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    Wednesday, January 13


    Premier Ed Stelmach unveiled his hotly anticipated cabinet shuffle this afternoon - although I haven't decided whether "hotly" is hyperbole or not... my world certainly watched with interest and I hit refresh a couple of times on my browser. Typically I describe these events as inside ball, mostly of interest only to a few inside the Legislature and to those who have something at stake within an individual department or attached to an individual MLA. This one was different as it was seen as the response to the declining poll numbers of the governing party and the sort of ennui that seems to have taken over government. In an environment where the mainstream and social media of Alberta (and perhaps the population in general, who knows...) seem to be clamoring for change, how was does this "compassionate" cabinet shuffle breakdown?

    Biggest Surprise
    This is not as large a shuffle as I was expecting and was made out to be - only three Ministers sent to the backbench. I was suggesting as many as 10 - and fewer departments too. The size of the cabinet remains at 24 and there is even now one more Parliamentary Assistant. 20 Ministers got to keep a portfolio, and half got to keep the same job.

    I think the biggest surprise on an individual was that Doug Griffiths wasn't made a minister, and in fact was turfed from being a Parliamentary Assistant. He was put on Treasury Board, and I can't speak too much on whether that is a lateral move or a demotion. I believe Doug Griffiths is a phenomenal talent and it is a shame he wasn't promoted. The same could be said of Parliamentary Assistants Diana McQueen and Fred Horne - all three have the talent to be fantastic ministers.

    For me personally I was most surprised that Doug Horner wasn't moved because that was all the scuttlebutt of yesterday and I work in post-secondary education - in fact, he got a nice promotion as Deputy Premier and Minister Liaison for the Canadian Armed Forces. Does that mean he is the Provincial Minister of Defence?

    Change
    By the numbers, this cabinet retains 20 of 23 members (excluding the Premier) - or 87% of its old membership. It leaves 10 in the same portfolio.

    Like I said above, this cabinet has more in common with the last cabinet than it has changes. Our new cabinet ministers are Frank Oberle, the past Party Whip and MLA for Peace River; Jonathan Denis from Calgary-Egmont; and Thomas Lukaszuk, MLA for Edmonton-Castle-Downs. Ten ministers were also shuffled around, with Ted Morton to Finance, Ron Liepert to Energy and Gene Zwozdesky to Health likely to be seen as the most prominent. Both Denis and Lukaszuk were Parliamentary Assistants, so with the two spots they free up, the loss of Doug Griffiths and David Xiao from the PA ranks and the creation of a new Parliamentary Assistant we have five new PAs: Greg Weadick, Teresa Woo-Paw, Cal Dallas, Fred Horne and Jeff Johnson.

    George Groeneveld, Janis Tarchuk and Fred Lindsay were the only cabinet ministers to lose their jobs entirely, and David Xiao and Doug Griffiths as mentioned above lose their spots as Parliamentary Assistants. I think it is important to note that Groeneveld and Lindsay were two of the seven MLAs who backed Stelmach as leader from the start - I don't know if this portends anything, just a good-to-know fact.

    Winners and Losers
    Hard to say - and partly I do not know how to weigh certain ministries vis-a-vis their old ones. Like was Liepert promoted or demoted? I would say that was lateral. Also, I do not know how to value Parliamentary Assistanceships vis-a-vis Treasury Board etc. But some today were winners:

    Doug Horner: By virtue of adding Deputy Premier to his business card, he grows in stock and is now second in order of precedence. Definitely a gain.

    Gene Zwozdesky: He has touched the portfolio before as Assistant Minister of Health but the promotion to the big and difficult portfolio has to be seen as a win.

    Ted Morton: From all accounts he performed admirably in Sustainable Resource Development and is given a top visible job as Finance, although it remains to be seen if the true power still lies with Lloyd Snelgrove.

    Lindsay Blackett: By virtue of staying in his job after what I consider to be a terrible performance as Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, Blackett gets to call today a win.

    New ministers: Oberle, Denis and Lukaszuk are the obvious winners as newly minted Ministers.

    Staff in the Legislature: Obviously the Premier wasn't lying when he said it was important to take into account the political staffers who work for Ministers, as the majority will at worst have to move desks and learn new files.

    The losers:

    Groeneveld, Tarchuk and Lindsay: These three stop being honourable when the new cabinet is sworn in - at least on letterhead. Media suggests Groeneveld and Lindsay got moved out as they may not be running next election and are comfortable making room for others, and as for Tarchuk, her time in Children's Services was not good.

    Griffiths, McQueen and Horne: Honestly I thought all three of these individuals would have been made Ministers.

    Evans? Knight?: I have no idea how they see their moves, perhaps they don't see them as demotions. Evans in International and Intergovernmental Relations makes sense if she will get the London job the media speculated on and Knight should do fine in Sustainable Resource Development.

    Geography
    The new Ministers come from Peace River, Calgary and Edmonton and the departing Ministers come from rural-ish Alberta (although Tarchuk might be identified as a Calgary-area MLA as might Groeneveld) tipping the balance slightly north and slightly urban. Geography is a fairly touchy subject in cabinet-making, but I suspect this is considered a wash more or less. Although on second thought, with the Deputy Premier now coming from the Edmonton bedroom community area as well, maybe Calgary loses a little.

    Diversity
    No new women, one woman dropped from cabinet, and all six who lose or gain ministerial positions are white - disappointing the gender balance wasn't maintained or improved, but it is a shame political life isn't more welcoming for women in general.

    Leftover Questions
    Will Morton and Snelgrove have the same relationship as Iris Evans did with Lloyd? Who between those two will actually control what is spent in this province, or can raise taxes?

    Will the appointment of Morton be enough to prove to fiscal and social conservatives that the PCs are the best small-c conservative option in the province?

    Will Ron Liepert fix whatever was broken in Energy? Will Gene Zwozdesky fix whatever was broken in Health?

    I guess Lukaszuk's private members bill to stop floor-crossing will die unless he finds another MLA to pick it up, as he will stop being a backbencher.

    Will the losers of this shuffle flee to the Wildrose? Will voters?

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    posted by Duncan @ 3:06 PM   3 comments

    Tuesday, January 5


    Yesterday's defection of Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth sent a lovely ripple through Alberta's political scene yesterday and ensured the first day back for many in the Legislature and beyond was at least interesting. As many have noted, including the Premier's office, this is not a total surprise but has certainly set the tone for the new year and it likely is not the tone Premier Ed Stelmach was hoping for.

    I for one would not be shocked if this was only the beginning of a few more defections, as there are bound to be hurt egos in the upcoming cabinet shuffle and government revenues force a difficult budget to be tabled in February. If this is going to be a semi-regular occurrence, it will bring up a few questions around floor crossing, indeed questioning the motives and legitimacy of Forsyth and Anderson's decision has already begun. You can read Chris Labossiere's take here, the quote from the Airdrie-Chestermere PC Association's here as well as Brian Mason calling for a by-election at iNews 880.

    And they are important questions to ask, although admittedly when a Progressive Conservative or a New Democrat does it, it rings a little hollow. The Tories certainly didn't force Stan Woloshyn, Gene Zwozdesky or Julius Yanikowsky to run in a by-election when they crossed the floor, and if a Tory went over to the Mason's New Democrats we would be far more concerned about the impending end of the world to worry ourselves over a by-election. But in a electoral atmosphere dominated by partisan parties and especially their leaders it is a fair statement that most people vote for the party or the leader, and the MLA or MP are kind of a secondary thought. So if a member changes parties mid-stream, shouldn't they go back to the polls? I don't think so.

    I am fan of floor crossing - for selfish and less selfish reasons. Selfishly, I think they are cool. They liven things up. They make politics more interesting and they offer a glimpse of personalities and undercurrents that focusing exclusively on leaders does not. It helps keep the system dynamic and responsive, and while it can heavily politicize government as well , it does make for interesting reading on Monday morning. I've blogged a little about it before, but clearly I'm a fan.

