Alberta PC's Make Volpe Look Good

Days before the big vote for the Man Who Will Replace Ralph the Auditor General of Alberta reveals that a massive scam involving fraud and theft of funds from a government department may have ended up funding at least one of the candidates campaign. But because there are no financial reporting requirments for the leadership candidates campaigns, he can't say for sure.

An Alberta PC blogger, Ken Chapman finds the controversial conclusions in the AG report, something most of the MSM miss.AADAC Funds Allegedly Funneled into a PC Leadership Campaign Good for Ken.

Then Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell adds his own spin to Kens story.

As well, a blog alleges money from these contracts may have been funnelled through tobacco control lobbyists to Tory leadership contenders. Two others say Carr wanted to move up the government food chain to bigger and better positions.

Dunn asks Carr and checks the man's records. Dunn questions Alberta Lung and Kilburn. He can't find anything.

Except, Dunn does point out "unlike some jurisdictions, contribution records for leadership campaigns in Alberta are not required to be publicly available." And Dunn can't look at the books of the men who would be premier. In fact, Alberta law specifically excludes delving into dough from leadership bids.

The best the financial watchdog can do is lay out all the names and hope the Tory candidates do the right thing.

Anything more, says Dunn's findings, "is a matter for the Legislative Assembly to consider." That is, the politicians.

Dunn maintains if the contributions were open to the public "it would be very easy to trace."

Nothing in Alberta is ever easy to trace, whether it's government pork, insider influence or ballot-box stuffing. All this yarn gets is quick expressions of regret from the Tories and outrage from the opposition.

It will all blow over, as usual.

Yesterday morning, Dunn's department also talks to the province about the possible running up of expenses on a government credit card in 2004 by the executive assistant to former economic development minister Mark Norris, who is now running for Tory leader.

Dunn's department is "quite surprised" they hadn't heard of the allegations and asks government officials why auditors were not told. The answer? They didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. Situation normal.

AADAC funds the Anti-Tobbacco lobby who have been lobbying PC candidates with money from the government.

And the Conservatives, provincial and federal have the gall to call the federal Liberals corrupt. Ha. Welcome to the One Party State where corruption is just business as ususal for the Alberta Tories.

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

Smoking Bans Hurt Business

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Dinning Morton Tied

Stunning. But not unexpected. The anybody but Dinning camp and the social conservative political lobby is mobilizing behind Republican Ted Morton in the race to replace Ralph. Leaving Oberg in third place with all the other runner-ups. It's Calgary Corporate Interests versus the Right Wing Reform Republicans. Of course neither really represents Alberta or Albertans.

Dinning, Morton virtually tied in Tory race

A second ballot is almost certain in Alberta's Tory leadership race, a new poll of party members suggests, with Jim Dinning and Ted Morton in a statistical dead heat and four hopefuls battling for third spot.

The poll by Leger Marketing of 801 card-carrying Alberta Progressive Conservative members found Dinning, the province's former treasurer, garnered the support of 21 per cent of those surveyed. Calgary-area MLA Morton appears to have emerged as his most serious challenger -- snaring 18 per cent support.

Fellow candidates Lyle Oberg, Ed Stelmach, Mark Norris and Dave Hancock all have a legitimate shot at finishing third in Saturday's vote, according to the poll conducted for the Herald, with support ranging between 11 per cent for Oberg and six per cent for Hancock.

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

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Fair Vote Alberta

What is missing from the current boooooring campaign for the Guy Who Will Replace Ralph is any discussion on the deficit. The democratic deficit in Alberta. Nothing about open government, lobbyist legislation, referendums or heck even proportional representation. In the One Party State such debate is not needed apparently. Tory candidates talk gov’t accountability


According to Daveberta here is what the candidates had to say about reforming government in Alberta at the Edmonton Leadership debate;

Topic: Open and Accountable Government
Dave Hancock – Open up the Legislature, make the policy process more public.
Ted Morton – Federal Liberals are evil. I love Stephen Harper.
Mark Norris – I released my campaign contributions! (-5 points for being off topic).
Jim Dinning – Listen to what the people want and report back in six months (what?).
Lyle Oberg – Term-limits.



