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Alberta Politics

wildrose alliance draft policy proposals.

Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith at a January 2010 press conference.

In less than a year, the Wildrose Alliance Party has skyrocketed from the political fringes to having three MLAs in the Assembly and challenging the dominance of the 39-year governing Progressive Conservative Party in many polls. Since the selection of Danielle Smith as their leader in October 2009, many questions have been raised about where the new leader and her party stand on important policy issues. The party has slowly started to release some new policy positions and one of Ms. Smith’s most common responses is that her party would be reassessing many of their positions at their June 2010 policy convention.

Luckily for readers of this blog, a friendly political insider was kind enough to pass along a copy of the draft Proposed Policy Resolutions that will be debated at the 2010 Wildrose Alliance Annual General Meeting scheduled for June 25 and 26 in Red Deer.

The document includes some of what would be expected from a conservative political party in Alberta and has a slightly more moderate tone than expressed in that party’s fringe-right past. Here is a brief summary of a few of the proposals:

– Renegotiate federal equalization program.
– Create an Alberta Constitution.
– Former Reform Party Member of Parliament and current Senator-in-Waiting Cliff Breitkreuz proposes that party leaders should run in a province-wide election and that the leader who receives the most votes in a general provincial election will be sworn in as Premier of Alberta.
– Party member Randy Coombes proposes that his party ensure all law abiding and mentally fit Albertans enjoy the right to keep and bear arms in perpetuity.
– Member Peter Csillag proposes the stop of any and all public monies involved in the deliberate and intentional termination of pregnancies.
– There are a series of policies that could be dubbed the “Ezra Levant” section of the proposal which deal with freedom of speech and the Alberta Human Rights Act.
– Party Vice-President Jeff Callaway proposes the introduction of legislation to allow citizen-initiated referendums though a petition signed by at least 10% of the total voters of the last Provincial election in Alberta (which is quite a low number when you take into account the 40% voter turnout).
– The Medicine Hat and Cypress-Medicine Hat constituencies submitted policies calling for “a public consultative review with Albertans of the collective bargaining process in the public sector.”
– A proposal calls for the creation of a First Nations Forum to provide aboriginal citizens direct communication with government.

There are also policy proposals calling for the creation of “whistle-blower” legislation, educating Albertans in environmental stewardship, abolishing income-tax, supporting nuclear and hydroelectric power, and exempting seniors from paying a number of taxes.

Here is the full document.
Policy Resolutions 2010 Agm Preliminary

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Politics of Oil

crime against mother nature.

Via @DonBraid:

You will be horrified – and perhaps understand why we’ve never seen Syncrude duck photos http://bit.ly/c7zDXz

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Alberta Politics

alberta politics notes 6/03/2010

– The Inspiring Education report was released by Education Minister Dave Hancock yesterday. I wrote about it earlier and the Public School Board Association of Alberta has a list of links to related articles on their Legislature Watch Blog.
– Calgary Herald editorialist Licia Corbella reflects on Finance Minister Ted Morton‘s new role as the default-Premier of Alberta.
 – The Edmonton Journal’s Graham Thomson has written an interesting column on the synergizing happening at the Competitiveness Review.
– Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight has declared Grizzly Bears as a threatened species in Alberta. This decision follows a public campaign calling for increased protection for Grizzly Bears in Alberta.
– Armed guards will be removed from public hearings being held by the Energy Resources Conservation Board northeast of Edmonton.
– An abundance of witnesses may further delay the trial involving Greenpeace‘s oil sands protest at a Fort Saskatchewan upgraded last summer.
– The Friends of Medicare have begun their province-wide public consultations on the proposed Alberta Health Act, including recent meetings in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.
– Trustee Sue Huff has blogged about her experience at a Big Listen hosted by the Alberta Party.
– Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff will in Edmonton on June 19 to hold a policy discussion meeting at the University of Alberta.
– Former Liberal MLA Mo Elsalhy is already gearing up for the next election and has launched a website promoting his nomination campaign. Mr. Elsalhy served as the MLA for Edmonton-McClung from 2004 to 2008 and ran for the Liberal Party leadership in 2008. I have been told that he is likely to seek the nomination in the new Edmonton-Collingwood pending the final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission expected to be released this summer.
– Elections Alberta has started the search for 87 Returning Officers and Election Clerks for the next provincial election expected in 2011 or 2012. This is a very early start compared to the 2008 election, where a last minute scramble to hire elections officials and organize riding offices put Elections Alberta in the embarrassing position of having hired an estimated over 50 staff who had direct connections to the PC Party (including candidate nominees and constituency organizers).
– Today in Alberta Politics History on June 3, 1920 a by-election was held in Athabasca following the death of the Honourable Alexander Grant MacKay. Mr. MacKay served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario from 1907 to 1911 and as an Alberta MLA from 1913 to 1920. Mr. MacKay died of pneumonia in the Edmonton General Hospital in 1920 while serving as the provincial Minister of Health. The by-election was contested by Liberal G. Mills and Independent J.K. Cornwall. Mr. Mills was elected 640 votes to Mr. Cornwall’s 286 votes.

