daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

calgary elbow by-election.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2007
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The by-election in Calgary Elbow was called yesterday and it is anticipated to be a hotly contested race between Alberta Liberal Craig Cheffins and PC candidate Brian Heninger. The by-election is set for June 12.

As the affordable housing crisis and the battle between Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and Tory Premier Ed Stelmach play out (almost daily) on the front pages of Calgary’s dailies, these issues will likely play a big part in the Calgary Elbow campaign

Other nominated candidates include Social Credit candidate Trevor Grover, Alberta Alliance candidate Jane Greydanus (Ms. Greydanus has also authored 2063 posts on the Project Alberta webboard under the profile name “First Lady” and is engaged to former Alberta Independence Party leader Cory Morgan), and Green Party leader George Read. The mighty New Democrats have yet to announce their candidate.

Calgary Elbow was created in 1971 and MLA’s have included David Russell (1971-1989) and Ralph Klein (1989-2007). Here are the election results since 1989.

2004
Ralph Klein, PC – 6,958
Stephen Brown, Liberal – 4,938
Allison Roth, Greens – 668
Diana-Lynn Brooks, Alliance – 488
Becky Kelley, NDP – 345
Trevor Grover, SC – 69
Lloyd Blimke, Ind 51

2001
Ralph Klein, PC – 10,213
Harold Swanson, Liberal – 4,533
Mathew Zachariah, NDP – 369
Monier Rahall, Ind – 166

1997
Ralph Klein, PC – 8,237
Harold Swanson, Liberal – 5,195
Lera Shirley, SC – 421
Shawn Christie, NDP – 307
Frank Haika, NLP – 75

1993
Ralph Klein, PC – 10,061
Madeleine King, Liberal – 6,142
Eileen Teslenko, NDP – 617
Steve Tobler, SC – 312
Miel Gabriel, Ind – 101
Bruce Hansen, NL – 85

1989
Ralph Klein, PC – 4,505
Gilbert Clark, Liberal – 3,682
David Jones, NDP – 719
Larry Heather, Ind – 174

Drumheller-Stettler By-Election

drumheller-stettler by-election.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2007
No Comments on drumheller-stettler by-election.

The by-election in Drumheller-Stettler was called yesterday to replace former Finance Minister Shirley McClellan following her resignation in January 2007. The by-election is set for June 12.

Candidates include Alberta Liberal Tom Dooley, a local rancher and former County Councillor and Deputy Reeve. The Alberta Liberals didn’t nominate a candidate in this riding during the 2004 election, so it should be interesting to see how a well-known candidate like Dooley places.

PC candidate Jack Hayden is a consultant and a former County Reeve. Hayden was also a rural organizer in Tory Premier Ed Stelmach’s leadership campaign.

Alberta Alliance candidate Dave France was his party’s candidate in the 2004 election and was also, according to the Alliance Press Release, nominated as the Alliance candidate in December 2007. The Alliance’s support in Drumheller-Stettler will be telling as to whether the Alliance is really dying, as has been suggested (I’ve heard a rumour that Alliance leader and MLA Paul Hinman is seeking the PC nomination in Cardston-Taber-Warner).

Water has become a growing issue in rural Alberta and in the Drumheller area – especially since the proposed development of a shopping complex and racetrack at Balzac would divert water from the Red Deer River which flows through Drumheller for the time being (see more here)

Other nominated candidates include Social Credit candidate Larry Davidson, Green candidate Jennifer Wigmore, and New Democratic candidate Richard Bough.

Drumheller-Stettler was created in 2004 and includes portions of the former Drumheller-Chinook and Lacombe-Stettler ridings. Here are the results from the last election.

2004
Shirley McClellan, PC – 6,770
Dave France, Alliance – 1,413
Richard Bough, NDP – 890
Eileen Walker, Alberta Party – 616
David Carnegie, Separation Party – 465
Mary-Lou Kloppenburg, Social Credit – 279

Transparency

in the spirit of accountability and transparency.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2007
No Comments on in the spirit of accountability and transparency.

In the spirit of accountability and transparency, I thought it was important that I take the next step in my blogging lifetime and lay something out for public consumption: my identity.

Now, to be clear, I’ve always assumed that anyone with a single shred of investigative knowledge would have the ability to use google and take the 2-5 minutes to figure out who I am (see example), but for those who haven’t (and I’m not sure how many of my readers this includes), I have decided to expose my real life identity to you.

So, in this spirit, my name is David Cournoyer. I am a University of Alberta Political Science student.

I am the immediate past-Vice President (External) of the University of Alberta Students’ Union and immediate past-Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students.

I am also working for the Alberta Liberals starting this summer. This being the case, I will do my best not descend this blog any further into the realm of partisan hackery than it has already traveled.

So, that’s it.

