daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics and Elections

I’ve updated the list of Alberta PC MLA endorsements in the Tory leadership race. (You can find the total list here).

The list has been updated to reflect 7 MLA endorsements for Ed Stelmach: Health Minister Iris Evans (Sherwood Park), RAGE Minister Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake), and backbencher MLA’s George Groeneveld (Highwood), Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace), Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul), Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain), and Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermillion-Lloydminster).

Total declared support:
Jim Dinning – 27 MLA’s
Ed Stelmach – 7 MLA’s
Mark Norris – 2 MLA’s
Alana DeLong – No Declared MLA Support
Victor Doerksen – No Declared MLA Support
Dave Hancock – No Declared MLA Support
Ted Morton – No Declared MLA Support
Lyle Oberg – No Declared MLA Support
Undeclared – 20 MLA’s

If I’ve missed any, shoot me an email.

DemocraticSPACE has projected delegate candidate tallies for the Federal Liberal leadership delegate selection meetings this weekend. Interesting.

In my riding of Edmonton Strathcona, the delegate candidate tallies up to:

Stephane Dion – 19
Michael Ignatieff – 15
Gerard Kennedy – 13
Martha Hall Findlay – 7
Ken Dryden – 6
Bob Rae – 6
Undecided – 5
Joe Volpe – 3
Scott Brison – 1

Now, from what I seem to remember, delegates are selected through a conveluded process that weights individual votes for delegates with votes for the leadership candidates on the same ballot once again mixed with a quota system (4 Men, 4 women, 2 male youth, 2 female youth). It seems to me that a one-member one-vote system would make things a little simpler (or a lot more complicated if Joe Volpe is still in the race…).

On another note, there was a little spiff between a couple of blogging folks (Ken and Will), with an interesting post from Duncan…

Earlier this month, Public Interest Alberta launched their K-12 Education campaign – fill out their survey!

ha ha. Aren’t I clever?

I met with Alberta PC leadership candidate Dave Hancock this week.

At a small event at O’Byrne’s on Whyte Avenue, I had a chance to chat with Dave Hancock one-on-one for about 20 minutes. It was a good conversation. Though he looked quite tired, our conversation spanned topics from the past and future of Post-Secondary Education in Alberta to the diminished role of the Legislature under Premier Ralph Klein.

Though Hancock and I agree that the role of the elected Legislature in Alberta politics has been very much diminished since Klein ascended to power in 1992, Hancock is not totally innocent in this act.

As Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, Justice, Advanced Education, and Government House Leader in the Klein Government since being elected in 1997, Hancock has played a key role in the caucus and cabinet that shaped today’s political environment. And though I believe Hancock has mostly good intentions, not he or any other Government MLA can be admonished of the negative decisions that have happened under the Klein government – which is a key weakness of many of the top candidates for the Alberta PC leadership (with the exception of Ted Morton, who is an outsider and only was first elected in 2004).

The same way that the Government of Paul Martin was held accountable for the decisions made under Prime Minister Chretien’s reign, Alberta’s new Premier will be held accountable to the past decisions of his party and government.

From the 2005-06 Alberta Advanced Education Annual Report released this week…

Public Agreement that the Learning System is Within the Means of Most Albertans

Target – 56%
2005-06 – 48%
2004-05 – 46%
2003-04 – 50%
2002-03 – 52%
2001-02 – 63%
2000-01 – 75%

Oh no, Hedy!
Oh no, Belinda!

Though I’m not very sure that Hedy Fry’s endorsement of Bob Rae really means much in a physical sense of an organizational term, but I’m starting to get very concerned that everyone else is seeing something in Bob Rae that I’m not (or vice-versa)…

As for Belinda Stronach’s alleged affair with Tie Domi, I really can’t express to you how much I really don’t care.

How about let’s talk about the things in the world that really matter.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I really enjoyed this new ad from the World Wild Life Foundation.

I think I may hold a Summit on Global Warming myself. I could invite George W. Bush, Hugo Chavez, and Kofi Annan. I’ll send out the invites first thing tomorrow morning.

Just when I though my Diet Coke and Mentos experiment was great.

Check these out…

It’s Saturday. Here are some upcoming events here in Edmonton…

and…

As mentioned here, I met Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy on Tuesday evening at a BBQ at the Ottwell Community Hall here in Edmonton (Also, today’s Globe & Mail has an article about Kennedy).

