daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics and Elections

With the spring session of the Alberta Legislature in full-swing, here’s a look at what’s up with the Opposition parties…

– Maclean’s has an interview with Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft. In the meantime, FFWD Weekly had an interview a couple of weeks ago with Calgary-Currie MLA Dave Taylor on his aspirations for the Alberta Liberal leadership. More on this later…

– An NDP-Greenpeace conspiracy? It sounds a lot like the time someone accused me of being part of a giant Liberal conspiracy. Slow news day, I guess…

– Former NDP MLA Ray Martin has a letter in today’s Edmonton Journal.

– I’ve also updated the list of Federally nominated candidates in Alberta.

Starting the week off with nuclear Bruce Power hiring PC campaign manager Randy Dawson as their top government relations guru, to the appointment of a pro-nuclear expert to a “neutral” nuclear study panel, to Ed Stelmach’s dinner date with Greenpeace, to the completely misleading allegations by Energy Minister Mel Knight that the Sierra Club is pro-nuclear, it’s been a rough week for Ed Stelmach’s Tories on the environment file as they begin their million dollar re-branding campaign.

In response to the false claim that their organization supports nuclear power, the Sierra Club is demanding an apology from Energy Minister Mel Knight.

For Immediate Release
April 25th, 2008

The Sierra Club Demanding Apology to Slanderous Comments Made by Energy Minister Mel Knight

(Edmonton) On Thursday April 24th, 2008 Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight made untruthful comments in the Alberta Legislature regarding the Sierra Club.

Minister Knight, in responding to questions from the opposition regarding the bias of his governments appointed Nuclear Energy Experts Panel, stated that “It might be very interesting for the member opposite to understand that one of the … major forces working with respect to environmental concerns globally, the Sierra Club, runs ads in Europe in favour of nuclear energy, Mr. Speaker, in favour of nuclear energy.”

“The Sierra Club Canada in addition to the Sierra Club US have clear policies which highlight our belief that Nuclear Energy is not clean, it is not green, it is not economical and it is not a solution to climate change,” said Lindsay Telfer, Director of the Sierra Club Prairie, “The fact that our Energy Minister Mel Knight is resorting to slander in an attempt to discredit our organization is simply unacceptable. Our positions on nuclear energy are based on sound science, clear evidence and a growing body of literature on the industry’s impacts.”

The Sierra Club Canada and the Sierra Club US are the only incorporated organizations using the Sierra Club name. There is no Sierra Club counterpart in any European nation.

“We expect a public apology in the legislature in addition to a meeting with Minister Knight to clear this claim on the Alberta Record,” concluded Telfer, “we believe we can work with the Government of Alberta to develop an energy policy that meets its own stated principle to lead in the post-oil economy, and we believe we can achieve this without resorting to the risks of nuclear energy.”

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For more information contact:
Lindsay Telfer – Director, Sierra Club Prairie (780) 710-0136

God bless, YouTube.

You get more than just a standard Ed Stelmach speech at Tory fundraising dinners now days:

Premier Ed Stelmach’s $450-a-plate fundraising dinner was interrupted Thursday night by Greenpeace activists who lowered themselves from a catwalk and unfurled a big black banner which read: “$telmach: The Best Premier Oil Money Can Buy.”

Stelmach had just launched into his speech in front of 1,650 people at the Shaw Conference Centre.

A murmur rose from the crowd as the banner was lowered at the back of the room between two giant screens that were broadcasting his remarks.

(Photo care of Greenpeace)

UPDATE: In response to criticism of their weak record on environmental protection in the tarsands, the Tory government has released a slick booklet as part of an attempt to “re-brand” the Tory government’s weak image (Click here to listen to CBC Radio reporter Erik Denison on the tarsands campaign)

I paid a visit to Question Period at the Alberta Legislature yesterday afternoon and was sitting in the gallery when Tory Energy Minister Mel Knight gave his response to Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft‘s questions on the appointment of the pro-nuclear Dr. John Luxat to a supposedly “neutral” Tory appointed nuclear study committee:

Mr. Knight: It might be very interesting for the member opposite to understand that one of the, kind of, major forces working with respect to environmental concerns globally, the Sierra Club, runs ads in Europe in favour of nuclear energy, Mr. Speaker, in favour of nuclear energy. This is not – not – a consultation process. We’re going out to answer some questions for Albertans.

The Sierra Club is pro-nuclear? Really?

It just so happens that I exchanged a friendly email with one of the kind folks from the Sierra Club yesterday evening. Not only did they assure me that the Sierra Club continues to be steadfastly opposed to the expansion of Nuclear power, but that the Sierra Club doesn’t even have a European wing or any extension of activities in Europe.

Why would Mel Knight blow this kind of smoke? Is this out of character for the Tory MLA for Grande Prairie-Smoky? Has he just spent too much time enjoying the fresh air of Alberta’s tarsands? Well, in 2007, Knight didn’t hesitate in his defense of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board after they used taxpayers dollars to hire private investigators to spy on central Alberta landowners and their lawyers.

Is this just another step in Ed Stelmach and Mel Knight’s nuclear agenda for Alberta?

The Alberta Tories celebrated their 37 years as the governing party as rookie Finance & Enterprise Minister Iris Evans released a $37 billion “beacon of hope” budget yesterday. Not one to disappoint, I was happy to take in the show yesterday afternoon (a big thanks to Kevin Taft‘s office for arranging my ticket).

