the sound a falling government makes is "thump"

Tune in! 3 pm Edmonton time is when live coverage of "non-confidence vote: part 2" is to take place. It should be a fun showdown! We've never seen a federal government fall! (THUMP!)

Good luck to all those involved in campaigns across the country. Play nice and have fun! :-)

We plan to have mostly Edmonton related campaign updates/gossip (for national coverage, we're sure CG will have his share of insight).

btw, we were in a cab last night with a driver who couldn't stop telling us some of the more offensive racist jokes we've heard in a long time. Slightly more disturbing that he was telling us them in the first place...

And finally, thanks to the half-dozen daveberta readers who emailed us commenting on the new template! We're glad you like it (and we love fan mail! [insert inflated ego here]) :-P

got a hitch in y'r giddyup?

*AN UPDATED CANDIDATES LIST CAN BE FOUND HERE!*

In preparation for Tuesday's expected federal election call, we've decided to make up a list of Edmonton ridings and their candidates so far... (let us know if we've missed anyone!)

We'll keep updating the list as more candidates are declared, nominated, appointed, or turfed.

ELECTION 2006 MANIA!

EDMONTON CENTRE (2004 results & map)
Laurie Hawn - Conservative
Lyle Kenny - Marjuana Party
Donna Martyn - NDP
Anne McLellan - Liberal
David Parker - Green

EDMONTON EAST (2004 results & map)
Trey Capernhurst - Green
Arlene Chapman - NDP
Peter Goldring - Conservative
Ken Kirk - Marijuana
Nicole Martel - Liberal
David Vanzella - CAP
(*UPDATE* Nov 29 - According to the Green Party website, Paul Wallace is no longer their candidate)

EDMONTON LEDUC (2004 results & map)
Jim Jacuta - Liberal
Ben Pettit - Green
James Rajotte - Conservative
Marty Rybiak - NDP

EDMONTON MILLWOODS BEAUMONT (2004 results & map)
Kate Harrington - Green
Neal Gray - NDP
Amarjit Grewal - Liberal
Mike Lake - Conservative

EDMONTON SHERWOOD PARK (2004 results & map)
Ken Epp - Conservative
Laurie Lang - NDP
Lynn Lau - Green
Ron Symic - Liberal

EDMONTON SPRUCE GROVE (2004 results & map)
Rona Ambrose - Conservative
Brad Enge - Liberal
John Lackey - Green
Jason Rockwell - NDP

EDMONTON ST. ALBERT (2004 results & map)
Stanley Haroun - Liberal
Peter Johnston - Green
Mike Melymick - NDP
John Williams - Conservative

EDMONTON STRATHCONA (2004 results & map)
Linda Duncan - NDP
Dave Dowling - Marijuana
Andy Hladyshevsky - Liberal
Rahim Jaffer - Conservative
Cameron Wakefield - Green

our qp adventure.

This past wednesday, we visited the Alberta Legislature and watch some Question Perioding. Here's a quick recap of our observations from the visitors gallery... (though they're definately not as exciting as some of our previous Legislature experiences)

(OPENING SCENE: Beautiful +14C day in the City of Edmonton)

1:00 pm - Leave work at the University, catch the train to Grandin station.

1:10 pm - Get off the train at Grandin station.

1:15 pm - Meet up with our friend Ms. Jane on the front steps of the Leg.

1:19 pm - Bump into Rick Miller in the elevator. We have a quick chat.

1:23 pm - Stand in line to get our QP pass... there are about 5000 school kids in the rotunda. crazy. Donna Martyn and Mr. Sharma are in line ahead of us. Dan McLennan is also in line.

1:30 pm - QP starts. Mr. Sharma crosses party lines and sits beside a Liberal (us). Way to go, Anand! ;-)

1:40ish pm - Laurie Blakeman introduces us. Very nice.

1:41 pm - Premier Klein is on his cross-Canada "Torpedo Stephen Harper" Tour, so Finance Minister Shirley McClellan is running the show... man does she have a boring voice...

1:42 pm - Liberal leader Kevin Taft asks the first question.

1:43 pm - Alliance MLA Paul Hinman is here. Sitting all by himself. The ND's are there too. Brian Mason is quieter than his usual "QP bull dog" self. But he does make some good heckles.

1:45 pm - It looks like Ted Morton is playing paddy cake... wha? either that, or he has a Juba song stuck in his head.... crazy right-winger...

1:47 pm - We notice that Dave Hancock is still in his "grey hair period" (as opposed to his
previous brown and black periods).

1:49 pm - Aboriginal Affairs Minister Pearl Calahasen is reading the Hill Times.

1:50 pm - Education Minister Gene Zwozdesky scoffs at an opposition question about hot lunch programs in schools. St. Albert Liberal MLA Jack Flaherty yells at Zwoz and looks like he's going to get up and deck him. For a 74-year old, Flaherty sure has alot of energy.

2:00 pm - Banff-Cochrane Tory MLA Janis Tarchuk is signing Christmas cards. Lucky for her, her seatmate Rob Lougheed is MIA. So she uses his chair to pile her cards.

2:05 pm - QP continues. The opposition asks decent questions, but the Tories give boring answers. They know the media isn't paying attention to QP while Klein is on tour. We're bored. Time to bounce. Adios.

2:10 pm - On our way out, we bump into Agriculture Minister Doug Horner. Have a nice chat with him in the rotunda.

(END SCENE)

buy nothing day.

Can someone explain to us a couple things about Buy Nothing Day?

1. Why does it fall on a Friday?
2. Does beer count? Because... it's Friday... and it's been a long long week.

We're sitting in SUB finishing off a book review and 5 guys dressed in drag just walked by...

Also, this weekend, we will have the full report of our exciting adventure to the Alberta Legislature this week...

Highlights include...
... MLA's signing Christmas cards.
... an update on Dave Hancock's hair colour.
... a certain leadership candidate playing paddy-cake.
... and much much more.

pre-electoral projectation

A friend email this cool election projector to us. It's fun for political nerds!

harper's secret agenda.

Finally! Our suspicions have been confirmed... and we can't help but think it's kind of cool...

"Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada are building a Death Star. Hidden behind the moon and almost complete, the Conservative Death Star will allow us to finally achieve our fondest desires."

fyi. (pronounced: fwy)

After a quick MSN chat with a friend of official importance, we were reminded that this blog (the one you're reading now), has been nominated for some fairly hefty non-monetary awards. Those being that of the Canadian Blog Awards.

As much as we'd like to mock them as the "Canadian Nerd Awards" or the "Get a Life Awards," it would be unfair to judge everyone based on a couple of blogs.

We've been nominated in the Best Blog and Best Personal Blog categories.

Here are the voting instructions as posted by Robert at MyBlahg.

"Tentative Timetable
Thursday November 24th - Wednesday November 30th: Round One voting.
Friday December 2nd, 12pm EST: Round One results will be announced.
Saturday December 3rd - Friday December 9th: Round Two voting.
Sunday December 11th, 9pm EST: Round Two results will be announced.

Voting Instructions
You may vote once per day. To vote, click on a category header to open it and then make your selection. Repeat with each category until you've made all your selections and then submit your vote.

Note: It's not required that you vote in each category, but you must make all your selections before you submit your vote."

So, as you can see, voting begins tomorrow, so if you likey what you see, *go here* and vote early and often.

(We shall post our endorsements later this week)