#bcelection #fail.

The BC Liberals led by Premier Gordon Campbell claimed a third majority government in yesterday's provincial election, but British Columbians joined the national trend of claiming new record low voter turnouts. Voter turnout dropped from 58% in the 2005 election to 50% yesterday.

While the STV referendum was decisively defeated, two of the hand full of ridings where the STV earned majority support were Premier Campbell's Vancouver-Point Grey riding and BC NDP leader Carole James' Victoria-Beacon Hill riding.

the delayed fixed-election date debate in alberta [am i detecting a trend?].

Tomorrow, in the City of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia will drop the Writ for their second fixed-date election. Introduced in 2001 by Premier Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals, British Columbia became the first Canadian Province to implement fixed-election dates, removing the power of the Premier to arbitrarily decide when elections are held.

In April 2008, St. Albert PC MLA Ken Allred introduced a Private Member's Bill, Bill 203: Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates), in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta that would have created fixed-election dates in our province. The Bill received very little public debate in the Legislature and was opposed by MLAs in the PC caucus, including Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Richard Marz, who argued to the media that fixed-election dates would allow public sector unions to strike in conjunction with elections.

In May 2008, Marz introduced a motion that "Bill 203, the Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates) Amendment Act, 2008, be not now read a second time but that it be read a second time this day six months hence." Marz's motion was passed when 36 PC MLAs (including Allred) out-voted 5 opposition MLAs.

Five months later, while Premier Ed Stelmach opposed calls for fixed-election dates by then-Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson, there was no public debate in the Legislative Assembly on Allred's Bill 203.

Ten months later, as Gibson was dismissed from his position by a PC MLA-dominated committee, there was still no public debate in the Legislative Assembly on Allred's Bill 203.

A year later, as British Columbians head to the polls in their second fixed-date election (and second STV referendum) on May 12, 2009, Albertans will celebrate exactly one year since PC MLAs voted for a six month delay on the debate about fixed-election dates in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

proposed electoral boundary changes in edmonton.

Edmonton's new Ward Map for the proposed twelve-ward/single-member ward system have been released and will be discussed at the April 15, 2009 City Council meeting.

More commentary coming soon. Thoughts?

what's a blogger to do?

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend of either:

a) Celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;

or

b) Celebrating the arrival of the magical chocolate egg bearing "Easter Bunny."

Coming back to Edmonton after a weekend spent up north, I had a difficult time deciding just what I wanted to write about upon my triumphant return to Alberta's capital city...

I could write about the proposed development of a new arena in downtown Edmonton. The arena is being proposed as a way to revitalize Edmonton's downtown-core, but I'm still not sure if I understand how building a giant cavernous hockey arena will equal revitalizion. Anyone care to explain? I'm hoping for some good coverage by Battle of Alberta and Covered in Oil...

I also could write about Tory Minister Ray Danyluk's political posturing for rural Alberta in preparation for the next Electoral Boundary Redistribution. It is too early to tell whether Danyluk and his gang (who shall know be known as the "rural clique") are blowing smoke to appease the "rural clique" or are turning an issue of fair democratic representation in the Alberta Legislature into a purely political game. As I've written in the past, rural Alberta is incredibly overrepresented in the Legislative Assembly compared to urban Alberta. I'm really hoping that Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier, and their Councils don't hesitate in standing up for fair provincial representation for Alberta's two largest cities.

And finally, I could also give a shout out to the Grande Prairie Daily-Herald Tribune for their shout out in yesterday's paper (thanks to Bill for sending me the link). The Daily-Herald Tribune is one of the better newspapers from Alberta's smaller cities and usually makes my list of daily scans (along with the St. Albert Gazette and Fort McMurray Today).

fair vote alberta event on march 19.

I picked this up from Idealistic Pragmatist...

Fair Vote Alberta, the provincial wing of Fair Vote Canada, will be hosting an event with former B.C. Citizens' Assembly member Shoni Field. Shoni will be talking to us about her experiences on the Assembly and its applicability to Alberta. There will be plenty of time after her talk for Q&A.

Place: Strathcona Public Library (8331-104 Street), Edmonton
Date: Wednesday, March 19th
Time: 7:00 PM