apparently accountability is overrated.

I spent part of my afternoon yesterday hanging out at the Alberta Legislature including a trip to Question Period. Props to my MLA, Dr. Raj Pannu, for the kind introduction to the Assembly.

I was really disappointed that Lyle Oberg, the newly Indepenent MLA for Strathmore-Brooks, didn't show up to sit in his brand new seat behind Alberta Alliance MLA Paul Hinman.

Aside from my Oberg disappointment, I did get to watch the following interaction between Calgary Currie Liberal MLA Dave Taylor and Deputy Premier Shirley McClellan highlights one of the main differences between the Alberta's Conservative Government and their Tory cousins in Ottawa.

Government Accountability

Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the federal Conservatives in Ottawa are introducing a bill to improve government accountability and openness, but the Conservative government of Alberta refuses to do the same for the people of this province. Alberta has a system of grants, contracts, and land sales that’s out of control, no mechanism to bring it under control, and a taxpayerfunded propaganda bureau to continuously remind citizens to just keep moving, that there’s nothing to see here. My questions are to the Deputy Premier. Will she support an all-party legislative committee to make recommendations to strengthen the statutory authority of the Auditor General so that he can follow the money to the end recipients?

Mrs. McClellan: Mr. Speaker, there’s absolutely no need to do that because the Auditor General today has that authority. The Auditor General in this province is an officer of this Legislature, and he has the authority to follow the money right to the end and, in fact, has done so on a number of occasions. So I think the question is quite redundant.

Mr. Taylor: Mr. Speaker, he doesn’t have the same authority as the federal Auditor General.

Again to the Deputy Premier: given the clear failure of this government to protect whistle-blowers at the Alberta Securities Commission from retribution, when will this government introduce legislated whistle-blower protection for public-sector employees?

Mrs. McClellan: Mr. Speaker, in reference to the Alberta Securities Commission and whistle-blower rulings, that has already been done and has been in place for some time now. As far as an overall government policy we’ve made it very clear over and over and over again that no one who brings forward a valid concern will have any adverse repercussions at all.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again to the Deputy Premier: when the feds are cracking down on the lobbying industry, why is this government allowing it to flourish behind closed doors? Why won’t she acknowledge a problem exists?

Mrs. McClellan: Well, Mr. Speaker, a rather obtuse question at best. However, whatever he might be referring to, contributions that are made to political parties here are a matter of public record if that’s the part he’s talking about.

Mr. Taylor: I’m talking about lobbyists.

Mrs. McClellan: People that come to meet ministers in ministers’ offices: that’s an occurrence. I suppose you could suggest that everyone who passes these doors, whether they come to see the opposition or the government or the third party or the fourth, et cetera, would be a lobbyist. I’m not sure exactly what he’s framing the word “ lobbyist” around.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that there is no behind closed doors as far as we’re concerned. People who come into our offices are met. They usually discuss matters of mutual interest but certainly matters of interest to them, and I would be against anything that would preclude the public from coming and meeting with government to express their interests or their concerns.

So, I guess the answer is: It's none of Albertan's business which lobbyists are taking Ministers out for lobster and martini's.

an april 10th coincidence? I think not.

April 10th is the birthday of both Steven Seagal AND Haley Joel Osment.

Is Haley Joel Osment a younger Steven Seagal who was brought to the future by timetraveling ninja space monks? Or is Steven Seagal really Haley Joel Osment who came back from the future to prevent the rise of the machines??

Or are they both from the future, just different times? Osment brought to the present by the timetraveling ninja space monks and Seagal coming back years later?

Or, is Osment really a younger clone of the future timetraveling Seagal - cloned by the timetravelling ninja space monks in the present in order to eventually bring Osment back to the future to continue the battle against the machines while the real Seagal remains in the past trying to stop the rise of the machines?

If one found out about the other, would the space time continum collapse?

Will the machines come for them?

Or... are THEY machines?

save a cowboy, hang a horse.

Driving down the Queen Elizabeth II Highway on the way to Canmore on Friday, we passed a Semi that had the following painted on its side:

Born a farmer
Raised a trucker
Always a redneck

Bring Back Capital Punishment
and
"Hang the Bastards!"

Eloquent.

citizen daveberta.

I just got back from what I can only describe as a wonderful reinvigorating weekend. More specifically, I spent last weekend at a Public Interest Alberta conference in Canmore discussion social policy with people from across Alberta.

It was wonderful to spend the weekend deep in discussion with other like-minded Albertans interested in keeping progressive public interest issues at the forefront of the minds of Albertans. I, not surprisingly, sat on the Post-Secondary Education taskforce working group with participants from CAFA, ACIFA, ABTC, NASA, and the AGC. (All fun people!)

It was really interesting to see all different types of Albertans from all different backgrounds converge a brainstorm ideas on how we can make Alberta a better place to live for all Albertans, not just the special interest groups that currently control the Alberta government.

As well, the nights festivities were fun. :-) I'll make sure to put up some pictures soon...

On a different note, Jason over at Gauntlet.ca has done a wonderful job at liveblogging the Liberal Party of Canada leadership convergence in Edmonton this past weekend. Federal Liberal leadership candidates Gerard Kennedy, Martha Hall Findlay, Michael Ignatieff, Scott Brison, etc were all there hobnobbing. Also, make sure to check out the Idealistic Pragmatist for a recap of Kennedy's visit to the U of A Campus on Friday.

Though I'm sure the Edmonton Liberal lovefest was fun, I think I much preferred going to the mountains and discussing real public policy issues and advocacy strategies in a non-partisan productive environment. It was great.

Also, Metric is awesome.

PS. I've never seen Citizen Kane and don't have any idea what the picture is referring to. Anyone care to explain?

michael ignatieff and his unrivaled collection of scandanavian credit cards.

Well, I'm off to the lovely town of Canmore to take in a weekend of majectic mountains and social policy discussions at a Public Interest Alberta conference. It should be fun and I'll give you an update when I get back.

As I will be missing the hoards of Liberal Leadership candidates who will be making their way to Edmonton at the Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta AGM this weekend, please check out Gauntlet, who will be attempting a live-blogging weekend of Liberal leadership fun!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

daveberta

PS. Ignore the title, it doesn't really mean anything. I was just feeling mildly creatively funny at the time. Obviously, I didn't suceed.

kennedy in edmonton.

This popped into my email account this morning.

Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy will be talking to students this Friday from 3:30 to 5:00 in LC101 (law centre - see link for a map) at the U of A. This is a great opportunity for youth to network and meet with a man who could very well be Prime Minister of Canada within the next few years.

Kennedy is a former U of A student and founded the Edmonton food bank in 1983. He has over a decade of elected political experience, most recently as Ontario Education Minister.

If you can attend, please RSVP to dan@albertayoungliberals.ca.

I won't be able to make it, as I'm going to lovely Canmore for the weekend, but any daveberta readers go, make sure to comment and let me know how it went.

le cabinet shuffle: davebertan reflections.

