Category Archives: Free Enterprise

Of course there is room for cuts.

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 I wonder what the Stelmach deficit will really total by the end of the fiscal year? At the rate that it is escalating, it is looking likely that we will be $10 billion in the red by the time the year is finished. Iris and Ed’s fiscal predictions have proven to be utterly worthless and off the mark by as much as $15 billion in a one year period. It is frightening to think of what these clowns will do to our province with a few more years to mismanage us.

 The voices of the status-quo apologists are dwindling as most people with any degree of fiscal common sense have migrated to the Wildrose Alliance Party. These people have learned that to try and repair the tired old Progressive Conservative machine is a lost cause.

 Still, there are a dogged few who try to make excuses for the freespending ways of the Stelmach government. It is sad to see them smugly state to critics “Well, where would you cut?” as if that is some sort of knockout blow dealt to critical comment. A better question is; where to begin?

 Virtually every department has had massive increases in expenditures despite Albertans seeing little indication of benefits from this spending. The reason to put it simply is that the spending has been directionless and money is being outright pissed away. Bureaucrats are raking in millions in bonuses from Ed Stelmach while displaying gross incompetence in the spending of hard-earned Albertan tax dollars. What incentive is there for these parasites to improve performance? Firing is one of the best things these people can think of happening to them considering the multi-million dollar golden handshakes that Ed likes to give to senior civil servants.

 Special Ed and others have trumpeted that we are in the midst of an infrastructure deficit. This is a sidelong (and rather sad) way to try and blame our fiscal shortcomings on the previous administration.

 Lets assume that this infrastructure is indeed critical. Does that mean that we can’t cut the spending on it? NO!

 A regular reader of this blog (an rare breed indeed) passed on a couple stories to me that really help demonstrate the efficiency being displayed in the construction of Alberta infrastructure. The contrast is striking and I don’t doubt that hundreds of other projects can be compared similarly.

 Wal-Mart announced a few months ago that they will be constructing a giant store in Calgary’s Southeast. The store will be 185,000 square feet and will be the largest of it’s kind in Calgary. The projected cost of this project is about $11 million dollars.

 Now recently, the province of Alberta and the city of Calgary proudly cut the ribbon on the opening of a new police station in the Ramsey district. The station is 36,000 square feet and cost $19 million to build.

 Now I do understand that there are different needs between these types of facilities but come on, look at that spread in costs. I don’t doubt that Wal-Mart will be installing top of the line security that will rival the police station along with administrative space. I am sure that there are many things that the retail facility will need that the police station would not.

 I see that Canadian Tire is building a store along with a Work Warehouse and other shops in Canmore Alberta. That project is projected to come in at around $11 million dollars. This is in one of the most expensive property areas with the most expensive labor in the province.

 There is plenty of room for cost-efficiency folks and we need not eschew much infrastructure in order to save money. The first step would be to investigate and find out why government funded projects cost twice or more  as much to construct as comparable ones in the private sector. Such an investigation would mean that senior civil servants, unions and contractors with a government relationship and sense of entitlement would likely get their backs up. Alas, our current government will never have the courage to take this on.

 We have all sorts of room for spending cuts people. What other departments are wasting money? Who else is bleeding the taxpayer?  We need people in the legislature with the knackers to ask these questions and demand answers.

 ht to Max for the heads up.

When is Ed not surprised?

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 Gee, Ed Stelmach has been caught flatfooted about something. Are there any headlines about Special Ed where he is not confused? Has Ed accurately foreseen anything yet? It appears not. Unintended consequences and excuses are all this Progressive Conservative government seems to be able to generate.

 The latest confusion from Stelmach is regarding the massive job losses in Alberta. Yup, Unsteady Eddie is astounded that Alberta has exploding unemployment.

 Some apologists for the PC government (a dwindling number) claim that nobody could have seen our current circumstances coming. These excuse-generators say that people critical of Stelmach’s fiscal incompetence are simply practicing hindsight. Well PC loyalists, I must call bullshit on you.

 Most of what is happening today was predicted years ago by the Wildrose Alliance Party and groups such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

 Stelmach was told repeatedly that kicking the energy industry in the collective knackers would castrate Alberta’s competitive edge in a world market. Ed ignored that advice and Alberta’s employment numbers are staggering because of it. Certainly Alberta would be seeing a downturn today due to low commodity prices whether Ed meddled in the business or not. It is rather critical now that we continue development and employment in Alberta. Gathering scarce investment dollars is nearly impossible in Alberta today due to Ed’s almost monthly changes to the royalty structure. Here is a hint Ed: Business and investment are drawn to stability!!!! It may be a decade before Stelmach’s damage is undone. Trust takes a long time to regain and that trust is impossible to gain when we have an increasingly unapologetic and confused premier at our provincial helm.

