new generation co-operative railway in alberta.

In the spirit of sharing good conversations, I had the pleasure of sitting down for lunch yesterday afternoon with Justin Archer, Jerry Iwanus and his wife, Michelle.

As the Mayor of the Village of Bawlf, Jerry is a wealth of information about people, politics, and current events in east central Alberta. One of the interesting stories that Jerry shared with us was about a New Generation Co-operative railway that has been formed in that region. I am told that the Battle River Railway is the first of its kind in Alberta (there are similar Railway Co-operatives in Saskatchewan) and it is located on the former CN line from the Village of Alliance to the City of Camrose.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development provides a description of New Generation Co-operatives:

A cooperative is a legally incorporated business arrangement that provides for the control of the business by its membership. A new generation co-op (NGC) is a type of cooperative that uses a system of delivery rights and obligations to encourage business loyalty and provide a form of vertical integration. NGC’s are particularly suitable to ventures involved in value-added agricultural processing and marketing.

Based on a model first used in California, NGC’s emerged and flourished in the mid-western US in the 1990’s. Since that time, all three Canadian Prairie Provinces have introduced new laws or modified existing legislation to allow for NGC’s. Alberta's Cooperatives Act, (effective on April 2, 2002) defines NGC’s in sections 422 to 429.

There are some key attributes of NGC’s that are consistent with all co-ops:

• NGC’s are controlled by their membership using the principle of one member, one vote
• Earnings are distributed to the members based on patronage.
• The board of directors is elected by the membership.

However, there are several characteristics of NGC’s that differentiate them from traditional co-ops:

• NGC’s may issue designated shares which carry delivery rights and obligations.
• Individuals (members and non-members) may hold higher levels of equity through the purchase of investment shares.
• Membership may be restricted to designated share holders.
• In Alberta, NGC’s are applicable only to agricultural ventures, and the word "co-op" or "co-operative" does not necessarily have to appear in the name of the venture.

In general, New Generation Co-ops are typified by restricted, project-oriented enterprises which require significant investments from their members, and a membership which strives for increased profits and return on capital through this investment.

I have found that living in a large urban centre makes it is easy to be blinded by the big city lights and overlook the creative local business and community initiatives that are happening outside of the city limits (we are lucky that people like Jerry are around to remind us of that).

Here is a video interview with the Chairman of the Board of Directors Ken Eshpeter that was posted on YouTube:

not so tough economic times for some.

Tough economic times are all the talk, but Alberta's Progressive Conservative MLAs are still collecting up to $35,000 in extra pay annually for work done in closed-door caucus committee meetings.  

In May 2008, government MLAs started receiving $12,000 a year for serving on cabinet policy committees which are supposed to advise government in five areas: community services, economy, health, public safety and services and resources and the environment.

Previously, only the committee chairpersons were paid for the work, but now all government MLAs except the speaker and the premier, get paid.

Cabinet ministers get more than $35,000 a year for their committee duties. The difference in cost is a tenfold increase from $140,000 to $1.4 million.

"We have no record of their work, no record of their attendance and they're making mega-bucks on these committees," Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said.

He added that in addition to being paid to meet, the Conservative-only committees also overspent their $653,000 budget by $503,000 or 77 per cent.

Battle River-Wainwright MLA Doug Griffiths deserves credit for being the first and singular PC MLA noble enough to publicly reject the private perk. Humility is a virtue that we do not often see from our elected leaders in our Legislative Assembly.

The same day that the private PC perks were made public, our provincial Health Care Authority, Alberta Health Services, announced that they had borrowed $220 million through a private line of credit from the Royal Bank of Canada.

Earlier last week, when members of AHS executive declared that they would run out of money by February 2010, Premier Ed Stelmach said that taxpayers would fund any shortfall in the Health Care budget. On Thursday, Paula Simons pointed out that this was a key justification used by the PC government when they unilaterally dissolved the regional health authorities in favour of a province-wide superboard two years ago.

Is Alberta Health Services so colossally badly managed, so inefficient and bureaucratic, that it has plunged our health-care system into crushing, massive debt in just two years?

I am not aware of any laws prohibiting a government agency like AHS from taking on debt from a private bank, but I cannot think of any other organization like AHS that has done so. Alberta taxpayers have the right to ask some fair questions about the prime + 0.5% line of credit that AHS has taken out.

How does a government agency like AHS expect to repay a line of credit this large? As Don Braid has pointed out, is this not why the $13 billion Sustainability Fund exists? Why did AHS choose a Toronto-based bank over the Edmonton-based and Albertan-owned Alberta Treasury Branches? And the question that piques my curiosity: what has AHS listed as collateral for the private line of credit? The Royal Alexandra Hospital? The Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary? If you are looking for answers to these questions, you have already missed the deadline to ask Ed.

While our elected government officials would like Albertans to believe that these contextually historic normal economic times are actually a hurricane of tough economic times for essential public services like Health Care and Education, Albertans should ask what PC MLAs have done to deserve financial shelter from the storm they want us to believe they are guiding us through?

buzz about reboot & renew.

There is still a lot of buzz being generated about the Reboot Alberta weekend. I continuing to get questions from people all across the political spectrum about the event and a new group called Renew Alberta. If you have yet to hear about Renew Alberta, one of their organizers commented on one of my previous posts with some information:

Josh Kjenner said...

I think this would probably be a good time to make a pitch for the movement I'm currently involved in: Renew Alberta. We're attempting to build a party that will appeal to moderate Albertans, and address some of the issues people speak to above: viability, pragmatism, and the embrace of change.

Provincial legislation requires the signatures of 0.3% of the electorate (currently 7050 people) for registration of a political party. We initiated our petition campaign last weekend, and we'll be working toward 7050 signatures over the coming months. We're very much interested in finding people to help us reach this target, and to help us shape the party into something that can address some of the shortcomings of current parties while maintaining electoral viability.

If you're interested in getting more involved, or learning more about us, I'd suggest joining our group at rebootalberta.org, or checking out our website, www.renewalberta.ca (where you can't do TOO much for the time being, but you can sign up for updates, or get in touch with us using the "contact" link at the top right of the page).

