Phendrana Drifts

I read with interest both the Liberal and Tory costing of their platforms the past two days. Good on both of them to develop that information which I think is an important test of a party's readiness for government. The Liberal costing did contain one item that you see often in opposition platforms: "Reallocation from Core Program Review." Essentially the Liberals think the Conservative government is misallocating money that should be spent on Liberal priorities. That's good - why else would you run for the Liberals unless you wanted to spend the government purse differently. The amount however, is another thing. The Liberals think the Conservatives are misallocating $1.6 billion and are convinced they will find it when they look over the budget.

To prove their point they put out a news release listing all the places they would find money: $14 million by axing the Public Affairs Bureau (I think the government will need to put out news releases after March 4, but whatever), $60 million to Alberta's horse racing industry and not paying the Hon. Cindy Ady and Barry McFarland $19,000 to improve our ties with Idaho. There was also something about ending the duplication of Alberta Health Care numbers but no word on how much that will save. So, they are planning on saving $1.6 billion and gave us a list of $74.02 million in savings - I'm not too sure yet where the other $1.525 billion will come from. And either the Liberals don't know either, or they don't want to tell you. Basically we have two options:

Option #1: The Liberals don't have a clue how to figure this out. This is the line the PC party took yesterday pointing out how absurd that claim is - after all $1.6 billion (or $1.525 billion, they did find $74.02 million after all) is bigger than the entire budget of Alberta Seniors and Community Supports. $1.6 billion represents about 5% of the entire budget of Alberta. If you begin removing those target areas the Liberals want to spend in, some areas of government should be looking forward to 10% and up in cuts in Budget 2008 should Taft get the chance to govern. But I'll disagree with the PC party - I don't think this is the option that is going to happen.

Option #2: The Liberals are chicken shit. They know where (more or less) they are going to have to cut to give you the promises they made with your money, they just don't want to tell you. Dr. Taft has sat in the Legislature for seven years and voted on seven budgets - opposed of course, but one would assume he read the budget before voting against it and likely has a vague idea of how government works. The Liberals have a gang of researchers that YOU pay for with your taxes. They go though every word and every figure of the government budget. They already have to know exactly where they will "reallocate" from - so why don't they want to tell you? We already know it won't come in the form of school closures, tuition hikes, and increased health care premiums. What's left? Which department is going to be told to close its doors for good? Which government program is going to stop serving Albertans?

There is of course a third option. Taxes.

Labels: alberta politics

Meh. I was hoping for something more - alas. I think each leader more or less met or exceeded expectations, but at the same time without a knock-out blow or a complete screw-up I'm left calling it for Stelmach and heading for bed.

For the curious, Rod Love has a way better commentary on it.

Labels: alberta politics

I always forget how much I dislike "free debate". Still no "notwithstanding act". But I'm patient.

6:40pm update: Odd that Dr. Kevin Taft spent almost the entirety of his opening statement attacking the government - even Brian Mason talked more about what needed to be done rather than the past...

7:10pm update: I really hate "free debate" - always have. No single moment stands out yet. Of course, I'm not really watching for blog content or partisan sound bytes so I might be the wrong person to ask. And of course I also hate 30 seconds.

7:18pm update: It's official, I built this up too much in mind. No knock out blow.

7:19pm update: Is "tarsands" a part of the Wild Alliance vocabulary? Weird.

7:21pm update: It's neat watching Brian Mason and Dr. Kevin Taft almost come to blows. Dr. Taft is tall, but Mason looks scrappy. No bet.

7:25pm update: Others (albertatory and daveberta - Dave points out others are too, I'll read them tomorrow morning) are liveblogging. Strangely that is keeping me going. But I have to leave shortly - I have another engagement immediately following the debate.

7:28pm update: You got to admire Brian a bit - he's a lot more seasoned since 2004.

7:30pm update: Dr. Taft caught me off guard, with a speech I could almost make - let's fix the potholes, fix the leaky roofs in schools, let's get on with it. I read a plan with that stuff in it earlier today...

7:40pm update: I'm yawning. That does not bode well. Hmm...

Labels: alberta politics

I can't remotely be certain I will have time to blog tomorrow so I thought I would tell the world and especially my wife how much she means to me today, tomorrow and every day. She is my spouse, chum and partner. Happy Valentine's Day!

Labels: "valentine's day"

You would think that every candidate of the three major parties would have a website. In fact you would also think the candidates of the minor parties would have websites - heck my pets have websites. I guess for the minor parties just getting candidates is considered a job well-done. By my count 67 Progressive Conservatives have functioning and happy websites - and I'm not counting the couple who just redirect to their candidate profile on the PC party website. The Liberals have a disappointing 30 or so, you would think Dave would be counseling them better. As for the NDP, well every last candidate site points to a uniform (although pretty) template of the NDP website. Strangely only 45 candidates have those, when it likely would take way less effort than writing this blog post to take the NDP template and insert your name where it says "Lefty McSocialist" and your constituency where it says "Redmonton".

