bob rae's guide to plagiarism.

Though I thought it was a little bizarre for Bob Rae to attack Stephen Harper over a speech that he delivered five years ago, I'm not convinced that it will actually accomplish much more for the Liberals than simply distracting the media from the Conservatives messaging for a single day.

It did, however, remind me of an article I recently read about the long-forgotten Joe Biden plagiarism fiasco of 1988. Maybe Sarah Palin will bring it up during Thursday night's Vice-Presidential debate?

edmonton-strathcona review: the candidates.

Here's a quick run down of the candidate's performances at last night's Edmonton-Strathcona all-candidates forum at the Myer Horowitz Theatre:

Rahim Jaffer, Conservative - Rahim Jaffer is a seasoned retail politician and handled himself well in the face of a fairly hostile audience. As a veteran politician having spent 11 years in Ottawa, this type of forum is clearly old hat for Jaffer.

Linda Duncan, NDP - She didn't steal the show, but Linda Duncan performed much better in last night's forum than she did in the 2006 forum at the same location. Duncan was disciplined with her reponses and was clearly on the NDP message as she took on Jaffer.

Jane Thrall, Green - Out of all the candidates, Jane Thrall impressed me the most. As a first-time candidate at her first forum, Thrall was well-spoken, succinct with her points, and was impressively clever when she wasn't sure what a Green Party policy on a specific issue was.

Claudette Roy, Liberal - Thanks for showing up. If Roy is a strong candidate, her performance at last night's forum sure didn't show it. After being nominated over a year ago, Roy either wasn't able communicate with the audience or simply didn't have a grasp of what her party stood for. Next.

Kevan Hunter, Marxist-Leninist - If there was a Sarah Palin Award for Preparedness, it would be awarded to Kevan Hunter with distinction. At the beginning of each response, it seemed that he spent half of his allocated time trying to think of ways he could relate his responses to Marxist or Leninist theory, rather than actually answering the question.

albertans for the arts.

Albertans For The Arts - Inaugural Rally

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
6:00pm to 7 pm
Churchill Square
(Across the street from the Winspear Centre)

Facebook event

live from the edmonton-strathcona forum.

I'm sitting in a 300-400 person audience at the Edmonton-Strathcona all-candidates forum at the Myer Horowitz Theatre with Legendary Campaign Manager Chris Henderson.

It's been a generally low-key forum, but the most loaded question of the night came right off the bat as an audience member launched an abortion-taser combo question to Conservative incumbent Rahim Jaffer. In response, the best and most clever quote of the night goes to Green candidate Jane Thrall:

"I'm not sure what the Green policy is on tasers, but I can assure you that we won't use them on pregnant women."

edmonton-strathcona forum tonight.

The University of Alberta Students' Union-hosted Edmonton-Strathcona all-candidates forum 7:00 pm tonight at the Myer Horowitz Theatre is sure to be a good show.

Though there's been a sizable amount of media coverage about NDP candidate Linda Duncan's chances of knocking-off Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, I think Duncan's chances rest more on Jack Layton's performance in Thursday night's leaders' debate than any of the local candidates debates.

As a frustrated and undecided Edmonton-Strathcona voter who can't stomach the overly negative Conservative and confusing Liberal campaigns, I've narrowed my options down to three ballot box choices on October 14:

a) Voting for Linda Duncan: There is no doubt that in 2008 Duncan is the only candidate with a shot at defeating Jaffer. Though it remains debatable how good her chances actually are.

b) Voting for Green candidate Jane Thrall: Nothing in this campaign has made me feel like any of the three main political parties have earned my vote, so the idea of supporting a non-traditional party is very appealing.

c) Spoiling my ballot: There's a strong possibility that Barack Obama could get my write-in vote.

coup d'état in the alberta green party.

A dramatic power struggle has erupted in the Alberta Green Party between past-Lacombe-Ponoka candidate Joe Anglin and leader George Read.

From the Green Party website:

On September 27, 2008 in Morningside Alberta, a hostile and undemocratic takeover was attempted on the Green Party of Alberta. Those responsible proposed last-minute constitutional changes, a name change, and a total transfer of power to themselves.

Though I'm sure it's less dramatic than the media release makes it sound, I can't say that I'm surprised that a group like Anglin's would and could mount a take-over of the small party.

Anglin's 'agitate, agitate, agitate' style is much different than Read's low-key leadership. After leading a group of central Alberta landowners against the construction of new transmission lines, Anglin was the most successful Green candidate in the 2008 provincial election (garnering over 20% of the vote) and has supporters from across the political spectrum in his constituency. Though a power struggle may envelope the Greens in the meantime, Anglin might just be what the Greens need to get the interest and attention of voters in Alberta.

arts and environment in alberta.