You can also follow them on Twitter at @RenewAB.

tis the season.

A lighter moment with Premier Ed Stelmach at the Christmas light-up event at the Alberta Legislature.

vote for daveberta.

The first round of voting for the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards has begun and this blog has been nominated in two three categories - Best Political Blog, Best Post Series for the Smith v. Board of Education series (Read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4), and Best Overall Blog.

Thank you for the nominations. Please feel free to vote for this blog in these categories and support some of my favorite blogs in their respective categories:

Political Blog: DJ Kelly, Eaves.ca, Pundits' Guide, Ken Chapman, MediaStyle, CalgaryGrit, and CalgaryRants.
Science & Technology Blog: Mastermaq
Blog written by a Journalist: Capital Notebook, Colby Cosh
New Blog: The Rurban Fringe

First round voting will be open until December 12, 2009.

During 2007 Canadian Blog Awards, this blog was voted Best Political Blog, Best Progressive Blog, and Best Blogosphere Citizen.

my political reboot.

In many ways, this blog serves as a public archive of my journey through and the evolution of my beliefs about politics and democracy since January 2005. Rather than a disclaimer, an informer is posted in the sidebar to your right:

...my thoughts and opinions change from time to time. I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various ideas running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.

Re-reading my posts over the past year will give a reader an understanding of how my reflections on politics and democracy have evolved. The intent of this post is not be prophetically deep, but sensibly reflective of my experiences and how they have shaped my current feelings towards politics and democracy.

I attended the annual Alberta Liberal Party convention last December October. The Liberal Party was in the midst of a leadership contest, but was only able to attract around 200 supporters to its convention. It was my experience that many of the party members and delegates held a deep bitterness towards the governing Progressive Conservatives and towards the Albertans that voted for them. I may not have liked the outcome of the last election, but I trust Albertans and believe that they are intelligent enough to understand and make decisions. I worked hard for that party in the past, but it was during that convention that I came to the realization that in many ways I had outgrown the Liberal Party.

I am tired of negativity in politics. I love my province and have no patience to be involved in any political organization that thrives off undertones of negativity. At the convention last December and since, I do not see a political party in Alberta that fits this qualification. That is why I left the Liberal Party and have not renewed my membership since.

I have wandered since leaving party politics, I have talked about politics and democracy with many people over the past year, and I have observed that while our politicians continue to focus on the spectrum of left-right politics to define themselves, their parties, and their opponents, it is a fairly insular idea. I am guilty of writing about politics in the left- or right- context, but with all the current political parties floating in what they perceive as "the middle" of the political spectrum, I wonder if the concept is as outdated as the Berlin Wall.

Nothing big has happened without the risk of failure. The risks of not doing something are greater.

This weekend's Reboot Alberta meeting in Red Deer was exciting. Around 100 participants travelled from all the corners of the province - and represented a diverse range of Albertans from vast agricultural- and forestry-based rural areas, villages, towns, and small and large cities.

I am a proud Albertan. In the 1890s, my family followed an Oblate priest from Quebec and settled near Morinville (Alberta was still part of the North West Territories at the time). They worked hard, against many odds, to help build their community. Skip forward one hundred and thirteen years later and I am a third generation Albertan. It is my home. But as proud as I am of being an Albertan, I am less proud of how our leaders have handled important issues like the development of the oil sands, the social issues in Bill 44, and basic issues of integrity in governance.

Participant Sue Huff quoted another Reboot Alberta participant on her blog:

One very wise man stood up and talked about wanting to feel proud of being an Albertan again and how he did not that currently. This pride was not a boastful or arrogant pride but simply the pride of feeling good about doing the right things and doing them well. He noted that the conversations that had taken place at Reboot were about possibility, not just about problems. He urged us to accept responsibility for what is and resist the urge to blame the government. We are the government. We must not feel victimized, fatalistic, hopeless or unable to act. Instead by accepting our responsibility, our culpability for the current state of affairs, we take the first step towards making the change. He marvelled at the increased sense of ownership in the room and the powerful authentic connections.

I am a progressive. A number of discussions last weekend focused on what it meant to be a "progressive" in Alberta. While it is easy to fall into the trap of pigeon holing "progressive" as "lefty," this would not be an accurate description of the real conversations that happened. When asked to define "progressive," the three words I heard that resonated strongly with me were: adaptability, understanding, and interconnectivity.

One of the main characteristics of Reboot Alberta that really struck me was the positive and respectful tone of the debate over the weekend. In a room filled with 100 type-A personalities, no egos dominated the discussion, no ideology dominated the room, and there was a willingness to listen and consider other points of view. Participants were honest about the challenges facing our province, but little of any discussion dwelled on the negative. The conversations focused on the solutions, and how to turn thoughts into action. This is a tone that I would like to see set for the politics of my home province.

I have written a lot about the need for a new political movement, and at times I have wavered in whether or not this is the best idea. There are still questions, but a new movement is emerging. It exists through the participation of citizen in open discussions like ChangeCamp, CivicCamp, and Reboot Alberta. It is open source democracy, a new way of participation in civic society.

Opinions at Reboot Alberta were diverse, but there was a clear belief by the majority of participants that our current political parties are not fulfilling the potential of this province. There were differences in terms of the solutions offered, some wanting to work within the current structure, some interested in working outside of it, and some who believed that a new political movement needs to be formed (like the folks involved with Renew Alberta).

On December 15, 2008, I wrote that I was:

...a politically engaged and frustrated Albertan who is looking to become involved in 1) an organization that is serious about engaging and challenging Albertans to be better citizens, and 2) a viable and competitive alternative to the current governing party.

There were many participants at Reboot Alberta who sincerely expressed and seriously discussed their desire to help create a movement that embodies these two characteristics. If something new and meaningful can be created from of the positive and creative energy of the participants who attended this weekend, I want to be there and help make it happen.

reboot alberta (8:25 am)

Dateline: Red Deer

After an interesting first day at Reboot Alberta (and a late night/early morning for some participants), a number of participants have put their thoughts together and published some initial reflections on the weekend thus far:

Chris Labossiere: I just rebooted myself and it feels good.