While in Ontario a Citizens Assembly has been called to look at reforming the government to be more open and accessible. Fair Vote Canada has created a campaign for PR in Ontario. Sigh when will Fair Vote come to Alberta? This is not even on the agenda in this race to the bottom by the men who would be Ralph.

This is not a new system; in fact, it’s an old Alberta idea. In 1921, the United Farmers of Alberta party implemented a campaign promise to bring electoral reform to the province. The transferable vote system was first used in a provincial referendum on liquor sales; because there were more than two options available to voters (total prohibition, allowed private sales of liquor, liquor only to be sold through government outlets), they were asked to rank their choices rather than choose one option. In the pursuant provincial election, Calgary, Medicine Hat and Edmonton voters selected five MLAs each from their cities (there were no ridings within the cities’ boundaries) using the vote-ranking system.

Also See:

Conservative Leadership Race

Alberta

One Party State

Democratic Deficit

Dinning

Morton

Oberg

Klein

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It's Close

According to a recent Angus Reid poll the PC leadership in Alberta is between Dinning and Oberg, the rest can bow out anytime now. After all this was always about a coronation not a real race. The King is dead long live the King

Party-sanctioned leadership forums have been panned by many, including some candidates, as boring and useless.

	Nov. 2006	Oct. 2006
Jim Dinning	18%	17%
Lyle Oberg	14%	13%
David Hancock	5%	4%
Ed Stelmach	5%	4%
Ted Morton	4%	4%
Mark Norris	3%	4%
Vic Doerksen	1%	2%
Gary McPherson	1%	1%
Other	3%	3%
Don’t know	37%	40%

Source: Leger Marketing
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 900 Albertan adults, conducted from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, 2006. Margin of error is 3.3 per cent.

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

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Feds may expand solar, wind across the West, including in the California desert


Janet Wilson, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Tue, January 10, 2023 

Lights from a solar transfer station taken at night from Lake Tamarisk retirement community in Desert Center, CA. December 2022

Mark Carrington, 72, thought he had found his piece of heaven in the vast California desert two years ago, when he bought a trailer pad in Lake Tamarisk Resort in Desert Center, 70 miles east of Palm Springs. He parked his RV and prepared to live out a peaceful retirement. The dark, star-spangled night skies and soaring mountain vistas of Joshua Tree National Park were a thrill.

Then the jackhammers started pounding and a pall of dust blotted the open sky.

He and other neighbors in the 55-plus community were shocked to learn a large-scale solar project called Oberon was being built on 2,600 acres of land, half a mile from their homes. Mature trees were ripped out, shrubby desert scraped bare, and the birds, rabbits, foxes and occasional desert tortoise disappeared. Then they learned two more huge projects have been proposed, including one 750 feet from their homes, Carrington said.

All told, they calculated the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Riverside County have now approved nearly 18,000 acres of large-scale solar in the area. Another 6,000 acres of development are being weighed. And the projects, first built several miles away, are coming closer and closer, complete with truck traffic, chain link fencing and searing night lights on workstations and solar inverters.

“It’s very frustrating,” Carrington said. “When these projects are complete this will literally be like a prison compound. We will no longer be an oasis in the middle of a living desert, we will be an island in a solar sea that’s completely dead.”

More could be on the way.

Federal officials are now considering a major expansion and possible modification of designated solar zones on public lands across the West, to include five more states, wind as well as solar projects, and slopes as well as flat areas. The agency will kick off a dozen public “scoping meetings” on the redesign effort on Friday via a virtual session and an in-person meeting in Sacramento on Jan. 18.

BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a prepared statement that the agency “is committed to expanding renewable energy development on public lands to help lead the nation into a clean energy future, enhance America’s energy security, and provide for good-paying union jobs. She added, ”“We look forward to hearing from the public on effective ways to expand our nation’s capacity for producing solar energy while continuing to ensure robust protection of our public lands and waters.”

Chopped, destroyed ironwood trees on land cleared for Oberon solar project, Desert Center CA. in late 2022.