    Less selfishly, it curbs the power of the executive in our system to dominate the legislative branch. And to be clear, the executive in the form of the cabinet and especially the first minister dominates our system. Rob Anderson reflected on his time in the PC caucus and said "elected MLAs generally have little, if any, real input into the decisions that impact the lives of their constituents," but neat part of floor crossing is that it proves that wrong. Making the decision he has Anderson has guaranteed that his actions will have an impact on the decision-making process and the minds of unelected advisors to the Premier.

    The voters in Calgary-Fish Creek and Airdrie-Chestermere will get their chance to pass judgment on yesterday's floor crossing soon enough, 2012 if not sooner. And if the opening week of 2010 is any indication, a lot will happen between now and then.

    Postscript: Paul Stanway from Premier Stelmach's office said "It's not that unexpected," when asked about the poll numbers that put the Wildrose Alliance way ahead last month. On the defections yesterday he said "We've known this was going to happen." Umm... kind of odd sound bytes, don't you think? Not the quotes expected from the Premier or from the office of the leader of the dominant party in Alberta. You would think if the Premier's office can see it coming, they might do something about it...

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:28 AM   3 comments

    Sunday, December 13


    The ancient Chinese curse always seemed to be an illusion here in Alberta, the closer we got to compelling and genuinely interesting times in provincial (or even provincially-local federal) politics, in reality the further away we got. Whether it was the minor drop in PC support in 2004, the PC leadership race in 2006 or the election in 2008, the closer we traveled towards change in Alberta politics the more like a mirage it seemed. Well to take the metaphor a little further we may be a lot closer to the oasis, or we may be at yet another hiccup in Alberta politics that has no bearing on the grand political story of our province.

    I'm referring to the ongoing rise of the Wildrose Alliance here in Alberta. A recent poll places them in first place province-wide, and there is no denying they have a level of momentum an opposition party hasn't enjoyed until the Liberals in 1993 or beyond. Other bloggers have covered the specifics of the poll - daveberta, Brian Dell and Ken Chapman - and I don't want to rehash the territory that they've covered.

    But there is the distinct chance that now we have entered a period of distinct (and dare I say refreshing) uncertainty. I have no idea what will happen - these numbers show Albertans are willing to entertain the end of the PC dynasty but given the utter absence of any solid or realistic policy on the part of the Wildrose Alliance (Brian Dell's commentary aside - he has great policy ideas, but aren't reflected in the terrible Alliance policy book) this likely represents little more than an expression of Albertans dissatisfaction with the status quo. But what could happen? Without copping out and saying anything could happen (which is certainly correct - but also would mean I wouldn't have a post to write) I'll speculate on six possibilities for the next two years culminating in the spring 2012 election.

    1. Hi, I'm Alberta politics and I'm boring. Nothing happens, at least not in the grand sense. The Progressive Conservatives under Premier Stelmach win the election in 2012 after a period of relatively responsible governing with a couple of gems to show off as accomplishments. As many know I'm a fan of Stelmach's governing from Dec. '06 to Apr. '08 - and I can see him returning to those kinds of accomplishments - steady progress on a series of fronts. The thing is, I think he's been governing this way since April 2008 as well, just with a certain lack of accomplishments to point to. Fast forward to 2012 the message has to be a return to prosperity but with Premier Stelmach being the one at the helm when we left prosperity that message will ring much more hollow than when Premier Klein was able to paint the Getty administration as the bad guy in the scenario rather than Stelmach who will have no bad guy in his tale. That said, I still think this is the most likely of the six, just not the certainty as before.

    2. My Premier is hotter than your Premier. Danielle Smith has captured all sorts of momentum and interest, and strangely without really saying a whole lot that would define her. Which is ok, because I still can't tell you what Dr. Kevin Taft stood for other than it being time for something and he was leader of the official opposition for five years. But in the next two years she could build a party of good candidates, good policy, good organization and good fundraising that is able to compete for the crown. The Wildrose Alliance wins in 2012 by stealing the majority of disaffected PC voters, a lot like Reform took federal PC voters in 1993. The thing is... I don't think Alberta is that right-wing. Wildrose has a long way to go before they resemble anything centrist and they don't appear to have any desire to go that way. So if this scenario is to come true one of two things will have to happen: either I have to be wrong about how right-wing Alberta is or the Wildrose Alliance will have to moderate, moderate, moderate. The problem is I'm often wrong. Imagine a provincial government further to the social and fiscal right than the present government provincially or federally. As it stands, I think this is the second most likely scenario.

    3. The King is dead. Long live the King! The Alberta PCs are masters of reinvention and they could do it again. I think it would be risky. I think it would be a sign party insiders and other people of power believe the end is nigh for the dynasty and only by removing the leader can they hope to compete in 2012. This scenario isn't exclusive of all the other scenarios mind you, but for sake of projecting to the 2012 election this would assume the reinvented PC party wins the 2012 election and continues on as government. The natural question would be who leads this party and does the party swing right, left or other... I could speculate on the names of the new leader or premier but that would just serve to stir the pot. Would they go right or left - well that depends, who is more likely to vote for this revitalized PC party who presently wouldn't - someone from the 35% Wildrose camp or someone from the 25% Liberal? I think the answer is from the right.

    4. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The "progressives" of Alberta unite. And the 23 of them go out and find another 150,000 ordinary Albertans to join them. This option, like the other three described above, is well underway. Renew Alberta launches their website tomorrow and there are plenty of centrists and lefties that are fairly disappointed with the status quo. As the Tories and WAP split the right and the Liberals and NDP are either sentenced to further obscurity or actually endorse a unified progressive option this becomes a possibility. Enough so to form government? Well there is a reason I put it as fourth. Although a leader like Dave Bronconnier or a Anne McLellan could change that.

    5. If Bob Rae once became Premier of Ontario, I guess Premier Swann is possible... The division among the right and two years of disastrous governing by the Tories leads to... a Liberal government. Similar to the scenario above except using one of the mainstream parties from Alberta's left - but the thing is I think it is a virtual impossibility. I include it here partly that this scenario will drive some of the actions of Alberta's political actors and remains a major barrier to the united progressives scenario coming true. Such a scenario would mean the Liberals would have to accomplish those same four objectives I listed for the Wildrose, good candidates, good policy, good organization and good fundraising. And the thing is, they've failed at all four of those goals for nearly a century.

    6. Minority. Determining the likelihood of this in any real terms involves math and I'm not in the mood. But given our reluctance to leave first past the post and the way the Alberta elections and geographic distribution of votes goes down I think this isn't as likely as majority government. The list of considerations would all be post-2012 but I can certainly see the Tories and/or WAP propping up the other in power before I see many other scenarios. In the event the Tories lose government there will be a difficult period of self-reflection for that party and one which I believe will kill the party itself, which leads me to my final prediction.

    Regardless of which of the six scenarios I've laid out you think is most likely, I do think this all paints a specific picture for the current governing party - this is win or die. The PC party is not likely to take opposition well, and unless a left of centre party is the one that takes the Premier's chair it is hard to imagine the money and volunteers that focus their efforts on the PC party staying past 2012. Much like the PC / Liberal supporters in Saskatchewan or the Social Credit / right-of-centre people in British Columbia or the Social Credit supporters in the Alberta of old, the PCs will take a mortal blow if scenario #2 or maybe most variants of scenario #6 as well a good chance under the united progressive government or a Liberal government the PCs will sit in opposition, and without the levers of power and the promise of government they will discover that their political muscle without those goodies have atrophied to the point of obsolescence and that 40 years in power has meant they stand for shockingly little beyond relatively good governance and staying in power. Of course, if they win, then this becomes another chapter that is almost boilerplate in our political history - Alberta political dynasty briefly threatened by crazies, government comes up with new shiny thing, crazies go away, victory is had and spoils divided, repeat.

