daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics and Elections

This popped into my email account this morning.

Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy will be talking to students this Friday from 3:30 to 5:00 in LC101 (law centre – see link for a map) at the U of A. This is a great opportunity for youth to network and meet with a man who could very well be Prime Minister of Canada within the next few years.

Kennedy is a former U of A student and founded the Edmonton food bank in 1983. He has over a decade of elected political experience, most recently as Ontario Education Minister.

If you can attend, please RSVP to dan@albertayoungliberals.ca.

I won’t be able to make it, as I’m going to lovely Canmore for the weekend, but any daveberta readers go, make sure to comment and let me know how it went.

Thoughts on yesterday’s cabinet shuffle…

– PC leadership candidate Dave Hancock‘s replacement in the Advanced Education portfolio is Calgary Egmont MLA and Education and Employment Standing Policy Committee Chair Denis Herard. The jury is still out on Minister Herard.

– Keen watchers will have noticed that Hancock’s abdication from cabinet leaves Edmonton with one less voice in cabinet. As much as I’m not surprised that they picked Herard (I actually predicted it!), I’m still surprised that Klein decided pass of the Edmonton region for a new Minister. This means that Alberta’s capital city now only has one MLA at the cabinet table (Liberal-turned-Tory Education Minister and Edmonton Mill Creek MLA Gene Zwozdesky).

Then again, with the only other “real” Edmonton choice for cabinet being Edmonton Castle Downs MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, Denis Herard doesn’t look that bad.

– After 16 years of wilting in the backbenches, Little Bow MLA Barry McFarland has finally made it to cabinet! Albeit, as an Associate Minister (which sounds suspiciously like something that’s created for MLA’s the Premier doesn’t feel are up to the job of being a “real” Minister).

McFarland was originally elected in a March 2, 1991 by-election, in which he narrowly defeated Liberal Donna Graham by 262 votes.

– Moved from one obscure portfolio to another was banished former-Health Minister Gary Mar, who was shuffled from Community Development to Intergovernmental and International Affairs.

– Also shuffled was ancient Minister Ty Lund (more affectionately known as “Forest Stump” by former Redwater Liberal MLA Nick Taylor during Lund’s tenure as Minister of “Environmental Protection” in the early-1990’s). Lund has represented the riding of Rocky Mountain House since 1989 and has been a fixture in Klein’s cabinet since 1994.

– Emerging from the far depths of the Tory backbenches are Whitecourt – Ste. Anne MLA George VanderBurg as Government Services Minister and Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Denis Ducharme as Community Development Minister.

VanderBurg was first elected in 2001 following the resignation of Tory warhorse Peter Trynchy. Ducharme was first elected in 1997, unseating one-term Liberal MLA Leo Vasseur.

Though it is yet to be seen how much faith the people of daveberta will have in George VanderBurg, I am pleased to see that Mr. Ducharme has finally made it in to cabinet. As the head of the province’s Francophone Secretariat, I hope he will be successful in bringing Franco-Albertan issues to the cabinet table.

– Final thoughts, all three of the new Ministers are known as strong Klein loyalists. I wouldn’t predict that any of them will make very many waves in cabinet. Though, I suppose after the Oberg affair, Klein wants to get back to auto-pilot.

– So, for those of you keeping score (and I know I am),

Rural Alberta = 1 new Minister (score!)
Calgary = 1 new Minister (score!)
Edmonton = minus 1 Minister (ouch)

In the wake of three Ministerial resignations, Premier Ralph Klein has shuffled his cabinet today.

This move shifts around some current Ministers, while also bringing in a couple backbenchers into the fold.

It looks like June 1th just turned into April 5th…

Here is how the new cabinet shakes out (changes are italizied):

Ralph Klein (Calgary-Elbow) – Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury Board, Minister responsible for the Public Affairs Bureau.

Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler) – Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Chair of Treasury Board, Vice-Chair of Agenda and Priorities Committee.

Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore) – Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) – Minister of Health and Wellness

Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House) – Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation (Moved from Government Services)

Gary Mar (Calgary-Mackay) – Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations (Moved from Community Development)

Clint Dunford (Lethbridge-West) – Minister of Economic Development

Gene Zwozdesky (Edmonton-Mill Creek) – Minister of Education

Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) – Minister of Energy

Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater) – Minister of Human Resources and Employment, and Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office

Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) – Minister of Environment

Heather Forsyth (Calgary-Fish Creek) – Minister of Children’s Services

Victor Doerksen (Red Deer-South) – Minister of Innovation and Science

David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod) – Minister of Sustainable Resource Development

Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake) – Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti) – Minister of Gaming

Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) – Minister of Municipal Affairs

Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) – Minister of Restructuring and Government Efficiency

Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary-Buffalo) – Solicitor General & Minster of Public Security

Yvonne Fritz (Calgary-Cross) – Minister of Seniors and Community Supports

Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) – Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development

Denis Herard (Calgary-Egmont) – Minister of Advanced Education (New to cabinet)

Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake) – Minister of Community Development (New to cabinet)

George VanderBurg (Whitecourt-Ste. Anne) – Minister of Government Services (New to cabinet)

Barry McFarland (Little Bow) – Associate Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, and Minister Responsible for Capital Planning (New to cabinet & a newly created position)

Advanced Education Minister Dave Hancock has resigned from cabinet today in order to fully concentrate his time on running in the Alberta PC leadership race. No word yet on who his replacement will be.

Following the resignations of Lyle Oberg and Ed Stelmach, this is the third cabinet resignation in the past month.

Afar, Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy has resigned from Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet to run in the Federal Liberal leadership race.

UPDATE: Rumour has it that Denis Herard will be the new Minister of Advanced Education.

Premier Klein has announced that this September, he will submit a letter to his party asking for a leadership convention to be held. Whether he will stay on as Premier after September or appoint an interim Premier is yet to be seen.

More analysis soon.

Happy Day of Pontification!

11:30am (Edmonton Time): Alberta Premier Ralph Klein’s “decision” speech (can be seen on CBC Newsworld)

1:30pm (Edmonton Time): Speech from the Throne in Ottawa (also can be seen on CBC Newsworld)

Does that mean that the grassroots are now the establishment?

From Maclean’s

Alberta Tories say delegates against Klein out of touch with grassroots

JOHN COTTER

EDMONTON (CP) – Should Ralph Klein stay or should he go? Alberta’s premier is mulling over his options after his Progressive Conservative party gave him a lukewarm 55 per cent support in a leadership review on the weekend in Calgary.

He has promised to reveal his decision by the middle of this week.

As Klein confers with advisers, senior government members were suggesting that delegates who voted against his leadership on Friday night are out of touch with the party’s grassroots.

Read le rest ici…

After receiving a majority mandate from party delegates at this past weekend’s Alberta PC convention in Calgary, Ralph Klein now has the mandate to stay and complete his two-year retirement schedule.

Though 55.4% may not be a strong mandate in some political circles, surely it can’t apply to Alberta’s very own oil Sheik.

As someone who has earned his political capital one bottle of Baby Duck at a time at the St. Louis Hotel to bringing his party back from the grasp of Death’s cold claws, Klein now has a clear mandate from a majority of party members to stay and complete the mandate he earned in November of 2004.

What could those 45.6% of delegates been thinking they showed up on Friday night to vote against their glorious leader? Were they mesmerized by the siren calls of leadership beauties Jim Dinning, Lyle Oberg, and Ted Morton? Or was Preston Manning gracefully swooning delegates behind the scenes?

After 14 years of governing Canada’s oil province with an iron fist and a sealed wallet, the least Klein could give Albertans is an entertaining 2-year touchdown period.

warning! faulty product!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Alberta PC Convention delegates, of Alberta, has announced a recall of Ralph Klein, Alberta PC leader. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

The electrical connectors in the political machine can erode, posing a fire hazard.

