guy boutilier's free agency.

There is a serious leadership vacuum in Alberta. Most of the time it appears that PC Premier Ed Stelmach is absent from the important political debates and indecisive as our provincial leader, but every now and then he sporadically overcompensates. We saw this overcompensation with his recent pledge to never raise taxes and again this weekend with the over the phone firing of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Guy Boutilier.

I wasn’t shocked to learn that Guy Boutilier had been kicked out of the Progressive Conservative caucus and I have a difficult time believing that Boutilier didn’t know exactly what he was doing. Boutilier must have known that he was playing with political fire when he publicly accused Health & Wellness Minister Ron Liepert of “talking gibberish” and then criticized Stelmach for not wanting a cabinet minister “who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama.” Boutilier admitted that he never met Obama while at Harvard, but I imagine that comment was a bit stinging to a Premier who never completed his University degree.

Boutilier's criticisms of Liepert stemmed from the state of seniors care in Fort McMurray, and while it would be easy to commended him for breaking from the party line, his 12 years in the governing PC caucus have given him many better opportunities to publicly champion health care in Fort McMurray. He is now on his way out.

This isn’t the first time that Boutilier’s bizarre political actions have raised eyebrows.

While testifying to the Alberta Energy Utilities Board in 2006, Boutilier told Mikisew Cree First Nation lawyer Don Mallon that at the time, he was not speaking as the Minister of the Environment, but as an MLA. When asked how he could do this, Boutilier testified that he could actually turn off the part of his brain where he was the Minister of Environment. An impressive feat.

Boutilier led a loose coalition of PC MLAs who had yet to endorse a candidate in their party’s 2006 leadership contest. The group called itself the C5 ("Conservative, Competitive, Caring, Conservationist Coalition") and included Clint Dunford, Ty Lund, Pearl Calahasen, Ivan Strang and LeRoy Johnson. Boutilier and Calahasen eventually endorsed Lyle Oberg, and were both eventually dumped from their cabinet positions after Stelmach became Premier.

During my time as Chairperson of the Council of Alberta University Students from 2006 to 2007, I met with many MLAs and Cabinet Ministers. None of the meetings I experienced was more bizarre than my final meeting in that role in May 2007, when I met with then-Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Guy Boutilier. In his office at the Legislature, myself and the CAUS Executive Director presented our post-secondary education advocacy points, only to be continually interrupted by Boutilier's gesturing to his wall-mounted Harvard degree and giant wall photo of his first Bull riding experience as Mayor of Wood Buffalo. He was obviously quite proud of both of these, but his focus on them may have prevented him from actually digesting anything we had to say during the meeting. It gave me a glimpse of how difficult a person he must have been to work with at the cabinet table, so I'm not shocked that he has quickly fallen out of favour with the cabal of Stelmach loyalists that replaced Ralph Klein's inner circle in 2006.

What are Boutilier's options now?

He could sit as an Independent MLA, as Oberg did, and then wait for a chance to return to the PC caucus if that opportunity presents itself. Not many Independent MLAs have been successful in their bids of seek re-elected in Alberta. In 1993, Clover Bar MLA Kurt Gesell left the PC caucus and ran as an Independent candidate in the newly created Clover Bar-Fort Saskatchewan riding. He was defeated by former Fort Saskatchewan Mayor and Liberal candidate Muriel Abdurahman.

He could join another political party. While there isn't much precedent of PC MLAs joining the Liberal Party in Alberta, a couple of PC MLAs have joined other parties. Former Edmonton-Norwood MLA Gary Masyk left the PC caucus in 2004 to join the fledgling Alberta Alliance after his riding was abolished. Masyk ended up running in the newly created Edmonton-Decore riding, but was defeated by Liberal Bill Bonko.

With three years until the next expected election, Boutilier has the option of representing Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo in Alberta's Legislative Assembly without having to adhere to the discipline of a party Whip. For better or worse, citizens in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo are no longer represented by a PC backbencher, they are now represented by a free agent MLA.

stelmach boots boutilier.

Premier Ed Stelmach booted Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA and former Cabinet Minister Guy Boutilier out of the PC caucus today, over the phone...

Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier is "shocked and disappointed" after being kicked out of the Tory caucus by Premier Ed Stelmach late Friday during a phone conversation. ...

"He (Stelmach) said 'you're out, you're not welcome at caucus on Tuesday.' I asked to meet caucus but he refused.

"I always thought you got to face your accuser, but the premier categorically refused to meet me or let me meet the members of caucus I've served with for 12 years."

Boutilier recently accused Health Minister Ron Liepert of "talking gibberish" on the poor state of seniors care in Fort McMurray. He recently endeared himself to Stelmach by criticizing him for not wanting a cabinet minister "who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama."

is your bike rack breeding bolsheviks?

Usually I try to keep my witty retorts to these sort of items to Twitter, but this recent quote from Edmonton Sun columnist Kerry Diotte called for more than a 140 character response:

The socialist-style re-education campaign told us motorists and cyclists can get along -- and if they simply watch for one another and stick to the rules of the road, our streets will be a safe place for both.

Baloney.

Diotte was referring to the City of Edmonton's Share the Road education campaign which is aimed at improving traffic safety and reducing injuries between motorists and cyclists. While I completely agree with Diotte's arguments that Edmonton's Police need to crack down on cyclists who break traffic laws and that we need more proper bike lanes on our major roads, I think he may be the only person in Edmonton who believes that our bike racks are breeding Bolsheviks.

The challenge for many North American cities is to create an environment on our roads that will make the average commuter feel comfortable cycling to work if they are able. Campaigns like Share the Road shouldn't be geared towards the already hyper-active bike enthusiasts who are already cycling in rain or shine, but to the average Edmontonians who would ride their bikes to work a little more often if they felt they weren't going to get plowed over by a motorist or sideswiped by a crazy cyclist.

As a long-term growth strategy for Edmonton it's smart, it's healthy, and it could even possibly cut down the ridiculous amount of traffic congestion that is increasingly jamming our roads.

liberal & ndp nominations in edmonton-centre and edmonton-east.

