Can't you just hear the muttering..."Damnable activist Judges" going about interfering with the "divine right" of certain Conservative Party of Canada candidates, like Rob (Mandala was a Terrorist) Anders. He has been taken to Court in Calgary by a group of his own party members who have alleged he improperly engineered an "acclamation" of his recent constituency nomination. How does this happen in a Party that is serious about governing the entire country? Why hasn't the process been revisited? Surely Anders is confident he can win.......again!
Why is our democracy under such threats by the very people we are electing? We entrust them to make choices for us about how we not only sustain but advance a fair, just, equitable, open, progressive, respectful society. The CPCs seemingly can't even do that within their own ranks. Why should we entrust them to do it for the full spectrum and range of Canadians for the whole country? Prime Minister Harper - please put a stop to this insanity within your own Party!
We definitely and desperately need a better quality of person in political and public life. Where are the citizens with wisdom, compassion and character who are prepared to enter public political life to serve the greater good...not just their friends and their own self interest? Given the general crap they have to take, little wonder we do not see such people coming forward.
We get the government we deserve, but do we deserve this?
Monday, October 02, 2006
Hancock's Policy Platform Release
Dave Hancock is going to announce his Policy Platform Oct 4...at NorQuest College in Edmonton in the morning and at his Calgary Campaign Office in the afternoon.
Stay tuned for details.
Stay tuned for details.
"If God Were Voting Who Would He Put In Power?"
Daveberta is giving us access to some background on how the religous right is getting organized for the Morton PC leadership bid. Dr. Morton's television interview is an hour long so be prepared to invest a bit of time if you follow the Daveberta link. Dr. Morton makes some good points on policy - mostly in a neo-con context. The Miracle Channel interviewer tells us more about how this interest group is thinking, what are their core political issues and he explains clearly why they should become involved in the PC Leadership Campaign.
Will the Church be the State in a Dr. Morton lead Alberta?
More hardcore retail politics in action which I applaud...in context and concept but not in content.
Will the Church be the State in a Dr. Morton lead Alberta?
More hardcore retail politics in action which I applaud...in context and concept but not in content.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Props to the PC Party of Alberta
I recently posted a harangue at the PC Party Executive as to where the Statement of Principles of the Party was on the new website rework. A new focus on leadership is as it ought to be BUT it threw out some fundamental and vital information about the foundational values of the Party namely the Statement of Principles. They are the best indicia of what it means to be a real Progressive Conservative party member in Alberta today. What we omitted in the website makeover was any indication as to what we believed in and stood for as a Party. The grassroots designed and endorsed Statement of Principles is the best articulation of what being a PROGRESSIVE Conservative is all about in Alberta. Dave Hancock led the process when he was President of the Party.
Happy Day! They are back on the website. Props to the Party people who made amends and made it happen.
PCs in Alberta are offering virtually any Albertan with a 16 year old pulse and a Five-spot to pick our new leader. I think that is great – raw hardcore democracy at its finest. Lots of groups are getting organized to block vote or cull candidates based on their select world view. Great! More raw hardcore democracy in action!
So those of you who will pony up the $5 bucks and who actually research the candidates and show up to vote, welcome to citizenship and to the PC Party of Alberta. I ask you to take a moment to read and reflect on our Statement of Principles. Then please consider staying as a continuing Party member and having a real “stake” in the future of Alberta and not be just partaker of the “sizzle” of the leadership campaign.
Happy Day! They are back on the website. Props to the Party people who made amends and made it happen.
PCs in Alberta are offering virtually any Albertan with a 16 year old pulse and a Five-spot to pick our new leader. I think that is great – raw hardcore democracy at its finest. Lots of groups are getting organized to block vote or cull candidates based on their select world view. Great! More raw hardcore democracy in action!
So those of you who will pony up the $5 bucks and who actually research the candidates and show up to vote, welcome to citizenship and to the PC Party of Alberta. I ask you to take a moment to read and reflect on our Statement of Principles. Then please consider staying as a continuing Party member and having a real “stake” in the future of Alberta and not be just partaker of the “sizzle” of the leadership campaign.
La "Menace Morton" LaPresse Sept 29/06
We do a monthly op- ed for LaPresse in Montreal on Alberta issues and events. They do the translation. Below is the latest piece that ran under the title La"menace Morton." Here is the link for the French version if you are interested.
Ralph Klein’s political sun has finally set. The race for succession reveals the Progressive Conservative Party fissures and divisions that had been held together by Klein’s electoral charisma and personal political prowess. Early traditional opinion polls put Jim Dinning in the lead. He is the former Klein finance minister, and the true architect of the old war on debt and deficit. However, he is not showing any support growth and may have peaked too early. The Alberta PC leadership race is wide open and inclusive and looks like a national election given the range of candidate perspectives, from the centre-left to the far right. Anyone 16 or older, who has lived in Alberta for six month and who has $5 for a party membership is eligible to vote. And they can buy their memberships right on voting day right at the polls.