The product has E50, E55, E70 or E75 printed in large type on the front panel and model number 12941, 13035, 13085 or 13088 printed on the bottom of the political machine. This machine grinds complex policy ideas into rhetoric, pressure brews, stops automatically, and disregards parliamentary procedure. It can also dispense hot air for trial balloons and hot steam to froth and steam milk.

Consumers should stop using the recalled political machine immediately, and consult alternative producers to arrange for a free wire replacement.

This is a perfect example of what happens when a politician stays around past his best before date. As a non-Tory in Alberta, I am happy to see that 45.6% of delegates at the Alberta PC convention agreed with me that it was time for Klein to go. He was arrogant, visionless, and out of touch.

Allie has a couple posts up this morning live from the convention with her reaction.

Klein is expected to hold a press conference this afternoon to announce his future.

It should be interesting to see what the leadership candidates do from now… is the June 1st deadline for Ministers to resign in place? How will this effect Dave Hancock? I’m sure Jim Dinning is pleased.

Speaking of leadership candidates, what’s up with Mark Norris‘? The Edmonton Journal is reporting that he is collecting a monthly salary of $10,000 from private donors in his run for the Alberta PC leadership…

[Cal] Nichols and other Norris friends incorporated GLG Consulting (for Grassroots Leadership Group) on Dec. 29, 2004.

So far it has collected $10,000 each from almost 120 “founders,” for a total of about $1.2 million.

Norris, president of GLG and its “founders group,” sends donors a personal thank-you letter. And the company mails an invoice for $10,000, plus $700 GST, to contributors or their companies.

Norris and Nichols said the donors are free to claim the business expense as a tax deduction.

Asked if they’ve found a way to make leadership donations tax deductible, Nichols said, “Yep. We are transparent. We have nothing to hide.”

But U of C political analyst David Taras was shocked by the arrangement.

“Wow, I’ve never heard of that,” he said. “It’s like he’s a political trust fund baby. It sounds like a leadership campaign being run as a business. It’s hard to know whether they’re being really smart or really stupid.

“It takes your breath away — talk about a politician being sponsored by private individuals.”

Can I buy a stock in Mark Norris Inc?

Super blogger Allie is blogging that Premier Ralph Klein has received 55% of delegate support at the Alberta PC Convention and leadership review in Calgary.

After leading the Alberta PC’s to 4 massive majority governments, he has been very strongly shown the door.

I’m expecting he’ll announce his quick retirement plans at a press conference tomorrow morning.

“Ding dong, the king is dead…”

Not me.

But check out Allie, Duncan, and Blake – who are blogging from the Alberta PC convention and leadership review in Calgary where Premier Ralph Klein will meet his fate this evening as conventioneers cast their ballots on his future.

Check out their live blogging – but just take everything they say with a grain of salt – they are “on Ralph’s Team” after all.

The whole “cult of the leader” bit that Alberta Tories try to pull off has always caused my stomach to churn in an unpleasant way. I just don’t buy it.

Mind you, I also don’t think Ralph Klein has been a good Premier by any sense of the imagination.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the yet to be announced results of the leadership review…

As much as I’d like Klein to face a stunning rebuttal on the convention floor, part of me would like Klein to get a tempid showing of support that will allow him to stay on for the next 18 months. This would lead to months and months of wonderful blogging material as the leadership candidates jostle to force Klein to retire earlier. Alberta a la Chrétien.

But we shall see tonight… I’ll post the results when I get them…

And the body wasn’t even cold yet.

Happy Alberta PC Leadership Review!

Let the bloodshed begin!

*Cough* blog of the week*cough*

Practicalli Pragmatismo

For those of you who are addicted as myself to election results and analysis, this is a fun little site. The site includes detailed US Presidential, Senatorial, and Gubernatorial elections for the past 50 years with interactive maps with state and county breakdowns.

Cool.