 Ed does seem to be determined to borrow us into prosperity. Almost monthly we are seeing the profound incompetence of our provincial government as they are forced to escalate the projections of the massive deficit being accumulated. Even at the height of the boom the WAP and other groups were telling the PCs that the rate of spending increases were unsustainable. Ed’s deaf ears clearly missed that sage advice however and our grandchildren will be forced to pay for Ed’s excess. Within less than a year we have seen the projections change from a huge government surplus to a record government deficit. Were this a private business the entire management team would be fired. Alas it is rather tougher to get rid of the fools at the helm of our provincial government.

 Every day the future of Alberta looks more bleak while Ed looks more confused. The next chance to replace the Progressive Conservative government is still unfortunately years away. Lets hope they don’t totally bankrupt the province in the meantime.

 No hindsight here. This is an “I told you so.” situation. It would have been nice to be wrong in this circumstance.

 I shudder to think what will surprise Ed Stelmach next.

Ed gets one right.

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 Though I think it is more due to his having drained the provincial coffers dry with idiotic spending than any sort of visionary brilliance, Stelmach is right to pretty much drop the concept of the high-speed train between Calgary and Edmonton into the lap of the private sector.

 Let’s face it, a bullet-train between Edmonton and Calgary is simply an unviable pie-in-the-sky concept that is best left to people’s imagination. Rest assured, if there was really any need for such as project the private sector would already be racing to get a piece of this.

 Already too much money has been spent in studying the viability of this project. The studies continually find that a high-speed train would cost a fortune and the utilization would not justify the project. In one of the sudies conducted in 2004, it was found that only 3% of Albertans who travel highway 2 would consider parking their cars and taking a high-speed train. Those who take the bus or fly are at 35% and 46% in consideration. This will depend on ticket price of course which likely would be huge.

 So, the only way this train would happen would be with billions and billions of taxpayer’s dollars. In order to get people to ride, taxpayers would likely have to subsidize the tickets. Even with all of that, we would only see a 3% drop in traffic on highway 2 where the problem is. What we may see however is a strong blow to the successful bus and airlines who provide transportation between Edmonton and Calgary. Come to think of it, it is surprising that Stelmach would pass up such an opportunity to beat on successful private companies. He does seem to enjoy doing such.

 Part of the reason that Eddie would not like to initiate such a vanity project is the timeline. In Alberta we can’t even get a powerline approved accross the province. Can you imagine how long it would take to expropriate the land required for a bullet-train? How many impact studies? How many court challenges? Even if we began today, we would be lucky to see the train moving for decades. Eddie will want a more immediate legacy project.

 The drive between Edmonton and Calgary is only three hours. Depending on the vehicle, one can expect to spend about $50 in fuel going both ways. Taking a bullet-train would cost at least that much going one way. While the train trip would only take one hour, the rider will then have to either get a taxi, rent a car or take a bus to wherever they are going. Lets not forget that Calgary will doubtless gouge the riders for parking at the station. Is it really a wonder why so few people would actually use this train?

 It is past time to put this concept on the shelf forever. If some strange and wealth philanthropist wants to spend their dollars to build this thing then by all means. Alberta would be better served by expanding the capacity of highway 2. That is realistic in scope and that is where the need is.

train

Druh Farrell’s latest idiotic notion is backfiring.

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 Considering the generally sleepy nature of Calgary’s electorate when it comes to the near endless stream of stupid and expensive ideas coming from city council, the response we are seeing to Druh Farrell’s notion to close a portion of a major artery for traffic is a virtual groundswell of opposition. Farrell has hit such a new height in stupidity that even the left-leaning crowd are scratching their collective heads over this one.

 Druh did the usual political work of finding some figures to applaud this initiative. The executive director of the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone thinks this is a good idea. The head of the Sunnyside community association has endorsed Druh’s foolish plan as well. What people need to keep in mind is that both of those individuals are compelled to keep their noses buried deep within the recesses of the collective butts of city council in order to get funding for local projects. Should they be critical of crazy Druh’s ideas, they can kiss applications for new public swimming pools or sidewalk resurfacing goodbye.

 What we are seeing now is the response from the real community. Instead of speaking to some “revitalization” person, the Herald actually spoke to some businesspeople in the area in question. The people in this area who actually have to eke out a living are condemning this idiocy. These people have that quality that seems to be totally absent in city hall; common sense. Local businesses have no idea how snarling local traffic will help them in what are already hard times. They realize that all Druh’s initiative will accomplish will be to keep people away from that district in droves in order to avoid the traffic.

