It's Christmas Eve and I will be noticeably absent over the next week as I return to the family homestead in the Alberta bayou for some rest, relaxation, and cross-country skiiing.
It's fairly clear who deserves a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come.U of L won't pay for day careProps to the U of L Daycare Action Committee for all their hard work.
Deborah Tetley, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, December 22, 2006
The day-care debate remains unresolved at the University of Lethbridge despite a strong showing of student support at Thursday's board of governors meeting and an agreement by administration that such a facility is needed.
Administrators spelled out for the board a number of conditions that have to be met before the university agrees to set aside space for a day-care centre.
Such commitments include a firm pledge from an external provider and assurance that students, staff and faculty and any other users of the facility will agree to pay construction costs.
"We need a serious financial commitment, a pledge, and then I'm sure the board will agree to take a serious look at this," said Nancy Walker, vice-president finance and administration at U of L.
Rahim Jaffer, Conservative - 21,956It should also be interesting to see how strong the Green Party will be in Edmonton Strathcona next time around. 2004 & 2006 Green candidate Cameron Wakefield performed well in the last election and now with Elizabeth May as leader I believe the Greens will have an opportunity to surge (especially if Elizabeth May is allowed to join the national leaders debates!)
Linda Duncan, NDP - 17,142
Andy Hladyshevsky, Liberal - 9385
Cameron Wakefield, Green - 3,128
Mike Fedeyko, PC – 604
Dave Dowling, MP – 455
Kevan Hunter, ML - 106
Two diesel-electric hybrid buses went into service in Edmonton on Mon, Dec 18. The buses are manufactured by Mississauga’s Orion Bus Industries, a division of DaimlerChrysler, and are designed to use as little as 50 per cent of the fuel burned up by traditional diesel buses in optimal operating condition.Cool.
Liberal finance critic Rick Miller said the priorities are nothing new. The government, he said has had a number plans in the past, but hasn’t acted on them.
“It’s kind of like Aunt Martha’s fruitcake. It keeps coming back at you year after year,” he said.
Miller is looking forward to seeing the timelines for the work. The government, he said, has been on autopilot and needs to address many of these issues as soon as possible.
Over the weekend, I had some thoughts on Alberta PC Premier Ed Stelmach's new Cabinet... I was originally going to write them down in Haiku, but I decided this was easier...Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville) - Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury BoardDefinitely some interesting picks that caught me off guard... thoughts?
Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster) - President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Service Alberta, (Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office)
Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) - Minister of Advanced Education and Technology
Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) - Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry
Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky) - Minister of Energy
Dave Hancock (Edmonton-Whitemud) - Minister of Health and Wellness, Government House Leader
Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul) - Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Ron Liepert (Calgary-West) - Minister of Education
Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane) - Minister of Children's Services
Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) - Minister of Environment, Deputy Government House Leader
George Groeneveld (Highwood) - Minister of Agriculture and Food
Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks) - Minister of Finance
Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) - Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation
Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore ) - Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Deputy Government House Leader
Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) - Minister of Seniors and Community Supports
Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) - Minister of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations
Ted Morton (Foothills-Rocky View) - Minister of Sustainable Resource Development
Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain) - Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security
Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace) - Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture
Premier
President of the Treasury Board
Advanced Education and Technology
Municipal Affairs and Housing
Energy
Health and Wellness
Employment, Immigration and Industry
Education
Children's Services
Environment
Agriculture and Food
Finance
Infrastructure and Transportation
Justice and Attorney General
Seniors and Community Supports
International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations
Sustainable Resource Development
Solicitor General and Public Security
Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture
If you’ve been reading my columns in The Journal, you’ll know that I am running a contest.So far, I've spoken to 2-3 political types who are already working on their entry... in prose or in poetry... I'm working on mine...
1st Prize: A rare golden lapel pin commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Alberta Legislature. You can’t buy this anywhere and is the same official pin worn by the MLAs.
2nd Prize: Hardcover picture book: “100 Years at the Legislative Assembly of Alberta: A Centennial Celebration.”
Rules: Write a brief essay of 100 words or less on the topic: “How Can We Improve Democracy In Alberta.”
You can write in prose or in poetry. In my column I said there’d be extra points if you can do it as a limerick — but that does NOT mean you must do it as a limerick. Everyone who has entered so far has written a poem. I wouldn’t mind some prose.
Deadline is Wednesday, December 20.
E-mail me here or my other address: gthomson@thejournal.canwest.com
This was on the side of the road in what I believe to be the Foothills-Rockyview Constituency which is represented by one Fredrick Lee Morton.
I'm gone to Lethbridge tomorrow, so no blogging until the weekend (most likey).
For many newly minted Albertans it's fairly obvious that the affordability shortage/ridiculously high priced housing market here in Alberta is causing quite the challenge for many residents of Canada's wealthiest nation. But what are folks to do?- changes to provincial regulations concerning secondary (e.g. basement) suites so that they can be quickly used as affordable housing units, while meeting strict provincial health and safety standards;You can also fill out an online survey.
