Taft Toast

Before the election

After the election

Taft says he won't make a hasty exit

That's why it's called the bums rush......

but there will be an automatic leadership review in six to eight months.

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Tories Lack Of Planning Wins Election

There was no enumeration done between the 2004 an 2008 election despite thousands of new people coming to the province to gain from the current boom. Instant Albertans, you only have to live here for six months to be eligible to be called an Albertan and vote, became eligible to vote during that time. But did the Tired Old Tories do a new enumeration. Nope. So massive amounts of voters found themselves having to fill out forms at polling stations identifying where they live. On line attempts to register also failed.

I scrutineered the advance poll in Edmonton Strathcona and again election night and watched as frustrate voters were directed to identify themselves with a picture id and a power bill showing where they lived. In many cases these folks had voted in the last provincial and federal and municipal elections and had not moved!!! Polling stations overlapped so voters came to a poll they thought they voted at only to be told to go somewhere else.

The Tories had no plan for this election. Which is like the rest of their policies, make em up on the fly. So the result was that they only got elected because the majority of Albertans did not vote.

The Tories got elected through voter enui, which they count on. Unfortunately the old anarchist adage, Don't Vote It Only Encourages Them, applies here but not as one would think.

'Won't vote' wins majority

Another, rather perverse, possibility is that some non-voters realize the political class is a lot more likely to worry about them if they don't vote -- by writing earnest opinion articles about the dangers of a disengaged electorate, for example -- than if they validate the process by marking ballots.

The Tories count on Albertans not voting in order to get elected. I know it appears counter intuitive but they really don't want Albertans to vote it ensures their re-election. They all but admit that. They reminded us of that Monday night when Ed told the press that Albertans "only vote to turf out a government". As they did in the landslide election of 1935 and again in 1971.

Alberta's "shameful" voter turnout for its provincial election sparked anger and disappointment Tuesday, with analysts trying to figure out the root of the apathy and Liberals calling for a probe of voting problems.

Only 41.3 per cent of eligible Albertans cast ballots Monday -- a record low for the province and the worst turnout to elect any current sitting government in the country.

Some Albertans blamed voting problems -- like being directed to the wrong voting station -- for not being able to cast their ballots.

Turnout has been sliding in Alberta since 1993, and this time the number came in below the previous worst – 44.7 per cent in 2004.

Let's conclude -- and underline the truly dreadful nature of Monday's turnout -- by stating party results in terms of all potential voters.

Doing that, we see that of 2,252,104 folks on the voters list, about 22.2 per cent voted Tory, 11.1 per cent voted Liberal, 3.6 per cent voted NDP, 2.6 per cent voted Wildrose Alliance, and two per cent voted Green.

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Alberta No Longer Rat Free

Alberta has long prided itself on being rat free. No longer. There are now 73 of the little buggers newly elected as the Tired Old Tory Government. Ed Stelmach of course is King Rat now having even beat King Ralph's election record. . Yep its the year of the rat I should have known this would happen.

When Buddha invited the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac to his New Year party those many years ago, the cunning little rat was the one who took the first seat by his side.

While the tale is told differently in each eastern culture, the rat's manipulative nature is always connected to his ability to be the first animal to arrive at the party and the first to be selected for the Chinese Zodiac.

Thus, this year, 2008, is not only the Year of the Rat, but also the beginning of a new 12-year zodiac cycle.

The Rat (鼠) was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is an animal associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities.

Negative Traits Controlling, obstinate, back-stabbing, resentful, manipulative, cruel, vengeful, power-driven, critical,sleepy

Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily. A rat's natural charm and sharp demeanor make it an appealing friend for almost anyone, but rats are usually highly exclusive and selective when choosing friends and so often have only a few very close friends whom they trust.

Ah well I cry in my beer at the NDP victory party which began as a raucous affair only to end as a wake. They lost two seats to the Tories.

