Stelmach Blames Eastern Bums

For the loss of Calgary Elbow, the riding which was home to Ralph Klein and held by the Tories for 36 years. No really. It's not his fault. Its all dem Eastern Bums and creeps that ruined it for the Tories. You remember them they are the folks that Ralph his-self denounced back in the eighties. Well they are back.

Stelmach says the Liberals won the Calgary-Elbow seat in a byelection Tuesday because the city's voters are grumpy over growth pressures caused by a huge influx of new residents. The premier says it's unfortunate that 36,000 people have moved into Alberta over the last five months, driving up rents and creating a greater need for new roads, schools and health facilities.

Right-o, blame 'immigrants' to Alberta for the problems, even if they are fellow internally migrating Canadians from the East. At the same time claiming to need foreign workers to make up for the labour shortages in the province. But at least they are temporary you don't need to feed and house slave labour, no wait you do.

Stelmach was in cabinet before he was Premier at like the rest of the tired Tories he refuses to take responsibility for losing the byelection or the lack of planning for the boom,or the choking off of infrastructure funding for a decade. And he even has the temerity to blame them for the lack of apartments and rent gouging by Real Estate Income Trusts (REIT).

Ed sounds just like good old Ralph and a lot like Jacques Parizeau after he lost the Referendum.

Calgary Elbow was a referendum on Stelmach and his stay the course gang. He lost a solid blue seat that was held by his predecessor.

But the loss of Calgary-Elbow should concern the premier, said University of Calgary political scientist David Taras.

"This was the premier's riding - this is a riding that was rock solid, and now it's fallen," he said.

"The argument is, if Elbow can fall, what Tory seat is safe in Calgary?"

It's the first time the Liberals have ever had four seats in Calgary. The Tories hold the remaining 19.

"What a slap in the face for the Conservatives," said Keith Brownsey, who teaches political science at Calgary's Mount Royal College. "It's been Conservative since its inception. It should've been a cakewalk."

Tuesday's result in Calgary appeared to echo recent polls suggesting that Tory efforts to handle Alberta's hyper-inflated economy have not found favour.

A Leger Marketing poll of more than 900 Albertans in late May suggested support for the Tories has slipped well under 50 per cent and in Calgary has dropped 27 points to 40 per cent. Those findings mirrored the results of a Cameron Strategy poll of more than 900 Albertans over roughly the same period.

Even King Ralph was almost struck speechless; "I never lost an election," said Klein, winner of three municipal races in his days as Calgary mayor and four straight majority romps as premier.

Ouch.


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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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Pinocchio Harper

Lies & Secrets Redux

Is his nose growing yet?

War widow asks PM: 'why have you lied?'
Not willing to take "maybe some day" for an answer, the widow of a Nova Scotia World War II soldier accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper face-to-face yesterday of breaking his promise to help elderly veterans and their spouses.

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Terrror In Tory Town

The Party of Calgary is kaput. As the by-election in Ralph Kleins riding of Calgary Elbow shows.

said one senior Tory strategist. "Here's the [former] premier's riding and nobody wanted to run."

So instead their candidate ran as a Liberal.

And once on the hustings, things were evidently hostile enough that local reporters observed Mr. Heninger on one doorstep remarking that he would personally like to "choke" Mr. Stelmach for crimes against Calgary.

With even their own candidate unable to defend the government record, several Tories admitted ahead of the byelection that the bigger surprise would be if Mr. Heninger somehow managed to prevail.

Why vote for a disgruntled Tory when you can vote for a real Liberal.

Having dominated the province under King Ralph, the Party of Calgary saw a political sea change with the loss of the leadership race by Jim Dinning, the 'liberal' Calgary candidate.

Now the next election portends a Liberal sweep in Calgary and an Opposition sweep in Edmonton between them and the NDP.

Leaving the PC's with the rural ridings. Just like what happened to Harry Strom.




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No Fly List

Will Maher Arar be on Canada's new No Fly List? After all he still is on the American one.

Once again the State implements a bad idea that is more about invading your privacy then providing public security.

No-fly list curbs privacy rights: commissioner'

Quite a nightmare' ahead for some; Stoddart

Ms. Stoddart said cases of mistaken identify are likely to occur, which means innocent travellers will experience "the rather chilling fact of finding yourself singled out."

She also expressed dismay at comments by a Transport Canada official who told the Air India inquiry this week that Canada cannot keep the new no-fly list out of the hands of foreign governments.

"I'm surprised to read about this," she said. "It doesn't sound as if it's completely well thought out."

She said Transport Canada officials had stressed how "small and precise" the no-fly list would be. "I'm a bit puzzled that now we seem to be fairly unconcerned about the way it is implemented and the fact that it could be widely disseminated."

Though people on the no-fly list can appeal to an "Office of Reconsideration," Ms. Stoddart said that's not sufficient. "It's better than nothing, but I don't think it's an adequate approach."

She said Transport Canada has yet to provide her office with any evidence that implementing a no-fly list will actually improve air safety.

Since when has Transport Canada become an arm of CSIS and the RCMP? If it is a new policing arm of the State, shouldn't it be under the Minister of Public Security.

Considering how badly they have botched Port and Airport security since 9/11 their No Fly List will turn into another paranoid security state Keystone Kops caper.

