CalgaryGrit

This Week in Alberta - It's Not Easy Being Green

2009-07-17T08:12:00.001-04:00

The Alberta Greens are de-registered as a party. From their website:

The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta has been de-registered by Elections Alberta as a political entity in the Province of Alberta. De-registration of the party is an administrative opportunity to re-organize and rebuild the party into a viable political organization. The importance and mainstream acceptance of the Green Party’s values and principles are on the rise, and the Green Party's many supporters can now look forward to a fresh start.

The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta Society is now registered as a non-profit corporate entity in the province of Alberta for the purposes of advancing a “Green” agenda, and preparing the Green Party’s political future. A meeting will be announced in the very near future to plan a path forward.

........ more information will be released as soon as it becomes available.

One opposition party in Alberta generating a bit of positive buzz is the Wild Rose Alliance - specifically leadership candidate Danielle Smith. If they can get their act together on the administrative/membership side of things, I could see them going places under Smith's leadership.

Yeah, yeah, she's an untested political rookie. She could crash and burn. But looking at the leaders of the other ~~four~~ three parties, Smith certainly has the potential to dramatically outperform them all in the political arena.

Vancouver Interviews: Justin Trudeau on Youth in Politics

2009-07-15T07:42:00.001-04:00

As part of my ongoing series, bad production value interviews, today I'm pleased to present Justin Trudeau...with set-up noise in the background.

Regardless, the young political superstar was kind enough to chat with me about youth involvement in politics during May's Liberal leadership convention. Here's what he had to say:

See also: Ralph Goodale on Western Alienation, Scott Brison on the economy, Carolyn Bennett on the Change Commission

Merit

2009-07-13T23:33:00.004-04:00

Queen gives Chrétien Order of Merit

Queen Elizabeth has appointed former prime minister Jean Chrétien to the Order of Merit, placing him in the exclusive ranks of such figures as Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.

The award, founded in 1902 by King Edward VII, is given to "individuals of exceptional distinction in the arts, learning, sciences and other areas such as public service," according to a news release from the press secretary of the Queen.

Given how few foreigners receive the Order of Merit, it's certainly quite the honour - the Queen certainly must think highly of the former PM.

For those keeping track, the Queen also awarded Pearson this honour in 1971, while Mackenzie King received the order from King George in '47.

Fourth Annual Politicians in Cowboy Hats

2009-07-12T11:11:00.028-04:00

2008
2007
2006

There were no see-my-vest incidents this year but, thanks to a few news stories, a few e-mails, and Jim Prentice's facebook page, I'm able to present the fourth annual Stampede Fashion Round-Up.

First up, the federal party leaders:

Elizabeth May, quite fairly, won "worst dressed" last year, but the experts turned it around and named her "best dressed" this time around.

Looking at the comparison below, she has obviously improved, but I think it's probably a case of low expectations and a better picture being used this year, so I'm not quite prepared to crown her as the champ.

So while May earns a solid runner-up ribbon, I'm going to go with Jack Layton as my choice for "best dressed" among the party leaders. For a mustached socialist from Toronto, he pulls off western surprisingly well.

In this picture, Harper tells a local farmer about anti-Stampede comments Michael Ignatieff had made earlier in the day. Harper would later return and clarify that it was actually PETA which had made the comments.

Ever since leather vest-gate, Harper has put in solid, but not spectacular, performances. This year is no different - he seems to have settled on the checkered shirt and dark cowboy hat as his go-to outfit.

So Harper went with the red shirt, and the rookie Ignatieff went blue. While Ignatieff didn't embarrass himself, he played it safe, and deserves a 4th place finish. I know Ignatieff's an academic and a bit out of his element, but if Stephane Dion can pull off a cowboy hat, anyone can.

A surprise appearance by Gilles Duceppe! He does go with a hat, so I may have to slot him in ahead of Iggy in the rankings.

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier poses with Lisa Raitt. Raitt sported a black cowboy hat until she misplaced it by the pancake tray.