Three federal candidate nominations have been scheduled in Edmonton for the last week of July. It looks like they will all end up in acclamation.

Edmonton-Centre Liberal nomination meeting
July 27, Westmount Community Hall
(I will post the time when I get confirmation)
Candidate: Mary MacDonald

Edmonton-Centre/Edmonton-East NDP joint nomination meeting
July 28, Alberta Avenue Community Centre, 6:30pm
Candidates:
Edmonton-Centre: Lewis Cardinal
Edmonton-East: Ray Martin

12 wards for edmonton in 2010.

Edmontonians won't notice a difference until next fall, but if City Councillors approve Bylaw 15142: Ward Boundaries and Council Composition Bylaw on June 22, our city will shed the 6-Ward/2-Councillor system in favour of a more modern 12-Ward/1-Councillor system.

The original motion to move to the 12-Ward system was introduced by Councillors Don Iveson and Dave Theile on February 17, 2009 and was approved in first reading by Councillors on April 15, 2009 (Councillors Jane Batty, Amarjeet Sohi, Tony Caterina, and Ron Hayter voted against the motion). I attended the April 15 meeting, and while watching the debate on Ward boundary changes was as exciting as you can imagine, the meeting reached a climax when former Councillor Sheila Mckay yelled her opposition from the Chamber seating area (Mckay was calmed down by Mayor Stephen Mandel).

Why are Councillors voting for this change? A new 12-Ward system will allow Councillors to more easily manage constituent requests (smaller population to represent) and will theoretically create more equitable representation for Edmotonians (in many cases, the more high profile of the two Councillors in the current large 6-Ward system receive the lions share of the constituents requests). Overall, I think the proposed 12-Ward system would be a positive move for our City.

The proposed new boundaries largely respect natural and community league boundaries, and in most cases are simple divisions of the current 6-Ward map. It's unfortunate that City Councillors are drawing their own electoral boundaries, which is something that should change in the future, but Edmontonians should be proud that their Councillors avoided the kind of gong show debate that recently engulfed Calgary's City Council.

Here is the map of the proposed new boundaries:


From a political perspective, Council will be taking a risk in accepting the new boundaries. Looking to the 2010 election, the new boundaries will likely play a factor in determining who runs for Mayor in 2010 and if any incumbents decide to run against each in the next campaign (I'm putting early odds on an Ed Gibbons versus Tony Caterina fight in the new Ward 4, and a Ben Henderson versus Jane Batty showdown in the new Ward 6).

Related Links:

Better Edmonton: 12 Councillors, 12 Wards: More Than A Dozen Reasons Why…
Don Iveson: 12 Wards
SEE Magazine: Councillors stake out their territory

alberta green party de-registered.

The writing was on the wall... from the now former Alberta Green Party website:

The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta has been de-registered by Elections Alberta as a political entity in the Province of Alberta. De-registration of the party is an administrative opportunity to re-organize and rebuild the party into a viable political organization. The importance and mainstream acceptance of the Green Party’s values and principles are on the rise, and the Green Party's many supporters can now look forward to a fresh start.

The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta Society is now registered as a non-profit corporate entity in the province of Alberta for the purposes of advancing a “Green” agenda, and preparing the Green Party’s political future. A meeting will be announced in the very near future to plan a path forward.

........ more information will be released as soon as it becomes available.

(ht @grant)

rich vivone putting klein era politics in print with a new book.

According to Vivone.com, former Insight Into Government* editor Rich Vivone is gearing up to release a new book of twelve essays, titled Ralph could have been a Superstar: Tales of the Klein Era.

An exert from Vivone's website describes the book:

Rich argues that the Klein Government had everything - the political power, a popular leader, a fragmented opposition, and loads of money - to be real leaders in reforming Alberta's political, economic, social and cultural institutions. They could have diversified the provincial economy to lessen its reliance on natural resources. They could have brought serious reforms to the money-draining health system. They could have been political and economic leaders in the country. Yet their failures far exceeded their successes.

Twelve essays in Ralph could have been a Superstar: Tales of the Klein Era deal with Ralph Klein's rise to power, his government's well-planned and well-executed manipulation of the mainstream media, the fear it instilled in people who dealt with government, its contradictions on issues involving children, its repeated failures to reform health care, the plight of the Liberal party, the story of Jim Dinning's rise and failure, and an assessment of scandals and scandalous political behaviour throughout 34 years of Conservative Government. The final essay is an open letter to Premier Ed Stelmach, defining serious political challenges that face his government and the province.

I can't wait for it to hit the shelves!

*Now InsightAlberta.

who is running to be leader of alberta's official opposition?

Judging from the buzz, it looks like Danielle Smith.

The two-person contest (which also includes Mark Dyrholm) to lead the now seatless right-wing Wild Rose Alliance appears to be attracting a larger amount of interest than last year's contest to lead the official opposition Alberta Liberal Party.

The 2008 Liberal contest, which culminated in a December 2008 vote, attracted as contestants Calgary MLAs David Swann and Dave Taylor and former Edmonton MLA Mo Elsalhy. While the Liberal Party earned over 250,000 votes in the March 2008 election, the leadership candidates were only able to attract around 6,500 Albertans to join their party in anticipation of the vote. As far as I am aware, Alberta's only other opposition party in the Legislature, the Alberta NDP, haven't held a contested leadership race since 1996.

I remained somewhat skeptical following Alex Abboud's bold prediction and the recent columns in the Calgary Herald, but some of the latest buzz that I've been hearing has me wondering: could the Wild Rose Alliance under a leader like Danielle Smith could actually pose a serious threat to Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservative Party?

The dominant PCs have become accustomed to facing a Liberal and NDP opposition that largely self-quarantines its resources in 20 to 25 urban ridings in Edmonton and Calgary, making it easy for the PCs to rack up massive majorities in the remaining 60 or so ridings. Both the leaders of the Liberals and NDP are having a difficult time gaining any traction in public opinion and voter turnout has dropped to a pathetically low ~40% in 2008, which has left the political environment in tinder dry conditions. A Reform Party-esq firestorm ignited by a smart and savvy libertarian like Smith could create a political challenge stronger than anything the PCs have seen since the dethroning Harry Strom's Social Credit Party in 1971.

