good grief.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm not involved in federal politics.

Then I'm reminded.

Good grief.

(link from Allie)

Also, it appears that Stephen Harper's Conservatives already have a majority.

chris samuel - canada's next great prime minister.

Here's someone I'd have no problem getting behind! Chris Samuel for Prime Minister!

more on royalties, politics, etc.

- CBC Edmonton will be hosting a forum on royalties tonight at the Royal Alberta Museum:

Alberta Royalties - Are we getting our fair share? You maybe interested in our upcoming event: CBC PUBLIC FORUM ON THE ROYALTY REVIEW It’s Your Future-Have Your Say! How do oil and gas royalties affect Alberta? Our Jobs? Our Economy?

This is your chance to hear from a panel of industry experts on the controversial recommendation to change Alberta's oil and gas royalties, and have an opportunity to participate in public feedback.

Join CBC for this public forum: Tuesday, October 30th from 7 to 8 p.m.Royal Alberta Museum, 12845-102nd Avenue

Visit our website for CBC's in-depth coverage and analysis at http://www.cbc.ca/edmonton/features/royalties/

- Recently nominated Red Deer-South Stelmach Tory candidate Cal Dallas is now in competition with Calgary-Varsity Alberta Liberal MLA Harry Chase for the best name on Alberta's political scene.

- Kevin Taft's Alberta Liberals have outlined their legislative agenda for the Fall Session of the Alberta Legislature which begins on Monday, November 5.

- In what could be one of the hotest and most watched races of the next provincial election, it is being reported that former NBC news anchor Arthur Kent has announced that he will be running for the Stelmach Tory nomination in Calgary-Currie (then again, it was reported by vast left-wing conspiracy theorist Kerry Diotte - a self-described friend of Kent's - so I'll remain somewhat skeptical until I see more credible evidence).

If nominated, Kent will take on popular former QR77 radio host and Alberta Liberal MLA Dave Taylor. Taylor surprised many when he defeated former Tory MLA and high-profile City Councillor Jon Lord in 2004.

- The Alberta Social Credit Party will be holding its leadership selection this weekend. Get out the digestive cookies!

- With the Fall session of the Alberta Legislature beginning on November 5, Ed Stelmach continues to refuse to fire Energy Minister Mel Knight after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight's Department of Energy for short-changing Albertans by billions of dollars after failing to collect resource revenues over the past 15 years under the current royalty regime.

Here is what Dunn said of Knight's Department of Energy:

"The principals of transparency and accountability, I believe, were not followed. I'm not impressed."

"The department should demonstrate its stewardship
of Alberta's royalty regime and provide analysis to support that stewardship and
this was not done."

"The department's monitoring and technical review findings were communicated to decision-makers. The question is: Did they hear or were they listening? At the end of the day, I don't know, but they chose not to act."

- Meanwhile, in fairytale land, Rachel Notley is spending her time attacking the Alberta Liberals in letters section of the Edmonton Journal, letting Stelmach's Tories off the hook for his compromising on resource royalties.

Considering that any New Democrat gains will only come in Edmonton at the expense of the Alberta Liberals, it's no surprise that all my Tory friends love the New Democrats. Leave it to a small third-party candidate to completely miss the real target on purpose.

"compromise."

I found this in my email inbox this morning.

The quality isn't that great but, as the artist who sent this wrote, "my photoshop skills suck, but so does Ed Stelmach. Call it an interpretive piece of art."

stelmach tory revitalization? ask stephane dion.

There may have been some young folks at this weekend's Alberta PC convention in Calgary, but that doesn't mean that there's a new crew steering the S.S. Stelmach. You don't have to look too far to see that it's still the same stodgy crew running the show.

There are currently 61 Progressive Conservative MLA's in the Legislature and with 42 of those have been re-nominated (19 of the 42 re-nominated Tories have sat in the Legislature for a decade or more), it's going to be hard to make the case that the Alberta PC's are going through a 1993 Ralph Klein-style reinvention.

With Ed Stelmach failing to stand up for Albertans by compromising on resource royalties and continuing to refuse to fire Energy Minister Mel Knight after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight's Department of Energy for failing to collected billions of dollars in natural resource royalty revenues owed to Albertans, it's clear that it's business as usual in the halls of the Tory government.

With the likes of Lyle Oberg, Lloyd Snelgrove, Ray Danyluk, and Luke Ouellette running the show, a close look will reveal the same old stodgy Stelmach Tories.

