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?

in the land of oil.

Come and listen to a story about a man named...

The Calgary Sun is reporting that Alberta PC MLA's have received over $1,000,000 in extra salary for Government Members committee work over the past year on top of their MLA base salary of $74,000. Here's a list of some PC MLA's and their extra collection:

CASH CROP
- Ray Danyluk - $47,132
Youth Secretariat
Advanced Education Comm.
N. Alberta Dev. Council
Court Workers Program Review

- Doug Griffiths - $46,998
Standing Committees of the Legislature
Agenda and Priorities Comm.
Adv. Education Comm.
MLA Task Force to launch Rural Development

- Carol Haley - $47,496
Standing Policy Comm.
Treasury Board

- Denis Herard - $47,106
Comm. on Workers Compensation
Alberta Mental Health Advisory Comm.
Standing Policy Comm.

- Ron Liepert - $40,381
Standing Policy Comm.
Trade and Transp. Comm.
Local Authorities Election Act Review
Regulatory Review Steering Comm.
Public Affairs Bureau Review
Alberta Film Commission

- Rob Lougheed - $48,872
Standing Policy Comm.
Council of Status of Persons with Disabilities
MLA AISH Review Comm.
Treasury Board

- Richard Magnus - $42,666
Standing Policy Comm.
Alberta Economic Development Authority
Treasury Board

- Ivan Strang - $42,407
Standing Policy Committees
Endangered Species Conservation Comm.
Treasury Board

- Len Webber - $40,500
P.I. and Security Guard Review
Healthy Aging and Continuing Care Comm.
Task Force on Continuing Care Standards
Alaska-Alberta Bilateral Council

You can take a look at all Government MLA committee appointments here.

This pointed out, I don't believe that we pay our elected officials enough. With the current base salary looking like so...
MLA Indemnity - $49,836.00
MLA Tax Free Allowance - $24,918.00
(Total) - $74,754.00

...and MLA's expectations to attend many upon many functions in their ridings and communities during their terms, the $24,000 tax free allowance disappears very fast. This said, I don't think loading PC MLA's with committee work or extra perks available only to Government Members is the solution to this problem. I would be very interested to know what type of work many of these committees have produced and if this work is actually worth the extra salary only available to Alberta PC MLA's.

On a completely different note, the floundering Alberta Alliance held it's AGM last weekend and elected a new executive headed by a familiar face. Randy Thorsteinson, founding leader of the Alberta Alliance and former leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party, is back as President. Thorsteinson left the Alberta Alliance leadership following his defeat against Innisfail-Sylvan Lake PC MLA Luke Ouellette in the 2004 provincial election. Cardston-Taber-Warner (and lone) Alliance MLA Paul Hinman was elected leader shortly thereafter.

october 14, 2008 alberta federal election candidates.

Following up from my 2006 candidates list, here is a list of nominated Alberta candidates running in the October 14, 2008 Canadian Federal Election.

Last updated on October 3, 2008.

I will try to keep this list as updated as possible, so if you have knowledge of candidates that should be added feel free to post below or email me at daveberta.ca@gmail.com.

CALGARY CENTRE
Christian Heritage - John Broekema
Conservative - Lee Richardson
Green - Natalie Odd
Independent - Antony Tony Grochowski
Liberal - Heesung Kim
NDP - Tyler Kinch

CALGARY CENTRE-NORTH
Canadian Action - James Kohut
Conservative - Jim Prentice
FPNPC - Doug Dokis
Green - Eric Donovan
Liberal - Doug James
Libertarian - Jason McNeil
Marxist-Leninist - Peggy Askin
NDP - John Chan

CALGARY EAST
Communist - Jason Devine
Conservative - Deepak Obhrai
Green - Nathan Coates
Liberal - Bernie Kennedy
NDP - Ian Vaughn

CALGARY NORTHEAST
Conservative - Devinder Shory
Green - Abeed Monty Ahmad
Independent - Roger Richard
Liberal - Sanam Kang
Marxist-Leninist - Daniel Blanchard
NDP - Vinay Dey

