Tag: Gary Mar

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Alberta Politics

no shock and awe, alberta pc leadership debate was a tame affair.

Alberta PC leadership Debate 2011
PC leadership candidates on the set of the Global TV debate: Doug Horner, Gary Mar, and Alison Redford.

Last night’s Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership debate, broadcast live province-wide on Global Television and QR77 and 630CHED, was a tame affair.

Overshadowing the evening was the recent passing of candidate Alison Redford‘s mother, who had been admitted into the hospital in High River the day before. Despite what must have been an incredibly difficult day, Ms. Redford demonstrated personal strength and delivered a strong performance during the debate. She was also the only candidate not to refer to notes during the course of the debate, only glancing at her notes during her opening and closing remarks.

None of the three candidates hit a home run during the debate, but each of the candidates demonstrated their own strengths and solid speaking skills. Each of the candidates highlighted their experience, both at and away from the cabinet table.

Unlike the 2006 leadership contest, where there were very obvious ideological and policy differences between the top three candidates, the three candidates standing at the podiums last night share similar political space within their party, with some notable exceptions.

Over the course of the hour-long debate, Ms. Redford and Doug Horner honed their criticisms on first-ballot front-runner Gary Mar. A seasoned politician of almost 20 years, Mr. Mar was quick to fend off criticisms of his support for privatized healthcare and his quiet acceptance of more than $400,000 in MLA transition allowance when he became Alberta’s chief lobbyist in Washington D.C. Both Ms. Redford and Mr. Horner took positions that health care can be improved from within the public system, rather than introducing more for-profit health care. They also raised the issue of trust in reference to Mr. Mar’s transition allowance flip-flop.

Mr. Mar played the front-runner game during the debate, saying a lot without actually saying much. Mr. Mar is intelligent and articulate, but his highly staged campaign has given him the air of an overly polished professional politician. He took every opportunity to remind the viewers that unlike his two opponents, he did not sit at Premier Ed Stelmach‘s cabinet table (though most of that cabinet table is now supporting Mr. Mar).

Ms. Redford and Mr. Horner used the debate to differentiate themselves from Mr. Mar on issues including health care, education, municipal affairs, and the oilsands. Mr. Mar earned 40% on the September 17 first-ballot vote, which presents a tough challenge for any candidate trying to close that lead. Is it impossible? No. Is it improbable? Maybe.

PC members will vote in a second-ballot preferential vote on October 1. If no candidate receives more than 50% on the second-ballot, the third place candidate will be dropped off and their second place votes will be redistributed among the top two candidates.

A big thanks to Rob Breakenridge for inviting me to talk about the PC leadership debate on his radio show on QR77 and 630CHED last night.

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Alberta Politics

alison redford takes a break, hugh macdonald calls it quits.

Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Alison Redford, who placed second in her party’s first ballot leadership vote on September 17, announced yesterday that her campaign would be temporarily suspending its efforts so that she could spend time with her mother who had recently been admitted to the hospital in High River. 630 CHED has reported that Ms. Redford’s mother passed away last night.

My thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Redford and her family in this difficult time.

Candidates Doug Horner and Gary Mar are continuing to campaign for the second ballot vote to be held on October 1. Ms. Redford’s campaign manager, Stephen Carter, told 630 CHED that Ms. Redford would be participating in a television leadership debate scheduled for this evening.

Hugh MacDonald calls it quits

You read it here first – four-term Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald announced that he will not be seeking re-election when the next general election is called. Mr. MacDonald has represented the Edmonton-Gold Bar constituency since 1997, continuing the legacy of former Liberal MLA Bettie Hewes, who represented the constituency starting in 1986.

Mr. MacDonald is easily one of the hardest working MLAs sitting in the opposition benches, though his undying focus on uncovering scandal in the PC government can easily be confused with obsession. Placing second in the recent Liberal leadership contest, Mr. MacDonald made a very public spectacle about his concerns around the legitimacy of the voters list that helped elect former Tory MLA Raj Sherman.