Read more in the Alberta Politics Notes archive.

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Alberta Politics

inspiring education in alberta.

Webcast across Alberta, Education Minister Dave Hancock proudly released the long awaited Inspiring Education report yesterday. The report was the result of an 18 months process of consultations and study by the process’ steering committee. There are some very good recommendations in this report for the future of Alberta’s education system. Hopefully it will not join the litany of other government reports that quietly get shelved or watered down after the shine wears off.

Will School Boards survive?
The Inspiring Education process raised concerns about the role of School Boards in our education system. It is fairly obvious that for a number of reasons, school boards have become increasingly irrelevant in local and provincial politics. It would be easy to lay the blame solely on the provincial government, who have spent years meddling and restructuring the authority of the boards, but responsibility also lays with the elected trustees. Many districts have lost their connection to the larger community and have become dominated by retired school administrators, who continue to do what they have done in their previous careers – administer – rather than provide leadership and vision. In order for school boards to survive, they need to be relevant to the population beyond just parents, teachers, and administrators. The future of Alberta’s education system will effect our entire population and school boards need to reflect this. School boards need to change.

I would not blame anyone for being weary of the provincial government restructuring how school boards govern. The PC government does not exactly have a friendly track record of respecting local authorities and governance. A trend of centralizing power extends from the dissolution of the regional planning commissions in the 1990s, the dissolution of community lottery boards and the cancellation of elected health boards in the early 2000s, and the forced merger and creation of the appointed Alberta Health Services Superboard in 2008.

Only Hancock could do it.
After observing the Inspiring Alberta process from afar, I question whether another Minister in the current cabinet could have actually see through a process such as this.

With politics within Minister Hancock’s party focusing to match the Wildrose Alliance at what seems like every policy point, it must be increasingly difficult to be the lone Red Tory in the Alberta cabinet. Even for a hardworking MLA and the “Political Minister for Edmonton,” a position which I imagine has much to do with seniority in a competitive political environment such as Edmonton, this process must have cost significant political capital from his more conservative colleagues in cabinet, now apparently led by Premier-in-waiting Ted Morton. After Bill 44: Human Rights, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism Amendment Act tarnished his reputation among many centre-left Albertans (especially educators) as the leader of the moderate Tories, Minister Hancock could probably use this kind of positive attention.

The entire process of Inspiring Education is very reminiscent of a previous project. As Minister of Advanced Education in 2005, Hancock began a process that was very similar to Inspiring Education. The A Learning Alberta process had a similar tone and spirit. Switch keynote speakers Daniel Pink with Richard Florida and School Administrators with University Administrators (and add Twitter) and you effectively have duplicated the process.

The A Learning Alberta process was derailed before it was completed. In 2006, A Learning Alberta was handed off to Minister Denis Herard, whose deepities of building “wisdom bridges” and marshalling “armies of mentors” pummelled the final recommendations document into virtual irrelevance. The final report was a shell of what had been promised after a thorough year long consultation process.