Though of course not as bad a loss as the Liberals which never even had a victory party but rather held a subdued gathering planning the upcoming going away party for Leader Kevin Taft.

And the Wildrose Alliance Party, WAP, appropriately got whapped with Leader Paul Hinman losing his seat, the only one the fledgling party had. As I had predicted. Well at least one of my prestidigitations was correct.

The Greens on the other hand, didn't win any seats but gained in popular support especially in central Alberta. Look for them to be the new party of the right to challenge the Tories.

Sigh ah well another four years of Tory democracy in Alberta, now I know how the folks in Russia feel.

With 97 percent of the precincts counted early Monday, Medvedev had more than 70 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission. That percentage nearly matches Putin's tally in 2004 and infuses Medvedev's victory with the numbers to claim a clear mandate for the next four years.

As expected, Medvedev crushed the anemic challenges of three opponents who never had a chance to debate him and were drowned out by a deafening media drumbeat that Medvedev was "Putin's choice" and that his victory would ensure the continuation of the popular president's policies.

Another King Rat in the year of the Rat.





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Ed Gets The Bird

Calgary giving Tories cold shoulder....and a bit more....

Some of the brewing hostility in Calgary toward the PC leader was exemplified Saturday, though, when an older woman stopped her car in the middle of a busy north-end street to honk the horn and flip a one-finger salute at the Stelmach campaign bus.

So much for Calgary being the Conservative Heartland.....

Some Calgary Conservative candidates say they're facing the wrath of voters who don't believe Premier Ed Stelmach understands the city.

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It's Not A Leadership Race

Not since the ill fated Don Getty regime have the Tired Old Tories been in such a sorry state. Before Getty the Lougheed Team could do no wrong. After Getty the man of the people; King Ralph could do no wrong. The Tories would do well in the polls because of the Leader. The leaders polling numbers would often be stronger than the party's, and thus the party was buoyed by the popularity of its leader.

Now with wimpy Ed as leader the election comes down to hard fisted Realpolitiks. Despite polls saying Ed's Tired Old Tories are at 40% that is a serious crash in popularity, the direct result of Ed's mushy leadership.

The leadership debate showed that this is not a race about who will be premier, but rather which party will govern and which one is the opposition. While Taft and Stelmach vied for Premiership, Brian Mason showed himself as the leader of the Opposition.

And even then party politics and labels are not as important as the local campaigns. Because there is a lack of political process that involves us as citizens.

Election forums becoming a rare event in Alberta CBC.ca

Liberals have called for strategic voting, and Albertans will. But it won't necessarily be for the Liberals. Sure they will gain seats, as will the NDP.
Hinman and his right wing rump party are destined for the dustbin of history, splitting the vote on the right. Hinman is fighting for his political life just to retain his own seat.

Instead of venturing into Calgary, Wildrose Alliance Leader Paul Hinman campaigned in his home riding of Cardston-Taber-Warner, knocking on doors and attending a barbecue with supporters.

And who knows the Green Party may even have a chance, with their appeal to rural Tory voters disenchanted that Farmer Ed has become Alberta CEO and the mouthpiece for Big Oil.

Farmers join forces with 'tree huggers' to protest Tories' lax environmental record

Tomorrow there will be a sea change in Alberta. A record number of folks are voting in advanced polls. There are hundreds of thousands of new Albertans and consequently undecided voters. Conservative party supports will stay home in droves unsatisfied with Stelmach's regime.

Barely 5 per cent of the electorate could be bothered tuning in to the only leaders' debate of the campaign.

And voter turnout, which hit historic lows last time with a meagre 44-per-cent turnout, could well drop even lower on Monday.

“The turnout's going to be brutal,” says Arnie Hansen, an Onoway-area cattle rancher and oil driller who has come in to the fertilizer supplier this sunny afternoon.

“That's the way it works in Alberta. They stay home. They don't vote for someone else. They just stay home.”

