Goldring Watch - Episode 2

And now, he speaks. November 26, 14:50:

Mr. Peter Goldring (Edmonton East, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the motion passed last March by the House specifically called for the government to secure medium-lift helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles to better protect our brave men and women in Afghanistan. Can the Minister of National Defence tell the House when we will
have these helicopters and UAVs in Afghanistan?

Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to providing our brave soldiers with the best possible equipment. In fact, we have recently purchased six Chinook helicopters and UAVs in addition to those that were leased, all of which will be operational next year. I am pleased to tell the House that we will also deploy eight specially-equipped utility Griffin helicopters to act as escorts for these Chinooks. Most importantly, this will help reduce the risk to soldiers and civilians from ambushes, landmines and IEDs, all of this saving lives and continuing the important work of Canadian soldiers in theatre.

Not to say that we aren't all concerned about the safety of our soldiers, but... wow, nothing like back bench government members softballs in question period - providing wonderful opportunities for ministers to take up time patting themselves on the back, instead of holding the government to account for their actions. Take a look at what a rookie opposition member does in question period as opposed to our fifth term representative. So, I challenge you Mr. Goldring, how can you bring the concerns of Edmonton East (here or here)to parliament instead of being just 1 of 143.

Harper obligated to gain support

As the prime minister of a minority parliament Stephen Harper has the obligation to obtain support of a majority of MPs for any major financial bills. That is the fundamental principal which makes a parliamentary democracy work. If he does not find friends in one of the three other parties on a piece of legislation then it means the country does not support the legislation. It is now time for Harper to put politics aside and craft legislation that will be supported by a majority of Canadians (as evidenced by the support of a majority of parliamentarians).

Part of the problem here is the completely objectionable conduct of the Liberal MPs at the end of the last parliament. Why would anyone be happy with electing an MP who abstains from voting on a piece of legislation that they believe is bad for the country, without a conflict of interest present. Yet, that is exactly what the Liberal MPs did in the last parliament. Doing so meant Harper was allowed to put through legislation that Canadians did not want, which is exactly what he is continuing to do now. The puppy peed on the carpet and got away with it, so why should we blame him when he continues to pee on the carpet.

The Liberals have no credibility and the Conservatives have contempt for the majority views of parliament and Canada. I cry a little inside.

Goldring Watch - Episode 1

As a resident of Edmonton East, I was dismayed when Conservative Peter Goldring was once again reelected. I believe that the member's views are not actually representative of the needs and concerns of the majority of residents in the riding. As such, I plan to keep a watch on the activities of Mr. Goldring.

So at the end of this first week of the 1st session of the 40th Parliament of Canada, I have searched Hansard for Goldring:

Results: Your search did not match any documents.

Better luck next week.

I will in the not so distant future provide a response to his Journal editorial on vote swapping.

A greater shame for Alberta

Over the past few years with sky high oil prices, the Alberta government has squandered a glorious opportunity.

The government has spent years raking in record surplusses from mediocre royalty rates while oil companies and a small segment of the population prospered immensely. Unfortunately, over this period the government's royalty scheme produced a small fraction of the billions of dollars that Albertans are rightfully due selling out their environment. At the end of this intense growth period, we are looking toward a fiscal crisis and potential recession no further ahead.

Cuts that were made to social services in the early 90s are yet to be restored. Schools, hospitals and roads are in great disrepair and Alberta's savings have grown insignificantly (much of the money added is likely now lost in the mire of tumbling stock markets.) At the same time, we have allowed unfettered growth which came with a boom in population that our infrastructure was not prepared for and was followed with a boom in addiction, crime and prostitution.

If royalties were appropriate, the growth would have been more controlled and the government would have had more money. There would be less strain placed on provincial services and housing while we would have the money to keep pace with the growing needs and we would have still been able to pay off the debt and sock a ton of money away for the rainy day which is upon us.

But most importantly of all, we may have been able to do some really incredible things that governments can only dream of - like ending child poverty. Instead, we have 1 in 10 children in Alberta living in poverty. This is a complete shame for the handlers of our province.

And now, steady Eddie is giving oil companies a choice on how much they pay in order to prevent a slow down.

Shame.

Federal Election

Wow - its been well over a year. I want to try this again. I want to be more brief this time.