DJ Kelly: Look out Alberta, you're about to get "rebooted" - first impressions

Alex Abboud: Rebooting Alberta: Instant Reaction

Jonathan Teghtmeyer: Progressives gather to reboot Alberta

The weekend event wraps up this morning and I will have some more detailed insights into the weekend in a soon to come post.

reboot alberta 2:11pm.

Dateline: Red Deer

What do you call a group of people who have decided to spend the Grey Cup weekend debating and discussing the future of Alberta? Passionate and weird.

Reboot Alberta has been an interesting experience thus far. It is hard to describe what this weekend has looked like, so I will try to articulate my thoughts deeper in a future post. Around 100 progressive thinking men and women are here from across Alberta - north, south, central, urban, and rural. I have had some incredibly meaningful discussions about what the future of Alberta should look like. The challenge is how to put these discussions into action.

There is a lot of talk about the future of Alberta politics. Many of the people here want to change the existing parties, some want to work outside the party system, and some want to talk about a new party. There has been a lot of talk around Renew Alberta and there is a lot of deep debate about whether a new political party is a solution. It is my opinion that Alberta is ripe for a new political movement. Starting a new political movement in Alberta is a risk. It can absolutely fail, but big things rarely begin without that risk.

Follow Reboot Alberta via Twitter at #rebootab. More updates coming...

rebooting citizen engagement and democracy in alberta.

Earlier this month, when I asked what an empowered Alberta would look like, it became clear to me that the majority of Albertans do not see value in participating in the traditional liturgy of our established democratic institutions. I also made two reflections that have stuck with me since:

1) As our society has changed in monumental ways, we have seen very little change in our democratic institutions.
2) Creating value in citizen participation is key to re-engaging the millions of Albertans who have disengaged from our democratic institutions and the process governing them.

Because of these two reflections, I am excited to be attending Reboot Alberta in Red Deer this weekend. I have no clue what ideas the discussions at this weekend's event will produce, but I am excitedly anticipating meeting, debating, and sharing stories and ideas with other Albertans who are passionate about the future of our province. Bloggers Alex Abboud, Chris LaBossiere, Alexander Muir, the Unknown Studio, and Ken Chapman (among others) have written passionately about why they are attending this weekend. You can follow Reboot Alberta on Twitter at #rebootab.

As I have written before, it is only a matter of time before we witness a big political shift in our province, but it will be up to Albertans to decide what this change will embody. I love Alberta and I am eager to continue participating in the debates that will shape this change.

dave hancock sends trustees to the principal's office.

PC Education Minister Dave Hancock scolded members of the Alberta School Boards Association at their annual general meeting today in Edmonton for their participation in the Stop the Cuts campaign. Here is an excerpt of Minister Hancock's speech:

...the Stop the Cuts campaign is greatly exaggerating the impact to education.

I think all of you know how disappointed I was by this campaign.

In recent months, we have had many honest, informed discussions about what we must accomplish to improve learning in the future. Stop the Cuts has not contributed a single idea to this process.

Don't get me wrong — I truly value and appreciate advocacy. I certainly appreciate Albertans engaging in a discussion about education, its value to our community and society, and our current issues and concerns.

But Stop the Cuts is not aimed at constructive discussion — it really amounts to a digital march on the Legislature, and we're well beyond that.

Public appreciation for education can never be built on fear. Fear is no way to embrace our students' optimism, passion, curiosity and talents — especially when there are so many great learning experiences taking place around our province.

We build public appreciation for education by sharing these learning experiences with Albertans.

So I look forward to the ASBA, ATA and the ASCA putting at least as many resources into a positive campaign about how we are preparing Alberta's students for their future.

The motive behind this speech was likely an attempt to drive a wedge between the traditionally timid group elected school trustees and their coalition partners in the Alberta Teachers Association and the Alberta School Councils' Association, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the effectiveness of the Stop the Cuts message in eliciting this reaction.

Recent comments from Premier Ed Stelmach and other cabinet ministers about "tough economic times" have reminded many Albertans of the devastating cuts made by the PC government in the 1990s. In August 2009, Minister Hancock announced that $80 million would be cut from the education budget, including over $50 million from school boards. He is in a tough position, Minister Hancock is the most important ally that the education sector may have inside the PC Cabinet, but it is questionable how much political clout the urban Red Tory-esq Edmonton-Whitemud MLA has in a Cabinet dominated by rural heavyweights like Lloyd Snelgrove, Luke Ouellette, and Ray Danyluk. It is not hard to imagine that many of his PC MLA colleagues are not pleased that the three education groups put aside many of their traditional differences to jointly warn Albertans about the cuts.During the 2006 PC leadership race, Minister Hancock branded himself as the education friendly candidate and reached out to educators, but his recent party solidarity-influenced defence of the controversial Bill 44 raises the question of how much political capital he still has at the Cabinet table. While Premier Ed Stelmach continues to push billions of taxpayers dollars into the unproven science behind the Carbon Capture Scheme and pro-budget cut backbenchers try to make a name for themselves, Albertans should be asking how many of the 70 PC MLAs are standing up against budget cuts for essential public sector services?

In his speech, Minister Hancock criticized the Stop the Cuts campaign for not offering solutions. This is not a completely unfair comment, but Minister Hancock has hardly given the education groups any reason to believe that another round of budget cuts are the real solution to the PC Government's fiscal problem. Minister Hancock is easily one of the brightest members of the provincial cabinet, so instead of scolding school trustees, he should step up and challenge his Cabinet colleagues to debate a critical question:

After years of record-breaking surpluses and unheard of wealth, why is Alberta still dependent on cyclically-priced natural resource commodities?

alberta's political moment of the decade.

With the end of the first decade of the 21st century fast approaching, now is the perfect time to reflect on the past ten years in the politics of our province.

