Here are the preliminary results from Yarmouth:
Zach Churchill, Liberal: 3,984
Charles Crosby, PC: 2,628
Belle Hatfield, Ind: 673
John Deveau, NDP: 513
John Percy, Green: 49
Jonathan Dean, Atlantic: 19
In June 2009, after a year of consultations and three months of public hearings, City Council voted to close the City Centre Airport over a phased period of time. That year saw some incredible public debate and citizen-driven advocacy that is not always a common sight in our city. Supporters of the airport were obviously dismayed when they could not convince Councillors to keep the airport on life-support, but many of them who I spoke with accepted the decision and moved on. I genuinely feel that a many Edmontonians on either side of this debate are simply tired of this issue, which has been debated to death over the past 30 years.
With most Councillors seeking re-election (and most likely to get re-elected) and a court challenge defeated injunction denied, a plebisite seems like the last logical step in the political process. If they are successful in collecting 80,000 signatures to force a plebiscite, one could be held in the October 2010 election.
I have lived in the Capital Region my entire life and have only used the City Centre Airport once. I will be stepping foot on the City Centre Airport lands for the second time in my life to enjoy the Honda Indy Edmonton in July. I am damn excited for the races, but I could care less if it were held on the City Centre Airport runways.
I am proud of the decision that City Councillors made in June 2009. By voting for a phased closure of the airport, Council demonstrated responsibility and made a courageous decision. They have taken up the challenge of implementing some (literally) ground-shifting positive change to how urban Edmonton will develop in the next decades. It is extremely rare for any major urban area to be given the challenge of developing such a large piece of land so close to the city core.
As a proud Edmontonian, I am very excited about the unparalleled opportunity that developing this land will give our city.
In May 2010, I wrote a two-part series describing some of the opportunities and challenges facing Edmonton’s downtown core.
Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette is scheduled to announce details and funding for the provincial Green Trip Fund at 10am this morning at Government House in Edmonton. Minister Ouellette is expected to be joined by Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel.
This announcement will come days after Airdrie Mayor Linda Brucetold the Calgary Herald that “[n]obody has heard anything” about when or if the funds would be distributed. The fund was originally announced two years ago and was meant to support local, regional and intermunicipal public transit, but the criteria for municipalities to apply for funding was never announced. It is expect that Minister Ouellette may announce the criteria today.
Update: Here is a link to the media release. The fund will provide a one-time capital expenditure of $800 million in funding will be available to the Capital region; $800 million to Calgary and surrounding area; and $400 million to other municipalities throughout Alberta.
The program is available to owner/operators of public transit services, which may include municipalities, regional entities, non-profit organizations, Metis settlements and the private sector. Submissions for GreenTRIP funding must include a business case that describes the sustainability of the project. GreenTRIP will provide only capital funding assistance for public transit infrastructure and technology, not operating funding for transit service.
If a week in politics is an eternity, then Alberta's Progressive Conservatives have been in office since the Jurassic Era.
The Alberta PCs are struggling to shake off the emerging political narrative that they are next Social Credit dynasty. After 36 years in office, Social Credit collapsed under the weight of its own Byzantine-antiquity when its era came to an end in 1971. The apparent rise of the Wildrose Alliance since last Fall has become a dominant theme in the media and there has been continuous speculation that the current political establishment may be facing its strongest challenge in decades.
It will take more than just a change of characters to change politics in Alberta. Supporters of the current political establishment will praise the government for holding traveling consultation meetings and online surveys, but a top-down style of governance is engrained in the current political culture.
Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette told Alberta’s municipalities two years ago that a $2 billion Green Trip fund would be created to support urban public transportation projects. Two years later, Minister Ouellette told the municipalities that they will still not get access to the Green Trip funds until they come up with something “innovative.” City of Airdrie Mayor Linda Brucetold the Calgary Herald that “[n]obody has heard anything” about when or if the funds will be distributed. Alberta’s cities need build the kind of transportation infrastructure necessary to deal with the realities of urban growth.
In June 2008, then-Infrastructure Minister Jack Hayden announced the construction of a 650-car parkade near the Alberta Legislature (along with around $200 million to renovate the long-empty federal building). Instead of encouraging more single-occupant vehicle traffic into the already congested downtown core, it would have been much more “innovative” for the province to have worked closer with the City of Edmonton to develop of better strategy in fitting the Government Centre buildings into the city-wide public transportation plans.
