Ed Stelmach: Puting Alberta on the Map

Ed Stelmach has done us proud once again. Our beloved Premier was voted second in the Fossil Fool of the Year competition, a world wide contest judging who has caused the greatest damage to the environment. Ed Stelmach, doing us proud - putting Alberta on the map.
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Environment Trumps Oil Sands Development
(inconceivable I know, but it's true in this case)

Cash Money Forever

So, in the last six months I've been talking to quite a few people regarding the state of Alberta and its future. Inevitably, these discussions shift over to our booming economy, which has allowed me to hear some interesting views regarding it. There seems to be this perception (which seems to be widespread, although not accepted by all) among people my age that the current economic conditions, which we are EXTREMELY FORUNATE to have, will continue unfettered. Some people believe that a slow down could occur, but definitively not a “bust” happening any time soon. When I ask the same question to people of my father’s generation, the ones who happened to live in Alberta during the 70s and 80s, they have a different mentality. They're not debating whether the economy will enter a downturn; rather, they're trying to predict WHEN the economy will take a dive. That's cause these guys know, you never know what's around the corner - especially in a boom/bust economy like ours. This dichotomy in views is obviously evident due to age/experience differences, and my evidence is purely anecdotal, and I pray that the current prosperity that we're fortunate to have remains… but straight up, there’s something all Albertan’s should recognize regarding oil booms and our province. 1) They have a history, 2) Oil booms have an expiry date, and 3) When they reach this expiry date, things tend to be bad (God forbid).

A similar sentiment was expressed in the Edmonton Vue Weekly last week, in an article by Ricardo Acuna. Acuna advocates that the government should take a more interventionist approach in the economy, in order to mitigate a potential 'bust' (which he suggests could possibly occur sooner rather then later, as a result of the imminent American recession). Although I have insufficient economic/historic/life background to speculate when a bust will happen or what we should do to mitigate it, I agree with Acuna in the sense that perhaps we (the provincial government and individual Albertans) should be actually discussing such a scenario- rather than you know, planning for the best and not expecting the inevitable.

Fair Vote Alberta

Fair Vote Alberta (facebook group here) has initiated a petition drive in an attempt to get the Province to create a Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform. With voter turnout in last month’s provincial election at 40%, I think Alberta needs to ask itself, how come 60% of the province didn’t bother to vote? Some say that turnout levels like this are signs of contentment; while others say it indicates disillusionment with the democratic process. But, honestly we won’t really know until we ask Albertan's their views. Hence, why we need a Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform, to find out why and what we can do to re-engage Albertan’s within the electoral process. So, I urge you to get a copy of this petition, print it out, get it filled and send it back to Fair Vote Alberta.

Protect Ya Neck

One of the most influential individuals in contemporary popular culture - The RZA- was recently interviewed on The Hour by George Stroumboulopoulos. You gotta peep it:


Most Memorable RZA Line from Interview

"The civilized are held responsible for the uncivilized, if you don't take your responsibilty you'll be punished..."

Tequila and Turbans

I’m in the midst of writing term papers but I had to take a break to comment on this. Props to Mr. Samuel for directing me to this.

The Alberta human rights commission fined Tequila, a Calgary nightclub, $5000 for refusing to allow a turban wearing Sikh to enter. There seems to be some debate regarding whether he was refused entry on the basis of his skin colour or religion (turban) but it doesn’t seem to matter (to me at least) since the charter forbids discrimination on both grounds.

I'm not here to debate the merits, justifications, precedence, etc, of this decision. What got me riled up was what was written on the CBC website article on the ruling. The CBC website allows viewers to post comments on articles and even recommend comments, including with this article. And what I saw disappointed me.

Let me share my favourites with you (warning: I had some formating issues):

"It would be great to see this gentlemen advance women rights in his
community where discrimination against women is wide spread, now that he has
the know how on the complaint process."

"Odd that Jaspal Randhawa found that a nightclub named "Tequila"
discriminated against his religion. I was under the impression that the Sikh
religion forbids consumption of alcohol. So if he wasn't just looking for a
customized lawsuit, why was he there and not down at the Russian TeaHouse?
If I
am wrong, please correct me."