What I would like from you are nominees for the top Albertan political moment of the decade. I will leave the category fairly broad, but similar to Calgary Grit's top Canadian political moment of the decade contest, the point is to find a good balance between what was exciting at the time and what would make it into a Alberta Social Studies textbooks 30 years from now (when the next change in government is due to happen).

You will have a few weeks to suggest nominees in the comments section or via e-mail before I put it to a vote. Nominees could include:
- Elections and by-elections (federal, provincial, and municipal)
- Important policies (i.e. royalty review, Bill 44, no debt, LRT expansion)
- Scandals and missteps (Ralph Air, Lyle Oberg being kicked out of the PC caucus, Ward 10 scandal)
- Moments that made Albertans pay attention (ie: Ralph Klein's late night visit to the Men's shelter, Ed Stelmach defeating Jim Dinning)

which way to the high road?

This was bad judgement, but this is untrue:

“That said, [Premier Ed Stelmach] never resorts to the personal and is never pleased when others do.”

There are numerous examples of Premier Stelmach and members of his cabinet taking personal shots at Opposition MLAs and groups (and deceased Prime Ministers) outside of the Legislature.

In most circumstances, actually taking the high road is the best way to claim it.

neighbour power.

I attended the third of three evenings with Jim Diers - former Director of the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods - hosted by the City of Edmonton. Over the course of the evening, Diers shared some really interesting ideas about successful community building and power of neighbourhoods. I am planning to write about some of these ideas in future posts on this blog.

Mack Male, Tamara Stecyk, and George Watts attended some of the evening events and have posted recaps.

tuition tinkering in alberta.

Advanced Education Minister Doug Horner has said that he will accept and review requests from Alberta's Post-Secondary Institutions to increase their base tuition rates beyond what is currently allowed under Alberta's tuition policy. Whatever your thoughts on the cost of tuition - whether you believe in the strength of communities or individual investment (or a mixture of the two) - it is important to understand some of the context in which this posturing is occurring. This is not simply a result of tough economic times, the Government and Institutions have both attempted to and successfully tinkered with the tuition policy a number of times in recent years.

During very prosperous economic times in March 2006, the Presidents of the University of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Athabasca sent a letter to Minister Dave Hancock proposing that tuition increases be based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation plus 3.5 per cent.

In the letter, the presidents warn Alberta is falling behind. "Alberta lags behind the national average in post-secondary spaces, a serious problem as we seek to provide the workforce needed for an expanding economy."

Students are also frustrated the presidents drafted a proposal without consulting them, saying they were under the impression a joint bid would be submitted to Hancock.

[University of Calgary Students' Union President Bryan] West called the proposal a "backroom deal."

"We were all going to put forward one letter, with one profound and powerful voice," said West who sits on the steering committee with the presidents and other stakeholders. "We feel really hurt by this and wonder if they were playing us all along."

The day following my election as Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students in May 2006, I sat in front of the cameras with Liberal MLA Dave Taylor, NDP MLA Raj Pannu, Bill Moore-Kilgannon from Public Interest Alberta, and Jon Hoffman from ACTISEC to oppose the passage of Bill 40: Post-Secondary Learning Amendment Act.

Introduced during the (thankfully) short-lived tenure of Minister Denis Herard, Bill 40 removed Alberta's tuition policy from the Post-Secondary Learning Act, thus removing the insurance that Albertans had that any changes to the policy governing the cost of post-secondary education would need to be debated in a public forum.

“We’re prepared to wait until the next time the legislature meets to have a new policy implemented, so that the policy is embedded in an act of the legislature,” said David Cournoyer, chair of the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) and University of Alberta Students’ Union Vice President External. “If the tuition policy is not in legislation, it is no good to us.”

Universities and colleges in Alberta are currently limited to increasing tuition by CPI inflation (at a maximum), but because the tuition policy is now under regulation it can be changed in the privacy of a closed door Cabinet meeting. No public debate required.

alberta's energy beach.

I have always been fascinated by the debate over the proper name for the "bituminous sand" that spans across and beneath large tracks of Northern Alberta (I like to call them Alberta's Energy Beach). In an elongated public relations war, environmental groups have labelled them as 'tarsands,' while the energy sector and the Government of Alberta have remained strident in describing them as the more friendly-sounding 'oilsands.'

With the oilsands getting a rougher reputation on the international stage and the Copenhagen Conference around the corner, the residents of one of the larger beachfront cabins have coined a new term for their expensive piece of  real estate:

First they were tar sands. Then they were oil sands. Now? Enhanced oil projects. At least according to En-Cana Corp. and its oil-sands spinoff, Cenovus Energy

The pair want to distinguish their oil-sands operations, which employ the underground and more carbon-intensive steam-assisted gravity (SAGD) drainage method, from the more aesthetically offensive open-pit mining efforts that are accompanied by deadly tailings ponds. As a result, the two firms have ditched the term "oil sands" from their lexicon and replaced it with "enhanced oil projects" or just "oil projects."

new adventures.

As some of you know, until September I had the pleasure of working with a great team in the Corporate Communications department at Covenant Health. During my time with Alberta's Catholic health board, I developed an online communications strategy for the organization and hosted a series workshops on communications and social media with employees of Covenant Health, Alberta Health Services, and the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton.

This morning, I was excited to have started a new adventure as Communications Officer (New Media) with the United Nurses of Alberta. I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and to help guide the UNA to fully participate in the evolving world of social media. While this new position will likely not afford me the time to pump out two or three posts a day on this blog (as I have over the past couple of months), I am looking forward to publishing some interesting new multi-part series following in the footsteps of Smith v. Board of Education.

joe anglin on bill 50.

I laid out my thoughts on Bill 50: Electrical Statues Amendment Act and upgrades to provincial transmission infrastructure late last month, but the issue continues to dominate much of the debate during the fall session of Alberta's Legislative Assembly. The Lavesta Area Group have been extremely effective at agitating their opposition to Bill 50 into the media spotlight and their leader, Joe Anglin, has been travelling across Alberta showcasing the group's opposition to Bill 50. Anglin's presentation is now on YouTube:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Loss Factors
Part 3: History and Legislation
Part 4: Time has run out!
Part 5: Reliability Issue and HVDC
Part 6: Costs and Bias
Part 7: EXPORT
Part 8: Hypocrisy –What they said
Part 9: The Vision and Plan

yäger bomb.