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    posted by Duncan @ 1:02 PM   0 comments

    Saturday, October 31


    I remember listening to a Progressive Conservative campaign official explain to the CBC that his party had rules surrounding a leadership review in the event of defeat in the general election. He was obviously frustrated by the reporter's transparent tactics to get him to say something about the Ed Stelmach's chances in the event of Kevin Taft becoming Premier. I have to admit, I was really just doing my best not to laugh. The interview finally ended with the answer that in the event that Premier Stelmach was successful on election day there would be a vote on a leadership race at the second AGM following the election and that the Premier and his team were focused on winning the trust of Albertans for another term.

    A week later Premier Stelmach won a landslide. And I never thought about the reporter's weird questions until recently.

    Legend has it that Ralph Klein's review vote after his first election was done by voice on the floor - I honestly can't say as I was 13 and not present. I was present for the last two, in 2002 and the last acrimonious one in 2006, and neither was conducted from the floor. I will however be absent for the one in Red Deer in November. But I can't help wondering how it will go and what will happen.

    I have a prediction, but admittedly my political spidey-sense has taken a severe hit since the second week of the 2008 Alberta election (at which time I was predicting 62 Tory seats when all sorts and sundry were suggesting I was far too positive on the PC's chances - by the fourth week most knew it would be a blowout). I thought the CPC would do better in Quebec. I thought Dave Taylor would win the Liberal leadership race. I thought Bob Rae would win the other Liberal Leadership race. I thought Diane Colley-Urquart would win in Calgary-Glenmore. So with those caveats, I am going to predict that Premier Stelmach will win his vote next weekend, and by a margin of around 80%.

    Why? Two reasons. First, the partisan crowd attending the AGM will not be predisposed to voting for a leadership race - it doesn't serve their best interests. And second, the powers that are aligning against Stelmach pale in comparison to those coming to bat for the Premier.

    Looking at the first reason, those who typically shell out the $400 plus to go to Tory AGM are highly partisan people, individuals with a history with the PC party and will be thinking principally of what works best for that party and its caucus when they cast their vote. This certainly does not describe all who will attend and I do not mean to paint all attendees with that brush. Also, I do not want to paint the picture of an army of mindless automatons - I think the vote will be cast with a great deal of thought. Unlike 2006, Premier Stelmach is very much intending to serve as party leader during the next election - and that is a big change. Delegates in 2006 needed more than a sort of ennui about Ralph Klein's leadership, and the announcement that he wasn't going to run in 2008 was it. It made sense to around 45% of delegates that if Klein wasn't going to run, let's get it over with and give the new girl or guy a chance to put forward a vision before going to the polls.

    If the PCs reject Premier Stelmach next weekend and throw the government into a leadership race the risks grow - especially if the new leader fails to capture the imagination of the Alberta public, media and influential class. The government's plan, such as it is, will be thrown into doubt not just until a new leader comes to power but quite possibly until the next election. Perhaps even more importantly, if you assume the amount of money that gets donated to political ends in Alberta is a zero sum game then a leadership race will divide the available donations even further, with most continuing to go to the Conservative Party of Canada, some going to the Wildrose Alliance, a smattering elsewhere and the rest divided among the leadership candidates, and very little going to main party. The entry fee to enter the leadership race may mitigate that, but running a leadership race with 100,000 plus votes is an expensive proposition as well. Finally, if you're a sitting PC MLA, a likely candidate or a devoted campaign worker for the expected 2012 election you have to be thinking that Ed Stelmach has to be a serious liability before you would surrender a bunch of political energy towards a leadership race. Dumping Ed Stelmach risks leaving the PC party exhausted come election time. All of these considerations beyond the ordinary pettiness of politics has to be rolling through the minds of delegates in Red Deer and I think the likely conclusion for most will be to cast a ballot in support of the Premier.

    Also, and it may seem remote now after Calgary-Glenmore, but Ed Stelmach destroyed the competition in the last election. There are thousands of parents of the PC victory in March 2008 but a lot of that credit has to go to the leader. He's a winner, and that pronouncement may be more a sign of the dearth of political energy in the province than the political acumen of Ed Stelmach, all the same he's a guy who got it done last time out at the polls. And that also has to be weighing on the mind of delegates in Red Deer.

    My second reason, the circumstances and "sides" of the vote being unevenly aligned for rather than against the Premier is something that Ralph Klein did not have on his side in 2006. Those who have come out publicly in support of the Premier include both the powerful and unlikely: Peter Lougheed, Rod Love, Jim Dinning and the person who I believe has the most of all to gain from a Stelmach loss, Dr. Ted Morton.

    Against the Premier we have a much more motley and distant cast of characters, Ernie Isley, Alan Hallman and the only major name of the bunch beyond the obvious people from other parties, former Premier Ralph Klein. Admittedly, Klein is not actually encouraging delegates to cast out Premier Stelmach, but his comments to the media are a big reason that the media continues to harbour the idea that the Premier might lose in Red Deer.

    Of course, I could be wrong. I'm fairly peeved about Bill 44, enough so that I'd have trouble if I were a delegate reconciling my feelings about that stupid piece of legislation and my thoughts towards the government. And I know more than enough people peeved about our decent back into deficit budgeting. Interesting times. But in Alberta politics since the ascendancy of Earnest Manning if you had bet only on the most boring outcomes of all political events in our province you would be rich. And metaphorically, that's what I am doing - the most boring outcome of next weekend will be Premier Stelmach winning a healthy endorsement and the real showdown will be in 2012 with the Premier placing his record of returning to surpluses from deficit (and he better accomplish this, because if he can't I don't know what he presents to the electorate) against the dynamism of Danielle Smith and whatever it is that the Liberals and New Democrats try and bring to the table.

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    posted by Duncan @ 11:02 AM   7 comments

    Wednesday, October 14


    I am so sick of listening to politicians and watching politics. I know I am not the first person to utter those words but for me it is quite a bit of a epiphany. After all, I have worked in a political job of some sort since the day I graduated from university and I have been a partisan political volunteer and donor for almost as long. I left the partisan political world last year and I must say I couldn't be happier about that. I miss a lot of people and energy, but getting rid of that negativity and kool-aid drinking atmosphere is certainly for the best.

    I expand far more on why I left and what I hope is the future in the most recent episode of the Unknown Studio - a project of Scott Bourgeois and Adam Rozenhart that I wholeheartedly endorse - along with my friend Dave Cournoyer. Give it a listen!

    In his most recent blog Adam expands a bit more on a topic we discussed in the podcast, about how we lack statespeople in our public life. He asks why that is - and to some extent I think I know the answer - partisan politics suck. I am on the eve of listening to another politician, in this case Premier Ed Stelmach, talk about his vision for our province and I can't help but approach it with a growing sense of cyncism and aversion. Still, I'm going to watch. And hope to see a glimmer of statesmanship that Adam, Dave, Scott and an entire generation of our society thinks is missing from public life. Anyone want to take a bet that my cyncism is more on the mark than my hope?

    Labels: ,

    posted by Duncan @ 4:46 PM   7 comments

    Friday, September 25


    I have been an active participant in Alberta’s political process for 12 years but increasingly I am one of a few who volunteer for a candidate, take an active interest in politics or even cast a ballot. Many among my generation and younger increasingly see the political process as lacking integrity, fairness and legitimacy. The important work that the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission is doing goes right to the heart of these issues, and many eyes will look on your work in the next two provincial elections and decide whether they see a corrupt, unfair and gerrymandered electoral system or the work of a group of people to end the mistakes of the past and create an electoral map that guarantees that every vote will count and be considered equally.

    I understand the limits of your mandate and what the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act will allow, and while the five Albertans who sit on the commission alone cannot change the problems with our democracy and the lack of engagement I urge you to consider making our electoral map fairer. The most important consideration of redrawing our electoral map must be “the requirement for effective representation as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” Right now the disparity between electoral divisions is atrocious. My own constituency of Edmonton-Meadowlark has a population close to the provincial average, 38,434 compared to the average of 37,820. My vote however is worth nearly half as much as a vote cast in Dunvegan-Central Peace, with a population of 23,649. Going to extremes would take Calgary-North West, with 60,511 people - nearly three times as many as Dunvegan-Central Peace, but leaving aside extremes there are clear trends - votes cast in Calgary. Edmonton and their bedroom communities count less than a vote cast elsewhere. This disparity breeds cynicism.

