Arrrrr matey, tis International Talk Like a Pirate Day again!!
Aye folks, even the landlubbers may participate in this one. Be sure to greet people appropriately on this day of observance lest ye be keelhauled.
Avast!!!
Reply
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Calgary Glenmore Forum.
Well at least Diane came out and said it outright. Diane Colley-Urquhart will not take a stand on behalf of her constituents, she will take her orders from Ed Stelmach even if it adversely effects Calgary Glenmore.
It is refreshing seeing a candidate being so open about her self/party interest.
I think it can be safely concluded that it is rather pointless for the voters in Calgary Glenmore to send yet another hogtied seal from the Progressive Conservative Party to the legislature.
Lying in our faces.
I am not sure if Bob Rae is losing his marbles or what. In an almost surreal interview the other day, Rae blasted out one incoherent and easily refuted lie after another while on the Rutherford show. It was very odd to listen to.
Links to the interview can be found here.
Here is a tip for you Bob, if you are going to try and rewrite history, do it with an issue that is more than a year old. Bob denied that the Liberals signed into a coalition last fall, Uh Bob, Canadians may have short memories but we are not that bad. The TV clips of you and Ignatieff signing into that coalition are still rather fresh. The rest of Bob’s almost pathological lies are just as easily refuted.
The federal Liberals are spoiling for an election of course. I guess they are simply practicing their usual strategy of a bombardment of lies to Canadians. They usually are at least a little more subtle than Bob was the other day. I do hope they are just as insane during the campaign should an election happen.
On a related front to the potential federal election, Special Ed Stelmach’s main concern is that the election may impact the collection of Kool Aid Kooks who will be meeting in Copenhagen to discuss ineffective solutions to a non-issue. Eddie is worried that he may not get the press he wants when he trumpets his multi-billion dollar boondoggle carbon program while he spends generations of Albertans into potential debt. Glad Ed has his priorities straight for Alberta.
What does it take to get rid of this scumbag???
This is the third posting I have done on the ongoing and expensive process to deport the criminal gangster Jackie Tran from Canada. Back in October I wrote on Tran here. In April of this year I wrote a posting entitled “I wont believe it until I see it!” regarding getting rid of Tran. Sadly, I was right. Our system is too cowardly to get rid of a convicted drug trafficker involved with a gang connected to 8 murders who has constantly broken his bail conditions.
Tran is laughing at us and I don’t blame him. He has shown that one can come to Canada and completely disregard our laws with no consequences aside from millions being spent in legal hearings.
Yes, yet again an idiot judge has ruled that we cannot deport Jackie Tran. While thousands of fine immigrants around the world are languishing on waiting lists trying to come to Canada in order to lead productive lives, we as a nation bend over backwards to try and retain a criminal thug.
Canada is in an enviable position. We are a peaceful and developed country that attracts skilled immigrants from around the world who help contribute to making our country a better nation. Bringing in immigrants will only benefit us if we are a little selective on who we accept however. We have immigrant doctors driving taxis while waiting for our sick system to grant them citizenship while we have countless pieces of crap like Tran bunging up the system.
If we can’t do a task so straightforward as deporting a filthbag like Tran, I deeply fear for the long-term state of the country.
The judge who made this latest ruling should be removed from the bench post-haste. Sadly, there is little indication of political courage on the part of any level of government in Canada.
Perhaps Harper will appoint Tran to the senate. At least it would get him out of Alberta.
Calgary Glenmore by-election is a referendum on Ed.
It is nice to have a by-election breaking up the summer political doldrums. Some constituents in Calgary Glenmore may be annoyed by the summer campaign but let’s face it, in light of past by-election turnouts many people are simply indifferent no matter what the date is. The critical factor for all parties in this race will be identifying and getting supportive voters to the polls.
I have spent the past few days working on the campaign (and will be spending the next few weeks doing so). From what one can see, the PCs have been active on the West side of the constituency and there is little visible evidence elsewhere. I know from personal experience that the Wildrose Alliance has been working all over the constituency for the last couple months. The Liberals, NDP and Social Credit parties are all nowhere to be seen. It is still early and I am sure evidence of their campaigns will surface eventually.