This brings us to Stampede superstar Jim Prentice. Sure, past environment ministers have turned in their SUVs for hybrids, but Prentice one-ups them by going horse back.

Prentice poses with the Tory caucus.

Like Prentice, Harry Chase is a Stampede superstar...the man is a cowboy, and could stare down Wyatt Earp. However, I must once again point out that the "Harry Chase MLA" apron is absolutely ridiculous.

While Chase always looks the part, provincial politicians often struggle at the Stampede. Ed Stelmach and David Swann are both nice people but both were clearly outdone by a bunch of city-slickers from Ottawa. I mean, for crying out loud, the tree-hugging Green Party leader had a better Stampede outfit than Alberta's Premier and leader of the opposition!

This Week in Alberta - Read My Lips

2009-07-10T17:15:00.000-04:00

Ending speculation about possible tax hikes, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced Tuesday the province is not increasing personal or corporate taxes to deal with Alberta's growing financial woes.

"As long as I'm premier of this province, there will be no tax increases ... No tax increases, period," Stelmach forcefully told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Calgary.

This story deserves attention, and not just because it's the only recorded instance of the words "Stelmach forcefully" being used in that order (Seriously. Don't believe me? Check out google.).

No, this story deserves attention, because of the baffling Liberal response, which was - "well...maybe we should raise taxes":

While hiking taxes should be a last resort, it should still be an option for a government to consider, said Alberta Liberal finance critic Dave Taylor.

*CG smacks head on desk repeatedly*

But before anyone thinks I've gone soft on Steady Eddie, the rest of the press conference was vintage Stelmach:

Stelmach also said he's immediately rolling back the liquor tax increases that were introduced in the spring budget. That move will reduce government revenues by $180 million a year — and add to this year's deficit that had already been projected to reach almost $5 billion.

Stelmach said he was never comfortable with the April jump in liquor prices when the government markup was boosted by $1.30 for a dozen beer, 75 cents for a bottle of wine and $2.89 for a 750 ml bottle of spirits.

"It was something that I had a hard time agreeing with; it's been bothering me all that time," he admitted.

"We have to … continue to work to reduce the cost of doing business in this province. That's the way you build Alberta's future, and I tell you that Albertans expect confidence and stability in these very, very difficult economic times, and that is my focus," he said. "So just to close: cold beer, hot day, during very difficult economic times."

So, to recap. Stelmach was "never comfortable" with his own budget. Well, that's reasuring.

And now, less than three months later, he has completely reversed himself for no apparent reason other than to project "confidence and stability". Uh-huh.

Calgary Grit Exclusive: Stephen Harper's High School Yearbook Picture

2009-07-09T21:12:00.000-04:00

Someone buy this man a watch...

G8: The Movie

2009-07-09T20:47:00.000-04:00

The Daily Beast casts Daniel Baldwin as Stephen Harper (h/t Wherry).

Beyond the physical similarities, I do like this casting. Both men have had to battle horrible problems - for Baldwin, cocaine addiction; for Harper, being tardy for photo-ops.

It's July...

2009-07-08T18:13:00.000-04:00

...which means the bar for what constitutes a scandal has been set fairly low. So, with that in mind, let's take a look at the two scandlettes making news this week.

First up:

Minister of State for Tourism Diane Ablonczy is no longer responsible for the delivery of a key tourism stimulus package, and one of her caucus colleagues says it's because her office gave some of the money to a gay pride parade.

Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost, a fellow Conservative, told the anti-abortion website LifeSiteNews that Ablonczy was being punished for the decision to give $400,000 from the Marquee Tourism Events Program to Toronto's Pride Parade, which was held this year on June 28.

Trost was quoted as calling it "a very isolated decision" that was not supported "by a large majority of the MPs."

If I ever decide to write down my own set of "political rules", one would be that when a Tory MP you've never heard of is talking to an anti-abortion website, you kind of know it's going to be a bad news story for the Conservatives.