The Liberals are losing a veteran MLA, but this could be a golden opportunity for them to bring new blood into their caucus in the closest thing that party has to a “safe riding” in Alberta.

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Alberta Politics

blue man group plans to unite the right in alberta.

 

The original blue man group united the right in Ottawa: Ted Morton, Stephen Harper, and Ken Boessenkool.
The original blue man group united the right in Ottawa: Ted Morton, Stephen Harper, and Ken Boessenkool.

Aiming to ‘unite the right’ in Alberta by mending fences in Alberta’s conservative political camps, a new “Alberta Blue Committee” has been formed by long-time conservative strategist Ken Boessenkool.

From the Edmonton Journal:

He has promised its members will reveal themselves next week and that Albertans will see them as “politically active, smart, young people,” mostly between the ages of 35 and 45, whom either the Tories or Wildrose Party would see as attractive candidates for cabinet posts depending on which party wins the next provincial election.

Despite claims by Journal columnist Lorne Gunter that the forty-year governing Progressive Conservatives sit in the “centre-left” or by Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Party that leadership candidates Doug Horner, Gary Mar, and Alison Redford are too “progressive” for the average Alberta, anyone with basic understanding of these concepts will see that the labels do not fit. (See Robert Remington’s recent column in the Calgary Herald for more on this topic).

Mr. Boessenkool’s new initiative appears to be based on a perceived threat of a vote split between the two main conservative parties in the next provincial general election.

The province’s only traditional “left” political party, the New Democrats, are vocal, but their support has been electorally limited to a handful of urban pockets across the province (mostly in Edmonton). The Alberta Party, a new centrist alternative led by Hinton Mayor Glenn Taylor, are slowly organizing and still need to prove that they can elect an MLA.

Even the official opposition Alberta Liberals, now led by former Conservative MLA Raj Sherman, need to figure out what they stand for before they can be seen as challenging the two dominant conservative parties (and decide if they want to be the third).

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old boys club? gary mar is entitled to his entitlements.

Beating off criticisms that he represents the “Old Boys Club” of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party, leadership front-runner Gary Mar‘s campaign has been helped with a public plea from his former executive assistant and current campaign volunteer to leave him alone! Mr. Mar’s former EA happens to be none other than Kelley Charlebois.

Albertans may remember Mr. Charlebois as the owner of the company that was awarded $390,000 worth of controversial contracts to consult with with then-Health Minister Mar between 2002 and 2004.

When asked by Liberal MLA Kevin Taft in 2004 about what reports Charlebois Consulting had completed for Health and Wellness, Mr, Mar simply responded that “there are no reports as such.”

When asked whether Charlebois Consulting won these contracts through a competitive process, Mr. Mar simply responded “No.”

Even auditor general Fred Dunn reported that Mr. Mar’s ministry failed to follow its own policies when issuing the contract to Mr. Charlebois’ company.

Mr. Mar is also taking heat for accepting a a $478,499 severance payment when he resigned as a MLA to become Alberta’s representative in Washington D.C. in 2007. Mr. Mar had pledged not to accept the payment, but he quietly cashed in not long after he started his $264,069 base salary job as Alberta’s chief lobbyist in the American capital.

When asked about his decision to accept the severance, Mr. Mar told the media: “I did say I would defer it to some point in the future. I didn’t say when.”

In the words of former federal Liberal cabinet minister ‪David Dingwall, Mr. Mar was entitled to his entitlements.

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splitting the ukrainian-canadian vote in alberta.

Supporters of Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Gary Mar are tapping into the large group of Ukrainian-Canadians who helped Ed Stelmach win his party’s leadership in 2006. Elaine Kalynchuk, a prominent member of the Ukrainian-Canadian community in Edmonton and VP Membership of the Edmonton-Whitemud PC Association, sent this email in support of Mr. Mar over the list-serve for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Edmonton on Friday, September 23.

