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2008 Alberta Provincial Election Alberta Politics Alberta Tories

give me a p-a-t-r-o-n-a-g-e!

For those who doubted the existence of the culture of entitlement and partisan patronage present under Alberta’s 36-year Tory regime, I present Case #9731.

Edmonton… Edmonton lawyer and community volunteer Douglas Goss has been designated chair of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)’s Board of Governors.

It just so happens that Doug Goss is also the co-chair of the Stelmach Tories’ election campaign.

For more information on Tory political patronage in Alberta, click here, here, and here.

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election Smart Growth

out-of-the-box development.

I have a new post up on CBC’s Edmonton Votes 2007 in which I discuss Transit-Oriented Development – one alternative to the current reckless urban sprawl-type development we are witnessing.

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election

it’s about a plan.

I have a new post up on CBC’s Edmonton Votes 2007 on some ideas about how Edmonton can be savvier in the way we let our city grow while avoiding the mistakes that other cities have made in not managing their growth and development properly.

Enjoy.

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election Ben Henderson

edmonton election 2007: something about ward 4.

It must be something in the water that attracts the flood of candidates that Ward 4 perennially does.

There are 15 candidates running in this Ward with one vacant seat left by retiring Councillor Michael Phair. I don’t blame Phair for retiring after 13 years on City Council, but his retirement has cost Edmonton its easily most effective and progressive member of City Council.

That said, there are some pretty good candidates running to replace Phair.

Ben Henderson (who I am supporting and voted for when I lived in Ward 4 in 2004) is the front-runner to take Phair’s seat. Henderson placed a unusually strong third place in 2004 – nearly defeating Councillor Jane Batty (who is seeking re-election).

Ben Henderson has a strong team (including his wife – Edmonton-Centre MLA Laurie Blakeman) and has been campaigning hard since April. Henderson is a strong candidate with strong ties to Edmonton’s Community Leagues and Arts Community.

Another candidate who I’ve been fairly impressed with is Lewis Cardinal. Cardinal, a consultant and aboriginal social activist, has laid out a good platform and would be a strong and effective voice on City Council.

A Ben Henderson and Lewis Cardinal Ward tag-team could be the most effective Edmonton has seen in years.

The only other two candidates who I would classify as ‘serious’ are Jane Batty and Debbie Yeung. Batty, who was first elected in 2001, is what I like to consider an ‘inoffensive candidate,’ I don’t have much against Batty but she hasn’t been the strong advocate that one would expect would come out of an eclectic district like Ward 4.

Third-time candidate Debbie Yeung has stunned Edmontonians with her campaign team’s superior website designing skills, but her platform hasn’t really diverged from the typical right-wing pablum that usually comes out of candidates aligned with the likes of Mike Nickel (which she is).

Other entertaining candidates include former Ward 6 City Councillor Sheila McKay (who claims she invented the LRT), Reverend Brian Patterson (who thinks prayer would solve fire response problems), Adil Pirbhai (a perennial candidate), Margaret Saunter (of Christian Heritage Party of Canada fame), and Brian Wissink (who clearly has no idea what he’s getting himself into).

2007 Candidates
Jane Batty*
Nyambura Mia Belcourt
Lewis Cardinal
Judith (Jodi) Flatt
Ben Henderson
Sheila McKay
Brian Patterson
Deborah Peaker
Adil Pirbhai
Hana Razga
Thomas Roberts
Margaret Saunter
Brent Thompson
Brian Wissink
Debbie Yeung

2004 Election Results
Michael Phair – 23,219
Jane Batty – 14,352
Ben Henderson – 12,475
Debbie Yeung – 10,500
Thomas Roberts – 1,945
Dale Ferris – 1,702
Paul Welke – 1,417

Facebook Count
Elect Ben Henderson – Ward 4 – 40 members
Lewis Cardinal for Ward Four – 382 members
Rev. Brian Patterson for Edmonton City Councillor, Ward 4 – 17 members
Vote Brent Thompson for Alderman (Ward 4) – 138 members
Change for Ward 4 (Brian Wissink) – 8 members

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election

mayoral forum.

The Vote Project will be hosting a Mayoral Forum tomorrow night (October 10) at Red Star (10534 Jasper Avenue NW) starting at 7:30 p.m.

It’s your chance to hear what the Mayoral candidates have to say!