AND MY FAVOURITE:

"Might it be the approach of this this ethnic group, commonly referred too as
Sikhs or east Indians that riles many of the population even other minorities?
As they do little to actually help understand them as a group or individuals
with their actions and attitude. Whenever I read or hear about another situation
of Sikhs/east Indians being denied this or that it would seem they want to make
headlines, attention grabbers. Why is it that often this ethnic group take it to
the max? What of the many other other minorities, native Indians, Chinese,
Vietnamese, and so forth? Its rare one "hears or reads" of individuals of these
ethnic backgrounds complaining, certainly compared to those of east Indian
descent. My personal prejudices with this ethnic group began to form over twenty
years ago, in my early 30's working in the the banking industry, when I began
interacting with them both professionally and personally. At the same time I
began interacting with other ethnic groups, yet I came to admire and respect
these others both as a group and individuals. This ethnic group may force the
others by using the laws of our country not to show our prejudices publicly, but
by their own attitudes and actions the resentment simmers and grows"

I know what you’re thinking (at least I was), that these ignorant comments don’t reflect the feelings of most Canadians, or Albertans. But the fact that these posts received significantly more ‘recommendations’ than other ‘non-ignorant’ posts might want to make you reconsider that (the last one however is an exception with only four recommendations, but is still striking since this figure is similar to the amount of recommendations of ‘non-ignorant’ ones).
I’m not really going to say more about the comments other than they disappoint me. But I would like to hear from you regarding your take on the comments (find them here). Are these comments founded? Are they, as I describe them, ignorant? Are they a representation of anything? Should we care?

Dare to Deceive Rally

What: Rally
Who: Dare To Deceive
Where: Celebration Plaza
When: Thursday, March 20 - 12:30 p.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Why: Accountability

Embracing Canada

I just stumbled accross Embracing Canada, an online series which chronicles the experiences of three immigrant families settling in Canada. The experiences of a Brazilian family (finished in Jan. 08), an Indian family, and a Moroccan family are examined.

Programs like this makes me love the CBC.

Non-Cabinet News

In case you missed it, here was Preston Manning endorsing an Albertan citizen's assembly on electoral reform in today's Edmonton Journal. Good on Mr. Manning. A citizen's assembly is a no brainer when only 41% of eligible voters vote and Manning's endorsement is a definite shot in the arm to those pushing for it.

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Also, this story caught my eye.

Apparently, Syncrude/Imperial Oil won't accept the new royalty deal unless shareholders a financially compensated for a loss in value. Yes, this woulda been more helpful during the actual election and yes, it makes me cringe when big business tells the government how things are gonna be done (dont get me wrong, I'm glad Syncrude is here but a company dictating terms to the government on how things will be done, despite years of government subsidies and incentives- c'mon). Despite this, I gotta give it to Imperial Oil CEO Tim Hearns. Hearns will do everything in his power to ensure that his shareholders are getting the best possible deal. Perhaps Ed can learn something from Hearns.

The Cabinet

Ed Stelmach announced his cabinet today, with a much larger and more demographically accurate composition than his previous one. Ed's cabinet will likely receive a warm welcome due to this, and it seems as if he has learned from his past cabinet appointing mistakes. The first thing I noticed was that Ed appointed what on paper seems to be fairly competent rookie MLA’s to key positions, such as: Manmeet Bhullar as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, Janice Sarich as another Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Advanced Education and Alison Redford as Justice Minister. Despite this however, there are three ‘unusual’ aspects of this cabinet that caught my eye.

1. The demotion of Guy Boutilier (aka The King of Fort Mac). Guy has been in hot water in the past, but is a fairly popular Tory MLA with a considerable amount of cabinet experience. It would be interesting to see in coming days what specific factors led to the MLA from the major economic hub of this province, and nation, to be demoted now, rather than in Ed’s previous cabinet. Surprisingly, even Tory bloggers have questioned this move.
   
