Stelmach Falls Can't Get Up

In a downward spiral goes the Man Who Would Be Premier.Unelected and unloved is our Eddie. And he lives up to his nickname of Steady. As in de-Klein, err decline. He goes from the Man Who Would Be King to the Man Who Is Strom.

Support for Stelmach drops, poll finds

KATHERINE HARDING

August 22, 2007

Edmonton -- A new poll suggests support for Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservative government has dropped significantly in August to 32 per cent from 54 per cent in January.

The Cameron Strategy poll provided to The Globe and Mail also shows during that same time period the number of undecided or unsure voters has risen to 36 per cent from 18 per cent.

Mr. Stelmach became Premier last December after Ralph Klein retired. A provincial election is expected as early as next spring.

The telephone survey of 602 people was conducted between Aug. 7 to 13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points 19 times out of 20.

And if that wasn't bad enough.

Ex-Tory slams Tories

The former president of the Alberta young Tories has a message for the Stelmach government heading into the next election: wake up and smell the disenchantment.

David McColl resigned as president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Youth Association earlier this year, saying the party isn't progressive enough.

Now, with the prospect of a winter or early spring election, McColl says the Conservatives - and politicians across Canada, for that matter - must change their ways: politics must focus on social action, not on the cult of personality or pursuit of power.

Otherwise, it will face increasingly hostile public receptions.

McColl points to the PCs' own annual general meeting a few months ago, at which its members from across Alberta asked for a provincial commitment to set national environmental protection standards and to put future surpluses into savings for the days when oil can no longer sustain the economy. Both ideas were rejected.

It is possible, McColl said, to be fiscally conservative but still recognize the legitimacy of social progress; in fact, he said, the public already verges towards a consensus middle-ground on many issues that politicians don't seem to even realize exists.

"Peter Lougheed gets this and is spot on: we're supposed to be the wealthiest province but we won't be forever the way we're doing things. "

There are long-term issues that have to be resolved in Alberta, and the party isn't listening and it isn't questioning. Instead, it's just more smoke and mirrors."

Ouch.



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This Is What Alberta Democracy Looks Like

Well not really. More like the limitations of representative parliamentary government. In the Drumheller-Stettler by-election 1/3 of eligible voters cast their vote. The riding has 21, 790 voters and only 7144 voted. Of these 4,180 voted PC.

1/4 of voters decided on keeping the status quo. While it is a sweep, its one with a threadbare broken down broom. With this level of voter apathy, a general election could present a whole new picture.

What is more interesting is how the opposition vote breaks down.

The opposition to the PC's came from the Social Credit party and the Liberals. The Liberals and Socreds were tied most the of night until the Liberals broke away and got 14% to the Socreds 12%.

The Independent candidate an Alberta Separatist got 7% of the vote beating out the Alberta Alliance which got 5%, the Green Party which got 3% while the NDP got 1%.

Taken together the Separatist and the Alliance split the Socred vote.

But contrary to the wet dreams of some of the right a unified right wing of the Alliance, Separatists and Socreds would still not come close to defeating the PC's.

In the sprawling riding of Drumheller-Stettler, east of Calgary, Jack Hayden successfully raised the Tory standard once again in a region his party has won by lopsided margins ever since it was wrested from the Social Credit party in 1979.

Jack Hayden, a local councillor and a former rural campaign lieutenant for Premier Ed Stelmach, handily defeated a field of challengers to take the seat held by former deputy premier Shirley McClellan.

Ms. McClellan resigned in January after holding the riding for two decades.

What they would do is offer vote splitting on the right giving the Liberals a better opening come the next election.


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Not Before Alberta Votes

Hey, hold off those plans to bring down the Harpocrites.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe vowed Thursday — in the wake of the deaths of three Quebec-based soldiers this week — to bring down the Conservative government if it does not commit to a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2009.

He said if Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not soon notify NATO and participating countries of Canada's withdrawal plans, the Bloc will vote against the expected autumn throne speech with the hopes of bringing the government down.

Ignoring Kyoto law could bring down Conservatives, opposition warns

Federal opposition parties say a Conservative decision to ignore a law requiring them to find ways to meet Kyoto targets is a provocation that could spell the end of the minority government.