The event was decently attended with around 60ish people packed into the community hall. Kennedy’s speech was good, and the question and answer portion following his speech was typical of these types of events. It was the one-on-one conversation that I had with Kennedy that impressed me the most.

During the question and answer session, Kennedy answered a question by talking about graduate education and innovation. Towards the end of the event, I approached Kennedy and asked him what his ideas were on the Federal Government’s role in Post-Secondary Education.

As c-lo agrees, I was quite pleased with Kennedy’s response:

1. Creation of a national ministry of education.
2. Creation of national standards for quality and accessibility.
3. Creation of a dedicated transfer to PSE which will reward provinces who meet those national standards.
4. Creation of more federal grants for students over loans.
5. Setting student loan caps where any extra debt is forgiven.

Though I may continue to have major issues and skepticisms about the Liberal Party of Canada, but my hope that Gerard Kennedy will lead that party continues.

Only somewhat…

I missed it, but apparently Richard Dawkins was a guest on Avi Lewis’ new CBC show The Big Picture. Other guests included Ronald de Sousa (Emeritus Professor, University of Toronto, Philosophy Department, Atheist extraordinaire), Cheri DiNovo (NDP MPP & Reverend, Emmanuel-Howard Park United Church), Charles McVety (President, Canada Christian College
Imam Aly Hindy, Salaheddin Islamic Centre), Alia Hogben (Executive Director, Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Led the fight against bringing Sharia Law to Ontario), Joseph Ben-Ami (Executive Director, Institute for Canadian Values (faith based public policy think tank)), and Anver Emon (Islamic law historian, University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, Specializes in Religious Fundamentalism). Check out the video on the Big Picture website.

(Props to c-lo for the linkage…)

The 2006 Canadian Blogging Awards are coming up! As some of you may remember, this blog placed a strong second in the 2005 Best Personal Blog category against the wonderful Samantha Burns (the final result was 248-245).

Here is the timeline set out for the 2006 competition:

Timetable
Nominations Open: Monday October 2, 2006
Nominations Close: Sunday November 12, 2006
Round 1 Voting Opens: Wednesday November 15, 2006
Round 1 Voting Closes: Tuesday November 21, 2006
Round 1 Results: Thursday November 23, 2006
Round 2 Voting Opens: Saturday November 25, 2006
Round 2 Voting Closes: Friday December 1, 2006
Round 2 Results: Sunday December 3, 2006 9pm EST

So, *cough* feel free to nominate this blog on October 2nd…

Sad news yesterday. Former Edmonton ITV Weatherman Bill Matheson has passed away at the age of 80. Matheson was the weatherman for that station (which is now Global Edmonton) from 1976 to 1999.

As one of many Albertans who grew up watching Bill Matheson talk about the weather on the 6pm news, I am sad to hear that he passed away.

Alberta PC Party President Doug Graham released the rules of their fall leadership race this afternoon in Red Deer. According to the Press Release…

Those interested in being a candidate must meet the following requirements:
• A candidate shall be an eligible voter as defined in the Constitution and shall be a member in good standing of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, A candidate for nomination shall file nomination papers signed by at least five hundred (500) members of the PCAA,
• A candidate shall provide a non-refundable payment of $15,000 to defray the costs of conducting the leadership selection process,
• Candidates must pledge to support the successful candidate and to abide by the Constitution of the PCAA and the Rules, Guidelines and Procedures established by the Leadership Election Committee,
• Nomination papers must be submitted at or prior to 5:00 p.m. October 16, 2006.

Election day has been set for November 25, 2006. If a second ballot is necessary a second election will be held on December 2, 2006. Polls will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on both days.

I’m betting that not all of the 9 candidates for the Tory leadership will fullfill these requirements.

They have also updated their website with somewhat vague leadership information.

From the Edmonton Journal…

A political era in Alberta will end later this year when Ralph Klein, the most colourful Canadian politician in recent memory, steps down after 14 years in office.

Klein, who went from most popular premier in Alberta’s history to being forced out of office by his own party, has formally submitted his resignation to the Conservative party. In a letter sent to party officials Saturday, he said he will step down when his successor is chosen, likely in November or December.

His resignation formally kicks off the race to replace him, which has been under way unofficially for more than a year.