Earlier this week, Danielle Smith announced that a task force co-chaired by David Yager and David Gray would develop an energy platform for the Wildrose Alliance. In April 2009, Yager and a group of oil and gas sector executives penned a fundraising letter for the Wildrose Alliance which lamented the plight of Alberta's oil and gas sector under the oppression of the new resource royalty framework. In the letter, the executives pledged their allegiance to the Wildrose Alliance. (PDF of the Fundraising Letter)

Watching the direction Alberta has taken since Stelmach became leader of the Tory party leaves us to conclude that the ultimate success of our industry is now political. Only when the government of Alberta supports and trusts its most important industry - oil and gas - will Alberta's future be truly secure.

Therefor, we have joined a group of like-minded oilfield service and junior oil and gas executives in supporting the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta to help it become the future government of this province.

The Progressive Conservative Party saw a decrease in the amount of donations they were receiving from the oil and gas sector after the introduction of the new resource royalty framework, and it is well known that many of these companies began throwing their financial support to other parties.

In her acceptance speech, the newly selected Wildrose Alliance leader declared that:

"People are looking for a party to step up and represent their interests, not the backroom lobbyists and political cronies"

It would not make sense to criticize a party leader for appointing supporters to internal policy advisor positions, but Yager's appointment brings Smith's statement into question. While this would not be a big issue if the party had not experienced significant gains in support, I am curious about how much money Yager and the group of executives listed on the April 2009 fundraising letter invested in Smith's leadership campaign? With Smith refusing to publicly release the list of donors who financed her campaign it is unlikely that Albertans will find out.

It is probable that many of these donors will contribute to the Wildrose Alliance now that Smith is the leader, but it will be another four or five months before the Albertans will be privy to the names of those of donors. According to the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act, annual financial statements from political parties must be filed with Elections Alberta on or before March 31.

what would an empowered alberta look like?

One of my favourite bloggers, David Eaves, has recently published a two-part series addressing a question raised by the Australian Government’s Web 2.0 Taskforce:

"...imagine for a moment it was your job to create the guidelines that will help public servants engage online. Although you have the examples from other organisations, you are given the rare luxury to start with a blank sheet of paper (at least for this exercise). What would you write? What issues would you include? Where would you start? Who would you talk to?"

This question made me think about many of the issues facing Albertans and the challenges facing our provincial government in engaging and interacting with citizens. The Government of Alberta holds frequent traditional style consultations on many issues, but are they generating the kind of discussions that our system of governance needs in order to create value for citizen participation? I would encourage all the readers of this blog who work in Alberta's public service to take a look at some of the innovative ideas for citizen engagement that are being implemented in other jurisdictions. I believe that creating value in citizen participation is key to re-engaging the millions of Albertans who have disengaged from our democratic institutions and the process governing them.

In 2007, the Government of New Zealand took an innovative step to engage citizens by creating a wiki to allow public input in the redrafting of their Police Act. More recently, the Government of New Zealand has launched a website to host government datasets. Similar decisions to open data to citizens have happened in Toronto and Vancouver. Open data was a hot topic at ChangeCamp Edmonton and Councillor Don Iveson has submitted a formal inquiry to the City Administration on the topic.

I have had conversations with many friends, family, and associates who have expressed a general feeling of disempowerment and distance from their elected officials and the decisions they make on our behalf. We elect our fellow Albertans to represent us in our democratic institutions, but as our society has changed in monumental ways, we have seen very little change in our democratic institutions.

Premier Peter Lougheed understood the need for our democratic institutions to evolve with mainstream society when in the early 1970s he created Alberta's Hansard and allowed for the televised recording of Assembly debates. Both Hansard and Video of the Assembly are now available online, but nearly forty years later, do our provincial democratic institutions reflect the needs our society? Is it important to preserve the current form of parliamentary democracy where the Executive Branch (the Premier and Cabinet) holds sway over the Legislative Branch (the elected Assembly) or is it time to rethink how we allow ourselves to be governed? Why? Is it possible bring the backrooms of the political establishment to the living rooms of Albertans?

With the New Zealand example in mind, I wonder what the outcomes would have been had citizens been empowered to play a real role in shaping legislation like Bill 44, Bill 19, or Bill 50. How different would our province be in twenty or fifty years if regular Albertans were allowed to play a sincere role in helping shape the future of our resource royalty structure, our health care system, or how our abundance of natural resources are developed?

lest we forget.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. — Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

myth-building 101.

PC MLAs Jonathan Denis, Doug Griffiths, Rob Anderson, and Kyle Fawcett are coming out of backbenches and labelling themselves as the 'Fiscal Four.' In an interview, Anderson told the Calgary Herald:

"There's a group of people in caucus who are genuinely concerned about the state of our province's finances," said Anderson, MLA for Airdrie-Chestermere. "The basic consensus (of the group) is we need to get our spending under control and have a savings strategy. The general direction is that we need to have a strong fiscal framework, and right now that doesn't exist."

The group will use question period and members' statements-- as well as their own caucus meetings--to drive home the message. "There are others in caucus who feel as we do," he added.

It is not difficult to imagine that a significant element of the 'Fiscal Four' production is a staged exercise in PC Party myth-building as public criticism from MLAs is not normally welcomed (as former Cabinet Ministers Heather Forsyth and Guy Boutilier discovered). In September 2009, Fawcett publicly apologized and was quietly penalized for pointing out the obvious after his party's high-profile candidate was thumped in a Calgary by-election. I do not doubt that these four PC MLAs picture themselves as the very models of modern fiscal conservatives, but until now they have either remained largely silent or have risen in the Assembly to praise their party's fiscal leadership. I have been told that a similar tactic of external criticism only after internal permission was adopted by the Deep-Six, of which Premier Ed Stelmach was a member.

