this blog has moved to a new address: daveberta.ca

Please update your RSS, bookmarks, and links to http://daveberta.ca.

Friday, June 12, 2009

june nomination blitz.

- June 16 is the date of the Conservative nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona. Linda Blade, Ryan Hastman, and Cathay Wagantall have spent the last month duking it out for the opportunity to run against NDP MP Linda Duncan.

- June 22 is the date of the Alberta Liberal nomination in Calgary-Glenmore that will see Corey Hogan and Avalon Roberts face off for the right to carry their party's banner into the upcoming by-election to replace former PC MLA Ron Stevens.

- June 23 is the date of the Wild Rose Alliance nomination meeting in Calgary-Glenmore. It looks as if outgoing leader and former Cardston-Taber-Warner MLA Paul Hinman may be the only candidate to seek the nod.

- Danielle Smith: Wild Rose Renaissance? One blogger is boldly predicting that she is "the greatest threat to the Tory dynasty in Alberta since Laurence Decore."

- Former Ontario NDP MPP, nearly interested Liberal, and now Calgary Mayoral candidate George Dadamo will soon be accepting applications for new campaign staff.

- The Alberta NDP hosted a revitalization conference in Edmonton last weekend. I am told that BC MP Nathan Cullen knocked the socks off the over 100 attendees with a rousing speech. Union orgainzer Eric Carpendale has been appointed as the NDP candidate for the upcoming Calgary-Glenmore by-election.

15 comments:

Tribal Calgary said...

Alberta Liberal Party Leader David Swann will be attending a Calgary-Glenmore candidate meet & greet today.

Join us at Calgary's Oakridge Community Centre @ 7:30PM!

Anonymous said...

Ah, cool Tribal! I want to ask him about his plan for saving Africa.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone figured out the PC Party's plan for saving Calgary-Glenmore? Or saving Ed Stelmach in Calgary?

Rob P. said...

Nathan Cullen is a great MP. He's from BC. In BC the NDP know that you can't win by living on the fringe. The NDP once again front a IBEW union organizer in an anti-union city.

Mason made the same mistake in Elbow. Calgarians are pissed off about royalties, health care, and Bill 44. Where are the blue collar oil worker, nurse, or teacher candidate?

Anonymous said...

Do the PCs need Calgary? I dont think so.

Mike B. said...

Unless the WRAP party is open to changing it's name or merge with the better named Alberta Party, this "movement" isn't going to really go anywhere as it shows their inability to be pragmatic and take a little constructive criticism.

Anonymous said...

The Alberta Party is holding an AGM this summer in Red Deer in case anyone wants to bring 10 friends to take over. Great name.

Doug said...

Just a gentle reminder that the "P" in WRAP stands for "Party", so when you say "WRAP party," you're saying "Wild Rose Alliance Party party."

Anonymous said...

The New Democratic Party of Alberta doesn't seem so democratic lately.

Appointing a candidate.

Seems to me that the IBEW has successfully bought a political party.

Anonymous said...

Did the NDP announce that Eric Carpendale is the candidate, or did they announce he is a candidate for nomination and the media is just reporting him as being the candidate?

If he was just appointed, is it because there is no real NDP constituency association in Calgary-Glenmore to choose a candidate (there are a few constituencies where the local membership hasn't been able to organize themselves into an association)? If it's that I can understand, otherwise they should be having a nomination meeting, it's not like the byelection has already been called.

rc said...

"Unless the WRAP party is open to changing it's name or merge with the better named Alberta Party, this "movement" isn't going to really go anywhere as it shows their inability to be pragmatic and take a little constructive criticism."

Uh, okay. Of all the reasons to not support a political party - for you, it's the name? And I thought those of us to the left were prone to getting hung up by trivialities.... heh.

My pretty limited knowledge of the Wildrose Alliance leads me to believe that they've got a pretty open and democratic means for members to change things (like, policy) at their annual meetings. I could assume that also includes the party's name; Maybe I'm wrong, though. I'm sure someone here could straighten me out.

But if I'm not wrong, and if the moniker is all you've got a problem with, there can't be much stopping you from taking the initiative to change it. That couldn't be that hard if their members figured that their party's name sucks.

Just saying.

Jane Morgan said...

Just for clarification the correct acronym for the Wildrose Alliance Party is WAP.

There was a motion at the 2008 AGM for a name change. The movers of the motion however retracted it after speaking with those in attendance.

Not to say it can't or won't happen in the future; just there isn't any huge ground swell. Name changes need to be done for the right reasons.

A party cannot escape perceived labels simply by changing their name; branding goes much deeper than that.

We are growing because of what we stand for, not what we call ourselves.

Anonymous said...

I voted for Linda Duncan. I won't do that again. While I recognize there are legitimate and many concerns over oil sands, her strident and unthinking campaign against them makes me realize she is a strident and unthinking MP. Hell, if I could take it back, I'd swallow my bile and cast my vote for Rahim Jaffar, at least he wasn't in favour of seeing his constituents unemployed.
If the Liberals field someone with a chance and a brain in Edmonton-Strathcona, I'll get politically active for the first time in my life and do everything I can to help. I want Duncan gone. I regret my vote deeply, and I can't believe I didn't know she was so hidebound.
PS: Yes, I am Anonymous here, but honestly, I'm just a Duncan constituent, nobody's toady.

Anonymous said...

"Union orgainzer"?

Is spell check a dead tool?

Anonymous said...

He clearly meant Onion Organizer.