All in all it looks like perhaps we will have a minority government. Or at least as close a semblance to a minority government after 76 years of the One Party State. Who will lead this new government is anybodies guess.

Polls have repeatedly projected an 11th consecutive Tory majority on Monday, but they also reveal a persistently large number of undecided voters - even this late in the campaign. Meanwhile, a surprising number of voters are calling for a change in government, are unhappy with Progressive Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach and are willing to switch their vote.

"There's definitely a lot of fluidity yet in the voter commitment," said Harold Jansen, a political scientist at the University of Lethbridge. "Voters are ready for a change. They're ready for something different, but none of the opposition parties have done a good job inspiring it."

The undecided segment has all parties - especially the Tories - in a knot.

But it ain't about leaders or party labels. It is about issues though. And voters will decide what issues are important and vote for their issues, which leaves Stelmach's Tired Old Tories in a very weak position.

And in the final analysis this election is about who has the hard slogging political machine in each riding. Who can get out the vote. It's the closest thing to real election this province has seen since 1971.

And I would remind folks who say the opposition parties are weak, that back in 1971 the Lougheed Team that came to power had only 6 sitting MLA's.

And when all is said and done its not just about who gets to govern but who is the opposition. That is the understated part of this election. And surprise, surprise guess which party looks good for that job.

During the campaign, Brian Mason's New Democrats have shown they have the policies and philosophy to provide effective and consistent opposition.

Neil Waugh, Edmonton Sun, Sunday March, 2, 2008

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Calgary Home of Conservatives Of All Ilks

Premier Ed Stelmach calls Calgary "Conservative Heartland ...

Sure is....

Neo-Nazis Firebomb Calgary Activists

Thursday, 28 February 2008

On Tuesday, February 12, two prominent members of the Communist Party of Canada were the target of an attack by suspected Neo-Nazis in Calgary. A firebomb was thrown at the home of Jason Devine and Bonnie Collins. Luckily they and their four children escaped unharmed, but considerable damage was done to the home itself. The Molotov cocktail just missed the rear window of the home, but torched their patio and fence. Jason was a candidate for the Communist Party in 2006 and Bonnie is running in the current Alberta election. The two are known in Calgary as activists with Anti Racist Action.

White supremacists have been on the march in Alberta for the last several years. They have continually threatened and intimidated activists in Edmonton and Calgary. There have even been open Nazi rallies, on a very small scale, in the province.

A statement of the Central Executive of the Communist Party said, “On behalf of all members and supporters, the Central Executive Committee expresses our Party's full solidarity with the Devine/Collins family and with our comrades in Club Red in Calgary in the face of this violent assault. Such crude acts of intimidation will not silence our comrades in their important work to combat racism, fascism and imperialist war, to defend democratic rights and social justice, and to advance the struggle for socialism.”

We would like to echo these sentiments. Our own comrades have been subject to threats and intimidation by these same people. Fightback unreservedly condemns these cowardly acts and calls for working class unity against such attacks.

Neo-Nazis suspected in Calgary firebombs
United Press International - 22 Feb 2008
22 (UPI) -- Police in Calgary, Alberta, suspect white supremacists are behind two fire-bombings this month in the city, the Calgary Sun reported Friday. ...

Communists firebombed
StarPhoenix, Canada - 23 Feb 2008
CALGARY (CNS) -- Jason Devine and fiancee Bonnie Collins believe neo-Nazis were behind a firebomb attack on their house. Devine -- who was home with his ...

Calgary: White supremacists scuffle with anti-racism group

Calgary: Neo Nazis Protest Burqas at Voting Stations

After all prejudice and race hatred is a conservative value and the historical legacy of Calgary. Just ask Ted Morton.


SEE:

Right Wing Nationalism

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Ed's Glass Half Empty

CanWest Media; the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald this morning greeted Albertans with this screaming election headline; Another Tory majority in sight.