CALGARY NOSE HILL
Conservative - Diane Ablonczy
Green - Tony Hajj
Liberal - Anoush Newman
NDP - Stephanie Sundburg

CALGARY SOUTHEAST
Conservative - Jason Kenney
Green - Margaret Chandler
Liberal - Brad Carroll
NDP - Christopher Willott

CALGARY SOUTHWEST
Christian Heritage - Larry Heather
Conservative - Stephen Harper
Green - Kelly Christie
Liberal - Marlene LaMontagne
Libertarian - Dennis Young
NDP - Holly Heffernan

CALGARY WEST
Canadian Action - Tim Cayzer
Conservative - Rob Anders (Vote out Anders)
Green - Randall Weeks
Independent - Kirk Schmidt
Liberal - Jennifer Pollock
Marxist-Leninist - Andre Vachon
NDP - Teale Phelps-Bondaroff

CROWFOOT
Conservative - Kevin Sorenson
Green - Kaity Kattenbach
Liberal - Sharon Howe
NDP - Ellen Parker

EDMONTON CENTRE
Christian Heritage - Margaret Saunter
Conservative - Laurie Hawn
Green - David Parker
Liberal - Jim Wachowich
Libertarian - Savannah Linklater
Marxist-Leninist - Peggy Morton
NDP - Donna Martyn

EDMONTON EAST
Conservative - Peter Goldring
Green - Trey Capnerhurst
Liberal - Stephanie Laskoski
NDP - Ray Martin

EDMONTON LEDUC
Conservative - James Rajotte
Green - Valerie Kennedy
Liberal - Donna Lynn Smith
Libertarian - Garet M. Wood
NDP - Hana Razga

EDMONTON MILL WOODS-BEAUMONT
Christian Heritage - George C.Y. Lam
Communist - Naomi Rankin
Conservative - Mike Lake
Green - David Allan Hrushka
Liberal - Indira Saroya
Libertarian - Tyler Beckett
NDP - Michael Butler

EDMONTON SHERWOOD PARK
Conservative - Tim Uppal
Green - Nina Erfani
Liberal - Rick Szostak
Independent - Jimmy Ford
NDP - Brian LaBelle

EDMONTON SPRUCE GROVE
Conservative - Rona Ambrose
Green - Wendy Walker
Liberal - Chris Austin
Libertarian - Wade Racine
NDP - Barb Phillips

EDMONTON STRATHCONA
Conservative - Rahim Jaffer
Green - Jane Thrall
Liberal - Claudette Roy
NDP - Linda Duncan
Marxist-Leninist - Kevan Hunter

EDMONTON ST. ALBERT
Christian Heritage - Nathan Reeves
Conservative - Brent Rathgeber
Green - Peter Johnson
Liberal - Samir Sleiman
NDP - Dave Burkhart

FORT MCMURRAY-ATHABASCA
Christian Heritage - Jake Strydhorst
Conservative - Brian Jean
FPNPC - John Malcolm
Green - Dylan Richards
Independent - Shawn Reimer
Liberal - John Webb
Libertarian - Tim Moen
NDP - Mark Voyageur

LETHBRIDGE
Christian Heritage - Geoff Capp
Conservative - Rick Casson
Green - Amanda Swager
Liberal - Michael Cormican
NDP - Mark Sandilands

MACLEOD
Christian Heritage - Marc Slingerland
Conservative - Ted Menzies
Green - Jared McCollum
Liberal - Isabel Paynter
NDP - Stan Knowlton

MEDICINE HAT
Christian Heritage - Frans VandeStroet
Conservative - LaVar Payne
Green - Kevin Dodd
Independent - David Patrick
Independent - Dean Shock
Liberal - Beverley Botter
NDP - Wally Regehr


PEACE RIVER
Canadian Action - Edwin (Ed) Siggelkow
Conservative - Chris Warkentin
Green - Jennifer Villebrun
Liberal - Liliane Maisonneuve
Libertarian - Melanie Simard
NDP - Adele Boucher Ryhms

