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I got up early and joined a couple of friends for a trip to our polling station in Edmonton-Strathcona this morning. Even though I’m not particularly excited about voting for the NDP, it felt good to know that my vote for Linda Duncan could make a difference in an expected tight race with the Conservative Party incumbent.

Across the river, I’ve spoken to a decent amount of NDP and Green supporters who will be parking their support behind Jim Wachowich in Edmonton-Centre in his bid to dislodge their Conservative incumbent.

Looking a little further north, after spending the Thanksgiving weekend back home, I was very interested to discover that most of my family living in Westlock-St. Paul will be voting for the Green Party candidate — Aden Murphy — partly to send a message to their invisible Conservative MP and partly to give their support to a none-institutional party. If more rural Alberta voters are thinking this way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Greens rack up some second place finishes across Alberta tonight.

If you haven’t already voted, you have until 7:30pm Alberta time to get to your ballot box, so get out and vote!

UPDATE: I’ve received news that many of the polling stations in Edmonton-Strathcona are seriously understaffed — meaning that there could be long lineups at the polls this evening. If you can get out and vote before the evening rush, you will likely be able to vote quicker!

I had a 2000 word post written with some final thoughts on this election, but instead, I’m going to summarize it for you. In the immortal words of Premier Danny Williams:

In March 2008, Ed Stelmach‘s PCs got 501,028 votes compared to Stephen Harper‘s Conservatives 930,817 Alberta votes in January 2006.

Who will have a stronger mandate to speak on behalf of Albertans on October 14?

After studying Political Science at the University of Alberta, Westlock-St. Paul Conservative MP Brian Storseth is putting his learned political analysis skills to good use on the campaign trail.

From the Morinville Mirror:

“In our area this election is going to be closer than people think. If a lot of people didn’t come out and vote, there’s a good chance that we will have a liveral* member of parliament,” said Storseth.

I’m not sure what kind of polls Storseth is reading, but after having been elected in 2006 with a 23,000 vote margin of victory, I have a really hard time believing that he actually thinks he stands a chance of losing in this election.

*I’m assuming (hoping) that this is a typo.

With all the attention on Edmonton-Centre and Edmonton-Strathcona, voters in other Alberta ridings might be getting a little envious. Though I wouldn’t describe any of the other races in this province as ‘competitive‘ in any sense of the word or democratic concept, they could be the only things close to slightly interesting that Albertans will witness outside of Centre and Strathcona on October 14:

Calgary-Northeast: Though it is extremely unlikely that Art Hanger‘s former fiefdom will go anything but Conservative, I am interested to see how Independent Conservative Roger Ricard does against Tory nominee Devinder Shory. Other candidates include Liberal Sanam Kang, NDP Vinay Dey, Green Abeed Monty Ahmad, and Marxist-Leninist Daniel Blanchard.

Calgary-West: Crazy Conservative Rob Anders will once again be re-elected. Sigh.

Edmonton-East: A quiet race is moving along as former NDP MLA Ray Martin, Liberal Stephanie Laskoski, and Green Trey Capnerhurst take on comfortable incumbent Peter Goldring. Word on the street is that Goldring has refused to show up to any candidates forums, leaving constituents to watch the other candidates to debate amongst each other.

Edmonton-Sherwood Park: Jason Morris at Gauntlet.ca has a great rundown of the battle between Independent Conservative James Ford and official Conservative Tim Uppal, including the recent Chamber of Commerce forum (which caused a bit of controversy in the media).

Medicine Hat: Though Conservative candidate LeVar Payne (who’s website biography is still “coming soon”) is likely to walk away with 90% of the vote on October 14, it will be interesting to see what kind of affect Independent Conservative Dean Shock will have on the race. Having faced Payne for the Conservative nod to replace Monte Solberg, Shock obviously wasn’t satisfied with sitting on the sidelines (and is being supported by fellow Independent candidate David Patrick).

Westlock-St. Paul: If you think that it’s a forgone conclusion that backbench Conservative MP Brian Storseth will be re-elected with an unnaturally large margin of victory on October 14, you are probably correct. This is my home riding, so I am naturally interested to see how the results turn out. If you are an undecided voter in this riding, take a look at Green candidate Aden Murphy. He’s a bright, young, up and comer in politics and is campaigning hard in this sprawling riding.