Kevin Libin's National Post coverage has revealed that a number of prominent Conservative Party of Canada organizers in Calgary have joined Smith's campaign, which could destabilize what in many ways has become a delicate relationship between the governing Federal and Provincial Conservative parties in Alberta.

While the hype around the Wild Rose Alliance leadership contest may end up being little more than summer-time buzz, it will remain quite telling that at least in the short-term it is making some members of the governing PCs a little jumpy.

Related Link:
David Climenhaga: Danielle Smith to lead Wildrose Alliance? Remember where you read it first!

is social media triggering a citizen engagement renaissance in our cities?

Edmonton Journal columnist Todd Babiak has written an interesting column on the use of social media in the Edmonton City Centre Airport debate. Babiak interviewed Mack Male (@mastermaq) and Jørdan Schrøder (@cleisthenis) and focused on how social media was used by many engaged younger Edmontonians to convince City Councillors to close the ECCA in favour of smarter urban development.

Enough evidence has been collected to show that social media can have powerful advocacy uses, but I'm not convinced that social media alone will succeed in "turning the channel on the old boys' network." While the organic nature of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs allow for the kind of direct interaction and conversation that radio ads and giant billboards could never, the back rooms and cheque books will continue to play a large role in influencing political decisions in our cities. This is a key reason why the types of changes made in Athabasca-Redwater MLA Jeff Johnson's Bill 203 municipal campaign finance reform legislation are so desperately needed.

While the ECCA debate was only one example of how the positive merger between social media and citizen engagement is evolving, there are other shining and nascent examples of other emerging citizen groups that taking place in our province, including ChangeCamp, CivicCamp, Better Calgary, and Better Edmonton. Tackling a wide range of issues from smart growth (including Plan It in Calgary) to connecting citizens and government in dialogue (through ChangeCamp), these groups are forming around active citizens who are willing to take a public stand (both in person and online) for the kind of positive change they want to see in their cities and communities.

It is easy to become cynical about traditional politics, grandstanding politicians, and old-style political parties, but I am constantly encouraged by the exciting citizen engagement that is happening on the municipal levels in Alberta's cities.

Related Link:
Adam Rozenhart: A shifting discourse

phased closure of edmonton's city centre airport a smart step.

I am very pleased that Edmonton City Council decided to support the phased closure of the City Centre Airport. Yesterday's 10 to 3 vote (with Councillors Tony Caterina, Ron Hayter, and Linda Sloan being the three) puts an end to this portion of a debate that started long before the 1995 City-wide plebiscite on scheduled service.

I am proud of our City Council. They made a courageous decision and have taken up the challenge of implementing some (literally) ground-shifting positive change to how urban Edmonton will develop over the next twenty years. Mack Male was in Council Chambers yesterday and has written a good recap of the vote, amendments, and what the result means for the ECCA and our City. While Councillors stopped short of attaching actual dates to the closure, which may leave some people remaining skeptical about the decision, Mayor Stephen Mandel insisted that the motion was a clear decision to close to ECCA.

The group of Edmontonians supporting the closure were diverse, but it was likely one of the first times that social media has played a prominent role in such an important municipal decision as this. While it is impossible to know what decision Councillors would have made under different circumstances, Notmyairport.ca (which was launched masterfully by Mack Male), twitter (see: #ecca), a large Facebook presence, and a very active group of young Edmontonian bloggers proved that the organic nature of social media can translate into a very powerful advocacy tool. I look forward to seeing more of this kind of grassroots advocacy on future municipal issues (I'm looking at you, Better Edmonton...)

One of the main groups opposing the closure was the Alberta Enterprise Group. While I joked yesterday that this now puts the group at 0 for 2 (AEGs predecessor group, the Grassroots Leadership Group, bankrolled Mark Norris’ campaign for the PC leadership in 2006), I believe that this was a significant legitimizing exercise for the AEG. Although they seem to have a larger focus on provincial affairs, as suggested by their recent trade delegation to Switzerland (which included Premier Ed Stelmach), I doubt that this is the last we will see of this group. With a municipal election ahead in October 2010, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the AEG throw their financial support behind candidates in the Mayoral and some Councillor races.

Edmontonians and their Councillors will now be challenged to put a great of thought and reflection into what kind of communities we want to see realized on the ECCA lands in ten or twenty years from now. It’s hard for me not to get excited about the unique opportunity that the closure of the ECCA is giving Edmonton because it is extremely rare for any major metropolitan area to be given the challenge of developing such a large piece of land so close to the city core.

As I wrote in my letter to Councillors Ben Henderson and Jane Batty earlier this week, the land which the ECCA now sits on has incredible potential for increased smart residential and commercial development. These include the three smart growth strategies that Peter Newman spoke about when he was in Edmonton for last month’s ICLEI World Congress: Pedestrian Oriented Developments, Transit Oriented Developments, and Green Oriented Developments.

There is no reason why Edmontonians should settle for less than the best to be built on the ECCA lands. If developed with thought and foresight, new smart growth on the ECCA lands will bring us a step closer to realizing that there can be a better Edmonton.

Related Links:
- The Edmontonian: Interview with CBC Radio (with @journalistjeff and @mastermaq)
- fusedlogic The Great Edmonton Airport Debate
- Don Iveson: City Centre Airport: Leaning Towards Closure
- Alain Saffel: Should Edmonton close the Edmonton City Centre Airport?
- Darren Barefoot: Edmonton's Airport Debate
- Scott McKeen: Fifty years of airport rancour must end with decision to close it

recovering from a bad bout of partisanship.

As someone who was deeply involved in partisan politics in the past, but has since abandoned any party membership or involvement mainly due to the negativity and hyper-partisanship that saturates party politics in Canada (negativity and hyper-partisanship that I once embraced), this article by Simon Jackson stuck with me.

read my lips.

Ed Stelmach (February 23, 2008): “A Progressive Conservative government will never put Alberta back into a deficit position.”