Our second scandlette is what I hope gets dubbed "the wafer waffle", but it will probably become known as some god-awful (no pun intended) "gate" scandal:

OTTAWA — A spokesman for Stephen Harper says the prime minister did not pocket a communion wafer given to him by a Roman Catholic priest at a funeral in New Brunswick last week.

The prime minister is under fire from a senior priest in the province who has demanded an explanation about what happened to the wafer, which is supposed to be swallowed.

Spokesman Dimitri Soudas says Harper accepted the wafer offered to him at the funeral of former governor general Romeo LeBlanc and then swallowed it.

Msgr. Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John in New Brunswick, says it was unclear what happened to the wafer - and says it would be scandalous if the prime minister put it in his pocket.

A video posted YouTube shows Harper taking the host, but does not show him swallowing it afterward.

I have to confess, this one doesn't really bother me (but, then again, I'm not Catholic). I mean, it's obvious that Harper wasn't trying to intentionally snub anyone...to suggest otherwise is kind of silly. It's easy to flub the proper protocol from time to time - let's just cut the guy some slack and move on.

No, of the two, I think the fiasco surrounding the pride parade is more telling. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that there's some hostility towards the gay community in the Tory caucus, but to punish a Minister for appearing somewhat supportive? That's weak.

Vancouver Interviews: Carolyn Bennett on the Change Commission

2009-07-06T23:33:00.001-04:00

With the Liberal fundraising numbers back on track, it's tempting to think that everything is hunky dory in Liberal land. But there's still a lot of work to do.

We haven't heard much about the change commission of late - hopefully it won't just be another report that gathers dust.

Here's an interview I did with Carolyn Bennett about the Change Commission, back during May's leadership convention.

See also: Ralph Goodale on Western Alienation, Scott Brison on the economy

The Raitt Tape Gate Court Tape...transcripts

2009-07-06T14:54:00.002-04:00

The first transcript of court proceedings from the Raitt Gate hearing - thanks to the anon e-mailer who sent it my way.

Jasmine MacDonnell vs The Halifax Herald Limited and Stephen Maher
June 8, 2009:

(excerpts)

Michelle Awad, lawyer for Jasmine MacDonnell, questions Steve Maher if he knows who owned the lost binder:

AWAD: “Now, beginning at paragraph 18 [referring to Maher’s affidavit] you speak to Ms. MacDonnell’s resignation from her position as Director of Communications at the Department of Natural Resources

MAHER: “Yes, I do.”

AWAD: “And you reference the leaving of a binder behind at CTV’s Ottawa studios.”

MAHER: “Yes”

AWAD: “You don’t know whose binder that was, correct?”

MAHER: “I’ve been told that it was the Minister’s binder”

AWAD: “You don’t know whether Ms. MacDonnell had her own binder that she in fact left with that day?”

MAHER: “No, I don’t know”

Later on Robert Grant, lawyer for the Halifax Herald, says the very fact that MacDonnell left the recorder is newsworthy given she also left the binder at CTV, demonstrating a pattern of carelessness:

GRANT: “I might add my lord that there is, part of the interest in the recording and the fact that the recording device was left for four months without being picked up is it relates to Ms. MacDonnells performance as the Director of Communications for the Minister, the Minister’s judgement in promoting Ms. MacDonnell to that position. It ties in with, perhaps, a pattern of carelessness, which led to Ms. MacDonnell’s resignation for leaving the secret briefing documents, the binder containing secret documents at the, at CTV.”

Later, Michelle Awad stated there is “no evidence” that the binder belonged to Ms. MacDonnell, implying that the binder belonged to and was left by Ms. Raitt.

