Finally I qualify for the Senate. And the news is that Harper is planning to appoint 18 new senators.
Eligibility to Be a Canadian Senator
To be appointed to the Canadian Senate, a person must be
at least 30 years old
be a resident of the province or territory they represent own property worth at least $4000 in the province and have a personal net worth of at least $4000.
My partner and I bought a house this summer, which has been a harrowing yet exciting experience. One of the reasons I wasn't blogging regularly, and the reason this blog will be offline for the next week over Xmas. I am finally moving into my house.
We bought the house when the market went down. Our landlord decided, too late, to sell his house and it was way out of our price range. We decided that it was time to buy a house, after all a house has value, and our mortgage was just slightly more than what we pay in rent, and rent always increases.
And I discovered we were able to scrap together the 5% downpayment to get CHMC backed mortgage.
The house we bought is not on the southside, which is where I was born and preferred to live but the Old Strathcona area is way overpriced.
So we got a house in the Centre of the city by Commonwealth Stadium. So I move from one NDP riding; Edmonton Strathcona to another NDP riding; Edmonton Highlands.
We were supposed to take possession in the middle of October but due to the owners not leaving in time we got it at the begining of November. And for the past month and a half we have been renovating it.
And that is a tale in itself. But for another day.
Suffice it to say that I am over 30, and now qualify as a property owner to be a Senator. It's the Alberta dream, well the dream for some Albertans like my old nemisis Link Byfield.
If Harper appoints me to the Senate I promise to continue to fight for its abolition.
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Showing posts with label Edmonton Strathcona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edmonton Strathcona. Show all posts
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Arts Vote Cost Jaffer His Job
Alberta and Quebec have long been allies in their opposition to the powers of Ottawa. This past election that commonality was shown in the reaction to Harpers Arts and Culture cuts. While pundits focused on Quebec's reaction they overlooked its impact in Alberta. In particular in Festival City; Redmonton.
The defeat of Edmonton Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer was a direct result of Harpers attack on Arts and Cultural workers. After all Redmonton has a booming arts and culture community, we have the Winspear and the Citadel, the Jubilee, we have arts groups and theatre groups, a major Symphony, Jazz City, the Fringe Festival, an International Childrens Arts Festival, a Buskers Ball, the Edmonton Folk Festival and an International Street Preformers festival, etc, etc.
Edmonton Strathcona itself is one of the cities Arts hub. Known to all as Old Strathcona with its infamous Whyte Avenue at its core, it is the centre of the Theatre community hosting the second largest Fringe Festival in the world. Not only do Edmontonians produce and preform the plays, they are mass of volunteers needed to run the Fringe and the mass of visitors to the Fringe.
Did Harper miss this fact? You bet. When the uproar over his political purging of arts funding mobilized the Arts and Cultural community, it was a nation wide response. Of course the greatest coverage was its impact in Quebec where polls showed Harper's policy led to loss of support for the Conservatives.
But overlooked was its impact here in Redmonton. Harper backpedaled and announced that he had increased Heritage Canada funding, but that of course is tied to politically correct Conservative values, then he annouced increased funding for arts and culture for wait for it....children to take piano and dance lessons. He overlooked the fact that dance classes were already eligable for his childrens athletics tax credit that the government introduced last election. And how does funding piano lessons equate with funding for Symphony orcehstra's, Opera, etc. It doesn't. And so it cost Rahim his job.
Arts voters in Edmonton Strathcona voted strategically. And not only NDP and Liberals but Conservatives as well. When it comes to Edmonton Strathcona which is the Reddest part of Redmonton, we have elected NDP MLA's here. When the provincial Tories run candidates here they have been Red Tories,
Rahim was in a tough fight and he knew it. From the start he did something he has not done in previous elections, put up lawn signs. There were Jaffer signs on my street and my moms street where they had never been before. But like the Liberal signs many were on rental or commercial properties, put their in many cases not by the renters but the landlord.
Linda Duncan ran an excellent campaign, and it was based on building a base through three elections. The NDP made a break through federally in the riding when they ran Malcolm Azania, and broke through the usual two way race between Conservatives and Liberals which had left the party trailing a distant third over the years.