 As for the head of the community association, I shudder to think of the questions that will be asked when it is discovered that the already congested residential parking is completely jammed with cars? There is little to no parking down there already. Assuming that some individuals come down there to walk on hot pavement on a summer weekend, they will indeed need somewhere to put their vehicles. How will the residents of Sunnyside like it when they find frustrated drivers speeding down their residential streets in hopes of avoiding the traffic jam on Memorial?

 Druh has pointed out that there will be some entertainment to draw visitors to the area. Translation: Buskers.

busk

 Now, how many people are going to cross the city and fight for parking in order to watch an unemployed bongo-player who does not have an anti-capitalism protest to attend?

 The few hairy legged sandal wearing types who may actually go out of their way to watch this fine artistic display are not exactly what we call a high-spending demographic. Unless a person is running a discount organic granola stand, their business will not exactly see a spike.

 On both the CBC site that I linked to in my prior posting and the Herald site in the current posting, there is a comment section. This is the most telling aspect of how truly obtuse this idea is. These are everyday news readers speaking their minds. On the CBC, they are mostly left leaning. The condemnation of Druh’s stupidity is nearly universal.

 It is unlikely that this clear lack of public support will have any impact on Druh’s plans to make us all a little more cosmopolitan. City hall is notorious for ignoring the wishes of those unwashed constituents. Part of that is our own fault. We barely get above 20% turnout in municipal electios. Should we really be surprised that we have found ourselves with a collection of idiots in city hall?

 In the next election it is up to us. Get out the vote and vote out the fools.

Calgary Stampede causes outrage in the East!

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 The “stimulus” binge continues. The trend of punishing successful companies through taxation and rewarding the incompetent through bailouts is frightening to say the least.

 I see the shotgun approach of blasting tax dollars across the nation has led to the grave error of some of those dollars ending up in Calgary. Suddenly we see Central Canadians outraged with federal waste of tax dollars.

 It appears that the Calgary Stampede is going to receive stimulus bucks. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a joke that the Stampede is getting a federal subsidy. That annual event is just fine and throwing tax dollars at it is simply a waste of money.

 What I find striking in this issue is the hypocritical outrage displayed by Eastern commenters in this article. While Central Canadians screech and demand that Bombardier, GMC and Pravda (CBC) be constant recipients of the fruits of the productive, it is inexcusable that a Calgary event get a few bucks in any circumstance.

 Alberta is the producer for the Canadian moocher. We must never forget that role and the attitude from Central Canadians demonstrates this. The tens of billions that Alberta pours into confederation with no return on investment are immediately lost when a few bucks manage to drift back West.

Here are some of  the comments:

The Centrist from Canada writes: Another sponsorship scandal in the making. This stampede is profitable. Why is the government supporting it instead of the CBC?

Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: “Our sector is no less deserving [of support] … than the automotive industry,” Mr. Jones said, referring to the fact Ottawa has advanced big loans to ailing auto makers.’
Bone dumb statement.

Rusty Waters from Canada writes: The government is on a crazy spending spree. Future generations will be in debt up to their ears. Where is Iggy?

barb johnston from Canada writes: So, how is this going to help these festivals, who have already booked everything and set their schedules far in advance? Better to use the $100 million to help the 300 000 people who have lost their jobs this year. I don’t think the majority of the 1.3 million jobless who are ineligible for EI are going to think that the Stampede was a better use of tax dollars than reforming the EI system.

Joe Citizen from EVERYTOWN, Canada writes: FOLLOW THE MONEY. I am sure that this is just one example of how HARPER is using STIMULUS MONEY to pad the pockets of his pals.
HARPER is nothing more than a pathetic corrupt incompetent.
How can anyone really be surprised that he would pull off such a stunt. He is probably going to prop-up bankrupt his favourite right-wing propaganda machine CANWEST as well.
This guy is capable of anything. Canada has never seen such a degree of corruption at the federal level. He has turned Canada into BANANA REPUBLIC NORTH.

Anthony Bfrom Maritimes, Canada writes: Why would Harper need to give a “stimulus package” to one of the most successful events in the country? Oh right, I get it …..
Stevie = Calgary riding = election = campaign coffers.

Thomas Harris from London, Canada writes: Harpers gone mad! Come the summer and fall theres going to be a half million people unemployed in Canada alone and millions more throughout the USA…Who the hell is going to have the money to travel and visit these festivals?, Throwing money at these festivals is idiocy to say the least, they already are money makers, thats why they continue year in and year out! Who needs another dozen chuckwagon races ran so some more Horses can die at the hands of some besottened bloated nosed cowboys…Stevie, you’ve lost it pal, theres no buying it back, look in the mirror and realize your only making a fool of yourself now. Do the right thing for yourself and your country and resign… and take off that atrocious toupee already!