    How to reconcile this? I urge that the commission:
    • Recommend electoral divisions that are within plus or minus 5% of the provincial average;
    • Recommend that the Edmonton metropolitan area receive 25 electoral divisions, commensurate with their current population; and
    • Recommend that the Calgary metropolitan area receive 26 electoral divisions, commensurate with their current population.
    Calgary and Edmonton along with their surrounding bedroom communities make up 57% of our province - and it is growing. I believe this is the first rough calculation many Albertans will do when looking at the work of your commission. In my time in our political process, I have heard countless recriminations from Albertans saying our system is corrupt and unfairly penalizes Calgary and Edmonton because of who we vote for - my assurances that the system is in fact fair and representational hinges on you.

    Agree? Disagree? Don't just tell me - tell the Electoral Boundaries Commission! You can e-mail them at info@altaebc.ab.ca.

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    posted by Duncan @ 12:15 PM   8 comments

    Tuesday, May 5


    A week from now about 3.2 million British Columbians will be eligible to vote in the general election to choose 85 new (or old, depending on their mood) MLAs to represent and govern them. Chances are at best only 60% of those will actually show up and cast a ballot but voter turnout is a post for another day. But another piece of news hit me yesterday - Improvements will reflect Alberta's changing population - the move by Alberta's legislature to increase their numbers from 83 to 87 MLAs.

    daveberta is already talking about this and I'm sure more will be shortly. Naturally, most are focusing on the geography of the decisions that are about to be made and I certainly think how to distribute the seats, whether there 83 of them, 87 of them or even 60 of them is a vital debate, and one that will hopefully get the discussion it deserves. But before that comes the magic number, and I don't think that 87 is it.

    Edmonton has 12 councilors (along with the mayor) to represent some 752,000 people, with each councilor representing 63,000 people starting in 2010 - until then they share wards with another councilor, meaning Don Iveson works hard to represent some 125,000 people. My MP, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, has to work a little harder, as she represents 128,000 people and doesn't have a ward mate to help out. So why is it that the average Alberta MLA need only represent 43,765 people? When we move to 87 that number will drop to 41,753. Why does the City of Edmonton have 12 councilors and 8 MPs (who also represent Sherwood Park, St. Albert and Spruce Grove) but an amazing 18 MLAs?

    A Legislature needs to be a certain size in order to function - that much is obvious. If we're dividing Canada's provincial legislatures into three sizes - small, medium and large - we have four small legislatures in the three territories and Prince Edward Island, between 18 and 27. Even at those low amounts, MLAs represent a very small number of people - between 1,850 and 5,200 people a piece. But that comes out of necessity, as the average Alberta MLA represents more people than the entire population of the Yukon. We need at least around 20 MLAs to even carry on the basic function of a parliamentary democracy. Indeed, 20 makes it difficult, hence the medium legislatures.

    Newfoundland (48), Nova Scotia (52), New Brunswick (55), Manitoba (57), Saskatchewan (58) all have medium legislatures. They have enough MLAs to form functioning caucuses for both the government and opposition and have enough members to make a cabinet and shadow cabinet. It would be fair to say that somewhere between 45 and 60 is the base level a legislature should be if it has the population to support and justify it. After all, if Nunavut had 60 MLAs each would represent 526 people which is smaller than my graduating class in high school.

    Then we come to the large legislatures (according to the arbitrary Duncan scale of Canadian provincial legislature sizes) - British Columbia (79 - soon to be 85), Alberta (83), Ontario (107) and Québec (125). Of these four, Alberta has the smallest population of 3.6 million compared to 4.4 million in BC, 7.8 million in Québec and 13 million in Ontario. An Ontario MPP represents 121,300 people, a Québec MNA represents 62,250 people and currently BC MLAs represent 60,000 people. I'm not advocating for each Alberta MLA to have an average constituency size of 120,000 but if they only represented 60,000 then we would have a functioning legislature of 65 MLAs. Lots of space for debate and diversity. Alas, the number of proponents of reducing the size of the legislature I suspect are going to have their voices drowned out. Too bad.

    UPDATE: It would seem BC's legislature is growing to 85 on Tuesday, giving a BC MLA an average of 52,000 constituents.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:13 AM   12 comments

    Tuesday, April 14


    Brian Topp is the former chief of staff to Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow and the national director of the federal NDP campaigns in 2006 and 2008 and does not have the resume of someone whom I normally advocate taking economic advice from. And I'm not really trying to say Alberta should be taking his advice here either - he technically is advocating for higher taxes, which isn't something I usually articulate. But all the same his discussion on Alberta's budget in today's Globe and Mail is worth a read:

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090414.wPOLtopp0414/BNStory/politics/home

    I know it is easy to make comments like this from the cheap seats, whether it is a call for fiscal responsibility (which is a relative euphemism in this case for social spending cuts) or increased taxes but all the same in a few short paragraphs Topp offers a counter to Alberta's budget that our opposition parties have failed to do.

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    posted by Duncan @ 11:03 PM   3 comments

    Monday, April 28


    I am often horrid at posts like this - looking at my blog obviously I have to move form cheering for the Flames to the present day. Also, I was on vacation in Florida up to now, so the transition has to progress.

    First, Walt Disney World was fantastic. A beautiful place to visit and bond with my family and I also noticed a lot this time. Also, despite the lack of inversions, Expedition Everest was a fantastic roller coaster and was likely my favourite ride. Allie will have a metric tonne of pictures put up on her Flickr profile likely in the coming weeks, so I'll try and remember to share some photos later.

    Second, it would seem the world survived my departure for the week and a bit. I still haven't caught up in news and goings-on so I won't try and post about the budget or other events, but Alberta seems to be happy. I also note the conversation about the environment continues in earnest, and while the discussion on "issues" based on "facts" may still be waiting for next week but I'm happy the discussion is happening.

    Third, too bad about the Flames. I still stand behind my assessment that virtually any team could win the cup and that only one team will - meaning that the Flames are a competitive team and massive changes aren't what is demanded. That said, the talent pool of the Calgary Flames will eventually begin to dissipate and the time to win is soon. Retaining Huselius and Langkow seems unlikely given the modern reality of the salary cap. Nevertheless, moving on to the second round, I'm now suddenly interested in the Eastern Conference, with both the still undefeated Penguins and the nation's favourite Canadiens are garnering interest. Go Pens! Go Habs! Boo Rangers! Boo Flyers! In the west Allie's longstanding beef with the Dallas Stars means I'm disappointed with the Stars 2-0 lead in that series and I'm largely indifferent to the Wings battering of the Avs.

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    posted by Duncan @ 6:22 AM   2 comments

    Thursday, March 13


    I have a soft spot in my heart for people whom "politician" would not be the highlight of their resume but decide to throw their hat in the ring anyway. The people who could be doing anything, who could be changing their world for the better in a dozen ways and decide to serve in politics anyway are the people who make government work and ensure that it works for real people rather than for a political elite. Looking at Alberta's new Minister of Justice and Attorney General Alison Redford you see someone who has an astonishing list of credentials. She is almost lowering herself to helping keep Albertans safe. But I doubt she sees it that way.

    Prior to being one of five new Ministers in Premier Stelmach's cabinet, Alison Redford had:
    • Managed a judicial training and legal reform project for the Ministry of Justice and Supreme People's Court in Vietnam;
    • Worked as a human rights lawyer for 16 years;
    • Appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as one of four International Election Commissioners who administered Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections;
      Served the Privy Council Office on Canada's involvement in Afghanistan; and
    • Volunteered for the Lycee Louis Pasteur Society, the Heritage Park Foundation, the Calgary Winter Club, the Lakeview Community Association and the Alberta Human Rights Education Advisory Board.
    As Graham Thompson said in his column yesterday about her: "Exceptionally smart and capable with an impressive legal record that includes a stint with full body armour in Afghanistan to help run that country's elections. By all accounts, a rising star." Interesting tidbit on Redford's political past - she was the one who challenged Rob Anders for the federal CPC nomination in 2004 for Calgary-West. Nothing like someone who tries to right wrongs regardless of the odds stacked against you.