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election Don Iveson

building a big tent in ward 5.

Don Iveson has received another round of endorsements in his campaign to represent Ward 5 on Edmonton City Council.

Recent endorsements include:
– Larry Langley (Ward 5 Councillor, 1995-2004)
– Janice Melnychuk (Ward 3 Councillor 2001-2007)
– Dr. Gary McPherson (Former PC leadership candidate)
– Gene Dub (Architect, Ward 2 Councillor 1977-1980)

Earlier endorsements included:
– Michael Phair (Ward 4 Councillor, 1992-2007)
– Dr. Don Massey (Alberta Liberal MLA Edmonton-Mill Woods, 1993-2004)
– Dr. Raj Pannu (New Democrat MLA Edmonton-Strathcona, 1997-present)
– Ellen Shoeck (Author of I was there, an alumni history of the University of Alberta)
– Alex Khan (President, Malmo Plains Community League)
– Dr. Don Carmichael (University of Alberta Political Science Professor)

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election

edmonton election 2007: a race in ward 3.

With the retirement of two-term Councillor Janice Melnychuk, the open seat in Ward 3 has captured the imagination of a couple interesting candidates (though not the floodgate of 15 candidates vying for the vacant seat in Ward 4).

Contenders for Ward 3 include social activist and Friends of Medicare head Harvey Voogd and businessperson Tony Caterina. You might remember both of them from previous races such as Voodg’s 2001 adventure with the New Democrats in Edmonton-Norwood and as a candidates for the short-lived elected Capital Health Board. Tony Caterina’s previous adventures include time as Ward 3’s third place candidate in 2004 and the Alberta Alliance in provincial constituency of Edmonton-Centre in the same year. I’m sure both Voogd and Caterina are hoping that the ‘third time’s a charm.’

It should be a close fight between Voogd and Caterina for the vacant seat, but with Voogd as the natural candidate for the northeast’s Liberal and New Democrat voters, I’m predicting Voogd has the edge over Caterina.

Incumbent Councillor Ed Gibbons will most likely be safely re-elected. Even though Ed Gibbons hasn’t been the most effective voice on City Council, his long-time involvement in Ward 3 has bolstered his name recognition in Edmonton’s northeast. Gibbons is the former President of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues and served one-term as the Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Manning from 1997 to 2001.

Ward 3 has elected a number of luminaries in the past, including former Mayoral candidate Robert Noce, current leader of the New Democrats Brian Mason, and former Edmonton-East Federal Liberal MP Judy Bethel.

2007 Candidates
Kyle Balombin
Tony Caterina
Ed Gibbons*
Shiu Wing Mak
Chris Martin
Chris Roehrs
Thomas James Tomilson
Harvey Voogd

2004 Election Results
Janice Melnychuk – 21,020
Ed Gibbons – 17,524
Tony Caterina – 9,416
Joan Duiker – 5,978
Kyle Balombin – 3,334

Facebook Count
Tony Caterina for Ward 3 – 48 members
Chris Martin for Edmonton City Council – Ward 3 – 118 members

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Accountability Alberta Royalty Review getitrightalberta.ca Transparency

reveal yourselves, getitrightalberta.ca.

The getitrightalberta.ca scandal has received no shortage of attention in the blogosphere – you can find some good posts on this astroturf here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The astroturfing has also spread to the emerging facebook world.

Luckily, online civil society is alive and well as another group is set up calling on the Government to ‘Do what’s right for Alberta.’

But, the question still remains: who is behind Hill & Knowlton’s getitrightalberta.ca?

The debate over Alberta’s natural resource royalties is too important to include anonymous stakeholders. Reveal yourselves!

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election

edmonton election 2007: the race for ward 2.

There is a pretty straightforward race in northwest Edmonton’s Ward 2.

Ron “ten-terms isn’t enough” Hayter is seeking his eleventh-term on Council. This is unfortunate, because Edmontonians would do well to rid themselves of the dead weight of having Hayter in the Council Chambers (I’m sure he was an effective City Councillor when he was first elected in 1971).

Hayter’s ward-mate, Kim Krushell, shouldn’t have much of a problem getting a second-term representing Ward 2. First elected in 2004, Krushell was EA to former Ward 5 Councillor Larry Langley before running in Ward 2. Though I have some reservations about Krushell’s cutthroat networking style, she has been a fairly effective advocate on City Council (her spearheading of the Universal Bus Pass for University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan College students on City Council was a particularly bright spot).