Thoughts on yesterday's cabinet shuffle...

- PC leadership candidate Dave Hancock's replacement in the Advanced Education portfolio is Calgary Egmont MLA and Education and Employment Standing Policy Committee Chair Denis Herard. The jury is still out on Minister Herard.

- Keen watchers will have noticed that Hancock's abdication from cabinet leaves Edmonton with one less voice in cabinet. As much as I'm not surprised that they picked Herard (I actually predicted it!), I'm still surprised that Klein decided pass of the Edmonton region for a new Minister. This means that Alberta's capital city now only has one MLA at the cabinet table (Liberal-turned-Tory Education Minister and Edmonton Mill Creek MLA Gene Zwozdesky).

Then again, with the only other "real" Edmonton choice for cabinet being Edmonton Castle Downs MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, Denis Herard doesn't look that bad.

- After 16 years of wilting in the backbenches, Little Bow MLA Barry McFarland has finally made it to cabinet! Albeit, as an Associate Minister (which sounds suspiciously like something that's created for MLA's the Premier doesn't feel are up to the job of being a "real" Minister).

McFarland was originally elected in a March 2, 1991 by-election, in which he narrowly defeated Liberal Donna Graham by 262 votes.

- Moved from one obscure portfolio to another was banished former-Health Minister Gary Mar, who was shuffled from Community Development to Intergovernmental and International Affairs.

- Also shuffled was ancient Minister Ty Lund (more affectionately known as "Forest Stump" by former Redwater Liberal MLA Nick Taylor during Lund's tenure as Minister of "Environmental Protection" in the early-1990's). Lund has represented the riding of Rocky Mountain House since 1989 and has been a fixture in Klein's cabinet since 1994.

- Emerging from the far depths of the Tory backbenches are Whitecourt - Ste. Anne MLA George VanderBurg as Government Services Minister and Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Denis Ducharme as Community Development Minister.

VanderBurg was first elected in 2001 following the resignation of Tory warhorse Peter Trynchy. Ducharme was first elected in 1997, unseating one-term Liberal MLA Leo Vasseur.

Though it is yet to be seen how much faith the people of daveberta will have in George VanderBurg, I am pleased to see that Mr. Ducharme has finally made it in to cabinet. As the head of the province's Francophone Secretariat, I hope he will be successful in bringing Franco-Albertan issues to the cabinet table.

- Final thoughts, all three of the new Ministers are known as strong Klein loyalists. I wouldn't predict that any of them will make very many waves in cabinet. Though, I suppose after the Oberg affair, Klein wants to get back to auto-pilot.

- So, for those of you keeping score (and I know I am),

Rural Alberta = 1 new Minister (score!)
Calgary = 1 new Minister (score!)
Edmonton = minus 1 Minister (ouch)

klein shuffles his cabinet.

In the wake of three Ministerial resignations, Premier Ralph Klein has shuffled his cabinet today.

This move shifts around some current Ministers, while also bringing in a couple backbenchers into the fold.

It looks like June 1th just turned into April 5th...

Here is how the new cabinet shakes out (changes are italizied):

Ralph Klein (Calgary-Elbow) - Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury Board, Minister responsible for the Public Affairs Bureau.

Shirley McClellan (Drumheller-Stettler) - Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Chair of Treasury Board, Vice-Chair of Agenda and Priorities Committee.

Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore) - Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) - Minister of Health and Wellness

Ty Lund (Rocky Mountain House) - Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation (Moved from Government Services)

Gary Mar (Calgary-Mackay) - Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations (Moved from Community Development)

Clint Dunford (Lethbridge-West) - Minister of Economic Development

Gene Zwozdesky (Edmonton-Mill Creek) - Minister of Education

Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) - Minister of Energy

Mike Cardinal (Athabasca-Redwater) - Minister of Human Resources and Employment, and Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office

Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) - Minister of Environment

Heather Forsyth (Calgary-Fish Creek) - Minister of Children's Services

Victor Doerksen (Red Deer-South) - Minister of Innovation and Science

David Coutts (Livingstone-Macleod) - Minister of Sustainable Resource Development

Pearl Calahasen (Lesser Slave Lake) - Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Gordon Graydon (Grande Prairie-Wapiti) - Minister of Gaming

Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) - Minister of Municipal Affairs

Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) - Minister of Restructuring and Government Efficiency

Harvey Cenaiko (Calgary-Buffalo) - Solicitor General & Minster of Public Security

Yvonne Fritz (Calgary-Cross) - Minister of Seniors and Community Supports

Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) - Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development

Denis Herard (Calgary-Egmont) - Minister of Advanced Education (New to cabinet)

Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake) - Minister of Community Development (New to cabinet)

George VanderBurg (Whitecourt-Ste. Anne) - Minister of Government Services (New to cabinet)

Barry McFarland (Little Bow) - Associate Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, and Minister Responsible for Capital Planning (New to cabinet & a newly created position)

resign for leadership day!

Advanced Education Minister Dave Hancock has resigned from cabinet today in order to fully concentrate his time on running in the Alberta PC leadership race. No word yet on who his replacement will be.

Following the resignations of Lyle Oberg and Ed Stelmach, this is the third cabinet resignation in the past month.

Afar, Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy has resigned from Dalton McGuinty's cabinet to run in the Federal Liberal leadership race.

UPDATE: Rumour has it that Denis Herard will be the new Minister of Advanced Education.

bamn!

Premier Klein has announced that this September, he will submit a letter to his party asking for a leadership convention to be held. Whether he will stay on as Premier after September or appoint an interim Premier is yet to be seen.

More analysis soon.

day of pontification.

Happy Day of Pontification!

11:30am (Edmonton Time): Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's "decision" speech (can be seen on CBC Newsworld)

1:30pm (Edmonton Time): Speech from the Throne in Ottawa (also can be seen on CBC Newsworld)

the grassroots are out of touch with the grassroots.

Does that mean that the grassroots are now the establishment?

From Maclean's

Alberta Tories say delegates against Klein out of touch with grassroots

JOHN COTTER

EDMONTON (CP) - Should Ralph Klein stay or should he go? Alberta's premier is mulling over his options after his Progressive Conservative party gave him a lukewarm 55 per cent support in a leadership review on the weekend in Calgary.

He has promised to reveal his decision by the middle of this week.

As Klein confers with advisers, senior government members were suggesting that delegates who voted against his leadership on Friday night are out of touch with the party's grassroots.

Read le rest ici...

in defence of ralph klein.

After receiving a majority mandate from party delegates at this past weekend’s Alberta PC convention in Calgary, Ralph Klein now has the mandate to stay and complete his two-year retirement schedule.

Though 55.4% may not be a strong mandate in some political circles, surely it can't apply to Alberta’s very own oil Sheik.