April 7, 2009: Alberta to post $4.7B deficit

Ed Stelmach (July 7, 2009): "As long as I'm premier of this province, there will be no tax increases."

I'm just saying...

(h/t to CalgaryGrit for reminding me of the February 2009 quote)

UPDATE: Premier Stelmach has revealed his true motivation behind his decree and the rescinding of the Liquor Tax that his Government imposed in the April 2009 Budget:

'So just to close: cold beer, hot day, during very difficult economic times.'

(h/t the Chief of Staff to the President of Daveberta)

transparency and epcor privatization.

Edmonton City Council's vote to privatize the power production portions of EPCOR was held as a private shareholders meeting (the City of Edmonton owns 100% of the shares), but no rules were broken. What's the real issue? The privatization or how the decision was made?

- While I thought the Edmonton Journal's 'MAJOR ABUSE OF POWER' headline was a tad bit sensationalist considering that Council conducted itself within the rules laid out before them, I do think the transparency issue needs to be addressed for future decisions. Councillor Don Iveson has already said that he plans on introducing a motion that would require councillors to make decisions about significant Epcor asset sales or restructuring at council rather than shareholder meetings.

"There are a number of fair reasons why the recent Capital Power decision was made that way, but I don't want to be asked to make any further decisions that way."

"Our accountability is clearer when we are meeting as councillors than if we're meeting as shareholders."

- Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft has written an op-ed on the EPCOR issue, arguing that Council should put entire process on hold to allow public scrutiny.

- The Our Power Citizens Group is trying to start a larger debate on the EPCOR issue, but who is behind this group? The address listed on their website is the same as Public Interest Alberta. The group will be hosting a meeting on Wednesday, July 8th at 7:30 PM at the Central Lions Seniors Centre 11113 — 113 Street.

the great airport debate.

In case you missed it, you can watch the Great Airport Debate about Edmonton's City Centre Airport between Mack Male (@mastermaq) and David MacLean (@dmac666) on FusedLogic TV. Follow #ecca for more.

Congrats to the fusedlogic (@fusedlogic) team for putting on this debate!

close the edmonton city centre airport.

The following is the letter I sent Councillors Ben Henderson and Jane Batty:

Dear Councillors,

I am writing to you as a citizen who wishes to see the Edmonton City Centre Airport closed. While this historical facility has served our city well in the past, we should not allow the privilege of a small minority to limit our larger future potential.

My main concern is that while the ECCA uses of such a large piece of real estate in the centre of our city, potential smart development will be hindered in the downtown core (due to building height restrictions) and in the core itself (due to the large amount of space currently used by the ECCA). As a Ward 4 resident, I am also concerned with the amount of noise pollution that is caused by the many arriving and departing planes and jets that occur each day.

The land which the ECCA now sits on has incredible potential for increased smart urban development, including the three smart growth strategies that Peter Newman spoke about when he was in Edmonton for last month’s ICLEI World Congress: Pedestrian Oriented Developments, Transit Oriented Developments, and Green Oriented Developments.

There is no reason why Edmontonians should settle for less than the best for our future.

The closure of the City Centre Airport will bring us a step closer to realizing a better Edmonton.

Sincerely,

David Cournoyer
Citizen, Ward 4

Edmonton City Council will be voting on the issue on July 8 or 10, so please email your City Councillor at Councillors@edmonton.ca. For more information, visit notmyairport.ca.

former candidate jim wachowich speaks about edmonton-centre.

After reading a recent blog post by Ken Chapman, I took the opportunity to speak with former Edmonton-Centre Liberal candidate and consumer advocate lawyer Jim Wachowich over the phone yesterday. During the call, Wachowich confirmed the rumours that he will not be seeking the Liberal candidacy in Edmonton-Centre for the next election.

Wachowich explained that for personal, family, and professional reasons, it would have been difficult to dedicate the time and resources to run in an election that could occur at any time. Despite the legislated fixed-election date law in Canada, a minority Parliament and constant games of political brinkmanship in Ottawa have made snap elections a reality that potential candidates from all parties now face.

Following the June 30 Town Hall meeting that drew over 600 Edmontonians, Wachowich said he was excited about a renewed energy that Michael Ignatieff’s leadership has brought to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Describing the challenges facing the Edmonton-Centre Liberals, Wachowich suggested that “fatigue and political disinterest” as well as doubt about Stephane Dion's leadership and the Green Shift created difficult challenges for his campaign during the last election. The Liberals have always faced uphill battles in electing Members of Parliament in Alberta, but Wachowich pointed out “there is a strong base of Liberal support in Edmonton-Centre.” He plans to support whoever is nominated as the Liberal candidate (the first candidate openly campaigning for the nomination is Lawyer, Political Science Ph.D., and Anne McLellan's former Deputy Chief of Staff Mary MacDonald).

When asked how the entry of NDP nomination candidate Lewis Cardinal could affect the race, Wachowich said he believed that Cardinal’s candidacy “would make the race all the more interesting” and that having good candidates from all parties could increase the voter interest and turnout in the next election. Voter turnout in Edmonton-Centre dropped from 64% in 2006 to just over 50% in 2008, which Wachowich speculated hurt his campaign on Election Day.

As our conversation wrapped up, Wachowich emphasized the need for stronger representation for the citizens of Edmonton-Centre in Ottawa, “I don’t know where [Conservative MP] Laurie Hawn stands, because he doesn’t tell you.”

mp carolyn bennett: dissolving alberta's regional health boards was obscene, nuts.

know your power lines better, alberta.

Kevin Kuchinski has written an excellent (and lengthy) essay on the politics of power line in Alberta and Bill 50: Electrical Statutes Amendment Act.

michael ignatieff's town hall in edmonton.

Yesterday may have felt like a normal June 30 to most Edmontonians, but unbeknownst to most citizens (but not all ) Official Opposition leader Michael Ignatieff was in the Provincial Capital City taking part in an open Town Hall meeting at the Santa Maria Goretti Community Centre .