Disgusted Canadian from Canada writes: If this a thriving event, why does it need that much money. 100 million is alot of Money and there are more important places to put this money, anywheere but a dam stampede, Stop this carnage now. It looks like another leech is borne. Well, actually, it,s been around along time only now it’s gettin brazen and has more gaul

Honesty is the best Policy from Canada writes:
The sponsorship scheme is back!
This time the conservatives get theirs

mike sty the Coalition Centrist from Canada writes:
Sponsorship II………..the CONs way

 

 By the way, the indignant Easterners keep referencing 100 million. That is the cost of the entire program, the Stampede is only getting a tiny fraction of that. Why let facts get in the way of Western bashing though eh?

 There are many many more comments along the same line. Look at the outrage. These people who are dead silent when billions and billions are poured into Eastern industries, yet immediately they become outraged fiscal conservatives when it is discovered that a few thousand dollars are ending up in Calgary. The hypocrisy is breathtaking but it is not new or surprising.

 The flow of funding is always supposed to go out of Alberta. Never shall there be a dime flowing back in.

 There are only so many things we can do in this circumstance. What this attitude does demonstrate though is the need to build the firewall around our province. Federal efforts are a waste of time. Alberta can only be protected from within. The Alberta Agenda is an excellent beginning. Harper wrote it, Klein rejected it and Stelmach paid lipservice to it. It is now time to implement it.

Trying to polish a turd.

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 Yes I think the saying about the futility of polishing a turd is quite appropriate as we see Iris Evans somehow managing to table a record deficit budget and telling us it is “a good news story”. Geeze Evans, I shudder to think what you would consider a bad news story. In light of the Progressive Conservative’s astoundingly terrible fiscal management, I suspect that Evans will have to disclose a bad news budget within a year.

 I had the opportunity to go to the legislature and watch this travesty of a budget in person yesterday. Rest assured, the turd looks no more shiny when observed in person.

 The first order of business in the legislature was to sheepishly table a new version of the “fiscal responsibility act”. The reason for this of course is that the current budget is illegal. Sadly, when government breaks the law, they simply re-write the law. Sheepish is really not enough, the members of the Progressive Conservative government should all hang their heads in shame.

 The PCs are trying to present this as a budget of restraint. They have reduced the increased spending to match that of population growth plus inflation. That spending model is what fiscally wise people have been telling government to follow for over a decade. Sadly Special Ed is a decade late in figuring it out. Last summer we were projecting a surplus of almost $9 billion. In less than a year we are facing going almost $5 billion into the hole.

 The government is patting itself on the back for the fiscal restraint being shown. Reducing an increase is not an example of fiscal restraint, reducing spending is!

irisa

 Yes Evans is gazing into a crystal ball. You see, part of the budget is pure speculation. While the government is already admitting that they are spending $4.7 billion more this year than they are earning, they are sort of quiet about there being another $2.2 billion in revenue required to make their spending commitments. Essentially the government is praying that oil will massively spike in price in the next few months. If this spike does not occur, the real deficit is close to $7 billion.

 How much faith can we have in the prognostication powers of the government? Well considering the idiots were off on their projected revenue by over $10 billion over a period of some eight months or so, I must say that I am not terribly confident.

 The issue is not too complex. Our problem is not a sagging world economy or low commodity prices (though that does not help), our problem is that the government has been spending money like drunken sailors for over a decade.

reduced

 

 It does not take an economist to look at the above image and realize that Alberta has been on a collision course with deficit for years. Many voices from the Taxpayers Federation to the Fraser Institute to the Canadian Federation for Independent Business have been pointing this trend out to Stelmach for years. Stelmach blindly and idiotically ignored those voices and continued to piss away the hardearned tax-dollars of Albertans.

 How must it feel for those PC MLAs who sat in the legislature in the 90s? Those MLAs who endured the complaints and pressures to spend as Alberta tightened her belt and ended deficit financing? How does it feel to go so swiftly and deeply back into deficit after all that work guys? I watched the PC seals in the legislature pounding their desks in applause as Evans tabled that document which will place the burden of payment on our children. Can you guys really sleep at night? Have you any shred of principle left?

 This is the sad outcome of a government that has been in power for almost 40 years. There is no principle, there is no vision. The government exists for the Progressive Conservative Party’s interests. The interests of Albertans were discarded years ago. There will be no healing for this sick administration. They are entrenched, visionless and parasitic. The government takes no path aside from what they view as the path of least resistance. In cowardice they have bent to every spending demand and we now are all paying the price.