AWAD: “My friend also mentioned that, I guess Mr. Maher, in his draft article, has characterized Ms. MacDonnell as careless, the Minister’s judgment may be questionable in that she promoted Ms. MacDonnell. That’s how they want to spin this story my lord. It’s not about medical isotopes. The Chalk River shutdown was in May – the conversation that was recorded inadvertently was in January. This isn’t about last week or the last two weeks medical isotope issue, this is about a private conversation. Not a confidentiality question, a privacy question, and the rights exist, in my submission, in this country. Mr. Grant suggested that the binder that was left at CTV was Ms. MacDonnell’s; there’s no evidence of that before your lordship, that’s never been demonstrated. Similarily that she “lost” her job, my lord the evidence is absolutely that she resigned.”

June Poll Soup

2009-07-02T23:43:00.003-04:00

Well, after months of consistent gains, the Liberal momentum stalled in June, with their mean lead on the Tories down to 2 points.

Ekos (June 25-29, n = 2262 demon dialed)

Lib 32.2%
CPC 31.0%
NDP 16.2%
Green 11.5%
BQ 9.0%

Nanos (June 17-21, n = 781 telephone)

Lib 36.3%
CPC 32.2%
NDP 16.8%
BQ 9.8%
Green 4.8%

Angus Reid (June 17-18, n = 1005 online)

CPC 32%
Lib 31%
NDP 18%
BQ 11%
Green 7%

Ipsos (released June 20, n = 1000 telephone)

Lib 35%
CPC 34%
NDP 13%
BQ 10%
Green 8%

Harris-Decima (May 28-June 8, n = 2000 telephone)

Lib 35%
CPC 31%
NDP 15%
BQ 9%
Green 8%

OVERALL (change since May in brackets)

Lib 33.9% (-0.6%)
CPC 32.0% (+0.2%)
NDP 15.8% (+0.8%)
BQ 9.8% (+0.8%)
Green 7.9% (-1.9%)

ALSO...

-This CROP poll is spun as the end of the Ignatieff honeymoon in Quebec, but an 8 point gain vis-a-vis the Bloc isn't a bad way to end the honeymoon in my humble opinion. (And Leger has the Grits and BQ tied)

-There's a new site for polling info - threehundredeight.com (wherever did they get that name idea, eh?). There's nothing super high level as of yet, but it seems to be doing a good job posting poll results, and they do have a funky graph on pollster biases.

-Speaking of which, there's some interesting back and forth between Paulitics and Ipsos Senior VP John Wright.

-The usual Canada Day poll is out. In addition to the standard ("we love our country", "we're different from the US", yada yada yada), there's majority support for ditching the Monarchy - something I'd be completely onside with.

Peace, Order, and Good Government

2009-07-01T08:42:00.002-04:00

With Canada Day here, it's a good time to reflect on the state of politics in this country. And the one conclusion I reach is: man, are Canadian politics ever boring compared to the States. I mean, even the "boring" US governors get embroiled in juicy scandals:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, just back from a secret trip to Argentina unknown to his staff or his wife, admitted Wednesday he has carried on an extramarital affair with a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

[...]

The South Carolina governor had not been seen in public since June 18. When questioned, Sanford's staff told media outlets Sanford was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. But Sanford was spotted Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Sanford said he had been in Buenos Aires. He said it was his fault for "shrouding this larger trip."

This following Eliot Spitzer's prostitutes, Rod Blagojevich selling a senate seat, James McGreevey's secret gay affair, and a slew of other high-profile governor scandals. And, say what you will about Sarah Palin or Ah-nuld, but at least they're interesting.

In comparison, what do we get from our Premiers? Danny Williams raising his voice on a talk radio show? OH MY GOD! Diverging accounting systems being used in BC? Man, will Colbert ever have fun with that one, eh?

Seriously, it's as if there was a reality show to find the 10 most bland, boring, middle aged white guys, and the winners are now our provincial Premiers.

