This summer’s legislative session, originally slated to begin Aug. 30, will now start Aug. 24. The Conservatives announced the session last week in order to approve spending on education, schools and a new remand centre.
Klein cancelled an official trip to Asia to attend the session, but asked that it be changed so he could go fishing at a private lodge he co-owns near Prince Rupert, B.C.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to take the position of strongly backing Israel in the current Israel-Hezbollah ( -Lebanon? -Syria? -Iran?) conflict is startling to me. Why is the Canadian Government picking sides in this conflict?
I agree that Israel, like any state has the right to defend itself, but why on Earth would Harper want Canada to get involved in such a long-standing conflict like this one?
A long-standing conflict in which everyone involved is in the wrong to some degree.
And a conflict that has the potential to escalate very quickly.
I believe Harper made the wrong decision – the Canadian Government should be calling for a ceasefire on all sides.
Not surprisingly, Harper’s stand strongly echo’s the right-wing party line from Washington D.C. where U.S. President George W. Bush is backing the Israeli attack on Lebanon. The Bush administration is also refusing to call for any sort of ceasefire in the conflict.
For those of you interested in vacationing in the lovely Lebanese Riviera, I wouldn’t advise it at this point in time. But just in case you don’t follow my advice, according to Expedia.ca an Edmonton-Calgary-Frankfurt-Beruit flight, care of Air Canada and Luftansa, will cost you upwards of $3,700 Canadian Dollars (one-way).
I find it surprising that Expedia is acutally still selling flights to Beirut seeing as how the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport was bombed by Israeli Missiles the other day.
What an awful situation. Let’s hope for peace soon.
(Check out Lebanese Bloggers, a site I found on Idealistic Pragmatist’s blog)
(Also, check out this article from The New York Times which speculates on Israel’s strategy – props to Brad’s Brain for the link)
Here are some interesting reports that have come out recently….
– From the Institute for Research on Public Policy comes two reports on political partisanship:
The Shifting Place of Political Parties in Canadian Public Life by Kenneth Carty of the University of British Columbia and Are Canadian Political Parties Empty Vessels? Membership, Engagement and Policy Capacity Dr. Lisa Young from the University of Calgary.
– From the UK-based Demos comes a new report:
Attempts to reform public services will only succeed if they focus on the experiences of service users and become more ‘customer friendly’, according to a new report from the think-tank Demos. The report, The Journey to the Interface argues that reform of schools, hospitals and other public services have focused too much on competition and contestability, at the expense of the experience of users.
Following my triumphant return to Edmonton last Friday, I have a couple of things to say about Lethbridge:
– It’s windy.
– The Lethbridge Lodge is very nice.
– The people in Lethbridge are better looking than the people in Calgary 😉
– The University of Lethbridge has a nice campus (and a very very long hallway).
– It’s windy.
There also seems to be a semblance of political diversity in this fine southern Alberta municipality… Here are the results from the two Lethbridge ridings in the 2004 Provincial General Election (results from Elections Alberta)…
Lethbridge East
Bridget Pastoor, Alberta Liberal – 5,338 (41%)
Rod Fong, Alberta PC – 4,703 (37%)
Brian Stewart, Alberta Alliance – 1,472 (12%)
Gaye Metz, Alberta NDP – 606 (5%)
Erin Matthews, Alberta Greens – 360 (3%)
Darren Popik, Social Credit – 252 (2%)
(turnout: 48.4%)
Lethbridge West
Clint Dunford, Alberta PC – 4,411 (41%)
Bal Boora, Alberta Liberal – 3,639 (33%)
Mark Sandilands, Alberta NDP – 1,357 (12%)
Merle Terlesky, Alberta Alliance – 913 (8%)
Andrea Sheridan, Alberta Greens – 385 (3%)
Scott Sawatsky, Social Credit – 375 (3%)
(turnout: 45.5%)
Just for fun, when you combine the total party vote between Lethbridge East and Lethbridge West, here’s what the results look like:
Alberta PC – 9,114 (38%)
Alberta Liberal – 8,977 (38%)
Alberta Alliance – 2,385 (10%)
Alberta NDP – 1,963 (8%)
Alberta Greens – 745 (3%)
Social Credit – 627 (3%)
Here’s a letter from the disgruntled ol’coot letters section in Sunday’s Edmonton Journal. I think this senior Alberta really missed the mark on what she should be advocating for. It sounds like her beef is the Alberta Old Age Pension Program rather than everyone else who isn’t her.