Ms. Kalynchuk’s email may be indicative of a split in support in the politically powerful Ukrainian-Canadian community. Former Deputy Premier Doug Horner has earned strong support from MLAs in rural constituencies with a high Ukrainian-Canadian population (Ray Danyluk in Lac La Biche-St. Paul, Jeff Johnson in Athabasca-Redwater, and Genia Leskiw in Bonnyville-Cold Lake) and performed strongly on the September 17 first ballot vote in these constituencies and in Premier Stelmach’s Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville constituency. Meanwhile in Edmonton, Mr. Mar drew strong support on the first ballot vote in constituencies where Premier Stelmach drew support from Ukrainian-Canadian voters in 2006.

Here is Ms. Kalynchuk’s email to subscribers of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress email list-serve:

From: Infosource
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:22:05 -0600
To: <11>; <14>
Subject: PC Party of Alberta Leadership Endorsement – Gary Mar

Вітаю!

I hereby endorse Mr. Gary Mar as leadership candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. After putting a lot of thought into this decision and interacting with Gary on numerous occasions, it is very clear to me that he is our best candidate to lead Alberta into the future.

I was quickly impressed by the people that Gary attracted to his team – a diverse group of passionate Albertans. Gary recognizes the importance of hard work, honesty, integrity and honouring your word in all aspects of life. He is very approachable and listens to what everyone has to say. The way he deals with people demonstrates his strong leadership style. I have full confidence that Gary will continue to make excellent choices when elected PC Leader.

Gary has a tremendous wealth of experience in government, as well as the private sector. He served as Minister of Health and Wellness, Education, Environment, International and Intergovernmental Relations and Community Development. Most recently, Gary served in Washington D.C. as Alberta’s official representative to the United States.

Gary is smart, professional, well-spoken and visionary. He knows about Alberta’s most pressing issues and has the experience to initiate the change we want and deserve. Gary is the leader we need to navigate our province into a fast-changing and global future.

I truly hope you join me in taking out a PC membership and supporting Gary Mar for PC Leader on September 17, 2011. To find out how to buy a membership and vote or to volunteer, visit Gary’s website at www.garymar.ca.

Sincerely,

Elaine Kalynchuk

Former Board Member, Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council
Former Board Member, Canada Ukraine Development Association
Team Member, Alberta Ukraine Genealogical Project
Board Member, Canadian International Council, Edmonton Branch

(Thanks to reader Jeff for passing along this email)

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Alberta Politics

second-ballot math: alberta tory caucus splits between redford, mar, horner.

Map-of-MLA-support-in-the-2011-Alberta-PC-leadership-contest-September-21-2011
Map of MLA support in the 2011 Alberta PC leadership contest (September 21, 2011)

The three candidates eliminated on the first-ballot vote to choose the next leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives have all announced their support for front-runner Gary Mar. Carrying 40% of the vote on the first-ballot, it is understandable why the three would endorse the front-runner in terms of both personal political calculation and party unity.

Scattering a little differently, the group of MLAs who supported the three eliminated candidates have begun to throw their support among the remaining candidates.

Leadership candidate Doug Horner held a media conference yesterday to announce that Ted Morton supporter Edmonton-Mill Woods MLA Carl Benito was joining his campaign.

Other supporters of Dr. Morton, Calgary-Lougheed MLA Dave Rodney, Edmonton-Calder MLA Doug Elniski, and Edmonton-McClung MLA David Xiao, are backing second place candidate Alison Redford.

The only MLA to follow Dr. Morton’s lead into Mr. Mar’s camp is St. Albert MLA Ken Allred. It has been speculated that Housing Minister and Calgary-Egmont MLA Jonathan Denis may endorse Mr. Mar this week. (UPDATE: Minister Denis has endorsed Mar).

Including Minister Denis, there remain five MLA supporters of Dr. Morton who have yet to throw their support behind any of the top three candidates (as far as I am aware). Those remaining MLAs are Livingstone-Macleod MLA Evan Berger, Highwood MLA George Groeneveld, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview MLA Tony Vandermeer, and Edmonton-Manning MLA Peter Sandhu.

Doug Griffiths‘ only caucus supporter, Calgary-North Hill MLA Kyle Fawcett, is also backing Alison Redford.