The Azania campaign team stayed on and recruited Linda to run last election. She further consolidated the NDP's second place standing loosing to Jaffer by only 5000 votes, votes that had gone to the non-existant Liberal candidate. In that election it was the Liberals who were the vote spliters.
But this election it was clearly a two way race, and despite his sign campaign Jaffers laziness and arrogance cost him. He did not address the Arts cuts, nor did he distance himself from the Harper arts attacks when Harper insulted all cultural workers and masses of volunteers who support them by calling them elitists. In fact he insulted some of the leading citizens of this city who are proud of the efforts they have put into fund raising for Arts and Culture, including wealth bourgoise like the Winspears who donated to have the Winspear Centre for the Arts built. Opps.
Jafers arrogance was on public display election night when at ten o'clock he got up to announce his imminent victory, which the media mistakenly announced not noticing that their were still 14 polls not counted, polls which included mine which are all strong NDP polls.
He was pulled down from the podium by an aide who told him it wasn't in the bag yet.
When he lost he was at a loss for words for several days, again Jaffer's arrogance was publicly displayed with his refusal to concide the election. He only announced his final defeat the same day he eloped with fellow MP Helen Guergis.
The delicious irony of this is that he appears to be off to Ottawa to live with Helen as her live in Assistant and Helen will have lots of time to spend with Rahim since it is speculated that she is destined for the back bench in the upcoming cabinet shuffle.
Yes Linda Duncan and her team ran a great campaign. But in the end we have to thank Stephen Harper for attacking the Arts and Culture community, it pushed her over the top. And put a bright orange spot in the middle of Blue Alberta.
And this is no minor break through. It shows that the Harpocrites policy of taking Alberta for granted cost them big time in Edmonton Strathcona. Next election that vulnerability could lead to more defeats for the Harpocrites.
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:, Linda Duncan, RahimJaffer, Harper, Conservatives, Cabinet, Government, politics, Edmonton, Alberta, NDP, Liberals, Redmonton, politics, , Liberals, Edmonton Strathcona Claudette Roy,
The defeat of Edmonton Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer was a direct result of Harpers attack on Arts and Cultural workers. After all Redmonton has a booming arts and culture community, we have the Winspear and the Citadel, the Jubilee, we have arts groups and theatre groups, a major Symphony, Jazz City, the Fringe Festival, an International Childrens Arts Festival, a Buskers Ball, the Edmonton Folk Festival and an International Street Preformers festival, etc, etc.
Edmonton Strathcona itself is one of the cities Arts hub. Known to all as Old Strathcona with its infamous Whyte Avenue at its core, it is the centre of the Theatre community hosting the second largest Fringe Festival in the world. Not only do Edmontonians produce and preform the plays, they are mass of volunteers needed to run the Fringe and the mass of visitors to the Fringe.
Did Harper miss this fact? You bet. When the uproar over his political purging of arts funding mobilized the Arts and Cultural community, it was a nation wide response. Of course the greatest coverage was its impact in Quebec where polls showed Harper's policy led to loss of support for the Conservatives.
But overlooked was its impact here in Redmonton. Harper backpedaled and announced that he had increased Heritage Canada funding, but that of course is tied to politically correct Conservative values, then he annouced increased funding for arts and culture for wait for it....children to take piano and dance lessons. He overlooked the fact that dance classes were already eligable for his childrens athletics tax credit that the government introduced last election. And how does funding piano lessons equate with funding for Symphony orcehstra's, Opera, etc. It doesn't. And so it cost Rahim his job.
Arts voters in Edmonton Strathcona voted strategically. And not only NDP and Liberals but Conservatives as well. When it comes to Edmonton Strathcona which is the Reddest part of Redmonton, we have elected NDP MLA's here. When the provincial Tories run candidates here they have been Red Tories,
Rahim was in a tough fight and he knew it. From the start he did something he has not done in previous elections, put up lawn signs. There were Jaffer signs on my street and my moms street where they had never been before. But like the Liberal signs many were on rental or commercial properties, put their in many cases not by the renters but the landlord.
Linda Duncan ran an excellent campaign, and it was based on building a base through three elections. The NDP made a break through federally in the riding when they ran Malcolm Azania, and broke through the usual two way race between Conservatives and Liberals which had left the party trailing a distant third over the years.