For Carrington and others in this tight-knit, isolated hamlet 50 miles from a grocery store, it's the latest blow in what they call the eradication of their community identity and way of life. The study also may look at amending California’s 10 .8 million acre Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, a separate, hard-fought and carefully negotiated compromise agreement between federal and state agencies, developers, environmentalists and others that designated both development zones and conservation areas.

Renewable energy trade representatives say modifying the plans could actually reduce conflicts between rural residents and developers.

"There's plenty of land," said Ben Norris, senior director of regulatory affairs for the Solar Energy Industry Association, based in Washington, D.C. “We actually think certain changes would open up more lands for solar away from populated areas,”

But residents here are not convinced.

"I don't like it," Carrington said, noting many of the slopes and what remains of the open space around them are part of carefully preserved "areas of critical environmental concern" that should not be modified. They're already battling two more proposed projects, the Easley and the Sapphire solar farms, that they knew nothing about until they started sleuthing.

Public notice is an ongoing concern. Residents of the retirement park were not notified of the potential major expansion, despite promises by BLM officials that they would be added to official lists after they discovered the two other huge solar projects.

Carrington and his neighbors in the retirement park say they also were not notified in advance by federal or county officials or the developer, Intersect Power, about the Oberon project. Now they want a 5 mile buffer zone between their rural community and any more renewables, including Easley and Sapphire.

Their timing might or might not be good.

Ironwood trees leveled for new large-scale solar farm in Desert Center, CA
Push is on for large renewables across the West, amid rural objection

With climate change and its impacts taking hold, federal officials are now weighing broadly expanding but also potentially modifying development zones for large-scale solar and wind projects across the West, including in the California desert, where industrial renewables proposals have faced local backlash. Neighboring San Bernardino County in 2019 banned large renewables projects on 1 million acres of private land, including near 14 rural communities, after loud protests from residents.

To do it, the BLM may amend its sweeping 2012 Western Solar Plan and a related "programmatic environmental impact statement" that governs commercial solar development on public lands in six southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. A new, sweeping environmental impact study designed to cover millions of acres in one fell swoop will weigh adding energy development zones in five more states: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, and may include wind power areas and hilly slopes left out of the original plan. Ultimately, as with the current plan and its accompanying PEIS, it could streamline renewable development in designated areas, and allow set-asides of other lands when habitat and species destruction can’t be avoided.

Most of the approvals issued by BLM since 2012 for solar projects have actually occurred via variances for work outside the designated areas.

Industry trade officials are highly supportive. They say while initial mapping of so-called solar energy zones, or SEZ’s, was done with good intentions by the Obama administration, they have not worked perfectly on the ground. They say it’s time for an update that might better avoid rural communities and truly expedite clean energy.

Norris with the solar industry group noted the current plan and PEIS only allow projects on flat land and with high solar radiation, which was done to fit now largely out-of-date technology.

“Easing those limits would, first, align the document with current 2023 technologies, and second, allow companies to consider more sites that could present lower potential for issues with surrounding communities.” said Norris. ”We very much appreciate BLM’s efforts to take another look at this high level environmental review document.”

He said North Dakota should also be added, and added that a 2021 Department of Energy report had found up to 10 million acres of renewable projects are needed to decarbonize the country’s electric grid by 2050. The 2012 Western Solar Plan designated about 285,000 acres as priority solar energy zones and excluded about 79 million acres from solar development. The plan also identified 19 million acres available for development under a variance process.

But Carrington and neighbors say despite being told by BLM they would be notified 15 days in advance of any new activity, they learned about the potential huge redesign effort accidentally, when he was searching for a phone number of a local staffer on the proposed Easley project. They’re also not happy that the California meeting will be in Sacramento, not in eastern Riverside County.

“How are we supposed to get there?” Carrington asked. “They should come here, and see where it’s happening.”

BLM press secretary Brian Hires, in response to questions from The Desert Sun, said in an email that the proposed update includes lands across California. ”The BLM determined that holding a meeting in Sacramento would allow for significant public participation.” He also noted the agency “will hold two virtual meetings accessible to the public for those that are not able to attend an in-person meeting.”