    Alison Redford unseated Liberal Craig Cheffins in Calgary-Elbow, which no doubt adds to her clout within caucus and in the eyes of the Premier. After all, many Tories point to the by-election loss in Calgary-Elbow as the low point of the last 15 months and Redford succeeded where Brian Henninger couldn't. At 414 votes her victory wasn't quite as comfortable as the 2,034 Ralph enjoyed in 2004, but we should be impressed that Redford found 2,000 votes more than Henninger did just eight months earlier and approached Klein's 2004 total votes. Indeed, when you factor in the 949 votes cast for former Alderman Barry Erskine who wanted to be the PC candidate but failed to file on time in the nomination along with the impressive 961 votes won by the Alliance, you can see Redford was not just fighting Cheffins.

    In her campaign Redford made two issues a focus: safety and the Calgary ring road. Having lived right beside the Tsuu T'ina reserve prior to university, I remember the endless discussions and maneuvering. As I got older and maybe a little more objective, I realized how big and complicated an issue this is. But I think Ms. Redford is the right person to help steer this project to its conclusion. Her position on the matter is reasoned and sound - and importantly she is obviously well-prepared to represent her constituents on the matter.

    Crime was an issue that dwelled below the surface in the election, always present but never the highlight of a news cycle. Naturally when the governing party is seen as the best party to tackle the issue and always has the best plan it is rare an opposition party will want to make it the issue of the day. With the election over and the team ready to govern that will change.

    An aggressive agenda awaits the new Minister of Justice - Alberta is growing by leaps and bounds, there is an overheated economy with lots of people with way more money on their hands than they know what to do with, and that all comes with difficult challenges on keeping everyone and their property safe.

    Of the Premier's new five priorities, crime and safety takes centre stage, with the government focused on "reducing crime so Albertans feel safe in their communities." The previous priorities focused the government in their first 15 months and was continually referred to by government as the road map for every major initiative. No doubt the new government will operate the same way, and Redford will be the quarterback for the government on meeting their goal in reducing crime.

    Redford mentions the work Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force and how we have hired more Crown prosecutors, more court staff and more funding for police officers but in her campaign she emphasized that the status quo is not acceptable.

    Importantly she has stressed a balanced approach to making our society safer - not just more bars and more walls, not just more police officers and not just more programs aimed at the margins of society to prevent crime. The right strategy is one that balances prevention, intervention and enforcement.

    Links:
    www.alisonredford.ca
    CBC story on cabinet
    Enlightened Savage's profile on Calgary-Elbow

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:53 PM   5 comments



    If I was sent off into the wilderness to find a new Minister of Infrastructure for Alberta two thoughts would roll about in my head.
    1. You don't find Ministers of Infrastructure in the wilderness.
    2. You would need someone who understands both rural Alberta and our urban municipalities.
    If Endiang, Alberta is in fact in the wilderness, I would in fact be wrong on the first count, but in newly sworn-in Minister of Infrastructure Jack Hayden we definitely have the latter. Before becoming the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler, Hayden was a former Councillor and Reeve of the County of Stettler but that isn't where his talent for understanding rural and urban Alberta will come from. His depth of experience in dealing with municipal governance and the issues facing our communities comes from:
    • Serving as director and president for the central district of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties;
    • Being on the Board of Directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities; serving as the chair of the FCM's Transportation and Communication committee and as a member of the Environment committee;
    • His appointment to the Prime Minister's External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, which completed its work and was presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in June 2006; and
    • Being placed on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Roll of Honour.
    What I find more intriguing about Hayden is his proximity to Premier Ed Stelmach and obvious political track record for getting stuff done. Jack Hayden was Ed Stelmach's rural campaign chair during the PC leadership race in 2006 - given how well Premier Stelmach did in rural Alberta during that race is a testament to Hayden's obvious political skills. As albertatory said about Hayden in his post on the cabinet appointments:

    "Mr. Hayden is rumoured to be one of the Premier's closest advisors in caucus... with someone going as far as to say that he should have been the Chief of Staff. As a stand-alone from Transportation, Infrastructure will get to deal with a whole lot of capital planning issues... issues that the Premier loves to sink his teeth into. Expect the boss and his new Infrastructure Minister to be working together very closely."

    Alberta has serious infrastructure issues. As the Premier pointed out at every opportunity, we're growing at an unprecedented rate, and families do not move here with roads, schools and hospitals packed in their suitcases and moving vans. How serious is this issue - and how serious does Premier Stelmach take it?

    "Providing the roads, schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing economy and population," is one of the government's top five priorities as they enter their new mandate. Hayden will have a full plate today, day one of his new job, and will get to look forward to all sorts of challenges on the way.

    Splitting Infrastructure and Transportation into two ministries will help, as Minister Luke     Ouellette gets support from Hayden in the task of building the stuff Alberta needs, and importantly getting the political will around the cabinet table to meet this objective. As any politician should tell you, building new schools and hospitals is sexy yet expensive, while working on the deferred maintenance to an old facility is a thankless yet expensive task. This team from central Alberta should be able to make the case for sustainable and prudent investment into new and existing infrastructure.

    On a side note, I was enthused by Hayden's core promises to his constituents: maintaining open, honest and accountable representation with an open-door policy; spending as much time as possible in the constituency (the Premier just made that one harder...); keeping his constituents informed through a column in local newspapers and through three constituency offices - Stettler, Drumheller and Hanna; and actively listening to concerns and responding to each inquiry in a timely manner.

    Far from the scandalous lifestyle former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer made it seem,     being a politician is about helping people and treating them with respect while you try and make a difference in their life. Going out in the community as much as possible and responding to each concern in a reasonable amount of time is something that many politicians find hard to do once the ballot box is put away, and good on Hayden for making it a firm promise to his electors.

    He made another promise to the people of Drumheller-Stettler that brought a smile to my face. He promised to engage young people by holding quarterly meetings with a constituency-wide youth advisory council. It isn't a brand new idea, but it is rare, especially in rural Alberta.

    He's made reasonable and sustainable commitments to his constituents and earned their trust; I doubt we will get anything less from him as Minister of Infrastructure.

    Links:
    www.jackhayden.ca

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:52 PM   0 comments

    Wednesday, March 12


    The new cabinet has been announced, and it seems the new ministers and parliamentary assistants are ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Given the level of turnover and renewal in the PC caucus, there is not a tremendous amount of change, but there is enough to be noteworthy.

    There is a lot of stats that could be trotted out such as how many seats at the cabinet table were gained or lost by a certain geographic area or certain demographic group, but that is a bit dull in my mind. That said, the cabinet does achieve a greater balance on that front.

    From where I sit, the biggest promotion was not to a person but rather a portfolio, that of International and Intergovernmental Affairs. Deputy Premier Ron Stevens will now be handling those files, and the shortlived marriage between IIA and Aboriginal Affairs is over with Gene Zwozdesky getting a promotion to Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Ron Stevens is well-respected and has been given dozens of difficult files over the past ten years and is now set to tackle our relations with Ottawa and the United States.

    Who else wins? The natural choice would be the five MLAs promoted to Minister:
    • Alison Redford (Calgary-Elbow)
    • Mary Anne Jablonski (Red Deer-North)
    • Jack Hayden (Drumheller-Stettler)
    • Lindsay Blackett (Calgary-North West)
    • Heather Klimchuk (Edmonton-Glenora)
    I must confess I only know Alison, Jack and Lindsay by reputation and passing, but I can say that Mary Anne and Heather are fantastic additions to the front bench. Both have been effective advocates. Add to the winners list Gene Zwozdesky, Yvonne Fritz and Cindy Ady who were promoted from associate minister to full minister.