The event was large in numbers, but the 600 person crowd felt subdued as they seemed more curious to hear what this Ignatieff fellow had to say, rather than to simply cheer the Liberal Party battle cry. The room was filled with party faithful and also attracted a good mix of interested non-partisans who were likely also just as curious to hear what Ignatieff had to say. Of course, the meeting attracted a number local political names such as former Liberal MP Anne McLellan , Liberal MLAs David Swann, Laurie Blakeman, and Hugh MacDonald, and City Councillor Ben Henderson, as well as Senators Tommy Banks, Grant Mitchell, and Claudette Tardif. Alex Abboud has a good review of the question and answer session, so I won't duplicate his blog post.

While I don't believe that anyone in the building (including Ignatieff) was under the impression that his presence alone would lead to Liberal Party gains in the next election, there did seem to be a positive energy that wasn't evident during Stephane Dion's short tenure as Liberal leader. Of the Liberal activists I spoke to last night, they carried a renewed optimism, especially for the chances of winning over voters in ridings like Edmonton-Centre, Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, and Edmonton-Strathcona.

Following Ignatieff's time on stage, I had a good conversation with local lawyer Mary MacDonald, who is seeking the Liberal nomination in Edmonton-Centre. MacDonald, who's previous electoral experience included placing a scant 58-votes behind NDP candidate Raj Pannu in 1997, was positive about her chances and was realistic about the hard work ahead of her. Over the course of the evening, a number of Liberals approached me to inquire if I was supporting former candidate Jim Wachowich, who according to Ken Chapman is no longer seeking the nod. Edmonton-Centre Liberals are expected to choose their candidate at a meeting in September 2009 (I have been told the date may be moved sooner).

From a practical politics perspective, the Liberals would be smart to put the Conservatives on the defensive in key urban ridings in western Canada. In Alberta, this would include focusing on ridings like Edmonton-Centre, Edmonton-East, Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, Edmonton-Strathcona, Calgary-Centre, and Calgary-Centre North in order to force the Conservatives to focus funds and resources on ridings where they have become accustomed to taking voters for granted. After a dismal few elections in Alberta, the Liberals need to also focus on rebuilding their province-wide support, which fell from 22% in June 2004 to 11% in October 2008.

I may be labeled a crazy wing-nut traitor for not believing that the Liberal Party of Canada is secretly hatching a conspiracy to steal Alberta's God-given oil (or building a Death Star behind the Moon), but I actually get the feeling that Ignatieff is bothered that his party has burned so many political bridges in western Canada. That said, the largely Ontario-based Liberal Caucus hasn't done much to distill perceptions that it is biased against the politics and economics of western Canada.

My cynical views of Canadian federal politics may remain in place, and while I not yet convinced Michael Ignatieff would be a great Prime Minister for Canadians, I am convinced that he would probably be a decent and open-minded Prime Minister for Canadians. I remain open-minded and curious.

( Photo credit to Alex Abboud )

happy canada day.

ignatieff to harper: quit treating westerners like they're stupid.

“Frankly,” he said, “I think it's condescending to westerners that being a so-called intellectual is some big liability. People out here are as devoted to the life of the mind, and the life of culture, as anybody else in the country. So I don't think that's going to fly. It's just stupid.

Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff on western Canadians and Conservative attacks.

Ignatieff is in Edmonton for the next two days and will be speaking at a Town Hall meeting at the Santa Maria Goretti Community Centre tonight at 6:50pm. I'm planning on checking out what the serene professor has to say, so post your questions below and I may try and ask one if I get the chance.

the majority disapproves.

A new poll released by Leger Marketing shows that none of Alberta's three main political party leaders have been able to achieve majority approval ratings:

Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach's performance: - Disapprove: 40 per cent - Approve: 41 per cent - Don't know: 19 per cent

Opinion of Stelmach since last year - Worsened: 43 per cent - Stayed the same: 40 per cent - Improved: Five per cent

Liberal Leader David Swann's performance: - Disapprove: 29 per cent - Approve: 22 per cent - Don't know: 49 per cent

NDP Leader Brian Mason's performance: - Disapprove: 34 per cent - Approve: 22 per cent - Don't know: 44 per cent

The poll places Stelmach in a commanding lead of both David Swann and Brian Mason, but his high disapproval ratings shouldn't give PC supporters any reason to brag. While it appears that the Liberal or NDP leader haven't been able to gain traction in public support (which isn't a shock), I was most surprised at Stelmach's regional ratings. The poll showed approval for the Premier at 34% in Calgary, at 41% in smaller communities (down from 52% in 2008), and remaining lukewarm at 48% in Edmonton.

UPDATE: Here is the PDF with a regional breakdown and fancy charts.

edmonton businessmen recorded strategizing about city centre airport.

Discussion about how to get Councillors "on [their] side" broadcast live over the Internet.

During the afternoon recess of Thursday's hearings on the future of the Edmonton City Centre Airport (ECCA), an interesting and revealing conversation occurred between a group of businessmen wanting to keep the ECCA open.

A longtime reader was listening to the public hearings online when a microphone, left on during the break, picked up what was believed to be a conversation between two prominent Edmonton businessmen whom had just spoke in favor of keeping the airport open. Likely without knowing that they were being broadcast over the Internet, the men began engaging in a strategy discussion (there may have also been a third person involved in the conversation).

During their broadcasted conversation, the businessmen hypothesized that there were five City Councillors who would vote to keep the ECCA open, and identified Councillors Karen Leibovici, Amarjeet Sohi, and Bryan Anderson as the most likely targets to "get on [their] side."

The conversation topic quickly turned to Councillor Leibovici, who was suggested to be coming around on account of her rumored mayoral ambitions in 2010. The businessmen didn't seem to know much about Councillor Sohi, but one of them either suggested or volunteered to "give [Anderson] a call."

While the content of this strategy session shouldn't come as a surprise to many Edmontonians, it does shine a spotlight on the backroom influence that some of our city's wealthy businessmen are trying to exert in the debate about the future of the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

we're number 92!*

*The Fraser Institute has released a survey showing that many petroleum industry executives see Manitoba as a better place to invest than Alberta (the horror!). The survey ranks Alberta as 92nd, placing the landlocked western Canadian province of 3 million people "behind China, the Philippines, and Brazil as an attractive place to invest in upstream oil and gas development."