Well actually no. Their latest poll puts Ed Stelmach and his team at 40%. Now that would be a sweep in any other province. But this is Alberta. Where previous Tory Governments had pre-election poll numbers of 65%, 75%, 80%, 90%.

So this is a decline. Ed's glass is not half full, it's half empty. Worse yet a poll last week had Ed's Team at 49% so in a week he has dropped 9%. Like just under 10% in week. That means by next Monday they could fall even further, in the poll that counts.

The headline should have said 60% of Albertans unhappy with Ed and his team.

And so the sub header ih the Herald and Journal reveal the truth;

'Enormous' undecided bloc a wild card, poll finds.

Now that's the glass half full.



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Alberta Election Debate

Watching the leaders debate tonight ...Mason hits Taft with a zinger over the issue of capping greenhouse gas, the NDP brought a motion into the legislature that would cap greenhouse gases but both the Liberals and PC's voted against it. Zingo, bang, direct hit. Taft stumbles backtracks doesn't answer the question. Mason hits back and says the legislature is where laws are made not election campaigns. So Kevin why did you and the Liberals not support the NDP motion on greenhouse caps. Waiting Waiting.

The debate formate is counter productive, far to short a time for answers. CBC is doing online polling of viewers and it is not realistic at all. The whole format is counter productive.

Watching CBC, though this is a joint CBC, CTV, CPAC, Global production, it is amtuer hour.

The Media running this are acting like they have never moderated or organized an election debate before. Paul McGloughlin pundit extrodinare just said there was no defining moment, but again I would say Masons counter attack on Taft over greenhouse gases was just such a defining moment. He praised Paul Hinman of the Wild Rose Party as doing a good job. As what a discombobulated disorganized rambling babbler? Hinman did the worst job.He wandered was unprepared and never made any other point except that he was the voice of Big Oil interests in the province and the PC's weren't.

The CBC ran an online poll, which was skewed by the fact that it had all of three people responding to it.

Over all it was amateur hour, not for the leaders but the media who sponsored this whole debacle. By keeping it to short answers they failed the public in allowing for any substantial debate. They had an hour and a half, and they decided that the whole thing should be run as if it was a WWE closed ring match for two minutes a round.

If the debate was supposed to be the event that would decide this election, it failed miserably. Better to have changed channels and watched the Obama Clinton debate.


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Dynamic Leadership

The difference between the Tories and Tory Light...is the NDP.

Keith Brownsey, political science professor at Mount Royal College; "Taft has performed well," Brownsey said, although he noted the Grit leader isn't connecting on a personal level with voters. "He speaks too much like a business professor."

NDP Leader Mason is showing himself to be a more "dynamic individual,"

It's all a question of leadership dynamics. For those that dismiss Brian Mason as Premier material well look at whose Premier now. And that guy leading the Liberals who wants to be Premier. Nope they both make look Brian look positively Premier like.


SEE:

Sun Love In With NDP

Careful Of What You Ask For


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Liberals Call For Strategic Voting

Tim Vant the invisible Liberal candidate in Edmonton Strathcona has good advise to voters and fellow Liberals.

VOTE STRATEGICALLY

Don't throw your vote away.

Seeing as he doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell against the well organized NDP candidate Rachel Notley.

Reading on we discover that the Liberals are an environmentally friendly party; recycling old campaign strategies. Across the province they are calling for strategic voting...for them of course.

The Alberta Liberal Team is the only party with a realistic chance of taking power away from the Conservatives and bringing change after 37 years of tired Tory government. If you want change, Tim Vant needs your vote.

Except the only time they actually came close to beating the PC's was way, way, way, back in 1993. Under the leadership of a charismatic political feisty former Edmonton Mayor. And back then it was against a feisty, charismatic, former mayor of Calgary. Since then the Liberals have run every election with a new leaders, except this one which has Taft being recycled as Premier material. It gives new meaning to green politics.