The study may also look at California’s 10 .8 million acre Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, a separate, hard-fought and carefully negotiated compromise agreement between federal and state agencies, developers, environmentalists and others that designated both development zones and conservation areas.
Choking dust, lost views and water worries

The clock is ticking. BLM is pushing to meet a 2020 mandate set by Congress under the Trump administration, requiring them to authorize at least 25 gigawatts of renewable power by 2025,, enough to power close to 19 million homes.

Within a week of taking office, President Joe Biden signed an executive climate change order that in part requires the Secretary of the Interior to “review siting and permitting processes on public lands” to increase “renewable energy production on those lands . . . while ensuring robust protection for our lands, waters, and biodiversity and creating good jobs.”

As of last month, BLM, which reports to the Interior Secretary, had permitted 34 projects expected to produce 8,140 megawatts of electricity, about a third of the required 25 gigawatts by 2025, Hines said. Projects to produce nearly 3 gigawatts more are undergoing federal environmental reviews. Those totals include about one gigawatt built or is underway in and around Desert Center, enough to power about 750,000 homes.

Teresa and Skip Pierce, retiree residents of Lake Tamarisk Resort retirement community in Desert Center, CA

Teresa Pierce, 70, and a resident of the Lake Tamarisk retirement community for six years, is helping spearhead community opposition to more huge projects in their area. She said industrial projects on fragile desert landscapes are the wrong path to slowing greenhouse gas emissions from power production.

“Really it should be on every rooftop in California and the nation,” she said. They “should not destroy deserts, since they sequester the carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse emitted into the atmosphere), and therefore disturbing the soil releases it.”

Norris with the solar trade group and some national environmental groups say rooftop solar and commercial solar are both needed.

Area environmentalists and tribal members who’ve opposed specific projects in the past are keeping a wary eye on the proposal, which they note is in the early stages. They also point out that any increased commercial development must be examined in the context of separate federal and state proposals, dubbed “30 by 30,” to preserve nearly a third of available and valuable open spaces by 2030.

"We look forward to seeing concrete proposals once scoping is complete," said Chris Clarke, associate director of the California deserts program for the National Parks Conservation Association. "We strongly feel that the DRECP should be taken as a working model and not amended or weakened, and that overall landscape level planning in other states is a must, and that planning HAS to protect areas of significant resource conflict from development. This process absolutely must not undermine the administration’s 30 by 30 goals."

Close to home, Pierce said the traffic from Oberon construction is “horrible,” and she and other mostly older residents now suffer from allergies, aggravated COPD and other woes from the dust. Those and other concerns were laid out in a comment letter submitted to Riverside County planners last week about the proposed Easley project, signed by scores of residents. They include the possibility of dangerous silica being present in windblown construction dust, excessive water being drawn from an ancient underground aquifer for the solar projects, and the loss of dark night skies and daytime hiking routes.

Fugitive dust from the Oberon commercial solar construction project, one-half mile south of Lake Tamarisk retirement community in Desert Center, CA. Taken December 11, 2022 at 9:30am during 16 mph southwest winds, with gusts to 30 mph.

Solar developer pushes back

An Intersect Power representative gave a different version of what has occurred with the Oberon project, and said the Easley project is in the very early stages.

“The Oberon project represents one of the largest habitat mitigation efforts of any single energy development project in California’s history, and is a great example of clean energy and conservation going hand-in-hand,” wrote Elizabeth Knowles, Intersect’s Director of Community Engagement, in an email. “This project will permanently protect nearly 6000 acres of high quality desert habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise, the desert kit fox, migratory birds, and other protected species.”

While that habitat is off-site, she said, “the Oberon … development footprint also avoids about 2,000 acres of sensitive on-site habitat for wildlife, ensuring habitat connectivity between conservation areas north and south of the project. The Oberon project is also complying with hundreds of conservation and mitigation measures to protect public health and safety and the environment.”

In December 2021, as that project neared final approval over objections from area environmentalists,, an Intersect spokesman said in total 80 acres or less of woodlands would be cleared on the 2,600 acre site, and areas of impact in a buffer zone had been reduced to about 55 acres.