As someone who has earned his political capital one bottle of Baby Duck at a time at the St. Louis Hotel to bringing his party back from the grasp of Death’s cold claws, Klein now has a clear mandate from a majority of party members to stay and complete the mandate he earned in November of 2004.

What could those 45.6% of delegates been thinking they showed up on Friday night to vote against their glorious leader? Were they mesmerized by the siren calls of leadership beauties Jim Dinning, Lyle Oberg, and Ted Morton? Or was Preston Manning gracefully swooning delegates behind the scenes?

After 14 years of governing Canada's oil province with an iron fist and a sealed wallet, the least Klein could give Albertans is an entertaining 2-year touchdown period.

warning! faulty political product!

warning! faulty product!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Alberta PC Convention delegates, of Alberta, has announced a recall of Ralph Klein, Alberta PC leader. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

The electrical connectors in the political machine can erode, posing a fire hazard.

The product has E50, E55, E70 or E75 printed in large type on the front panel and model number 12941, 13035, 13085 or 13088 printed on the bottom of the political machine. This machine grinds complex policy ideas into rhetoric, pressure brews, stops automatically, and disregards parliamentary procedure. It can also dispense hot air for trial balloons and hot steam to froth and steam milk.

Consumers should stop using the recalled political machine immediately, and consult alternative producers to arrange for a free wire replacement.

the morning after & mark norris, leadership candidate inc.

This is a perfect example of what happens when a politician stays around past his best before date. As a non-Tory in Alberta, I am happy to see that 45.6% of delegates at the Alberta PC convention agreed with me that it was time for Klein to go. He was arrogant, visionless, and out of touch.

Allie has a couple posts up this morning live from the convention with her reaction.

Klein is expected to hold a press conference this afternoon to announce his future.

It should be interesting to see what the leadership candidates do from now... is the June 1st deadline for Ministers to resign in place? How will this effect Dave Hancock? I'm sure Jim Dinning is pleased.

Speaking of leadership candidates, what's up with Mark Norris'? The Edmonton Journal is reporting that he is collecting a monthly salary of $10,000 from private donors in his run for the Alberta PC leadership...

[Cal] Nichols and other Norris friends incorporated GLG Consulting (for Grassroots Leadership Group) on Dec. 29, 2004.

So far it has collected $10,000 each from almost 120 "founders," for a total of about $1.2 million.

Norris, president of GLG and its "founders group," sends donors a personal thank-you letter. And the company mails an invoice for $10,000, plus $700 GST, to contributors or their companies.

Norris and Nichols said the donors are free to claim the business expense as a tax deduction.

Asked if they've found a way to make leadership donations tax deductible, Nichols said, "Yep. We are transparent. We have nothing to hide."

But U of C political analyst David Taras was shocked by the arrangement.

"Wow, I've never heard of that," he said. "It's like he's a political trust fund baby. It sounds like a leadership campaign being run as a business. It's hard to know whether they're being really smart or really stupid.

"It takes your breath away -- talk about a politician being sponsored by private individuals."

Can I buy a stock in Mark Norris Inc?

klein gets 55% support in review!

Super blogger Allie is blogging that Premier Ralph Klein has received 55% of delegate support at the Alberta PC Convention and leadership review in Calgary.

After leading the Alberta PC's to 4 massive majority governments, he has been very strongly shown the door.

I'm expecting he'll announce his quick retirement plans at a press conference tomorrow morning.

"Ding dong, the king is dead..."

who's blogging from the pc convention floor?

Not me.

But check out Allie, Duncan, and Blake - who are blogging from the Alberta PC convention and leadership review in Calgary where Premier Ralph Klein will meet his fate this evening as conventioneers cast their ballots on his future.

Check out their live blogging - but just take everything they say with a grain of salt - they are "on Ralph's Team" after all.

The whole "cult of the leader" bit that Alberta Tories try to pull off has always caused my stomach to churn in an unpleasant way. I just don't buy it.

Mind you, I also don't think Ralph Klein has been a good Premier by any sense of the imagination.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the yet to be announced results of the leadership review...

As much as I'd like Klein to face a stunning rebuttal on the convention floor, part of me would like Klein to get a tempid showing of support that will allow him to stay on for the next 18 months. This would lead to months and months of wonderful blogging material as the leadership candidates jostle to force Klein to retire earlier. Alberta a la Chrétien.

But we shall see tonight... I'll post the results when I get them...

oberg pwned!

And the body wasn't even cold yet.

Happy Alberta PC Leadership Review!

Let the bloodshed begin!

blog o' the mornin' to ya!

*Cough* blog of the week*cough*

Practicalli Pragmatismo

elections addict

For those of you who are addicted as myself to election results and analysis, this is a fun little site. The site includes detailed US Presidential, Senatorial, and Gubernatorial elections for the past 50 years with interactive maps with state and county breakdowns.

Cool.

welcome to the mother ship.

Couple of things...

- Sacked former Tory MLA Lyle Oberg is stills wants to be in the PC Leadership race. Lord only knows why he would want to lead a caucus that doesn't want him around in the first place...

- Advanced Education Minister Dave Hancock is now officially in the race to replace Ralph Klein as PC leader.

- After 35 years out of power and 27 years since electing a single MLA, the Alberta Social Credit Party has decided that they are doing just fine on their own. On Monday, the Socreds called off merger talks with the Alberta Alliance and the Alberta Party.

Their press release stated that:

Leader Lavern Ahlstrom welcomed all Albertans disillusioned with the governing Tory Party to join the Social Credit Party, the "common sense" alternative. "Our doors are open and will always remain open," said Ahlstrom in a reference to welcoming members of other parties who left Social Credit to return to the "mother ship." Stressed Ahlstrom, "Social Credit has a future in today's Alberta and Albertans deserve better."

Welcome to the mother ship. Vote Social Credit.

waiting for the oberg shoe to drop...

It's been a busy day, but here's a bit of an update:

- Thanks to Grant for offering me an invitation to Lyle Oberg's fork in the road press conference tomorrow - unfortunately, it's in Calgary and I'm in Edmonton. So, I don't think I'll be making it.

But for interest’s sake, the press conference will be held tomorrow at 2pm. I'm sure 630 CHED will be carrying it live.

- As well, I'd like to thank the legions of Oberg supporters who have leaped to the defence of their wounded candidate in the Alberta PC leadership race and decided to drown the daveberta emailbox with letters of support for Dr. Oberg.

It's heartwarming to know that an liberalish blogger in Alberta can attract such a conservative readership following and for this, I thank you.

- Meanwhile, it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks Oberg's PC leadership chances are next to nil at this point.

- On a non-Obergish note, if you're interested in the goings-on in the upcoming United States Senate and House primary elections, Politics1 is a great source of information. As well, for entertainment purposes, you should take the time to visit Arnold's Neighborhood!