Still, the question remains, who has the best candidate website? Who will come in second, third, fourth and fifth? Well, let's start the countdown along with a couple of honourable mentions:

Honourable mention #1: office@albertaliberal.com wins as the e-mail address of the most candidates - around 10 Liberals have it as their e-mail... seriously, I can appreciate feeling overwhelmed about getting a web page, but an e-mail? Go to Gmail right now and signup as taftismyhero@gmail.com - it takes two seconds. You're welcome.

Honourable mention #2: On the topic of e-mail addresses rather than website, I did want to point out two e-mail addresses that caught my eye - first, PC candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie Naresh Bhardwaj's e-mail address is nareshbhardwaj59@hotmail.com - which begs the question are there 58 other Naresh Bhardwaj's out there? It is a way more common name than I thought. However, the true honourable mention for e-mail addresses belongs to Wayne Cao, PC candidate for Calgary-Fort (and an all-around genuine guy). His e-mail is caoboys@shaw.ca, which was the only e-mail address that actually caused me to laugh out loud.

Honourable mention #3: The NDP sites are relatively nice. Just they are so obviously a template that I can't say that they deserve to win. So yay NDP on having a bigger web presence than the Liberals. But you're not going to win my awards. Speaking of which...

#5 - Carole Oliver - www.caroleoliver.ca: Carole Oliver's is one of the best campaign websites in my mind - it looks clean and professional, and gets the job done. It could have offered a bit more information on how and where to vote, as well as how one could help her - donate seemed to be the only prominent way to contribute to her campaign.

#4 - Greg Weadick - www.gregweadick.ca: This was actually the toughest to pick, as it was a close one with Carole (see above) and Laura (see below) as well as Wayne Cao, Jennifer Diakiw and David Dorward. I knew I didn't want all PC's because I needed some balance and besides, Carole and Laura's sites are good. Greg has great quotes, an active blog, loads of relevant and local material and an RSS feed. Way to go Greg!

#3 - Laura Shutiak - www.laurashutiak.com: Her YouTube video is funny, and she breaks free from the two things (outside of policy) that bothered me most about Liberal candidates' websites - first the stock template that obviously was offered candidates the much like the NDP. It also didn't use the word "Alp" to describe themselves. What is an Alp? Other than the obvious mountain range in Europe. And yes, I know Alp stands for Alberta Liberal Party. Nice, clear, red and white.

#2 - Dr. Raj Sherman - www.ElectRaj.ca: Yep, I'm pretty biased, but I didn't design it personally (and as Colleen and Spence will tell you, I didn't give them much feedback) so I figure it is in the running. There is video, there are words that were obviously not written by the central campaign, and some neat personal stuff that makes you like the guy more. Plus I am told Raj is drop-dead sexy (from all sides of the political fence). Yay Raj!

And the winner of the best candidate's website is....

#1 - Dave Hancock - www.davehancock.ca: There is just so much to see and read on Dave's site that I don't know where to start. A few great YouTube videos, a blog written by the candidate himself, neat news stories, and most importantly, the guts of what the site is meant for - enabling people to vote and giving them a reason to vote Dave. Bonus points for offering his website in other languages (so did a couple of other candidates I saw, like Theresa Woo-Paw.

For those who want to keep up with these sites and the other candidate websites I found in 16 minutes, right-click and save this html file and import it into your bookmarks.

Labels: alberta politics, internet

I love RSS - I have been positively addicted for two years. The technology has relatively low penetration, but it is my number one source of getting news via my beloved Google Reader. Elections are an ideal opportunity to show off this technology, so I thought I would share my feeds and ask if anyone has any good ones to add.

Political Parties
PC Association of Alberta
Alberta Liberal Party
Alberta Greens
You have to visit the NDP and the Wild Alliance manually...

Blogs
Ken Chapman
Daily Dave
albertatory
Six Meetings Before Lunch
Enlightened Savage
CalgaryGrit
Noise from the Right
daveberta
Politics in Pieces

Mainstream Media
630 CHED Edmonton
AM 770 Calgary
CBC :: Calgary News
CBC :: Edmonton News

Mainstream Media Blogs
Globe and Mail :: Alberta votes
CBC :: Reporter's Notebook
CBC :: Riding Talk
CBC :: Your View
CBC :: Blog Squad
Calgary Herald :: Election Insider
Calgary Herald :: First to the Polls
Calgary Herald :: On the Campaign Trail
Calgary Herald :: Pundits Corner
Edmonton Journal :: Election Notebook

Interest Groups
Canadian Taxpayers Federation (Alberta)

Labels: alberta politics, internet

If you had asked me whom I would want to see write a blog more than anyone else, it would be Dave Hancock - brilliant, savvy and well... his best wisdom doesn't fit in 30 second soundbytes. A blog would be very much his style. Well, he has decided to take some time to share what he's seeing knocking on doors in Edmonton-Whitemud - visit him at blog.davehancock.ca or on Facebook (Dave's a friendly guy, I imagine he would be willing to let you be his friend).