"It is an explicit and important example of how the government is not respecting the wishes of the majority of elected parliamentarians," NDP Leader Jack Layton said. "They can't expect our party to take that kind of disrespect lying down."

Not until we have a provincial election in Alberta, folks.

Why? Because with our unelected Premier and his gang of Tired Old Tories messing things up, business as usual in the One Party State, the PC's are in for a trouncing at the polls when an election is finally called.

A loss of seats and popular support in Alberta for Stelmach and the PC's will mean the conservative voting base will also be weakened. It is this same voting base that the Harpocrites take for granted in all Blue Federal Alberta. With a seismic voting shift provincially there will be a resulting Tsunami away from the Harpocrites.

With the influx of 'Eastern bums and creeps' from the ROC, the political landscape in Alberta has changed. And not in the Tories favour. Instead the mass of these are like other Albertans, middle of the road Red Tories, Lougheed liberals by any other name, wondering where to go.

Across the province, the percentage of undecided voters doubled, from 18% in January to 36% in August.

Dem's da folks dat don't know much about the opposition parties, dey just know dey don't like da folks in power.

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Election Day In Alberta

There are two by-elections in Alberta today. One in Calgary in Ralph Kleins old riding, one he often only won by the skin of his teeth, and the other in Drumheller. Both will be a bell weather for the Ed Stelmach regime as well as an indication of how well the 'other' parties will do including how they will do against not only the provincial P.C.'s but against the Harpocrite domination of this province federally. Any vote against the One Party State will also be a vote against the disinterested Federal Conservatives who take us for granted.

Alberta by-elections seen as referendum on new Tory leader

Disgruntled voters in Alberta

Solid conservative support wavering in Drumheller

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Rural Boots

Here is why Farmer Ed our unelected Premier is falling behind in support from his rural roots.

Albertans protest approval of seismic testing in Marie Lake

He can blame his competitor for the Premier, Ted Morton, for some of this.

Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton is right about one thing. The province has to reform the way it sells oil and gas leases if it wants to avoid more battles like the one over proposed oil extraction on Marie Lake.

Currently, the energy department sells a lease with no regard for environmental issues or community concerns. In fact, the department doesn't even have to notify landowners that a lease has been sold in their area.

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Where's The NDP?

This opinion poll about today's Alberta By-elections, is posted on the rightwhingnut website Free Dominion. I only have to ask where is the NDP? They have four seats in the house compared to the Alliance's one. Oh yeah it's a rightwhinghut poll.

Who will win the by-elections?

Tory sweep 12% [ 2 ] Alliance sweep 12% [ 2 ] Liberal sweep 12% [ 2 ] Tory - Alliance split 12% [ 2 ] Tory - Liberal split 31% [ 5 ] Alliance - Liberal split 18% [ 3 ]

Total Votes : 16

Historical revisionists that they are, like their pal Link Byfield, they forget that this province is home to the One Big Union, the CCF and twenty years of the United Farmers of Alberta.

For them history begins with the Socreds. Forgetting that radicals of the left supported the original 1935 Social Credit movement as a natural extension of the farmer labour populist UFA. And that the party had a left and a right wing until Ernest Manning consolidated power in the party, and turfed the radicals in favour of his evangelical rural base.

The decline of the Socreds was their reliance on their rural base. A base that Ed Stelmach now has, and that is rapidly urbanizing. Challenging the sorry old Tory establishment. Rural Alberta has become the suburbs even in the staid reactionary southland's.



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Pay 'Em What They Want

'Disaster' if paramedics walk off the job

If it's a disaster then pay the workers what they want. They have not had a contract for a year, which saved Calgary money.

It's a boom economy, let's see some of the Alberta Advantage spread around. Instead of course Stelmach will try to appease Calgary by lowering the boom on these workers with illegal no strike legislation.

Alberta government blocks a paramedic strike

The paramedics are NOT deemed an essential service, until today. It isn't going to help Stelmach's falling poll numbers in Calgary.


SEE:

Molsons Strike

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Premier Taft?