Similar to the Liberal Party of Canada under Stephane Dion, the Alberta Progressive Conservatives failed to realize that simply changing your leader doesn't equal revitalization in the minds of voters. Like Dion's Federal Liberals, the Stelmach Tories have embraced institutional mediocrity and have clearly not begun to undertake the road to revitalization and re-branding that occurred under two previous 1990's-era leaders.

how ed stelmach compromised on royalties and might get away with it.

INTERNAL MEMO

Dear Premier Ed Stelmach,

Please find below six-easy steps on how to compromise the interests of Albertans on the royalty review.

1) Appoint a friendly-voice such as Bill Hunter to chair a committee to review and make recommendations on Alberta's natural resource revenue framework.

2) When Bill Hunter releases the report, do not give details but react to the report as if it will include radical and dangerous changes to Alberta's economy (focus on dangerous).

Stay quiet on the royalties issue and give the opposition parties and oil companies time to post their opposition or support of the report (this will keep us from compromising the $15,000 annual donations to the Alberta PC Party from the oil industry).

The tone of the report should be critical of Ralph Klein's Tory government, but the recommendations should be fairly moderate and tame (DO NOT bring up the fact that you were a central member of Klein's cabinet for a decade).

3) After weeks of silence, muse about responding to the report during your 'State of the Province' address. If you change your mind and decide to announce the next day, don't worry about it, the prime-time address will only cost $145,000. We have lots of money in the PR budget, so we can do both.

Respond to the report by only adopting some portions of the report (you will know which ones to adopt when we get the speech from the Public Affairs Bureau).

This will allow you to appear as a moderate who is balancing the interests of Albertans and the oil industry. Though you will deny it, you will clearly be compromising the interests of Albertans to the oil companies by not collecting a reasonable share of royalties (remember of those $15,000 annual political donations, Premier!)

Important! stay stern, Premier. DO NOT be as obvious as to tell the media to "please don't call this a compromise".

4) Use the Public Affairs Bureau to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising in all the major Alberta newspapers (including a full-page ad in the front-section of the Globe & Mail). The ads should reinforce the idea that you did not compromise (see 3 for explanation). Ads should include blue and orange colours.

5) The fallout from your announcement should overshadow smaller and more damaging issues such as Auditor General's report slamming Ralph Klein's government and the Department of Energy for failing to collect billions of dollars in royalty revenues since the 1990's (AGAIN, DO NOT bring up the fact that you were a central member of Klein's cabinet for a decade - this is critically important!).

Also, stick to your guns and don't fire the Minister responsible for the Department of Energy, Minister Mel Knight. He supported and delivered votes for you in the PC leadership race. You owe him. Think about sending him out of the province for a couple of weeks after the review to let things cool down.

6) Stand proud, sit back, and enjoy your heroic glory, Premier Stelmach.

Albertans won't have a clue what happened.

ed stelmach compromises albertans on the royalty review.

I have three main thoughts on Ed Stelmach's royalty position and the past couple of days:

1) "Please don't say it's a compromise," were Ed Stelmach's words after announcing the Tory position on royalties. The quarter-page ad in today's Edmonton Journal didn't convince me.

Sorry, Premier. You compromised.

Rather than taking a truly historical position, Ed Stelmach's Tories have clearly compromised with the oil sector at the expense of Albertans. By taking a slow (a perhaps "dithering") approach by only adopting certain portions of the already moderate and tame "Our Fair Share" report Stelmach has compromised the interests of Albertans in favour of oil companies that are posting record profits.

Ed Stelmach's compromise with the oil companies includes increasing royalty rates by only $1.4 Billion across the sector starting in January 1, 2009 and not reaching this amount until 2010. This gives oil companies over a year to reap the rewards of current royalty system, which was created when oil was $11 a barrel. This compromise includes only moderate increases in royalties for companies such as EnCana, who have posted the largest annual profits in Canadian history. I have no problem with these companies making a profit, but these natural resources do not belong to the oil companies, they belong to Albertans.

Stelmach's $1.4 billion will be $500,000,000 less than the amount recommended by the "Our Fair Share" report - which again was seen as a moderate and tame report to begin with (the $1.4 billion was also supported by Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft) . Other reports, such as this report released by the Parkland Institute, recommended a more aggressive approach to royalty revenues.

A Premier should stand up for the interests of the citizens of his/her province. Stelmach didn't do that. Instead, he compromised with the oil companies and made it clear that he is willing to hand over the potential of Albertans natural resources to the oil companies, rather than allow Albertans to directly benefit from the resources that they own in the first place.

2) Where's the accountability? Mel Knight remains Minister of Energy even after Auditor General Fred Dunn singled out Knight and the Department of Energy for failing to collect billions of dollars in resource revenues over the past 15 years.

