david emerson for edmonton-east.

The Edmonton Journal ran an interesting piece this weekend speculating on the potential of Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson to run in Edmonton in the next general election.

Infamous for joining Stephen Harper's Conservative Cabinet only days after being re-elected as a Liberal MP for Vancouver-Kingsway in 2006, Emerson is rumoured to be seeking a different seat to contest in the next election (the last time Vancouver-Kingsway elected a Conservative was in 1958). Though there was no shortage of backlash against Emerson's crossing the floor from constituents and opposing partisans, I believe that Emerson's lack of partisan loyalties is the point which they are missing.

It should have become pretty clear that David Emerson did not enter elected politics to join the "Liberal" or "Conservative" clubs, but to use his skills, experience, and knowledge to do the best job he could as an MP -- and it is understandable that being a Cabinet Minister (be it Liberal or Conservative) would put him in a much more effective position to complete this goal. Unlike some politicians, who would cross the floor for more opportunistic reasons, it isn't hard to see that Emerson isn't interested in playing the game of petty partisanship.

Would Emerson be a good fit for Edmonton? Raised in Grande Prairie, Emerson earned his Bachelor and Masters in Economics from the University of Alberta, a Ph.D. in Economics from Queen's University, and has served as British Columbia's Deputy Minister of Finance, CEO of the Pacific & Western Bank of Canada, and CEO and President of the Canfor Corporation. A heavy weight who would inject as powerful amount of bench strength into Edmonton's parliamentary delegation, Emerson could fill the high-profile political void left after Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan's defeat in 2006.

Which constituency would Emerson run in? With Reform-era MPs John Williams and Ken Epp retiring and the Conservatives having already nominated candidates in both Edmonton-St. Albert and Edmonton-Sherwood Park (Brent Rathgeber and Tim Uppal), and most of the remaining Conservative MPs on the younger edge of the Parliamentary age scale (under 50), the pool of available seats in Edmonton is narrow.

I'm left thinking Edmonton-East. After 11 years in the House of Commons, Conservative MP Peter Goldring is an unlikely pick for cabinet, and though I'm sure he served an extraordinary term as the co-chair of the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, it's not unreasonable to speculate that the 64-year old may have reached the height of his parliamentary career. Though Emerson would face a strong challenge from former NDP MLA Ray Martin, Edmonton could prove to be friendlier territory than Vancouver-Kingsway, should he choose to seek re-election here.

Overall, if he decided to contest the election in Edmonton-East, Emerson could represent Edmonton well in the next parliament if he decided to return to the city of his Alma mater.

dear rahim jaffer, mp edmonton-strathcona.

Above is a pamphlet mailed out by my MP, and below is a letter signed and sent by my house mate and I to Rahim Jaffer, the Edmonton-Strathcona Member of Parliament in question.

Rahim Jaffer, M.P.
7516 Gateway Blvd.
Edmonton, AB T6E 6E8

April 6, 2008

Dear Mr. Jaffer,

On April 4, 2008, we received a pamphlet from your office featuring a
graphic of Jack Layton's giant floating head and a hopelessly out of
scale CN Tower. We were somewhat puzzled as to why our
Conservative MP would be advertizing for the NDP until we noticed the
text, "NDP Opposition: Selling Out Hard-Working Alberta Families."

As these types of pamphlets seem to be the only type of
correspondence that we receive from your office, we can only assume
that your full-time job as a member of the governing party is not to
govern, but to attack the opposition (which already finds itself in a
weakened position without your help).

As two constituents and voters in Edmonton-Strathcona, we would
much rather see you earn your re-election through hard work rather
than American-style smear tactics which I can only imagine contribute
to the decision of hordes of voters who chose to not participate in our
democracy. As we evaluate our voting options in anticipation of the
next federal election, we hope that you refocus on representing us,
your constituents, rather than the Conservative Party war room.