Knowles said the public was notified about the Oberon project via BLM press releases and notices published in the Federal Register. The latter is a voluminous daily record of legal activity by more than 400 public agencies and the White House. She said while the Easley project “is in the very early stages of development and design decisions have not yet been finalized,” it could not be moved to a new location.

“We actively explored siting the Easley project in alternative locations, including east of Hwy 177, but the area was technically prohibitive,” she said.

But, she added, “the Lake Tamarisk community is actively involved in the public process for the Easley project. Since being made aware of their concerns, we have been in close contact with (them) and surrounding neighbors to understand and address any questions and concerns they have regarding our projects in the Desert Center Area. We will continue to work with them throughout the planning, construction and operations of the project.”

Carrington and Pierce said Knowles and other Intersect staff had met with them on Pierce’s patio, and the company might consider dimming or redirecting powerful night lights to help keep the skies above dark. But they said such small measures would do little.

“What’s occurring is just a pure disregard for us as a community, and us as human beings,” Pierce said.

In addition to Sacramento, BLM will hold public scoping meetings in Phoenix, Arizona; Grand Junction, Colorado; Washington, DC; Boise, Idaho; Billings, Montana; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Reno, Nevada; Bend, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; Spokane, Washington and Cheyenne, Wyoming. A second virtual meeting will be held on Feb. 13.

Public comments will be accepted for 15 days after the last public scoping meeting. For the most current information, to register for the virtual sessions. and to view related documents, visit BLM’s ePlanning web site at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022371/570.

Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA Today's Climate Point. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com and on Twitter @janetwilson66

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Feds may expand solar and wind across the West, including the CA desert

Panthers star Brandon Montour's 'amazing year' celebrated by family, First Nations community

"It's exciting to know that a Native is playing in the NHL," 

Story by Aicha Smith-Belghaba, Eva Salinas • CBC

May 12, 2023

It's the second period in another intense NHL playoff game. On this particular Sunday, it's Game 3 in the series that has pitted the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Florida Panthers.

For most fans of the Leafs, the Eastern Conference second round has been, excitedly, the farthest their team has made it in 19 years.

But for supporters of the blue and white in Six Nations of the Grand River who were watching the game at a community centre, loyalties were torn. One of their own, Brandon Montour, is a star for the other team.

Arihwaiens Martin, who helped organize the watch party at Gathering Place by the Grand, said his entire family are Toronto fans, adding: "The Panthers, for me, [are] important because Brandon's on there. Number 62.

"I knew there would be the Leafs fans [watching]. That's through and through here on Six Nations. But then there's Panthers, you know — hometown hero, right?"

While adults watched the game on a big screen inside, about a dozen or so kids were running around in the front foyer, hockey sticks in hand, slapping pucks into a small net. For them, the defenceman — who, as of earlier Friday, had scored nine points for the Panthers in 11 games during these playoffs — is someone they look up to.

"It's exciting to know that a Native is playing in the NHL," said Jobi Isaacs, 13.


Eleven-year-old Bella Beaver, left, and a friend attend a Six Nations of the Grand River watch party. Bella plays hockey and was cheering for the Leafs.© Eva Salinas/CBC

Jobi said he's been playing hockey since he's "been able to go on the ice." Like Montour, he's from Six Nations, the most populous First Nations reserve in Canada.

Is Jobi the next Montour? "Maybe," he said with a shy smile and a shrug.

Garett Longboat, 11, plays with the Hagersville Hawks. He wants to make the NHL one day, and said Montour's playoff performance is inspiring.

Bella Beaver, 11, was standing nearby in a Leafs jersey. She plays for the Haldimand Rivercats and is sticking with Toronto. "Go Maple Leafs!" she shouted.

The Leafs enter Friday night's game down 3-1, so it's a must win as the series returns to Toronto.



Esenogwas Jacobs, left, attended the Game 3 watch party with her son Jamie, 6, her 15-month-old Ogwiyase and her partner, Rick Brant. © Eva Salinas/CBC

Esenogwas Jacobs was also at the watch party — a fundraiser for local language immersion school Kawenni:io — with her partner Rick Brant, his six-year-old son Jamie and their 15-month-old.