The Azania campaign team stayed on and recruited Linda to run last election. She further consolidated the NDP's second place standing loosing to Jaffer by only 5000 votes, votes that had gone to the non-existant Liberal candidate. In that election it was the Liberals who were the vote spliters.
But this election it was clearly a two way race, and despite his sign campaign Jaffers laziness and arrogance cost him. He did not address the Arts cuts, nor did he distance himself from the Harper arts attacks when Harper insulted all cultural workers and masses of volunteers who support them by calling them elitists. In fact he insulted some of the leading citizens of this city who are proud of the efforts they have put into fund raising for Arts and Culture, including wealth bourgoise like the Winspears who donated to have the Winspear Centre for the Arts built. Opps.
Jafers arrogance was on public display election night when at ten o'clock he got up to announce his imminent victory, which the media mistakenly announced not noticing that their were still 14 polls not counted, polls which included mine which are all strong NDP polls.
He was pulled down from the podium by an aide who told him it wasn't in the bag yet.
When he lost he was at a loss for words for several days, again Jaffer's arrogance was publicly displayed with his refusal to concide the election. He only announced his final defeat the same day he eloped with fellow MP Helen Guergis.
The delicious irony of this is that he appears to be off to Ottawa to live with Helen as her live in Assistant and Helen will have lots of time to spend with Rahim since it is speculated that she is destined for the back bench in the upcoming cabinet shuffle.
Yes Linda Duncan and her team ran a great campaign. But in the end we have to thank Stephen Harper for attacking the Arts and Culture community, it pushed her over the top. And put a bright orange spot in the middle of Blue Alberta.
And this is no minor break through. It shows that the Harpocrites policy of taking Alberta for granted cost them big time in Edmonton Strathcona. Next election that vulnerability could lead to more defeats for the Harpocrites.
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:, Linda Duncan, RahimJaffer, Harper, Conservatives, Cabinet, Government, politics, Edmonton, Alberta, NDP, Liberals, Redmonton, politics, , Liberals, Edmonton Strathcona Claudette Roy,
Monday, September 15, 2008
Rahim Worried
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?Signs Lyrics by Five Man Electrical Band
Week one of the hottest election contest in Edmonton. I am speaking of course of my riding Edmonton Strathcona where Linda Duncan of the NDP is running again against the incumbent Rahim (dolittle) Jaffer.
And is Rahim worried? You bet. In the past Rahim has waited to put up signs in front of houses, relying instead on his landlord business pals to put up big signs on their buildings.
But last week, he was out with lawn signs, as was Linda.
If the battle of the signs is any indication, this will be a close race.
Though as an old pal of mine once said; boulevards don't vote, belittling the impact of lawn signs in public space rather than in front of houses. A message that seems lost on the Liberal candidate Claudette Roy who has few lawn signs up in front of homes relying instead on littering the 99th St. hill with her signs.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Spring Has Sprung 2
Well it is official spring has sprung earl. With the Liberals winning three of four by elections yesterday they are now gearing up for a spring election.
How do I know?
Well it could be that big honking Claudette Roy Liberal Candidate for Edmonton Strathcona sign gracing the corner of 99th st. and Whyte Avenue over the launderette.
Or like pussy willows it could just be another sign of spring; the same sign was up last year too, same location.
tags
Linda Duncan, Rahim Jaffer, Edmonton, Alberta, NDP, Liberals, Edmonton Strathcona
Claudette Roy, NDP,
How do I know?
Well it could be that big honking Claudette Roy Liberal Candidate for Edmonton Strathcona sign gracing the corner of 99th st. and Whyte Avenue over the launderette.
Or like pussy willows it could just be another sign of spring; the same sign was up last year too, same location.
Dion mum on election plans after byelection wins
tags
Linda Duncan, Rahim Jaffer, Edmonton, Alberta, NDP, Liberals, Edmonton Strathcona
Claudette Roy, NDP,
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Liberals Call For Strategic Voting
Tim Vant the invisible Liberal candidate in Edmonton Strathcona has good advise to voters and fellow Liberals.
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.
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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Seeing as he doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell against the well organized NDP candidate Rachel Notley.Don't throw your vote away.
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.