 Alberta needs to sweep this lost government from the legislature. We are prone to doing that every few decades. It is clear that such a housecleaning is more than in order now.

 The Wildrose Alliance Party is promoting fiscal responsibility and is wisely planning for Alberta’s future. Meetings are being held across the province and growth in the party is unprecedented. Despite the fast growth of the WAP, it will still be a tough and uphill battle to unseat a government that feels they are in power by divine right. It cannot be stressed enough how much Albertan’s need to shed their traditional apathy and to get involved. People need to work to make change. The campaign for election 2012 must begin now if we are to make change in Alberta. Don’t wait for somebody else to do it, they will not.

 If things are left as they are, we will be leaving a sad and shameful legacy to future generations in this province. To have so much potential wasted is intolerable.

Myths are easier to spread than facts.

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 Last week some time while listening to an afternoon radio show a caller called in and claimed that he had spent most of his life working in the oilsands of Fort McMurray. He then went on a tirade about how there are absolutely no environmental controls, no penalties for environmental offenses perpetuated by operators up there and no monitoring of environmental impact up there. The show then went to the news and this idiot’s clearly untrue ravings went completely unchecked.

 Now this is significant in a couple ways. People with an enviro-chip on their shoulders will not hesitate for a second to completely fabricate a case in pursuing their anti-industry goals. I have worked in the oilfield for most of my adult life. In all aspects from exploration to development, the industry is heavily monitored, regulated and punished if found to be in infraction. In five minutes of google work, anybody can find that surface mining of oilsands so far has disturbed .01% of the boreal forest (which will be reclaimed) and only .1% of the entire forest is even minable. Documentation of the reclamation efforts, the regulations and the monitoring are exceedingly easy to find. Despite that, the latte-lappers of urban areas who oppose the oilsands would rather continue to blather outright untruths. If these people will lie baldfaced to us, what indeed is their goal?

 Another point to be found is how easy it is for a myth to get out there and how little effort the media makes to disprove untruths. Hey, if it bleeds it leads. It is much more exciting to forecast the pending (though unproven) end of the planet than to show that the environment and wildlife are perfectly fine. A desicated deer dying on a roadside provides more voyeuristic pleasure to the readership than presenting the reality that deer have been wasting away due to overpopulation.

 A great example of this was the mythical two-jawed Goldeye caught in the Athabasca river last summer. Below is the headline that the Calgary Herald printed:

Two-jawed mutant fish fuels oilsands dissent!

Good heavens!!!!! A mutant!!! Lock up the children!! Call in the army!! The world is ending!!!!

Here is the picture of this clear environmental atrocity:

20090316-north20chip20goldeye

 Gotta admit he is an ugly little devil. Of course this prompted Greenpeace and the usual subjects to cry out that we must halt all oilsands development and offshoot gang of eco-nuts; “Keepers of the Water” displayed this horrific specimen at conferences around the province as visible proof that oilsands development is destroying the planet. The media eagerly lapped this up and our little fishy made headlines across the world.

 When the hype finally played out, the fish was released for actual study.

 Well,  a few weeks ago deeply buried in the odd newspaper we see this news item: Freakish fish is really a normal specimen.  

 Yup. After biologists at the University of Alberta finally got to view the fish, it was quickly determined that this was a perfectly normal Goldeye. Apparently, his kind of fish has a rough, toothed tongue which after death commonly protrudes below the jaw looking as if there is a second jaw. Nothing unusual, nothing new.

 This of course hardly made headlines. Were the people who were hysterical about this myth at least a little bit sheepish? This comment following the story says it all:  “Hmm.. sounds like another government cover up. They are trying to convince the public that there is nothing toxic about pulp mills or oil sands.”

 Yes, when the facts come against them the eco-nuts dismiss it as a government conspiracy (unchecked of course by the media). There is no reasoning with these people.

 Another fallacy that the eco-crowd loves to spread is the apparent cancer increase in residents of Fort Chipewyan who live downstream of the oilsands. This began when a lone doctor up there claimed that there is an unusual increase of certain kinds of cancer in the area. Alberta health rushed up there and studied the issue. No increase was found. This clearly being a conspiracy, another study was demanded. That study did indeed conclude that there was a higher rate of cancer in the area!! It was found that the cancers were completely unrelated to those that the original doctor claimed were occurring but there was indeed a higher incident. The headlines trumpeted this claim of a new plague decimating the region of course. What was not mentioned very much however is that almost all of the isolated first nations communities in Canada have elevated cancer rates. This has nothing to do with pollution and everything to do with those communities being in a socio-economic nightmare with the majority practicing some terrifically unhealthy lifestyles.