Affordable Housing Alberta Tories

alberta’s housing crisis continues to explode.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2007
No Comments on alberta’s housing crisis continues to explode.

As Alberta’s affordable housing crisis continues to explode, a new poll has been released by the Calgary Herald detailing Albertans attitudes towards rent control:

Big city support for rent control

A new poll finds that a majority of Albertans in the province’s two largest cities overwhelmingly support rent controls, which have been rejected by the Tory government.

An Ipsos-Reid survey provided exclusively to the Herald Monday found 78 per cent of home owners and 92 per cent of renters in Calgary and Edmonton support having government limits to rent increases.

“Some landlords are gouging and that’s not fair,” said Calgarian Daniel Johnson, 60, who recently received notice that rent for his one bedroom apartment is jumping to $1,075 from $575. He said although he understands that there needs to be moderate housing price increases, he strongly supports rent controls.

Renters are citizens just like everybody else and they are afforded no rights under the current system,” said Johnson, who is working to establish a tenants group in Calgary. “If there was balance throughout it would be better.

Don Braid hits it right on the mark in his article in today’s Herald:

The Tories have 19 MLAs from Calgary, one-third of their entire majority.

Theoretically, the government should be well-informed about what’s going on in the city, and how people are feeling.

Too often, though, MLAs who pass on the gritty news from the inner city are ignored. The ones who win a happy reception are more ideological Tories who say what the inner circle wants to hear.

Renters and homeowners are not feeling so ideological. They want a solution to the rent crisis.

Alberta Liberals Alberta Tories Calgary Elbow By-Election Drumheller-Stettler By-Election

dropping the writ.

By-Elections in Calgary Elbow and Drumheller-Stettler were called this afternoon.

Writ Day: June 12.

fresh rocky mountain air.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 15, 2007
No Comments on fresh rocky mountain air.

Apologies for my absence, but I’ve been enjoying the beautiful Rocky Mountains for the past week.

Stay tuned for a return to a regular blogging schedule.

Alberta Alliance Alberta Liberals Alberta NDP Alberta Tories Dan Backs Edmonton Manning

criss-crossing the floor.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 10, 2007
No Comments on criss-crossing the floor.

Dan Backs, the Independent MLA from Edmonton Manning who was kicked out of the Alberta Liberal caucus last November is seeking the Tory nomination in that riding. Backs will be running against former PC MLA Tony Vandermeer for the nomination (Backs narrowly defeated Vandermeer in 2004).

MacEwan College Political Science Professor Chaldeans Mensah described the situation perfectly:

Chaldeans Mensah, who teaches political science at MacEwan College, said Backs is “a bit opportunistic” since his prospects of re-election are slim as an independent.

The Alberta Liberals will soon nominate Edmonton Lawyer Sandeep Dhir in Edmonton Manning. I was actually quite excited when I heard Sandeep was running as I know he will be a great candidate and MLA. His community experience includes serving as President of the Edmonton Inner City Housing Society, and involvement with the Theatre Network Society and the Law Society of Alberta.

Rumour has it that Ward 3 City Councillor Janice Melnychuk is considering carrying the New Democrat flag. But more recent rumours suggest Melnychuk is having second thoughts about jumping to the provincial scene to attempt to join the four-man New Democrat caucus. Melnychuk would be a strong candidate, but I wouldn’t blame her for wanting to stick to City Council.

The area covered by Edmonton Manning has been represented by three parties over the past 21 years. As Edmonton Belmont it elected NDP MLA Tom Sigurdson (1986-1993). Since being created in 1993, Edmonton Manning has elected one Tory MLA – Tony Vandermeer (2001-2004) – and three Liberal MLA’s – Peter Sekulic (1993-1997), Ed Gibbons (1997-2001), and the breifly Liberal Dan Backs (2004-2006). Regardless, Edmonton Manning will be a hard fought race as it will likely be hotly contested by all three parites.

On another note, it’s been rumoured that Alberta Alliance leader Paul Hinman is trying to negotiate his way into the PC caucus…

Alberta Liberals Alberta Tories Ed Stelmach Joe Ceci Kevin Taft Michael Phair

everyone needs a place to live.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 9, 2007
No Comments on everyone needs a place to live.

Only a week after Premier Ed Stelmach ruled out using rent control to deal with the skyrocketing cost of housing and then changed his mind, PC Party delegates forced Stelmach to change his position another 180 degrees to turn against the use of rent control (again):

In the [PC] party’s annual general meeting, delegates rejected a motion to adopt the resolutions of an all-party legislature committee that had urged Premier Ed Stelmach’s Tory government to adopt rent controls.

Meanwhile, as Stelmach continues to not act on the issue, it seems like Albertans are being left to dry in a climate of skyrocketing rent costs.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft has been continuing to hammer the Stelmach Tories on the issue.

Liberal Leader Kevin Taft says both Premier Ed Stelmach and Housing Minister Ray Danyluk got farm support payments last year.