It was obvious that Minister Hancock needed to spend quite a bit of political capital in the closing days of Premier Ralph Klein‘s reign in order to initiate this process and secure much of the major funding increases that the post-secondary education system saw in the last decade. I would argue that A Learning Alberta failed to present a large vision in large part because Minister Hancock’s predecessor did not have the political will or capital. Now that this new process focusing on the Department of Education has reached a milestone, it will be interesting to see if Minister Hancock is able to see the rest of it through.

Legislative Election Agenda
With the new Alberta Health Act expected to be introduced in Fall 2010 and changes to the School Act expected in early 2011, look for Inspiring Education to play a role in the increasingly obvious election cycle that we appear to have already entered.

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Alberta Politics

new kids of the block get the attention.

The 2011/2012 election cycle in Alberta has begun and it does not only include cabinet roadshows, policy announcements, and party conventions by the traditional parties.

Since their merger with Renew Alberta early this year, the new Alberta Party has become a target of significant attention from traditional party insiders and supporters. Since the National Post wrote an article about the party’s Big Listen strategy, that attention appears to be intensifying.

Frequent rabble.ca contributor and St. Albert blogger David Climenhaga was early out of the start-gate and has continuously criticized the new Alberta Party’s Big Listen for the worst of political crimes, having extended conversations with Albertans on policy issues (read an account of this horrid crime from a Big Listen accomplice).

In yesterday’s Edmonton Journal, communications consultant and former NDP staffer Tina Faiz penned some fair comments, coated with partisan jabs, at the Alberta Party:

If you are a centre-left progressive in Alberta who is unhappy with the existing political options of the Liberals and the NDP, and you don’t know where to put your efforts until the 2012 election, you might be excited about the Alberta Party — a “new” party billing itself as “a viable, moderate political option.”

Sadly, I will have to crush that glimmer of hope you may have for a progressive challenger, because the party is not new and certainly not progressive, and it is as calculating as the other parties.

One of the most common criticisms I have heard is that the new Alberta Party is really just another conservative party.

First, for most Albertans, conservative is not a dirty word. As a young “progressive,” I have no problem with a new party for Albertans of all political stripes, including conservatives. For myself, politics is less about the traditional left or right ideologies or institutions, and more about the tone of politics and vibrancy of democracy.

Second, the people involved in the new Alberta Party come from many political backgrounds – conservatives, liberals, greens, social democrats – and they are working together (which sounds pretty progressive to me). It is my experience that while their beliefs are diverse, the people involved with the new Alberta Party share a unifying progressive idea, a passion to find a better path toward creating a better Alberta that transcends their past political affiliations.

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Alberta Politics

national securities regulator shows split among conservatives.

The creation of a national securities regulator has created an interesting split in Alberta’s conservative movements. The national regulator, championed by the Ottawa Conservatives is strongly opposed on the provincial-level in Alberta by the Wildrose Alliance and governing Progressive Conservative parties.

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith in a May 26, 2010 media release:

“As I have travelled the province and met with business leaders, many have talked about the importance of choice in terms of where they raise money and have their affairs regulated.”
“If the federal government plans to take away this choice from Alberta’s entrepreneurs, we hope that the Government of Alberta will aggressively pursue its intervention against this intrusive law.”

Finance Minister Ted Morton in a May 26, 2010 media release:

“Alberta is not opposed to improving on the system we have, but we are opposed to the federal government acting unilaterally in an area that is provincial jurisdiction.”
“A federal regulator headquartered in Toronto could make it harder for these and other Alberta businesses to raise funds for growth and development.”
“If we open the door to federal intrusion in this area, we will be potentially inviting intrusion into other areas of provincial jurisdiction governing finance, such as insurance, pensions and financial institutions. Most Albertans don’t want this, and this is why we have joined forces with Québec to challenge the legality of this unprecedented federal power grab.”

Airdrie-Chestermere Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson in a May 26, 2010 media release:

“If businesses want to participate in a nationally-regulated system, they should be free to opt-in to that kind of arrangement. If businesses want to participate in a provincially-regulated system, then they should be free to continue.”

