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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

trustees everywhere…

With parties nominating their candidates left, right, and centre, there are a noticeable number of former school board trustees being nominated.

Two former school board chairs have been nominated in Calgary. In Calgary-Egmont, former Calgary Catholic School District Chair Cathie Williams will be taking on Tory star candidate Craig Chandler. In Calgary-Mackay, former Calgary Board of Education chair Teresa Woo-Paw is the Tory candidate taking a run for Gary Mar’s soon to be vacated seat as Mar leaves on a taxpayer funded jet plane for the posh life in Washington DC. Another former CBE Trustee, Carole Oliver, is the Alberta Liberal candidate in Calgary-Fort. Calgary-North Hill PC candidate Kyle Fawcett is also a former CBE Trustee.

In Medicine Hat, former trustee Karen Charlton is running for the Alberta Liberals.

In Edmonton, former Catholic School Trustee Janice Sarich will carry the Tory flag against current MLA and former Public School Board Trustee Bill Bonko in Edmonton-Decore. In Edmonton-Whitemud, former Trustee Nancy Cavanaugh is mounting a campaign against Tory Health Minister Dave Hancock as the Alberta Liberal candidate. And last week in Edmonton-Meadowlark, former Catholic School District chair Debbie Cavaliere was nominated as the Alberta Liberal candidate. And according to his official candidate bio, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview ND MLA Ray Martin is still the Edmonton Public School Board trustee for Ward D!

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

a look around.

– I went to the latest Young Rutherford coffee night yesterday and enjoyed some great conversation about municipal affairs in Edmonton with Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Rick Miller and Ward 5 City Councillor Don Iveson.

– Mary Christa O’Keefe has written a great article on former Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair in this week’s VUE Weekly.

– I’m excited to see underdog T.J. Keil take on former MLA Andrew Beniuk in the the Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood PC nomination.

Andrew Beniuk has a mixed political past as he was originally elected in 1993 as an Alberta Liberal in Edmonton-Norwood (defeating then-New Democrat Leader Ray Martin). Beniuk then sat as an Independent MLA in 1995 before joining fellow social conservative Liberal MLAs Julius Yankowski and Paul Langevin in joining Ralph Klein’s PC caucus in 1996.

Beniuk ran for re-election in 1997 but was defeated by Alberta Liberal Sue Olsen (Beniuk actually placed third in Edmonton-Norwood, behind Olsen and New Democrat candidate and former City Councillor Sherri McKibben). In 2001, Beniuk was also defeated in his attempt to unseat Alberta Liberal MLA Bill Bonner in Edmonton-Glengarry (now Edmonton-Decore).

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Calgary-Egmont Craig Chandler Ed Stelmach Tom Olsen

is ed stelmach waffling on craig chandler?

The ongoing saga of newly nominated Calgary-Egmont Progressive Conservative candidate Craig Chandler continues as Ed Stelmach is now saying that he wants to meet with Chandler before allowing him to run for his party. This is a confusing about-turn by Stelmach, who refused to take action this August after Chandler declared that:

To those of you who have come to our great land from out of province, you need to remember that you came here to our home and we vote conservative. You came here to enjoy our economy, our natural beauty and more. This is our home and if you wish to live here, you must adapt to our rules and our voting patterns, or leave. Conservatism is our culture. Do not destroy what we have created.

You can watch Stelmach’s original reaction to Chandler’s comment in the video below:

And this is only the beginning in the long list of tasteless comments and declarations from Craig Chandler – just take a browse through Chandler’s online homes – podcasts of the Freedom Radio Network and a webboard called Project Alberta. Yes, Chandler is a grown man who posts on a webboard.

If Stelmach is really going to refuse Chandler’s candidacy, it would have made a lot more sense to have done so before Chandler overwhelmingly defeated Jonathan Denis and Rick Smith in last week’s nomination in Calgary-Egmont. I’m not sure what is different about Chandler now (but I guess that’s what you get when you have someone like Tom Olsen running your media machine…)

For more on the Chandler saga, see Calgary Grit’s extensive post.

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Municipal Politics Public Transit

edmonton city council transit challenge.

A couple of weeks ago, I became involved with the Transit Riders’ Union of Edmonton. TRUE is a committee of Edmonton Transit Service riders who are currently researching and developing strategies to improve the quality of public transit in Edmonton.

Yesterday, TRUE issued a challenge to Edmonton’s City Council to rely exclusively on transit for the week of November 19-25. Ward 5 Councillor Don Iveson, Ward 4 Councillor Ben Henderson, and Ward 6 Councillors Amarjeet Sohi and Dave Thiele have all accepted the challenge and will join hundreds of thousands of Edmontonians on the bus this week.

By accepting the challenge, it says a lot about these four City Councillors and their commitment to improving public transit, something that is essential in creating an efficient and manageable city as Edmonton grows.