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    posted by Duncan @ 3:30 PM   4 comments

    Monday, March 10


    Old news unfortunately, as I really meant to blog about this last Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday, or Thursday, well you get the picture. But I didn't. And now almost all of it has been said. So how to add? Well, a couple of observations.

    The importance of organizing: The PCs did well in Calgary, and I'm happy. But I don't think the polls prior to the election were lying, Calgary has a fair number of people who didn't plan on voting PC. So why did Calgary remain a conservative strong hold, winning Calgary-Elbow and containing the losses to McCall and Buffalo. I was sitting in my campaign office, working on getting people out and realized that even if there are some voters in Calgary who would vote Liberal if they got to a poll on March 3, the Liberals might not have the organization to call them. For thirty years the idea of being Liberal in Calgary is kind of alien. There are not a lot of long-time Liberals there, especially ones who would volunteer for a month. That might come in time, but for now the PCs win Calgary not just because they are the better choice, but because they are more organized.

    How important was money: Regardless of how the vote turned out, I bet the loser would blame money. If the PCs had lost, eventually the labour campaign of "No Plan" would have got the blame. Or possibly the nearly $1 million spent in Edmonton by the NDP (which would rival and possibly be more than what the PCs spent in the capital region). Add the lefty special interest groups and it turns out it wasn't just the right throwing money around this election. I still believe money is second to volunteer efforts and good planning.

    We're not stupid, so stop telling us we are: This has been covered elsewhere, but all the same it can't be repeated enough - political parties don't win government by telling people they are stupid. Dr. Taft's decision to tell Albertans they made a huge mistake electing 10 consecutive PC governments was the stupid decision. The bizarre decision to run against Ralph Klein when he wasn't even on stage should go down as the reason the Liberals lost. Maybe it appeals to your base, but as it turns out the Liberal base is not that big.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:25 AM   8 comments

    Tuesday, March 4


    Duncan: "Victory is mine! Victory is mine. Great day in the morning, People, Victory is mine.... I drink from the keg of glory. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land."

    Everyone else: "It's going to be an unbearable day."

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    posted by Duncan @ 12:32 AM   5 comments

    Monday, March 3


    Damn straight Premier.

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    posted by Duncan @ 11:59 PM   0 comments

    Saturday, February 23


    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.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:07 AM   21 comments

    Thursday, February 21


    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:

    posted by Duncan @ 9:37 PM   2 comments


    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:

    posted by Duncan @ 8:00 PM   4 comments

    Sunday, February 10


    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.

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    posted by Duncan @ 4:22 PM   5 comments

    Thursday, February 7


    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)

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:29 AM   9 comments

    Wednesday, February 6


    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: ,

    posted by Duncan @ 8:27 PM   5 comments

    Tuesday, February 5


    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."

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    posted by Duncan @ 7:45 PM   2 comments

    Monday, February 4


    "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:
    1. 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.
    2. 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:

    posted by Duncan @ 10:36 PM   2 comments

    Sunday, February 3


    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.

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    posted by Duncan @ 11:40 AM   6 comments

    Tuesday, January 22


    I hate polls. They are horrible tools to creating political policy, making decisions to win elections, or even looking at launching a consumer product. What percentage of Canadians were looking for a broadband internet connection in 1997? If you went by the answer to that question, cable companies obviously screwed the pooch when pursuing the expansion of their services into offering high speed internet. Of course there were also snapshots in time when Nixon looked popular, Trudeau didn't and the Earth was flat. I call that period "Pre-Duncan".

    BUT... interesting stuff in the Strategic Counsel's poll on Alberta voting intentions. 67% of Edmontonians approve of Ed Stelmach's job as Premier. Only 19% of Edmontonians would vote Liberal if the election were held today. 61% of Calgarians want to do a better job in preventing global warming - and note that Stelmach's government has, with little fanfare or even commentary, put in hard caps on major CO2 emitters with heavy fines for those who go above set emission levels.

    Without drawing too many conclusions from the poll - anything is possible in politics so those who are breaking out the tissues or the champagne based on these results should instead be rolling up their sleeves - I would suggest it shows Alberta is not the place that many are saying it is.

    Speaking of Alberta being misrepresented, it is important to note that the Alberta Federation of Labour is not speaking for all of us. They have hated how Alberta has been led from Lougheed to Klein and now by Stelmach. They thought Alberta lost its way in the thirties when we didn't go with the socialist CCF, not when Premier Klein retired.

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    posted by Duncan @ 7:45 AM   1 comments

    Thursday, November 22


    "It warms me to hear that there are MLA's who truly understand and care about the needs of education."

    That was from Debbie Cavaliere, the former Edmonton Catholic School District chair describing current PC Health Minister Dave Hancock. After dropping out of the PC nomination race in Edmonton-Meadowlark, she is throwing her hat in as the Liberal nominee in the same riding.

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    posted by Duncan @ 3:45 PM   5 comments

    Thursday, November 15


    The Government of Alberta and the ATA are about to pitch a deal, and what a deal it is. And while ostensibly it is a pitch to teachers, it really is to all of us. Why should the Government of Alberta do this? Because it is in all our best interests, including the financial one. By giving the flexibility to end the liability before its planned 52 year old termination date, we will save interest. A lot of interest. Up to $45 billion - to put that in perspective, we spend some $33 billion a year as a provincial government. That alone makes it sound policy, but we are also all going to gain a lot from the recruitment of new teachers coupled with the predictability of five year collective bargaining agreements.

    I missed question period today, so I have no idea what the Liberal reaction was to it. I looked on their website, no posted response - not that I was expecting one - but also found something curious, their search function isn't working on their website. They should look into fixing that. I looked around and around (tiring, since there was no search) and couldn't find a policy on the unfunded liability. Hmm... finally I found something on their education critic's site talking about the need to "address this problem." Well, even they should be happy I guess - the problem isn't just addressed, it has a long-term sustainable solution on the table, one that saves teachers and taxpayers money.

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    posted by Duncan @ 9:56 PM   1 comments

    Saturday, November 3


    In my 12 years of looking carefully at Alberta politics (that is a bit of an arbitrary figure, assuming I likely paid attention just I was heading into high school) I have to be honest and say I have not experienced a more interesting time. Lots is going on, and the decisions being made now are actually really important.

    I was talking with a friend yesterday about democracy, not in the Alberta sense but more in the global context, and looked at our mutual desire to increase the level of democracy and participation here at home. He is way more eloquent than I, so I will let his ideas speak for themselves:



    Let me be clear: I like the majority of his ideas - I'm not a massive fan of proportional representation, but on the whole I like them. But I did present the one nagging concern of how the serious political decision we need to make require careful thought - this is not the time for shortsighted planning driven by polls. Back to Alberta, the decision on increasing royalties needs careful thought - and that is why I like the decision taken by the Government of Alberta. The decision itself is strong but most importantly it was done in the right way. Consider:
    • Oct. '06 - Candidate for the PC leadership Ed Stelmach promises to review the royalty regime
    • Dec. '06 - Ed Stelmach wins and becomes the Premier of Alberta
    • Feb. '07 - Gov't of Alberta announces Royalty Review Panel
    • Apr. '07 - Royalty Review Panel begins public consultations
    • Jun. '07 - Public consultations end; report writing begins
    • Sep. '07 - Royalty Review Panel delivers report; Gov't of Alberta makes it public
    • Oct. '07 - After five weeks of internal and public debate Stelmach increases royalties
    That is a good process - one where everyone gets heard and no one makes a knee-jerk reaction, with the exception of a few oil companies and small activist groups. Now it just happens to be that increasing royalties was the popular thing to do, but I doubt that is why it was done. It was done because it was the right thing. One that was produced by careful thought, solid information and lots of public input. Imagine a province that looks at all sorts of public policy issues through the same approach - how strong will our province be?