Govern yourself accordingly,

(The Undersigned)

i'm not doing anything for the liberal party of canada.

James Bowie has challenged six bloggers (yours truly included) to declare what they are doing to help the Liberal Party of Canada. The challenge originated from a post by Jason Cherniak that caused a bit of a stir over the past week or so in the Canadian liberalish blogosphere (you can check out how Jim Curran, Quito Maggi, and A BCer in Toronto responded to Bowie's challenge).

As you have probably gathered from the title of this post, I'm not doing anything for the Liberal Party of Canada. Indeed, I haven't had much involvement with the Federal Liberals since I spent the 2004 federal election volunteering with Anne McLellan's successful re-election campaign in Edmonton-Centre.

How come, Dave?

I woke up and came to the realization that I have some pretty big beefs with how the Liberal Party of Canada had governed Canada (whether it be on the environment, post-secondary education, international affairs, trade, and of course, Adscam, among others). So, I let my membership lapse in 2006, and since then Stephane Dion's hand sitting maneuvers haven't done much to entice me to re-join his party (not that I'm impressed with Stephen Harper, either).

Since then, I've been content to spend my energies over the past couple years working with the Alberta Liberals and the Council of Alberta University Students on the provincial level, and on improving public transit in Edmonton.

In 2006, I lent Jack Layton my vote and voted for NDP candidate Linda Duncan in Edmonton-Strathcona, but in 2008 I'm not sure who I'd vote for. Even though none of the federal parties are really doing it for me, I'm happy to take the Joe Clark approach and support individual candidates on the federal scene by wishing Elizabeth May, Jim Wachowich, Irwin Cotler, Nathan Cullen, and Oliva Chow good luck in their election campaigns.

throne speech?

Woah! There was a throne speech this week?

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

two ads.

I thought these were pretty clever. And they're lot easier on the brain cells than the most recent ads from the other side.

the next pm.

Justin Trudeau's yet to be born child is set to become the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister according to party insiders. "It's a 2040 track to 24 Sussex," a source close to the womb was quoted as saying.

Congrats to Justin and Sophie. But seriously, am I the only one who's getting a little tired of all the Trudeau-hype?

where to from here?

It's a balmy +4C here in Edmonton and in case there were any doubts I believe (*hope*) that Spring is here to stay!

A couple of things...

- Over the past couple months, Public Interest Alberta has released a number of discussion documents on some hot topics in Alberta.

This week, PIA released it's Post-Secondary Education plan - Where to from Here: A Vision and Plan for Post-secondary Education in Alberta and it lays out some solid recommendations for how to improve the affordability, accessibility, and quality of Alberta's post-secondary system. Democratic Renewal in Alberta: A Public Interest Alberta Discussion Paper is another hard hitting democratic reform document that PIA released a couple of months ago.

You can also check out policychannel.com to watch an interview with PIA Chairman Larry Booi.

- The Federal Budget. It seems federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is fairly pleased with himself for fixing the fiscal imbalance. Unfortunately for Minister Flaherty, a number of folks on the otherside of the "imbalance" tend to disagree.

- The Quebec Provincial Election is on Monday. I'll be spending a month or more in Quebec over the Summer, so I'll be watching this one with interest (I was actually in Montreal during the 2003 Quebec Provincial Election).

It should be close as poll after poll have shown the three main parties within striking distance of each other!

- And for you fans of election debates, this is for you!

trying to be somewhat creative in the face of a seemingly overwhelming lack of anything else to blog about.

Yes, these ads. By now I'm sure most of you have heard about the Federal Conservatives attack ad's aimed at Federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion which are to be broadcast during next weeks SuperBowl.

To be clear, I'm not a fan of political attack ads, but that doesn't mean I won't give the Harper Tories credit for starting their anti-Dion campaign early. None of the major parties own the highground when it comes to negative attack ads, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Tories are running a pre-election Blitzkrieg on Dion's leadership abilities.