And things appear to be worsening. It's not like Rodney MacDonald was a wild news maker, but at least he played the fiddle. Instead, he gets replaced by...I dunno...some dude who is already the "stump the At Issue Panel" punch line, a position routinely given to the most bland, unrecognizable politicians in Canada. We still haven't recovered from the tragic loss of Ralph Klein from the Premier ranks a few years ago; say what you will about Ralph, but at least he could be counted on to entertain. Instead, he gets replaced by a man so boring, he was described as follows by Graham Thompson:

If we're ever in the situation where the world is about to be destroyed by a giant asteroid in 15 minutes, somebody should have Premier Ed Stelmach hold a news conference and broadcast it around the globe.

For anyone watching, that final quarter of an hour will seem like an eternity. At the 10-minute mark people will be cheering on the asteroid.

To sit through a Stelmachian news conference is to witness an end to the laws of relativity and syntax as we know them.

Look, I'm not saying it's a good thing to have Governors or Premiers embroiled in scandal. But would it kill Gary Doer to get arrested for streaking across the field at a Bombers game, or something?

You May be seated

2009-06-29T18:15:00.001-04:00

After her befuddling decision to run in Central Nova last election, Elizabeth May appears to be on the right track:

OTTAWA–The federal Green party is expecting an election this fall and the new, number-one strategic priority is to make sure leader Elizabeth May has a seat in the House of Commons when it's over.

"Now the party is convinced that our number-one goal is to elect me to the House of Commons. So that changes quite a lot of things," May told Green party members in Eastern Ontario yesterday at an election-preparedness briefing.

May says she's ready to switch ridings to make that happen and is now deciding whether she should run in Guelph, Owen Sound or on Vancouver Island in the next campaign.

Her short list also includes Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley in Nova Scotia, now vacant because of the retirement of independent MP Bill Casey, a former Conservative.

The Green leader confirmed publicly for the first time yesterday that she's unlikely to run again in Central Nova, where she was defeated by Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the 2008 election. (MacKay won 46 per cent of the vote in Central Nova, while May won 32 per cent.)

The party is polling and testing the ground, in an unprecedented way, May said, in ridings such as Guelph, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, and Saanich-Gulf Islands, where the Greens did well last year.

Having recently updated my election spreadsheet, I figured I'd have some fun and try and look at where May stands the best chance of winning.

To get a rough idea, I took the average vote totals from the past three elections, and made the following two assumptions:

1. The Green vote will double
2. May will convert half of everyone who currently has the Greens as their second choice. To get these numbers, I averaged out the second choice preferences of the final Ekos, Angus, and Decima 2008 election polls. For example, 18% of Conservative voters and 22.6% of Liberal voters listed the Greens as their second choice, so I transferred 9% of the Tory vote and 11.3% of the Liberal vote in every riding to the Greens.

This isn't intended to predict how May would fare...only to give a relative ranking of seats, based on how close the Greens are to winning the seat (projected Green vote - highest vote total of another party). I did try different variations of the above formulas, and the results were all similar.

So, based on this, what are the ten most winnable seats for the Greens?

1. Guelph (Lib)
2. Saanich-Gulf Islands (CPC)
3. Victoria (NDP)
4. Vancouver Centre (Lib)
5. Ottawa Centre (NDP)
6. Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound (CPC)
7. Esquimalt Juan De Fuca (Lib)
8. West Vancouver Sunshine Coast yada yada (CPC)
9. Central Nova (CPC)
10. BC Southern Interior (NDP)

Off the bat, we can strike Central Nova from the list - it's only there because of the increased May-vote in 2008. If you base this on only the 2004 and 2006 elections, it's the 146th best riding for May to run in, further illustrating just how awful a choice it was for her last time. Similarly, I tend to think the Greens are already punching a bit above their weight in Vancouver Centre, as they fielded a very strong campaign there last time, thanks to Adriane Carr.

Looking at the other 8 ridings, there's a case to be made for pretty much all of them, as most feature relatively weak incumbents, and were won on the strength of vote splitting. And the Greens seem to be on the right path, with the three ridings they're polling in (bolded above), all placing highly on my list.