- The Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton will be hosting a discussion on Federal Arts Funding with Liberal MP Bob Rae and Senator Tommy Banks on Saturday, October 4 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at the Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre (8426 Gateway Blvd).

- Edmonton Chante started this weekend and will run until October 4.

- Earlier this week, the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance, which represents over 150 Calgary based arts organizations and independent artists released a statement objecting to Stephen Harper's comments about Canada's creative economy, reminding Harper of the arts in his own backyard:

In 2005, over 43,000 Calgarians were employed within Calgary’s creative industries, representing about 13.5% of the city’s total employment. In 2001, 4.1% of Canada’s workforce, or 611,000 individuals, were employed in the arts sector alone.

- Chantel Hebert raised some interesting points about Michel Rivard's video on Conservative culture funding.

- Edmonton-Centre candidate Jim Wachowich and Edmonton-Strathcona candidate Linda Duncan are the only two Alberta candidates to have been endorsed by VoteForEnvironment.ca.

culture en péril.

This video is making the rounds in reaction to the short-sighted Conservative Party attitude to arts and culture funding in Canada.

u.s. presidential debate commentary (second to second).

Check out Twitter's Election 2008 for second to second commentary.

I'll be putting in my two sense on twitter too.

auditor general needs resources to investigate highwood communications.

Alberta's Auditor General is considering an investigation into the highly PC-connected ad firm Highwood Communications. After leaving $5.3 million in unpaid bills, Highwood applied for bankruptcy protection after receiving $41.3 million in exclusive government contracts over the past 10 years.

Auditor General Fred Dunn would like to conduct an audit of the company, but is waiting on sufficient resources.

"We're considering how and when we could conduct a systems audit," said Lori Trudgeon, a spokeswoman for Dunn's office.

Ed Stelmach has refused to ask the Auditor General to investigate and has said he believes that taxpayers got "their moneys worth" from Highwood, even though many unanswered questions still remain about what happened with taxpayers money and why the bills went unpaid.

Giving the Auditor General the resources to investigate what happened to the millions of taxpayers' dollars entrusted to Highwood Communications through their exclusive government contracts is a plain and simple issue of giving Albertans the accountability, transparency, and integrity they deserve in their government. The integrity that Ed Stelmach promised Albertans.

___________
Related posts:
September 23, 2008
September 24, 2008

i'm sure that stephen harper would enjoy the kaleido festival.

I really don't expect there to be any taxpayer subsidized rich fancy galas at this festival, so just in case Stephen Harper has a change of heart, I'm sure that he'd be welcomed at Arts on the Ave's Kaleido Festival starting tomorrow on Edmonton's 118th Street (aka Alberta Avenue).

Kaleido! 2008 will feature a mélange of over 200 musical and performance acts, visual artists and artisans from both the professional and emerging arts. Kaleido! is a celebration of Edmonton’s arts scene. The Festival’s newest addition is a Blue Grass Pancake Breakfast featuring “Down to the Wood” Saturday morning, and an all-day family carnival. The evening boasts a wonderful concert from feature musicians and a signature lantern parade.

Sunday, Kaleido! plays host to Edmonton’s Biggest Ever Block Party - Come be a part of the community arts mosaic!! Welcome to historic Alberta Avenue and enjoy the sights and sounds as the arts work together transforming one of Edmonton’s oldest and most thriving communities!

Arts on the Ave has played a central role in transforming, revitalizing, and successfully attracting people from across Edmonton to the inner city Alberta Avenue neighbourhoods -- so check out the Kaleido Festival this weekend.

(h/t Ken Chapman via twitter)

unanswered questions about highwood communications.

As posted yesterday, Calgary-based Highwood Communications has filed for bankruptcy protection with the Court of Queen's Bench after leaving unpaid bills totalling more than $5.3 million. Highwood, owned by long-time PC insider Barry Styles, held an exclusive government ad-buying contract between 1997 and 2007, handling $41.3 million of taxpayers' money to buy newspaper, radio, television, magazine and online ads.

Highwood's financial downfall raises some very interesting questions:

- Highwood was entrusted with millions of taxpayers' dollars to buy government ads. If Highwood didn't pay the media outlets that ran the ads, where did the money go? Highwood was being paid to place $5.3 million worth of ads and ended up with less than $2 million in assets, where did the $3.3 million go? Is there any way to get it back?

- If Highwood failed to live up to the basic terms of its contract, does the province have a legal recourse?

- Why didn’t senior Public Affairs Bureau officials properly monitor the company?