    PS: I decided to blog because a friend who is 800% more busy than I decided to blog, so if he has time, I must.

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    posted by Duncan @ 9:43 AM   0 comments

    Friday, August 10


    A rare day, a day when the Don Braid and Graham Thompson, the resident provincial political scribes at the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal both decide to heap praise on Premier Ed Stelmach. Thompson's headline isn't the best, "Climate talks let Stelmach off hook" but in his column he does write: "It was such a good day for Stelmach that he happily joined conference host, New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham, for a news conference after the premiers ended their Thursday sessions."

    Braid's column was much more complimentary, with the headline "Ed plays his cards right Down East." As Braid rightfully points out, Stelmach's government has actually done something about greenhouse gas emissions. A $15 per tonne of emission tax is a great idea. That money is going to go into a fund to find new energy technologies. Does it provide an incentive to a heavy polluter to reduce their pollution? Yep. Does it help find the technology that will ultimately be necessary to meet reduction targets? Yep. Will it damage the economy? Not likely. Is it perfect? Far, far from it. We still need far more action, but as my post yesterday stated, and my opinion for years has been, the action that needs to be taken is from you.

    Regardless of what the outcome is from the Council of the Federation, it would seem we have a Premier prepared to protect our interests at the national level while not coming across as a goofball or a redneck. Good job Premier.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:03 AM   0 comments

    Friday, July 13


    The heat is getting to me. Not just because I'm ill, but also because I lack proper air conditioning. Although we fortunately do have an air conditioner, but it requires a new approach to handle its water leaking problem properly.

    We are now hip deep in the summer and I note with interest that it is the first summer in awhile that seems relatively free of political heat. Not that there is nothing of note - the always interesting federal scene continues, but we are all fortunately now used to the idea of Prime Minister Harper (who is still doing quite well when you think about it) and the imminent collapse of the government no longer seems quite as real as it did in Harper's first year and a half. I'm not trying to jinx anything, but I note that in April he will surpass Paul Martin's tenure as Prime Minister (two years and four days shy of two months).

    Here at home, well, I'm glad its summer. After a few miscues and a drastic change in the political climate here in Alberta the Stelmach government is hitting a few home runs and hopefully take the summer to get back in touch with Albertans and move forward with a fresh agenda in the fall. And hey, I think the change is good - I'm glad the media is being more challenging but the opposition still has a way to go to capture that title of "Government-in-waiting." Expanding and enforcing the smoking ban, bringing the ATA back to the table to talk about the UFL and the largely unreported intelligent use of the unbudgeted surplus all spring to mind.

    Still, compared to the last few years where I would say the summer represented a season of discontent in politics, I'm glad to have a rest.

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    posted by Duncan @ 9:40 PM   0 comments

    Saturday, June 30


    My constituency, Edmonton-Meadowlark, has a new candidate in Dr. Raj Sherman. He's a great guy, committed and full of integrity. He also knows how to get things done, obviously in his professional life as an emergency room doctor, but on the policy front taking the lead in reducing emergency wait times across the province.

    He will make a fantastic MLA - his speech demonstrated he has his finger on the pulse of our community and is ready to make a difference. When I get back from Vegas, I'll do my best to help him.

    You can visit his webpage at www.drrajsherman.com to learn more.

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    posted by Duncan @ 9:22 PM   0 comments

    Thursday, June 28


    Graham Thompson once called the teacher's unfunded liability unsexy, or something like that - the stuff only policy wonks (and of course the teachers themselves) would pay attention. I guess that makes me a policy wonk, because I follow the issue with rapt attention.

    Today Premier Ed Stelmach and the Alberta Teachers Association announced a positive step towards solving this $6.4 billion issue. What's good about it? Well, first the previously announced $25 million is no longer a ploy to divide the teachers. Second good move - the ATA is coming to the table. A crucial step to getting the problem solved.

    And this problem needs to be solved - we can't call ourselves debt free until we settle the two-thirds that is assumed by the Government of Alberta. And I don't think we will attract the calibur and number of teachers we need until a solid plan is in place that doesn't punish newcomers to the profession.

    A $6.4 billion issue doesn't have a handy solution just sitting, ready for implementation. Even in Alberta, that kind of money isn't just lying around in bags in a Scrooge McDuck-like safe. Not even the $4.3 billion we owe to the liability. As for the $2.1 billion assumed by teachers, it's hard to come up with that kind of cash when you're a junior high teacher. Even more difficult to wrap our heads around is the fact that this isn't really money for education per se - paying it off won't reduce our classroom size, make our teachers more productive, or necessarily make our children any smarter. But I believe it is an issue we need to put behind us.

    The first step is done - the political will to solve the problem exists. Despite a decade of huge surpluses and a steady stream of accomplishments, this was left for the future to deal with. The second step - getting the right heads together in a room - is now done too. Now let's see what those heads come up with.

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    posted by Duncan @ 5:49 PM   2 comments

    Sunday, May 6


    I try and pay attention to polls, given my political nature, and I did indeed read about the April 15 approval rating poll of Alberta political leaders, and was impressed with Ed Stelmach's 66% approval rating. But I didn't notice something until a friend of mine pointed it out this weekend, and that was an unlikely age category where the Premier is doing very well - 18-35 year olds. 61% of that demographic approve of Stelmach's performance. That's amazing.

    Speaking of younger Albertans' involvement in the governing party, that was something else I noticed this weekend. Now being a young-ish person in the PC party, I'm fairly used to being the youngest in a room, just edging out my wife and with a 54 year old serving as the third place finisher in that contest. But this weekend I saw dozens, ranging from a 15 year old from Calgary Buffalo to groups of university and college students to young families and professionals. To call me enthused is an understatement.

    The fact that younger people in Canada don't get involved is one of my top pet peeves, and one of my professional "challenges". I can't stand it - in my most cynical I suggest that our democracy may lose an entire generation of people who don't vote, certainly don't influence policy and don't have themselves heard by those who govern us. But today I'm not cynical, I feel better about the likelihood that we can engage more younger people - and if 61% choose to spend that engagement with the PC Party, well that certainly works for me.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:01 AM   2 comments

    Friday, May 4


    Dan Backs, MLA - but not a Tory MLA... Obviously he's sniffing the waters, looking for a new political home after Kevin Taft fired him. While I do often subscribe to the view that the enemy of my enemy could be my friend, that isn't a hard and fast rule.

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    posted by Duncan @ 7:01 PM   0 comments


    It was a neat experience watching the ordinary grassroots of the party make their voice heard. Forcefully even.

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    posted by Duncan @ 5:06 PM   0 comments


    Standing room doesn't begin to cover it, as around 1,400 of Alberta's best get together at the PC Alberta AGM. Lots of fun.

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    posted by Duncan @ 4:04 PM   1 comments

    Thursday, May 3


    I spent a bit of time in Canmore this past weekend, and I picked up the local paper. Along with a cat story and an affordable housing story was the quick snippit about how happy their mayor and council were with the recent provincial budget. At no point was it suggested that the budget was "one of the most significant broken promises ever perpetrated on Albertans."

    If you are following the fight between Mayor Bronconnier and Premier Stelmach, I'm sure you're familiar with Bronco assertion that applying strings to municipal funding was somehow the most heinous thing the provincial government has ever done (and our government has done some wild things in its time, from essentially counterfeiting money to sterilizing people). Bull - it isn't what Bronco may have wanted, but Bronco's approval or disapproval shouldn't be what constitutes the sniff test on a budget.

    What really shocks me in all this is the failure to ask Bronco the most basic question about his complaint - if it is a question of priorities, why does affordable housing rank below his wishes? I agree that a west extension to the C-Train is a good idea, but is it really a better idea than helping put roofs over people's heads?

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    posted by Duncan @ 9:58 PM   1 comments

    Wednesday, April 25


    I don't know a lot about health policy but I do know a simple equation that is important to discuss: public health spending + private health spending = total health spending. To add to this equation (and come close to exhausting my knowledge of math) I also know this: total health spending > too damn much.