Of the three, Guelph certainly seems the least daunting, with Green candidate Mike Nagy only 11% back last time - with the vote split there, May could take this riding with 30% of the vote. Running in Guelph would, however, mean tossing overboard a young man who has run for the Greens in the riding three times, growing their vote substantially over this period. It would also mean defeating a Liberal, or possibly handing the riding to the Conservatives off a Green-Liberal vote split. Given her previous statements, risking this would be out of character, but it could signal the begining of a shifting strategy where the Greens focus on running against the Liberals (and NDP), rather than the Tories.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the other two seats May is targeting are held by Conservatives. May would certainly enjoy giving Gary Lunn a go in Saanich Gulf Islands, as she has been highly critical of the man before. But, then again, knocking off a lower-profile target like Larry Miller (I'd wager most of his own family members haven't even heard of him) in Bruce, might be easier. On the flip side, the Green vote sky rocketed there last election, presumably on the strength of the candidate (former councilor Dick Hibma), the Greens had running.

So, taken all together, I'd expect May to make a run at Lunn. Either way, she should decide soon, and spend August and September tricycling through the riding, because direct voter contact will make a difference, and she simply won't have the time to do a lot of it during a national election campaign.

Hudak versus McGuinty in 2011

2009-06-28T14:43:00.002-04:00

That'll be the match up, after Tim Hudak's third ballot win yesterday.

Here are the ballot-by-ballot results:

First Ballot
Hudak 3512
Klees 3094
Elliott 2729
Hillier 1014

After the first ballot, 61% of the Hillier votes switched over to Hudak, with 20% going to Klees, and 17% to Elliott (2% had no second choice).

Second Ballot
Hudak 4129
Klees 3300
Elliott 2904

51% of Elliott voters had Hudak as their second choice (or, third choice, if they were Hillier voters switching over to Elliott), while 46% had Klees.

Third Ballot
Hudak 5606
Klees 4644

So Hudak pulled off the rare feat of being a front runner who was also the top second choice preference among the supporters of the defeated candidates. While Hudak and his campaign certainly deserve some credit for pulling that off, I'm sure the short time frame and the format of the leadership race had a lot to do with it.

Front runner resentment probably runs higher among the type of people who go to delegated conventions than it does in the grass roots. That's something federal Liberals will need to keep in mind for future leadership races, now that they've switched to a WOMOV system.

Ontario PC Vote Results

2009-06-27T13:14:00.004-04:00

It's looking like a Hudak-Klees showdown on the third ballot, with the end result a mystery at this point. Here are the round 1 results:

Hudak 3512
Klees 3094
Elliott 2729
Hillier 1014

There is no realistic way Elliott will catch Klees (remember, this is votes, not delegates, so you won't have people switch their first preference), which means it will all come down to Hudak and Klees on the final ballot.

UPDATE: I'm out for the rest of the day, so check out Stephen Taylor for results. Assuming Hudak increases his lead on Klees (with a Hillier assist), Klees will need Elliott's second place votes to split about 60/40 in his favour to overtake Hudak on the final ballot. Not impossible by any means, so we could be in for a close finish.

"Vote Frank Klees. Let Him Lead the Party. The Party."

2009-06-26T08:12:00.002-04:00

Worst Campaign Jingle?
Sing of Song for Jim
Vote Frank Klees
Other (Specify in Comments)

See Results

Remember when I said the Frank Klees campaign was more boring than watching paint dry (...or a Benjamin Button marathon)? Well I take it all back!

Because Frank Klees now has the absolute worst campaign theme song I have ever heard. It's so bad, it's amazing. Seriously, you have to listen to it.

And, since I'm not sure I'll run my usual summer voting contest this year, I now invite all blog readers to vote for the worst campaign jingle ever. You've heard Klees' entry above - now let your ears be soothed by the melodious chorus "Sing a Song for Jim".

Oh, and if you want to listen to good campaign jingles, I'd recommend the following:

Hat Tip - PerezHudak

This Week in Alberta - Lingere Party!