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in the Globe & Mail:

“Today we have 13 regulators, 13 sets of rules and 13 sets of fees. We need to lower barriers, not multiply them.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Toronto Star:

“As an Albertan, I have no interest in seeing this sector centralized in Toronto.”

What happens if Alberta decides to opt out of the national securities regulator? Heather Zordel, a securities lawyer with Cassels Brock, told the Hamilton Spectator:

“If Alberta is not participating, where does that leave you? Well, that leaves you with an unfortunate situation where the co-ordination effort is going to have to be dealt with through the offices of the people that do participate.”

History shows that Albertans should be cautious of ceding autonomy to central Canadian institutions – especially in relation to our natural resources – but this appears to be more complex than a typical Ottawa versus Alberta struggle. Alberta’s New West Partnership allies, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, suspicious silence on the issue begs the question of how much this really has to do with the state of the conservative movement in Alberta? Perhaps Minister Morton’s beating the war drums against Ottawa has more to do with the Wildrose Alliance than a national regulator.

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Alberta Politics

alberta politics notes 5/29/2010

– Naheed Nenshi is in the race for Mayor of Calgary. Mr. Nenshi joins MLA Kent Hehr, Alderman Ric McIver, Alderman Joe Connelly, and former MLA Jon Lord. Read CalgaryPolitics.com for up to the minute updates on the Calgary Municipal election.
– Ward F candidate for Public School Board Michael Janz is kicking off his campaign with a free BBQ on May 30 (tomorrow) at the McKernan Community Hall.
– Minister Dave Hancock is expected to soon release the “Inspiring Education” report. Edmonton Trustee Sue Huff shared her thoughts on the process conference last October.
– One day he is filing a $2.8 million lawsuit against his former employer, the Edmonton Sun, and the next day columnist Kerry Diotte is seeking election to City Council. Mr. Diotte’s campaign team is said to include Gordon Stamp (Campaign Manager to Edmonton-East MP Peter Goldring) and former Councillor and perennial Mayoral candidate Mike Nickel (who was defeated by Don Iveson in 2007).
– Alberta’s Resource Royalty structure has once again been changed as the Provincial Government gives up $1.5 billion in revenue. The changes made in 2007 were the chief criticisms made by the Wildrose Alliance of the governing Progressive Conservatives. They reacted with luke warm support of the changes.
– Todd Hirsh, a senior analyst with ATB Financial, raises the question: could Greece become Alberta’s nightmare?.
– “Maybe we need a good recession or a depression.” Former Premier Ralph Klein said he did not know how small business owners could address the province’s extremely high wage expectations.
– Former Edmonton-Mill Woods Liberal MLA Weslyn Mather wrote a letter about her party in yesterday’s Edmonton Journal.
– Some people are starting to notice the “election-like campaigns” that politicians are engaging in this summer (Energy Minister Ron Liepert described the recent Cabinet Tour as an “election tour“) Is it a sign of an early 2011 election?
– While her party may have shunned cooperation in the next provincial election, NDP Research Director and Public School Board candidate Sarah Hoffman engaged a friendly crowd at a fundraiser for Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald this week.

Read more in the Alberta Politics Notes archive.

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from regina, saskatchewan.

Queen Elizabeth II welcomes visitors to Saskatchewan's Legislative Assembly.

I am in the rainy and windy city of Regina, Saskatchewan for the week. While taking a walk around downtown Regina this afternoon (and to the Legislative Assembly), I noticed a lot of buildings that are a rare sight in my home province of Alberta: a lot of crown corporation headquarters.

Regular blogging will resume soon.

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Municipal Election 2010

edmonton’s municipal election destination.

I am excited to be part of the EdmontonPolitics.com team that will be working hard to provide some of the best coverage possible of the October 2010 municipal elections! Make sure to add this website to your bookmarks and RSS.

Jeff has written the inaugural post chronicling the birth of this site and its team.

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cabinet tour pitstop: edmonton.

Want the ear of a provincial Cabinet Minister ( and lunch)? It will only cost you $30. The executive branch will be stopping in Edmonton as part of their criss crossing tour across the province. A friendly reader forwarded me a copy of this email, from the Rotary Club of Edmonton.