Traditional polling is not much help in predicting the outcomes. They underestimate the fact this contest is not about opinions or intentions but rather about engaged citizens who pay for a party membership, then shows up and votes. Polls underestimated candidates like Dr. Ted Morton, University of Calgary political scientist whose neo-con values and theo-con visions align comfortably with the Bush White House and the American Republican right. He has a significant, organised, committed, energized, evangelical and old Reform Party voter base. That, with citizen cynicism and political passivity, could be enough for a first-ballot Morton majority in a crowded field of nine candidates.
Morton co-authored, along with now Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a letter to Premier Klein demanding a “firewall” be built around Alberta to “protect” the province from federal demands on sharing resource revenues with Canada. Harper appears to have moved on. Morton hasn’t. He is unapologetic, insisting that Alberta’s wealth is exclusively Albertan and we need “protection” from federal government intrusion, regardless of who is Prime Minister.
The irony is that while resource revenues are surging they aren’t what they should be. Thanks, in part to an outdated oil sands royalty regime designed in the mid1900s to attract oil sands investment when oil was about $13 a barrel. It has worked well. So well, in fact, that it has attracted a potential $100B of private investment.
Premier Klein recently admitted he had no plans to handle this level of growth. The Opposition was right to criticise Alberta’s failure to manage its prosperity and to optimize its growth. The Opposition wasn’t alone. Former Premier Peter Lougheed has said publicly the Klein government has made a “mess” of oil sands development.
Albertans are now questioning if their government is squandering its rightful share of this valuable non-renewable resource revenue. Alberta could and should have done much better in managing and stewarding oil sands development. Many projects have experienced horrific cost over runs absorbed, paid in large part, by the public, via deferred royalties.
The next leader and Premier must be a better manager of this resource, for the future of the province, our country and our planet. It is a major challenge that demands a forward-thinking imaginative leader. We need someone who can integrate the issues with insight and intelligence and who has the political will and power to envision and enact a new and “resourceful” energy policy.
Some, not all, of the candidates are capable of rising to this challenge. But first, they have to entice a cynical citizenry to get better informed, to buy a party membership, to make a conscious progressive choice and to then take the time to show up and vote. For progressive Albertans to pass on this chance to participate they default to Dr. Morton as their next Premier. He is a man whose values and vision for Alberta would be more at home in today’s U.S. Republican Party.
Ralph Klein’s political sun has finally set. The race for succession reveals the Progressive Conservative Party fissures and divisions that had been held together by Klein’s electoral charisma and personal political prowess. Early traditional opinion polls put Jim Dinning in the lead. He is the former Klein finance minister, and the true architect of the old war on debt and deficit. However, he is not showing any support growth and may have peaked too early. The Alberta PC leadership race is wide open and inclusive and looks like a national election given the range of candidate perspectives, from the centre-left to the far right. Anyone 16 or older, who has lived in Alberta for six month and who has $5 for a party membership is eligible to vote. And they can buy their memberships right on voting day right at the polls.
Traditional polling is not much help in predicting the outcomes. They underestimate the fact this contest is not about opinions or intentions but rather about engaged citizens who pay for a party membership, then shows up and votes. Polls underestimated candidates like Dr. Ted Morton, University of Calgary political scientist whose neo-con values and theo-con visions align comfortably with the Bush White House and the American Republican right. He has a significant, organised, committed, energized, evangelical and old Reform Party voter base. That, with citizen cynicism and political passivity, could be enough for a first-ballot Morton majority in a crowded field of nine candidates.
Morton co-authored, along with now Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a letter to Premier Klein demanding a “firewall” be built around Alberta to “protect” the province from federal demands on sharing resource revenues with Canada. Harper appears to have moved on. Morton hasn’t. He is unapologetic, insisting that Alberta’s wealth is exclusively Albertan and we need “protection” from federal government intrusion, regardless of who is Prime Minister.
The irony is that while resource revenues are surging they aren’t what they should be. Thanks, in part to an outdated oil sands royalty regime designed in the mid1900s to attract oil sands investment when oil was about $13 a barrel. It has worked well. So well, in fact, that it has attracted a potential $100B of private investment.
Premier Klein recently admitted he had no plans to handle this level of growth. The Opposition was right to criticise Alberta’s failure to manage its prosperity and to optimize its growth. The Opposition wasn’t alone. Former Premier Peter Lougheed has said publicly the Klein government has made a “mess” of oil sands development.
Albertans are now questioning if their government is squandering its rightful share of this valuable non-renewable resource revenue. Alberta could and should have done much better in managing and stewarding oil sands development. Many projects have experienced horrific cost over runs absorbed, paid in large part, by the public, via deferred royalties.
The next leader and Premier must be a better manager of this resource, for the future of the province, our country and our planet. It is a major challenge that demands a forward-thinking imaginative leader. We need someone who can integrate the issues with insight and intelligence and who has the political will and power to envision and enact a new and “resourceful” energy policy.
Some, not all, of the candidates are capable of rising to this challenge. But first, they have to entice a cynical citizenry to get better informed, to buy a party membership, to make a conscious progressive choice and to then take the time to show up and vote. For progressive Albertans to pass on this chance to participate they default to Dr. Morton as their next Premier. He is a man whose values and vision for Alberta would be more at home in today’s U.S. Republican Party.
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