunteer role in his election campaigns for city council in 2007 and 2010 and his successful bid for mayor in 2013. I do not have an active role in his re-election campaign this year.

Edmonton Elections is organzing all-candidate forums in each of the city’s twelve wards and for the mayoral election and Edmonton’s Next Gen committee is organizing socials for young Edmontonians in advance of each of the council forums.

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How much influence does the oil industry have over Alberta politics?

Way too much, according to author and former Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft.

Kevin Taft

Taft takes a deep dive into the influence of big oil on the politics and policy direction of our province in his new book, Oil’s Deep State: How the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global warming – in Alberta, and in Ottawa.

As leader of the Official Opposition from 2004 to 2008, Taft had a front-row seat in the debate over raising Alberta’s natural resource royalties where it became clear that private interests had captured democratic institutions.

“A democratic institution is captured when it serves a private interest over the public interest,” Taft wrote in an op-ed on AlbertaPolitics.ca.

Taft meticulously details the impact powerful forces from the oil industry had over Alberta during the long-reign of the old Progressive Conservative government and the influence it still exerts over Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party government in the never-ending debate over oil pipelines.

“There should be a ruckus in Alberta about royalties, looming costs of reclamation, and global warming. Instead there is quiet, and in democracy quiet is rarely a good sign,” Taft wrote.

It’s true.

The public is welcome to attend book launch events in Edmonton and Calgary.

Edmonton Book Launch
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Telus Centre Room 150 (111 St & 87 Ave, U of A Campus)

Calgary Book Launch
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Room EA-1031, Faculty of Arts, Mount Royal University

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No Thanks and So Long. Former PC MLA Rick Fraser leaves the UCP to sit as an Independent

Former PC MLAs Richard Starke (left) and Rick Fraser (right) at the 2016 Calgary Pride Parade.
Former PC MLAs Richard Starke (left) and Rick Fraser (right) at the 2016 Calgary Pride Parade.

Photo: Former PC MLAs Richard Starke (left) and Rick Fraser (right) at the 2016 Calgary Pride Parade (Photo from Facebook). 

The recently formed United Conservative Party may be leading in the polls but the party is looking a lot less united. One of the party’s 28 MLAs, Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser, announced on social media this morning that he was leaving the UCP caucus to sit as an Independent MLA.

Fraser, who was re-elected for a second term as a Progressive Conservative MLA in 2015, is the third politician to leave the ranks of the UCP since it was formed in July 2017. Vermilion-Lloydminster MLA Richard Starke declined to join the UCP and decided to continue sitting as a PC MLA in the Assembly shortly after he party was founded. Then, in August 2017, the party’s co-finance critic Derek Fildebrandt resigned from the caucus after an expenses controversy and a traffic-accident related court battle.

In his resignation letter, Fraser gave a number of reasons for his departure, ranging from social and economic issues to the party’s increasingly polarizing hyper-partisan tone. While the UCP does not yet have any official policies, or even a permanent leader, it is seems clear that Fraser is uncomfortable with the direction that the province’s largest conservative party is heading.

Social issues are the achilles heel for the UCP, just as they were for the party’s previous incarnation, the Wildrose Party.

The two main candidates for the leadership of the party,  Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, are openly appealing to the party’s social conservative and rural base of supporters and have been extremely reluctant to discuss any social issues. And as we saw in this week’s UCP leadership debate, only Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer was willing to come out in support of gay rights, taking Kenney to task for his silence.

Earlier this year, Wildrose MLAs were tying themselves in knots over student-organized Gay-Straight Alliances and whether school administrators should be required to inform parents if their children joined one of the anti-bullying clubs. The debate, which was triggered by comments Kenney made to the Postmedia editorial board in Calgary, was painful and acrimonious to watch.

And while the party’s interim governing board has issued a statement in support of LGBTQ rights, support for that position by some of UCP MLAs and party members is questionable.

The unanimous position among the UCP leadership candidates to repeal the carbon tax without proposing any alternatives to reform or replace it suggests that none of them see climate change as a serious issue.

Comments, tweets and Facebook posts promoting climate change denial and skepticism have been rampant among the former Wildrose MLAs in the UCP caucus. Earlier this year, Cypress-Medicine Hat UCP MLA Drew Barnes helped fund a film promoting climate science skepticism. And last year, Drumheller-Stettler UCP MLA Rick Strankman was  forced to apologize – twice – after penning an article comparing Alberta’s carbon tax to the Holodomor – the Ukrainian genocide of the 1930s.

An MLA’s first responsibility is to their constituents, and if Fraser does not feel he can effectively represent the people of Calgary-South East as a member of the UCP, he has every right to leave that caucus. He was elected under that banner of the Progressive Conservative Party and now that party is now essentially defunct.