The Cabinet Ministers will be in Edmonton May 27, 2010 A lunch for the Edmonton business community will be held at the Sutton Place hotel ballroom from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. on that date, arranged by the Rotary Club of Edmonton. There will be 30 tables of 10 persons each for a total of 300 places. A cabinet minister will sit at each table.

Tickets are $30.00 each. The ticket price will cover the cost of the lunch and printing. This is not a political or charitable donation and no receipts are available. Cheques are payable to Rotary Club of Edmonton.

To purchase tickets in advance contact a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton, including:

John Whitmore
Rotary Club of Edmonton
whitmore@henningbyrne.com
780 702 3341 (direct)

Peter Stephen
Rotary Club of Edmonton
prstephen@telus.net
780 455 3417
780 221 3417

Any tickets not sold in advance will be available at the door before the lunch. There is no guarantee tickets will still be available. At that time only Rotary’s pos card reader will be available for credit and debit cards. A line-up can be expected.

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my edmonton: challenges facing the core.

Yesterday I wrote about the changing face of downtown Edmonton. Today I focus on a few of the challenges facing our City’s urban core.

Crime
When did Edmonton become the Baltimore of the North? Three murders in one week. It is beginning to feel like there is a murder or stabbing almost every week. While this kind of violent crime can happen anywhere in the city, the recent duo of stabbings near Churchill Square in front of the Stanley Milner Library and the City Centre Mall does not help create a welcome environment. I am not sure what the solution is, but it is clear that something serious needs to be done.

City Council, Densification, & Urban Sprawl
There has been a noticeable tone shift on City Council in support of infill in the urban core, but there appears to be little hard action being taken to stem the outward sprawl of new neighbourhoods (now being constructed outside the Anthony Henday ringroad). A lot of the difficulty rests in balancing increased densification and infill with a market demand for more single family housing. The reality is that the farther our city sprawls, the more expensive it will be to provide the kind of services that are idealized for these neighbourhoods. Put simply, urban sprawl is unsustainable.

Some difficulty lies in the sprawl in a number of municipalities surrounding Edmonton. While the Capital Region Board has made progress since its creation there is still a lot more progress to be made in building a smarter region. Is amalgamation far off?

Not Family Friendly
The recent closures of school programs at Eastwood, McCauley, and Parkdale schools will create a more difficult environment to attract families into the urban core. Proximity to educational institutions is a critical key to convincing young families to settle in the core, but so are expenses. Many apartment and condo buildings in the downtown area have not created a friendly atmosphere for families and many are listed as ‘Adult Only.” This unfortunately creates a situation where many young Edmontonians who are already living in the core need to relocate in order to start a family (many to more affordable areas in sprawling suburban neighbourhoods).

Homelessness
There is a noticeable divide in our city around the 100th Street area. West of the divide is the business district and much of the upscale downtown residences. East of the divide are many of Edmonton’s homeless shelters and many lower income areas. There are homeless people all around our city, but the number of homeless becomes more evident to the naked eye when driving through the eastern streets of downtown.

The 2008 count revealed that there were 3,079 homeless people in Edmonton (1862 were absolute homeless (having no housing alternative) and 1217 were sheltered homeless). The Municipal and Provincial governments along with some very dedicated non-profit groups have made a positive impact. As accomplishable as it may sound, the Government of Alberta’s 10 year plan to end homelessness sets some ambitious goals and has thus far resulted in the funding and construction of a number of new housing units in Edmonton.

Lack of Imagination
There are some people who appear to simply refuse to see beyond what downtown Edmonton was in the past and what it has become in 2010. The rail yards and warehouse districts have heeded to the construction of Grant MacEwan University, Railtown residential area, Oliver Square, and some of the projects I highlighted in yesterday’s post.