Taft says its ironic that they take farm support cheques but wont help people struggling with soaring housing costs by imposing rent controls.

He says some Albertans are being forced to sleep in their cars and trucks because soaring rents and a shortage of housing.

Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair responded

“It’s very misguided,” Phair said. “There are many people who rent across the province who will be quite disappointed that the [PC] party didn’t take a different course of action.”

Long-time Calgary Alderman Joe Ceci responded:

“I think it’s indicative of the fact that the grassroots of the Tory party doesn’t have the best interests of low-income people in mind,” he said.

It seems that the Stelmach Tories have found themselves squarely on the wrong side of an explosive issue.

As someone who presented recommendations to the Affordable Housing Task Force earlier this year, it’s disappointing to see that the Provincial government hasn’t taken a strong leadership role on the issue.

Alberta Politics

11:19 PM.

I’ll defer to Dan for the time being (see #3)

Affordable Housing Alberta Tories

losing a fight.

Alberta’s Tories are holding their annual convention in Edmonton this weekend and I’m sure it will be less exiciting than last year’s convention.

As the Tory convention is going on in Edmonton, the waves of discontent continue to spill out on to the front pages of the Calgary dailies as Mayor Dave Bronconnier continues his massive assault on the rural-based Tory government of Premier Ed Stelmach. On the affordable housing issue, I think Bronconnier is clearly in the right. This is a province-wide issue that requires provincial leadership, not scattered municipal projects.

Graham Thomson has some interesting commentary on how Stelmach has shot himself in the foot over the affordable housing issue:

But then some Calgary journalists began poking at Stelmach. Why was he so upset with the story of one Edmonton woman? Didn’t he realize Calgary tenants have been hit by huge rent increases for months?

That’s when Stelmach unwittingly unholstered the gun and took aim at himself.

“I wasn’t aware of anybody getting a $1,000 increase,” he said. Bang.

The Calgary journalists were gobsmacked. They have been writing stories about Calgarians being hit by $1,000 rent increases since last August. There have been so many of those stories that journalists have stopped reporting on them and have moved on to heartbreaking tales of tenants being gouged by $2,000 a month rent hikes.

And here’s Stelmach saying he’s not aware of what’s going on in Alberta’s largest city. He tried to look compassionate but ended up looking clueless.

If Calgarians thought the new premier was too much of a northerner before, they must be thinking he’s from Inuvik today.

This will only add to Stelmach’s troubles in Calgary. For weeks, he’s been hammered by Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier who feels betrayed by the new provincial budget. Bronconnier says there are so many strings attached to municipal grants the city is effectively hog- tied when it comes to spending money on necessary projects such as LRT expansions.

The Stelmach government, says Bronconnier, obviously doesn’t understand the city’s issues.

Bronconnier is wildly popular in Calgary. Stelmach is not.

Does this remind you of something?

Stelmach’s position on affordable housing was made even more confusing when he did a complete 180 on his government’s position on rent controls (See: May 3 and flip to May 5).

I don’t know about you, but all this tension will sure make the upcoming by-elections in Calgary Elbow and Drumheller-Stettler interesting and leaves the opportunity open for Kevin Taft’s Alberta Liberals to make more inroads into Calgary.

Uncategorized

windy calgary.

Well, it’s been a very busy week in the life of daveberta. I’ll be away from the blogging world over the next week, so expect double the fun when return.

I’ll leave you all on a couple of windy Calgary notes with this, this, and this.

Enjoy.

International Politics

walk for darfur.

A good friend of mine who is crazy – but passionate – asked me to post about this walk he’s doing…

Hey Everyone,

This Sunday, April 29th, Churchill Square, 5-7pm!

Help stop a Genocide!

Rally for the people of Darfur!

Walking from Calgary to Edmonton, 20 people have marched, to raise awareness and demand that action be taken to bring an end to the slaughter of innocent people in Darfur.
Speaking in schools, universities, on radio and television and arriving at Churchill Square at 5pm this Sunday to call on Governments to take swift action to halt the Genocide.

Let your voice be heard!

Join us, for the people of Darfur.
For more info, go to www.walkfordarfur.ca

From the shoulder of Highway 2 northbound,

Daniel Eggert

GOOD LUCK, DAN!

2007 Edmonton Municipal Election Alberta Politics

out yonder.

Apologies for the lack of posts this week, I hope I haven’t disappointed my loyal readership (you know who you are… Anand!). It’s been a busy week as I wrap up one job and am on the brink of transitioning to another.

Here’s a roundup of stuff that caught my eye over the past week:

– I was sad to see that Michael Phair will not be seeking re-election in Ward 4 this Fall. Phair is one of Edmonton’s strongest City Councillors and I was happy to be able to vote for him in the last election.

