Riding Profile: Edmonton Beverly-Clareview

All the bets seem to be on an Alberta Provincial Election being called next Monday, on February 4. In spirit of this, I plan to give an overview of the 22 ridings that fall under Edmonton or Sub-urban Edmonton.

**** Edmonton Beverly-Clareview****

Edmonton Beverly-Clareview is located in the north-eastern section of Edmonton, including the communities of Balwin, Beacon Heights, Belvedere, Delwood, Homesteader, and South Clareview. The riding is home to large percentage of lower income families, as well as a significant aboriginal and immigrant population. In the 2004 provincial election, NDP Ray Martin won handily with over 50 percent of the vote. Contesting against Martin this includes Alberta Liberal Candidate Dawit Isaac and former Edmonton-Manning Progressive Conservative MLA MLA Tony Vandermeer. With Isaac's standing in the African community and local community work, Vandermeer's experience as an MLA and fierce campaigner, and Martin's popularity, the riding should be an interesting one to watch.

Ed Snubs Premiers' Climate Change Meeting

Last week, Ed Stelmach released his climate change plan and was criticized from environmental groups, political groups and citizens from across Canada. It fell short of even the standards set out by Prime Minister Steven Harper and the only people who seem to be happy with it were the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Today, Ed further embarrassed Alberta.

Ed is currently in Vancouver attending a meeting with all the Premiers to discuss a number of issues including inter-provincial trade and climate change. However Ed has decided to skip the summit on climate change because he 'has lots of work to do in Alberta.'

Climate change, I would argue, is the most important issue facing Canadians and Albertans today. Alberta has a vested interest on the matter, thus should play a leading role in the development of any national climate change policy. Walking away or refusing to discuss climate change does not solve anything. In fact, it marginalizes Alberta's voice at the national level further.

David Taras to Ed Stelmach: "Call Off the Election"

Albertan political pundit and University of Calgary political scientist David Taras sent a unequiviocal warning to Ed Stelmach today: Call off a proposed election. This is in the wake of a new poll showing that Albertan's, when asked about Ed's handling of 12 specific policy areas, he recieved an average perentage of 52% dissaproving of his leadership on them (32% approving). So, it doesnt look good for Ed in a potential election expected to be held in six weeks time.

Also, the poll revealed that the main issues concerning Albertan's included Health Care and Affordable Housing.

***What do you think of the Alberta Liberal's plans? Check out there policy page here to see their vision.

Ed's Spirit

Another pre-election-vote-buying-spending announcement today by Premier Ed Stelmach but this was to an area that hasnt been a traditional priority of the PC's - the Arts. The details of the announcement can be found here, while the Liberal plan here. Although I would like to believe that this is a renewed commitment to the Arts and Ed and the PC's finally understand what a strong Arts community does to a province culturally & economically, the announcement sounds purely politically motivated. Let's not forget that when Ed made his cabinet, the now-so-important portfolio of the Arts was not important enough to deserve its own ministry but rather was lumped together with Tourism, Parks and Recreation (Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Arts – Hector Goudreau).

Ed's Climate Change Plan

Premier Ed Stelmach made another pre-election announcement today, his much anticipated made-in-Alberta Climate Change. At once it was criticized by opposition and environmental groups as too expensive and would take too long to implement. You can check out the government website on Climate Change here but let’s get serious, climate change IS an issue. We as a province have to deal with it. I commend Ed for taking this on and advocating a solution that would find a balance with industry and the environment.

But this? A 50% reduction in emissions by 2050 (TWO THOUSAND FIFTY) and only if emissions increase at their current rate. That's a joke. It's a plan that does not address the severity of the issue. Climate Change is a reality and we gotta recognize that we can no longer operate our oil industry the way we did yesterday. Ed shoulda came up with some fresh and innovative (carbon neutral refineries!) but instead, Ed came up with nothing but a pro-Big Oil plan (when the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producer's thinks the government got it right, its definitely pro-Big Oil).

First the Royalties, then Climate Change. Ed seems to think Big Oil elects him.

Check out the Liberal plan here.

Ed's PSE Announcement: Misses the Boat

A day after Premier Ed Stelmach made a $168 million pre-election-vote-buying-spending-announcement, a report commissioned by the University of Alberta reveals that only 69% of Undergraduates and 61% of Graduate students complete their degrees. The report studied the degree completions of students from 13 Canadian universities and placed the U of A third last in Undergraduate degree completion and dead last in Graduate degree completion. The numbers suggests that affordability is definitely a significant issue (as well as a booming economy) facing students, yet yesterday’s announcement did nothing to address student accessibility to PSE. The announcement focused exclusively (as in the $97 million University of Calgary announcement on Monday) on University infrastructure projects. Ed missed the boat on this one.

Ed needs to realize that although students will welcome the new projects, they’re more concerned about the money in their pocket. What about the tuition hike? What about the residency hike? What about affordable housing? These are the real concerns for students and addressing them can allow students to actually get degrees here.