    A lot of the debate and sound and fury on the subject comes on re-balancing the first equation in the name of the second equation. Without wading too far into that balance of private vs. public (I support public health care) I will say that it is that total we have to tackle as a society. How? Being healthier silly.

    You will note in my post on the budget I applauded the tax increase on tobacco. But higher taxes isn't the only policy piece of encouraging healthier choices when it comes to tobacco - the market alone won't encourage people to do what we want, and as was pointed out to me, if the taxes go too high, people will just smuggle them en masse.

    Without enraging the libertarian in me (and it is in there, hating speed limits especially) I do think more needs to be done. Banning smoking in places where people work seems like a natural step - and while it is selfish of me to say, I can't tell you how much more I enjoy going to a bar now that people don't smoke inside here in Edmonton. Such a ban will of course be controversial, which is one of the magic words according to Sir Humphrey Appleby that causes a politician to eschew the policy, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good policy step. For the curious, according to illustrious yet fictional Permanent Secretary the magic words to get a politician to adopt a policy is: quick, simple, cheap and popular. The opposites are: lengthy, complicated, expensive and controversial. The killer is "courageous". A smoking ban? Well, it is quick, simple and relatively cheap. The question remains is it popular? It is in my household.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:28 AM   3 comments

    Friday, April 20


    Last night the Calgary Flames beat the Detroit Red Wings, a clear signal the Dr. Lyle Oberg's budget was a success. Why was it a success? Well everyone may have their own reasons for calling it a win, but here are some of mine.

    The Good:
    • Higher tobacco taxes - a superb move, one that I whole heartedly endorse. I could stand to see them go a bit higher, but this is a fantastic start. I know Minister of Health Dave Hancock has some other great policy coming down the pipe to curb tobacco use in our society, so this measure will be a good step along side that.
    • The creation of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation - an arms length crown corporation to manage $70 billion of assets and allow those assets to be invested more in Alberta and avoid political interference.
    • Lots of funding to municipalities - cities and communities need more money, and it was the key promise that separated Ed from his competitors in the PC leadership race and it is good to see him make good on that promise.
    • Ending poor budgeting - this budget is not going to produce a runaway unbudgeted surplus (or a runaway unbudgeted deficit) because its using realistic numbers. And it is a balanced budget, which Albertans are beginning to take for granted, but I'm still glad to see it.
    • A unbudgeted surplus policy - if there is a windfall, we're know where we are putting it.
    • Nearly half a billion for affordable housing - very few public policy issues in Alberta are as hot as this one, and at the core, everyone needs a home they can afford, and this will get us closer to dealing with the problem.
    The Bad (nothing is perfect):
    • K-12 education funding is lower than I thought it would be - I know Alberta's K-12 system is the best in the world, but in a province with 5% inflation, you need additional funds to get the job done.
    The Interesting:
    • $18 billion of infrastructure - that's a lot. A whole big bunch of construction in an environment where everyone who builds buildings is already working overtime. But Alberta needs new infrastructure, there is no way around that.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:27 AM   3 comments

    Wednesday, April 18


    Despite the fact that by then the Calgary Flames should be getting ready to finish who ever they fight in the second round of the playoffs I am preparing myself for the next Alberta PC AGM. And it should be a great time, way better than the bizarreness that was last year's - I mean after the climax of the vote, what was there to do? I grant you, the Saltlik was a pretty good time - I can't wait to actually have an impact on policy and the running of my political party. People talk about the heady days of the mid-nineties when the Progressive Conservative party listened to the grassroots of the party, and I figure this is my chance for that same feeling. Not that I always trust the grassroots, but that is a different story.

    The agenda seems a little, well, spartan for the moment, but I figure the organizers are expecting for a secret, special guest speaker to wow them. Well, if in likely a concurrent session with that speaker, I am also speaking - Why sit at the kid's table? Youth and the Alberta PC party, or something like that. But the other sessions (I have some knowledge not available on the web yet) also look fantastic. And the resolutions seem very solid too.

    But more interesting than speakers or policy will be the feeling, the mood. And that is something that doesn't quite get planned, nor can it be explained adequately in a newspaper column or in a twelve second soundbyte. Hopefully I'll be in a writing mood that weekend.

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    posted by Duncan @ 7:56 PM   0 comments

    Monday, February 26


    I just got back from breakfast with Premier Ed Stelmach, and boy am I pumped. Premier Stelmach spoke about many things, including dealing with growth, innovation and making all-party and public legislative committees, but he also spent a good deal of time talking about a subject that is increasingly meaning a lot to me, the environment.

    And he hit upon something that leads me to the conclusion that Alberta and Canada's right-of-centre parties are the ones for the task of improving our environment. Taking action on climate change and other core environmental issues is going to take two things, individual choice and personal responsibility. Making a real difference is going to take more than the state shutting down the economy and using the heavy hand of legislation to force behaviour change. Why? Because it is not industry alone, or even industry principally who is wreaking havoc, it is you and me. And what is needed to make us change our behaviour is leadership rather the application of brute power.

    Embracing the conservation and proper stewardship of our environment is a natural fit for any small-c conservative party. When I think of environmental leaders I think of Brian Mulroney here in Canada or Theodore Roosevelt and (*gasp*) Richard Nixon in the United States. Getting there for them did not require any drastic departure from their conservative roots, but embracing the values that led them to office that were at their core conservative values - protecting the environment as a place where families shared their experiences and where children could be children and where food could be grown and cultivated.

    Back to my breakfast with Premier Stelmach, who expressed similar notions of the importance of the environment, but emphasized there would be no easy solution.

    The reality is that the government will not do this for us. They can't. Look at the Government of Alberta - who uses green power where ever possible and have made their operations as environmentally-friendly as possible. And while industry and the energy sector will certainly have an important role to play, I know the heaviest lifting will be done by individuals. Some of us will stop driving to work everyday (or never start, like me). Some of us will supplement our power usage with solar power. Some of us will become vegetarian because it is has such a lower impact on the land (but not me, as I really love meat - but I'm far more vegetarian now than ever before). Pitching former-Vice President Al Gore's site, climatecrisis.org, you can find dozens of ideas on just reducing your carbon emissions.

    The point is not everyone is going to be forced to do all of those things, because that isn't going to work - but we all have to do something. We will all have to change how we live in some way. And we are going to need leadership from our leaders, not heavy handed legislation for just one industry (or all industry, exempting individuals). Who best to do this? Well, obviously I think Ed Stelmach is the choice, and I hope Stephen Harper does the same with his plan on climate change to the House of Commons.

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    posted by Duncan @ 8:29 AM   0 comments

    Wednesday, January 17


    I'm not trying to suggest that no one paid attention to municipalities in the recent PC leadership race, because I know all the candidates did and occasionally a media scribe penned an article or a column on the subject, but given both the enormity of the problem and the radical nature of the solutions put forward, I really felt it was a sleeper issue with enormous importance.

    In all the hype between the provinces and Ottawa, there gets lost the larger fiscal imbalance, that between the levels of government that established by the constitution and the cities who pick up your trash, pave your roads, get you to the hospital and hire police officers to protect us.

    There has been some press on the issue, notably in all of the failures that was the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin as Prime Minister there was a snippit on giving municipalities a break on the GST (which constitutionally is already not levied on provincial governments).

    Yesterday, fulfilling a leadership campaign promise Premier Ed Stelmach is delivering on giving $1.4 billion to municipalities. From my vague understanding of municipal politics and finances, I think this is huge - more police, better roads and hey, I could go for some snow removal right now. In any case, while I think there are some more imaginative ways to deal with this fiscal imbalance - the need is quite pressing now, so hopefully places like Wood Buffalo (i.e. Fort McMurray) will be able to get ahead a little bit in infrastructure and service provision and we'll think of the ways beyond just cash from the province and bumping up property taxes to ensure our cities can keep up with the boom.

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    posted by Duncan @ 7:37 AM   0 comments



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