 If pollutants were leaking into that water supply, rest assured that the massive monitoring system would pick up on that. Of course, if a person is disconnected with reality and feels that it is a global conspiracy of heartless animals who want to kill our entire northern population, how can you reason with them?

 I can see how some of the shallow readership of papers will absorb this garbage without doing research on their own. These eco-activists know damn well what they are spreading is utter B.S. however. These people lie in the face of the public without batting an eye. Apparently the ends justify the means to these unprincipled fools. Of course, something that is often overlooked is that groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club are large multi-national multi-million dollar organizations. There are plenty of six-figure incomes that would be at risk in the eco-industry if facts were suddenly addressed. Why would people donate if indeed the world were not ending.

 Patrick Moore was one of the original founders of Greenpeace. He left when the organization changed from an environmental group to essentially a self-serving, multi-million dollar corporation. They hate Moore as he has been saying it like it is.

 But hey! Why lets facts get in the way of a decent myth?

no_1020blinky

Things are looking good.

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At least they are from a partisan point of view if you are a Wildrose Alliance Party supporter.

The financial numbers for the parties (at least most of them) were published yesterday and some changes are evident on the Alberta political landscape.

Liberals $437,690.00 Deficit
NDP $408,628.00 Deficit
WAP $1,622.95 Deficit
PC’s $1,976,577.00 Surplus

 Or in fundraising terms Braid said it well in his article:

 “The Wildrose Alliance enjoyed a real surge in fundraising last year, collecting nearly $1 million. The new party emerged from 2008 with a deficit of only $1,622.95.

That’s really good, actually. Any opposition party so close to being debt free is a big winner on Alberta’s loser circuit.”

 Now this does have to be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, the WAP is leading on the “loser circuit” but we are indeed still on that circuit.

 Trends in electoral support in Alberta are finally showing some signs of change however. The most striking right now is in fundraising. The PCs remain a powerhouse in that regard making six-figures in interest from their party savings alone. The party in power will always maintain a degree of contributions as interest groups contribute in hopes of gaining the favor of the ruling party. In light of Stelmach’s abuse of Alberta’s business community though, we can already see a shift in corporate donations leaving the PC party. With Stelmach leading Alberta into her first deficit in 15 years in a few days, I suspect that many grassroots supporters will be re-evaluating their choice to cut a cheque to the PC party in the future as well.

 The Alberta Liberal Party is mired in debt and is now closing their Edmonton office and laying off staff. The sharp swing to the left the party took with the choice of David Swann has costed them greatly. Lets face it, the remaining supporters are socialists. Socialists don’t dig into their pockets to support causes, they demand that others dig into their pockets. Sadly, that strategy is an utter failure when it comes to political fundraising. The ALP will be further challenged in maintaining a membership and province wide organization as they have no staff to do the task.

 The NDP has cracked the nut of socialist fundraising by having unions do the job for them (reaching into the pockets of others as usual). A little bit from most every union member’s union dues gets diverted to the provincial and federal NDP coffers. The NDP only appeals to a small segment of the extreme left however and that small segment will be further split as David Swann works to coax those few socialist votes. While the NDP has a steady and forced income stream from union contributions, they still manage their funds as socialists do and are deeply in debt.

 The numbers for the Green Party are currently unavailable as the party appears to have completely imploded. The Greens have what appears to be two sets of leaders and boards who will not transfer documents between them making it impossible to file their financials. Meanwhile, another of their leading members has grabbed a group of supporters and marched off to try and form yet another provincial party. The Green Party is looking likely to be de-registered and will be unlikely to be of any consequence in the next provincial election if indeed they exist at all.

 Now on to the Wildrose Alliance Party. 2008 was a very challenging yet productive year for us. From our roots in the Alberta Alliance Party we have greatly evolved and matured as a political party and it is showing in our organization and fundraising. We pragmatically merged with the Wildrose Group to avoid voter confusion and division and took a strong stand in support of Alberta’s economy and business community. Our policies and participants have moderated over the years allowing us to gain support from a wider spectrum and to attract serious donors seeking to bring an alternative party to the PCs on to the Alberta political landscape.

 While we did raise close to a million dollars in 2008 and finished that fiscal year $1,600 in debt, we had exceptional challenges to face that year. For one, our party had a debt that we retired. No longer will we be wasting money on interest charges. The Wildrose Group we merged with came with some $56,000 in liabilities that we absorbed, and of course we entered the 2008 general election which was a huge expense.

