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This is an interesting site to play around with.

Well, it’s been a very busy week in the life of daveberta. I’ll be away from the blogging world over the next week, so expect double the fun when return.

I’ll leave you all on a couple of windy Calgary notes with this, this, and this.

Enjoy.

Tory Premier Ed Stelmach and Finance Minister Lyle Oberg unveiled the 2007 Alberta budget Thursday afternoon. Yours truly was there to take in the show.

Having received a nice invitation from Advanced Education & Technology Minister Doug Horner, I was privileged to sit in the Government Members Gallery to watch the budget announcement. In a random occurrence, I sat beside and had a really good conversation with Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd.

I have mixed feelings about this budget. It was nothing awe inspiring or amazing but seems to be an attempt to deal with some of the backlog and problems accumulated over 13 years of Tory mismanagement under the now defunct-Ralph Klein regime.

In total, the announced 2007 budget totals over $33 billion. The largest budget ever seen by Albertans.

Here are some of my reflections…

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
The nearly 40% increase in infrastructure funding for the infrastructure deficit was summed up well by Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft: “This is the price of bad management”.

After years of only focusing on debt repayment while allowing Alberta’s infrastructure to languish for 13 years, the $18 billion in announced capital spending seems to be an attempt to heal this scar. This problem is going to need a lot more than band-aids, it will need suchers. The $18 billion will point Alberta in this direction.

TAX CREDITS FOR STUDENTS
An increase in the Education Tax Credit from $450 a month to $600 a month for post-secondary students. Considering that most students don’t earn enough money to claim the tax, this won’t have much of an effect on enrollment. If the Stelmach Government’s objective is to increase enrollment, especially among under-represented groups, continuing the failed policies of yesterday that encourage student indebtedness while doing nothing to reduce the upfront costs represents a lack of vision.

There was also a large increase in student finance funding. The devil will be in the details whether this will be an innovative change, or just creating new and exciting ways for students to get into debt. Sources say that there will be more student finance announcements early next week.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Out of the $400 million going to Alberta’s municipalities, $100 million of that is earmarked for affordable housing projects. Though this $100 is a substantial committment to creating more affordable housing in Alberta, this is a problem that requires provincial leadership under a province-wide strategy in dealing with this fast growing issue.

TABACCO NO!
Oberg announced a 16% increase in tabacco taxes declaring that “smoking kills!”

PICKING A FIGHT
The 3% budget increase for K-12 Education and the unilateral decision to tie $25 million of funding for the Alberta Teachers’ Pension liability to labour peace put forward by Education Minister Ron Liepert’s looks to me like posturing for a bigger fight. Look for an ATA-Tory showdown this year.

THE RESPONSE
Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft:

“This budget may sustain the PC party up until the next election, but it won’t sustain this province in the long-term,” says Taft. “It’s a fire alarm budget. This government is racing around putting out political fires but not making the province safer in the long term.”

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier:

“”For the past four to five months, I have certainly been singing the praises of the new premier and his government,” Bronconnier said. “I took the man at his word, privately and publicly, that this is what would take place. “This budget constitutes a half-kept promise.”

NDP MLA David Eggen:

““Teachers across the province will see this as a provocation,” said Eggen. “This government has neglected the unfunded liability in the Alberta Teachers’ Pension Plan, for years. Now they’re trying to leverage that neglect to get teachers and school boards to give up their right to collective bargaining.”

Alliance MLA Paul Hinman:

“We need a true conservative budget, not a phoney conservative budget.”

And finally, thank goodness Graham Thomson is back. Thomson put it well in his Friday column:

“What many agree on is, this is a budget trying to right the wrongs inherited from the Ralph Klein years. In that sense, it is a budget that talks of the future but is a victim of the past.

It’s budget day in Alberta and I’ll be at the Alberta Legislature this afternoon to report what’s what in Ed Stelmach’s first budget as Alberta’s Tory Premier.

As someone who spends close to 90% of my time on a university campus, I am shocked and shaken by the shooting deaths at Virginia Tech University. I’ve been trying to put my feelings and thoughts into words over the past couple days of reflections, but I’m finding it difficult to do so.

A university is a place of higher learning. It’s a place where students and academics should feel a safety of thought, discussion, and person. This shooting underminds that.

It was a horrible event and my thoughts are with the families, friends, students, and staff of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, Virginia.

