windy calgary.

Well, it's been a very busy week in the life of daveberta. I'll be away from the blogging world over the next week, so expect double the fun when return.

I'll leave you all on a couple of windy Calgary notes with this, this, and this.

Enjoy.

walk for darfur.

A good friend of mine who is crazy - but passionate - asked me to post about this walk he's doing...

Hey Everyone,

This Sunday, April 29th, Churchill Square, 5-7pm!

Help stop a Genocide!

Rally for the people of Darfur!

Walking from Calgary to Edmonton, 20 people have marched, to raise awareness and demand that action be taken to bring an end to the slaughter of innocent people in Darfur.
Speaking in schools, universities, on radio and television and arriving at Churchill Square at 5pm this Sunday to call on Governments to take swift action to halt the Genocide.

Let your voice be heard!

Join us, for the people of Darfur.
For more info, go to www.walkfordarfur.ca

From the shoulder of Highway 2 northbound,

Daniel Eggert

GOOD LUCK, DAN!

out yonder.

Apologies for the lack of posts this week, I hope I haven't disappointed my loyal readership (you know who you are... Anand!). It's been a busy week as I wrap up one job and am on the brink of transitioning to another.

Here's a roundup of stuff that caught my eye over the past week:

- I was sad to see that Michael Phair will not be seeking re-election in Ward 4 this Fall. Phair is one of Edmonton's strongest City Councillors and I was happy to be able to vote for him in the last election.

- The court trial fallout of the Ward 10 scandal is wrapping up in Calgary. An investigation into a scandal surrounding Calgary’s municipal elections revealed there was, “an organized but unsuccessful attempt to stuff ballot boxes.” This led to Alderman Margot Aftergood admitting her campaign team requested 1266 mail-in ballots and had them sent to a mailbox rented by her husband, David Aftergood.

David Aftergood, his brother-in-law and three other members of her campaign team—including two brothers of PC MLA Hung Pham were charged for violating the Alberta Elections Act.

Yesterday, David Aftergood was found guilty of one charge.

- This scandal makes me sick to my stomach. What do we expect to acomplish over there if this is how we're opertating.

- Gore stands up Stelmach. So much for THE DAYS.

baby-steps for democracy in alberta.

Last week, the Alberta Legislature moved to create four new all-party committees that are to review legislation referred to it from the Assembly, review regulations, and other issues referred to them.

Though this is a normal sight for most parliamentary democracies, this is something new in Alberta and will hopefully shift more power from the closed-doors of Cabinet to the elected Legislative Assembly. This said, it's still too soon to tell how much of an impact these committees will have on Legislative Alberta. Hopefully they will prove to be more effective than their broad committee names...

Here's a list of the committee membership:

Standing Committee on Community Services (11 Members)
Chair - Cindy Ady (PC-Calgary Shaw)
Deputy Chair - Weslyn Mather (Lib-Edmonton Mill Woods)
Tony Abbott (PC-Drayton Valley-Calmar)
Dan Backs (Ind-Edmonton Manning)
Jack Flaherty (Lib-St. Albert)
LeRoy Johnson (PC-Wetaskiwin-Camrose)
Art Johnston (PC-Calgary Hays)
Rob Lougheed (PC-Strathcona)
Thomas Lukaszuk (PC-Edmonton Castle Downs)
Raj Pannu (NDP-Edmonton Strathcona)
Shiraz Shariff (PC-Calgary McCall)

Standing Committee on Government Services (11 Members)
Chair - Harvey Cenaiko (PC-Calgary Buffalo)
Deputy Chair - Mo Elsalhy (Deputy Chair)
Moe Amery (PC-Calgary East)
Neil Brown (PC-Calgary Nose Hill)
David Coutts (PC-Livingstone-Macleod)
Alana DeLong (PC-Calgary Bow)
Heather Forsyth (PC-Calgary Fish Creek)
Richard Marz (PC-Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills)
Brian Mason (NDP-Edmonton Highlands Norwood)
Bridget Pastoor (Lib-Lethbridge East)
George VanderBurg (PC-Whitecourt-Ste. Anne)

Standing Committee on Managing Growth Pressures (11 Members)
Chair - Clint Dunford (PC-Lethbridge West)
Deputy Chair - Dave Taylor (Calgary Currie)
Victor Doerksen (PC-Red Deer South)
Denis Herard (PC-Calgary Egmont)
Ray Martin (NDP-Edmonton Beverly Clareview)
Bruce Miller (Lib-Edmonton Glenora)
Ray Prins (PC-Lacombe-Ponoka)
Dave Rodney (PC-Calgary Lougheed)
George Rogers (PC-Leduc-Beaumont-Devon)
Len Webber (PC-Calgary Foothills)
Gene Zwozdesky (PC-Calgary Mill Creek)

Standing Committee on Resources and Environment (11 Members)
Chair - Denis Ducharme (PC-Bonnyville-Cold Lake)
Deputy Chair - David Swann (Lib-Calgary Mountain View)
Pearl Calahasen (PC-Lesser Slave Lake)
David Eggen (NDP-Edmonton Calder)
Gordon Graydon (PC-Grande Prairie-Wapiti)
Doug Griffiths (PC-Battle River-Wainwright)
Paul Hinman (AA-Cardston-Taber-Warner)
Ty Lund (PC-Rocky Mountain House)
Rick Miller (Lib-Edmonton Rutherford)
Len Mitzel (PC-Cypress-Medicine Hat)
Frank Oberle (PC-Peace River)

elect ben henderson!