The results of the survey are a bit misleading as they list investment jurisdictions in North America by individual province and state, while all other jurisdictions are listed by country. While the survey results are likely reflective of the oil industry's well-known dislike of Premier Ed Stelmach's changes to Alberta's resource royalty framework, the report may have shown different results had it also included actual financial investment numbers.

The survey has given Wild Rose Alliance leadership contender Danielle Smith a lot of 140-character content to work with this week.

(h/t Brian Dell)

books, magazines, and twitter.

I’ve spent the past couple of days having a enjoyable time teaching the basics of social media to members of the book and magazine publishing communities in Edmonton and Calgary. I was impressed at how eager the members of this creative sector are to learn more about social media and online engagement. Most of the participants were already familiar with blogs and social networks like Facebook and YouTube, but many were less familiar with Twitter (even though most had heard about it).

While the publishers and writers naturally maintained a healthy dose of skepticism at the 140-character hyper-blogging network, the participants in the workshops were open minded and curious about Twitter, especially in light of the Iranian election, Doug Elniski, and Bill 44.

My time spent with these community members also allowed me to learn some of the more fascinating details about the saga of the Google Book Settlement.

When I returned to Edmonton yesterday, I was surprised to read blog posts by both Walter Schwabe (@fusedlogic) and Mack Male (@mastermaq) in response to 630CHED host Lesley Primeau’s negative comments about Twitter. I was a little confused by Primeau’s reaction, as I would have thought that her role as a radio host for a station that largely depends on listener interaction (aka callers) would be naturally interested in learning more about social media.

On the political front, DJ Kelly has written a solid blog post about the potential Elniski Effect on elected officials who use Twitter and social media. DJ raises some good questions, including whether the incident will cause political parties to discourage or increase their controls on how elected members interact with citizens online. As Alberta’s governing partisans haven’t reacted well to online social media in the past, I hope that Elniski’s tasteless comment leads to an increased mature and commonsensical approach to social media, rather than a retreat from the medium (until the party spin masters need to launch their new websites in preparation for the next election in three years).

Related link: Alberta Politics Online.

calgary-glenmore candidate update.

Avalon Roberts was chosen as the Liberal candidate at a nomination meeting in Calgary-Glenmore this week. Over 150 Liberals are reported to have shown up to participate in the meeting, where Roberts faced off against Corey Hogan. (Matthew Naylor live-blogged the evening)

Paul Hinman has been officially nominated as the Wild Rose Alliance candidate.

A by-election to replace former MLA Ron Stevens is expected to take place in Fall 2009.

edmontonians pack city hall on food security.

I'm standing in Council Chamber at Edmonton City Hall and I don't think I've ever seen it this packed. Over 700 Edmontonians (many whom are supporters of the Greater Edmonton Alliance) have shown up to talk food security at City Council's Municipal Development Plan public hearings. This is citizenship in action.

Here are the four key amendments being discussed at the public hearing:

- Integrate local food system impact into all decisions about converting farmland.
- Ensure access to local food through a secure land supply and city-wide approaches
- Develop an agricultural areas plan, including inventory of all farmland
- Champion a food security plan by the Capital Region Board.

I'll have photos up soon.

Watch the public hearing live online.

i'm pretty sure that even don draper would find this offensive.

I really didn't want to write on this topic. It pains me that in the year 2009, I am actually writing about this.

Edmonton-Calder MLA Doug Elniski (@elniskimla) gained some unflattering notoriety today after Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley made public a speech that the PC backbencher posted on his now defunct blog. In the speech, which was apparently delivered to a Junior High graduating class, Elniski sounded like an MLA from a previous era as gave some pretty tasteless advice to the young women in the audience:

'Ladies, always smile when you walk into a room, there is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get shit for something and has no idea what. Men are attracted to smiles, so smile don't give me that "treated equal" stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks.'

I am not going to write any more on this, as I think Elniski's comment speaks for itself.

As I wrote in a previous post on the topic of social media and politicians in Alberta, it becomes mistakes like these that make it increasing difficult when trying to convince traditional old-school political thinkers of the important role that these online tools and social networks play in the 21st century. Our elected officials need to exercise some common sense and maturity if they are serious about employing online social networks in an atmosphere of positive engagement with citizens.

*The title credit goes to the Chief of Staff to the President of Daveberta, a frequenter of this blog's comment section.

a spot-on description of twitter.

“The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what make it so powerful.”

Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain, New York Times, June 15, 2009

just visiting (from ottawa) & royal glenora club gets economic stimulus.

Ottawa political staffer Ryan Hastman defeated Linda Blade and Cathay Wagantall to claim the Conservative candidacy in Edmonton-Strathcona. Hastman will face NDP MP Linda Duncan in the next federal election.

Also visiting Edmonton-Strathcona from Ottawa will be federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who will spend the morning of Canada Day in the 20th annual Silly Summer Parade down Whyte Avenue. Last week, Vancouver-Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry joined federal Liberal activists in Edmonton's Pride Parade.

Across the river in Edmonton-Centre, Lewis Cardinal will announce his announce his intentions to seek the NDP nomination this week (h/t @alexabboud). Cardinal was narrowly defeated (by 184 votes) in a tight race that saw Ward 4 Councillors Jane Batty and Ben Henderson elected in the 2007 Municipal Election. In the 2008 Federal Election, Edmonton-Centre NDP candidate Donna Martyn placed third with 15% of the total vote behind Conservative MP Laurie Hawn and Liberal Jim Wachowich.

How's this for an economic stimulus package? The members-only private Royal Glenora Club will be receiving $1,000,000 in taxpayers dollars from the federal government. Annual membership fees range from $ 2,236.00 for singles aged 30-64 to $4,065 for families. While MP Laurie Hawn defended the announcement, claiming that it "will ensure that this 50-year-old facility can continue to thrive...." it is not known whether he and his wife are active members of the Club (which would cost $2,403.00 annually for couples aged 64 and over).

iclei 2009 world congress edmonton: thoughts on sustainability.