 Money is not everything in politics of course. If fundraising alone were all that mattered we surely would have fared much better in the general election. The election unfortunately came within weeks of our merger with the Wildrose Group and it was difficult for the newly merged entity to organize and effectively fight an election on such short notice. Our general organization on the ground as far as constituency associations was not very good at all and that is critical in campaigning.

 What we did gain from the 2008 election was a re-introduction to Albertans. Many learned of us for the first time in that election and learned that we are indeed a moderate alternative for consideration. Experience as a whole was gained by those involved with the party and while the election was not a success in terms of votes, it most certainly was a grand success in terms of growth of the party.

 Fundraising is continuing to roll along in unprecedented levels for us as a party. What is different in 2009 however is that we do not have the challenges that we faced in 2008. There are no complicated and expensive mergers on the horizon, there is no election on the horizon, and we have no debt to service or pay off. Our funds can now be fully dedicated to the growth and organization of the party and we are doing so.

 The Wildrose Alliance Party is now employing a full-time administrator. This alone is an incredible boon to the party. Relying solely on volunteers for such duties is difficult and costly to the party as a whole. A party needs a person to answer the phone during business hours and give quick replies to inquiries whether from the press, members or constituency organizers. Having somebody able to dedicate full time lets us organize events and lends timely support to organizers in other parts of the province. Membership renewals are explosive for us now in comparison to past years as we have somebody to follow up on lapses and new memberships are greatly on the rise as we have somebody to quickly respond to new inquiries. This position is essentially self-funding once begun though it takes a fair chunk in the bank to get it going. From this move alone we can look forward to increased growth and organization in the years to come.

 Meetings are being held across the province to promote the party and to learn from people on the ground what their concerns are. The reciprocal manner of these meetings makes them very beneficial to both the party and the attendees as we all learn from each other. It can be easy to lose touch with what the electorate is feeling. The PCs demonstrate that excellently. We have seven meetings scheduled in the next couple months including one at the Calgary Petroleum Club that is already more than half-filled despite having only recently been announced. More are in the works and being scheduled.

 With these meetings comes more organization, more members and more funds. If we continue this trend for the next three years, the Wildrose Alliance Party is going to be a very formidable presence in the next general election. I see no reason why this trend will not continue.

 The Wildrose Alliance Party’s AGM and policy convention will be held on June 6 this year. It is anticipated that a very large slimming and revision of our policy set will be accepted at this meeting. That step in the evolution of our party will bring us much closer to the average Albertan as our current policy set unfortunately is somewhat plagued with duplication and a vague sense of purpose.

 There are many bleak things happening economically and politically in Alberta right now. There is at least one reason for optimism. In three years we may very well see a change in government in Alberta for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Let’s talk bailouts.

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 OK, it looks like reality finally bit Special Ed Stelmach in the butt and he has realized what tax hikes and socialism do; they stunt and reduce business activity. The greedy “fair share” strategy and royalty hike that Stelmach and Knight pursued brought no increase to provincial revenues and simply managed to pluck the golden goose. On what is Stelmach’s 8th or so “tweaking”  of the royalty regime, the engines of misinformation are working overtime to demonize the oilpatch again.

 A Herald headline the other day demonstrates this rather well:

 Stelmach announces bailout for junior, mid-cap energy companies.

 Tax relief does not constitute a bailout!

 You would think that with all of the real examples of bailouts that we are seeing lately that people would understand the difference. The “stimulus packages” that Harper and Obama are flogging on the backs of our grandchildren are bailouts. The cheques being handed to the auto sectors are bailouts. The cash that the CBC is demanding would be a bailout. The money Air Canada gets every time they mismanage themselves to the brink of bankruptcy is a bailout.

 Where is the cheque coming to the big bad oil companies? Where has the oil industry even asked for a bailout? There are cheques going out, have no doubt of that. The cheques however are going from energy companies to the government.

 Will every tax reduction in the future (should we see any) be defined as a bailout? When Harper reduced the GST, was he offering a bailout to the entire population of Canada? Are we all welfare bums in that sense that we have been bailed out?

 Unsteady Eddie was already realizing that his new royalty scheme was idiocy even before oil prices and the market went into the toilet last fall. Land sale revenues (another cheque from energy companies to government) had plummeted in Alberta to the point that government was not gaining anything with their new “fair share” royalty program. Stelmach had made Alberta uncompetitive and it was very apparent as exploration and development boomed in Saskatchewan and BC while Alberta saw a reduction in activity despite $140 per barrel oil prices.

 In light of the world economic situation, clearly Alberta would be seeing tough times right now whether Stelmach messed with our economy or not. The pain Alberta will feel through this recession will be far more acute due to the market mistrust that the Progressive Conservative gang led by the idiots Ed Stelmach and Mel Knight.