RED DEER
Conservative - Earl Dreeshen
Green - Evan Bedford
Liberal - Garfield Marks
NDP - Stuart Somerville

VEGREVILLE - WAINWRIGHT
Conservative - Leon Benoit
Green - Will Munsey
Liberal - Adam Campbell
NDP - Raymond Stone

WESTLOCK - ST. PAUL
Christian Heritage - Sip Hofstede
Conservative - Brian Storseth
Green - Aden Murphy
Liberal - Leila Houle
NDP - Della Drury

WETASKIWIN
Canadian Action - Shawn Mann
Conservative - Blaine Calkins
Green - Les Parsons
Liberal - Rita Dillon
Libertarian - Mike Heath
NDP - Tim Robson

WILD ROSE
Conservative- Blake Richards
Green - Lisa Marie Fox
Liberal - Jenn Turcott
Libertarian - Patrick Dobbyn
NDP - Jeff Horvath

YELLOWHEAD
Canadian Action - Melissa Brade
Christian Heritage - John Wierenga
Conservative - Rob Merrifield
Green - Monika Schaefer
Liberal - Mohamed El-Rafih
NDP - Ken Kuzminski

abuzz.

The blogsphere is abuzz about Speaker Ken Kowalski's decision to eject Liberal MLA Bharat Agnihotri from the Alberta Legislature this week...

From Speaker to Speaker
Answer Bharat's Question
Not So Honest Ed
Hear no Evil
Open and Transparent?
MLA Tossed from Legislature for Questioning Government
Rules and the Knuckleheads who Break Them
transparent and honest and accountable...tory style
Alberta Tories Eject Liberal For Asking Too Many Questions

And the media buzz...

Alberta Liberal kicked out of legislature for questioning grant funds
Fireworks at the Alberta Legislature
Grit MLA Turfed
Alberta Liberal MLA tossed from Legislature
Booted MLA says sorry
MLA apologizes, allowed back into Legislature

answer the question!

Yesterday afternoon, Assembly Speaker and Tory MLA Ken Kowalski ejected Edmonton Ellerslie Liberal MLA Bharat Agnihotri from the Alberta Legislature for refusing to apologize for asking the following question of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture Minister Hector Goudreau:

Mr. Agnihotri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Health, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development all have secret donors to their leadership campaign. Can this minister assure this House that groups receiving this special treatment are not secret friends of top Tories?

Agnihotri probably could have asked a less loaded question, but I shudder to think what Albertans outrage would feel like had this happened to a Conservative MP in Ottawa asking a similar question to a Federal Liberal Minister. Here’s how Kowalski justified his decision:

Speaker: The question from the hon. Member for Edmonton-Ellerslie, the first one, which wasn’t dealt with, basically says, “If a group cannot raise matching funds up to $10,000, it will be considered on a nonmatching basis. However, documents tabled in this Assembly show that this government is breaking its own rules.” Well, that wasn’t even contested. There were no rules that were broken.

…political party matters are not the subject of the question period. Then the question: “Can this minister assure this House that groups receiving this special treatment” – now, the question is: what special treatment? – “are not secret friends of top Tories?” Boy, if that isn’t innuendo, you know, I must have just arrived. I’ve been here 28 years, and this is blatant innuendo.

It seems to me that two main forces collided during this moment: a poorly worded and loaded question, and a harsh ruling by the Speaker (who is also one of the most partisan Tory MLA’s in the Assembly). I think it's quite fair to say that the Speaker went way too far in this ruling. The simplist way to defuse this question would have been for Minister Goudreau to utter one word in response to Agnihotri's question: no.

But let’s look at the root of Agnihotri's question: should internal party and leadership race finances be a matter of public transparency and accountability?

On the Federal level, it is very much a matter of public accountability – both endorsed by the Federal Liberals through their electoral financing legislation and through Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government’s Accountability Act. It’s unfortunate that Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party/Government disagrees with their federal cousins on this issue, because it is an issue of transparency and accountability – something that Premier Ed Stelmach even likes to talk about championing.

