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Monday, March 31, 2008

and the award goes to...

With the Spring Session of the Alberta Legislature set to begin in just only weeks, the provincial scene is starting to come alive again after the post-election hangover/depression is starting to wear off (depending on which side of the Legislature your team is sitting on)...

- The Alberta Liberal Caucus was sworn-in today. The 9-member Official Opposition will include new faces Kent Hehr (Calgary-Buffalo) and Darshan Kang (Calgary-McCall). The Alberta Liberals recently announced their shadow cabinet which includes Hehr taking Justice and Attorney General, Solicitor-General and Public Security, and Kang taking Transportation and Service Alberta.

- Alberta MLAs are getting a 4.7% raise this week (their salaries are tied to an annual adjustment). We'lla ll be looking forward to seeing newly elected Tory MLA Carl Benito (Edmonton-Mill Woods) come through on his election promise to donate his salary to a scholarship program.

- After six-months on the job, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Chairman William Tillman has resigned. Tillman took over the position following last year's AEUB spy scandal, in which it was discovered that the provincially-appointed AEUB had used public funds to hire a private investigator to spy on central Alberta landowners and their lawyers.

- And the awards goes to... Tory Premier Ed Stelmach for placing a strong second in the Fossil Fool of the Year Awards...

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has won the dubious title of Fossil Fool of the Year runner-up, beating out several of North America's top energy and automaker chief executives.

Stelmach picked up 25 per cent of more than 6,000 votes cast worldwide and will be crowned 'Canadian Fossil Fool of the Year' on Tuesday, April 1 by San Francisco-based organizer, Energy Action Coalition.

The premier was nominated in the international vote for his staunch support of oilsands development in northern Alberta with "the potential to lay waste to an area the size of the state of Florida," says the coalition.

Stelmach finished second in voting behind Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis, who has attracted the ire of environmentalists for funding various coal-power projects.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The context in which you describe Bill Tillman's resignation is inappropriate and misleading.

Mr. Tillman, an accomplished lawyer respected in both the public and private sectors, was brought in to fill the gap between the March 2007 retirement of Neil McCrank through to the split of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board into the Energy Resources Conservation Board and the Alberta Utilities Commission that was effective January 1, 2008. Among other things, the hiring of private investigators by the EUB during the course of a public hearing was an issue that Mr. Tillman had inherited and handled.

Willie Grieve is the chair of the AUC and Dan McFadyen is the chair of the ERCB.

Mr. Tillman's term in the role was defined and intended as short term.