- portable housing allowances and rent supplements for low-income and fixed-income Albertans;
- giving cities and towns the authority to mandate percentages of affordable housing in new developments;
- incentives to developers to build affordable rental units, and to make home ownership possible for more Albertans;
- providing land through provincial donations and land swaps to make it more financially feasible for local groups to build new affordable housing;
- enacting a Reasonable Rent Increase law to protect tenants from rent gouging.
* Build 6000 affordable housing unitsSoon-to-be-newly-minted-Premier-designate-of-Alberta Ed Stelmach released a two-paragraph statement on affordable housing for Albertans with Special Needs during the recent Alberta PC leadership campaign. It looks like Albertans will just have to wait and see where Premier-designate Stelmach stands on this issue.
* Pressure the federal government to increase funding
* Commit to helping municipalities meet targets
Further afterthought: someone commented on this blog earlier that giving the Tories $5 is no big deal, since you can subversively give 5-10 times that much to the Liberals or NDs. I hereby challenge everyone who gave $5 to the Tories on that basis to make that contribution to an opposition party which best matches their values so as to undo the damage done by giving money and validation to the one-party-state given.
Saturday December 2, 2006 was a very bad day for political frontrunners.Canada Liberals choose Stephane Dion as leaderWill we see another presumtive nominee defeated tonight?
MONTREAL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Canada's official opposition Liberals on Saturday unexpectedly chose former Environment Minister Stephane Dion as their new leader despite political shortcomings that could hinder his chances in an election expected next year.
Dion, in fourth place after the first round of voting, beat former Harvard academic Michael Ignatieff on the fourth and final ballot at a Montreal leadership convention. Dion won by 2,521 votes to 2,084.
"Daveberta, you're a keen observer of the albertus politicnus. What did you think of the debate?"Well, my answer to that question is that I didn't watch the debate.
Larry Johnsrude posted a bizarre transcript of an Alberta Energy Utilities Board hearing starring Alberta's Environment Minister Guy Boutilier who was not answering questions as a Minister, but only as an MLA...Judge for yourself. The following is an excerpt from an exchange between Boutilier and Don Mallon, lawyer for the Mikisew Cree First Nation:Read the rest...
Q (Mallon). I'm going to talk about the paragraph where you look forward to fishing with your grandson, and today you said granddaughter, but I gather from what you said today and what it says in the following paragraph that you don't have a
grandchild yet, or am I mistaken?
A (Boutilier). Actually my wife and I don't have a son or daughter yet, but we're in the process of privately adopting, so as a follow-up to our adoption, we expect to have grandsons and granddaughters.
Q. All right. So I'm going to assume that your grandson is precocious. And has become a river ecologist, a river biologist. And your son advises you as the Minister of Environment that the Athabasca River system's ecosystem is in danger of imminent collapse and that you and he are not going to be able to fish in that river anymore. And the reason for it is that the flows are too low and that we're removing too much water. Now, the responsibility that you have, which is an absolute responsibility, then, is to protect the river, right?
A. It's important to recognize that I'm here as MLA, I'm quite prepared to answer any question, but not as Minister of Environment.
Q. Well, I'm sorry, sir, you don't get to pick and chose who you are one minute and who you are not the next. You are the Minister of the Environment.
A. Right.
Q. And I'm asking you, sir, that as the Minister of Environment, is it not appropriate, if that ecosystem is in danger, to reduce or completely stop the withdrawal of those flows for the period of time that it takes in order to allow that system to get back to square one?
A. Mr. Chairman, I am here today as the MLA representing the region and citizens.
Q. And we know that Alberta Environment is the protector of the environment in this province.
A. Yes, I'm here today, though not as Alberta Environment but as the MLA.
“There’s an idea out there that somehow women are delicate flowers—people are snickering already—that somehow we can’t hack it and that we are broken by this, and frankly, that’s just bullshit,”Way to tell 'em, Laurie!
"We need leaders need to make decisions, not flip flop and dither when they're faced with a tough decision." --Jim Dinning
LOL @ Dinning trying to paint Morton with the "flip flop" label.
The overall score of stars and slackers is about 50/50 for Ed's Team. The big time performers were Ray Danyluk from Lac La Biche St. Paul who turned out whopping 73% of the total 1730 voters for Ed. Next was Luke Oullette from Innisfail Sylvan Lake who turned out a more than respectable 51% of the total 1726 voting members for Stelmach.You can check out the first-ballot PC MLA endorsements here.
First Ballot Results Thanks to the Invisible Hand, who is liveblogging the results from Calgary, here are the final totals:Looks like I may have been a little off on my predictions. I'll be interesting to see the final verified totals tomorrow morning. I'll promise more analysis then.
Dinning 29,470
Morton 25,614
Stelmach 14,967
Oberg 11,638
Hancock 7595
Norris 6789
Doerksen 873
McPherson 744
Total: 97,690
Jim Dinning, Ted Morton jump into lead in first-ballot voting for
next Alberta premier
Dean Bennett, Canadian
PressPublished: Saturday, November 25, 2006
CALGARY (CP) - The race to replace Premier Ralph Klein as leader of Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party was shaping up as two-man battle in early vote returns Saturday.