Here is what Dunn said of Knight's Department of Energy:

"The principals of transparency and accountability, I believe, were not followed. I'm not impressed."

"The department should demonstrate its stewardship of Alberta's royalty regime and provide analysis to support that stewardship and this was not done."

"The department's monitoring and technical review findings were communicated to decision-makers. The question is: Did they hear or were they listening? At the end of the day, I don't know, but they chose not to act."

Former Auditor General Peter Valentine has been appointed to investigate, but don't expect any heads to roll in this scandal.

3) There is very little talk about why Stelmach decided it was a good idea to spend $145,000 of public dollars to hold a prime-time infomercial on Wednesday night which only offered vague platitudes and sweeping visuals of Alberta's foothills. Maybe the Public Affairs Bureau is bored?

There is much debate over this issue, here are some opinions and responses floating around the blogosphere:

- The 5 R's - Calgary Grit
- A Half Billion Short - Le Revue Gauche
- Royalty Check - Andrew Coyne
- Stelmach's Choice - The EcoLibertarian
- Premier Stelmach Brought Progressive Conservative Politics Back to Alberta Tonight - Ken Chapman
- Alright, everybody exhale now - albertatory
- National "Eddie" Program - The Black Kettle

kevin taft on stelmach's royalty compromise.

alberta's royalty review: who's side is ed stelmach on?

I spent a good chunk of my evening at a reception hosted by Spieker Point, an Edmonton-based political consulting firm, where I had a chance to take a look at some of their new online political software (and enjoy the really good cheese and political discussion). Thanks to Allie for the invite.

Because I haven't had a chance to take a close look at the details of Ed Stelmach's resource royalty announcement from this afternoon, I will take a look at recommendations and provide some more detailed comments tomorrow.

But considering the media is reporting that Stelmach's Tories are only adopting certain portions of the fairly moderate and tame "Our Fair Share" report, I'm not sure it's going to be as 'historic' as the Public Affairs Bureau would like Albertans to believe.

A friend offered the following commentary by email tonight:

The reaction in this Post opinion piece is pretty funny:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=95dc1f42-34bb-4f91-ad6c-dc152d884f51

The premier, a farmer from Northern Alberta, showed little appreciation for the implications of his actions, suggesting the sector will continue to thrive.

Emphasis added. Not a farmer! Silly old Northern Albertan farmer. Clearly incapable of appreciating the high finance world of Toronto investment bankers and Calgary oil execs. :)

This story paints a less doom'n'gloom portrait:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=af56606f-3eee-4fb0-bf7c-3cde573e125b

Mr. Stelmach's announcement came on the same day that the price of oil surged to an all-time high, and three of Canada's biggest oil and gas companies reported stellar third quarter profits buoyed by high energy prices.

While the Public Affairs Bureau might not have written a very inspiring speech last night, their timing here was brilliant. And, perhaps, a bit lucky.

ed stelmach tv.

So, how about last night's 18 minute, $145,000 prime-time infomercial?

As it was already widly known that Ed Stelmach will be responding to the royalty review this afternoon, I'm still confused as to why Stelmach's Tories felt it necessary to use taxpayers dollars on an infomercial that was purposely vague?

As expected, Stelmach's much-awaited televised address Wednesday evening offered only vague hints on how he will ensure Albertans get the fair share the panel said they have been long denied.

I'm not sure what channel my friend Ken Chapman was watching (though as always, he has interesting observations), but at one point during Stelmach's less than inspiring performance, I thought that he was trying to sell me a condo at Del Boca Vista Phase III.

During the address, Stelmach took some vague swipes at his former boss, Ralph Klein, and his closed-door style of leadership (this probably would have been an effective strategy had Stelmach not been a member of Klein's inner-circle for nine-years and leads a government made up of the same Ministers and MLA's).

So, all eyes turn to this afternoon when Albertans will find out whether 'Accountability and Transparency" in the face of a challenge from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, the 'Our Fair Share' royalty review, and a damning report from Auditor General Fred Dunn will actually faze Ed Stelmach's Tories.

daveberta does edmonton city hall.

Yesterday afternoon, I crashed the swearing-in ceremony of the 2007-2010 Edmonton City Council. Here is the documentation.

The crowded hall.

Newly elected Ward 4 City Councillor Ben Henderson is sworn-in.

The first meeting of Edmonton City Council following the swearing-in ceremony.

Newly elected Ward 5 City Councillor Don Iveson in his new digs.

Don Iveson and myself on the temple-like steps of City Hall.