Over the past week, I have had the privileged of attending and observing many of the sessions and keynote speeches at the ICLEI 2009 World Congress in Edmonton. The conference has left me hopeful and encouraged about the opportunities for sustainability in our cities. In Canada, as in many other countries, it has become clear that municipalities are light years ahead of national, state, and provincial governments in generating innovative initiatives and strategies to improve the sustainability of our communities.

Watching, meeting, and conversing with many of the over 620 delegates has left me feel optimistic. Originating from cities across North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa, the conversations and debates I observed at this Congress didn't touch on political partisanship or ideology, but on actual ideas and direction (an increasing rarity among the national and provincial debates in Canada).

During his speech to delegates on June 17, Australian scientist Peter Newman made some interesting points having to do with the current economic downturn. Newman suggested that the downturn in the world economy provides states the opportunity to create "the global green new deal." It may seem far fetched that an overly natural resource dependent jurisdiction such as Alberta would embrace new great change, but if "the future is to be smart and sustainable," as Newman suggested, Albertans should be pressuring their elected representatives not to be left behind.

While no one I spoke to at the conference suggested that the need for fossil fuels is going to disappear anytime soon, other oil producing jurisdictions are having serious debates about the ethics of their precious resources. In a conversation with a delegate from the City of Oslo in Norway, he explained some of the serious ethical debates that are taking place on a national level in his country. As Norway is also largely dependent on natural resource revenues, it seems like it and the Province of Alberta should be facing a number of the same ethical challenges.

The Norwegian pointed out that while Statoil (Norway's national oil company) had recently purchased a large amount of shares in the North American Oil Sands Corporation (a deal that is reported to be worth $2.2CND billion), the investments in Alberta's oil sands has spurned a national debate around the ethics of financial dependence on an unsustainable and environmentally damaging method of extracting oil.

During our conversation, the Norwegian made an observation that as an older society, the debate around oil and dependence on non-renewable resources in his country appeared to be more mature than the relatively young debate in Alberta. Although he was quick to clarify that he wasn't making a judgment, I'm not sure he was far off the mark. While Norwegians have serious national debates about whether or not to simply leave the oil underneath the ground and live off the interest of their geographical resources, Albertans seem to get easily caught up in the staccato boom and bust cycles, all the while forgetting that we are the owners of the resource. As the owners of the resource, it is our responsibility to drive the debate.

Attending the ICLEI 2009 World Congress has taught me that while we do many things well in Edmonton, that there are many areas where we can improve. If "sustainable technologies work best at the local level of government," as Newman suggests, where do our local government's start? Referencing a recent article in the Telegraph, speaker Richard Littlemore suggested that "rebuilding our infrastructure in an intelligent way is the only chance we have."

Collaboration and information sharing is a key to rethinking and rebuilding our cities. A partnership between the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and ICLEI has produced the Slim City initiative that provides a framework example of how this kind of collaboration can take place.

TOD, POD, and GOD (transit oriented development, pedestrian oriented development and green oriented development) are some of the urban development strategies proposed by Newman in his speech and his book Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. While some North American cities already provide positive examples of TOD (which can save 50% in car use and 20% of income) and POD development, the ominous sounding GOD initiatives may be less familiar.

The German cities of Vauban and Frieburg are considered to be successful examples of how green-oriented development can produce sustainability. A car-free village powered by solar energy, mobilized by light rail transit and bicycles, and filled with space to grow food locally sounds Utopian, and it directly challenges the comfortable culture of over consumption.

Change is never easy, but the over 620 ICLEI delegates who traveled to Edmonton from around the world this past week have made me hopeful that there is at least one level of government that is prepared to rise to the challenge.

that's a pretty big tangent...

Following a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans suggested to the audience that two-income parents place less importance on raising children than families that keep a parent home. Evans' then drifted even further from the topic of the economy and 'suggested a link between a lack of education and mental illness or criminal behaviour.'

"The huge failure of Canadians is not to educate the children properly and then why should we be surprised when they have mental illnesses or commit dreadful crimes?"

Alberta's Finance Minister then targeted her criticism on an even more unexpected area as she criticized funding for new police officers:

"The great tragedy in this year's budget in Alberta ... is that we put 200 more policemen, police officers, for the next two years and more Crown prosecutors, more law enforcement people," she said.

"If we had put 200 more positions in place to help parents be better parents I would have been much happier."

Only hours later, Evans apologized for her bizarre comments.

UPDATE: Is there a chance that this is simply a genius political distraction by Evans' in order to distract Albertans from the announcement that Alberta may need to borrow up to $5 billion in the coming years?

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: transit chart.

A chart used by Peter Newman in his presentation at the ICLEI 2009 World Congress in Edmonton this afternoon.

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: day three in words.

The Concrete Cycle

Urban Strategy Expert and founder of ICLEI Jeb Brugmann talked about the concrete supply chain in China, which includes the recycling of concrete from Hong Kong to build new cities in Mainland China, rather than mining new concrete. The City of Edmonton has operated a Sustainable Aggregate Recycling Program for concrete since 1978, which saves the city around $10.4 million per year.

Pecha Kucha Edmonton 4

Mastermaq has a recap of last night's Pecha Kucha Edmonton 4. While the large audience of over 600 made the event much less intimate than previous Pecha Kucha events in Edmonton, there were some good presentations including Myron Belej and Trevor Anderson. I've been very skeptical of NextGen's mandate in the past, but if they focus on organizing events like Pecha Kucha, they stand a chance in changing my mind (not that they should focus on changing my mind).

Prius

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel awarded the winners of a Edmonton's Zero Footprint Challenge with a brand-new Prius. As usual, the day wouldn't be complete without Scott Hennig and the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation pointing out something negative about the initiative.