Premier Stelmach told delegates at the recent PC annual general meeting that his biggest challenge was the not the economy, health care, the environment, or the budget, but the media. A lot of recent media attention has been generated around the Wildrose Alliance, who have been the main beneficiary of the PCs recent drop in public support, and this past weekend leader Danielle Smith spoke to a sold out crowd of 200 Calgary oil and gas sector heavyweights at a breakfast organized by FirstEnergy Capital. Last Friday, Liberal leader David Swann hosted a Calgary fundraiser that drew over 530 attendees (note: that is a lot for a Liberal event in Calgary).

With the internal resources available to them, the 'Fiscal Four' have the potential to protect Premier Stelmach by shifting media headlines away from criticism by the opposition parties and his more vocal external critics.

the alberta a-team.

The Premier's Office should seriously consider hiring Jeremy to produce their next pre-taped televised address. Less b-roll helicopter footage and more A-Team could go a long way to improving their public image.

ed stelmach gets 77.4%.

Ah, the morning after. As Progressive Conservative convention delegates in Red Deer begin to experience the after-effects of last night's hospitality suites, a lot of people are probably wondering what the results of Premier Ed Stelmach's leadership review means for Alberta politics? Well, other than being lower than I had anticipated, Premier Stelmach had the support of the majority of delegates at this weekend's convention.

Boasting over 1,000 delegates, the PC Party unquestionably remains the largest partisan force in Alberta, but it also remains to be seen just how disgruntled the 22.6% of delegates who did not support Premier Stelmach are and if they will remain in the PC Party. Recent polls have shown the near 40-year governing PCs significantly dropping in public support with the Wildrose Alliance as its greatest beneficiary.

On Friday night, when answering a question from a convention delegate, Premier Stelmach told delegates that his biggest challenge isn't the economy, health care, crime, or the oilsands, but the media

"I really do feel that the policies we have are the right ones for Alberta, but it's difficult to get it through the present media that's available to us."

This follows the trend that began after the third place finish by PC candidate Diane Colley-Urquhart in the recent Calgary-Glenmore by-election - the belief by Premier Stelmach's administration that they have the right message and if Albertans aren't buying it, then they just need to say it louder. It seems to me that this was a challenge that was supposed to be addressed when Premier Stelmach hired four former reporters (Paul Stanway, Tom Olsen, Mike Jenkinsen, and David Heyman) to run his communications offices in Edmonton and Calgary as he stepped into office in December 2006.

Liberals: Leader David Swann hosted his first major fundraising dinner in Calgary on Friday night. The event drew over 530 attendees, the largest number at a Calgary Liberal fundraiser in recent memory. While the ticket prices were lower than in previous years (down to $250.00 from $350.00), the Liberals have fallen into third place in recent polls and it is critical for them to rally their troops to prove that they are a relevant force in Alberta politics.

Wildrose Alliance: Supporter Ezra Levant spent a decent amount of time criticizing the PC convention yesterday via Twitter (hastag #pcagm). Levant is a supporter of Danielle Smith, is a Reform Party alumni, and has lately been a strong critic of Stelmach's PCs. Smith commented on the results in a media statement last night:

The outcome of tonight's vote was exactly what we expected, but it goes against what I am hearing across the province. Albertans are upset with this government... Tonight's decision by the Alberta PC's doesn't change a single thing that the Wildrose Party will do in the coming months. We will work hard to show Albertans that we are the alternative to the PC's and that we will give Albertans the kind of government they expect and deserve."

what's going to happen at the pc leadership review?

Barring a stealth insurgency campaign, I anticipate that around 85% of Progressive Conservative convention delegates will support Premier Ed Stelmach in the leadership review vote this weekend. Why so high, you ask? Because this is a vote by dedicated partisans from Alberta's PC Party. Premier Stelmach has his detractors, but I expect that the kind of party members who would pay hundreds of dollars to spend two days in Red Deer will predictably rally around the PC Party brand.

Seeking to revive fond memories a past era, the slogan chosen for this convention was also the PCs 1979 election slogan. Now... more than ever, which was chosen thirty years ago over the wrath tempting 79 in '79, is meant to remind party faithful of the glory days and to put aside their feelings about more recent political baggage. 

With at least two or three years until the next election, Premier Stelmach has at least twelve months to pull his party's support up again before he faces the kind of internal opposition that forced Don Getty into retirement. Similar to Getty's time in office, Premier Stelmach is governing during an economic slowdown under the shadow of a popular predecessor. Getty's administration was marred with scandals and internal dissent and so far, Premier Stelmach has demonstrated an ability to avoid taking personal responsibility for his government's missteps. Getty retired in 1992 as Laurence Decore's Liberals were riding a wave of discontent that mirrored the rise of the Reform Party on the federal stage. While they are currently rising in recent polls, it remains to be seen whether Danielle Smith's Wildrose Alliance can sustain their support until the next election. It also remains to be seen whether David Swann can re-energize the Liberals to take advantage of a potential split on the political right.

Also uncertain is who would contest a 2010 leadership race if PC delegates voted to sack the Premier. Ted Morton, Brett Wilson, Jim Prentice, Dave Hancock, Jonathan Denis, Ray Danyluk, Alison Redford, and Doug Horner are names that I have heard bandied around, but it is too soon to tell who is actually prepared to step up to the plate.

Billed as a policy convention, a quick look at the policy booklet reveals a fairly dry agenda for debate. It is likely that the liveliest excitement of the weekend may come from outside the convention where the AUPE, the Friends of Medicare, and other public sector groups are busing hundreds of supporters from around the province to a huge Stop the Cuts rally only blocks away from the convention.

On Saturday night, PC archetypes will herald the convention as a success of the grassroots, but I expect that little will change after the convention concludes. Regardless of potential icebergs on the political horizon, a strong showing of support in the leadership review will certainly solidify the resolve of Premier Stelmach and his supporters that they are steering their party, and the Government of Albertans, in the right direction. "Rearrange the deck chairs..."