He came away confused, saying the workshop heard from such differing points of view that the discussion became meaningless, suffering from such a “lack of substance” that it didn’t address anything. “To be honest, I’m just not sure how much I did get out of it,” said Smith who considers himself a Progressive Conservative supporter but who for a moment sounded a tad skeptical if not downright cynical: “I’m not sure this wasn’t one of their steps to say that we’ve had consultations and then they’ll do what they like.”
As the Tory ‘Political Minister for Edmonton‘, Education Minister Dave Hancock is playing defence on teacher layoffs in Calgary and Edmonton. In a recent blog post, Minister Hancock called on the Public School Boards in the province’s two largest cities to stop the layoffs, claiming that they do not need to happen. This is a symptom of the dysfunctional relationship that has evolved between the Provincial Government and the elected School Boards. Every three years, School Board Trustees are elected under a more specific mandate than a provincial government, which has its own political agenda (and controls the purse-strings). Crying “tough economic times,” as Minister Hancock did in his blog post, is a tired argument for a Cabinet that can afford to easily drop $200,000 on an oilsands public relations campaign.
It is one thing to send Cabinet Ministers across the province to meet with pre-selected groups, but it is something completely different to change the culture of politics and prove that these meetings were more than just political lip-service. It is likely not intentional or malicious. It just might not be reasonable to expect actual open governance from political leaders who have become accustomed to wielding their large majority in the Assembly like a giant stick.
At the New Kids on the Politics Block event earlier this month, I had the chance to speak with Danielle Smith for about half-an-hour. I am not sure if she has what it takes to change Alberta’s political culture, but I was thoroughly impressed with how engaged and interested she was during our conversation. In a political discussion she can speak confidently and in full sentences.
It is impossible to predict the results of the next election or when Albertans will elect a new party to office. It is becoming more evident that a growing number of Albertans are becoming cynical of the same old-style political culture. It might be in 2011, or maybe in 2015, but it is only a matter of time before a big meteor smashes through. Who knows what will survive when the dust settles?
The theme of this post was inspired by Jurassic Forest, which is currently under construction near Gibbons, Alberta.
Despite what Culture & Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett may have said at the recent Banff World Television Festival, it is hard to dispute the quality of the classic Canadian-filmed televison like Viper (filmed in Calgary and Vancouver from 1996 to 1999).
In all seriousness, I do not necessarily disagree with Minister Blackett’s comments when taken in context. There are some good Canadian television programs that have been produced and there are many of less than stellar productions. I expect that we will soon hear the protectors of haute-cutur poo-poo Minister Blackett’s comments as un-Canadian or those of a backwards Albertan, but as rude as it may have been at the time, the comments might be what Canadians needed to hear. And the sentiment is probably shared by a wide swath of Canadians.
I love the CBC (and listen to CBC Radio each day), but as a western Canadian, I have a gag reflex each time I hear about another cheesy CBC television program about life in Prince Edward Island in the 1890s or a characterization of what a person in Toronto thinks life in the West is like. Other than the occasional episode of Mantracker and the clever and quirky jPod (which is now cancelled), Canadian television has not given me much to get hooked on.
This descriptive photo of Finance Minister Ted Morton was taken from the Alberta Chamber of Commerce website.
– Premier-in-Waiting Ted Morton was joined by Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand this week while rallying against a National Securities registry. According to a recent Angus Reid survey, 48% of Albertans are open to a National Securities Regulator, 23% supported the current model (and I am betting that close to 100% did not know the difference between the two).
– Liberal leader David Swannhas joined Minister Morton and Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith in opposing the National Securities Regulator.
– Former Premier-in-Waiting Jim Dinning is now the Chancellor of the University of Calgary.
– Alberta’s representative in Washington DC Gary Mar is spending his time promoting the oilsands in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
– Culture & Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blacketthas apologized for describing Canadian television as “shit” and “crap.” It was rude and condescending for Minister Blackett to say those things during a panel discussion at the Banff World Television Festival, but there was a certain refreshing quality to his honesty.
– I was saddened to hear of the passing of my former MLA Dave Broda. Mr. Broda served as the MLA for Redwater from 1997 to 2004.
– Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is in Edmonton on June 19. Dan Arnold has written a good article about why the federal Liberals should focus on the West.