White Elephants
University of Winnipeg academic Christopher Leo uncovered a classic example of how clever developers have mislead Edmonton City Council in the past. He uses the example of the former Eaton Centre (now the western section of City Centre Mall):

My research shows that developers found it easy to manipulate Edmonton’s city council again and again, and to put taxpayers in the position of paying for a development over which their representatives exercised no meaningful control. They used a bait and switch tactic which, though blatantly obvious in retrospect, is not always easy to spot before it is too late. Edmonton’s story is a cautionary tale. It ought to be required reading for city councillors throughout North America, and for anyone concerned with democratic control over the development of our cities. Read more…

It is a cautionary tale for Edmontonians to keep in mind when approached by potential rainmakers in the future.

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my edmonton: it has to be downtown.

There was a time when I believed that I would need to move to a bigger city like Vancouver, Toronto, or even Calgary in order to find a great job and improved quality of life. Experiencing the changes that have happened and are happening in Edmonton has changed my mind over the past few years. I am excited about the changes that are happening in our city, especially the changing face of Edmonton’s urban core.

A cool strip. Jasper Avenue and 104th Street.

104th Street & Jasper Avenue
 New life has been breathed into a street that until a couple of years ago was derelict and barren. The City Centre Market, along with the new Icon Towers and other condo developments in the area have brought a new sense of cool to the district. The addition of a Sobey’s urban market and many non-chain stores and vendors also adds to the character of the street (Blue Plate Diner, Credo Coffee, Carbon, deVine Wines, and the soon to be re-opened and re-located Bistro Praha).

Jasper Avenue & 109th Street
 The construction of new residential and commercial development will change the face of a corner that has been dominated by a derelict Mayfair Hotel and a less than desirable Oil City Roadhouse.

Today’s formal launch of phase one of ProCura Real Estate’s innovative 708-unit Mayfair Village apartment complex at the southeast corner of 109th Street and Jasper Avenue has been years in the making.
When it’s finished, the stylish twin-tower complex — which will eventually stretch an entire block east to 108th Street — will house some 900 residents, bringing new life to a blighted stretch of the main drag long dominated by the derelict Mayfair Hotel and a drab surface parking lot next door.

The proximity to the Corona LRT station and the kitty-corner Save-On Foods could make this a pretty cool corner to live on.

Transit HUB
The LRT is finally being extended and downtown Edmonton will be the connector in the spokes of the proposed LRT routes to west to Lewis Estates, southeast to Mill Woods, and north to NAIT (and eventually northwest to St. Albert). This development of this kind of critical transportation infrastructure is overdue for our City and I am excited to see our urban train system grow!

West downtown and Oliver neighbourhood (note the parking lots).

Jasper Avenue between 109th and 124th Street.
 There is life in the Oliver, Grandin, and Railtown neighbourhoods of downtown. There is life because there are people living here. I believe that the neighbourhood could do with more densification and less above ground parking lots. Who needs a single family home when you can live in the most densified area of the City with the North Saskatchewan River Valley as your backyard?

Downtown Arena District
I was initially excited about the potential for a real debate about how this proposal could shape our downtown, but since Daryl Katz’s company launched the proposal, they have engaged in little real debate on the issue and instead have created a slick political and public relations campaign geared towards convincing Edmontonians need a downtown arena. There remains many debatable questions about what kind of effect a downtown arena would actually have on the area and one of the largest unanswered questions: who would pay for it.

City Centre Airport Lands
Alex Abboud has a great post about the potential residential development for lands currently used by the City Centre Airport, which is entering a phased closure. With the debate around the future of the lands having finally been settled by City Councillors in July 2009 a huge parcel of land in Edmonton’s urban core will be opened up for development.

Edmontonians living in the urban core face some unique challenges such as the closure of inner city schools and crime. As a resident of the urban core and a younger Edmontian, I share the perspective of a growing number of younger professionals and creative-types who believe that Edmonton is a place to be. The changes that are happening in Edmonton’s urban core make me excited about how we will shape our city over the next five to ten years.

Tomorrow I will post a list of some of the main challenges I feel are facing downtown Edmonton.