The future is now
Putting surplus money away for future generations is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. My future is right now.
I am 80 years old and my only source of income is the old age pension. I need all the help I can get right now, so if Albertans have no use for a rebate cheque, send it to me.
I will make good use of it buying food, gasoline, heat, electricity and clothing.
Jeane McDonald, Stony Plain
I found this the other day, though it’s a little dated, it’s slightly weird in an enjoyable sort of way…
anyway, if you’re interested, here are the Tales from Parliament Hill.
Make no mistake, Lethbridge is a windy city.
Things in Lethbridge are going well. I had a great tour of the University of Lethbridge today (which included a walk down “the longest hall in the world” in their University Hall – yes, it was really really long).
On another note, it’s nice to see that after setting his mind on closing down the Alberta Legislature for the next year, Premier Klein has decided to have a fall sitting of the Assembly:
The legislative assembly office sent out a notice today saying the second session of the 26th legislature will resume at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30.
This unexpected session will come at a particularily vulnerable time for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, who will be quickly approaching a leadership race of their own in the last months of 2006. It should be interesting to see how much control the fairly lame-duck Klein dynasty will have on the PC Caucus at that point.
This unexpected fall session will also give Kevin Taft‘s Alberta Liberals, the NDP, and the Alberta Alliance a chance to bring up the issues that matter in Question Period (albeit a short one).
It will also give dejected former-Tory-now-Independent MLA and still-Tory leadership candidate Lyle Oberg a chance to reapply to join the caucus he wants to lead (yes, it is messed up…)
I’ll be gone to the wonderful City of Lethbridge until Friday. I’ll think about posting if I get the chance…
Until then, here’s some random stuff to tie you over the daveberta withdrawl…
– Props to Sam for addicting me to another wonderful thing.
– The Daily Canuck is the new blog of the week!
– oh Zidane…
For anyone up for some entertaining rhetoric, feel free to check out the Alberta PC leadership front-runner Jim Dinning‘s “on the issues” page. The page features some extremely rivitng policy statements. Here are some examples of Jim Dinning’s strong vision of leadership…
Jim Dinning on Edmonton:
“I know from the 19 years I lived in and raised my children in Edmonton between 1977 and 1997. I know that Edmonton is uniquely different than the rest of Alberta. Different history. Different geography. Unique spirit. A one-of-a-kind community mindedness.”
Jim Dinning on Voter Apathy/Democratic Reform:
“The best way elected officials can connect with their voters is to deal with the issues that count and show results. People want to see change as a result of their engagement in the political process … real change … not window dressing, not superficial posturing, not sound bites. That’s true whether it’s in provincial, federal, local politics, or in education or health care.”
Jim Dinning on Alberta’s Public Service:
“Alberta needs a public sector that is non-partisan … that’s capable of serving any political party that Albertans choose to put in office. A public sector that gives unbiased advice rather than second guessing what the politicians want to hear. A public sector that understands their job is to put forward the best ideas … the best policy proposals … then implement whatever decision their elected leaders and representatives and boards of governors or directors choose to make.”
Wow, I must say, what innovative and ground-breaking policy statements : Albertans don’t like political window-dressing, Edmonton has different geography than other parts of Alberta, and a non-partisan civil service is a good thing. (calling theses policy statements is stretching it quite a bit)
Rumoured future Team Dinning policy announcements include:
– the colour blue is uniquely different from the colour green. That’s a difference, and that’s unique.
– the FIFA World Cup was in Germany this year, and that’s unique. Different results and unique history.