Fraser writes in his letter that he will consult his constituents before making any future decisions, which means he might be open to joining another party sometime in the future. I am willing to bet that Greg Clark , leader of the upstart conservative-lite Alberta Party, is making some phone calls today.

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Thanks! daveberta.ca voted Edmonton’s Best Local Affairs Blog

Thank you to the readers of Vue Weekly, Edmonton’s alternative-weekly magazine, for voting daveberta.ca as the city’s Best Local Affairs Blog as part of the magazine’s annual Best of Edmonton list for 2017.

Mack Male’s excellent mastermaq.ca blog – a solid standard of Edmonton’s online media establishment – and Jeff Samsonow new project, edmontonquotient.com – which is quickly becoming one of my favourite local online destinations – were the runners up. Both are excellent sites that I would encourage readers of this blog to check out.

The annual Best of Edmonton list also includes categories for local politicians, including some who are running for re-election in the October 16, 2017 municipal elections.

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson was voted Best Politician, with Premier Rachel Notley and Edmonton-Centre MP Randy Boissonnault as runners up. Ward 6 Councillor Scott McKeen was voted Best Councillor, with Ward 1 Councillor Andrew Knack and Ward 11 Councillor Mike Nickel as runners up.

Edmonton-Centre MLA David Shepherd was tied with Notley in the vote for Best MLA, with Edmonton-Glenora MLA Sarah Hoffman as runner up.

Edmonton Public School Board’s Bridget Stirling was voted Best School Trustee, with Michael Janz and Nathan Ip as runners up.

Once again, thanks to everyone who voted and who continue to read this blog each day.

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Sturgeon River-Parkland by-election competing with Alberta’s municipal elections

Sturgeon River-Parkland by-election.
Sturgeon River-Parkland by-election.

As if voters won’t already have enough candidates knocking on their doors with Alberta’s municipal elections scheduled for October 16, 2017, a federal by-election will be held in the Sturgeon River-Parkland electoral district with a vote on October 23.

It is widely expected that whoever wins the Conservative Party of Canada candidate nomination will be easily elected as the riding’s next Member of Parliament. And with the by-election being held one week after the municipal elections, voter fatigue could lead to a record low turnout in this by-election.

I plan to pay particular attention to this by-election over the next few weeks, as it is where I grew up and where my family originally settled and homesteaded in the 1890s.

Here is a look at the candidates running in the by-election and for party nominations:

Conservative Party

Jamie Mozeson Conservative Sturgeon River-Parkland
Jamie Mozeson

Initially scheduled for mid-October, the Conservative Party moved its nomination meeting dates to September 23, 2017 in Stony Plain and September 24, 2017 in Morinville.

Four candidates are seeking the Conservative Party nomination: local party organizer Jamie Mozeson, recently relocated Vancouver businessman Rick Peterson, and political staffers Dane Lloyd and Luke Inberg (Note: I haven’t seen Luke in years, but our families lived down the street from each other in Morinville and we worked together at the St. Albert IGA while we were both studying in University. I can’t speak to his politics today, but I remember him as a nice guy back then).

Mozeson’s website lists endorsements from former riding MP Rona Ambrose, former Stony Plain MLA Ken Lemke, and sitting Conservative MPs Michelle Rempel, Matt Jeneroux, Tom Kmeic, Garnett Genuis, and Arnold Vierson.

After a twelfth-place finish in the Conservative Party’s recent leadership race, Peterson relocated moved from Vancouver to Spruce Grove in order to run in this by-election. His campaign has adopted an oil derrick as their logo, likely to demonstrate how Albertan he has become since moving back to the province a few months ago.

New Democratic Party

Shawna Gawreluck NDP Sturgeon River Parkland
Shawna Gawreluck

Medical laboratory technologist and small business owner Shawna Gawreluck is expected to be acclaimed as the New Democratic Party candidate at a nomination meeting on September 21 at the Elks Social Hall in Spruce Grove.

Christian Heritage Party

Ernest Chauvet defeated Kevin Schulthies in a nomination meeting to become the Christian Heritage Party candidate in early September. Chauvet earned 690 votes as his party’s candidate in this riding during the 2015 federal election.

Liberal Party

While i have not been able to find any information on who might run as the Liberal Party candidate in this by-election, the party has scheduled a nomination meeting on Sept. 21 at the Border Paving Athletic Centre in Spruce Grove. The party does appear to have shown some activity in the riding. A tweet was posted showing Halifax Liberal MP Andy Fillmore campaigning with local party supporters on Sept. 8.