Meanwhile, Dr. Morton’s campaign manager Sam Armstrong, remained critical of Mr. Mar’s candidacy. Mr. Armstrong told the Calgary Herald in an interview that:

“It’s the same old, Old Boys’ Club around Gary that’s been there forever”

Mr. Orman’s endorsement of Mr. Mar was also not enough to convince his campaign manager Patrick Walsh to come along. Mr. Walsh is now supporting Ms. Redford’s campaign.

Check out the Alberta PC Leadership page on this blog to track MLA support for candidates on the second ballot.

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Alberta Politics

doing second-ballot math: ted morton and rick orman endorse gary mar.

Ted Morton Gary Mar Alberta Conservatives
Ted Morton has endorsed Gary Mar

Ted Morton and Rick Orman have endorsed Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership front-runner Gary Mar.

It is unclear how many of Dr. Morton’s supporters may show up to support Mr. Mar on the second-ballot vote on October 1, but it may have saved his political career, which appeared to be close to an end when the former Finance Minister placed a distant fourth with 11% of the vote on September 17.

Mr. Orman placed fifth with 10% of the vote. One Tory insider emailed me this morning suggesting that Mr. Orman’s endorsement could lead to his appointment as Alberta’s envoy in Washington D.C., a job Mr. Mar held until earlier this year.

Two days ago it was difficult to see anyone defeating Mr. Mar on the second ballot. It feels even less likely now.

Conservative versus Progressive?

Since the first-ballot vote eliminated Dr. Morton and Mr. Orman, the hard-edged conservatives of the group, the Wildrose and their friends at the Toronto National Post have been spinning the narrative that the progressives (or “soft-centrists”) have defeated the conservatives in this contest. While the endorsement of the two more “conservative” candidates will aid Mr. Mar in dispelling this attack, I am not sure that I would put a “progressive” label or Mr. Mar, or either of the other two remaining candidates.

Like Dr. Morton, front-runner Mr. Mar has expressed solid support for privatized health care. Mr. Mar’s comments put him in the unfortunate position of appearing more supportive of the Americanization than even Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, who supports the introduction of private facilities, but sticks to finely-tuned talking points when talking about full-privatization. Of course, spin alley is in a near traffic jam trying to explain away Mr. Mar’s feelings towards having Albertans pay out of pocket for health care.

While the remaining three candidates may not espouse hard edged conservatism like Dr. Morton or Mr. Orman, the three candidates have received financial support from not-so-progressive groups, like the Merit Contractors Association, which is an anti-union lobby group in the construction industry.

All three candidates have received support from across the center and right of the political spectrum. Like Mr. Mar, Ms. Redford has received the support of Liberals and Red Tories alike, including former federal candidate Kevin Taron, former provincial candidate Beth Gignac, and former Prime Minister Joe Clark. Mr. Horner is certainly a moderate conservative and has received the support of longtime MLA and Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski, who’s campaign once published an election ad stating that “While human beings can create laws, the laws of God must take precedence.”

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Alberta Politics

mapping alberta’s progressive conservative leadership first-ballot vote results.

Members of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party will be voting for their next leader in a second (or third) ballot on October 1. Gary Mar, Alison Redford, and Doug Horner will contest the vote in two weeks, and until then will be selling memberships across the province.

Last Saturday’s first-ballot vote gave Mr. Mar a wide-lead with 40% of the of vote. Ms. Redford at 18% and Mr. Horner at 14% have a big challenge to catch up with the front-runner. Not moving on to the next ballot are former Finance Minister Ted Morton, former cabinet minister Rick Orman, and backbench MLA Doug Griffiths.

While the right-wing Mr. Orman placed a respectful fifth place, Dr. Morton’s support from his previous run in the 2006 leadership campaign appears to have evaporated last weekend, leaving many political watchers to suspect that his base has migrated to the Wildrose on a more permenant basis. It appears that Mr. Griffiths’ outsider message was not enough to resonate with PC Party members across the province.