Overall, the 2008 Alberta PC budget looked and sounded like a confused 37-year old: still paying for the mistakes of its youth, not quite ready to settle down, almost ready to hit that mid-life crisis point (hello, Ferrari!), and not quite ready to save for the future. It felt like it could have been something out of the 10th season of Friends.

I will be elaborating on my opinions of the budget and what it means for Albertans over the next week, but until then, here are some quick thoughts on the day:

– The budget low balled the price of oil, basing the budget figures on a $78 barrel of oil, rather than the current $119 barrel.

– Bye bye, health care premiums. Alberta’s health care premiums will be gone by January 1, 2009. Though this is a positive move, but I can’t help but be a little cynical when I remember how many times I heard Tory candidates during the provincial election saying that it would be irresponsible to faze out health care premiums in a of less than four years…

– It’s business as usual for the horse-racing industry with a $7 million increase to the now $48 million Horse Racing Subsidy Renewal Program.

– A 120% budget increase to the Alberta Environment budget is mostly a result of $52 million from the Federal government and $155 million from corporate emitter fines.

– My good friends at the Public Affairs Bureau will be getting a stiff 25% increase of $6.4 million to continue to dole out the press releases and spin. Upcoming projects include convincing Albertans that Ed Stelmach is an environmentally friendly Premier while he continues to support the tarsands and stands on the sidelines watching the potential construction of a Nuclear Power Plant in the Peace Country. More on this later.

– I had a nice chat with Dr. Raj Sherman, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health & Wellness. I made sure to encourage him not to hesitate to shake some sense into Health Minister Ron Liepert and his “health care reform.”

– The best (and most insightful) quote of the day goes to Alberta Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Ken Kolby:

Ken Kobly, CEO of the Alberta Chambers of Commerce, said the government must put some revenue aside for the future while revenues are still high.

“Personally, I don’t want to be known as the generation that sucked all the oil revenue out of the ground and left the bill for our kids,” he said.

I couldn’t agree more with Kolby. Kolby for Premier.

Tory Finance Minister Iris Evans will release her government’s budget today and I’ll be there to watch it happen. Just as in previous years, you can expect an honest and thorough observation of the afternoon.

Check out Ken Chapman‘s blog has more thoughts on today’s budget announcement.

Also, speaking of a nuclear agenda…

I’ll forgive you if you’ve been too buried under all this lovely April Alberta snow to notice that Alberta Legislature is in session. A new session, with new MLAs, will bring all sorts of intelligent hijinks’s/painfully predictable heckles and intelligent intentional/painfully unintelligible quotes from the floor of the Legislature.

In today’s edition of The Best of Hansard, we hear from the Treasury Board President and the Honourable Member for Vermilion-Lloyminster, Lloyd Snelgrove (yes, Lloyd from Lloydminster). In responding (but not answering) a question posed by Calgary-Varsity MLA Harry Chase during last week’s Question Period, Snelgrove made a stunningly stunning statement:

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no excuse for child poverty in abundant Alberta. Sixty-four thousand Alberta children are living in poverty. Although more Albertans are employed now during this time of incredible economic prosperity than ever before, full-time work at minimum wage does not permit an escape from poverty.

To the President of the Treasury Board: with the paltry increase of 40 cents bringing the minimum wage to a mere $8.40 an hour, how can this government continue to justify token wage increases instead of establishing a realistic living wage which would act as an effective tool in ending child poverty?

Mr. Snelgrove: Mr. Speaker, I grew up in a very poor family. We looked after each other, and we looked after our neighbours. There were very few government programs of any kind to do it. There was a certain pride that was developed amongst our community and each other in how we had to lift one another up. The hon. member is well aware that the minimum wage was never designed nor will it ever be an amount of money that you can raise a family on. In many ways it’s an educational learning experience for some. It brings people with limited skills into the workforce, and it accomplishes that very well.

While I have no doubt that growing up in poverty gives a person different perspectives and values, calling it an “educational learning experience” makes it sound like a field trip to the museum…

Brought to you by the good folks at the Texx Western International Theatrics Corporation…

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To all my fellow techno-political types out there, I thought you might find this report on Government 2.0 from Deloitte Canada interesting…

The first wave of e-government offered significant benefits to constituents, with tens of millions of transactions now delivered online. Despite the plethora of new services, government itself has not been transformed. The next step is for government to move into the information age as it faces increasing pressure to do more with less.

It is clear that conventional government is unable to address society’s challenges alone and would be in a much better position if it could truly partner with other governments, not-for-profits, businesses and citizens to tackle immense policy changes.

Government 2.0 is the answer. As technology deepens its day-to-day impact and is increasingly used by successive generations, governments at all levels will have no choice but to embrace it, thereby overhauling the way they lead, serve and interact with stakeholders.

Why is this so important? Because it’s a strategy that allows today’s public sector organizations to reach across jurisdictions to access critical knowledge, adapt themselves to a fact-changing societal landscape and significantly improve their ability to deliver the services to which citizens have become accustomed.

Of course, developing a “Government 2.0” culture is more involved than simply setting up a wiki or a blog. It requires leadership, investments in technology, organizational change, and risk-taking to overcome cultural, process, technology and policy hurdles.

In the end, increased levels of collaboration will result in enhanced service delivery through all operational and policy-making functions of government. This culture will allow tomorrow’s government to do more with less.