daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

alberta resource royalty showdown.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 5, 2007
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Last Tuesday, I attended CBC Edmonton‘s open forum on the Resource Royalties issue in Alberta. It was an interested affair with probably around 300 people piled into the auditorium at the Royal Alberta Museum.

The forum panel included the articulate Diana Gibson of the Parkland Institute, Al Hyndman from Magnus Limited, Tory House Leader Dave Hancock, and Dave Yager from HSE Integrated.

Notables in attendance included Alberta Liberal MLAs Hugh MacDonald, Harry Chase, and Bruce Miller, former Edmonton-Strathcona Green candidate Cameron Wakefield, U of A School of Business Dean Mike Percy, Federal ND candidate Linda Duncan, and New Democrat Leader Brian Mason. I think I also noticed fellow-blogger Ken Chapman in the audience.

Though the forum was geared towards the resource royalty rates, much of the debate centered around findings of the Auditor General that has shown that the Tories failed to Billions of Dollars under the current royalty regime over the past number of years.

Also, the best quote of the night has to go to Dave Hancock with his understatement of a response to Diana Gibson: “government is not a stiletto.”

CBC has a great web page filled with information and media clips on the resource royalty issue – be sure to check it out. You can listen to the forum online here.

Uncategorized

patrick turner for mayor!

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 5, 2007
No Comments on patrick turner for mayor!

I think I’m going to write a very nice thank you card to Mr. Turner for not allowing what is quite arguably one of the nicest blocks in Edmonton (which includes my favorite bistro) to be turned into generic condos towers…

Iconic eateries dodge wrecking ball
Owner sells High Level Diner, Sugarbowl to operators at half the assessed value
Todd Babiak, The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON – There are few corners more resonant and soulful in Edmonton than 109th Street and 88th Avenue. The commercial buffer between the university and Old Strathcona includes a bike shop, a fitness company, a travel outlet and two of the city’s finest spots to eat, drink and write the great Canadian novel — the Sugarbowl and the High Level Diner.

Read the rest…

Edmonton City Council

edmonton city council sets priorities for next 3 years.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 1, 2007
No Comments on edmonton city council sets priorities for next 3 years.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel has worked with the new City Councillors to determine special initiative portfolios for the next three years. Here are the portfolios:

COUNCIL MEMBER INITIATIVES
Karen Leibovici
Affordable Housing – Housing First
envisionEdmonton
Port Alberta
World’s Fair
Stony Plain Road Revitalization

Linda Sloan
Seniors Issues
Environment
Stony Plain Road Revitalization

Kim Krushell
Port Alberta
Youth Initiatives
Winter Festival

Ron Hayter
Aboriginal Issues
North Issues
River Valley

Ed Gibbons
Alberta Avenue
Provincial MLA Relationships
North Issues
Industrial Land Strategy

Tony Caterina
Alberta Avenue
Biotech Value-added
Industrial Land Strategy

Jane Batty
The Quarters
Capital Health/Post-Secondary Relationships
World’s Fair
Biotech Value-added
Chinatown Revitalization

Ben Henderson
Public Hearing Consultation Process
The Quarters
Winter City
Chinatown Revitalization

Bryan Anderson
Sports and Recreation
Working with Administration to expedite process and approval of sports and recreation facilities
River Valley

Don Iveson
Environment
Youth Initiatives

Dave Thiele
Transit
Mayor’s Task Force on Traffic Safety

Amarjeet Sohi
Safe Edmonton/Drug Strategy
Multiculturalism

Stephane Dion Stephen Harper

good grief.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m not involved in federal politics.

Then I’m reminded.

Good grief.

(link from Allie)

Also, it appears that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives already have a majority.

Canada's Next Great Prime Minister Chris Samuel

chris samuel – canada’s next great prime minister.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 1, 2007
No Comments on chris samuel – canada’s next great prime minister.

Here’s someone I’d have no problem getting behind! Chris Samuel for Prime Minister!

Alberta Politics Alberta Royalty Review

more on royalties, politics, etc.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 30, 2007
No Comments on more on royalties, politics, etc.

– CBC Edmonton will be hosting a forum on royalties tonight at the Royal Alberta Museum:

Alberta Royalties – Are we getting our fair share? You maybe interested in our upcoming event: CBC PUBLIC FORUM ON THE ROYALTY REVIEW It’s Your Future-Have Your Say! How do oil and gas royalties affect Alberta? Our Jobs? Our Economy?