2. Dave Hancock - the Red Tory, the progressive Progressive Conservative, Edmonton's voice in Cabinet, and whatever else people love to call him- got demoted from health to education. Sources close to Dave claim that he would be pissed (trans: a bit angry) at this demotion and rightfully so. I have no statistical evidence but I would venture to guess that a significant amount of progressive voting Edmontonians supported the PC's because of Dave. I know many students who, despite despising the Progressive Conservative party, voted for Dave because of him being a decent and progressive MLA. Furthermore, the guy took the health portfolio to heart and seemed to be truly passionate about it.
   
3. Finally, as Calgary Grit has discussed, the size of this cabinet (with all the parliamentary assistants and cabinet committee chairs) must be making the old school conservatives in this province cringe. We're talking about over 50% of Tory MLA's (39 out of 72) receiving some sorta appointment today.
   

But these are my initial thoughts. It'll be interesting to see how these rookies pan out, what Guy plans to do, and how the size of this cabinet will go down with Albertans. As always, check out Alberta: Get Rich or Die Trying, Calgary Grit or Daveberta for more analysis.

Post Election Fallout

WARNING: This is a bit of a rant.

To the non-apathetic and non-Tory youth of Alberta, the results of last Monday were a tough pill to swallow. The election reaction on Facebook epitomizes the disappointment best, with numerous groups popping up protesting the results and implications of the election (here, here, here, here – plenty more). I enjoyed this reaction, it reinforces that I am not alone.

The fact of the matter is however, that the youth of this country, especially in Alberta, are not involved in the traditional forms of political expression (I got sent this article on youth participation - it raises some interesting questions). Due to this, and specifically because we don’t vote, we're likely to be screwed for a long time to come (the results on Monday guaranteed that for at least another four years). But where do we go from here? Sure the election results disappoint me, but what gets me the most is that the conversation in these groups revolves around bitching about the results (once again most of them) rather than discussions over organizing ourselves to stand up for our views and rights.

SHITS BAD. STRAIGHT UP. But what are we gonna do about it? Bitching will accomplish nothing. As my buddy Dave (not daveberta) said after reading the Roberts article: ‘The politicians don't represent our interests, they represent old people's interests. The only way to get them to hear us is by FORCING them to hear us.’ STRAIGHT UP.

So, to the youth of this magnificent province…

STAND UP and FORCE THEM to consider us…
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I gotta throw this song up again, it provided me some good times this weekend.

AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

My bad for the video choice... it was the best one I could find.

A Bad Week For Change

This was a bad week for change. Straight up.

Straight Outta Edmonton Public Service Announcement

Dont link the fact that my post frequency dropped to the events of Monday night. Rather, I havent been able to be as active due to it being TERM PAPER SEASON here at the University of Alberta. I'll be back soon.

The Day After

Yesterday was a HORRENDOUS day for the opposition parties of this province.

As a student, the Progressive Conservative victory maintains the status quo of climbing tuition rates and a lack of affordable student housing. If you care about the environment, like me, the fact that the party elected was designated with the second worst environmental plan does nothing to address your concerns.

I could go on, but honestly, it wouldn’t really serve a purpose. The election is over. Now, as progressives we have to sit down and look at what went wrong. How come, despite polls indicating Albertans were unhappy with the direction of Premier Ed Stelmach, did he manage to deliver such a massive victory? What can we do, as opposition parties, to sell ourselves to Albertans?

Well we got four years to think about it.

PS: Take a look at the election dissection by Alberta: Get Rich or Die Trying.
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Although we lost, I have to give respect to Ed and his team on an impressive victory. Props to you, Sir.

But I would like to give a shout out to three amazing MLA's that lost Monday. David Eggen, Mo Elsahly and Rick Miller.

Specifically to Mo and Rick, I want to thank you both for the Young-McClung and Young-Rutherford group you created in an effort get young people more involved and aware of politics (non-partisan). Thanks and goodluck.

Billboard #1: VOTE Tomorrow

E-DAY Eve...... VOTE

#1 Three Dog Night- Joy To the World

Billboard #2

TWO DAYS TO GO.

#2 Rod Stewart- Maggie May