Post Secondary Cash Infusion

So, Ed Stelmach has announced a $97.1 million cash infusion for the University of Calgary and plans similar announcements for the University of Alberta on Wednesday. I give props to Ed for the announcement, however this money is allocated to aid Universities with infrastructure concerns (library upgrades, building upgrades, etc) but what about addressing post-secondary accessibility and quality in the province? The money announced today is welcomed but the real focus of the government should be in making post-secondary available to all Albertan's and ensuring students get the best possible education for their money. Specifically I'm talking about cheaper tuition (tuition rose 4.6% this year in Alberta, highest in the nation) and maintaining appropriate class sizes.

I will get into my concerns regarding Post Secondary Education funding in the future as I plan to be talking quite a bit about it during the election.

Another Homeless Death

Early Monday morning the body of a homeless man was found frozen to death in north Edmonton after temperatures dipped below -15°C. This comes a day after an Edmonton homeless group announced that deaths of homeless in Edmonton had risen nearly a third and the statistic would likely rise unless the government addressed the issue of affordable housing in this province.

How do we live in the most prosperous province in the country, proudly 'DEBT FREE' yet numerous Albertan's lose their lives yearly due to a lack of affordable housing? It's absolutely unacceptable.

Months ago we were promised that something would be done to alleviate the housing crisis in the province yet KEY recommendations (short term rent controls) from the government housing task force have been rejected by the provincial government. Today it was announced that the government will allocate unused provincial land to affordable housing projects, which is a great step. But that's a couple years in the future, what about today? How are we to protect the lives of our homeless on the streets this winter?

We need something done to alleviate homelessness until these affordable housing units are created. If short term rent controls are not a viable option than the province should introduce an alternative that is and still accomplishes the same goal.

So far we’ve heard nothing. Lets hope for a short winter.

Alberta's United Right

This weekend two major far right Alberta political party's, the Alberta Alliance and Wildrose, merged to become the Wildrose Alliance. Although we can only speculate on what kind of impact this merger will have in the upcoming provincial election, the new party could steal some PC votes throughout Alberta, giving the Alberta Liberal's an edge in certain ridings. The Wildrose Alliance may even be able to win a few seats, which could spell disaster for Premier Ed Stelmach. With PC ridings in Edmonton and Calgary expected to be lost to the Liberal's, losing a few rural ridings could lead Alberta to a MINORITY GOVERNMENT. Yes, a minority is possible considering that PC's have lose 20 seats for this to occur. But this rests on the Wildrose Alliance being able to step up in the next election. Something that could make Alberta politic's all the more interesting.

PC's Buying ALP Candidate Domain Names

When Ed Stelmach was asked why he was suing a 24 year old University student for purchasing the domain www.edstelmach.ca, the premier, and his supporters, claimed that the act was unfair and an invasion of privacy.

But it doesn't seem like that would prevent Stelmach and the PC's from doing the same. Earlier today, it came to my attention that they began purchasing the domain names of provincial Alberta Liberal candidates and redirecting them to the PC website. For example, Kent Hehr, ALP candidate for Calgary-Buffalo has his website at www.kenthehr.com but the domain www.kenthehr.ca has recently been purchased and has been re-routed to the PC website.

So, Stelmach and PC supporters were calling foul on Dave Cournoyer for purchasing www.edstelmach.ca and re-routing it to his blog (eventually to a wiki article of Harry Strom after he found out he was being sued), yet the premier and his party are doing the same things. Hypocritical, no?

It's not even the same thing that Dave did. Granted Dave is an Alberta Liberal supporter but he never sought to use the domain to directly push the Alberta Liberal Party. He just thought of it as a clever way to increase traffic to blog. Even the Alberta Liberal Party made it clear that they had nothing to do with Dave's activities. What makes it worse is that Stelmach (and his supporter’s) spent so much time criticizing and calling what Dave did as wrong and criminal. YET THEY DO IT.

So, what Stelmach and the PC's are now doing is the same thing that Dave did, yet are pushing it further. Are we going to get the same uproar and calls for people getting kicked out of the PC Party or university? Isn’t what they did also an invasion of privacy? If Dave’s was than surely Stelmach’s is – but worse.

Aboriginal Alberta

In case you missed the Edmonton Journal's feature on the increase of aboriginals residing in Edmonton, here it is.

Alberta's aboriginal population is growing with Edmonton and Calgary boasting 5% and 2% of its population being aboriginal. The forecast is that aboriginal population of the province will only get larger, with Edmonton expected to be the Canadian city with the largest aboriginal population in 15 years. As an Edmontonian this forecast makes me proud, a greater aboriginal population adds to our already culturally diverse city.

However, with their added and increasing population to the province (aboriginal population increased %20 from 2001-2006) it's a bit ironic that Ed Stelmach in his first year of office terminates the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Ministry. Although the numbers are increasing the P.C government has stepped backwards on an issue that will gain greater relevancy. There needs to be a re-evaluation of the stance in order to ensure that the concerns of the current and future aboriginal population of the province are listened to.

Australian Government Caution's Against Canada

Here's an interesting story I found on Tony Burman's CBC Blog.