And in Edmonton Strathcona formerly held by the NDP Party leader Raj Pannu, and with a candidate whose father was the first NDP MLA, and has name recognition, well the best strategy is vote for an NDP opposition.



In fact "It Is Time" that Redmonton voted strategically; Vote NDP, for a strong opposition.

SEE:

Sun Love In With NDP

Careful Of What You Ask For


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Edmonton Strarthcona PC Candidate MIA

Meet another PC candidate who is internet challenged. Unlike his boss though this guy is a member of the net generation.

T. J. Keil is Ed's boy in Edmonton Strathcona.TJ to his friends. But he doesn't have much of a campaign or a hope in hell of winning . The PC's have given up on Edmonton Strathcona leaving it for the NDP to retain.

Not for signs or literature would I have known who this guy was, Nor do I find out much from his sparse web page.

T.J. enjoys many different sports, traveling, and participating in journalism and broadcasting.

For instance we find that this is on the candidates itinerary page;

T.J.'s upcoming appearances
Coming soon.

And then we find he has no events planned, half way through the election......

Events

This page will soon hold information about T.J.'s campaign events in the Edmonton-Strathcona area.

And it only gets worse..... being one of those hip internet savvy politicians T.J. has his own blog....not....

Click....oops....

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /blog/ on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

---

Apache/2.2.8 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8b mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 Server at www.tjkeil.com Port 80

Instead I have to visit his Facebook page to find out anything about him. Like last year he worked on one of the campaigns for one of the unnamed, unsuccessful candidates for Ralph's job.

T.J. was an active volunteer in the 2006 Leadership Campaign, organizing membership and campaign data and worked on the get-out-the-vote strategy.

And that he really, really, wants to represent us in Edmonton Strathcona.

T.J. has decided, after being involved in politics for most of his teen and young adult life, to throw his hat into the political ring. “This is something I really want to do right now”, he says. “It would be an honour to represent Edmonton-Strathcona as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.”

Not likely TJ.

Can you say parachute candidate....

Tory candidate drops out

Notley's chances grew Sunday with news that the Tories' candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona has dropped out, leaving the party scrambling to fill the slot.

Hughena Gagne, a staffer in Finance Minister Lyle Oberg's office, had been nominated. "She just didn't want to run," a senior Tory campaigner said. The party expects to replace the candidate later this week.

Yep the PC's have abandoned Edmonton Strathcona to the NDP.


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Ed's Facebook Page

Ed Stelmach doesn't have his own Facebook page....but he has a Facebook Fan Club which is formed by folks out in Toronto and Kingston, Ontario..... claiming Northern Alberta loves Ed....

	The Ed Stelmach fan club
Type:	Organizations - Political Organizations
Description:	Because all of northern alberta loves steady Eddie.

Officers

Mathew Molsberry (Royal Military College of Canada)

Royal Military College of Canada '09

Kingston, ON

Director of Northern Alberta Relations

Daniel Muscat-Drago (Toronto, ON)

Director of Ghetto/Centenial relations

Max Riopelle (Royal Military College of Canada)

Director Ed Stelmach(visa ve Alberta)/Eastern Canada Relations

Administration

Stephen Paish (Royal Military College of Canada)

And it has 402 members not all of whom are Ed fans.....

Amber Kay (Simon Fraser) wrote at 3:57pm yesterday NARROW, I would describe narrow minded as selling your souls for a profit, a profit in which Albertans and Canadians don’t see because your wonderful premier won’t charge higher royalties!! Alberta has the lowest oil royalties in the world!! And the oil companies and the government have your balls in a vice because if you speak out to what you are entitled to, they will leave- very democratic of them, to bad your government won’t protect you! And what are you willing to sacrifice, because right now- its everything. Fresh water, air, and the lives of thousands of people- so if a human life is worth less then your job, then wow, what a sad state of affairs our world it is- and I believe we have your friend steady Eddie and the conservatives to thank.