Update: The St. Albert Gazette reports that Brian Gold will be acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate in Sturgeon River-Parkland. Gold ran in the 2015 election in the Edmonton Griesbach riding and finished third with 10,387 votes.

 

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Nomination Day kicks off Edmonton’s 2017 Municipal Elections

Photo: Sarah Chan (left) and her husband, Mayor Don Iveson (right), at Nomination Day at Edmonton City Hall.

Dedicated citizens across Alberta gathered this morning in town halls and community centres to submit their nomination forms to become official candidates in this year’s municipal elections. In Edmonton, 132 candidates and their supporters stood in a line stretching through City Hall’s grand atrium in order to file their papers and officially start their bids for election.

For Edmonton, this represents a record number of candidates running for Mayor, City Council and the city’s two school boards.

Over the past year, I have maintained a list of declared nomination candidates for Council and the Public and Catholic school boards. This list is now updated to reflect the names of the candidates approved to run in the October 16, 2017 municipal elections.

On this year’s ballots, Edmontonians will see a few familiar faces and the names of many first time candidates. Three long-time local politicians will not be on the ballot this year. Longtime councillors Bryan Anderson and Ed Gibbons, and one-term councillor Michael Oshry, have decided to not seek re-election.

I will delve deeper into the candidates and the issues facing voters in this election in the weeks ahead, but here are a few initial observations about Nomination Day:

  • By my count, 48 of the 132 candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal elections are women. 13 of the 20 candidates running for the Edmonton Catholic School District are women. 11 of 28 candidates running for the Edmonton Public School Board are women. 24 of 84 Mayoral and City Council candidates are women. Equal Voice has an excellent analysis of the gender balance in this election on their website, yegparity.ca.
  • Mayor Don Iveson is being challenged by 12 candidates. Most recognizable among the challengers is perennial candidate Don Koziak. Koziak has run in at least nine municipal and provincial elections since 1995, including the mayoral race in 2007 and briefly in 2010, and as the Wildrose Party candidate in Edmonton-Glenora in 2012 and 2015.
  • Edmonton Public School Trustee Michelle Draper was acclaimed in Ward B. She is the only candidate in Edmonton to be acclaimed in this election.
  • The most crowded City Council race is in Ward 4, where 13 candidates are running to replace retiring Councillor Ed Gibbons. The least crowded City Council race is in Ward 2, where incumbent Councillor Bev Esslinger is facing 2 challengers in her bid for re-election.

Here are a few of the photos from Nomination Day that I have posted on Flickr under Creative Commons licensing:

Aaron Paquette, candidate for Edmonton City Council in Ward 4.
Aaron Paquette, candidate for Edmonton City Council in Ward 4.
Bridget Stirling, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward G.
Bridget Stirling, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward G.
Kris Andreychuk (right) and his family. Kris is running for Edmonton City Council in Ward 7.
Kris Andreychuk (right) and his family. Kris is running for Edmonton City Council in Ward 7.
Michael Janz, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward F.
Michael Janz, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward F.
Laura Thibert, candidate for the Edmonton Catholic School Board in Ward 77.
Laura Thibert, candidate for the Edmonton Catholic School Board in Ward 77.
Ahmed Knowmadic Ali, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward A.
Ahmed Knowmadic Ali, candidate for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward A.
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Edmonton’s Election officially starts tomorrow.

There are only 28 days left until Edmontonians go to the polls to vote in this year’s municipal elections. Tomorrow is Nomination Day, which will see candidates line up from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at City Hall to officially register their intentions to stand in the election. I will be at City Hall tomorrow to watch the candidates show up and snap a few photos.

The list of candidates running for City Council and School Board will become official tomorrow, but until then, here are the latest additions to the unofficial list of declared candidates running in the election:

While there will likely be candidates who submit their papers tomorrow who had not previously declared their plans to run in the election, as of tonight, it appears as though three candidates could be running unchallenged in this election.

I will update the list of candidates with links to websites and social media accounts when the official list is published by Edmonton’s Elections office.

Starting on September 25, the City of Edmonton Elections Office will be holding a series of all-candidate forums for the mayoral and city council elections. The forums will also be broadcast online.

If you are looking to get more informed about the issues in this year’s municipal election, Intervivos is hosting an “Inform Yo’self” event featuring speakers on topics like Residential Infill, Transit, Homeless and Housing, Diversity on Council, and Safe Injection Sites. The event is being held on Sept. 18, 2017 at Cartoga from 5:30pm until 8:00pm.