We might expect a Supreme court challenge over this, but unfortunately that program has been cut by the Harpocrites.

Canada’s No-fly List Provides False Sense of Security

“Nothing personal sir, but your packages are not allowed on passenger airlines,” said a United Parcel Service customer service agent, sitting in an American call centre. She was explaining to me that my package could not be delivered on an “early a.m.” basis from Toronto to Peterborough.

I was interrogating the agent about why this was so, since I had been using UPS without any problems since starting my practice in 1996. Initially reluctant, the agent eventually confessed that when my account number was entered into their system, the “Flight Guardian” software flashed a red signal.

“Sir,” she said, “after 9/11 we can only pick up packages if the green light is given.”

The next day I called the UPS head office and inquired about the situation. The supervisor apologized and informed me that I could use the expedited service within Canada, but that I did not have the requisite clearance to use this service to the U.S.

We will never know how many Canadians have been so specially designated on more than a dozen lists maintained by the United States. The proliferation of these watch lists around the globe has been a troubling development in the “war on terror.”

Now the Canadian government will complicate the situation even more by introducing its own no-fly list (set to be launched on June 18, 2007), which will inevitably be shaped by, and be available to, the Americans and perhaps even others.

And lets not forget that the American No Fly List is relatively useless as proven by the recent case of an American quarantined for being a TB carrier. But of course he was allowed back into the United States because despite being on a No Fly List he was White, Middle Class and male the very model of what is an American.

TB case has plenty of blame

The case involves a globe-trotting American man, with a rare form of tuberculosis, who traveled in May from the United States to France, to Greece, onto Italy, over to the Czech Republic, back west to Canada and finally home to the United States, despite health warnings he never should have left in the first place.

Though warned, Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker was never ordered not to travel. So off he went to his nuptials and to take a wedding trip in Europe. While in Europe, he was advised that officials now realized he had a virulent strain of TB, and again, he was warned by U.S. authorities not to travel further.

But travel, he did. He flew back across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, drove back into the United States through an official crossing, even though U.S. Border Patrol agents had been given his name on a no-fly list.

See:

State Security Is A Secure State

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Lies & Secrets

Our Harpocrite government continues to be a shining example of the Strauss school of realpolitik; by keeping secrets and telling lies.

Atlantic Accord

Despite the government's insistence there would be no side deal cut for provinces, negotiations have been underway between Ottawa and Nova Scotia since the March budget was tabled.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has decided to offer one of the provinces a compromise that could cost Ontario taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in extra payouts.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed that Ottawa is looking for a way to end its standoff with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald over the workings of fiscal federalism.

The offer would amount to a promise that in coming years Nova Scotia would be guaranteed the maximum available revenues – both from resource taxation and cash transfers from Ottawa – regardless of the impact of new measures in the Conservatives' March 19 budget, Flaherty said.

Detainees in Afghanistan

The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan charged Monday the Afghan government and its Western allies Canada central among them are not making the country safe fast enough.

Tom Koenigs declared: "It is certainly one expression of the insecurity in this country that people turn to weapons. And ... quite a number of those who have been alienated by the government or by the (poor) performance of the government have been alienated by the absence of justice institutions."

While Canada has been prominent among Western troop contributors in helping build Afghan judicial and policing systems in addition to fighting insurgents, Koenigs said increased attention needs to be given to efforts that spread the rule of law.

Canada's top diplomat in Afghanistan said yesterday he will keep a close watch on the progress of an Afghan investigation into new allegations that detainees captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghan authorities have been tortured.

The fresh allegations surfaced during a visit by Canadian authorities to Afghan prisons as part of a new agreement signed May 3.

Coming in the wake of reports that as many as 30 people captured by Canadians were being abused by their Afghan captors, the agreement allows Canadian officials and international human rights workers to check regularly on the well-being of prisoners.

30? I thought there were only four, no wait, add two, that makes six. Thirty?

Canadian officials have received allegations of torture or abuse from six Afghan detainees, two more than reported by cabinet ministers during testimony at a Commons committee last week.

"There is no discrepancy," MacKay said. "There are six in total. Two complaints by suspected Taliban detainees prior to the new agreement and, since May 3 when the new enhanced arrangement was put in place, there were four."

Even National Post columnist John Ivison gets it.

This government's obsession with secrecy and control will be its downfall.

As does the Canadian public.

The Harpocrites practice of realpolitik of the Big Lie is not working except in the fantasy world of the PMO.

One should not as a rule reveal one's secrets, since one does not know if and when one may need them again. The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.

Joseph Goebbels

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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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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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It's A Sweep

Drumheller Stettler stays PC. Politically Correct. By a wide margin we are now calling it a sweep.

			Elector Count	BOUGH RICHARD NDP	DAVIDSON LARRY SC	DOOLEY TOM LIB	FRANCE DAVE AA	HAYDEN JACK PC	REW JOHN IND	WIGMORE JENNIFER AG
Total Vote Count Percentage Polls Leading / Won No. of Polls Reporting 14 of 71			21,790	12 1% 0	100 8% 0	93 8% 0	63 5% 0	772 64% 14	127 11% 0	42 3% 0

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