- Apparently, former Prime Minister Joe Clark was on the U of A campus today. I was hoping to hop over and say hi, but I was too intrigued reading over these lovely stats. I was hoping to put another check on the list of past and present PM's that I've shaken hands with (the others being Turner, Chretien, Martin, and Harper). Plus, I kind of like Clark.

-And finally, if you've ever wanted to meet a real life terrorist - Angela Davis, former Black Panther member, will be on campus tomorrow night for the final installment of the 2005/06 Revolutionary Speaker's Series.

the oberg days of march.

It's been an exciting couple of days in Alberta politics as something exciting has actually happened and the humdrum boring days of King Ralph's fiefdom have been at least temporarily interrupted. In the wake of cabinet minister and leadership candidate Lyle Oberg's purge from the Alberta PC caucus, here are some thoughts of mine:

1. Why would Lyle Oberg still want to be Alberta PC leader after this? As far as I know, he's still a member of the Alberta PC Party (I would assume that the caucus doesn't have the authority to revoke his membership and that this would be up to the party executive), so technically, he could probably still run. But why in the world would he still want to be the leader of a caucus that just voted to expel him from their ranks? I know I wouldn't.

2. If Oberg drops out, where do his supporters go? Back last fall, I attended the leadership announcement event Oberg held in Edmonton at the Zuppa Cafe (I even got a nice thank you card from him and his campaign manager afterwards). Also attending the event were former Tory MLA's Lorne Taylor (Cypress-Medicine Hat 1993-2004), Jon Havelock (Calgary Shaw 1993-2001), and Brent Rathegeber (Edmonton Calder 2001-04), and former Liberal MLA Peter Sekulic (Edmonton Manning 1993-1997). Both Havelock and Sekulic are managing partners in Strategic Resources Inc., an Edmonton-based consulting firm with a fancy website.

I would suspect that Taylor would levitate to a more right-wing candidate like Ted Morton, but I'm really not sure about the others.

3. What do Oberg supporters do at the Alberta PC AGM on March 31-April 2nd? Well, if they were planning on supporting Klein in the leadership review vote in the first place, you can probably bet they've had a change of heart in the past 48 hours.

4. Oberg can re-apply to join the Alberta PC caucus in six months. Other than asking why he would want to do that after they sacked him, I think Anonymotron said it best: "What is this, a roadside suspension for impaired driving? If he's disloyal now, what makes them think six months in the penalty box will change anything?"

5. The rumours floating that Oberg may join MLA and fourth party leader Paul Hinman in the Alberta Alliance are very interesting. My first reaction is, why not? Oberg's new seat in the Alberta Legislature is probably going to be behind Hinman anyway, why not form a caucus?

On the other hand, I'm not convinced that Oberg would agree to play Deputy to Hinman's Sheriff. Something about a very large political ego would suggest to me that he would resign as an MLA before playing second fiddle in a two person caucus.

6. I really think Oberg's biggest mistake was apologizing for his comments in the first place. Had he not apologized, he still would have been sacked from caucus, but he would have looked strong for not backing down. Now, he looks weak for backing down AND getting sacked. He missed a golden opportunity to look like a real life "anti-establishment" candidate. Now he just looks like a doofus.

7. As Duncan points out, how will Oberg react to his new office? As well, I'm sure the pay cut and lack of Ministerial staff (or any legislative staff for that matter) will make him wish he hadn't shot his mouth off last week in Brooks.

8. I would love to know what the vote numbers for and against were in the Tory caucus for his expulsion. Was there an urban-rural split? A social conservative-moderate conservative vote split? Was it a landslide? Did Oberg have ANY support in the PC caucus?

9. It should be interesting to see how his constituents in Strathmore-Brooks will react to this news.

10. Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft must be sleeping well these days. I don't think anyone can remember the last time there was this much chaos within Alberta's Tory establishment.

11. This could change everything for Dave Hancock's leadership bid. Over the past week, I was beginning to be convinced that Advanced Education Minister Dave Hancock would drop out of the race in the face of Klein's June 1st deadline, but I now think he may stick around the racetrack. Though I don't think he stands much of a chance at winning the leadership, I think he could probably top the list of "best Tory Premiers Alberta never had."

12. This week delivered Obergtastic good news for Ed Stelmach. Stelmach, who resigned this week as Intergovernmental and International Affairs Minister, will have quite a bit more room to manouver in rural Alberta with the sinking of the S.S. Oberg. Keep an eye on Stelmach.

And keep an eye on Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski - the godfather of rural Tory politics. Kowalski is keeping a very low public partisan profile these days, which leads me to think he's up to something. All rumours point to him supporting Stelmach, which could have huge effects in a suddenly Obergless leadership race.

13. Yesterday, Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason said: "I think it's the initiation of a reign of terror in the Progressive Conservative Party. I think Josef Stalin would never dirty his hands either. He'd leave it to the party members to do it. That doesn't make it right."

I think if Klein were Stalin, Mason wouldn't be around anymore. Out of all the things Mason could have said, I think he picked one of the most ridiculous options.

oberg speaks...

Former Tory MLA, PC leadership candidate, and Infrastructure & Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg released the following statement today, following his sacking from the Alberta PC Caucus last night. It's pretty tame speech for someone who just got sacked from a caucus he really wanted to lead...

Oberg: Alberta's clearly dejected newly Independent MLA.

LYLE OBERG REMARKS
MARCH 24, 2006

Let me begin my comments by saying that I am and I have always been committed to the future of Alberta and to the Progressive conservative Party. I strongly believe that the province of Alberta is at a critical juncture – so is the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.

In the past week, I have talked about some issues I am passionate about. But I also recognize that this enthusiasm and frustration was communicated inappropriately.

I consider the PC party to be like a large extended family. From time to time disagreements arise within any family, and it is at those times that certain things can be said – spoken from the heart – that cannot be taken back. For that I apologize to my Caucus colleagues and the Premier.

I left my career as a doctor and entered Politics to join the Progressive Conservative Party under Ralph Klein’s leadership. I was proud to serve in senior portfolios in the Klein government over the past decade. In all my portfolios – Family and Social Services, Learning, and Infrastructure and Transportation, I have always had the best interests of Albertans as my top priority.

My decision to run in the leadership race is fueled by this same passion.

When our Premier announced during the 2004 provincial election that he would not run
again, it opened the door for potential candidates to begin their work. Albertan’s deserve to have the greatest number of ideas presented to them so they can make the best choices. We need to improve our healthcare system, we need to make wise investments in Infrastructure and address the critical issues such as education and training as well as establishing a sustainable Municipal funding framework.

You all know the events of the past couple of days. It has been a difficult time within caucus. Some Government initiatives in the past few months have been hampered due to distractions caused by questions about the leadership race the Party faces. That is likely to worsen. Although I was disappointed with the decision of my colleagues yesterday, I also respect their right to make it. I know they were placed into a difficult position and that their decision was not taken lightly.