-the weather in the summer is warmer than in the winter, and that’s uniquely different.
Wow, I’m really glad we have political leaders like Jim Dinning who are talented at pointing out the perfectly obvious…
And Albertans gave this guy four majority governments.
But during this so-called summer of love, Mr. Klein seems to have a bad taste in his mouth.
“There’s an old saying in politics, anyone dumb enough to run for the job is probably too stupid to have it,” he said of the seven people vying to succeed him.
“I often wonder why they want this pressure. Why they want all the media attention. Why they want this,” he added as a crush of reporters closed in around him.
“You get a lot of free dinners, but after that you get sort of tired, especially when you quit drinking and then it’s no fun at all. I don’t know why they would want to do it other than the power and the glory I guess and the free dinners and the very few perks that go along with it.”
After almost 14 years as Premier with some highs (his tenure saw the elimination of the provincial debt) and some lows (his drunken visit to an Edmonton homeless shelter), Mr. Klein reflected on the job he’ll soon be quitting.
“I wake up in the morning and I say ‘Why am I here?’ and it’s because I’m not all there.”
Reporters laughed. His political aids looked aghast.
And he couldn’t be leaving soon enough.
From Inside Higher Education…
It’s hard to be a student leader if you’ve been suspended or expelled. And leaders of the student government at the State University of New York at New Paltz think that’s entirely the point.
The president of the student government and his vice president (himself a former president) were suspended and expelled from the university this month, on charges that they harassed the director of residence life. The students are threatening to sue the university if the punishments are not revoked. But what may separate this incident from most is that the students videotaped the encounter with the residence life director, and the video, which they have posted online, (at WikiPaltz) appears to back their contention that they never endangered the college official.
The dispute started this spring after Justin Holmes and R.J. Partington III were elected president and vice president. Both of them had previously been involved in student government and had criticized the university’s enforcement of drug laws. Many activists at New Paltz are involved in the movement to decriminalize certain drugs and have accused the administration there of enforcing drug laws while ignoring more pressing student safety concerns. Some students went so far this spring as to suggest that students create a militia to protect one another, but most say that they were just trying to make a point about safety priorities and did not literally plan to arm themselves. (The university has said that it has no choice but to enforce drug laws and that it takes safety seriously.)
Read the rest here…
(1000% props to interlocutor for passing on this awesome story)
This June 19 Provincial Court of Alberta decision managed to slip by me.
As some of you know, the Provincial Court deals with most criminal matters, leaving things like fraud and extradition to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.
In this case, former Parliamentary Counsel for the Alberta Legislature Michael Ritter asked the Provincial Court to find that his constitutional rights, namely section 8 of the Charter which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, and also section 7 which guarantees the right to life, liberty and security of the person. The event in question was the police seizing his computer, which led to the discovery that he had applied for a Belizean passport under a false name, in contravention of a previous court order.
The judge in his case decided his rights had not been breached, and that all evidence as a result of the computer seizure is admissible as evidence in an eventual trial.
Other interesting parts of the June 19 decision:
-Paragraph 30: the judge noted that Ritter’s company (although he claims not to own the company) Newport has “failed.”
-Paragraph 36: the judge notes that Ritter is “not a lawyer.”
Happy reading!
Check here for the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology
Kind of a recap of the last week…
– The Alberta Liberals scored $1,400 for the Edmonton Youth Emergency Centre this week when they auctioned the Liberal Health Policy book that Premier Klein threw at a 17 year-old legislative page this spring. Also, Liberal leader Kevin Taft is taking the summer to tour Alberta communities.
– I attended Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton‘s BBQ Picnic this week in the federal riding of Edmonton Strathcona. It was well attended, but like most partisan-flavoured political events was overwhelmingly dominated by grey-haired individuals (I think I’m going to write a post about this topic at some point). Among those attending were fellow Edmonton blogger Idealistic Pragmatist, the Alberta NDP caucus, and 2004 Edmonton Strathcona federal candidate Linda Duncan.