Young Municipal Leaders

Thanks to Councillor Don Iveson, Mastermaq and I were invited to the meeting of ICLEIs Young Municipal Leaders, a loose group of municipal leaders within a common age range. I was encouraged to hear that the group wasn't satisfied with sitting at the 'kids table', but also recognized the perspective their age could offer and the knowledge they could gain from some of the older representatives in ICLEI.

Rather than division by age, participants saw the generational gap as key to a positive partnership in ICLEI, rather than a hierarchical relationship. I also thought it was very telling that as traditional politicians continue to discuss important issues in private low-key meetings, this group discussed the potential that online conversation through social media and wikis could have on important discourse. Very encouraging.

Participants in the Young Municipal Leaders meeting included Leduc Councillor Dominic Mishio, Deputy Lord Mayor of Adelaide Stephen Yarwood, Freiburg Councillor Sebastian Muller, Spruce Grove Councillor Jeff Acker, Melbourne Councillor Cathy Oke, Lahti Councillor Eero Vainio, former U of A Students' Union President Michael Janz, and Kelowna Councillor Angela Reid (among others).

ICLEI 2.0

You can follow the ICLEI conversation on Twitter and take a look at my photos on Flickr.

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: day three in pictures.

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: day two focus on eco-mobility.

If I could pick a theme for day two of the ICLEI World Congress (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) in Edmonton, it would be Eco-Mobility. The Global Alliance for EcoMobility describes Eco-Mobility as mobility without dependency on the private, Eco-Mobility includes a wide range means of travel, most of the presentations I attended yesterday were focused on bicycle mobility. Here are some points I picked up from yesterday's presentations:

- Edmonton is one of the most car dependent cities in North America.

- Copenhagen (Denmark) is aiming to be one of the environmental capitals of the world. Since 1995, bicycle traffic has risen by over 40% in the Danish capital city.

- In Tilburg (Netherlands) the primary focus is to remove obstacles by improving bicycling parking. There are currently 12,800 bicycle parking spots in Tilburg, with an extra 2,800 spots planned for 2010 and 2,000 spots planned for 2012. Tilburg's 2003 'Balanced Mobility' cycling plan treats all forms of mobility as equally important. Current plans are to build 1600m of bicycle networks.

- Challenges of increased bicycle mobility includes increased theft. Each year, 4,000 bicycle thefts are reported per year in Tilburg, a big problem that needs to be addressed.

- Changwon (South Korea) has a goal to increase bicycle transportation to 20% in 2020. Some Changwon businesses offer $24 per month allowance for employees using bicycle-transportation to work, and the City Bicycle Centre offers free bicycle classes to housewives.

- For Canadians who oppose increased bicycle infrastructure because of our cold winters should know that similar arguments were made in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) about the intense heat. Heat tuned out not be one of Rio's biggest challenges: bad bike lanes led to four cycling deaths in Rio over a short number of years.

- About half of the air pollution in São Paulo (Brazil) used to come from factories, but now 90% of emissions come from motorized transport. Increase bicycle mobility is a viewed a a solution to car air pollution.

- With a population of 34,000, Koprivnica (Croatia) began promoting bicycle mobility after the end of the Cold War, when the introduction of western automobiles drastically increased local air pollution. In 2008, Koprivnica won the European Mobility Award.

- The Local Motion Eco-Mobility Project in the Edmonton community of Parkallen focused on showcasing and encouraging Eco-Mobility through pilot project improvements and Eco-Mobility education. Community education included local programs, improved bike route marking and the development of a local community map (aka, the Parkallen Field Guide).

I would also like to add how impressed I am with the (likely) hundreds of Edmontonians who have volunteered to help with the day to day operations of the ICLEI World Congress in Edmonton. They've been doing excellent work!

(As most of these points were jotted down quickly during the sessions, apologies if there are any minor inaccuracies)

warning: political fires burn faster, hotter, and more toxic than ever before.

Forgive me if I thought this sub-line on a recent GOA media release was a warning to Alberta PC supporters about the dangers of Bill 44...

Today's fires burn faster, hotter and more toxic than ever before. Preventing them has never been more important

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: day two in pictures.

video: minister ray danyluk speaks to the 2009 iclei world congress.

Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, Ray Danyluk, welcomed the 2009 ICLEI World Congress in Edmonton this afternoon.

iclei world congress 2009 edmonton: day one.

I attended the opening plenary session of the 2009 ICLEI World Congress in Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre. The 628 ICLEI delegates will face a rigorous agenda over the next four days. Congress delegates have flown in from around the world, including over 100 delegates who do not speak English.

(The great caricatures were drawn by Roy Blumenthal)

The 2009 ICLEI World Congress opened with speeches from:

- Stephen Kabuye, ICLEI’s Vice President, Mayor of Entebbe, Uganda
- Stephen Mandel, Mayor of Edmonton
- David Cadman, Deputy Mayor of Vancouver, Canada & ICLEI President
- Ray Danyluk, Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs
- Bärbel Dieckmann, Chairperson, World Mayors Council on Climate
Change, Mayor of Bonn, Germany

Of all the speakers, Cadman was the most passionate. As President of ICLEI, he used his time at the podium to urge delegates to lobby their state, provincial, and national governments for serious action on sustainable development and climate change. As this year's COP15 meeting in Copenhagen approaches, the world's municipalities will play a key role in advocating for serious action on the international stage. Even though it was only the first day of the Congress, I get the distinct feeling that municipal frustration towards regional and national inaction on sustainability and climate change is a common feeling among delegates.

Critics may point out the irony of holding an international sustainability conference due south of Alberta's Energy Beach, but the 2009 ICLEI World Congress will give Alberta's cities an opportunity to highlight some of the innovative sustainability initiatives that are being implemented at a local level. With an increased international spotlight on Alberta's potential as an even stronger energy leader (and the irresponsible way that we are currently exploiting our resources), the Government of Alberta may feel an increased international pressure to become serious about cleaning up the way we are allowing oil companies to extract our natural resources.

For up-to-the-minute coverage of ICLEI over the next week, I will be uploading photographs on Flickr and joining the discussion on Twitter at #ICLEI. For more information on ICLEI, check out Mastermaq's Guide to ICLEI World Congress in Edmonton.