- Why did Highwood’s parent company, B.A.S. Managing and Consulting Services Ltd., also directed by Styles, receive $1.5 million from Highwood and never pay it back?

- Did the government know, or should it have known, that the company was in trouble? Highwood's Saskachewan branch was the advertising agency for several departments of the Saskatchewan government when it filed for bankruptcy in 1998, leaving liabilities of $582,000.

I agree with Paula Simons' recent article, "the government owes the people of Alberta answers." In its first Speech from the Throne in 2007, Ed Stelmach's government declared that, "Governing with integrity and transparency is the first priority of this government."

It's time that Stelmach and his 71 MLAs live up to that promise and give Albertans answers.

_____
Background: Court Documents pertaining to Highwood Communications
Court Report of Trustee on Proposal
Creditor Package
Notice of Intention-Creditors
Minutes of the First Meeting of the Creditors

do the alberta pc's have an ad scammer among them? pc insider goes bankrupt after receiving $41.3 million in government contracts.

The highly connected PC ad firm Highwood Communications has filed for bankruptcy protection after leaving unpaid bills totalling more than $5.3 million...

Highwood has held the government's exclusive ad-buying contract for more than 10 years, handling $41.3 million in public money in that time. They used that cash to buy newspaper, radio, television, magazine and online ads on behalf of the government in exchange for roughly four per cent of the total amount.

Highwood's owner, Barry Styles, is a Conservative party insider and was most recently part of the creative and advertising team for Premier Ed Stelmach's spring election campaign. Before that, he produced ads for former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day and worked on PC election campaigns.

Styles could not explain how his company took $6.5 million in public money last year, yet still owed so much to the media companies. ...

This is not the first time a company owned by Styles has been in such trouble. Highwood Communications Sask. went bankrupt in 1998, leaving unpaid bills totalling $582,220. At the time it went under, the company was the advertising firm of record for at least four Saskatchewan government departments. Styles said the two incidents are unrelated.

harper-watching. scheduled alberta sighting ahead.

For Edmontonians interested in getting a rare-glimpse of the Calgary-Southwest-based Conservative Party leader, Stephen Harper will be rolling through town on Thursday, **September** 25 to attend an event MCed by Edmonton-Strathcona Tory Rahim Jaffer.

bolsheviks and independent conservatives on your ballot.

The Red Menace is infiltrating the ballot box as the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is running candidates Kevan Hunter in Edmonton- Strathcona, Peggy Morton in Edmonton-Centre, Jason Devine in Calgary-East, and André Vachon in Calgary-West.

Much like James Ford from Edmonton-Sherwood Park, other Independent Conservative candidates are popping up across Alberta. In Medicine Hat, former Conservative nomination candidate Dean Shock will be running as an Independent Conservative against official Conservative LaVar Payne. Shock's criticisms of the Conservative nomination process were echoed by M.D. of Taber Deputy Reeve Greg Sekura.

In Calgary-Northeast, Independent Conservative Roger Richard is running against official Conservative Devinder Shory. Richard's campaign kickoff shed some light on the less than savory ethnic politics that aren't just unique to Calgary-Northeast...

"We wanted to get the word out to the Caucasian public that there is an independent conservative candidate," Perry Cavanagh said in an interview. He lost the Tory nomination contest and is now managing Richard's underdog bid.

Moments later, Cavanagh said the independent's campaign has "nothing to do with race." During Richard's rally, Calgary TV host Kumar Sharma urged on supporters in both English and Punjabi.

Also, I'm not going to make too big of a deal about this, but it would be too much not to mention the grammar issues on both Ford's and Richard's websites (note: you are "Independent," not "Independant" candidates).

"we are concerned that the conservative campaign is importing republican campaign tactics and bush-style governance."

I'm glad to see that there are some citizens who are taking a stand against the negative campaigning in this federal election.

Bush campaign architect Karl Rove to address political elites in Toronto and Calgary - Group of citizens comes together to condemn the importation of Bush-style campaign tactics

CALGARY, Sept. 22 /CNW/ - A group of concerned Canadian citizens are coming together to speak out against Karl Rove's address this week in Calgary and Toronto. Partisan think tank, the Fraser Institute, is charging $5000-$7000 per table for Canadian elites to dine with and learn from the architect of George W. Bush's two controversial presidential campaigns. The Fraser Institute has long held connections to political campaigns in Canada. Tom Flanagan, former Harper campaign manager and author of Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power, is also a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute.

"We are concerned that the Conservative campaign is importing Republican campaign tactics and Bush-style governance," Andy McIntyre, an organizer of the citizens' group said. "Personal smears, voter fraud, bribery, blackmail and the politicization of Canada's justice system have no place in Canadian politics or our elections."