2009-06-26T07:52:00.000-04:00

The Doug Elniski saga is just so good, it's worthy of a second post.

As reported earlier this week, Tory backbencher Doug Elniski got into some trouble for blog and twitter postings where, among other things, he advises young girls:

"Men are attracted to smiles, so smile and don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff, if you want Equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks."

This has prompted some to attack him as being sexist, to which Elniski has responded (and I am not making this up):

"If I were sexist I think I would certainly know about it by now."

This is eerily familiar to comments made by world famous economist Stephen Harper, just a week before the stock market crashed last fall:

“My own belief is if we were gong to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.”

I guess the good news for Elniski in all this is that if voters were going to punish him for his comments, they certainly would have voted him out by now...

Still, Elniski has deleted his blog, and purged his twitter archives...except that...well...I'll let the Journal's Graham Thompson fill you in:

Elniski has no doubt learned a political lesson from it, but he apparently has yet to learn the dangers of Twitter. As of Wednesday afternoon, he still had a Twitter posting from June 7 that said "lingere is always good." Whoever is screening his postings might want to take a look at that one for spelling, if nothing else. Journalists who noticed it and have reported on it assume he meant "lingerie, " but we haven't had a chance to ask him about it. His staff says he's not taking our calls. Taken on its own, a four-word declaration in favour of women's undergarments might not be overtly sexist, but it is overtly odd.

You have to wonder why, after all the complaints about sexism levelled at Elniski this week, he would leave that Twitter posting up. You also have to wonder why he made the posting in the first place.

In Other News...

Avalon Roberts knocks off Corey Hogan to take the Calgary Glenmore nomination for the Alberta Liberals. I would have liked to see Corey take this one, since he's exactly what the ALP needs right now, but Avalon is an experienced candidate and one of the nicest people in the Liberal Party, so I wish her all the best in the by election.

Go Randy Go!

2009-06-24T22:36:00.000-04:00

I'm not a PC Party member so I'm not going to make any endorsements. Well, scratch that, I endorse Randy Hillier. Please vote for Randy. Not just because it would mean an easy win for McGuinty, but also because, as was pointed out to me by a clever grit this weekend, it raises the very real possibility of a PC campaign run under a "Are You Feeling Randy?" slogan.

In all seriousness, Hillier has run a solid campaign. As I said in my profile of him, he's latched on to some good conservative issues people can relate to, and has been nothing but a consistent voice for the right wing of his party. Whoever wins is going to have a tough time marginalizing Hillier, especially if he's able to move his votes to Hudak for the win.

Frank Klees may be a good candidate. But, for the life of me, I'm so incredibly uninterested in his campaign and him that I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to complete my website profile series (other than to say: Damn, that is one big picture of Frank on his website). In fairness, a lot of people probably said the same thing about Dalton McGuinty when he ran for Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996, and they certainly said the same thing about Ed Stelmach when he won the Alberta PC leadership in 2006. But, I'm not a PC member, and life is just too short to spend it researching Frank Klees.

So this weekend's vote, if the pundits are to be believed (always a risk in leadership contests), comes down to Tim Hudak and Christine Elliott. Of the two, I think Elliott has run the best campaign, would make the better Premier, and would be a more formidable opponent to Dalton McGuinty in 2011. In a leadership race lasting all summer, I don't doubt for a second that she could have reeled in Hudak and won it.

But Hudak had a leadership-ready team in place, and a big lead when this thing started. In a short contest, that's worth a lot more than substance. In a delegated convention, he might have been Iggy'd in a front-runner gang-up, but I suspect the individual voters' second choices will scatter (or they'll leave the ballot blank), allowing Hudak to eek it out on the third ballot.

We'll find out this weekend.

Romeo LeBlanc 1927-2009

2009-06-24T20:59:00.001-04:00

How to Offend in 140 Characters or Less

2009-06-23T19:07:00.001-04:00

The latest out of Alberta...