What has been humerous in a dark sort of way is how the PCs have been trying to downplay their own leader in this race. Diane Colley-Urquhart held her campaign kickoff to some 12-40 supporters (the estimates vary) last monday. Among those supporters were some other MLAs but the mighty Ed Stelmach was nowhere to be seen. One would think that the leader of the party could at least make a token appearance at such an event. Why, Dianne may even have been able to break that elusive 14-50 number at the kickoff with such a draw in attendance.
By-elections are considered a snapshot of government support between general elections. As such, these events are considered critical by opposition and governing parties alike. The outcomes of these by-elections reflect on the entire party much more than they do the individual candidates involved. Despite this, Ed Stelmach and the PC party itself has remained invisible in this by-election. The PC party website does not even mention the by-election.
One would think this is odd but the strategy makes sense. The bottom line is that Ed Stelmach is despised in Calgary and his presence on the campaign trail would actually be detrimental to the party outcome. Rather sad when compared to the past success of Ralph’s team in the past.
The PC government has made it clear that Ed Stelmach runs the entire show. Backbench MLAs such as Guy Boutilier are thrown from caucus for daring to question King Eddie and ministers such as Lindsay Blackett are put in their place when they dare suggest legislation that is contrary to Ed’s grand plan (whatever the heck that plan may be).
The provincial government is discussing adding four more MLAs to the mix in the next provincial election. Translation if these seats go PC: four more benchwarming, trained seals. In light of the way things are run, we really should simply eliminate all seats and simply have Ed direct deputy ministers in their actions.
In light of the sort of governance the PC party offers us, it is clear that a vote for the PCs in this election is simply a vote for Ed. No representation in any form will be gained should the PC candidate win. The constituents will simply be gaining another trained seal. An opposition member of any stripe will be better able to speak up for constituents in the legislature than a PC member would.
The PC party clearly knows this and is hiding their hapless leader as well as they can during this campaign.
We however will not let the constituents of Calgary Glenmore forget what this by-election is all about.
SEND ED A MESSAGE!
Things are looking good.
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.
Property rights? Not in Alberta.
Actually, we do not have property rights enshrined in our federal charter either. Pierre Trudeau made sure of that.
Expropriation is a requirement at times for any region under development. Countries with property rights such as the United States still have to take land at times. The enshrinement of property rights obligates governments to assure that full compensation is given to landowners in expropriation situations and that land cannot be taken in a frivolous manner.
When a province/country lacks property rights, governments may bring in repugnant legislation that attacks the rights of landowners just as the Stelmach government is proposing with Bill 19: The Land Assembly Project Area Act.
What this odious bill proposes is to give the government carte blanche power to slap a land development restriction on land that they may consider developing in the future.
Now we know from experience how quickly the Progressive Conservative government moves on development ideas. Why look how they are speeding along with that hospital in South Calgary or the perpetual negotiations on the ring-road.
Bill 19 proposes no timeline. The government can slap a landowner with a development restriction for a project that may not begin for decades if ever.
Now, try and imagine what happens to the value of your land if suddenly you find yourself with a development restriction on it. Nobody in their right mind would purchase such land. How useful is your land to you when the government has told you that you may not develop? Not very.
Of course, in their usual manner of dictatorship the Stelmach government put no protections in the bill for landowner rights, but they sure spelled out the penalties that they will hand out to a landowner who dares do some terrible act such as building a shed on their land.
“Offence
(1)
A person who contravenes an enforcement order under
section 7 is guilty of an offence and liable,
(a) in the case of an individual, to a fine of not more than
$100 000 or to imprisonment for a period of not more than
2 years, or to both a fine and imprisonment, or
(b) in the case of a corporation, to a fine of not more than
$1 000 000.”
Landowners beware. You may be bankrupted or possibly even jailed for a couple years should you dare defy the Stelmach government and try to alter land that you thought you owned.
Look at the nifty outcome for the PC government if they get this one. Land can have an order placed on it a decade before development, the land massively depreciates over the decade due to the order and then when the government indeed does expropriate they can pay the landowner a tiny fraction of the original value of the land.
Only real property rights may protect us from such government incursions upon us. The PCs certainly would never consider supporting such an initiative. Left-leaning parties such as the Liberals and NDP have traditionally never supported property rights for individuals. Only the Wildrose Alliance Party has has a policy to entrench property rights in an Alberta Bill of Rights. I strongly suggest to anybody who wants to protect the rights of Albertans to take out a membership with the Wildrose Alliance and get to work to rid Alberta of this increasingly disconnected government.