I also took some video footage of Don Iveson's being sworn-in as one of Ward 5's City Councillors.

kevin taft on the royalty review.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft explains the bottom line on oil and gas royalties: they must rise at least 20%.

blinded by the sun.

To the guy who nearly smacked me in the face this morning in front of Commerce Place while offering me a free copy of the Edmonton Sun, back off!

edmonton election 2007: the undiscovered country.

It has now been a week after the October 15, 2007 Edmonton Municipal Election and I've had a chance to put together some thoughts on this new Council...

New Councillors: Tony Caterina (Ward 3), Ben Henderson (Ward 4), Don Iveson (Ward 5), and Amarjeet Sohi (Ward 6). These new Councillors will definitely shake up the current political structure on City Council.

Returning Councillors: Karen Leibovici and Linda Sloan (Ward 1), Kim Krushell and Ron Hayter (Ward 2), Ed Gibbons (Ward 3), Jane Batty (Ward 4), Bryan Anderson (Ward 5), and Dave Thiele (Ward 6). And of course, don't forget Mayor Stephen Mandel.

It will be very interesting to watch the new dynamic between members of this City Council.

With Don Iveson defeating Mike Nickel in Ward 5, it looks like new Ward 3 Councillor Tony Caterina is the heir to the now empty right-wing seat on Council. It will be intesting to see if Caterina will take note of Mike Nickel’s missteps and learn that cooperation and collaboration with other Councillors, rather than confrontation, is the only way to accomplish goals on City Council.

With three of four new City Councillors having been elected on progressive forward looking platforms, Don Iveson, Ben Henderson, and Amarjeet Sohi are strong additions to Council and will bring forward some new ideas and fresh perspective in the next three years. They will find allies in Linda Sloan and Dave Thiele, but will also need to cooperate with other Councillors in order to implement some smart change in City Hall.

There are some big issues facing the new Council...

Sustainability and Smartening up Growth

A common theme of many candidates (new and returning) was the need for smarter urban planning. Like I wrote for CBC Edmonton during the election, it’s time this City Council to look outside the box in order to create a plan in order to deal with urban sprawl and growth issues. This includes building up more density in the inner core (smart infill and alternatives such as more Transit-Oriented Development).

Growth issues that this Council need to face is also dealing with the challenges that growth brings to the public transit system. With the expansion of Edmonton’s LRT southwards, it will be critical that the new Council take a serious look at redesigning the current transit route system in order to respond to the needs of Edmontonians – especially those in the far reaching areas of the city. It’s also time for the city to get more aggressive during community consultations in explaining to neighbourhoods the advantages of what Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will being to public transit in Edmonton.

Decades of not properly maintaining our municipal infrastructure have caused major deterioration of Edmonton’s roads and transportation systems (which was partially due to the provincial government downloading services to the municipalities while failing to increase public funding).

As well, affordable housing is a key area that the City of Edmonton will need to step in to create affordable homes for people to live in.

Also, implementing smarter growth strategies and initatives will be the key to delivering more effective and cost-efficient public services in order to improve the quality of life in Edmonton.

Regionalism

Unless the provincial government takes a strong role in creating a regional cooperation and cost-sharing framework, it will be unlikely that the dozens of cities, towns, villages, and counties in the region will come to a decision themselves.

Though it is promising to see that St. Albert’s new Mayor Nolan Crouse is interested in working with the City of Edmonton on regional issues, there still remains a substantial amount of conflict between many of the smaller municipalities (not to mention Edmonton and refinery-rich Strathcona County).

As I’ve written before, public transit is a perfect example of where the Capital City regional municipalities can work together.

Democracy

It’s time for City Council to address some of the key democratic issues in Edmonton civic politics including the ridiculous size of Edmonton’s Wards. Edmonton needs to take a serious look at reforming the Ward system to create smaller, more manageable Wards (perhaps, 12 or 14 Wards). It's also time for Edmonton to take a look at creating regulations on political donations for election candidates (as a response to the complete lack of any restrictions and regulations on political donations at the municipal level in Edmonton).

It’s also important that City Council position itself to be prepared for the next provincial electoral boundary redistribution to ensure that the growing city doesn’t once again fall victim to the rural Tory powerbase and lose representation in the Alberta Legislature.

There is a lot of potential for this City Council in the next three years and I will be watching with interest…

"stylishly disheveled."

heh heh.

throne speech?

Woah! There was a throne speech this week?

I clearly stopped paying attention to Federal Politics a long time ago...

kerry diotte's close encounters of the left-kind and other conspiracy theories.

In trying to justify Don Iveson's stunning defeat of Mike Nickel in Ward 5 in the Monday, October 15, 2007 municipal elections, Edmonton Sun columnist Kerry Diotte has a new theory.