This is your chance to hear from a panel of industry experts on the controversial recommendation to change Alberta’s oil and gas royalties, and have an opportunity to participate in public feedback.

Join CBC for this public forum: Tuesday, October 30th from 7 to 8 p.m.Royal Alberta Museum, 12845-102nd Avenue

Visit our website for CBC’s in-depth coverage and analysis at http://www.cbc.ca/edmonton/features/royalties/

– Recently nominated Red Deer-South Stelmach Tory candidate Cal Dallas is now in competition with Calgary-Varsity Alberta Liberal MLA Harry Chase for the best name on Alberta’s political scene.

– Kevin Taft’s Alberta Liberals have outlined their legislative agenda for the Fall Session of the Alberta Legislature which begins on Monday, November 5.

– In what could be one of the hotest and most watched races of the next provincial election, it is being reported that former NBC news anchor Arthur Kent has announced that he will be running for the Stelmach Tory nomination in Calgary-Currie (then again, it was reported by vast left-wing conspiracy theorist Kerry Diotte – a self-described friend of Kent’s – so I’ll remain somewhat skeptical until I see more credible evidence).

If nominated, Kent will take on popular former QR77 radio host and Alberta Liberal MLA Dave Taylor. Taylor surprised many when he defeated former Tory MLA and high-profile City Councillor Jon Lord in 2004.

– The Alberta Social Credit Party will be holding its leadership selection this weekend. Get out the digestive cookies!

– With the Fall session of the Alberta Legislature beginning on November 5, Ed Stelmach continues to refuse to fire Energy Minister Mel Knight after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight’s Department of Energy for short-changing Albertans by billions of dollars after failing to collect resource revenues over the past 15 years under the current royalty regime.

Here is what Dunn said of Knight’s Department of Energy:

“The principals of transparency and accountability, I believe, were not followed. I’m not impressed.”

“The department should demonstrate its stewardship
of Alberta’s royalty regime and provide analysis to support that stewardship and
this was not done.”

“The department’s monitoring and technical review findings were communicated to decision-makers. The question is: Did they hear or were they listening? At the end of the day, I don’t know, but they chose not to act.”

– Meanwhile, in fairytale land, Rachel Notley is spending her time attacking the Alberta Liberals in letters section of the Edmonton Journal, letting Stelmach’s Tories off the hook for his compromising on resource royalties.

Considering that any New Democrat gains will only come in Edmonton at the expense of the Alberta Liberals, it’s no surprise that all my Tory friends love the New Democrats. Leave it to a small third-party candidate to completely miss the real target on purpose.

Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach

"compromise."

I found this in my email inbox this morning.

The quality isn’t that great but, as the artist who sent this wrote, “my photoshop skills suck, but so does Ed Stelmach. Call it an interpretive piece of art.”

Ed Stelmach Stephane Dion

stelmach tory revitalization? ask stephane dion.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 29, 2007
No Comments on stelmach tory revitalization? ask stephane dion.

There may have been some young folks at this weekend’s Alberta PC convention in Calgary, but that doesn’t mean that there’s a new crew steering the S.S. Stelmach. You don’t have to look too far to see that it’s still the same stodgy crew running the show.

There are currently 61 Progressive Conservative MLA’s in the Legislature and with 42 of those have been re-nominated (19 of the 42 re-nominated Tories have sat in the Legislature for a decade or more), it’s going to be hard to make the case that the Alberta PC’s are going through a 1993 Ralph Klein-style reinvention.

With Ed Stelmach failing to stand up for Albertans by compromising on resource royalties and continuing to refuse to fire Energy Minister Mel Knight after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight’s Department of Energy for failing to collected billions of dollars in natural resource royalty revenues owed to Albertans, it’s clear that it’s business as usual in the halls of the Tory government.

With the likes of Lyle Oberg, Lloyd Snelgrove, Ray Danyluk, and Luke Ouellette running the show, a close look will reveal the same old stodgy Stelmach Tories.

Similar to the Liberal Party of Canada under Stephane Dion, the Alberta Progressive Conservatives failed to realize that simply changing your leader doesn’t equal revitalization in the minds of voters. Like Dion’s Federal Liberals, the Stelmach Tories have embraced institutional mediocrity and have clearly not begun to undertake the road to revitalization and re-branding that occurred under two previous 1990’s-era leaders.

Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach Public Affairs Bureau

how ed stelmach compromised on royalties and might get away with it.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 29, 2007
No Comments on how ed stelmach compromised on royalties and might get away with it.