From today's post: "One of my passionate beliefs about the political process is that the most important role of an MLA - any elected person for that matter - is to spur discussion. Public policy and the public good benefit from forums for discussion and active participants."

I find it neat how our political discourse is increasingly being done online - and while there is certainly a debate to be had on whether the impact is positive or negative - I am glad all of the political parties and for the most part the media see the benefit of this medium. Of course people like Ken, Dave, ES and Blake have been there for awhile, and I hope they see the actual change they've influence and really led in our province as a result. It makes me wonder on March 4 what we will say would have been different if there was no internet...

Labels: alberta politics, internet

I read with puzzlement the headline "Liberal leader pledges lower royalty rates for natural gas" - Dr. Taft wants to lower royalties. Interesting strategy, especially when coupled with "Liberals would end heating subsidies." The Liberals want to, simultaneously, collect less for our natural gas and end the protection to consumers for what Albertans pay to heat their homes. It might be important to note that the Liberals have no idea how to actually do this, as the Journal reports that Dr. Taft "admitted he doesn't know how to tweak the rates Ed Stelmach's Conservatives have already announced, saying only that the Liberal goal is to somehow reap 20 per cent more from royalties."

Labels: alberta politics

"My only disappointment is that they're going to take four years to do it and I don't know if we can count on them actually following through."

Is it just me, or is there two problems with this statement:

The only disappointment of Dr. Taft, leader of the official opposition, with the Speech from the Throne is how quickly we will implement Tory promises? Interesting approach - "I like the Tory platform - if only we could get it done faster..." doesn't strike me as a winning Liberal slogan.
While we're on the topic of winning Liberals, or lack thereof, is it just me or is Dr. Taft outright conceding the election on the day it starts - "They're going to take four years to do it..." - shouldn't he be talking about a Liberal government rather than complaining about Stelmach's next mandate?

Labels: alberta politics

My Liberal friend Dave (along with much of Alberta's political blogging community) have been posting about the release of the Liberal platform. Fortunately for my political party, mainstream media pretty much ignored it and it would be better of everyone else did as well but I couldn't resist. Plus few read this blog anyway, so I doubt it will tilt the tide to the Liberals. Dave said that Tory spinsters (I think that is a different kind of spinster than the unmarried kind) would place two critiques on it: the Liberals are including too much spending and the Liberals are not including enough spending details. And Dave, they are right. Both are valid, very valid.

Another blogging friend, the Enlightened Savage, points out that at the core Kevin Taft and friends are essentially calling all of Alberta stupid, and that too is a great point. I am reminded of the West Wing episode where Republican Arnold Vinick thanks Democratic Jeb Bartlett and the strong legacy he is leaving - brilliant. That's what the Liberals should have done, instead of talking about how stupid we are for electing Lougheed, Getty and Klein.

But beyond that, I couldn't get over one simple reality of the Liberal platform: its boring. Dull. Uninspired.

We could do anything in Alberta. Absolutely anything - and this is what the top five Liberal promises are:

Eliminate health care premiums
Re-regulate electricity to lower Albertans' power bills. (How much lower after the Liberals axe the natural gas subsidy in the winter months - it is still mighty cold outside Dr. Taft.)
Invest 30% of all royalties
Cap greenhouse gases in five years
Provide the hospitals and train health care professionals

I want to scream out "That's it? Those five things are what needs to change in Alberta?" Now, I'm not trying to make light of the issues these promises are trying to deal with, but compared to, say, five accomplishments of the Stelmach government in 12 months alone it all feels like small potatoes, let alone what the Government of Alberta needs to get done before 2012. Consider:

Raising royalty rates by 20%, bringing in $1.4 billion more for our non-renewable resources in 2010
Investing $11.3 billion in our communities over 10 years in a new deal with municipalities
Settling the pension liability of $2.2 billion with Alberta's teachers
Limiting the frequency of rent increases while investing $285 million in affordable housing initiatives
Investing $130 million in nanotechnology - amazing research that will revolutionize not just Alberta, but the world

Naturally I'm the kind of geek that could go on and on, but the point is that the Liberals could have promised anything. They have little to lose - Dr. Taft all but said they won't win the election. They could have promised to put an Albertan on the moon by 2012. But instead we got a dull platform that likely feels like a sellout by left-leaning Albertans, a chastisement to right-leaning Albertans and a dull attempt at managing Alberta rather than bold leadership by undecided Albertans. Let's see if the other parties can do better.

Labels: alberta politics

Twitter Updates