Given the urgency of the challenges that face the Province and also the amazing opportunities that lie before us, the impact of a two year leadership race must seriously be considered. The vote on April 1st is not a referendum on the Premier’s leadership; the Premier has already said he is not running again. The Vote at our AGM is a vote on WHEN the Leadership race should occur. What is best for Alberta must be at the heart of everything our Party and Government decides.

I will be taking the weekend to talk things over with my family, friends, and supporters and I will be holding a press conference next week. I would like to thank everyone who has called me today – I sincerely appreciate your support and words of encouragement.

I'll be really looking to see what he does next week. More commentary on this soon....

oberg jumping to the alliance?

K, it's from 630CHED, so the credibility of the article may be in question, but still...

Oberg to Alliance party?
Mar, 24 2006 - 12:10 PM

EDMONTON/630 CHED - The leader of the Alberta Alliance Party is throwing down the welcome mat for Lyle Oberg after he was ousted from the government caucus and stripped of his cabinet post.

Alliance Leader Paul Hinman says he's hearing rumours that Oberg is being urged by at least one of his supporters to join the Alliance, rather than sit as an independent.

Hinman says he doesn't condone Oberg speaking out against his own party, but the Alliance Leader says the former cabinet minister may want to challenge the government from the outside.

Hinman says he's also eager to talk with any other disenchanted government members who might want to cross the floor of the legislature and join the Alliance.

oberg gets da boot...

Well, it has happened, the extremely rare and elusive "shake up" in Alberta Conservative politics... Infrastructure and Transportation Minister and PC leadership hopeful Lyle Oberg has been officially booted from cabinet and suspended from the PC caucus...

Alta. minister Oberg loses rank over remarks about premier
Click here to find out more!

The Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, March 23, 2006

EDMONTON -- Alberta Tory leadership contender Lyle Oberg was suspended indefinitely from caucus and stripped of his cabinet post Thursday over remarks he made about Premier Ralph Klein.

Deputy premier Shirley McClellan made the announcement after an emergency meeting at the legislature that lasted well into the evening.

The furore arose after Oberg told his constituency association in Brooks he wouldn't ask members to support Klein during an upcoming leadership review. Read le rest ici.

(1000% Props to Duncan who beat me to the punch in posting the story!)

(PROPS UPDATE: Upon further examination, I've discovered that Allie beat Ducan to the punch. So, 5000% props for Allie for beating both Duncan and I to the blogging punch. And yes, Duncan can still keep his 1000% props as he still beat me to the punch).

bye bye lyle?

The Alberta Tory caucus is holding an emergency caucus meeting today following what shall now be known as the "Prince Oberg threat" - Infrastructure and Transportation Minister and PC leadership candidate Lyle Oberg has threatened PC leader Ralph Klein.

Strong political whispers are saying that the Tory caucus is currently meeting as I blog to decide whether Oberg should be kicked out of the Tory caucus.

The Edmonton Journal reported on the Oberg incident, which occurred at a meeting of the PC Constituency Association in Strathmore-Brooks:

Oberg went on to say "there is a leadership vote coming up, and a week ago I was ready to come up here and say that you should support Ralph.

"Today I am going to stand here and say you must vote with your conscience. I will not stand here and say you must support Ralph."

Chronicle reporter Ryan Kiedrowski, 28, said at that point the constituency members burst into cheers and applause.

"When I take off the gloves, my gloves come off completely," Oberg continued. "Everything is fair ball now, everything is open. It's going to be very interesting what happens in the next while."

Oberg warned that "if I were the premier, I wouldn't want me sitting as a backbencher ... I know where all the skeletons are."

As well, Finance Minister Shirley McClellan was seen noticeably rushing out of her Finance Ministerial Breakfast to the emergency caucus meeting this morning after reportedly being 5 minutes late, skipping breakfast, and cutting her question and answer period short.

More soon...

dans le private sector

What do two people who had a key hand in one of the worst, disastrous, and entertaining national election campaigns do when the dust has settled?

Start a private consulting firm: Feschuk.Reid

(Props to Public Eye Online for the linkage)

"Sort of update:" To be fair, I really did enjoy Mr. Feschuk's blog during the election, but I think that is all I really enjoyed about that election campaign.

More of an "addition update:" ...um... yeah... the always insightful Derek Raymaker has an update on the whereabouts of another survivor of the S.S. Team Martin 2006, David Herle, and his smashing debut in Toronto's business community...

alberta budgetary glory...

I went to Budget Day at the Alberta Legislature this afternoon. A longer recap will come soon, but some of the highlights in this compassionate budget of the people include:

-38% increase in a subsidy to Alberta's Horse Racing Industry.

-$400 Million Corporate tax cuts to Alberta Corporations (Who are clearly hurting and in need of a tax cut with $60 barrel oil...)

As well, Finance Minister Shirley McClellan's speeches are still as boring as dirt.

and the alberta exodus begins...

Stelmach leaves cabinet post to seek leadership

Last updated Mar 21 2006 12:44 PM MST
CBC News

Alberta's intergovernmental affairs minister is resigning from cabinet to run for the leadership of the Tory party although Premier Ralph Klein has said he plans to stay for another two years.

Ed Stelmach says he is stepping down at this early date because of Klein's directive that any contenders for his job should leave a cabinet posting by June 1 to prevent any conflict of interest. Stelmach isn't saying when his own campaign will get underway, and wants to be extra careful to avoid any measure of impropriety. Read le rest ici.

I should start a prediction pool to see who'll be next. Any takers?


After thoughts - Who do you think will replace Stelmach as Intergovernmental Affairs Minister when he resigns? My prediction is George Rogers - MLA for Leduc-Beaumont-Devon, former Mayor of Leduc, and former President of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. Though he has more of a municipal government background, I could see him being a good fit for this ministry.

racing in all directions...

For those of you wondering, no, I haven't totally tuned out of the goings-on of federal Liberal leadership race - it's just that I'm finding it quite boring at this point.

When running through a list of declared/likely/possible candidates for the coveted Stornoway parking spot, there are only a few candidates that I would feel comfortable with as leader, namely Gerard Kennedy and perhaps Michael Ignatieff.

We'll just have to see what happens as most of the leadership candidates will most likely be in Edmonton for the Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta convention during the weekend of April 8-10. I'm probably going to be out of town for the weekend anyway, but if I get the chance, I'd like to meet up with some of the potential candidates.

Also, the "braintrust" of the federal Liberals have laid out the rules for the race - Jason has a good analysis if you're interested - but one of the points that stuck out for me is the rush to get a new leader.

Under the rules, the membership sales cutoff is July 1st - this leaves me with two thoughts.

1. It's damn soon and will isolate the influence of the summer BBQ circuit to people who already have memberships.

2. With the academic year ending in less than 2 months, the timeline leaves little or no time for campus clubs to organize membership and recruitment drives.

It looks to me like it was a plan written up by a group of Toronto-centric Liberals who believe that Harper will crash and burn as the Liberals return from the indiginity of opposition by next spring - something which is most likely not going to happen.