– Equal Voice Alberta is hosting a workshop on June 23 for women considering running for municipal council or school board trustee. Panelists include Councillor Janice Melnychuk, retiring Edmonton Public School Board Trustee Sue Huff, former Ward 4 campaign manager Sarah Crummy.
– Independent Calgary-Currie MLA Dave Taylor is hosting a town hall forum with Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell and QR77 radio host Dave Rutherford on June 22. Topic: Do Alberta’s Political Parties represent you?
– The United Nurses of Alberta has recommended the ratification of a new provincial contract. The new three-year agreement would provide a commitment to hire at least 70% of new nursing graduates, no rollbacks from the previous agreement, and a six percent pay increase over three years (two percent productivity increase in the second year and a four percent increase in the third year).
My friend Don Iveson is launching his campaign for re-election to Edmonton City Council this weekend. Don has worked tirelessly over the past three years to help build a more sustainable and smarter city, and I am committed to help him get re-elected. I invite you to join me at Don’s campaign launch:
Sunday June 20th (Father’s Day)
2:00 pm-5:00 pm
Pleasantview Community League
10860-57th Avenue
Tickets are $25 and include tasty food by Nate Box of elm café and drinks (a great deal!). You can ensure your entry by reserving a ticket by emailing misssarahchan@me.com (tickets will also be available at the door).
Please feel free to pass on this message to your friends and family. Hope to see you there!
Message from Joanne Cuthbertson, Chancellor of the University of Calgary
I write today to share exciting news about the search for the University of Calgary’s 12th Chancellor.
This morning, the University of Calgary Senate voted to approve Alberta community builder Jim Dinning as the next Chancellor of the University of Calgary, effective July 1.
When it comes to serving our community, there are few people as passionate and accomplished as Jim Dinning. Jim’s experience, the value he places on post-secondary education, and his strong ties to the corporate, government and non-profit sectors make him an outstanding choice for Chancellor. I believe he will leave his mark on the bold future that lies ahead for the University of Calgary.
I would like to thank the members of the Joint Committee for Chancellor Selection for their commitment and dedication to the process of finding my successor.
It is an exciting time of growth and opportunity for the University of Calgary. I am honored to have been Chancellor of this great university for the last four years. As a graduate of the University of Calgary, it has been particularly meaningful. My passion and commitment for this university will continue and I look forward to staying connected and cheering for your every success under the leadership of our new president Elizabeth Cannon, Chancellor Dinning, the Board of Governors and the rest of the university leadership.
Please join me in congratulating Mr. Dinning on his new role and welcoming him to the University of Calgary community.
Sincerely,
Joanne Cuthbertson
Chancellor, University of Calgary
2006-2010
Five backbench Tory MLAs voted today to deny the Wildrose Alliance increased funding for their now three MLA caucus. As the third largest party in the Assembly, the Wildroses receive $395,000, which is much less than the $561,000 received by the two MLA NDP Opposition and $1,537,000 received by the eight MLA Liberal Opposition. The Liberals and NDP supported the motion to increase funding for the Wildroses.
Until Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith is elected, an all-party committee of provincial politicians has decided her party’s caucus will not receive all potential funding.
“Until she steps up to the plate and runs for a position in the next election, we stay where we’re at,” Government Whip Robin Campbell said Monday afternoon.
The argument presented by Mr. Campbell is the continuation of the on-going political games that have been happening on the committee level at Alberta’s Legislative Assembly. While PC MLAs on this committee argued that the presence of a party leader should determine funding levels, at another MLA committee last week Tory MLAs argued that the Assembly had no business regulating donations to party leadership elections that would select these leaders.
Beyond the partisan rhetoric, there appears to be little basis to determining funds for offices internal to the Assembly based on the leadership of an external party. Albertans do not directly elect party leaders in General Elections, so why should their public funds be tied to the presence of party leaders in the Assembly? If past examples are taken into account, I do not believe that any special “leaders funding” was denied between the time that Nancy MacBeth was selected as Liberal leader and her victory in the 1998 Edmonton-McClung by-election. Of course, precedents and logical arguments are not always surefire ways to win arguments at Legislature committees.
Another argument in favour of denying the funding is because two of the three Wildrose MLAs (Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth) were elected under a different banner in the 2008 election. Supporters of this argument claim that funding should be denied until they run in a by-election to prove that their constituents support the floor-crossing.