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Alberta Politics

Tracking MLA endorsements in the UCP leadership race

United Conservative Party leadership candidates Brian Jean, Jason Kenney, Doug Schweitzer and Jeff Callaway.
United Conservative Party leadership candidates Brian Jean, Jason Kenney, Doug Schweitzer and Jeff Callaway.

Members of the United Conservative Party will be selecting the party’s first permanent leader on October 28, 2017. After of this week’s fee payment deadline, four candidates will be listed on the ballot: Brian Jean, Jason Kenney, Doug Schweitzer and Jeff Callaway.

Of the 28 UCP MLAs represented in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly, nineteen have endorsed candidates in this leadership race (I am including Jean, the only sitting MLA in the contest, who has obviously endorsed himself). Here is a map showing which UCP MLAs have endorsed which leadership candidate as of September 14, 2017.Brian Jean: Leela Aheer (Chestermere-Rocky View), Wayne Anderson (Highwood), Dave Hanson (Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills), Todd Loewen (Grande Prairie-Smoky), Don MacIntyre (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake), Angela Pitt (Airdrie), Ron Orr (Lacombe-Ponoka), Dave Schneider (Little Bow), Pat Stier (Livingstone-Macleod), Glenn van Dijken (Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock), Tany Yao (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo)

Jason Kenney: Drew Barnes (Cypress-Medicine Hat), Grant Hunter (Cardston-Taber-Warner), Ric McIver (Calgary-Hays), Jason Nixon (Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre), Mark Smith (Drayton Valley-Devon), Rick Strankman (Drumheller-Stettler)

Doug Schweitzer: Wayne Drysdale (Grande Prairie-Wapiti)

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Alberta Politics

What if Paul Hinman had lost the 2009 by-election in Calgary-Glenmore?

Former Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman is expected to maybe become interim leader of the new separatist Wildrose Independence Party.
Former Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman is expected to maybe become interim leader of the new separatist Wildrose Independence Party.

Former Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman staged an odd and brief reappearance on Alberta’s political stage this week when he announced his plans to run for the leadership of the United Conservative Party. But when the Sept. 12, 2017 deadline for candidates to deposit a $57,500 fee had passed, Hinman did not appear to make the cut.

Hinman’s blip on the political radar this week got me thinking about the bigger role he has played in shaking up Alberta’s political environment. Not as a major player but as a secondary character.

His time as leader and sole MLA representing the social conservative Alberta Alliance and Wildrose Alliance from 2004 to 2009 was fairly unremarkable, but it was the role he played after he resigned as leader that had a much bigger impact in our province’s political history.

After he was defeated in his bid for re-election in Cardston-Taber-Warner in 2008, Hinman was returned to the Legislature by a 278-vote narrow victory in a September 2009 by-election in Calgary-Glenmore. The seat was previously represented by deputy premier Ron Stevens and was believed to be a Progressive Conservative urban stronghold.

Even though he would again be unsuccessful in his bid to get re-elected in the following general election, Hinman’s win undoubtably added to the momentum of Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Alliance going into the 2012 election.

But what would have happened if Hinman had lost that by-election race in Calgary-Glenmore?

Hinman’s by-election win provided early credibility for the Wildrose Alliance by showing that the party could elect candidates in long-held PC Party constituencies. Without this by-election win, the Wildrose Alliance’s momentum could have stalled or slowed going into the 2012 election.

Liberal candidate Avalon Roberts finished only 278 votes behind Hinman. Had she won the by-election, David Swann might have stayed on as party leader instead of resigning in 2011. A win in Glenmore might have led the Liberals to experience a resurgence in support going into the 2012 election, building on the party’s 2008 gains in Calgary. Or maybe the PCs would have simply won back the constituency in the following general election, as they did in 2012.

Popular city councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart placed third as the PC candidate in the by-election, which was not really a reflection of voters feelings towards her but of the unpopularity of then-premier Ed Stelmach in Calgary. If Colley-Urquhart had held on to Glenmore for the PCs, would PC MLAs Heather Forsyth and Rob Anderson have crossed the floor to the Wildrose Party in January 2010?

And an even larger ‘what-if’ question is, if Hinman had not won the by-election and his party’s momentum had sputtered, would Stelmach have resisted pressure from his cabinet and party to resign in 2011? Would he still be premier today?

While Hinman’s narrow win in a 2009 by-election is now an obscure footnote in Alberta’s political history, its impact on our province’s political environment and the split it helped create in the conservative movement in Alberta was huge.

Thinking about these kinds of scenarios can be endless fun for politicos (or at least for me).

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Alberta Politics

Edmonton Election Candidate Update: 34 days left until E-Day

What Edmonton City Hall is expected to look like on Feb. 22, 2016.
Edmonton City Hall in the depths of winter.