Here is a breakdown of the September 17 first-ballot results:

Maps: Number of total votes cast in the first-ballot, MLA endorsements of leadership candidates, poll-by-poll results in the first-ballot vote. (Click to enlarge)
Maps: Number of total votes cast in the first-ballot, MLA endorsements of leadership candidates, poll-by-poll results in the first-ballot vote. (Click to enlarge)
Gary Mar Alison Redford Doug Horner PC leadership Vote Alberta
Maps: Percentage of PC voter support for Gary Mar, Alison Redford, and Doug Horner. (Click to enlarge)

 

Ted Morton-Rick Orman-Doug Griffiths Alberta PC leadership vote
Maps: Percentage of PC voter support for Ted Morton, Rick Orman, and Doug Griffiths. (Click to enlarge)

 

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results: alberta progressive conservative leadership first ballot.

First ballot results of today’s Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership vote:

Gary Mar: 24195
Alison Redford: 11129
Doug Horner: 8635
Ted Morton: 6962
Rick Orman: 6005
Doug Griffiths: 2435

As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the top three candidates will contest a second ballot on October 1. More detailed poll by poll analysis coming soon.

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Alberta Politics

living in the one party state of alberta: “vote today. today is election day.”

Alberta PC Leadership
"Vote today. Today is election day."

Today is election day in Alberta, but not the kind of election day that would dominate the airwaves and twitter streams in most other provinces in a modern liberal democratic state like Canada. Today, Alberta’s forty-year governing Progressive Conservatives are casting their vote in the first ballot for their new leader, which has become in the minds of many long-time Conservative stalwarts and hoards of two-minute Tories, an event as important as a general election.

Does this sound scary? It is probably a confusing political environment for most Canadians, and while most Albertans will not participate in this internal party leadership contest, it will have a large effect on the direction that Alberta’s governing party will take in the months before (and most likely after) the next general election. Despite the lack of defining issues or real narrative during this campaign (aside from candidates reassuring party members that they are not Premier Ed Stelmach), it has been a fairly dull affair.

If you do decide to track down the location of your local PC Party voting station and pay the $5 to purchase a membership, who do you vote for? Over the past few months, and increasingly over the past few days, I have heard more plans for strategic voting than I had ever hoped to.

Vote for Gary Mar to stop Ted Morton from winning.
Vote for Alison Redford to stop Ted Morton from winning.
Vote Gary Mar to stop Frederick Lee from winning.
Vote for Ted Morton to stop Gary Mar from winning.
Vote for Alison Redford to stop Gary Mar from winning.
Vote for Doug Horner to stop Gary Mar from winning.
Vote for Doug Griffiths to stop Gary Mar from winning.
Vote for Rick Orman to stop Gary Mar from winning.
Vote for a Calgarian to stop Doug Horner from winning.
Vote for Doug Horner to stop a Calgarian from winning.
Vote for Rick Orman to split the right-wing Ted Morton vote.

What ever combination of results is achieved today, it could be an interesting next two weeks. If no candidate receives more than 50% tonight, then a second vote will be held on October 1. The results of the first ballot vote are expected to be announced at an event in Calgary at 7:30pm tonight. You will find the results posted on this blog around that time.

I will also have the pleasure of joining the Calgary Herald political commentary crew starting around 7:00pm on their Cover it Live feed. Feel free to stop by there and join the conversation.

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alberta progressive conservative leadership blog poll results.

Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership poll blog daveberta September 2011
Readers voted in this poll between September 12 and 16.

Over the past four days, readers of this blog have voted for their top three Progressive Conservative leadership candidates of their choice.

The results show Gary Mar placing first and Alison Redford in second with Doug Horner and Ted Morton competing for third place.

A recent poll of PC Party members also placed Mr. Mar and Ms. Redford as first and second in the contest. The source of the lists used to conduct the poll are now under question.

Progressive Conservative members will be voting on the first ballot of their leadership selection process on September 17. If no candidate receives more than 50%, the top three candidates contest a second ballot on October 1.

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Alberta Politics

when you really want to win. alberta progressive conservative first ballot vote on september 17.

With three days left until the results of the first ballot voting in Alberta’s Progressive Conservative leadership contest are tallied, some candidates are being accused of breaking campaign rules.