Recommended Reading: 
Alex Abboud: State of Alberta: At a Crossroads
Calgary Grit: This week in Alberta - All good things...
Ken Chapman: Is Alberta about to enter an empire illusion stage politically?
Chris Labossiere: Run up the middle... to right of centre
Duncan Wojtaszek: Red Deer
Live Gov: PC AGM

2010 city council candidates start their uphill climb.

With Edmonton's municipal election less than a year away, I thought I would take a quick look at the non-incumbent candidates who have declared their intentions to seek election to City Council in October 18, 2010. The election will be the first held under the new one-councillor per ward boundaries.

Brendan Van Alstine (@bvanalstine): The first candidate out of the starting gates for 2010, Brendan is seeking election in the new Ward 7. A social worker, he currently works for Edmonton's Pride Centre as the Youth Program Coordinator. I have known Brendan for a couple of years and I continue to admire his passion for public transit issues in Edmonton (he was a founding member of the Transit Riders Union of Edmonton and was a regular columnist on public transit issues for Metro Edmonton). He will be officially launching his campaign this weekend (more details).

Andrew Knack (@AndrewKnack): Declared candidate for the new Ward 1. Knack placed third against incumbents Karen Leibovici and Linda Sloan in 2007 and is also out of the gate for 2010 early. Along with Van Alstine, Knack participated in ChangeCamp Edmonton on October 17, 2009.

Hana Razga: Placed sixth in the hotly contested Ward 4 election in 2007. Razga declared her candidacy in the new Ward 8 on September 15, 2009 and this will be her eighth attempt at seeking elected office.

Dave Loken: On September 27, 2009, Loken informed me via email that he would be seeking election in Ward 3. Three years ago, I wrote that Loken (who was then running against Ward 2 incumbent Councillors Ron Hayter and Kim Krushell) was on my list to watch for 2010. He placed third in that election.

stelmach tories diving.

In December 2008, Environics released a poll showing Premier Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservatives with 62% support across the province.

One year later, after Bill 44, Bill 19, Bill 50, a record budget deficit, a by-election loss, visions of Northumberland, and Danielle Smith's entry onto the political stage, a new poll from Environics is showing the Stelmach led-PCs in a very different situation.

The telephone poll, conducted Oct. 19-31, finds that 34% of decided voters would cast a ballot for Mr. Stelmach and his Progressive Conservatives if an election were held now, compared to 28% for the fledgling Wildrose Alliance and new leader Danielle Smith.

The Liberals are in third with the backing of 20% of voters, followed by the NDP at 9% and the Greens at 8%.

The poll places the Stelmach-led PCs in second place in Calgary with 30% compared to 34% for the Wildrose Alliance, the Liberals at 20%, and the NDP at 8%. In Edmonton, the PC have the support of one-third of voters, followed by the Liberals at 27%, the Wildrose Alliance at 17% and the NDP at 13%. Outside the two major cities, the PCs hold 38% support, while the Wildrose Alliance has 32% and the Liberals are in third with 15%.

I am sure that this is not the kind of news that Premier Stelmach was hoping for only days before he faces a leadership review from his party's delegates.

brett wilson keynote speaker at auma convention.

Calgary energy entrepreneur, television personality, and philanthropist Brett Wilson was the keynote speaker at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention that kicked-off this afternoon. Mr. Wilson is rumoured to getting ready to step forward as a leadership candidate if Premier Ed Stelmach fares poorly at the upcoming Progressive Conservative leadership review. I have remained skeptical about this rumour, but according to Wilson this afternoon:

"...no Mr. Mayor, I'm not running for mayor. But... Mr. Stelmach..."

If Mr. Wilson is actually serious about jumping into politics, being the keynote speaker at a convention attended by over 1,000 municipal politicians from across Alberta would be a good place to start.

(h/t @BillGiven, who is blogging from the AUMA convention)

albertans deserve clarity on h1n1.

If this week had a title, it could be called Ron Liepert under fire. Alberta's Minister of Health has succeeded in shifting the media focus away from Premier Ed Stelmach's upcoming leadership review as the mixed messaging around the H1N1 vaccination plan have continued to dominate the headlines.

"We're not asking only those high-risk groups to get the vaccine first. It's open to all." - Premier Stelmach (October 30, 2009)

"We encouraged all Albertans to get vaccinated. They absolutely took it up by the thousands immediately," - Minister Liepert (October 30, 2009)

After spending weeks urging all Albertans to get an H1N1 vaccination, all vaccination clinics were suspended on October 31 due to low supply. On November 2, Minister Liepert wrote a opinion editorial in the Calgary Herald. The opinion editorial contained a number of factual errors, including claims that other provinces had yet to start implementing their vaccination plans. As of October 28, all ten provinces had begun the implementation of their vaccination programs.

Minister Liepert has described Alberta's H1N1 vaccination program a success, but in the process, he has blamed the shortage on low-risk Albertans who went to the clinics after being told for weeks that they needed to be vaccinated.

"The message has been consistent from Day 1. We have asked only the high-risk Albertans to attend the clinics. That has never changed." - Minister Liepert (October 31, 2009)

As Opposition Liberal leader David Swann and the editorial board of the Calgary Herald called on Liepert to resign, PC MLAs have begun rallying around Premier Stelmach in an attempt to downplay the effect that the H1N1 vaccination issue could have on his upcoming leadership review.

Four hundred thousand Albertans were vaccinated in one week, this is an impressive number, but it does not appear that Minister Liepert had approved any plan that was beyond 'first come, first serve.' After watching a recent video  interview with Minister Liepert, I cannot help but think that he just might be making it up as he goes along.

As Naheed Nenshi recently said on CBC Radio's Wildrose Forum, the problem is that Minister Liepert is reacting as if this were a political problem, rather than a public heath issue. Minister Liepert has allowed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andre Corriveau to take the blame in the media, but the buck has to stop with the Minister. It was Minister Liepert's job to clearly communicate with Albertans and to show leadership in this situation. He has failed and should resign. If he does not resign, Premier Stelmach should fire him.

smith v. board of education (part 4).