Instead of giving the much deserved credit to 16,848 Ward 5 voters who cast their ballots for Don Iveson, a strong candidate with a solid platform and very well-organized and dedicated volunteer campaign team, Diotte has declared that Mike Nickel was "short-changed by a vast left-wing conspiracy that was really behind his defeat.

It's pretty clear that Diotte is short-changing the voters of Ward 5 with his Drudge-style internet conspiracy theories.

And after listening to Nickel's only election night media comment before kicking the media out of his campaign office, it's not hard to believe that he rubbed Ward 5 voters in the wrong way:

"At the end of the day, I'm going to go make some money, which I should've been doing for three years anyway."

If there's a support group for people like Diotte, I suggest he look for one, and invite Mike Nickel too.

edmonton election 2007: more on iveson.

From today's Edmonton Journal...

Iveson's name recognition campaign planned by skilled volunteers
Gordon Kent, With files from Francois Marchand, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 7:45 am

EDMONTON - The biggest upset in Edmonton ward politics this decade began at a February meeting where Don Iveson and five advisers began to map out his strategy for winning a seat on city council.

Iveson, 28, had never sought public office and was running in Ward 5, where the seats were filled by high-profile incumbents Bryan Anderson and Mike Nickel.

But over the following few months, he and his informal communications team worked out the details about what material to put into the hands of voters, whether lawn signs were needed and the best ways to use the Internet.

Read the rest!

back on the provincial scene...

I'll briefly return to Alberta's provincial political scene for a post or two...

- Drayton Valley-Calmar Tory MLA Reverend Tony Abbott lost the Tory nomination to former Drayton Valley Mayor Diana McQueen. This is a huge blow to the social conservative-wing of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. Though I don't consider Abbott to have been a very effective MLA, he carried the anti-abortion crazy flag dropped by former Tory MLA Julius Yankowski (Yankowski was defeated in Edmonton-Beverly Clareview in the 2004 election). The Reverend will be running as an independent and will pose a strong challenge to McQueen's Tory ambitions.

- Because I'm sure no one noticed, the Alberta Social Credit Party is in the midst of a raucous leadership race... here are the candidates...

Gordon Barrett (click here for more info in PDF format)
Larry Heather (click here for more info in PDF format)
Len Skowronski (click here for more info in PDF format)

- The senior security executive on the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board was finally fired over the AEUB spy scandal. This is a good first step, but the real problem remains - Energy Minister Mel Knight, who along with Ed Stelmach protected and defended the AEUB's after its use of public funds to hire a private investigator to spy on ordinary Albertans, still remains in his job. This is a serious issue and actions like these should not be taken lightly. If the Stelmach Tories are serious about "accountability and transparency," Knight would no longer be sitting at the Tory Cabinet table.

The AEUB spy scandal is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mel Knight's reputation as Minister of Energy, along with former Minister of Energy Greg Melchin, Knight's department was singled out by Auditor General Fred Dunn in his report:

"The principals of transparency and accountability, I believe, were not followed. I'm not impressed."

"The department should demonstrate its stewardship of Alberta's royalty regime and provide analysis to support that stewardship and this was not done."

"The department's monitoring and technical review findings were communicated to decision-makers. The question is: Did they hear or were they listening? At the end of the day, I don't know, but they chose not to act."

So, when are the real heads going to roll?

election congrats!

Though you wouldn't know if by reading this blog, Monday, October 15 was a day of Municipal Election Days across Alberta. There are three successful candidates who ran in races in towns and cities across Alberta that I would like to congratulate.

In the Town of Drumheller, Andrew Berdahl was elected after placing a strong second in a race for six seats. This is Andrew's first-term on Drumheller's Town Council. Andrew is a younger guy and will bring some fresh perspective to Drumheller Town Council. Congrats and Good Luck!

In the City of St. Albert, former Alderman Nolan Crouse did St. Albertans a favour by keeping two-time former Mayor Richard Plain out of the Mayor's chair. I first met Mayor-elect Crouse last fall while I was part of the team advocating and lobbying for the Universal Bus Pass (U-Pass) for University of Alberta students in St. Albert (Don Iveson was a key player on our team). Though we didn't agree on everything regarding the program, I respected his common-sense stance (Crouse voted in favour of the U-Pass). Congrats!

In the north western Alberta City of Grande Prairie, Alderman Bill Given was re-elected to City Council by placing a strong first-place in a race for eight seats. Bill is one of the few Municipal representatives in Alberta to reach out in to the world of blogging and online communications. Congrats!