"I'm not much of a hockey fan," Jacobs said. "[Jamie] just started ice skating, so he's really into hockey…. We told him there was an Ogwehoweh guy playing and he was so pumped. He doesn't really know who he is, but he's excited that it's someone who we know that's from here."

Aunt gets 'complete joy' seeing Montour's success

Montour's star has been rising since the 29-year-old, born in nearby Brantford, Ont., was drafted into the NHL by the Anaheim Ducks in 2014. He played with the Ducks for nearly three seasons before being traded to Buffalo in 2019 and then to Florida in 2021.

A goal by Montour on April 30, with one minute left in the third period — the goal that tied the game against the Boston Bruins and helped send the Panthers on to the next round — caught the attention of many.

"This week has been crazy," Montour's aunt, Jaime Lynne Montour, told CBC Hamilton earlier this week.

"The further it goes, the more intense it gets, especially for those that know us and know that that's our family, right?"

Jaime Lynne, who's been watching Montour play since he was a kid and whose children have watched him their whole lives, said the moment feels "big."

"You hear from people across the nation, across Turtle Island, and they know your name? … To see your last name in the lights like that? Like, you know for a fact the ancestors, they're so proud."

Jaime Lynne said Montour "had great potential his whole life," and was always a great hockey and lacrosse player. She credits her family, including her parents and her brother, Montour's father, for helping to create "such greatness."

She recalls going to a game in Buffalo and her son choked up even before they had reached their seats, just seeing Montour warm up.

"I can't limit it to how it actually feels with one word. It is this overall, just complete joy that this person who I'm connected with, has truly found his purpose, and can truly excel and bring awareness for Indigenous communities, Indigenous children — give hope, where fear once limited us from being able to step outside that comfort, you know?"

Speaking to media ahead of Game 2 against Toronto last week, Montour said the support from back home "is huge."

"A lot of fans are rooting for us," he said.

Even diehard Leafs fans have been admiring Montour's on-ice performances.

Jaime Lynne recounted watching a recent game in a sports bar in Ontario, surrounded by blue and white.

"Me and my son are sitting there in our Florida Panthers [jerseys]," she said, recalling getting some boos from the crowd, until someone noticed her jersey was signed and asked about it.

"'Well, it's my nephew,'" she told them. "And all of a sudden, people's attitudes switch, right? Like, that's your family. They're like, 'He's doing amazing, he's having an amazing year. But you know, can you just tell him to stop?'"

Brandon Montour shining for surprising Panthers: ‘I just wanted to run with it’

By Joshua Clipperton

The Canadian Press
Thu., May 4, 2023

TORONTO - Brandon Montour unloaded a one-timer and watched the puck hit the back of the net before dropping to one knee and sweeping his glove over the ice in celebration.

The third-period goal on a delayed penalty took the air out of Scotiabank Arena and gave his Florida Panthers breathing room on the way to a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For anyone not paying attention this season, Montour stepping up in a key moment has become the norm.

The 29-year-old defenceman nearly doubled his career high with 73 points in 2022-23 after finally getting the chance to play a bigger role in his eighth NHL campaign.

Largely a third-pair blueliner until this past fall, Montour was elevated to Florida’s second duo and earned power-play quarterback duties on the team’s No. 1 unit.

He was shot out of a cannon early in the schedule, and never looked back in setting a franchise record for points by a defenceman.

“Getting out there more, getting the opportunities, them believing in,” Montour said when explaining his rise ahead of Game 2 against Toronto. “I just wanted to run with it, take as much advantage as I can with that, and show what I could do.

“Things have been good.”

Montour, who also tied Florida’s high-water mark for goals by a defenceman in a season with 16, was selected in the second round of the 2014 NHL draft by the Anaheim Ducks before getting traded to Buffalo during the 2018-19 campaign.

He would endure parts of three miserable campaigns with the Sabres, including an 18-game losing streak in 2021, before mercifully getting dealt to Florida.