INTERNAL MEMO

Dear Premier Ed Stelmach,

Please find below six-easy steps on how to compromise the interests of Albertans on the royalty review.

1) Appoint a friendly-voice such as Bill Hunter to chair a committee to review and make recommendations on Alberta’s natural resource revenue framework.

2) When Bill Hunter releases the report, do not give details but react to the report as if it will include radical and dangerous changes to Alberta’s economy (focus on dangerous).

Stay quiet on the royalties issue and give the opposition parties and oil companies time to post their opposition or support of the report (this will keep us from compromising the $15,000 annual donations to the Alberta PC Party from the oil industry).

The tone of the report should be critical of Ralph Klein’s Tory government, but the recommendations should be fairly moderate and tame (DO NOT bring up the fact that you were a central member of Klein’s cabinet for a decade).

3) After weeks of silence, muse about responding to the report during your ‘State of the Province’ address. If you change your mind and decide to announce the next day, don’t worry about it, the prime-time address will only cost $145,000. We have lots of money in the PR budget, so we can do both.

Respond to the report by only adopting some portions of the report (you will know which ones to adopt when we get the speech from the Public Affairs Bureau).

This will allow you to appear as a moderate who is balancing the interests of Albertans and the oil industry. Though you will deny it, you will clearly be compromising the interests of Albertans to the oil companies by not collecting a reasonable share of royalties (remember of those $15,000 annual political donations, Premier!)

Important! stay stern, Premier. DO NOT be as obvious as to tell the media to “please don’t call this a compromise“.

4) Use the Public Affairs Bureau to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising in all the major Alberta newspapers (including a full-page ad in the front-section of the Globe & Mail). The ads should reinforce the idea that you did not compromise (see 3 for explanation). Ads should include blue and orange colours.

5) The fallout from your announcement should overshadow smaller and more damaging issues such as Auditor General’s report slamming Ralph Klein’s government and the Department of Energy for failing to collect billions of dollars in royalty revenues since the 1990’s (AGAIN, DO NOT bring up the fact that you were a central member of Klein’s cabinet for a decade – this is critically important!).

Also, stick to your guns and don’t fire the Minister responsible for the Department of Energy, Minister Mel Knight. He supported and delivered votes for you in the PC leadership race. You owe him. Think about sending him out of the province for a couple of weeks after the review to let things cool down.

6) Stand proud, sit back, and enjoy your heroic glory, Premier Stelmach.

Albertans won’t have a clue what happened.

alberta auditor general report 2007 Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach Mel Knight

ed stelmach compromises albertans on the royalty review.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 26, 2007
No Comments on ed stelmach compromises albertans on the royalty review.

I have three main thoughts on Ed Stelmach‘s royalty position and the past couple of days:

1) “Please don’t say it’s a compromise,” were Ed Stelmach’s words after announcing the Tory position on royalties. The quarter-page ad in today’s Edmonton Journal didn’t convince me.

Sorry, Premier. You compromised.

Rather than taking a truly historical position, Ed Stelmach’s Tories have clearly compromised with the oil sector at the expense of Albertans. By taking a slow (a perhaps “dithering“) approach by only adopting certain portions of the already moderate and tame “Our Fair Share” report Stelmach has compromised the interests of Albertans in favour of oil companies that are posting record profits.

Ed Stelmach’s compromise with the oil companies includes increasing royalty rates by only $1.4 Billion across the sector starting in January 1, 2009 and not reaching this amount until 2010. This gives oil companies over a year to reap the rewards of current royalty system, which was created when oil was $11 a barrel. This compromise includes only moderate increases in royalties for companies such as EnCana, who have posted the largest annual profits in Canadian history. I have no problem with these companies making a profit, but these natural resources do not belong to the oil companies, they belong to Albertans.

Stelmach’s $1.4 billion will be $500,000,000 less than the amount recommended by the “Our Fair Share” report – which again was seen as a moderate and tame report to begin with (the $1.4 billion was also supported by Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft) . Other reports, such as this report released by the Parkland Institute, recommended a more aggressive approach to royalty revenues.

A Premier should stand up for the interests of the citizens of his/her province. Stelmach didn’t do that. Instead, he compromised with the oil companies and made it clear that he is willing to hand over the potential of Albertans natural resources to the oil companies, rather than allow Albertans to directly benefit from the resources that they own in the first place.