Voter Turnout: Voter turnout in the advanced polls dropped to 102,885 in Alberta, 24% lower than in 2006 according to Elections Canada, signaling that the suspected less than 40% voter turnout in the March 2008 provincial election could be more than a blip. The highest turnouts in Alberta were in Calgary-West, Edmonton-Leduc, and Wild Rose. Pundits’ Guide has the list of the ridings with the highest advanced voting turnout, all of them being in Eastern Canada.

I’ve never been a big Stéphane Dion fan, but I agree with Don Martin on this one. Dion’s recent interview on CTV Halifax may have been bizarre and awkward, but Martin’s thoughts on the Conservative reaction to the interview proved to be a more insightful than anything found in the video of the interview:

It was an undoubtedly awkward encounter and hard not to shake your head in amazement as Mr. Murphy incredulously tried to explain himself to a baffled Dion, who finally turned in exasperation to someone off camera for clarification.

But spare some empathy for Mr. Dion. It’s the end of a grueling campaign, the man has admitted to a hearing impairment and the question was open to interpretation while being phrased in Mr. Dion’s second language.

The bigger question is how the Conservative response fits with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s efforts to tame his hard-nosed cold-hearted image with sweaters and baby hugs.

To use his first spontaneous media appearance of the campaign to declare Mr. Dion the most unworthy of the two candidates for prime minister based on a minute of misunderstanding is not the most flattering reaction for the prime minister.

In the end the incident they hoped to use to define Mr. Dion as a confused ditherer may actually provide more telling insight into the character of Stephen Harper.

(h/t Andrew Potter & Dawg’s Blawg)

With all the buzz going around about the battle between Linda Duncan and Rahim Jaffer in Edmonton-Strathcona, voters in the rest of Alberta must feel a little left out. Here’s a look at what is arguably Alberta’s only other competitive riding: Edmonton-Centre.

SEE Magazine has a great piece this week on the Edmonton-Centre race where similar to Edmonton-Strathcona, strategic voting will play an important roll in deciding who gets elected on October 14: consumer advocate and Liberal challenger Jim Wachowich or Conservative incumbent Laurie Hawn. Well-known for its close races, the last Edmonton-Centre race saw Hawn edge out former Liberal MP Anne McLellan in what ended up being the closest Alberta race of the 2006 election. But even though Edmonton-Centre has been competitive in the past, this riding risks falling into the same perennial vote-splitting category that Edmonton-Strathcona has found itself in the past — with the Liberal/NDP/Green vote-split allowing for a Conservative to be narrowly elected with less than a majority of the votes.

With neither of the two main campaigns able to depend on the kind of name recognition that Anne McLellan could, it’s not surprising that neither of them are taking anything for granted as they spar in a literal block-to-block ground war. This weekend, Wachowich’s campaign is planning a major blitz of the riding with campaign volunteers door knocking in every neighbourhood in the riding in the push to October 14.

Having been endorsed by VoteForEnvironment.ca and positioned within striking distance according to DemocraticSPACE, it is clear that much like Linda Duncan in Edmonton-Strathcona, Jim Wachowich is the only candidate in the position to defeat the Conservative incumbent in this riding.

I’m going to be honest, I’m not a big fan of party youth-wings. As a former member of one, I appreciate how much beer-guzzling and pot-smoking fun they can be, but I am also very aware of the kool-aid drinking peer-pressure culture that can percolate within them. For many senior political archetypes, youth-wings can be used as a tool marginalize, control, and indoctrinate the younger members of a party. I am fully supportive of young people getting involved in politics, but I would encourage them to take more central roles in their parties (rather than bowing to the will of the largely middle-aged gray-haired lawyers or business-types that saturate the aging ranks of the political-class).

Having got this off my chest, the University of Alberta Students’ Union will be hosting a different type of political forum on Friday October 10 from 5pm-8pm at Dewey’s on Campus by inviting members of the campus party clubs to participate in an open-forum.