This post is the fourth and final of a multi-part series that was published over the past week. Part 1 was posted on October 26, 2009, Part 2 was posted on October 28, 2009, and Part 3 on October 30, 2009.

August 14, 1999: In a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Calgary Board of Education (CBE) Trustee Peggy Anderson accused Judy Tilston of getting John Lovink to file a privacy complaint against her. She also publicly speculated that Tilston, Liz LoVecchio and Jennifer Pollock encouraged the filing of Lovink's complaint to embarrass Anderson and Danielle Smith. From the Calgary Herald:

Smith and Anderson have called for Tilston's resignation after it was learned that Tilston had leaked letters dealing with a different issue that resulted in a complaint to the privacy commissioner. Tilston had initially denied leaking the letters which resulted in a taxpayer-financed probe into the matter. The privacy commissioner said Tilston leaked the letters.

Commissioner Bob Clark is investigating a complaint by Lovink who had a $120,000 contract with the CBE for an 18-month period ending after last October's municipal election.

Calling Lovink a "$500-a-day spin doctor", Smith, a rookie trustee, earlier this year released Lovink's invoices and criticized veteran trustees for spending money to boost their image. Lovink said he provided "strategic communications" when the board was trying to get more money from the provincial government.

In Saturday's story Pollock denied encouraging Lovink to complain to the privacy commissioner but did say she had friends who asked her to encourage him but wouldn't identify the friends. LoVecchio and Tilston denied they had anything to do with Lovink's complaint. "I accept their word on that," said Anderson.

August 16, 1999: After being advised by Chair Teresa Woo-Paw that the CBE had become "completely dysfunctional" due to internal bickering, Learning Minister Lyle Oberg dismissed the CBE Trustees. Woo-Paw said in a statement that the decision represented "a failure of adults to act in an adult manner." Following the decision, LoVecchio told the Herald that "the atmosphere is so poisoned that I don't believe this board could work together." The CBE, which was responsible for 100,000 students, had accumulated a deficit of $55 million in 1999.

George Cornish, Calgary's chief commissioner under Mayor Ralph Klein, was appointed as interim trustee until the results of by-elections scheduled for November 29, 1999. Angus-Reid reported that 7 in 10 Calgarians agreed with the decision to dissolve the board.

August 22, 1999: Anderson and Smith declared their intentions to seek re-election in the by-elections.

August 24, 1999: From an Edmonton Journal column by Lorne Gunter:

Within minutes of Oberg announcing his intention to dismiss the seven elected trustees and replace them with one government- appointed trustee until byelections can held, a senior staffer in his office was on the telephone to Danielle Smith and Peggy Anderson, the board's two right-wingers, encouraging them to run again.

Oberg, the staffer explained, did not want to get rid of the pair, but his hands were tied. The School Act permits him only to fire all or none of the trustees. Oberg, it seems, wanted to purge the board's three avowed Liberals and weak chairwoman, and in order to discard the bath water had to dispose of the baby, too.

August 30, 1999: Declining to seek re-election, Smith accepted an editorial writer position with the Calgary Herald. Nishimura told the media that she "respected the way in which she [Smith] was able to tackle the tough issues."

September 14, 1999: Nishimura declared her intentions to seek re-election.

September 24, 1999: Herald columnist Don Martin wrote that Premier Klein's former Chief of Staff Rod Love was exploring the possibility of running against Tilston. Love's previous forays as a candidate included running unsuccessfully against Lee Richardson for the Calgary-Southeast Progressive Conservative nomination in 1988 and as the PC candidate in the Calgary-Buffalo by-election in 1992.

October 7, 1999: Pollock declared her intentions to not seek re-election.

November 1, 1999: At the nomination deadline, only three incumbent trustees filed papers to seek re-election: Woo-Paw, Nishimura, and Anderson. Love did not file papers to run in the by-election. 50 candidates filed nomination papers, a leap from 17 in 1998 and 27 in 1995.

November 29, 1999: Nishimura was the only incumbent Trustee re-elected. Woo-Paw was defeated by David Pickersgill and Anderson placed third in the race that saw Sharon Hester elected. Current CBE Trustees Gordon Dirks, a former Saskatchewan MLA and Cabinet Minister, and Pat Cochrane were first elected in these by-elections. Total voter turnout was 9.3%.

November 2, 2009: Where are they now?

Danielle Smith is the new leader of the Wildrose Alliance. She has announced her intention to seek election in Calgary-North Hill in the next election.

Teresa Woo-Paw was elected as the PC MLA for Calgary-Mackay in 2008. She currently serves as a member of the Private Bills Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Standing Committee on Public Safety and Services.

Jennifer Pollock is the nominated Liberal Party of Canada candidate in Calgary-West. Pollock previously sought election against Conservative MP Rob Anders in 2006 and 2008. She garnered the most votes of any Liberal candidate in Alberta in the 2008 Canadian federal election.

David Heyman, the Herald reporter who wrote many of the articles covering the CBE in 1998 and 1999, is now the Calgary Communications Manager in the Office of the Premier of Alberta.

Bill Smith was narrowly defeated by Danielle Smith in the 1998 CBE election in Wards 6 & 7. Bill Smith is now a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary and is the incoming President of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta.

This post is the fourth and final of a multi-part series that was be published over the past week. Part 1 was posted on October 26, 2009, Part 2 was posted on October 28, 2009, and Part 3 on October 30, 2009.

mla public disclosure statements should be available online.

In a media release this morning, the Office of the Ethics Commissioner announced that it has released updated copies public disclosure statements from MLAs. The statements are currently available to be viewed by the public at the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly on the 8th Floor of the Legislature Annex. Under the Conflicts of Interest Act, the Clerk may charge reproduction costs for providing copies of the statements.

These disclosures play an important role in determining the integrity of the decisions made by our elected officials. It would be a positive move for Ethics Commissioner Neil Wilkinson, in his role as an independent Officer of the Legislative Assembly, to have these statements published on the internet to allow all Albertans to have access to them.

This kind of change would fit into a number of the categories discussed by participants at ChangeCamp Edmonton and I will be writing Commissioner Wilkinson with these recommendations.