Mr. Rove will be speaking to the Fraser Institute at the Artists of the World Gallery, (514 - 11 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB) on September 24, 2008. The group of citizens will be meeting in Calgary at:

Memorial Park, West Side - 11th Avenue and 4th Street SW, Calgary, AB

6:00 PM - September 24, 2008

For further information: Andy McIntyre, (403) 998-8217 - andrewsqrlintyre@gmail.com; Mike Soron, (403) 923-8806 - msoron@gmail.com

peter goldring's misuse of taxpayers dollars?

I'm glad to see that the mainstream media has picked up this story. Still no peep from the suspiciously-silent Canadian Taxpayers Federation on this issue...

Timing of Goldring's newsletter criticized
Incumbent defends mailouts, but opposition furious about 'abuse' of funds
Darcy Henton
Saturday, September 20, 2008

EDMONTON - Edmonton East Conservative incumbent MP Peter Goldring says it's not his fault that his constituency newsletters are arriving in riding mailboxes during a federal election campaign.

photo post: jack layton campaigns in edmonton.

Protesters from the Blind Handgun Owners' Association of Canada showed up in force.

is stephen harper taking alberta for granted? absolutely.

And Albertans aren't giving him or most Conservative candidates any reason not to.

With the exception of closer races in Edmonton-Centre and Edmonton-Strathcona, it's a fair bet that Alberta's parliamentary delegation will be draped in various shades of blue after the October 14 vote. Ken Chapman has shared some interesting thoughts on Alberta's political burnout, and I can agree that after the 2006 PC leadership selection, the 2007 municipal elections, and the 2008 provincial election a lot of politically active Albertans are feeling the political overkill (I know I am...).

With the recent political past in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take a look what the Alberta numbers from the 2006 federal election and 2008 provincial election to see what they can offer.

January 2006 Federal Election - Alberta

Party Conservative	Seats 28 seats	Votes 930,817	Percentage 65%
Liberal	0 seats	219,431	15.3%
NDP	0 seats	167,566	11.7%
Green	0 seats	93,919	6.6%
Independent	0 seats	14,261	1%

March 2008 Provincial Election - Alberta

PC	72 seats	501,028	52.66%
Liberal	9 seats	250,862	26.37%
NDP	2 seats	81,043	8.52%
Green	0 seats	43,563	4.58%
Wildrose Alliance	0 seats	64,370	6.77%

Though it's important to recognize the different contexts in which both these elections occurred, it is intereting to take a look at and compare the numbers.

It seems clear that Albertans were a lot more eager to elect Stephen Harper's Conservatives in 2006 than they were to elect Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservatives in 2008. This is indicative of many things, but after 37 years in office Alberta's governing Tories aren't exactly energizing and exciting political machine of Peter Lougheed's era. The low voter turnout can be blamed on a lot of thing, but I would gather that it had more to do with institutional mediocrity and predetermined outcomes (which isn't wholly the PCs fault).

The numbers also show that many Albertans differentiate their provincial and federal political ballots, which isn't much of a surprise -- I'm one of those many Albertans (having voted federal NDP in 2006 and Alberta Liberal in 2008). I'm particularly interested to see which party takes the second place spot in Alberta on October 14. Depending on how Elizabeth May and Jack Layton perform during the October 2nd televised debate, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Greens and the NDP boost their numbers across Alberta. The Greens have a lot of potential to increase their tally in rural Alberta, where dissatisfied voters seem to have a natural gag reflex to the Liberals and NDP, as witnessed by Joe Anglin and Edwin Erickson's strong second place finishes in Lacombe-Ponoka and Drayton Valley-Calmar in the provincial election.

Also, though I'm willing to be $100 that the Liberals will not elect any MPs from Calgary, it will be interesting to see if the recent Cowtown Liberal gains in the provincial election translate into an increase in the Federal Liberal vote in Calgary-Centre, Calgary-Centre North, Calgary-Northeast, and Calgary-West (which overlap the seats held by Liberal MLAs Harry Chase, Kent Hehr, Darshan Kang, David Swann, and Dave Taylor).

alberta candidate updates.

I've added some updates to the list of 2008 candidates in Alberta...

Edmonton-East: Stephanie Laskoski has replaced Jim Jacuta as the Liberal candidate. I've met Stephanie a number of times and know that she will waste no time hitting the hustings in her epic election battle against Conservative Peter Goldring and New Democrat Ray Martin.

NDP Updates: The NDP almost have a full slate of candidates in Alberta. Calgary East – Ian Vaughn, Calgary Nose Hill - Stephanie Sundberg, Calgary Southeast – Christopher Willott, Westlock St.Paul – Della Drury.