A Tory MLA is under fire for online comments in which he advises girls to smile to attract men, scolds them for seeking equality and alerts his Twitter followers to a bikini car wash where "girls look cold."

Edmonton-Calder MLA Doug Elniski conceded Monday that his comments, posted June 13 on his blog and through Twitter, were "inappropriate" and "over the line."

In an entry that began with reflections on junior high school graduations, Elniski posted this advice to girls: "Men are attracted to smiles, so smile and don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff, if you want Equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks." [ed note: Worst. Commencement Speech. Ever.]

He also wrote: "There is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get sh--for something and has no idea what."

On the same day, Elniski posted the following Twitter comment: "bikini car wash 82 129 ave girls look cold (...)"

[...]

Tom Olsen, a spokesman for Premier Ed Stelmach, said the premier isn't considering disciplinary action against the rookie backbencher, whose previous careers were in several fields, including safety management, forestry work and consulting.

Some gay-rights advocates have also taken issue with Elniski's Twitter posts from the June 13 Edmonton gay pride parade. The MLA noted he was "surrounded by bumping and grinding lesbians." He also apologized for that comment, adding that he thought the parade was a great event.

Furor over Elniski's online writings comes less than a week after Finance Minister Iris Evans garnered national attention for suggesting that two-income parents weren't caring for their children properly.

Yee-Haw

2009-06-23T19:02:00.000-04:00

The annual ~~Alberta Stampede~~ Calgary Stampede Liberal pancake breakfast will be held this 4th of July - any Liberals in town should mosey on over to this website and pick up some tickets for it. Michael Ignatieff will be the guest speaker this year, and a ticket includes free admission to the Calgary Zoo for the rest of the day.

And, on a similar topic, I'll put out another request for pictures from anyone who happens to catch a politician "going western" during Stampede. Just send your pictures in to calgarygrit@gmail.com - hopefully I'll wind up with enough to be able to continue my traditional Stampede fashion round-up for the fourth straight year.

The One Thing Worse Than Low Voter Turnout

2009-06-22T19:32:00.001-04:00

Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.

The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.

"Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.

The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.

I'll admit I haven't been following this story as closely as I should, what with it being overshadowed by Laureen Harper's daring turtle rescue, both in Canada and in the international press.

But, by now, it's abundantly obvious that the fraud was widespread enough to warrant a re-vote - one monitored by international agencies.

Live Long and Prosper

2009-06-22T18:30:00.002-04:00

Given this routine involves Barack Obama and a discussion on nerdiness, I presume most of the people who read this blog will enjoy it.

Hat tip - Red Tory

Game Theory in Canadian Politics (3)

2009-06-21T22:05:00.000-04:00

HoserToHoosier offers the definitive look at the Harper/Ignatieff stand-off from a game theory perspective. Based on his assumptions, the Nash Equilibrium from the current conflict suggested a compromise (which we got), but Ignatieff is almost certain to force an election in the fall.

Given this, I would take it one step further, and argue that the rational play for Harper would be to strike a deal with the NDP or Bloc. The drawback there is the high cost (political cost, not monetary cost...what's another 1 or 2 billion at this point?) associated with the deal, given the harsh words we've seen over the past year. I mean, I'm already relishing the idea of posts titled "Harper's separatist coalition", or "Gilles Duceppe looked in the mirror and saw Stephane Dion".

So, for any deal to happen, the "humiliation cost" would need to be less than the "electoral cost" of going to the polls. Or, failing that, if the Bloc or NDP could milk enough out of Harper such that the "results of people/Quebecers benefit" outweighs the "humiliation cost", it might be in their best interests to deal.

So, the long and short of it is this: if we do see a deal to keep this parliament alive past Christmas, it won't be with the Liberals, and the payoff will be a whole lot more than a blue ribbon committee.

So Long For Now

2009-06-20T10:45:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Jeff for this, and thanks to Don for all his great work over the years.