Both Hayter and Krushell are facing some interesting challengers though. Dave Loken and Jabin Caouette, who both ran in 2004, have come off as more tight and together with their ideas and presentation than they did three years ago. Unfortunately for first-time challenger Shelley Tupper, crying during her speech at the first Ward 2 forum has set an unfortunate tone for her chances on October 15.

Dave Loken will have a good chance in 2010 if and when either a) Hayter FINALLY retires for good in 2010 (don’t bet on it), or b) Krushell take a run for the Mayor’s chair in 2010.

2007 Candidates
Jabin Caouette
Ron Hayter*
Kerry Hutton
Kim Krushell*
Dave Loken
Shelley Tupper

2004 election results
Ron Hayter – 18,386
Kim Krushell – 12,966
Dave Loken – 7,512
Don Koziak – 7,289
Tim Hajar – 4,542
Mimi Williams – 3,978
Kerry Hutton – 1,820
Larry Thomson – 1,629
Jabin Caouette – 1,526

Facebook Count
Re-Elect Kim Krushell: 56 members

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2007 Edmonton Municipal Election Alberta Royalty Review polls

edmonton mayoral election poll.

Here are the results from the recent daveberta election poll. Not surprisingly, Stephen Mandel crushed.

Dustin Becker – 1 (1%)
Dave Dowling – 4 (5%)
Khaled Kheireddine – 0 (0%)
Don Koziak – 18 (22%)
George Lam – 1 (1%)
Peter T. Lefaivre – 1 (1%)
Robert Ligertwood – 1 (1%)
Stephen Mandel – 46 (57%)
Bill Whatcott – 8 (10%)

Votes so far: 80
Poll closed

A new poll is now up asking readers their thoughts on the ‘Our Fair Share’ royalty review report and Alberta’s natural resource royalty rates…

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Accountability alberta auditor general report 2007 Ed Stelmach Mark Norris Provincial Government Credit Cards Ron Stevens Sasha Angus Transparency

ron stevens’ hawaiian vacation.

What a week in Alberta politics. First, the damning Alberta Royalty Review Report and Auditor General’s Report slammed Ed Stelmach‘s Tory Government for failing to collect BILLIONS of dollars in resource revenues owed to Albertans over the past 15 years. Then only days later, Ed Stelmach was refusing to fire his Cabinet Ministers responsible for the Department of Energy royalty scandal.

Now, it appears that the Stelmach Tories are being hit with new emerging scandals to deal with.

CBC has discovered that Stelmach’s Calgary Lieutenant, Deputy Premier and Calgary-Glenmore Tory MLA Ron Stevens, used his government credit card to make a three-day ‘pit stop’ in Hawaii on a 2003 winter trip to Australia for government business.

Credit card statements obtained under Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act show meals and drinks for Stevens, his wife and four others during their Honolulu stay were paid for with government cards.

Stevens defended the spending as saving Albertans money by taking a three-day tax-payer funded Hawaiian vacation.

Earlier this week Auditor General Fred Dunn revealed that former Tory Minister and leadership candidate Mark Norris and his assistant Sasha Angus used government credit cards to rack up nearly $50,000 in personal expenses with little record keeping (including for a bachelor party in Las Vegas). So, I think Albertans can be forgiven if it’s a little hard to take Stevens’ ‘word for it.’

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Alberta Politics Ed Stelmach

ed stelmach does bobby mcferrin.

What happens to politicians who become running jokes?

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alberta auditor general report 2007 Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach Greg Melchin Kevin Taft Mel Knight

what does it take to get fired around here?

Ed Stelmach is refusing to take action against current-Energy Minister Mel Knight and former-Energy Minister Greg Melchin after the Department of Energy was singled out by Auditor General Fred Dunn for failing to collect BILLIONS of dollars in resource revenues owed to Albertans over the past 15 years.

After noting that he recieved the ‘run-around’ from officials within the Ministry of Energy, Dunn slammed the Stelmach Tories management of Alberta’s resource royalties:

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.”

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft is calling for Stelmach to fire Mel Knight and Greg Melchin.

