Alberta KGB

I await the outrage of the Blogging Tories and their right wing ilk, that claim the mantle of the anti-Stalinist right wing.

Those folks who remind us of the horrors of Marxism by referring to the Stalinist USSR as an example of police state socialism.

The example they gave was always about how the State would spy on its citizens.

Suddenly they are sure quiet when the shoe is on the other foot when it applies to their bastion of conservatism in North America; the One Party State of Alberta.

Utility regulator breaches privacy with spies at public hearings

Utilities Board wrong to use private dicks: privacy commissioner

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has determined that the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) contravened the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) when it hired private investigators to monitor proceedings at Rimbey, Alberta.

The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board hired a private investigation company to monitor a public hearing about the North West Upgrader project in May, documents obtained by the CBC show.

This is the second time the board hired the firm of Shepp Johnman to attend one of its public hearings.

The board is already being investigated by the government for hiring Shepp Johnman to monitor landowners at a hearing in Rimbey who were opposed to a proposed powerline between Calgary and Edmonton.

Ironic that the virtuous right wing anti-statists never seem to protest such obvious statism when it is their government in power. Why should they now that they are in power they can abandon their principles as so much shaft in the wind,

EUB Offers No Apologies After Damning Privacy Report

This state sanctioned corporate monopoly applies its own jurisdictional law against the public interest and against small producers. It should be abolished.

Tiny Bearspaw Petroleum alleges persecution from Alta regulator

CALGARY (CP) _ Tiny Bearspaw Petroleum Ltd. says Alberta‘s energy regulator takes a “hypocritical approach‘‘ when it comes to enforcing safety rules. The company lined up against the Alberta Energy and Utilities board today in a third-party inquiry into allegations that the natural gas producer has been unfairly persecuted. Jirka Kaplan, an engineer with Bearspaw, told the inquiry that Leo Touchette, the board‘s Red Deer office team leader, had an “intense dislike‘‘ of the small Calgary-based company and did what it could to find things wrong with its operations. Bearspaw alleges that on one occasion, the regulator gave it a high-risk compliance citation and a potential explosion risk for one missing nut on the cover of a piece of well equipment. Kaplan says he hired an independent company to check out the regulator‘s safety concerns and no potential problems were found. Bearspaw has appealed some of the board‘s actions and challenged the legality of some of its processes. The inquiry, which was initiated by the regulator, is scheduled to run until Thursday, and chairman Bob Clark says he will try to expedite a ruling.

Still waiting to hear the outrage of the neo-con right....waiting....not even a peep out of those who would proclaim themselves libertarian....the silence is deafening.

Opposition politicians called Thursday for firings at Alberta‘s energy and utilities regulator after a report found serious privacy breaches by detectives hired to spy on people opposed to a new power corridor. But Premier Ed Stelmach said he wants to see more evidence about the decision of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board to use private detectives at two hearings since last spring.

“It‘s to ensure that all Albertans have full confidence in the AEUB,‘‘ said Stelmach. “It is an important instrument for Albertans in terms of finding the balance between the production and the development of our resources.‘‘

Alberta's energy regulator says it will give opponents of a proposed new Edmonton-Calgary power line enough time to exhaust all appeals before granting any permits for the project.

Landowners who oppose the massive new transmission line were in Alberta Court of Appeal yesterday trying to get a stay on the Energy and Utility Board's decision on whether the project can proceed.

But board lawyer Rick McKee told the hearing that a stay was not needed as the regulator would give landowners enough time to appeal any decision before construction starts.

The board says a decision on the proposal by AltaLink, Alberta's largest transmission company, might not come until at least November.

Joe Anglin, a spokesman for one of the landowner groups, says he fully expects the board to rule in favour of the new power line but his group wants to make sure its voice is heard before some towers are built and their opposition becomes mute.

The power line is also the subject of various provincial inquiries and legal actions over allegations that the Alberta regulator hired private investigators to spy on opponents of the project.

Waiting, waiting.


SEE:

Transparency Alberta Style

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Tory Transparency: GNEP

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

Nuclear Energy Partnership? The government is planning to sign a Nuclear Energy Partnership? Was this one of the Conservatives five priorities? It was not publicly discussed nor raised in the House. It was a side deal from John Howard's visit to Canada.

Ottawa near decision on nuclear plan: Bernier

"Australia and Canada, we are two major producers in the world and we have considerable interests in whatever the United States and the international community have in mind in terms of future uranium development and production and marketing," said Bernier. "So we will have a decision in the near future about our participation."

No pressure for Canada to state intentions on nuclear partnership

With barely a week to go before a key planning meeting in Vienna on the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, the world's biggest uranium producer still hasn't said publicly whether it will attend the talks.

The Conservative government has been tight-lipped about the so-called GNEP, saying only that Canada is reviewing the matter.

The initiative is controversial because it proposes that uranium exporting countries bring back spent fuel for disposal on their home turf.

Harper, in his first public comment on the proposed partnership since May 2006, denied that Canada is feeling any pressure to join despite the involvement of key allies Australia and the United States. Australia announced its intention to join this week.

The Harper government's hesitation in declaring a clear position on GNEP isn't surprising, despite more than a year of internal government discussions and cross-border talks.

Internal government talking points from 2006, obtained by The Canadian Press, showed enthusiasm for the proposal, but that has never been expressed publicly.