Ivan Abelar wrote at 11:26am yesterday Such a narrow view Amber...Yes its hard on the enviroment but without Alberta's Economy Canada's economy we down the tubes. There are steps that still have to be taken for the good of the province but to much change will push oil companies out and thousands of people out of work and the ripple will be felt in all provinces. Even at simon fraser...

Amber Kay (Simon Fraser) wrote at 6:49pm on February 15th, 2008 OMG- are you people slow!! Ed is a retard, sure he is great if you dont mind a guy who gives away Alberta resources, alows the WORLDS WORST NATURAL DISASTER to occur in your back yard, alow the oil companies to fuck every Albertan in the ass- and they dont even use lube!! So ya go Stelmach- cause ya, if you blind sheep keep voteing,then you will all continue to get screwed!! there is no Alberta advantage- and this group proves it

Oh dear seems like maybe this was not such a good idea...quick someone notify Tyler Shandro to sue these guys...they are doing more harm than good....Ed and the Tired Old Tories are internet challenged this election.

See:

Ed's Ides of March


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False Advertising

Yeah made a commitment to be delivered in 2009,or 2010 or maybe 2011....




As for a plan they have no plan...except to get re-elected...

Stelmach's sophomore-year throne speech will try to further convince voters he has a clear plan, contrary to the ominous whispers of "no plan" in union-funded ads that have run on TV for weeks.

The premier whispered back, "We have a plan" in a news conference last week, and now Kwong will reiterate that message on his behalf.

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Sun Love In With NDP

Is subversive socialism creeping into the Sun Editorial Room. After all their new marketing slogan smacks of Bolshevism; Read Red. Red being their banner colour.

And they are saying nice things about Brian Mason and the NDP after Brian met with them yesterday.

When Mason appeared yesterday to talk to the Sun's editorial board he didn't seem to have any blood-sucking socialist fangs and wasn't wearing a red beret.

Instead, he wore a tie and jacket and patiently outlined a policy platform aimed at what ex-premier Ralph Klein dubbed severely normal Albertans.

Kerry Diotte, a transplanted Ontario libertarian, gushes again over Brian and the NDP.

There's long been an innate fear of socialism here and it has been reflected by the poor showing by NDP candidates who run federally and provincially.

That's why it's got to be frustrating for a guy like Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason, who's the most charismatic of the three major party leaders contesting the March 3 provincial election.

Which is why he falls into the revisionist right wing myth that Alberta fears socialism. Which is contradicted by the historical fact that Western Canadian Socialism was given birth here with the strikes of miners who belonged to the IWW in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. Again in 1919 with the founding Convention of the One Big Union in Calgary, during the Winnipeg General Strike, organized by the Socialist Party of Canada. And later with the founding of the CCF in Calgary in the 1920's, not as some mistakenly believe in Regina.. Albertans embraced socialism even in its later distributionist right wing variant; Social Credit.

Neil Waugh gushed this week over Brian as well.

There was nothing about a Liberal-style assault on the oilsands for Our Brian, clearly a friend of the working man and woman, or at least not for now. Heck, he even wants to charge a bitumen removal "barrel tax" to force oilsands outfits to upgrade their production here.

Then today Waugh joins in with a clarion call of pending class war because of Big Oil's finger puppet Ed Stelmach. Suddenly Waugh is sounding like more like Lenin than Ayn Rand.

That was all before Canadian National Resources Ltd.'s $2-billion oilsands overrun suddenly appeared to bite the Tories this week.

With only 10% of the Horizon oil sands plant at Fort McMurray still to build, the costs mysteriously soared 28% in what the company blurb called the "toughest, most labour intensive portion" of the controversial project controlled by Calgary billionaire Murray Edwards.

"Unfortunately, mid to late January and early February saw a significant deterioration of labour productivity on the site," company brass lamented.

The reason was "much colder than normal weather seriously curtailed activity."

Who knew that it sometimes hits -40 C at Fort Mac in the winter? When in doubt, blame the workers and the weather.