2) Where’s the accountability? Mel Knight remains Minister of Energy even after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight and the Department of Energy for failing to collect billions of dollars in resource revenues over the past 15 years.

Here is what Dunn said of Knight’s Department of Energy:

“The principals of transparency and accountability, I believe, were not followed. I’m not impressed.”

“The department should demonstrate its stewardship of Alberta’s royalty regime and provide analysis to support that stewardship and this was not done.”

“The department’s monitoring and technical review findings were communicated to decision-makers. The question is: Did they hear or were they listening? At the end of the day, I don’t know, but they chose not to act.”

Former Auditor General Peter Valentine has been appointed to investigate, but don’t expect any heads to roll in this scandal.

3) There is very little talk about why Stelmach decided it was a good idea to spend $145,000 of public dollars to hold a prime-time infomercial on Wednesday night which only offered vague platitudes and sweeping visuals of Alberta’s foothills. Maybe the Public Affairs Bureau is bored?

There is much debate over this issue, here are some opinions and responses floating around the blogosphere:

– The 5 R’s – Calgary Grit
– A Half Billion Short – Le Revue Gauche
– Royalty Check – Andrew Coyne
– Stelmach’s Choice – The EcoLibertarian
– Premier Stelmach Brought Progressive Conservative Politics Back to Alberta Tonight – Ken Chapman
– Alright, everybody exhale now – albertatory
– National “Eddie” Program – The Black Kettle

Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach Kevin Taft

kevin taft on stelmach’s royalty compromise.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 26, 2007
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Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach

alberta’s royalty review: who’s side is ed stelmach on?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 26, 2007
No Comments on alberta’s royalty review: who’s side is ed stelmach on?

I spent a good chunk of my evening at a reception hosted by Spieker Point, an Edmonton-based political consulting firm, where I had a chance to take a look at some of their new online political software (and enjoy the really good cheese and political discussion). Thanks to Allie for the invite.

Because I haven’t had a chance to take a close look at the details of Ed Stelmach‘s resource royalty announcement from this afternoon, I will take a look at recommendations and provide some more detailed comments tomorrow.

But considering the media is reporting that Stelmach’s Tories are only adopting certain portions of the fairly moderate and tame “Our Fair Share” report, I’m not sure it’s going to be as ‘historic‘ as the Public Affairs Bureau would like Albertans to believe.

A friend offered the following commentary by email tonight:

The reaction in this Post opinion piece is pretty funny:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=95dc1f42-34bb-4f91-ad6c-dc152d884f51

The premier, a farmer from Northern Alberta, showed little appreciation for the implications of his actions, suggesting the sector will continue to thrive.

Emphasis added. Not a farmer! Silly old Northern Albertan farmer. Clearly incapable of appreciating the high finance world of Toronto investment bankers and Calgary oil execs. 🙂

This story paints a less doom’n’gloom portrait:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=af56606f-3eee-4fb0-bf7c-3cde573e125b

Mr. Stelmach’s announcement came on the same day that the price of oil surged to an all-time high, and three of Canada’s biggest oil and gas companies reported stellar third quarter profits buoyed by high energy prices.

While the Public Affairs Bureau might not have written a very inspiring speech last night, their timing here was brilliant. And, perhaps, a bit lucky.

alberta auditor general report 2007 Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach Kevin Taft

ed stelmach tv.

So, how about last night’s 18 minute, $145,000 prime-time infomercial?

As it was already widly known that Ed Stelmach will be responding to the royalty review this afternoon, I’m still confused as to why Stelmach’s Tories felt it necessary to use taxpayers dollars on an infomercial that was purposely vague?

As expected, Stelmach’s much-awaited televised address Wednesday evening offered only vague hints on how he will ensure Albertans get the fair share the panel said they have been long denied.

I’m not sure what channel my friend Ken Chapman was watching (though as always, he has interesting observations), but at one point during Stelmach’s less than inspiring performance, I thought that he was trying to sell me a condo at Del Boca Vista Phase III.

During the address, Stelmach took some vague swipes at his former boss, Ralph Klein, and his closed-door style of leadership (this probably would have been an effective strategy had Stelmach not been a member of Klein’s inner-circle for nine-years and leads a government made up of the same Ministers and MLA’s).

So, all eyes turn to this afternoon when Albertans will find out whether ‘Accountability and Transparency” in the face of a challenge from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft , the ‘Our Fair Share’ royalty review, and a damning report from Auditor General Fred Dunn will actually faze Ed Stelmach’s Tories.