Former Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning and backbencher Ted Morton were within about 800 votes of each other but racing away from Ed Stelmach and Lyle Oberg, who were battling for a distant third by the time 20 per cent of the votes had been counted.
None of the candidates was close to the 50 per cent plus one majority needed for a first-ballot win. If no one receives the 50 per cent, the top three finishers will move on to a second ballot next Saturday that would see voters rank the candidates in order of preference.
Leadership candidate Gary McPherson has said those organizing the race couldn't run a two-car funeral procession. It's more than a little disconcerting to think they're in charge of the process to choose our next premier.
Understandably, there were plenty of upset Tories waiting in line on Monday. But none were angrier than those back at the headquarters of the various leadership campaigns who smelled a rat.
They blamed the Lyle Oberg campaign for using the advance poll as a sneaky way of busing in hundreds of supporters to the convenient downtown location rather than having them make their own way to the regular polls scattered throughout the city on Saturday. Those who voted in the advance poll had to sign a statement declaring they couldn't make it to the Saturday poll.
The other campaigns muttered darkly about Oberg abusing the rules.
Rules? What rules? When it comes to rules, the Tory leadership race is the Wild West without the sheriff. There are almost no rules and even less policing.
What Oberg did was simply get out his vote -- and that's what this race is all about: selling memberships and getting those members out to cast a ballot. Oberg, dismissed on more than one occasion by critics and pundits, is once again proving himself more resilient than Methuselah.
There are other complaints popping up about dastardly deeds in the desperate last days of the race. Various leadership camps are muttering about how other campaigns are buying up $5 membership cards and giving them away free to people, whether those people asked for them or not.
However, there's no rule against buying memberships and giving them away.
If Tories are upset by too few rules or no enforcement of those rules they have no-one to blame but their own party. This is a Tory-run, internally-organized party affair.
This is not a general election. This is not an exercise in democracy, even though it mimics the process.
Aliens from Mars or from Tory party headquarters might argue it's democracy. After all, it is a one-person, one-vote system where the ballots are cast in polling stations and then counted to determine the winning candidate. This race also has all-candidate forums and campaign buttons and plenty of media coverage.
But this is not democracy in action.
If it is democracy, it's the type practiced in the old Soviet Union where people were allowed to vote but all the candidates came from the Communist Party.
In this Tory leadership-race version of democracy, the only candidates are Conservatives. ...
Let the Tories have their vote.
Then let Albertans as a whole pass judgement on the Tories' choice -- in the next general election, when we exercise our democratic right.
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, the maraca is useless, the song lacks even folksy charm, let alone any passion and the lyrics are terrible... Please tell me this is not on his website. This is reason alone to not vote for him.- I attended a Women in Politics seminar at the U of A tonight. Speakers included MLA's Laurie Blakeman and Weslyn Mather and former MP Anne McLellan.
90 seconds in I'm thinking "when will this end". I am now approaching the 4:00 minute mark.... who wrote this torture!!!!!
And they wonder why homicides are going up!!!!!
If this goes over five minutes... I swear to god....
Praise the heavens!!!! It ended... just before the 5:00 minute mark coincidentally....
Yep. Nothing like the warmth of an armoured Presidential motorcade...In 2000, tens of thousands of Hanoi’s residents poured into the streets to witness the visit of the first American head of state since the end of the Vietnam War. Mr. Clinton toured the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature, grabbed lunch at a noodle shop, argued with Communist Party leaders about American imperialism and sifted the earth for the remains of a missing airman.
On Saturday, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, conceded that the president had not come into direct contact with ordinary Vietnamese, but said that they connected anyway.
“If you’d been part of the president’s motorcade as we’ve shuttled back and forth,” he said, reporters would have seen that “the president has been doing a lot of waving and getting a lot of waving and smiles.”
He continued: “I think he’s gotten a real sense of the warmth of the Vietnamese people and their willingness to put a very difficult period for both the United States and Vietnam behind them.”
In making the announcement, Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said, “This has been a difficult decision. Dan has made valuable contributions.”
“However, teamwork is key to being an effective Opposition, and I believe that this decision will allow our Caucus team to function better.”
I'll see what I can do about offering more comment later today...
Peter Lougheed's endorsement of Tory Dauphin Jim Dinning means something. Right?
Yep. That's correct. I'm a fairly modest fellow, but I have to say that daveberta is my favorite blog to read on a daily basis.It's Tuesday November 14th.Let's all remember this when the election rolls around!
The federal government has committed $80 million dollars to safeguarding urban transit systems against terrorist attack. The money will be spent primarily on new surveillance cameras and communications equipment.
Currently, expect the cameras to pick up the following images: under-funded downtowns, pot-holed streets, ailing infrastructure.
(voice horrified, amazed) My God, the terrorists have already STRUCK...
This is the Current.
As I mentioned earlier today, I spent a good portion of yesterday evening lurking through the crowd at the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership forum at the Mayfield Inn in Edmonton.