But it won't be CNRL shareholders picking up the extra $2 billion. Somebody messed up big time and tried to build the biggest piece of the project in brass monkey weather.

In all likelihood, Alberta taxpayers will once again bite the bullet.

Even under Stelmach's new royalty deal (a strangely forgotten part of the PC campaign), oilsands outfits still only pay pennies on the dollar until the massive plants are paid out. Then the royalty jumps to a more reasonable rate of 25% to 40%, depending on oil prices.

Energy department spokesman Jason Chance insisted that any additional costs "would have to be validated and determined whether they are appropriate. It's based on what the reality is."

The sweet deal CNRL got from the Tories for Horizon allowed the company to tear up the oilsands labour construction deal and broke the peace that ruled in the oilsands for the last quarter century. It touched off last fall's Hard Hat Flu walkouts.

This resulted in the "No Plan" Stelmach attack ads backed by the Alberta Building Trades Council.

These took a turn for the bizarre last weekend when the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees' brass, after "extensive debate," voted to kick in $300,000 to the TV spots, meaning government workers are now attacking their own work.

Meanwhile Employment Minister Iris Evans continues to sit on the probe into CNRL's all-fall-down tank farm, where two Chinese foreign temporary workers were crushed to death.

"The chickens are coming home to roost for Mr. Stelmach," Mason chuckled, calling for a "special unit" of government auditors to "validate and verify" CNRL's cost-overrun claims.

Or is Klein's political ghost now haunting Eddie's campaign bus?

Mason also met with the Liberal Edmonton Journal editorial board. And again a fair gushing ensued over the only charismatic politician in the race. Mason was the winner in the 2000 race, and the NDP has made the transition from being a decimated party in 1993 to rising from the ashes in 1997 to winning four seats in 2004. And in each of those elections the NDP was a new party with new directions and new leaders who appealed to the public.

Albertans should be grateful the competent, thoughtful, personable likes of Brian Mason is willing to fight the uphill battle, to make the case for New Democrat MLAs in the legislature at election time, and to stoke debate on issues such as health care each time the Tories introduce one of their numbered "ways" of challenging the public system.

Do the NDs have a place in the next legislature?

That's a decision voters -- in practice, Edmonton voters -- must decide as they balance their desire for change in government offices, their recognition that our new Edmonton-area premier already constitutes change from the Calgary-centric Klein past, and their admiration for stands of principle by people like Mason and his predecessors Raj Pannu and Pam Barrett.

But would this election be as valuable or as useful a forum of political renewal and debate without Mason's and the NDP's thoughtful perspective on issues?

It certainly would not.

The Edmonton media seems to have given Brian and the NDP an election bouquet of good wishes on Valentines Day.


SEE

Careful Of What You Ask For


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Costing Promises

Liberals Tories same old stories; make plenty of spending promises but leave the calculator at home.

Plenty of Promises, but Little Accounting

The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives are proving least accountable with public dollars when it comes to slapping price tags on their big-spending election promises, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation argued Wednesday.

The NDP proved to be most transparent with expenditure commitments. The party has attached sticker prices on two of the four applicable spending promises to date, totalling more than $2.1 billion annually, with most of that allocated to a green energy fund.

Taxpayers federation wants answers for big promises

Feb, 13 2008 - 3:50 PM

EDMONTON - The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation wants to see the bottom line of all the political parties who it says are making big spending promises in Alberta's provincial election campaign.

The group says it wants cost breakdowns from all parties of what their spending announcements are going to cost taxpayers.

So far during the campaign the federation says, the Alberta Liberals have made 40 different spending announcements, but have only given a cost breakdown for one.

It says the Alberta Tories have made 15 announcements and the NDP 13. The group says the NDP has costed all but two of its promises.

Scott Hennig, a spokesman for the group, says either some of the parties aren't being straight with taxpayers about what their promises will cost, or they run the province into debt trying to fulfil them.