On Monday, Elections Alberta released their annual political contribution numbers:

The list of companies donating to the Tories dwarfed that of any other party in Alberta.

Energy and power giants listed include: EnCana ($10,775), TransCanada PipeLines ($12,650), Imperial Oil ($10,000), Nexen ($11,400), Atco Group ($10,650), Talisman Energy ($10,000), Suncor ($7,650), Enmax ($7,925), and Syncrude ($4,250).

Federal legislation passed last year bans contributions from corporations and unions, and caps individual donations at $1,000 to each political party. Ethics watchdogs argued the same should be introduced in Alberta.

"Donations are a means of influence," said Duff Conacher, the co-ordinator of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, arguing donations should be disclosed as they're made to parties, rather than once a year.

"If you want to prevent corruption and waste, then you want to have a system of very restricted donations and full disclosure."

The NDP received many large union donations totaling several thousands of dollars, which helped generate party revenues of about $625,000. The Alberta Liberals, who received several donations from the oilpatch, last week reported revenues of more than $1 million in 2006.

Though we are able to see contributions to political parties - and see how incredibly large these donations are - Albertans do not have the transparency and accountability in seeing the political contributions in the races that choose their leaders. This leaves Albertans with no transparency or accountability in the races that will decide who will potentially be Alberta's Premier.

This lack of transparency and accountability leads back to the idea behind the question asked by Mr. Agnihotri: how do Albertans know that undisclosed donors from the PC Leadership campaign aren’t receiving special treatment through this program? Or any other program for that matter?

sweet sweet calgary.

Dan and I drove to Calgary this weekend to spend some time with +200 fellow politicos at the Alberta Liberals election readiness convention.

It was a good weekend and was probably one of the best organized Alberta Liberal conventions I've been to since I started going to these things way back in 2000. It was a good chance to meet with MLA's, candidates, and other volunteers from across Alberta. Other than the training sessions, there were some good speeches from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, Mount Royal College Political Science Professor Keith Brownsey, and other MLA's- rallying the troops, etc.

I also had the chance to meet both Liberal candidates nominated to run in the upcoming by-elections: Craig Cheffins from Calgary Elbow and Tom Dooley from Drumheller-Stettler.

In Calgary Elbow, Craig Cheffins - former President of the Lakeview Community Association and Work Experience Coordinator for the Bachelor of Applied Justice Studies program at Mount Royal College - will be facing PC candidate Brian Heninger - longtime President of Heninger Toyota - and it's shaping up to be a fight with both candidates having a chance of taking this riding.

Other nominated candidates include Alberta Green Party leader George Read and Trevor Grover - sacraficial lamb from the Social Credit Party.

Calgary Elbow will be a litmus test to gauge rural-based Ed Stelmach's curb appeal in Calgary. This comes only months after Stelmach's near shut out of the Jim-Dinning-loyalist-Calgary-Tory caucus from his cabinet in December.

In Drumheller-Stettler, Liberal candidate Tom Dooley - rancher and former County Councillor - has been nominated. As for the Tories, municipal consultant Jack Hayden is making his move. Other nominated candidates in Drumheller-Stettler include Socred Larry Davidson and Alberta Green Jennifer Wigmore.

This riding was Shirley McClellan's stronghold for 20 years - which she won in a by-election in 1987 following the death of longtime Tory Minister Henry Kroeger. Though it's much more likely that Calgary Elbow will be the more competitive race, weirder things have happened - in a 1992 by-election, Liberal Don MacDonald was elected in the Tory strong-hold of Three Hills a landslide with 26% margin. Even if the Liberals don't win in Drumheller-Stettler, a strong second place finish in a deep rural riding like this one would boost momentum for Kevin Taft's Liberals in rural Alberta.

With both major parties putting up a full court press for these seats it should be an exciting summer!

rabid partisans.

Idealistic Pragmatist has a good post on her feelings towards partisanship and a recent visit to Edmonton by NDP MP Nathan Cullen.

I share many of IP's feelings towards blind rabid partisaness.