 We are hearing of a credit crunch. Energy exploration and development are capital intensive ventures that require long-term planning and investment. When an energy company seeks credit, like everybody else it must demonstrate assets to the financial institution that may finance development. In energy that translates to proven reserves and speculation on their value when these reserves are developed. Now imagine how hard it is to get credit when the value of your reserves and cost of development changes by the month as Stelmach keeps trying to tinker with the rules. Would you like to invest in a jurisdiction known for tearing up agreements and increasing their take after the development dollars have been invested? Rest assured investors are asking these very questions.

 Stelmach can reduce royalties to even below the levels we had prior to his initial messing around. The market mistrust in Alberta will not go away. It will take a change of government or at least a decade of some true and steady leadership before we see business confidence in Alberta again.

 Some people claim that energy companies have not done enough to win over the hearts of the public thus they lack support at times like this. Just how far are they to go exactly? Have a look around. How many billions must these companies invest in communities before some appreciation is shown? How many more hundreds of millions in charitable initiatives and sponsorships must they invest?

 I don’t think anything will help. Too many people like to simplistically imagine that all of these companies are headed by Scrooge McDuck types who are swimming in money taken from the public. People don’t look at the millions employed, the billions paid in income-taxes and billions spread from the community level to the entire nation. Many do not realize how deeply their pensions are invested in these companies or how many government services are provided thanks to revenue generated from these companies. I don’t know if perception will ever be changed.

 One area that energy companies are working on in hopes of getting a better perception is pumping money at groups who have fully dedicated themselves to demonizing the entire industry and I have to admit I am stumped with this one.

 The Pembina Institute is a leftist organization that is dedicated to misinformation and pretty much every effort possible to halt all energy development. In looking at their report, I am astounded and disgusted to see who is funding them:

There is only one donor listed over $50,000. That donor is ConocoPhilips. In the $10,000 to $20,000 category we find the Canadian Gas Association, Enmax, Nexen, The North American Oilsands Corporation, and Suncor Energy. Getting into the $1000 dollar range there is an even longer list of energy donors.

 Why are you guys paying this group to kick you in the nuts? Have these investments made the releases from the Pembina any more rational or fair? Do you really expect these people to suddenly embrace you?

 When we see anti-energy types howling that energy companies are being bailed out, I would suggest that the dollars wasted on the clowns at the Pembina would be much better spent on ads trying to inform the public on what a bailout actually is.

 Giving more cash to the Pembina is an exercise in masochism at best.

Put a fork in him, he’s done.

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harpercowboy

 

 Many people have been becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the actions of Harper in his mad pursuit to try and gain a majority government. There has been the declaration of Quebec as a nation, the insane spending increases, the complete flip/flop on the income-trust issue, the capitulation to the eco-kooks on carbon policy and on and on and on.

 Nothing better illustrates Harper’s complete sellout of his own principles better than his recently quoting John Maynrd Keynes in defense of his garbage “stimulus” package. CP documents this here:

“But I was taught early in economics classes, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes said that, ‘At times like this, we remember that in the long run, we’re all dead.’ So right now, we worry about the short term. We are worried about the short term, and we’ve got to get things right now.”

Yes the direct quote above is from Steven Harper. Harper always claimed to have been strongly influenced by Hayek and Friedman who both very effectively and completely discredited Keynes socialist theories.

 In Harper’s own thesis, he spoke of the dangers of embracing Keynesian economics in order to win elections.

From Harper’s thesis:

“Minority governments show no particular tendency to fiscally irresponsible

behaviour, contrary to some theoretical predictions.”

“A general observation would be that, while there is no evidence of a ‘chronic deficit’ tendency in Canada historically, neither is it clear how such a problem is resolved once it occurs.”

“The record indicates that particularly activist Keynesian policy has been rare in the postwar period. The results indicated that it should remain so.”

 To act against your own principles is one thing (and still not a good thing), but to directly quote from the economist that Harper claimed for so long was misguided is astounding.

 Harper has utterly no principle left and will do utterly anything in order to gain the brass ring of a majority.

 The irony is that Harper’s efforts will not gain him a majority. If people want a Liberal Prime Minister, they will elect one. Ignatieff is at least honest about his liberal nature. Harper could not pull an election victory from the inept Dion, there is no way in hell Harper will get one from Ignatieff.

 If indeed we in Alberta have any hope for a fiscally responsible government, we must look to our provincial legislature. The federal parliament is clearly a waste of time.

 With Deficit Ed Stelmach in power, we certainly have our work cut out for us provincially as well.