– The court trial fallout of the Ward 10 scandal is wrapping up in Calgary. An investigation into a scandal surrounding Calgary’s municipal elections revealed there was, “an organized but unsuccessful attempt to stuff ballot boxes.” This led to Alderman Margot Aftergood admitting her campaign team requested 1266 mail-in ballots and had them sent to a mailbox rented by her husband, David Aftergood.

David Aftergood, his brother-in-law and three other members of her campaign team—including two brothers of PC MLA Hung Pham were charged for violating the Alberta Elections Act.

Yesterday, David Aftergood was found guilty of one charge.

– This scandal makes me sick to my stomach. What do we expect to acomplish over there if this is how we’re opertating.

– Gore stands up Stelmach. So much for THE DAYS.

Alberta Legislature

baby-steps for democracy in alberta.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 23, 2007
No Comments on baby-steps for democracy in alberta.

Last week, the Alberta Legislature moved to create four new all-party committees that are to review legislation referred to it from the Assembly, review regulations, and other issues referred to them.

Though this is a normal sight for most parliamentary democracies, this is something new in Alberta and will hopefully shift more power from the closed-doors of Cabinet to the elected Legislative Assembly. This said, it’s still too soon to tell how much of an impact these committees will have on Legislative Alberta. Hopefully they will prove to be more effective than their broad committee names…

Here’s a list of the committee membership:

Standing Committee on Community Services (11 Members)
Chair – Cindy Ady (PC-Calgary Shaw)
Deputy Chair – Weslyn Mather (Lib-Edmonton Mill Woods)
Tony Abbott (PC-Drayton Valley-Calmar)
Dan Backs (Ind-Edmonton Manning)
Jack Flaherty (Lib-St. Albert)
LeRoy Johnson (PC-Wetaskiwin-Camrose)
Art Johnston (PC-Calgary Hays)
Rob Lougheed (PC-Strathcona)
Thomas Lukaszuk (PC-Edmonton Castle Downs)
Raj Pannu (NDP-Edmonton Strathcona)
Shiraz Shariff (PC-Calgary McCall)

Standing Committee on Government Services (11 Members)
Chair – Harvey Cenaiko (PC-Calgary Buffalo)
Deputy Chair – Mo Elsalhy (Deputy Chair)
Moe Amery (PC-Calgary East)
Neil Brown (PC-Calgary Nose Hill)
David Coutts (PC-Livingstone-Macleod)
Alana DeLong (PC-Calgary Bow)
Heather Forsyth (PC-Calgary Fish Creek)
Richard Marz (PC-Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills)
Brian Mason (NDP-Edmonton Highlands Norwood)
Bridget Pastoor (Lib-Lethbridge East)
George VanderBurg (PC-Whitecourt-Ste. Anne)

Standing Committee on Managing Growth Pressures (11 Members)
Chair – Clint Dunford (PC-Lethbridge West)
Deputy Chair – Dave Taylor (Calgary Currie)
Victor Doerksen (PC-Red Deer South)
Denis Herard (PC-Calgary Egmont)
Ray Martin (NDP-Edmonton Beverly Clareview)
Bruce Miller (Lib-Edmonton Glenora)
Ray Prins (PC-Lacombe-Ponoka)
Dave Rodney (PC-Calgary Lougheed)
George Rogers (PC-Leduc-Beaumont-Devon)
Len Webber (PC-Calgary Foothills)
Gene Zwozdesky (PC-Calgary Mill Creek)

Standing Committee on Resources and Environment (11 Members)
Chair – Denis Ducharme (PC-Bonnyville-Cold Lake)
Deputy Chair – David Swann (Lib-Calgary Mountain View)
Pearl Calahasen (PC-Lesser Slave Lake)
David Eggen (NDP-Edmonton Calder)
Gordon Graydon (PC-Grande Prairie-Wapiti)
Doug Griffiths (PC-Battle River-Wainwright)
Paul Hinman (AA-Cardston-Taber-Warner)
Ty Lund (PC-Rocky Mountain House)
Rick Miller (Lib-Edmonton Rutherford)
Len Mitzel (PC-Cypress-Medicine Hat)
Frank Oberle (PC-Peace River)

Municipal Politics

elect ben henderson!

Ben Henderson, Edmonton City Council candidate for Ward 4, is having a BBQ fundraiser next weekend.

Ben came very close to being elected in 2004 (coming within striking distance of defeating incumbent-Councillor Jane Batty. Making Ward 4 one of the closest races in the 2004 Edmonton City Council election).

The Elect Ben campaign will be launched with the Second Annual First BBQ of the Season to be held Sunday April 29th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Rossdale Community Hall, 10135 – 96 Avenue. Food and drinks will be provided. There will be door prizes, a silent auction, and a 50-50 draw.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by phoning 428-1913, sending an e-mail to electben@benhenderson.net, or at the door.