And yes, for the sake of throwing it out there, even though I didn't vote Liberal in the last federal election, I'm probably going to renew my lapsed Liberal membership before July 1st so I can vote against Belinda Stronach and Bob Rae. ;-)




In other interesting news, I will be going to the budget announcement at the Alberta Legislature on Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps if I have time, I'll write up a recap similar to the one I did for budget 2005. Care to place bets on how big this year's surplus will be?

look out! it's the conservative police!

One of the biggest pet peeves I have are people who take their blogging too seriously.

It now appears that blogrolls are not imune from these symptoms.

For example, Allie's blog was recently denied membership in the Blogging Tories by blogroll overlord Stephen Taylor because she has other political blogrolls listed on her blog, none of which she is a member.

Wow, seriously folks...

LAME.

the 5-foot icicle of hope

As the title of this blog post would suggest, there is a 5-foot icicle hanging outside my bedroom window. These are times I wish I had a digital camera.

Well, for the first time in about 4 months, I shovelled the sidewalk in front of my house. I think we must have got at least a foot of snow yesterday. I really wish we would have had this much snow for Christmas, instead of in March.

After going for an Irish breakfast yesterday morning (beer included), I stopped by Second Cup at the Varscona Hotel with Sam and Chris. While ordering my coffee, I really didn't know how to react when I saw that Second Cup had named one of their coffee flavours - I kid you not - the "Rwandan Cup of Hope" ... holy smokes... talk about a heavy name for a cup of coffee... 500,000 dead... cream and sugar please... "I'll have a large Rwandan Cup of Hope and a cranberry muffin, please..."

And on the lighter side of things... as you've probably noticed, I've been fiddling around with the blog template here at daveberta. I don't think this will be the final version, but I'm working on it inbetween essay writing. I was getting bored with the last version, so it was time for a change.

I like suggestions as well. So, if you have any ideas for my new template, feel free to comment! :-)

rumour mill's a spinin!

Gearing up for Premier Ralph Klein's leadership review at PC AGM in Calgary on March 31st, there's no shortage of rumours floating around.

Here's a quick sample of the rumours that floated my way over the past week...

Thanks, Clay Aitken! One of the main reasons Klein announced his ultimatum to the PC leadership candidates last week was to spurn the massive "roads for votes" campaign (see here, here, here, here, here, and here) spending spree of Infrastructure and Transportation Minister and PC leadership candidate Lyle Oberg.

- The flying Dutchman flying away? PC Party Executive Director Peter Elzinga is threatening to resign (whether this threat has something to do with Elzinga's rumoured power struggle with Klein's Chief of Staff, Peter Kruselnicki, is unknown - but suspected).

- Klein won't survive the leadership review. This one doesn't really surprise me. After the shockwave of Klein's announcement this week, many Tories I've spoken to were slightly jared by the tone of the announcement (18 months?).

The question is, what does a winning mandate look like for Klein? Considering he usually recieves Hussienian support levels of 97%, anything below this is bad for Klein. I would expect anything less than 80% to be a huge slap in the face to a man who has led the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to four majority governments.

- Nothing to lose. Tory backbencher, former Senator-in-waiting, and leadership candidate Ted Morton's organizers have been directing delegates to vote "yes" for the review.

- Everything to lose. Former Alberta Treasurer and leadership candidate Jim Dinning's organizers have been giving the "vote to support Klein... (wink wink, nudge nudge)..."

- Talkin' PC. This one isn't really a rumour, but judging from content of the latest "PC Talk" newsletter, the Tory establishment looks desperately worried about the potential outcome of the leadership review (the newsletter is filled to the brims with editorials, letters, and cleverly hidden suggestions from the party elites urging members to "VOTE NO" to the leadership review).

When a party has to drown its membership in "VOTE NO" propaganda, it should be clear that something is a foot.

And now this, from James Baxter in today's Edmonton Journal...

"According to well-placed sources, Klein and his chief of staff, Peter Kruselnicki, planned to use undated letters of resignation as leverage against any candidate seen to be misusing his office to further his ambitions. Klein had warned Oberg, Stelmach and Hancock to be discreet and beyond reproach."

And I fully expect things to get juicier...

SUNDAY UPDATE! And things have gotten juicier! Defeated Tory MLA and Leadership candidate Mark Norris is now a separatist...

I loved this part of the interview with the Calgary Sun's Licia Corbella:

"as soon as there's a carbon tax announced or any of those things like the NEP, then you stand up on the highest mountain top and you say 'no, we're going to fight this and if this isn't reversed, then we're going to take steps to secede.'"

It was only a matter of time before one of the candidates (other than Ted Morton) dragged out the dreaded NEP! Seriously, folks, the program was cancelled over 20 years ago, we now have a Conservative government in Ottawa, and the Prime Minister is from Calgary. No one is talking about a new NEP.

I'm really not sure what Norris plans to accomplish by saying this, but then again, I really can't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to support Norris for the Alberta PC Leadership...

klein vs. the tirekickers...

In a huge almost Chretienian move, Premier Ralph Klein has called on Ministers in his cabinet who are planning to run in the Alberta PC Leadership Race to resign by June 1st...

Klein orders ministers running for Alberta PC leadership to quit by June 1

Jim Macdonald, Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, March 15, 2006

EDMONTON (CP) - Alberta cabinet ministers who want to take a run at Ralph Klein's job in two years will have to resign their portfolios by June 1, the premier said Wednesday.

Klein told The Canadian Press that he made the announcement at the daily government caucus meeting. So far three cabinet members are among the six men who have indicated interest in the leadership of Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party - Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg, Advanced Education Minister Dave Hancock, and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Ed Stelmach....

I would say that this move is probably good for Jim Dinning and Ted Morton as they will now have a "level" playing feild in terms of media exposure and will be able to see who their real competition is.

hello, i'm jim dinning...

I met Jim Dinning today.

For those of you who don't know, Mr. Dinning is considered the frontrunner in the race to replace Alberta Progressive Conservative Premier Ralph Klein when he retires (in a Chrétienian move, Mr. Klein announced yesterday that he will be retiring in October of 2007, but won't leave office until March 2008).

Though he seemed like a nice guy, I nearly drowned in the uninsipiringness of his presentation.

He talked a lot about "choices" and his vision for Alberta while staying fairly vague about most issues. It was really disappointing coming from someone with a Masters in Public Administration from Queen's and former Deputy Minister. Hopefully we'll see some more detailed plans from Mr. Dinning as the leadership campaign ensues. Though I suppose 20 years of political hackery will do that to someone. An unfortunate casualty?

I know I've mentioned this before, but he really reminds me of someone we are all very familiar with, though without the "isms."