You can read coverage of the media challenge here, here, here, and in Russian here.

Here are some pictures that I took at the media conference on the steps of Edmonton City Hall.

City Councillors Ben Henderson, Dave Thiele, and Don Iveson.

Ward 5 City Councillor Don Iveson.

Ward 6 City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi
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American Politics

chuck norris approved.

I thought this was fun… thanks to A for the link.

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Uncategorized

fu_k

Since I first began blogging in January 2005, all sorts of interesting reactions have found their way into my email inbox. For the most part, the feedback is good (so keep on sending it). Many people disagree with me, which is fine, but the yusually remain civil about it. Even when the negative and mean-spirited stuff makes it into my email inbox I usually ignore it.

But last night I feel that someone out there crossed a line, and now I will share it with the world.

After going through the trouble of finding my facebook profile (which I feel might be somewhere on the other side of the line), this person sent me what can only be described as a less than coherent message. The message was from Mr. Brad Janzer, who, according to his facebook profile is a single male conservative Christian from Medicine Hat interested in women.

Here is Brad’s contribution to Alberta’s great political debate that found its way into my facebook inbox last night:

you guys are a bunch of whiny babies, get a real job and pay some taxes instead of just whining about not gettin your fair share of what other albertans have worked so hard for.
get a life you fuking loser

Putting the spirit of the message aside, I really worry about the state of political debate in Alberta when a person can’t even spell the *f* word right…

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Calgary-Egmont Craig Chandler

live from the edmontonians for craig chandler party!

It’s 9:01 pm on Saturday November 17 and I’m blogging live from the rockin’ “Edmontonians for Craig Chandler” party in Edmonton.

It’s a raucous night as Craig Chandler supporters from across northern Alberta have gathered for a night of Ayn Rand-flavoured debauchery and debate! The Ezra Levant Go-Go Girls are here in force and are handing out left-over copies of the Western Standard.

The pasty-skinned young Chandleristas in the room are chanting “adapt or leave! adapt or leave!” to the cheers of the crowd!

It’s rockin’ and everyone in the room is anxiously awaiting the news of Craig Chandler’s landslide victory in the Calgary-Egmont Progressive Conservative nomination!

9:14 pm – It looks like Craig Chandler’s vision for Alberta and its voters has spawned support across Canada! Afar in the blogosphere, it looks like Derek is the new President of the newly-formed “Torontonians for Craig Chandler” chapter. I’ve heard that the TFCC is already planning a Craig Chandler victory parade on Church and Wellesley tomorrow morning!

9:24 pm – The crowd is on tenterhooks as Craig Chandler supporters gather around the radio waiting to hear if the next PC candidate for Calgary-Egmont has finally been nominated. If anyone has heard how it went today in Egmont, the frighteningly large (and slightly threatening) crowd of Chandleristas would really like to know!

9:32 pm – I’m wondering how rockin’ the Jonathan Denis and Rick Smith Edmonton parties are. Not as frighteningly rockin’ as this one me thinks…

9:49 pm – Still no results. This is starting to get boring…

9:55 pm – Good lord, they’ve replaced the Pat Robertson techno-remixes with old podcasts from Chandler’s Freedom Radio network…

10:06 pm – Still, no results… I wonder how the Calgarians for Craig Chandler party is going?

10:21 pm – The young Chandleristas are starting to get restless. It’s past their bed time and want to hear results. I wonder when Paul Wells and Warren Kinsella are going to wade in with their coverage of the night? (Even The Shotgun is silent tonight…)

10:22 pm – I’ve just been informed through a media source in Calgary that Craig Chandler has been nominated as the Progressive Conservative candidate in Calgary-Egmont!

Copies of the Western Standard are being thrown in the air with glee by the young Chandleristas! I am frightened!

No news on the vote breakdown, but Craig Chandler has been nominated to carry Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative flag in Calgary-Egmont against Alberta Liberal candidate and former Calgary Catholic School District Chair Cathie Williams.

(commissioned art work by the artist formerly known as Holtopia)

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Alberta Politics

unfunded resolution in alberta?

– After a bizarre year of seemingly picking fights with the Alberta Teachers’ Association, it looks like there finally might be some resolution to the long-smoldering teachers unfunded pension liability issue.

Yesterday, the Tories announced that they will be investing $6.4 billion to deal with the issue. I haven’t any details of the deal, but this is a long-standing issue that has been on the mind of a lot of Albertans for a long time. Hopefully this issue will be resolved so that the government can now deal with the other critical issues facing Alberta’s education system.

– I attended session in the Alberta Legislature yesterday afternoon and have two main observations…

1) It was a little rich of Ed Stelmach to praise Stephen Harper’s electoral redistribution that gives Alberta five more seats in the House of Commons while at the same time 2/3’s of Alberta’s population is represented by under half of the seats in the Alberta Legislature.