The Australian government has raised Canada's travel advisory level and is calling on its citizens to exercise caution when traveling to Canada due 'risk of terrorist attack,' 'petty crime,' and natural disasters.

Stelmach Attack Ads

It’s a sure sign that an election is on its way when attack ads start appearing.

With a provincial Albertan election rumoured to be called next month, anti-Stelmach have already been launched in anticipation. The ads were not run by any of the opposition political parties but rather by Alberta Building Trades Council, an organisation that represents unions in the province. The group has launched an initiative called ‘Albertans for Change’ that believes “democracy is best served when governments are held accountable for their decisions and when voters are encouraged to cast well-informed ballots.” Their attack ads criticize Ed on his lack of planning for the province’s future.

Take a look at the ads for yourself here.

Liberals UP, Conservatives DOWN

Not surprisingly, the federal Liberals have begun to pick up support in the polls and are now leading the Harper Conservatives by 2 points (35% Lib; 33% Con) according to an Ipsos-Reid poll done two weeks ago. This comes after Environment Minster John Baird’s ridiculous showing at the Bali conference in December. Baird was at the forefront of a group, that included the United States, that attempted to prevent any international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions from occurring. This along, with the Schreiberbriber affair, has surely hurt the Conservatives, as Chantal Hebert had forewarned.

A big up to Stephan Dion though. His decision to not bring down the government in fall and to wait it out until poll numbers pick up has worked. Although I was embarrassed at the time (Dion basically said we will act against the budget in spirit rather than in votes), I gotta say that it was the right decision. Shows some leadership, no?

*** The poll also showed that federal Conservative support has dramatically slipped in Alberta (insert Lil Jon WHAT). They dropped 23% (TWENTY THREE PERCENT). Perhaps due to Harper not following any of the things we thought he stood for, perhaps due to Albertan unhappiness with the provincial Conservatives, or perhaps with all them un-integrated easterners and immigrants moving here spreading their non-Western ideas. (under Various).

Dhalla Beating

Brampton Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla was in Punjab, a Northern state of India, earlier this week when her purse was snatched by two children. After the pair, brother and sister, were apprehended by police, police began to beat the boy, aged 9, leading to international condemnation of the actions of the Indian police. Dhalla's initial remarks were reported to support the actions of Indian police but by reading her comments it is clear that they were completely taken out of context.

Honest Ed vs Daveberta, United Right?, Bill 46 Conflict of Interest

It has been quite a week so far in Alberta politics.

First there was Premier Ed Stelmach is threatening to sue now legendary Alberta political blogger Dave Cournoyer for purchasing rights to the website address edstelmach.ca. The claim is that the Dave is misappropriating the personal identity of Ed Stelmach, and is demanding Dave to turn over the website and any monies earned through it. Initially the website would direct people to his blog but since he received the letter, Dave has redirected those accessing the website to a wikipedia article on former Premier Harry Strom. I am not aware how Dave will proceed or whether the Premier has a case (most stuff I have found is mixed, some claim that the Premier has a case while others say he does not) but the thing that got me is the support (rightly so) Dave has received on the matter from across the political spectrum. Not only have ND’s and Liberals come out to support Dave but so have PC bloggers (Ken Chapman and albertatory) and to my greatest surprise, ultra right wing Alberta political figures such as Ezra Levant as well. Kudos to Dave, he is a hardworking guy (also as evident from all this politically astute) who has been around the Alberta political blogging scene for awhile and is one my inspirations to begin this blog.

There is also news of the far right wing parties, the Alberta Alliance and the Wildrose Pary in the province will unite before the next provincial election, rumoured to be called in mid-February. An interesting analysis on their influence on the election was done by Calgary Grit.

The past two stories have overshadowed this one, which I discovered in today’s Edmonton Journal. One of the architects of Bill 46, Kellan Fluckiger, was paid 1.4 million dollars for his work on the project, which Alberta Liberal Hugh Macdonald has called into question. Fluckiger, the article reports, is also in a conflict of interest over his work in drafting Bill 46. It seems that one of his family members is an executive with AltaLink. Bill 46 gave unprecedented power to the energy industry, which directly benefited companies such as AltaLink and was heavily criticized by landowner’s and environmental groups. The Alberta government’s decision to hire Fluckiger to draft the bill is a breach of public trust, further undermining the credibility of the government and the unpopular bill.

Welcome to my blog. The blog will share my perspective regarding Canadian and Alberta Politics, focusing primarily on the latter. Alberta Politics is not as boring as it is sometimes perceived, especially after the arrival of Ed Stelmach as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in December ’06. A common sentiment shared among various scholars, journalist, bloggers, and Albertans is that Alberta is undergoing a political change. The P.C drop in the polls has led to increases for the Alberta Liberal Party and undecided voters, creating the next provincial election to be similar to the one held in 1993, where the Decore Alberta Liberals were narrowly defeated by 10 votes by Klein P.C’s. Albertans have an opportunity to remove the 36+ year P.C government and challenge the conservative political culture of the province. My blog is designed aid this transition. I hope to hear your opinions and views!