I'm not sure whether it was the uninsipiring attitude of the near-dead crowd of frat boys loaded with questions starting with "Jim, in your vision for Alberta..." that killed it for me, or the fact that the future Premier of Alberta was only able to attract around 10 people (including at least 3 Liberal/ND voters) to hear him speak.

I did enjoy a small swipe he made at Ted Morton though - I can't remember what he exactly said, but it was a swipe at Dr. Morton's "More Alberta, Less Ottawa" slogan from his 2004 provincial election campaign in Foothills-Rockyview.

So, in conclusion: meh.

hopefully better than the green lantern...

...because he seriously has to be the lamest superhero ever.

Enough of that.

Well, as the most loyal of the daveberta readership must have noticed, over the past couple weeks, blog posting has become more and more sporatic. So, here's an update...

Bill Clinton! - Last Thursday evening, I went and listened to former US President Bill Clinton speak at Rexall Place. Wow. The man is such an amazing speaker. Thoughout the entire talk (around an hour and a half or so) he referred to no notes and didn't even take a sip of water!

Skiing! - Now that there is snow in the great City of Edmonton, I've finally taken my cross-country skis out of hiding! I'm hoping to hop down to the river valley this weekend and get some skiing done before the winter is completely over.

Used Book Sales! - Last week, the Anthropology Graduate Students had a used-book sale in the Tory/Business Atrium. For $5, I was able to grab Volumes One and Two of Peter C. Newman's "The Canadian Establishment" and a great book for nerds like me called "Urban Politics and Public Policy."

Speech from the Throne...? - As much as I would really like to write about my visit to the Speech from the Throne at the Alberta Legislature three weeks ago, it would be extremely boring. Other than having nice conversations with people ranging from Graham Thomson, Ms. Katz, Laurie Blakeman, and Rob Lougheed, let's just say that the cookies and juice were nice.

X-Men! - There is an ENTIRE Wikipedia Universe dedicated to the X-Men! Sweet!

Liberals, partisans, hacks? - While there are many many reasons why I am no longer a member of the Liberal Party of Canada (or any party for that matter), stuff like this makes it even easier to justify...

Work! - After a three week leave of absence, I'm back at work! Thank goodness. I missed my office. At least there will be some sense of normality over the next couple weeks.

Election? - oh, yeah. I won. thanks.

55% supergirl?

There is sooo much to post about - elections, Bill Clinton, Speech from the Throne review, Tory Leadership gossip, etc etc etc.... but that will have to wait as I have two major papers to get done...

In the meantime, I shall leave you with this:

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 80% Superman 75% Spider-Man 75% Supergirl 55% Catwoman 50% Iron Man 50% Robin 45% Hulk 45% Wonder Woman 40% The Flash 40% Batman 15%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

now the waiting begins...

Well, other than a bit of a soar throat this morning, I'm feeling good.

Regular blogging will resume in the near future.

i'm still alive!

But just too busy to blog.

Edmonton has SNOW!

as the race continues....

For those of you interested, I have decided to break my semi-blog of silence to inform you that Alberta PC Leadership candidate Mark Norris and his "Grassroots Leadership Group" have lauched his campaign website.

Mr. Norris was also at the Speech from the Throne on Wednesday this week (I had a nice chat his office manager).

If I have the chance this weekend, I'll post a quick recap of the SFTT.

The Public Interest Alberta PSE conference is this weekend, so mixed with other stuff, I should be sufficiently busy this weekend.

we & i.

Well, in a moment of thought, we found ourselves thinking about the day we decided that it might be interested to write in the first person plural (or whatever Steve Smith called it after he threatened to punch us in the throat).

Fortunately for Mr. Smith (and our throat), we've decided it was once again time that "we" blogged as an "I."

So, I am back blogging tonight for the first and the last time in a bit. The upcoming forecast of daily events looks like it should be getting a little busier in the next few weeks, so the blog posts will most likely be sparce and few, if any.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be attending the opening of the Alberta Legislature which is highlighted by the Speech from the Throne. I didn't get a chance to watch Premier Klein's Address to the Province this evening, but I hear that for the first time since about 1987, the Government of Alberta will be investing new funds into the Heritage Savings Trust Fund.

I will also be facilitating two discussion sessions at this weekend's Public Interest Alberta Post-Secondary Education Conference here in Edmonton. The sessions I will be facilitating are the Student Finance session with the lovely Clare Ard and the Rural PSE Access session with Dr. Roger Epp, Dean of the U of A Augustana Campus.

I've done quite a bit of research on student financing and rural PSE issues over the past year, so I'm very interested to hear what people have to say about the subject.

As well, the guest speakers for the weekend include Globe & Mail columnist Jeffery Simpson and Peter MacMenamin, the Deputy Secretary General of the Teacher's Union of Ireland. It looks to be an interesting weekend.

the swiss?

Well, it looks like the temperature has risen to a balmy -10C here on the prairies...

We watched the Canada-Switzerland game this morning and all we can say is wow. Canada got wooped by SWITZERLAND! SWITZERLAND?

We didn't even know they even had an Olympic Hockey team... oh well, good for them...

as winter jabs us in the rib...

It looks like the glorious summer of January and February 2006 is bidding us farewell...

Current forecast from the Weather Network:

Right now: -24C
With windchill: -35C

It was +8C last week. So, that's a 43C temperature change in a week.

Lord we love Alberta...

alberta - be smart and think big!

Here is part of an editorial that was in the Calgary Herald this weekend. It pretty much sums up what we've been talking about for the past couple years...

Alberta has been given a vast array of gifts -- of natural resources, of hard-working people with entrepreneurial spirit, of markets eager to do business. It has been wise enough to steward these riches well to this point. It now faces a greater challenge: to build a better future, not just for Albertans, but for Canada and the world.

Here's how to do it:

1. Start saving. In the past 30 years, only 8.6 per cent of royalties have been set aside and more than 90 per cent spent. The Heritage Fund is worth $2,500 per capita, compared with $6,000 per capita in 1991.

Now that its debt is paid off, Alberta must start a serious savings plan. Canada West suggests half of all resource revenue go to an endowment fund; whatever the percentage, it needs to be substantial.

2. Manage spending. Alberta needs to invest in a strong health-care system, education and infrastructure for cities. The cuts that were necessary to bury the debt in the 1990s are no longer needed and Albertans have said they favour reinvestment.

So do we, but with a measure of stability. The greatest obstacle these sectors face is the roller-coaster of funding they've had to contend with as the provincial government lurches between surpluses.

These areas should be funded properly over the long term; the wild and wacky splurges of the past year have to stop.

3. Think big. If Alberta spends wisely and saves for the future, there will be still be ample opportunities to leave a proud legacy. Forget prosperity cheques and vanity projects -- let's aim higher.

The Canada West Foundation thinks Alberta could lead the world in research and development in alternate forms of energy, rival Harvard with a post-secondary endowment fund, or fund a national centre of excellence in wellness.

Albertans will have other ideas, if they are challenged to be visionary.