Stephen Harper must have been busy last night. No, not celebrating his victory. He must have been busy creating his economic plan.

Just like when I was in University, Harper left it until the last minute to create his plan for the economic crisis - or as he likes to call it the era of global economic uncertainty. He must have created it last night, or else why wouldn't he release during the campaign?

This makes me sick. Dion talks of having a plan but never talks about the details. Harper talks about taking it easy and not rocking the boat, then releases a six point plan after the election?!?! Shouldn't we be using the campaign to debate the merits of each plan and decide which one we want to carry forward with. But like Kim Campbell said, the election is no time to be discussing serious issues.

The only reason I can come up with why Harper didn't release his plan (because its not too controversial) before the election is because he actually had two plans ready to go.

That's right, one for a minority and one for a majority government.

Now, wouldn't we all like to know what he really wanted to do.

Oops!!

Well Premier Steady Eddie has made his first big gaff - and let me say, for the image he was trying to present it was a BIG gaff. I'm not surprised to hear that Lyle Oberg and Mark Norris are knee deep in it as well.

So apparently you and your multi-national corporation can spend some quality time with Premier Stelmach or some of his ministers for the mere price of $5000. It's been said that everyone has their price; I'm just surprised that Ethical Ed has such a low price - and don't kid yourself, the cost to make your "issues" Ed's "issues" is much lower than $5000. Remember you get two-thirds of that back in a tax rebate. The cost to buy the Alberta premier $1333.33!!! It looks like Mr. Stelmach has a little bit of a price to pay for this bright idea which has tarnished his clean guy image. I hope for Stelmach's sake that he was not lying about canceling the plan before the public outcry, because if he gets caught in a lie there, he will not only be unethical, but he will be a cover-up guy too.


On another note, the LA Galaxy have signed the world's most popular soccer star David Beckham to a 5-year $250 million contract. This is an incredibly risky move, that can make or break the beautiful game in North America. If successful, it builds the league and sport, by profiling Beckham's skills and star-power. The Galaxy will be ground breakers and every other team in MLS will be looking for their own superstar. If it is unsuccessful, the Galaxy will have spent a lot of money on a sport with little potential in North America.

I'm inclined to believe the former and, as a soccer fan, I hope it will ring true. Maybe then Canada will be able to get a successful soccer league off the ground for once.

I Called It!!!!!

Check out my post of November 26th.

Liberal Leadership

Well, I guess Michael Ignatieff has to start unpacking his things, that move to Stornoway isn't going to happen.

Stephane Dion (or as George W. Bush likes to call him, "Steve") has won the liberal leadership and he should be able to make the next election interesting, especially given the upsurge in polls for the Liberal party of late.

Now, we sit and wait to see who the next premier of Alberta will be. It's Leadership night in Canada!

Another Tough Decision

So, I decided not to vote in the first ballot of the PC Leadership election, but I can still choose to vote on December 2nd. What to do?

I know for sure that I do not want Ted Morton to run this province. I was pretty scared of the leadership of Ralph Klein in 1992 (although I eventually did cut my hair, right Pikey), yet the prospects of Premier Morton scare me even more. I don't know whether I would prefer a Dinning or Stelmach win as both have their upsides. Even still, I would have to hold my nose as they both a significant amount of downsides. I think I will spend some time researching the candidates and come to a conclusion by the end of the week, although the fear of a Morton win is a great motivator.

The other thing that I think needs to be said about Morton, involves his future in Dinning's Alberta. Can you possibly see Ted Morton as a minister in Dinning's cabinet? I didn't think so. So what is to be made of Dr. Ted after he realizes he has a large ground swelling of support after a Dinning win?

I don't think it is a far stretch to think that he would jump ship to the Alberta Alliance, after all many of his 26,000 votes last weekend came from Alliance members. So consider for a moment, Dinning wins the election and Morton crosses the floor to the Alliance. With him he brings a large number of dissidents who for a long time have bit their tongue and supported Klein in the Progressive Conservative Party. Suddenly, we have a 'credible' and popular leader for the Alliance party - might make for an interesting election in the spring of 2008. A weakened PC Party with a new controversial leader, a strengthened Alliance party with a new controversial leader, and perhaps a credible Liberal party with some relative strength. Rural ridings would fluctuate between PC and Alliance, Calgary would go mostly Conservative, and Edmonton would likely go mostly Liberal (with the incumbent ND's likely holding their seats) with a split right wing.