For instance we find that this is on the candidates itinerary page;
And it only gets worse..... being one of those hip internet savvy politicians T.J. has his own blog....not....
Click....oops....
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.
And that he really, really, wants to represent us in Edmonton Strathcona.
Can you say parachute candidate....
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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 appearancesAnd then we find he has no events planned, half way through the election......
Coming soon.
This page will soon hold information about T.J.'s campaign events in the Edmonton-Strathcona area.
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.
Not likely TJ.
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.”
Can you say parachute candidate....
Yep the PC's have abandoned Edmonton Strathcona to the NDP.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.
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Saturday, May 05, 2007
Liberals Planning Spring Election
Must be because now that we have set election dates in Canada, as of this week, the Conservatives can't call and election only the opposition can. And in my neighbourhood, Edmonton Strathcona, the Liberals have bought billboards for their candidate Claudette Roy which have sprung up like May flowers.
Unfortunately even though they advertise her web site on the billboards, this is what appears.
And since they did so badly last time I guess they are going on the offensive, not against Conservative MP and climate change denier Rahim Jaffer but the NDP candidate Linda Duncan who is an environmentalist.
So much for the politics of compromise to build an environmental alliance
for the next election.
What is good for Elizabeth May in Nova Scotia does not apply to Linda Duncan in Edmonton Strathcona despite her being an environmentalist. Of course Linda doesn't believe Stephane Dion is the greenest candidate for PM, unlike May.
And Linda's website has been online for months now.
See:
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Claudette Roy, NDP, election2007
Unfortunately even though they advertise her web site on the billboards, this is what appears.
This site is under construction, please come back soon
And since they did so badly last time I guess they are going on the offensive, not against Conservative MP and climate change denier Rahim Jaffer but the NDP candidate Linda Duncan who is an environmentalist.
So much for the politics of compromise to build an environmental alliance
for the next election.
What is good for Elizabeth May in Nova Scotia does not apply to Linda Duncan in Edmonton Strathcona despite her being an environmentalist. Of course Linda doesn't believe Stephane Dion is the greenest candidate for PM, unlike May.
And Linda's website has been online for months now.
See:
ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Nova Scotia, Elizabet hMay, Peter MacKay, Green Party, politics, election, Conservatives
Canada, Progressive Conservatives, Red Tories, politics, Linda Duncan, Rahim Jaffer, Edmonton, Alberta, NDP, Liberals, Edmonton Strathcona
Claudette Roy, NDP, election2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Liberals New Green Politics
A follow up on the Dion/May alliance announced today. Just how far are the Liberals willing to go with their new found principle of strategic voting?
Will the Liberals back down from running a candidate in Edmonton Strathcona, considering their poor showing last time, and the fact that the NDP candidate Linda Duncan is an environmentalist.
Will they also not run a candidate in Wild Rose where the Green Party ran second.
After all that would follow Cherniak's dictum; "This is about the Liberal Party doing what is right for a truly progressive Canada. The symbolism of running a candidate in every riding is somewhat meaningless in comparison."
Dion is not running a Liberal against the Green Party Leader in exchange the Greens won't run against Dion. Oh be still my beating heart like they stood a chance in his riding. Being so principled will he offer the same deal to Layton and Duceppe?
And the cynical could see this whole affair as a hastily constructed way of distracting from yesterdays Liberal bad news story on Belinda Stronach.
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Will the Liberals back down from running a candidate in Edmonton Strathcona, considering their poor showing last time, and the fact that the NDP candidate Linda Duncan is an environmentalist.
Will they also not run a candidate in Wild Rose where the Green Party ran second.
After all that would follow Cherniak's dictum; "This is about the Liberal Party doing what is right for a truly progressive Canada. The symbolism of running a candidate in every riding is somewhat meaningless in comparison."
Dion is not running a Liberal against the Green Party Leader in exchange the Greens won't run against Dion. Oh be still my beating heart like they stood a chance in his riding. Being so principled will he offer the same deal to Layton and Duceppe?
And the cynical could see this whole affair as a hastily constructed way of distracting from yesterdays Liberal bad news story on Belinda Stronach.
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Nova Scotia, Elizabet hMay, Peter MacKay, Green Party, politics, election, Conservatives
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