Oh dear that certainly is counter intuitive to the Canadian ideal of Public Service and Public Policy.

Transparency? Accountability? Responsible government? I think not. Anymore than the Harpocrites negotiations around the SPP. But this more than just about jelly beans.


SEE:

Nuclear NIMBY


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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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Transparency Alberta Style

It has not been a good week for Alberta CEO Ed Stelmach, his regime has failed to be transparent as promised. Just another week of scandal for the tired old Tories.

NDP say Alberta Energy and Utilities Board aware of spying on power line opponents

EUB coverup shocking

Fire AEUB directors, Mason urges

And it just gets better. The party of rural Alberta screws rural Albertans. And the guy doing the screwing is non other than the California Born, Republican wannabe,and Herr professor of the Calgary School; Ted Morton. A guy who ran for the Premiers job appealing to the social conservative rural base of the Tory party.

Like Marie Lake, everything is for sale in this oil-rich province

NIMBY bites Premier Stelmach

Time to review industrial development, Tory MLA says

Alberta’s sustainable resources minister can’t guarantee seismic testing won’t hurt pristine Marie Lake and says he won’t release other seismic studies supporting the decision to allow the tests.

Still, he conceded, damage is possible. “Sure, it’s a question of risk management. But as I said this has been done on six other lakes with no evidence of adverse effects.”

Morton said the government has the legal right to reject seismic testing applications, but to shut off the exploratory process that early wouldn’t be fair to the company and wouldn’t make sense. His department noted that 34 other lakes have been tested in a similar manner in the last five years, and would not provide details of what took place in the other 28 cases.

The public has no reason to trust the government if it won’t even release the studies that support its decision, said Marie Lake resident Hal Bekolay.

“I can’t use the language I want to use to describe this,” he said. “But what it shows me is their complete lack of caring. It’s unbelievable that people we’ve elected choose to do this to us.” Now local residents want their MLA, Tory Denis Ducharme, to back up his earlier complaint about the testing by crossing the floor and sitting with another party or as an independent, said Bekolay.

Anywhere else in Canada and this would cry out for a comment from Democracy Watch. But in Alberta it's business as usual.

NDP condemns Suncor exec's gov't job

NDP question Suncor executive's appointment

Alberta defends decision to appoint Suncor executive as assistant deputy minister

EDMONTON (CP) _ The Alberta government is defending its decision to appoint a Suncor Energy executive as assistant deputy minister of its oilsands sustainable development secretariat.

Bart Johnson, a spokesman for the Treasury Board, says the government has set up safeguards against any conflict of interest.

Johnson says Heather Kennedy can‘t buy or sell any Suncor shares during her two-year appointment and must excuse herself from any decisions pertaining to Suncor.

He said Suncor will continue paying Kennedy during her two years with the government, but the province will reimburse the oilsands company.

NDP Leader Brian Mason has suggested Kennedy‘s appointment shows just how far the Progressive Conservatives have crawled into the pockets of big oil.

The oilsands secretariat reports to the Treasury Board.

And while we weep for the lack of democracy in the Banana Republic of Alberta, one of the last One Party States in the world, it just keeps getting worse....

Oil royalties going down?

Report Says Alberta Losing Oil Money

Alberta's oil royalties could drop: report

Not only do we sell off our resources at fire sale prices, Albertans could be taken to the cleaners by both Big Oil and the Federal Government while our tin pot Tory tyranny twiddles its thumbs.

In his study for Alberta Energy, Calgary-based consultant Pedro van Meurs said the proposal – which would allow companies to calculate royalty payments on a choice of either the finished synthetic crude product or the tar-sands bitumen from which it is extracted – could lead to two significantly different outcomes.

The companies being offered the new plans, Suncor and Syncrude, have until this year to decide which to opt into.

If the companies opt for royalties based on synthetic crude, Alberta’s royalty rates will be 8% higher than if it opts for a rate based on unprocessed bitumen, says Van Meurs.

If Alberta allows them to choose the latter, recent changes to federal tax laws mean the federal take will increase while Alberta’s take decreases, he indicates.

“It is very obvious that Alberta is faced with a very high level of royalty reduction, when under the Suncor and Syncrude terms companies opt for a switch to bitumen values from SCO values,” he notes.

He said the switch “will result in a drop of about 8% in the overall government take. However, that drop is only experienced by Alberta, the federal share actually goes up, since royalties are now deductible for tax purposes.

While Stelmach's blustered and fumed over the forces of Kyoto at the Premiers meeting last week, the reality is that under Klein, and now Stelmach, Alberta's oil resources are being sold off on a future promise. In reality the royalty regime in the province benefits big oil and everyone but Albertans.

There is no nasty Federal NEP that can be blamed for this, just tired old AlbertaTories, in the pockets of big oil.

It not been a good week for Stelmach who should have been basking in the glory of his victory over the discombobulated gaggle of Premiers who could not save the planet due to their limited provincial narcissism.

Stelmach is rumored to be considering a fall election, while realistically it probably won't be held in the winter but next spring.

Of course considering how badly he has botched his first six months in office an election sooner rather than later might be the only thing that will save his regime. For a short time. But like the former One Party that was in Power for 35 years, this one is bound to go. It's the law of entropy as well as history.



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