There was a bumper sticker popular in Alberta in the 1980s that read: "Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away next time."

Albertans have been given that second chance with riches and potential that are the envy of many. It must not be wasted.

As far as university endowments are mentioned in the article, we are in the midst of writing a policy brief on North American university endowments - Harvard is the largest up around $25 Billion and Yale is second with around $15 Billion (the University of Alberta's endowment is currently sitting around half a billion - according to 2005 figures).

Endowment funds are where-it-is-at, dawg.

buzz off and get a shotgun...

heh heh.

- Buzz Hargrove got the boot from the NDP (we can see the ads now... "this February, give Buzz the boot...").

We don't find this surprising seeing how the rift between Hargrove and the NDP has substantially grown in the past few years (we remember listening to an argument between Hargrove and then-NDP leader Alexa McDonough on CBC Radio One's As It Happens following her stepping down as leader - wow, she kept calling him "Basil" - you could have cut the tension between them with a knife).

Though were sure that his endorsing the Liberals in the last election (and his kind of endorsement of the Bloc...) had more to do with it than anything else.

If anything, we think this is a good move. Distancing the NDP from twits like Hargove and the grip of big labour (even symbolically) could help them expand their base of support.

- Second, United States Vice-President Dick Cheney shot someone with a shotgun!

Was Dick Cheney hunting people? No.

But it is slightly funny in a sick sort of way.

(Props to Anonymotron for "establishing [his] conservative credentials" by emailing us the story and gun links...)

UPDATE! Tomorrow's headlines: "Cheney caused friendly fire incident"

canada wins gold!

Spruce Grove mogul skier Jennifer Heil has won the Gold Medal in her Olympic competition just moments ago in Turino, Italy!! Congrats!

WOO HOO! Canada rocks!

literati davebertus

For interests sake, here are the books we are in the midst of reading at the moment...

- What's the Matter with Kansas ? by Thomas Frank
- War by Gwyn Dyer
- Alberta Politics Uncovered: Taking Back our Province by Marc Lisac
- The Return of the Trojan Horse: Alberta and the New World (Dis)Order edited by Trevor W. Harrison
- Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State by Alan C. Cairns
- Whose North: Political Change, Political Development, and Self-Government in the Northwest Territories by Mark Dickerson
- Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amoury Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins.
- Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
- Excuse Us! Herr Schicklgruber by Clifford Chadderton.

88 dodge aries

If you haven't checked out this video, you should. It's fun!

democratic reform in alberta?

For those of you interested in democratic reform in the great province of Alberta, we are pleased to inform you that the Alberta Liberal Opposition is taking the bull by the horns and hosting a forum on this topic on Monday (February 13 from 7-9pm at the Stanley Milner Library in Edmonton).

Speakers will include Liberal leader Kevin Taft, and Craig Henschel and Shoni Field from the B.C.’s Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

The forum will be moderated by Edmonton McClung MLA Mo Elsalhy and attended by MLA's Hugh MacDonald, Bridget Pastoor, and Maurice Tougas.

We will be attending, so if you want to talk about democratic reform AND get a glimpse of the original daveberta...

evans is out of the race.

Well, there are many people who will testify that Alberta's Health & Wellness Minister Iris Evans is "waaaay out there," but now, she is officially out of the Alberta PC leadership race.

To give daveberta readers an example of the "way outness" of the Sherwood Park Progressive Conservative MLA, the first time we met her, she was clinging to a plastic SIDS baby doll. Now, as weird as it was for her to be clinging to a plastic SIDS baby doll in the first place, it was at a conference dealing with international development - why she was there we still do not know (she was Minister of Children's Services at the time) - but she spoke on behalf of the Alberta Government following an terrific speech by then-Senator Doug Roche. The topic which she spoke of was just as bizarre... you guessed it... she spent her 5 minutes at a conference on international development and the third world talking about SIDS... it was really bizarre.

Not to mention the weirdness of the Tory Caucus video at the most recent Alberta Legislature Press Gallery dinner which had had Minister Evans making reference to "sausages." This is made even weirder when you understand that she typically raises (at some very inappropriate times) that she is single and looking for a man...

Not that she was a "real" contender anyway, but it looks like the Tories may have an "all-white all-penis" leadership race on their hands once Premier Ralph Klein decides to go to pasture.

martha hall findlay is "frighteningly qualified": blogging tory.

As you may now know, Martha Hall Findlay has beat us to the punch and is now the first candidate to officially enter the Liberal leadership race. Good for her! She has the guts to do what Frank McKenna, John Manley, Allan Rock, and Brian Tobin didn't!

Hall Findlay is a Toronto lawyer who ran for the Liberals in 2004 against then-Tory MP Belinda Stronach in Newmarket-Aurora.

When Stronach crossed the floor to the Liberals last May, one of our favorite blogging Tories, Steve Janke of Angry in the Great White North, had this to say about Hall Findlay:

"(May 18, 2005) Who is Martha Hall Findlay? She was the woman found run over yesterday. Forensic analysis of the evidence suggests two vehicles -- one was a Stronach Aspiration Special, outfitted with wide tread tires for extra grip in an environment of slimey and slippery power-grab politics, and the other was a Martin Desperation Wagon, the sort without doors so that anyone can just jump in as he drives by waving money and cabinet appointments.

Seriously, Ms. Findlay was the Liberal candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, ready to fight Ms. Stronach in a re-match of the 2004 election, which Belinda barely won (by a mere 689 votes).

Good thing the Liberals tossed Ms. Findlay. I've looked over her experience and skills, and I'd say she was far worse fit in the Liberal Party than Belinda Stronach was in the Conservative Party.

Read on, and you'll see what I mean."

"(May 20, 2005) On another front, Martha Hall Findlay, the frighteningly qualified Liberal candidate for Newmarket-Aurora who was pushed out when multi-millionaire Belinda Stronach came to take her job away, still has her web site up. Good for her."

ted morton's stumping...

Foothills-Rockyview MLA, Firewall letter signatory, and Alberta PC Leadership candidate Ted Morton spoke to a crowd of 130 people last Friday at a leadership campaign dinner in the Town of Cochrane.

Here's a bit of it from the Cochrane Times...

In what turned out to be a night that just reinforced the support of Conservatives in Foothills-Rockyview area, Morton explained his platform of ideas that he wanted people to keep in mind when it comes time to vote for the next premier of Alberta, which at the very latest, will be in 2009, but is likely to be sooner.

“There are new challenges for our new century,” he said. “They require new ideas and new leaders.”

To which he received applause and nods among the audience.

Morton’s main challenge he believes must be faced, is that Alberta receive a “fair deal” in Ottawa.

While he explained that Alberta alienation could be far in the past, with the selection of the new prime minister, Stephen Harper, as his riding is in fact, in Calgary Southwest, he said choosing him would further the process.

Yes, Albertans will feel less alienated with a nutbar like Morton as Premier... sure...