I’m out of town right now, but I thought I’d post this exerpt from Don Martin‘s column in today’s National Post… Alberta Liberals see hope of dethroning Tories

Convincing Albertans to sweep out the Conservatives after 10 majority governments, in the midst of heady economic times, may sound excessively ambitious. But talking to Mr. Taft, now marking his third anniversary as leader,
the possibility seems less remote.

Ralph Klein counted on strong support from two of either Calgary, Edmonton or rural Alberta for a safe re-election. But the Liberals’ Edmonton stronghold is being bolstered by gains in Calgary and rising support in the rural south.

“When I became leader three years ago, the Alberta Liberal Party was a train wreck,” admits Mr. Taft. “It was financially bankrupt, and there was almost no functioning organization. It’s always an uphill climb for the opposition in Alberta, but I have no doubt we’re climbing and we’ll continue to climb. It’s quite exhilarating.”

It should be noted that Mr. Taft is several logs short of great oratorical fire, but he’s got Mr. Stelmach beat in articulately synthesizing ideas, and his policy perspectives sound more visionary and cosmopolitan.

“We are at a crossroads. If we get it right, it’s unbelievable what we could do for Alberta and this country and in some ways the world. We need to build a place where people want to come here for more than a job but a quality of life,” he says.

“But look at the ghost towns from the silver rush in B.C. or those from Saskatchewan in 1926 when that province had the highest per capita income on the planet because of the wheat boom.

That’s our future if we get it wrong.

“And there’s a real risk we’ll get it wrong if we don’t change government.”

Such talk doesn’t seem to preoccupy Ed Stelmach, who is still finding it hard to believe he landed the best job in Canadian politics.

“To be the CEO of the province of Alberta at a time with so much potential …” he pauses to search for words “… sometimes when I put my head on my pillow at night I want to pinch myself.”

Well, he’d best not fall asleep on the job. That Albertans are waking up and warming to the possibility of electing a non-Conservative government is perhaps the most jarring consequence in the transition from King Ralph to Honest Ed.

Also, this was a fun story.

A little bit of a local roundup…

– Ken Chapman has written a good post on the reality of the Mountain Pine Beetle’s infestation into Alberta’s forests and the effects this is having on the communities and economies in these areas.

– Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid has shed some light on the mysterious disappearance of “Bill 2” from the Alberta Legislative order paper.

“This week’s favourite Liberal target is a contract awarded to Bob Maskell just days after he was defeated as a Tory MLA in the 2004 election.

Maskell has supplied invoices, and it’s evident that he has done serious work on an Aboriginal Education Showcase planned for May.

But a defeated politician still got a government job almost instantly. The casual assumption that there’s no problem with this is exactly what the Liberals are talking about.

As the days wear on, it’s hard not to suspect a connection between the Liberal assaults and the government’s mysterious disappearing conflict of interest legislation.

This was supposed to be bill 2. Weeks ago, a Tory MLA told me with absolute certainty that it would be introduced March 26.

It hasn’t appeared yet, even though bills 3 through 30 are on the table. bill 2 remains nothing but a gaping hole in the list.

Why?

Well, you can imagine what would happen if the bill outlawed behaviour the Liberals have already revealed, but the government has defended.”

– I’ll be attending Public Interest Alberta‘s annual conference this weekend. Changing Alberta: Pursuing the Public Interest will feature speakers such as Tony Clarke form the Polaris Institute, Annie Kidder – Executive Director of People for Education, Tyson Slocum – Director of the Public Citizen’s Energy Program in Washington DC, and Monica Lysack – Executive Director of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. I will also be participating as a member of the panel during the Post-Secondary Education sessions.

And now for something completely different: a new feature.

Check out the fun moving picture links on the sidebar.

This week’s feature: The West Wing. Also known as the greatest television program known to man (at least from seasons one through four).

I’m glad to see that my good friends Soundwave (left avec moi) and Steve Dollansky are getting such broad attention from the blog-o-sphere for their knockout punch debate during the March 2007 U of A SU elections.

Here are some of the blogs that have spread the word…

Phendrana Drifts
Colby File
Terra Incognita
Summer’s Daydream
Rhymes with Tyler
Damn you Paras
Pierre Trudeau Is My Homeboy
Calgary Grit
Joey Coleman at Macleans.ca

Word has it that Soundwave is going to challenge Justin Trudeau in Papineau in the next federal election…

It’s been quite the busy couple days!

– First of all, last Friday I took part in a political panel on blogging and ‘new media’ held by the Alberta Teacher’s Association Political Action Committee (other panelists included Nicole Martel, Duncan, and Ken). There were some very interesting conversations that occuredand I wish the conversations could have gone longer (even though we went over our time by 30 minutes). But it was an interesting and engaging morning anyway! (Allie took pictures!)