The Paul Martin's Federal Liberals ran negative ads in the past two elections and it looks like the Tories are trying to do the same thing to Dion that the Chretien Liberals did to Stockwell Day in 2000 (Anyone remember the Reform Alliance and their hidden agenda?).

Whether the ads will be effective or is anot nother issue. They're not the fanciest or even the damning attack ads I've seen, so It should be interesting to see the reaction that Canadian football fans give when they see the ads next weekend.

greens at 9%.

A new Angus-Reid poll is out and is showing the Federal Conservatives 3% ahead of the Federal Liberals. It also shows Elizabeth May's Green Party of Canada on a bit of an upswing at the expense of the Federal NDP. Here are the results compared with results from November and May, 2006:

	Jan. 2007	Nov. 2006	May 2006
Conservative	35%	34%	40%
Liberal	32%	32%	30%
New Democratic Party	13%	15%	13%
Green	9%	6%	7%
Bloc Québécois	8%	10%	9%

rough waters ahead?

1. Ed Stelmach's PC Government doesn't seem to be getting the same smooth ride from the media the 13 year Ralph Klein's PC's received.

Following the cancellation of the $5,000 a ticket exclusive Tory fundraiser, there appears to be no shortage of tension coming from Stelmach's first cabinet as Health Minister Dave Hancock (Edmonton Whitemud) is being openly scolded by fellow Tories Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House) and Treasury Board President Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster) for talking to the media about a Province-wide smoking ban.

2. Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald (Edmonton Gold Bar) has discovered that the Alberta Tories have failed to file mandatory reports to Elections Alberta since 1987. From the Edmonton Sun...

The situation involves a secret "foundation fund" the party was allowed to keep after the financial disclosure law was passed in 1978, provided it filed annual reports on transfers from it.
Deputy Electoral Officer Bill Sage told the Sun he failed to notice that the statements stopped coming.

"I was responsible for it. I was the director of financial operations at the time. It was something that escaped me and I didn't realize it until just recently."
He said Elections Alberta has requested the Tory party to provide the missing
statements, but is still waiting for them.

2.For someone who pledged to get the Government of Alberta "out of the business of business," former Tory Premier Ralph Klein sure hopped on the business bandwagon quickly as a Senior Business Advisor for Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Calgary.

3. The salary of the chairman of Horse Racing Alberta has risen 217% in just four years. According to Alberta Liberal MLA Maurice Tougas (Edmonton Meadowlark):

...in just four years, Horse Racing Alberta has received more than $136 million from slot machine revenue. The government estimates another $60 million could pour into HRA this year, bringing the total subsidy to almost $200 million.

4. On the federal side of things, Stephane Dion has announced the Federal Liberals massive 47 MP shadow cabinet. The Harper Conservatives are framing it as a "Blast from the Past." It should be interesting to see how the well the Federal Liberals regroup before the next election.

5. Anne McLellan has announced that she will not be seeking the Federal Liberal nomination to challenge Tory MP Laurie Hawn in Edmonton Centre. Names that I've heard being bantered around for Liberal candidates include Jim Jacuta, Randy Boissonnault, and 2006 Edmonton East candidate Nicole Martel...

tip o' the hat to the ol' hydro electrical autobus.

Linda Duncan is making a move to once again become the NDP flagbearer in Edmonton Strathcona. In 2006, Duncan placed an extremely strong second to Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer. Depending on the strength of the Liberal candidate, Duncan again stands a decent running chance at potentially scooping the riding for the Dippers (though I tend to believe that 2006 may have been a high water mark for the NDP in Edmonton Strathcona - we'll see soon).

Here are the 2006 results...

Rahim Jaffer, Conservative - 21,956
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

It 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!)

And I thought this was pretty cool Edmonton Transit System (ETS) now has two Hybrid Electric buses...

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.
ADDITION: I am very pleased to see that Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel has announced that he will be running for re-election in October 2007.