There are still a lot of Tory loyalists who feel their blood boiling when they think of the rookie MLA and Klein-era cabinet minister turning their backs on the governing party. Of course, this same argument was not applied to a handful of Liberal MLAs crossed the floor to the Klein Tories in the 1990s, including current Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky.
Under the same logic, why should an MLA who leaves a party to sit as an Independent MLA not be held to the same standard? Should funding be denied to former Liberal MLA Dave Taylor until a by-election is held to confirm his status as an Independent MLA? Would there be an exemption for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Guy Boutilier, who was ejected from the PC caucus in protest?
This political problem for the PCs began in 1997, when MLAs voted to grant the two MLA NDP caucus official party status even though they did not meet the the official four MLA status. The decision at the time was just as political, though it was aimed to weaken a then-stronger and larger Liberal opposition. The NDP also continue to pose a very minor electoral threat to the PCs. The Tories are having a difficult time applying the same standards to the three MLA Wildrose opposition. The reason why the Wildroses were denied increased funding was because they are seen as a political threat.
PC MLAs can try their hardest to bleed the Wildroses dry inside the Assembly, but it will not stop their larger political problem – the growing crowds of Albertans that Ms. Smith is continuing to attract as she travels across the province.
Edmonton-Riverview under the electoral boundaries created in 2003.
I was not surprised to hear rumours that Edmonton-Riverview might be on the chopping block when the final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission is released in July (the interim report had kept Riverview largely intact). The Tories have been trying and have been incredibly unsuccessful in capturing enough support to elect an MLA in Riverview since it was created in 1997. With decisive margins, Liberal MLAs Linda Sloan and Kevin Taft have been successful in holding off Tory challengers including Gwen Harris, City Councillor Wendy Kinsella, Fred Horne, and local president Wendy Andrews. I have read and heard many arguments in favour of disassembling Riverview, the largest being that it does not make sense for a riding to span across the North Saskatchewan River, which should act as a natural boundary (under the current boundaries, three Edmonton ridings cross the River). It is silly to argue that an urban MLA cannot represent a riding divided by a river when many rural MLAs represent ridings that span across the province.
With three appointees on the five-member Electoral Boundaries Commission, the PCs may finally get their chance to put Riverview on the chopping block.
Large-scale changes to Riverview were not included in the Commission’s interim report, but there were large changes to other opposition held ridings. Much of Edmonton-Cadler may merge with Edmonton-Glenora, a change that could pit former Calder NDP MLA David Eggen against Glenora PC MLA Heather Klimchuk in a riding that also has a tradition of electing Liberal MLAs.
Edmonton boundary changes proposed in Electoral Commission's interim report with poll-by-poll results from the 2008 election.
In Edmonton-Gold Bar, proposed changes in the interim report would give four-term Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonaldan 8-vote margin, compared to a 1,018 margin of victory under the current boundaries in 2008. While sometimes overly-eccentric, Mr. MacDonald is one of the hardest working Opposition MLAs in the Assembly. It should not be surprising that the PCs have their eyes on Gold Bar, a riding that has elected Liberal MLAs since 1986.
The changes proposed in the interim report are not entirely unkind to the opposition when looking at the 2008 election results. The interim boundaries reduce PC MLA Tony Vandermeer‘s margin of victory in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview from 337 votes to 101 votes. Nominated New Democrat Deron Bilous is already gunning for Mr. Vandermeer’s job. The interim boundaries would have also helped Calgary-Elbow Liberal MLA Craig Cheffins defeat now-Justice Minister Alison Redford by 272 votes (instead, Mr. Cheffins was unseated by 419 votes in the current boundaries).
They are the most politically organized force province-wide, but it is understated how much of an advantage their 2006 leadership selection gave the PCs in 2008. Just over a year after their intensely competitive leadership race, large and fresh membership lists have the PCs a large advantage over their opponents, who had not developed these kind of large-scale lists.
The next election will present Albertans with new electoral boundaries and also a new political environment. The PC Party’s popularity has significantly dropped in the polls since the last election and its caucus has shrunk by a by-election defeat and MLA floor-crossings. David Swann is the first Liberal leader from Calgary since the 1970s and his party is nearly debt-free. The Wildrose Alliance is on its way to becoming well-organized and well-funded under the leadership of the politically-savvy Danielle Smith. The existence of the new Alberta Party is drawing support from many centrist and progressive political organizers. There is a general unhappiness and unease among Albertans with how the politics of governance is being operated in Alberta.