I also noticed that Drayton Valley-Calmar Tory MLA Tony Abbott boisterously cheered the disparity when Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft pointed out urban Alberta’s underrepresentation in his response to Stelmach.

2) The bizarre contradictions that Ed Stelmach and disgraced Energy Minister Mel Knight continue to make regarding Auditor General Fred Dunn’s allegations that the Tory Government failed to collect up to $6 Billion in royalties over the past 7 years due to mismanagement and gross incompetence.

In Question Period yesterday, it was pointed out that on November 7, Ed Stelmach told The Canadian Press that as a Minister in Ralph Klein’s cabinet, he was never made aware that reports from the Department of Energy recommended that Alberta’s royalties be increased.

Here is where the contradictions begin…

Stelmach to CP: “In the time that I was around the Cabinet table…there was nothing coming to me…”

Mel Knight in the Legislature: Knight said he couldn’t release internal documents itemized by the Auditor General in his review of royalty rates because of “legislative protection with respect to some information that’s provided to the Cabinet.“

How can a document both not exist and be secret at the same time?

I think Stelmach may need to get someone other than Tom Olsen to write his talking points.

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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics

big calgary nominations on the horizon.

Following Ed Stelmach‘s selection as leader of the 36-year old Progressive Conservative Government in December 2006, the political landscape in urban Alberta – including Calgary – has become more competitive than it has been in years. This became clear in June 2007 after Alberta Liberal MLA Craig Cheffins was elected in Ralph Klein’s former seat of Calgary-Elbow. Since then, we now see both major parties attracting and nominating some pretty impressive candidates in Calgary in their work to earn Calgarians votes.

Here are four Calgary constituencies ‘to watch‘ with nomination races coming up…

Calgary-Currie – PGIB national president and recent Calgary Aldermanic candidate Steve Chapman is going up against former NBC report Arthur Kent for the Tory nomination in this constituency. The nominated Tory candidate will take on well-known former QR77 radio host and Alberta Liberal Deputy Leader and MLA Dave Taylor. In 2004, Dave Taylor upset former Alderman and incumbent Tory MLA Jon Lord by over 400 votes.

Calgary-Egmont – Former Calgary Catholic School Board Chair and Trustee Cathie Williams will be nominated tonight as the Alberta Liberal candidate. For the Tories PGIB Executive Director Craig Chandler, Rick Smith, and Jonathan Denis will duke it out for the nomination on November 17. My money is on Craig Chandler for the Tory nomination.

Calgary-Foothills – Michael Robinson, President and CEO of the Glenbow Museum, will be nominated tonight as the Alberta Liberal candidate. Robinson studied anthropology and law at Oxford and the University of British Columbia, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2005. Robinson will take on one-term Tory MLA Len Webber.

Calgary-North Hill – Former Calgary Board of Education Trustee Kyle Fawcett will go up against Paul Jackson-endorsed businessman Andrew Constantinidis. The nominated Tory candidate will take on already nominated Alberta Liberal candidate Pat Murray.

Other constituencies to keep an eye on in Calgary: Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Fort, Calgary-Glenmore, Calgary-McCall, Calgary-Mackay, Calgary-Montrose, Calgary-Mountain View, and Calgary-Varsity.

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Alberta Politics

alberta politics gets personal (and bizarre).

This past week in the Alberta Legislature has been witness to some bizarre acts.

Graham Thomson takes a good look at Ed Stelmach‘s bizarre attack tactics on Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft earlier this week. In an uncharacteristic attack on Taft, Stelmach abandoned his “nice guy” image by deliberately misquoting a quote of Taft’s from a news article on the royalties issue. This whole story seems to have less to do with Stelmach or Taft, and more to do with a lack of respect for journalists and their work. I’m still amazed that Stelmach and Tom Olsen thought they would get away with trying to pull an act like this.

My friends from the Conservative Party of Canada will surely appreciate Stelmach’s second attack. Stelmach seems to have taken a page from the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin handbook by accusing the Alberta Liberals have having a hidden agenda… sigh… here is ‘Honest Ed’s’ response to a question from Kevin Taft on accountability in the Tory Government’s Annual Business Plans:

What the Liberals would like is to hoard this money, just bring it in and then dish it out to Albertans piece by piece, through his fingers, by having Albertans come on their knees, stand before him, and say, “ Oh, please, give me some of that money back,” that should go to all Albertans. That’s what the Liberal government is all about. It’s not going to happen in this province because I don’t stand for that kind of behaviour.

I think Craig Chandler will fit in just fine.

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Uncategorized

alberta provincial candidates update.

I have updated the list of Alberta’s provincially nominated candidates for the next provincial election (most likely now in Spring 2008).