Perceived front-runner Gary Mar is facing accusations that his campaign was selling memberships outside an advanced polling station set up in Edmonton, something that is no allowed under PC Party rules. Mr. Mar’s campaign is also being criticized for their use of buses to transport PC Party members from seniors centres to advanced voting stations.

Continuing a trend in the campaign, Mr. Mar was universally criticized by his rival candidates, leading me to question how a recent poll could have reached the conclusion that he is considered “consensus candidate” in this contest.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about a recent Environics poll gauging support among PC Party members. The poll found that Mr. Mar and fellow Calgarian Alison Redford as the leading competitors in the contest. The main question being asked by some political watchers is who provided Environics the list of 22,000 PC Party members and was the list accurate?

UPDATE: PC Party President Bill Smith says which ever campaign leaked the membership list to Environics broke a confidentiality agreement.

As voting day approaches, the PC leadership candidates are pressing the flesh and doing their best to get their message out to eleventh hour supporters. Ms. Redford released ideas about Family Care Clinics. Rick Orman proposed a development strategy for Northern Alberta. Doug Horner has held a series of question and answer times on Twitter using the hashtag #askdoughorner. And Doug Griffiths released another high production quality video, this one about reforming government:

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new environics poll shows gary mar in the lead, alison redford in close second.

The Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald have published the results of a joint-Environics poll gauging support for Progressive Conservative leadership candidates among 800 card-carrying party members:

Province-wide
Gary Mar: 31%
Alison Redford: 20%
Doug Horner: 12%
Ted Morton: 10%
Rick Orman: 5%
Doug Griffiths: 4%
Undecided/Won’t vote: 17%

Edmonton
Gary Mar: 43%
Doug Horner: 14%
Alison Redford: 10%
Ted Morotn: 7%

Calgary
Alison Redford: 36%
Gary Mar: 22%
Ted Morton 11%
Doug Horner: 1%

It is not a big surprise to see Mr. Mar in the lead, but Ms. Redford’s support is likely to surprise a few political watchers who thought that she would be fighting for third place in this contest.

Advanced voting for the first-ballot of the leadership selection process begins today. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote on the first-ballot on September 17, the top three candidates will compete in a second-ballot vote on October 1.

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Alberta Politics

alberta progressive conservative leadership videos on demand.

Some YouTube videos from Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidates:

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what effect can danny williams have on alberta’s pc leadership contest?

Alberta PC leadership candidate Gary Mar and former Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams in Fort McMurray in September 2011.
Gary Mar and Danny Williams

Former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams traveled to Fort McMurray this week to support Alberta PC leadership candidate Gary Mar and to give the candidate a boost in support from Newfoundland’s diaspora in the northern Alberta community.

The retired Newfoundland Premier’s support may be one of the former Calgary MLAs most significant endorsement in northern Alberta, where most MLAs are backing former Deputy Premier Doug Horner.

The endorsement could play well among regular conservative voters, who could respect Mr. Williams as a crusader for provincial-rights, but his battles with Ottawa also pitted him against Calgary-based Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mr. Williams led the charge against Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives in the 2008 federal election, which ended with the Conservatives being shut out of that province. They failed to elect any Members of Parliament on the island again in the 2011 federal election [edit: Peter Penashue was elected as the Conservative MP for Labrador, on the mainland portion of that province].

Alberta PC leadership candidate Ted Morton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Ted Morton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Seen by many as Mr. Mar’s main competition, former Finance Minister Ted Morton has a photo of Prime Minister Harper and himself prominently placed on the front-page of his website. Earlier in the race, online conservative pundits piled on Mr. Mar’s campaign for gaining the support of Federal Liberal fundraiser Daryl Fridhandler.

This is not the first time that Alberta’s political parties have tried to use a Newfoundland connection to get votes in Fort McMurray. In 2007, former Premier Brian Tobin was expected to join then-Liberal leader Kevin Taft at a fundraiser in Fort McMurray. Mr. Tobin had to cancel at the last minute.

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