– Duncan and I bumped into Joe Clark yesterday morning. Even more random is that it happened in a hallway in the Alberta Legislature Building. I’m happy to report that former Prime Minister Clark had a jump in his step and gave us a joyful “hey guys!”

Very random.

– I have yet to take an indepth look at the Federal Budget, so I’ll save my comments for when I do.

– Election mania! The Federal Liberals are catching up with the wave by nominating a rash of candidates in Edmonton ridings in the next couple weeks in Edmonton Strathcona, Edmonton Centre, and Edmonton Mill Woods-Beaumont. I’ll be posting a list reminicent of my 2006 elections tracker in the near future.

A couple of thoughts…

– I can’t wait until the Alberta PC leadership race is over with and I can start blogging on something else (I *could* completely ignore the race, but it only started to get interesting 3 days ago…)

– Former Lyle Oberg supporter and MLA for Calgary Montrose Hung Pham has endorsed Ted Morton… Lethbridge West Tory MLA Clint Dunford has endorsed Jim Dinning.

– It will be very interesting to see what type of internal termoil manifests itself if Ted Morton wins the race. With one supporter (who’s first choice was Lyle Oberg) from his caucus collegues, it’s going to be a fairly awkward first caucus meeting after next Saturday if Morton pulls it off. I get the feeling it’s going to be a little awkward anyway considering the amount of support Morton’s team pulled on the first ballot.

– Lyle Oberg. What happened to the 10,000 Tory memberships the Alberta Building Trades Council whole-sale purchased from his campaign? Will they show up to support Ed Stelmach?

– On a non-Tory leadership note! One of this blog’s favorite MLA’s – Edmonton Centre Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman – had a great quote in Tuesday’s Gateway on the topic of women in politics:

“There’s an idea out there that somehow women are delicate flowers—people are snickering already—that somehow we can’t hack it and that we are broken by this, and frankly, that’s just bullshit,”

Way to tell ’em, Laurie!

This came in my inbox this afternoon….

“We need leaders need to make decisions, not flip flop and dither when they’re faced with a tough decision.” –Jim Dinning

LOL @ Dinning trying to paint Morton with the “flip flop” label.

There’s been some good breakdown of the potential outcomes of next Saturday’s Alberta PC leadership second ballot. As I’ve said before, a lot will depend on how many memberships can be sold this week and how well defeated candidates like Dave Hancock, Lyle Oberg, and Mark Norris can retain the support of supporters and direct them to support Ed Stelmach.

Also, it should be interesting to see if the 36 MLA’s who are supposedly supporting Jim Dinning actually get out and sell PC memberships this week (we’re all looking at you Barry McFarland…).

I wouldn’t be surprised if large portions of Lyle Oberg’s support and Mark Norris’ rural support went to Ted Morton on the second ballot. But, because of the PC membership sales this week it will be fairly difficult to track this.

Ted Morton is definately the anti-establishment candidate in this race. If you’re a Tory and you want things shaken up, I’m pretty sure Ted Morton is your man. Ed Stelmach may have “integrity,” but I still can’t name one thing he did after being a member of the PC Cabinet and Caucus for 13 years. And I think I’ve made my thoughts on Jim Dinning fairly clear in the past.

I’ll have more of my thoughts in the next couple days, but until then I’ll direct you to Duncan’s breakdown on the probabilities of the preferential second ballot.

Also, I was impressed with Green leader Elizabeth May‘s second place good showing of 25% in last night’s London-North Centre by-election. Considering Liberal Glen Pearson was only elected with 34% and Conservative Diane Haskett placed third with 24%, it should be interesting to see how this will effect future Green support across Canada. It doesn’t do anything bad for their legitimacy…

And finally, the Federal Liberals are holding their leadership selection this upcoming weekend. Who will win? Michael Ignatieff? Bob Rae? Gerard Kennedy? I guess we’ll see, but to tell you the truth, other than reading the weekly pdf edition of the Hill Times than arrives in my mailbox weekly, I haven’t been spending any large amount of time paying attention to Federal politics…

UPDATE: Will has some thoughts on Jim Dinning’s speech yesterday…

Edmonton: Windchill -40C

It’s really really cold!

Mark Norris has endorsed Ed Stelmach in the second-ballot of the Alberta PC leadership race.

It seems like the anybody-but-Jim Dinning-and-Ted Morton candidate has materialized in full force.

More insightful commentary to come in the near future.