Even if some opposition-held ridings do get chopped and diced, the shifts in the political environment since the last election could make the could make any gerrymandering near irrelevant.
It is hard to make light of the catastrophic BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill happening in the Gulf Coast, but this video provides a well-needed comic relief to the situation. The fumbling that the world has witnessed over the past few weeks really makes me wonder how similar corporate leaders would react to a disaster in Alberta’s oil sands. Our politicians love to assure us of how safe and reliable the wealth of our oil sands are, but in reality, would they react much different if a tailings pond levy breached and poured out into the Athabasca River?
According to the Pembina Institute, current tailings ponds waste water is equal to 220,000 Olympic swimming pools. Despite pledges to rid our province of them, by 2020 it is expected that Alberta’s oil sands will create enough wet tailings ponds to fill 400,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. There have already been cases of tailings ponds leaking contaminated water into nearby lakes and rivers and probably others that have not been made public.
Before anyone starts jumping all over me, I am not trying make a case against Alberta’s oil sands. It is a resource that is too valuable for us not to develop as part of our economy that so many jobs and investments depend on. I have heard a number of politicians and pundits note how the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be good or bad for Canadian oil sands, but in the rush to “increase competitiveness” and open our resources to the world, could we be setting ourselves up to make some of the same mistakes?
Future generations of Americans will have to face the real effects of the Gulf Coast oil spill. Could we be setting up future generations of Canadians to face the same reality in our province?
The Alberta Party's Chima Nkemdirim, moderator Nicole Martel, and Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith.
Intervivos organized a great event this evening at the Billiards Club on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton featuring two guest speakers – the Alberta Party‘s Chima Nkemdirim and Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith. It was refreshing to see two political representatives engage and interact in such a respectful and civil way. New Kids on the Political Block was a fun and engaging evening that attracted a good cross-section of politically engaged and interested people from across the political spectrum.
Despite our political leader’s pledge to ‘never raise taxes‘ (which was made only months after taxes were raised), I have noticed an increasing amount of talk about the merits of implementing a Provincial Sales Tax in Alberta. After the recent drop in the price of oil and natural gas over the past few years, I have encountered many Albertans who have started to talk about where our provincial government gets its revenue and how that revenue source is largely at the mercy of international commodity markets.
How would Albertans react to the introduction of a PST? In 1993, the introduction of the GST was one of the many reasons voters in this province did not support the province’s Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament (including Edmonton MP Murray Dorin, who vice-chaired the parliamentary committee responsible for the creation of the GST). In 2010, it would be fair to say that most Albertans are comfortable with and have accepted the existence of the GST.
While it is a different form of tax, for years Albertans paid Health Care Premiums that were branded as contributions to the health care system (though they were funnelled into general revenue). When the premiums were cancelled in 2008, it was largely seen as a positive move until people started to realize the billion dollar shortfall that was created.
Tax increases are considered an anathema in politics, but I would bet that a large number of Albertans would be willing to support the introduction of a PST if it meant that our province would have a more secure source of stable revenue to support public programs and infrastructure development.
As part of the Dreamspeakers Film Festival this weekend, I attended a screening of Reel Injun at the Metro Cinema. The film focuses on how aboriginal peoples have been portrayed in Hollywood film since the 1880s, which not surprisingly has largely been based on a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions. It was a well-humoured film that gave a pretty good educational background on the only exposure that many have of aboriginal peoples and their cultures. The film is also really good-humoured.
I enjoy a good Western film as much as anyone and this documentary made me think about how limited my own experiences have been with aboriginal cultures in Canada. When I was younger, I attended grade school with many students from the Alexander First Nation north of Edmonton, but beyond attending classes, there was no talk of cultures or history beyond the Social Studies textbooks.
As Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students in 2006, I participated in a handful of meetings of the Provincial Government’s First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Educational Advisory Committee. These were only day long meetings, so I was not under the impression that I fully understood all the issues discussed, but they did give me a degree of exposure to the challenges facing aboriginal communities in accessing education.
Reel Injun does not delve into explanations of the cultures, but it does an excellent job educating viewers about the ridiculous (and sometimes hilariously ridiculous) film stereotypes that are easily accepted when you do not really think about it. The film makes me want to learn more about aboriginal cultures. If you have the chance, I would recommend that you see it.