(In March 2010, I created a photo collection of Jasper Avenue from 98th Street to 124th Street)

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alberta politics notes 5/18/2010

– Legislative mega-bills may make for dry conversations, but the upcoming changes to health care legislation is one that Albertans should pay close attention to. The Friends of Medicare and Join Together Alberta have announced a series of open consultation meetings on the Alberta Health Act.
– Intervivos is hosting a political party mixer with the Wildrose Alliance‘s Danielle Smith and the Alberta Party‘s Chima Nkemdirim on June 9 at Latitude 53 Metro Billiards the Billiards Club on Whyte Avenue.
– The National Post has published an interesting article about the Alberta Party’s Big Listens.
– Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff will be touching down in Edmonton on May 20 for his annual Leader’s Dinner fundraiser.
– Calgary MLA Kent Hehr is launching his campaign for Mayor today. Mr. Hehr’s 2008 PC opponent Sean Chu has announced that he is running for Alderman in Ward 4.
– Alex Abboud has a great rundown of the Edmonton City Council elections.
– Lt. Daryl Bonar is the first challenger to Mayor Stephen Mandel.
– Father, Husband, Career Security Officer, Ordained Satanic Priest Scott Robb is running for Edmonton City Council in Ward 4.
– Councillor Tony Caterina is seeking re-election in Ward 7. Councillor Caterina will face off against Brendan Van Alstine and potentially Harvey Voogd.
– Dale Peterson would give most conservative politicians in Alberta a run for their money…
UPDATE: I should not be surprised that a parody has already popped up (though I believe the original is still better).

We’re Better Than That, Too!!!! w/ Dale Peterson – watch more funny videos
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historic merger “unites the centre-right” in alberta.

Historic Conservative-Liberal merger “unites the centre-right” in Alberta
Edmonton Morning Star
Page: A1
January 16, 2012

In a move designed to stop a Wildrose Alliance victory in the imminent provincial general election, two long-time political foes have agreed to put aside their differences and form a “coalition of the centre-right.” At a press conference this morning, Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach and Liberal leader David Swann announced the formation of the electoral coalition.

“As difficult as it might be, we, uh, have decided to, um, work together for Alberta’s future,” said Stelmach. “Uh, the reality is that Alberta’s future will be brighter and stronger when, uh, we work together.”

Recent polling has shown Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Alliance with 35% support across Alberta. The PCs and Liberals have 36% combined support, which they argue will be enough to form government. The Liberals had initially hoped to negotiate electoral cooperation with the NDP and the resurgent Alberta Party, but they began talks with the Tories following the Wildrose Alliance victory in the hotly contested Calgary-Buffalo by-election to replace Liberal MLA Kent Hehr, who was elected Mayor in 2010.

Under the agreement the PC and Liberals will not challenge each others incumbent MLAs. Until the election and if re-elected, Stelmach has appointed Swann as Deputy Premier, former leader Kevin Taft as Minister of Health & Wellness, and Calgary MLA Harry Chase as Minister of Education.

Premier Stelmach told the media that the two parties will run on a five point platform that emphasizes good governance, the economy, the environment, safe communities, and an strong role for Alberta in Canada. Details will be released when the election is called.

“Just as the Liberal Conservative coalition has succeeded in the United Kingdom, Premier Stelmach and I intend to prove that it can work in Alberta,” said Swann. “We intend to protect Albertans from the new and scary Wildrose Alliance.”

Some Liberals were quick to rise up in arms in opposition to the merger, saying it will only drive voters to the NDP and Alberta Party.

Party organizers defended the decision. “Liberals overwhelmingly approved the idea of cooperation with other progressive parties at our last policy convention,” said a Liberal spokesperson. “Cooperation with the Progressive Conservatives will stop the vote splitting the new and scary Wildrose Alliance is depending on.”

Danielle Smith was unavailable for comment, but Wildrose Alliance strategists were quick to attack the announcement as a “merger of convenience.”

“It’s official, Stelmach is the new Trudeau,” boasted the Wildrose Communications Director.

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downtown farmers’ market kicks off.

The 104th Street area of downtown Edmonton showcased its vibrancy this weekend as the City Market kicked off. The very talented Raffaella posted this video creation on Vimeo:

market day from fella on Vimeo.

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