He says the competition to see who can spend the most would only push a provincial government closer to a deficit. Hennig says the promises made by many of the parties are so vague, it's impossible to independently figure out how much they would cost.

(KH)

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Alberta, Premier, Ed Stelmach,
election,PC, Liberals, Conservatives,Brian Mason, Kevin Taft, Alberta election,NDP,

Broken Promises

You can't break promises if you don't make any.

However, Stelmach wouldn't guarantee his government will continue natural gas rebates for all Albertans

On the other hand its bad news when you make a promise you know you can't keep.

The Tories couldn't seem to do anything right. When Stelmach promised to graduate more doctors from Alberta universities, for example, the doctors themselves said the idea won't work.

When he made an announcement at a Red Deer day care centre, some angry mothers who happened to be there berated the day-care promise as meaningless.

But it only gets worse when the only promise you can keep is that insurance premiums will go up because of your governments bad law.

Premier Ed Stelmach raised the spectre of rising auto-insurance premiums Monday, saying a recent court ruling that struck down the government's cap on payouts for soft-tissue injuries could result in higher costs for Alberta drivers.

"This may have tremendous pressure on (an) increase in rates," Stelmach said during a campaign stop in Edmonton.

The comments follow a claim by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the industry's lobbying arm, that the Court of Queen's Bench ruling could increase premiums an average of $200 a year for every driver in the province

And then there are those promises your government made but failed to keep.

Neils Bach, 77, spoke for many residents of the Strathmore-Brooks riding when he begged Stelmach to start construction of a promised new 100-bed facility now.

"Mr. Stelmach, we need a new and much bigger nursing home in Strathmore. It's 15 years overdue."

Stelmach appeared moved by the plea, but couldn't give residents a specific date when construction will begin. "We'll get it built and we'll get it built as quickly as possible," he promised. "I really do empathize with your situation."

One elderly lady appeared exasperated by the delay.

"I sat in this room four years ago and heard there would be an extended-care facility open in spring 2007," said Madeline Scott.

"I'm a person of my word," the premier responded. "We allocated funds for a 100-bed facility. It's going to be built."

He said the funds have been approved and it's up to the health region to get the facility planned, designed and constructed. When he set out the process and time frame, one woman said she may not live that long.

Or making a promise sort of, maybe, sometime in the next four years we will do it if re-elected. When you could do it now with the swipe of a pen.

A former Member of Parliament from New Brunswick has launched a public battle against the Alberta's government's policy of charging monthly premiums for health care.

Gilles Bernier, who once served as MP for the riding of Tobique-Mactaquac, moved to Alberta in 2006 to start his own business. After applying for an Alberta health care card, he was surprised to find a $45 monthly fee attached. Bernier has refused to pay these premiums on principle because he says paying for health care violates the Canada Health Care Act.

"Under federal legislation, Canadians are entitled to receive free, basic health care," Bernier said. "Charging for health care contravenes the spirit of the Act and it puts our universal health care system in jeopardy. At the same time, it sets up a two-tiered system. Canadians in other provinces do not pay the fees or premiums that residents of Alberta are paying. Many citizens of this province are not aware of this and they are shocked to find it out. Like me, they feel betrayed by this government and unfair health care policy."

Now that a provincial election has been called, Bernier said the time is right to take the issue into the public forum. As the election campaign gets underway, the incumbent Conservatives of Alberta have suddenly promised to abolish the controversial health care premiums in four years.

"They know it is an issue with voters, especially new voters," Bernier said. "But four years is too long to wait for the health care Albertans should be receiving -- the same system provided to other Canadians. Health care premiums should be abolished the day after the election, not in 2012. If this election is about leadership, then Premier Stelmach should show leadership and repeal his government's policy of charging for basic health care. The decision is his to make if he wants to win this election."

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Alberta, Premier, Ed Stelmach,
election,PC, politics, Conservatives,media, politics, Alberta election,