Photo: Edmonton City Hall in the cold and dark depths of winter.

There are only 34 days left until Edmontonians go to the polls to vote in this year’s municipal elections. And there are only seven days remaining until Nomination Day on September 18, when candidates will have to line up at City Hall to officially register their intentions to stand in the election.

Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal election for City Council, the Edmonton Public School Board and the Edmonton Catholic School District.:

  • John Oplanich is running for Edmonton City Council in Ward 3. Oplanich previously ran in Ward 3 in 2010 and in 2012 he was the Wildrose Party candidate in Edmonton-Castle Downs.
  • Philip Asher is running for City Council in Ward 5.
  • Walter Youb is running for City Council in Ward 12.
  • Mara Suchy is running for the Edmonton Catholic School Board in Ward 71.
  • Mina Angotti is running for the Catholic board in Ward 72. She is listed as being a student at Newman Theological College on the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton website.
  • Carla Smiley is running for the Catholic board in Ward 73. She is the planned giving coordinator for the Edmonton Archdiocese.
  • Charles Laing is no longer running for Mayor of Edmonton.

If you know any other candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board and are not on this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them. Thank you!

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Alberta Politics

The big revenue problem facing Alberta that none of our politicians want to talk about

As the Alberta New Democratic Party passes the half way mark of their first four-year term in office and the United Conservative Party chooses its next leader, a big question that remains unanswered in Alberta politics today is how, in the long-term, the Alberta government plans to deal with the revenue shortfall created by the drop in the international price of oil.

Premier Ralph Klein
Ralph Klein

After decades of rich oil and gas royalties pouring into public coffers, the Alberta government became over-dependent on oil and natural gas royalties to pay for a large portion of the daily operations of government.

The old Progressive Conservative government led by Ralph Klein used those high royalty revenues to subsidize corporate and personal tax cuts, which proved politically popular in the short-term but fiscally irresponsible in the long-term. When the international price of oil dropped in 2014, so did about $10 billion worth of expected government revenue that the PCs were depending on.

After their election in 2015, Rachel Notley‘s NDP took steps to diversify government revenue with moderate increases to corporate and personal taxes. Even after those increases, Albertans still pay some of the lowest taxes in Canada and those increases were nowhere enough to fill the revenue shortfall.

Jason Kenney Calgary Stampede Alberta
Jason Kenney

The positive news is that Alberta’s economy is recovering, but unless the international price of oil recovers, the government will remain in a deficit situation for the foreseeable future.

While I support Notley’s smart choice to continue investing in public services and capital infrastructure projects during the course of the economic recession, it is not clear that the NDP have a real plan to deal with Alberta’s revenue challenges in the long-term.

It is unlikely that the government will revisit Alberta’s comparatively low royalty rates anytime soon, and the NDP appear unwilling to start a discussion about introducing a provincial sales tax, at least until after the next election. A sales tax could help alleviate the government revenue problems and would be smart move for the province in the long-term.

It is an odd sight to read Finance Department documents that both lament a large budget deficit and boast about low taxes. The NDP inherited one big bad habit from the old PC government and have been unable to break from it.

Brian Jean Calgary Stampede AlbertaBut if you think the candidates for the leadership of the new United Conservative Party are coming up with new, bright ideas for Alberta’s long-term future, think again. Political rhetoric about returning to the mythical “Alberta Advantage” and calls for drastic cuts to both government spending and revenue are mostly what Jason Kenney, Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer have proposed.

It is meat for the party base, but not exactly inspiring plans for Alberta’s future.

I get the impression that while they are playing from different sides of the political spectrum, both the NDP and the UCP’s prospective leaders are praying that oil prices recover enough to avoid having to raise taxes or slash the budget to shreds.

Alberta has a revenue problem. And the sooner someone is willing to “take the tax bull by the horns,” as my colleague David Climenhaga wrote, and begin planning for a more sustainable government revenue stream, the better off future generations of Albertans will be.

Schweitzer wants to lower the minimum wage

Doug Schweitzer Calgary Alberta Conservative
Doug Schweitzer

Doug Schweitzer says he would cut Alberta’s minimum wage from $15 per hour to $12.20 per hour, because it is “right choice for Albertans whose livelihoods count on it the most.”

While he is likely referring to the livelihoods of business owners, it would be the wrong choice for the people impacted the most – the lowest wage working Albertans who would have their wages cut from $15 per hour to $12.20 per hour.

It is safe to say that Schweitzer has earned much, much more than $12.20 per hour at his downtown Calgary job as a partner at Dentons, the world’s largest law firm.

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