“The public record clearly shows Albertans have been lied to,” Taft said. “The auditor general tells the truth about the government’s record of handling Albertans’ resources; government ministers, on the other hand, have been misleading the legislature and the public.”

Stelmach responded by saying that he’s “not interested in a witch hunt.“

It’s clear that Stelmach is protecting his long-time Tory friends. Mel Knight supported Ed Stelmach’s campaign during the 2006 Alberta PC Leadership Selection and Stelmach, Knight, and Greg Melchin were all full-members of Ralph Klein’s cabinet at the same time that the Tories failed to collect the BILLIONS of dollars in resource royalties owed to Albertans.

With the damning results of the Auditor General’s report coupled with Knight’s defence of the AEUB‘s using public funds to hire private investagators to spy on ordinary Albertans, one really has to wonder, what does it take to get fired in Ed Stelmach’s Tory Government?

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Accountability Alberta Royalty Review Ed Stelmach getitrightalberta.ca Transparency

who’s behind ‘getitrightalberta.ca?’

Over the past week, a new website has popped up – getitrightalberta.ca – calling for Alberta’s Tory Government to keep the resource royalty structure the way it is – even after the damning Alberta Royalty Review Report and Auditor General’s Report slammed Ed Stelmach‘s Tory Government for failing to collect BILLIONS of dollars in resource revenues owed to Albertans over the past 15 years.

The big question is, who is behind this website?

A bit of investigating will reveal that the website has been set up by the consulting firm Hill & Knowlton and a quick check at CIRA will reveal that the website registration is listed as:

Registrant Name Hill & Knowlton
Registrar Webnames.ca (UBC Research Enterprises Inc.)
Renewal Date 2008/09/25
Date approved 2007/09/25
Last changed 2007/09/28
Description
Registrar Number 70
Registrant Number 2010422
Domain Number 2010422
DNS1 ns1.maximumasp.com 216.128.31.5
DNS2 ns2.maximumasp.com 216.128.31.6

Administrative Contact
Name Lisa Litz
Job Title
Postal Address Suite 540, 202 – 6th Avenue SW Calgary AB T2P2R9 Canada
Phone 1-403-5146236
Fax
Email lisa.litz@hillandknowlton.ca

Technical Contact
Name Lisa Litz
Job Title
Postal Address Suite 540, 202 – 6th Avenue SW Calgary AB T2P2R9 Canada
Phone 1-403-5146236
Fax
Email lisa.litz@hillandknowlton.ca

Now, far be it from me to assume that a slick large national consulting firm like Hill & Knowlton wouldn’t set up a website like this out of the kindness of their hearts, but I’m going to do just that – assume that Hill & Knowlton isn’t doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

So, the question remains: who is behind ‘getitrightalberta.ca?’

Interestingly, Hill & Knowlton’s Calgary office is led by none-other than Mr. Ken Boessenkool, a member of the infamous firewall six and former adviser to Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper.

So, the still question remains, who is really behind ‘getitrightalberta.ca?’

The debate about Alberta’s resource royalties is too important to Alberta’s future to include ‘hidden stakeholders.’

Who is paying Hill & Knowlton to run this site?

Albertans should email Mr. Ken Boessenkool and ask him straight out.

Albertans are owed an explanation.

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alberta auditor general report 2007

alberta’s sheila fraser moment.

Alberta’s Auditor General Fred Dunn released his annual report today, and it is scathing…

– Royalty Tracking System gets a failing grade
– High living expenses, staff bonuses criticized
– Provincial Government Credit Cards Misused
– Tory gifts questioned by auditor
– Alta giving up billions in oil cash to inaction, incompetence: auditor general
– Alberta government hid royalty-hike advice
– Minister’s aide used gov’t credit card for $30,000 personal expenses: audit
– Poor Planning has caused $6.1 Billion provincial maintenance backlog
– ‘Leadership’ was needed

While noting that he recieved the ‘run around‘ from officials within Ed Stelmach‘s Tory Government while conducting the audit, here are some quotes from Fred Dunn:

On the 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.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft responded to the Auditor General’s report:

“The Auditor General’s report shows a government that is deliberately misleading Albertans and that has been deceitful about its royalty collection. The people of Alberta should be furious with what the Auditor General uncovered today and should run this government out of office. I think it is time Ed Stelmach should do the courageous thing: bring this scandal ridden government to an end and call an election.”

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