Ben Henderson, Edmonton City Council candidate for Ward 4, is having a BBQ fundraiser next weekend.

Ben came very close to being elected in 2004 (coming within striking distance of defeating incumbent-Councillor Jane Batty. Making Ward 4 one of the closest races in the 2004 Edmonton City Council election).

The Elect Ben campaign will be launched with the Second Annual First BBQ of the Season to be held Sunday April 29th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Rossdale Community Hall, 10135 – 96 Avenue. Food and drinks will be provided. There will be door prizes, a silent auction, and a 50-50 draw.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by phoning 428-1913, sending an e-mail to electben@benhenderson.net, or at the door.

drumheller-stettler by-election.

Today is the day that the Alberta Tories will chose their candidate to replace former Finance Minister Shirley McClellan in Drumheller-Stettler. There are three candidates running to carry the Tory banner:

- Jack Hayden, farmer and former President of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (1998-2005).
- Norman Storch, Hanna-area farmer.
- Leona Thorogood, an accountant from Stetter.

The Alberta Liberals have nominated local farmer and former County Councillor Tom Dooley.

Other nominated candidates in Drumheller-Stettler include Socred Larry Davidson, Alberta Aliance candidate Dave France, and Alberta Green Jennifer Wigmore.

UPDATE: Jack Hayden has been nominated.

band-aid budget 2007?

Tory Premier Ed Stelmach and Finance Minister Lyle Oberg unveiled the 2007 Alberta budget Thursday afternoon. Yours truly was there to take in the show.

Having received a nice invitation from Advanced Education & Technology Minister Doug Horner, I was privileged to sit in the Government Members Gallery to watch the budget announcement. In a random occurrence, I sat beside and had a really good conversation with Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd.

I have mixed feelings about this budget. It was nothing awe inspiring or amazing but seems to be an attempt to deal with some of the backlog and problems accumulated over 13 years of Tory mismanagement under the now defunct-Ralph Klein regime.

In total, the announced 2007 budget totals over $33 billion. The largest budget ever seen by Albertans.

Here are some of my reflections...

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
The nearly 40% increase in infrastructure funding for the infrastructure deficit was summed up well by Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft: "This is the price of bad management".

After years of only focusing on debt repayment while allowing Alberta's infrastructure to languish for 13 years, the $18 billion in announced capital spending seems to be an attempt to heal this scar. This problem is going to need a lot more than band-aids, it will need suchers. The $18 billion will point Alberta in this direction.

TAX CREDITS FOR STUDENTS
An increase in the Education Tax Credit from $450 a month to $600 a month for post-secondary students. Considering that most students don't earn enough money to claim the tax, this won't have much of an effect on enrollment. If the Stelmach Government's objective is to increase enrollment, especially among under-represented groups, continuing the failed policies of yesterday that encourage student indebtedness while doing nothing to reduce the upfront costs represents a lack of vision.

There was also a large increase in student finance funding. The devil will be in the details whether this will be an innovative change, or just creating new and exciting ways for students to get into debt. Sources say that there will be more student finance announcements early next week.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Out of the $400 million going to Alberta's municipalities, $100 million of that is earmarked for affordable housing projects. Though this $100 is a substantial committment to creating more affordable housing in Alberta, this is a problem that requires provincial leadership under a province-wide strategy in dealing with this fast growing issue.

TABACCO NO!
Oberg announced a 16% increase in tabacco taxes declaring that "smoking kills!"

PICKING A FIGHT
The 3% budget increase for K-12 Education and the unilateral decision to tie $25 million of funding for the Alberta Teachers’ Pension liability to labour peace put forward by Education Minister Ron Liepert’s looks to me like posturing for a bigger fight. Look for an ATA-Tory showdown this year.

THE RESPONSE
Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft:

“This budget may sustain the PC party up until the next election, but it won’t sustain this province in the long-term,” says Taft. “It’s a fire alarm budget. This government is racing around putting out political fires but not making the province safer in the long term.”

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier:

""For the past four to five months, I have certainly been singing the praises of the new premier and his government," Bronconnier said. "I took the man at his word, privately and publicly, that this is what would take place. "This budget constitutes a half-kept promise."

NDP MLA David Eggen:

"“Teachers across the province will see this as a provocation,” said Eggen. “This government has neglected the unfunded liability in the Alberta Teachers’ Pension Plan, for years. Now they’re trying to leverage that neglect to get teachers and school boards to give up their right to collective bargaining.”

Alliance MLA Paul Hinman:

"We need a true conservative budget, not a phoney conservative budget."

And finally, thank goodness Graham Thomson is back. Thomson put it well in his Friday column:

"What many agree on is, this is a budget trying to right the wrongs inherited from the Ralph Klein years. In that sense, it is a budget that talks of the future but is a victim of the past.