I would encourage the representatives of the Green Party on Campus, U of A Campus NDP, U of A Conservative Association, Campus Young Communist League, and U of A Students’ Liberal Association to provide the audience with a little more than the easy party line (or manifesto) on the sheet of paper in front of you. Don’t be afraid to speak off the cuff and deviate from your party’s official policies. If you think you’re party is wrong on an issue, don’t be afraid to say it.

In conclusion, prove me wrong about all the mean stuff I said about you and your kin at the beginning of this post. I will be enjoying a pint or two while I watch the debate, so my inhibitions towards heckling will undoubtedly be lowered. Consider this a warning.

I’ve shared my thoughts on last weekend’s Alberta Liberal convention in this week’s SEE Magazine.

The City of Edmonton has released its Draft Transportation Master Plan and is holding a series of open houses and information sessions over the next couple days to collect important feedback about this plan from Edmontonians. The TMP is the strategic document will provide the framework for how the City of Edmonton will address its future transportation needs as it grows over the next decade.

Whitemud Creek Community Centre
951 Ogilvie Boulevard
Wednesday, October 8, 3 – 8 p.m.

Evangel Pentecostal Assembly
4461 – 50 Street
Thursday, October 9, 3 – 8 p.m.

City Hall
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Friday, October 10, 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Go, May!

Filed under: Things that worry me about a Conservative Party majority.

Just got back from tonight’s interVivos young candidates forum at Ching’s Asian Kitchen & Dim Bar in downtown Edmonton. The crowd of around 40 (who weren’t watching the Obama-McCain debate) gathered to listen to and question candidates Stephanie Laskoski, Aden Murphy, Della Drury, and Brent Rathgeber (Rathgeber admittedly isn’t really a young candidate, but I get the feeling that most of his Edmonton Conservative counterparts are off campaigning in Ontario).

Though most of the evening’s questions revolved around the deepening economic crisis spreading north from the United States and east from Ontario, an array of other topics were also covered. Ward 5 City Councillor Don Iveson was in attendance and posed an articulate question to the candidates about federal funding of municipalities. Iveson raised the important point that while Edmonton is currently facing the possibility of a double-digit tax increase and even though municipalities are responsible for providing essential public services and infrastructure, cities like Edmonton only collect 5 cents for every tax dollar paid by Edmontonians (with the rest going to the provincial and federal governments).

Why is it that with billions of dollars worth of natural resource royalty surpluses rolling into provincial government coffers, the City of Edmonton has been forced to propose a 10.7% tax increase for 2009?

Special interest groups, like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, may support the easy route of spending cuts, but after a decade of unsustainable zero-percent tax increases and ignoring increasingly deteriorating public infrastructure, Edmonton desperately needs to catch up to its mountain-sized infrastructure backlog. Constant criticism of government spending priorities is critical, but refusing to face growth pressures head on by passing the buck to the next City Council is fiscally irresponsible.

Though it is likely that the increase will actually be lowered by the time the budget is approved, the increase doesn’t include the proposed 4% levy to repair older neighbourhoods. Spending increases also include $11 million for fuel costs and $51 million for higher wages and personnel costs. The increase is also a result of the City’s move to transfer waste management into a utility funded by a user fee rather than a combination of fees and property taxes. According to the Edmonton Journal, “this means a jump in the monthly residential charge to $26.59 from the current $15.17, while taxes for the typical home assessed at $400,000 will drop $52.”

Dealing with the growth pressures created by a booming provincial economy, while not having access to the vast wealth that is endowed to the provincial government, places Alberta’s large urban municipalities in a difficult situation. With former County Reeves Ed Stelmach, Iris Evans, Ray Danyluk, and Jack Hayden gripping Alberta’s land of plenty purse-strings, correcting Alberta’s fiscal imbalance by introducing increased powers and funding to address the financial needs and increase the sustainability of Alberta’s municipalities would go a long way to correcting the fiscal imbalance in this province.

– Alberta’s provincial government surplus expected to hit $12 billion.

– Rising fuel costs, higher wages and the growing international financial meltdown mean City of Edmonton residents will face a proposed 10.7% tax increase in 2009.