On top of Montour’s regular-season stats, his six goals through eight playoff contests — including a late equalizer in the Panthers’ dramatic Game 7 upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in the first round — is the third-most by a defenceman in NHL history to start a playoffs, behind only Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey.

“I’ve tried to play the same way,” he said of his offensive explosion after putting up 37 points last season. “Numbers change with the amount of ice time and power play, but I think that was always a strength of mine.

“It was just a matter of getting out there and doing it.”

The product of Ohsweken, Ont., on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory — Canada’s most populous reserve and not far from Wayne Gretzky’s hometown of Brantford — has appreciated the support back home despite it being in the middle of Leafs country.

“It’s huge,” said Montour, who was also born in Brantford. “A lot of fans are rooting for us.”

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, in his first year in South Florida, said the blueliner’s fitness level gave him the foundation to get going following a tough training camp.

“Came out of the gate very strong,” Maurice said. “He starts putting up (power-play) numbers. That in turn allows his 5-on-5 game to settle.”

The third part of the equation was defence partner Marc Staal.

“Marc has been fantastic,” Maurice continued. “Marc is so incredibly consistent and experienced and knows the game and talks the game — is funny as hell. Those two guys just built a fantastic chemistry. Brandon has benefitted from that.

“He did the work to come to camp in great shape. He got the opportunity because he had some fantastic skills ... it allowed his game to settle. And then he got the right partner.”

Staal, who like Maurice is in his first season with the Panthers, has been impressed by Montour since Day 1.

“Knew he was a dynamic player,” said the 36-year-old. “But being on the ice every day and playing with him, he does some pretty incredible things.

“We rely on him a lot for our offence. He’s a big part of that. That pressure and responsibility was put on him. He just took it and ran with it.”

Montour was part of a number of blue-line tandems up and down the lineup last season, but has appreciated seeing that familiar, reliable face whenever he looks to his right.

“Great guy,” Montour said of Staal. “Keeps the room light, keeps me light. I like that connection.


“I know what he brings every night, he knows what I bring every night.”

Montour had one long playoff run with Anaheim as a rookie in 2017. It’s not lost on him these moments can be fleeting in a hockey player’s finite career.

And just like the opportunity he grabbed, the defenceman is keen to see how long the Panthers can keep this run going.

“It’s crazy ... time flies so quick,” Montour said. “This is my eighth season and we really had that one crack at it.

“You just want to win that much more.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2023.

Breakout Season for Brandon Montour Has Fueled Florida Panthers

By Colby Guy

FLORIDA HOCKEY NEWS

Brandon Montour is having a breakout season with the Florida Panthers as he has helped lead them to a spot in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.

 // Photo courtesy Roger Lee Photographer


SUNRISE — Brandon Montour has come up huge for the Florida Panthers time and again throughout this breakout season.

Of his 16 goals — which tied for the most in Florida’s franchise history by a defenseman in a single season — five are game-winners with two being scored in overtime.

Perhaps his biggest of the season fits in neither category.

With 10:24 to go in Monday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montour jumped up into the rush and fired a feed from Carter Verhaeghe past Ilya Samsonov to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.

He might not have known it after John Tavares scored the overtime winner but that goal ended up securing the point Florida needed to clinch a playoff spot.

Montour was upset with himself for losing a net-front battle Auston Matthews on his deflection goal that put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 but the sting hurts a little less after the Panthers got the help they needed with losses by the Penguins and Sabres to officially secure a spot in the postseason.

”As a player growing up, and especially now that I’m getting the opportunity, I want to take the opportunity to and run with it,” Montour said.

”I trust myself. On that first goal, I was a little upset with that play, I thought I could have made something there but you shake that off and you want to make the next big play and luckily that puck popped out into the slot and I found the lane.”

His game on Monday was indicative of his whole season.

No matter what happened during a game or during a season where Florida has faced many trials and tribulations, he has been able to shake it off and make big plays for the Panthers.

Montour’s five game-winning goals are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL among defensemen.

It is one of many categories Montour ranks in the Top 5 among defensemen in during a breakout season for the ages.