On that note, there’s one current Tory MLA looking for a new constituency to call home.

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Parkland Institute

parkland conference.

Next weekend, the Parkland Institute will be hosting a conference on sustainable communities titled “FROM CRISIS TO HOPE: BUILDING JUST AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.” Guest speakers will include Patrick Bond, Paul Gunter, and Dr. Beverly Sandalack among others.

I’m not going to be able to make it to the entire conference, but I’m looking forward to making it out to Dr. Sandalack’s Sunday session on ‘Designing Cities: Permanence and the Public Realm.’

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Alberta Politics

let’s talk legislation.

Following up from the Spring Session of the Alberta Legislature and last week’s beginning of the Fall Session, here are some of the pieces of legislation up for debate (some have carried over from the Spring Session).

Bill 1 — Lobbyists Act (Stelmach)
Bill 2 — Conflicts of Interest Amendment Act, 2007 (Brown)
Bill 7 — Private Vocational Schools Amendment Act, 2007 (Webber)
Bill 8* — Vital Statistics Act (VanderBurg)
Bill 9 — Tourism Levy Amendment Act, 2007 ($) (Oberg)
Bill 11 — Telecommunications Act Repeal Act (Dunford)
Bill 13 — Access to the Future Amendment Act, 2007 (Rodney)
Bill 23 — Unclaimed Personal Property and Vested Property Act ($) (Oberg)
Bill 24 — Real Estate Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 31 — Mental Health Amendment Act, 2007 (Abbott)
Bill 35 — Alberta Personal Income Tax Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 36 — Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment Act, 2007 (Rogers)
Bill 38 — Government Organization Amendment Act, 2007 (DeLong)
Bill 40 — Personal Directives Amendment Act, 2007 (Ady)
Bill 41 — Health Professions Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 (Hancock)
Bill 42 — Insurance Amendment Act, 2007 (Rodney)
Bill 45 — Smoke-free Places (Tobacco Reduction) Amendment Act, 2007 (Hancock)
Bill 46 — Alberta Utilities Commission Act ($) (Knight)
Bill 204 — Emblems of Alberta (Franco-Albertan Recognition) Amendment Act, 2007 / Loi modificative de 2007 sur les emblèmes de l’Alberta (reconnaissance du fait franco-albertain) (Oberle)
Bill 205 — Environmental Protection and Enhancement (Conservation and Reclamation) Bill Bill 212 — Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act (Johnston)
Bill 213 — Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act (Backs)
Bill 214 — Healthy Futures Act (Blakeman)
Bill 216 — Water Protection and Conservation Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 (Swann)
Bill 218 — Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (Repeal of Ministerial Briefing Exemption) Amendment Act, 2007 (Agnihotri)
Bill 222 — Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (Tobacco Investment Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007 (R. Miller)
Bill Pr1 — CyberPol – The Global Centre for Securing Cyberspace Act (Cenaiko)
Bill Pr2 — Crest Leadership Centre Act (Marz)

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Michael Ritter Scandal

michael ritter scandal documentary.

The real story of the Michael Ritter scandal will finally be told on in a TV documentary. A documentary team has put together a 1 hour episode on Ritter and will be airing November 28th.

The documentary team culled through all of the court documents, did their own independent research and invited everyone who was involved to participate. To no one’s surprise Michael Ritter and his cronies turned down the opportunity.

Here is a preview and the schedule for the documentary. The episode will also be airing on the Women’s Network in the USA and the Discovery Channel in the UK and internationally.

Here’s the synopsis:

EPISODE 12: The Man Without a Conscience

SYNOPSIS
When Paul Hoag and his wife Susan Edwards met businessman and philanthropist Michael Ritter they were impressed with his high-flying resume, and over the course of five years the three became firm friends. So when Ritter offered Paul the job as second-in-command at his new and apparently successful company across the country, he and Susan couldn’t say no to what seemed like a golden opportunity, despite the fact that it meant leaving their family behind.

Things seemed to be going well and Paul as well as Susan, who was now the office manager, enjoyed the work with their friend in his grand new venture. But after a time, Susan became concerned that one of Ritter’s business partners was scamming him and she and Paul began to collect evidence to convince Ritter that he was being duped. However the tables were turned when it became clear that Ritter was in fact not only heavily involved in fraudulent activities himself, but his resume turned out to be founded on lies.

Ritter was just a conman whose trusted employees blew the whistle on his pyramid scheme, but not before Ritter had bilked more than $200 million dollars from unsuspecting investors and turned his back on his closest friends, leading them into bankruptcy.

The high-flying entrepreneur who loved the limelight and adulation from the public was finally convicted on two counts of massive fraud and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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Elections Alberta

vote online.

Elections Alberta has moved into the 21st century – Albertans can now register to vote online!

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