Picture this; Kevin Taft,



Alberta's Next Premier

Werner doesn't think so, and it appears neither do some other Liberals now that they see their chance at grabbing the brass ring. Though with leadership like his perhaps it is time for a change.

"Have (Calgary voters) stampeded to the Alberta Liberals? "No, they haven't, but a change is beginning to open up," said Taft.

And a careful read of voting patterns show that long-time Tories haven't switched wholesale to the Alberta Liberals (who suffer their own growing rump of doubters in the abilities of leader Kevin Taft) as much as they have simply stayed home.

Rod Love, former chief of staff to Klein and once nicknamed "Ralph's brain," offered some other context.

"Lest your viewers think the Liberals are about to sweep the province, the Liberal vote in Calgary Elbow went down by 100 votes," he told MDL. "The story is the Conservative vote went down 3,000 votes. It's a good thing they didn't go across the street, as we say, or Mr. Taft would have been a much happier guy."

The Tories now hold 61 of the legislature's 83 seats. The Liberals are second with 16. The NDP have four and the Alliance had one. There is one Independent.

Love noted the Liberals won 32 seats to the Tories' 51 in the 1993 provincial election, Klein's first as leader. "To us, that was an earthquake, and we won."

That was the Liberals under former Redmonton Mayor Laurence Decore and Taft ain't no Decore.

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Calgary Elbow Goes Liberal

Whew this is a horse race. But the Liberals are poised to take Ralph Kleins old riding of Calgary Elbow a long time safe PC seat.

They have been in the lead since the polls started coming in. With 69/77 polls in we are predicting that the Liberals have a winning lead at 44%. Through out they have been ahead of the PC's 43% to 38%.

Like King Ralph's victories this Liberal victory is won by a few hundred votes.

The vote difference between the Alberta Alliance 5% and the Social Credit Party 2% shows vote splitting on the right. Combined they would have had 7% of the vote, while the Green Party got 6%. The NDP a measly 4%. The Independent got 1%. All told this opposition to the Tories was worth 18% of the popular vote. Another good reason for PR.

The impact of the SC, AA and Green vote on the Conservatives have been enough to allow the Liberals to squeak past.


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Alberta Election Results

Ok all youse political junkies, it's eight o' clock MDT and the polls in Alberta's two by-elections have now closed.

Place your wagers.

The results can be found here:

Unofficial Poll Results - 08 CALGARY-ELBOW


Unofficial Poll Results - 52 DRUMHELLER-STETTLER

This is the Alberta Election website, and they are showing the results in real time, real slow time. With no talking heads to interpret the raw data for you, or to determine the winner after a quarter of the polls come in. Watch it hear, but make yourself a sandwich.

To get updated results hit refresh, updates are highlighted in grey.



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He Can't Manage

Alberta CEO Ed Stelmach leads his party in decline. He can't manage a simple job, that is to provide good governance. Instead he and his cabinet rely on tired old neo-con ideology to deny Albertans responsible government; like they have over rent controls. Which has led to this.

The Alberta Progressive Conservative party's approval rating has fallen to 39 per cent from 54 per cent in September 2006, according to a Leger Marketing poll being released today.

This is no longer the Party of Calgary, Eddie has alienated them. This is the party of special interests like Real Estate Income Trusts and Big Oil.

A month after Alberta's finance minister fretted that raising resource royalties could reduce the billions fuelling the province's treasury, Premier Ed Stelmach told energy producers the ongoing royalty review must restore public confidence in the system's fairness.

CAPP president Pierre Alvarez said despite the frustrations voiced during the Tory leadership race, few regular Albertans have turned out to the public meetings for the royalty review.

"What's struck me is when you go to the (public meetings), 80 per cent of them are industry and service companies," said Alvarez.

Energy Board bars MLA

down in Rimbey, our elected representatives can't get their foot in the door of a so-called public hearing into a new Calgary-Edmonton transmission line run by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board.

Even worse, the AEUB admitted it hired plainclothes private eyes to blend in with the crowd and spy on protesting farmers barred from the proceedings.

Unbelievably, Stelmach saw nothing wrong with the public energy regulator's spying on Albertans involved in a public hearing, citing security reasons.

SEE:

Drumheller Bell Weather

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