The scene in Alberta would change with a small majority PC government, and their security in question. The exact makeup would be dependent on the number of dissidents Morton could pull over with him. We may just be on the verge of the collapse of the PC stranglehold on this province. Unfortunately for us, when Alberta switches allegiances, it often switch to the right.

But perhaps, I'm getting ahead of myself and I need to look into the candidates in the election before us.

November 26, 2006 - The Aftermath!

Hey there, how's it going? What's new? Good to hear. It's been so long since we've spoken. I'm such a bad friend.

Well, It's November 26, 2006 and we now know a little more where Alberta Progressive Conservatives and tens of thousands of other Albertans stand on who they want to be the next premier of this province.

In case you haven't heard, here are the results:

Jim Dinning	29,470
Ted Morton	25,614
Ed Stelmach	14,967
Lyle Oberg	11,638
Dave Hancock	7,595
Mark Norris	6,789
Victor Doerksen	873
Gary McPherson	744

Surprised? I'm not overly surprised, but there are surprises within the results. Ted Morton receives about 26% support. His second place finish is not a complete surprise, but to be under 4000 (4%) votes behind "sure thing" Dinning is a bit of a surprise. Morton is a wildcard and extreme in his views. He will have a tough time adding votes to his total, as most of his supporters are likely to be included in the 25,614; whereas, there is room in the Dinning and Stelmach umbrella to attract more voters - from the bottom five camp, and from the tens of thousands who will vote on December 2nd only.

Similarly surprising, maybe mostly to Lyle only, is that Oberg only garnered 12% of voter support. He likely shot himself in the foot throughout the campaign and conservatives smartly concluded that this wacko can't run our province.

So given the Oberg slide, and the lack of credibility from other candidates, am I surprised that Stelmach is firmly entrenched for the second ballot? Well, somewhat. I guess someone has to take that place, but I thought we would be more likely to see a Hancock, Norris, or Oberg to sit in with a distant third place.

The numbers look promising for Stelmach. He is over 10,000 votes away from Morton, but having Morton holding such strength, almost guarantess a third ballot. Dinning needs at least 25,000 more votes to gain a majority, Morton will need around 30,000. I don't see either of these camps, gaining those numbers for the second ballot. So, all Stelmach needs to do is place in second on that ballot.

There are three reasons Ed Stelmach will finish second on the second ballot:
1. The Morton Problem
2. The Anti-Dinning Factor
3. Momentum

The Morton problem. Ted Morton is an extremist. As an extremist, he has a large, solid, and vocal support group. He gained support from the Alberta Alliance and social conservatives - people who were motivated to see a change to what they saw as the immoral, chicken-shit, tax-and-spend leftist Tories under Klein. Very few of his supporters chose not to vote, or stayed home in the cold. He is not a big tent politician and his numbers are unlikely to grow significantly.

The Anti-Dinning Factor. It seems many of the politically astute in this province either love Dinning or hate him. There is a significant camp of people who really do not want Jim to run the province. Most of them also do not see Morton as a camp to pop their tent in - their only choice left is Ed Stelmach. This is why Lyle Oberg has gotten behind Steady Eddy, and that brings us to...

Momentum. Already, finishers four and five have thrown their support behind Stelmach (bringing potentially 15,000 plus voters with them). Victim number six is expected to throw his support Ed's way early in the week. Non-voters (too cold, or didn't care enough) are also likely to see Ed as a good compromise candidate. There was a little bit of a surprise with his finish, and everyone loves an underdog. For all these reasons, Ed has momentum on his side.

So here is the Stelmach plan; convince voters that he has a shot at the final two. Keep people from voting for Dinning because they are scared of Morton. Show yourself as the reliable, responsible, reasonable conservative - separate from the leftist old-school Dinning, and the extremist scary Morton. Finish second on the second ballot.

When everyone votes on the second ballot, the Dinning supporters will put Stelmach down as 2nd choice because he's not Morton, and Morton supporters will put Stelmach down as two because he's not Dinning. Waltz with the rejected to the finish line!

His only major challenge is to keep Morton's support strong enough to force a second ballot, but not so strong that Ted finishes second. Keep the left from flocking to Dinning because they are so scared of Morton. Do this Eddy and you have a real chance of winning.