As a 28-year-old, he went from being a bottom-pair defenseman and a second-unit power play quarterback with 37 points to ranking fourth at his position in points with 73.

His knack for finding holes in the opposing team’s defense and picking his spots at the right time has helped him reach those heights.

”I think you just have to be a little patient,” Montour said.

”Trusting your skating is important, obviously you have to make the defensive plays there. Especially on that goal there, it does not get noticed as much, but my partner made a heck of a play in our own end and you just watch where the forwards are.

”I trust my skating and I get up there when I can and obviously Marc Staal made a great play to Carter Verhaeghe and he just went right to the middle and I was right in the slot.”

Montour has credited much of his rise to coach Paul Maurice’s confidence in him with an increased role and the stability Staal has given him on his left side.

The 36-year-old does not get talked about a lot — and sometimes negatively after a few early season turnovers — but he settled in and has made huge defensive plays next to Montour.

And it has given him the confidence he needs to jump up into the rush often.

“It starts in our own end,” Montour said. ”You have to be patient and I have been working on that all year and I feel like I’ve been doing that all year and just being smart with that and bearing down on my chances.”

With the improvement of his game came more responsibility that he had not seen before in his career.

Florida needed to find defensemen from within to eat minutes after trading MacKenzie Weegar in the blockbuster Matthew Tkachuk deal after free-agency was all said and done and Montour answered the bell quickly.

He ranks 16th among defensemen averaging a shade over 24 minutes per game, which is six more than his average last season.

Montour had to shoulder close to — or even over — 30 minutes at times when star defenseman Aaron Ekblad went down with injury and his skating ability and endurance made him a viable option to answer the bell every time.

”The grind hits and he gets up the ice so very fast,” Maurice said Monday night.

”He is an incredibly fit man. We had him at 28 minutes and none of that is easy because against a team like Toronto, you have to skate. Then he gets up the ice in the third period and he has a lot in the tank.”

His skating ability is something that Staal — despite playing in the NHL for 16 seasons — has not seen a lot of.

”I knew he was a good skater but not at the level I have seen him play,” Staal said.

”A lot of times when I’m playing with him, I don’t think he is back and he is back. I’ll watch the clip after and I’ll be like ‘he was in position because he can cover so much ground so fast,’ and that part of his game is so impressive.”

Maurice has trusted him in many different situations because of it.

He quarterbacks Florida’s power play — and has even been the lone defenseman over Ekblad at times — and is also often trusted alongside Ekblad when the Panthers pull the goalie for the extra attacker.


Florida defenseman Brandon Montour celebrates with Sasha Barkov after he scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Chicago on March 10.

 (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

”I think that goes back to maturity and experience,” Maurice said.

”Now he is on the power play, he has put up numbers, so he does not have to be up the ice the entire night indiscriminately. He picks his spots now to find the hole and then he can get into it.

”There are a lot of guys that can see the hole but there are not a lot of guys that can get into it.”

Montour has not gotten much love from national media in the conversation for the Norris Trophy, which is handed out to the NHL’s best defenseman, but he certainly deserves to be in the conversation.

Combining his point total with his knack for showing up in big situations and stability on both ends of the ice, he fits the bill.

Not to mention the fact he filled a massive hole while Ekblad was dealing with and recovering from multiple serious injuries this season.

“I think when you have the emergence of a player like that and it’s extreme, when he goes from playing in the five, six hole to running a power play and putting up the numbers that he has, I think you can look at the individual and certainly say he’s been a key piece to our success,” Maurice said.

”As that relates to the Norris Trophy, who is the most important defenseman on a team, he might be able to argue that he is. When there is a guy that is scoring 100 points and there’s some defensemen with some big, big numbers, at the end, that’s the easiest measure and that’ll be looked at.”

Published 1 month ago on April 12, 2023

https://www.nhl.com/player/brandon-montour-8477986

Brandon Montour Stats and News | NHL.com 

He had 37 points and an NHL-best 73 his first two seasons with the Panthers, respectively, and finished the 2023 Eastern Conference First Round with five goals, ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Montour

Brandon Montour - Wikipedia 

Brandon Montour (born April 11, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League (NHL).

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