GRAHAM THOMSON STUMBLES. COLUMN SHOWS HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ALBERTA LIBERALS ARE DOING IS COMMON POLITICAL SENSE!!

LEGENDARY EDMONTON JOURNAL COLUMNIST GRAHAM THOMSON:

FOR ONCE - HE GOT IT WRONG!!!!

On the whole I have always enjoyed the writings of Edmonton Journal columnist Graham Thomson. To me he has always been – dare I say - a fair and balanced observer of Alberta politics. When he graces the pages of the Calgary Herald I read him with great appreciation because for that one fleeting moment in time he gives the editorial page some class. Upon finishing reading his piece the paper then for days on end sinks to its usual low level diatribes from lunatic neocon think tanks and single-issue loud mouths.

So Thomson is different and the people of Edmonton are lucky to have him.

But even Thomson gets it wrong sometimes as he did in his column today entitled, ‘Alberta Liberals split by bid to co-operate.’ Read:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_print.html?id=3145335&sponsor=

He opens with a line surely to capture the affections of the Herald’s editorial page editor: “One of the truisms of Alberta politics: No matter how bad things get for the Liberal Party, they can always get worse.”

He then goes on to list he party’s recent woes as he sees them - the departure from the caucus of Dave Taylor and the decision of Kent Hehr to run for Mayor. Let me assure Thomson as well as others who may think along the same lines that I have talked to a host of Alberta Liberals about Taylor’s grumbling exit, and I have heard very little in the way of regrets or misgivings of any kind - even from people like me who supported Taylor in the leadership race. The consensus is simply that if Taylor was that unhappy, it is better that he left. For David Swann and the remaining caucus it was one less hassle to deal with.

As far as Hehr’s quest for the mayor’s chair is concerned the Grits that I speak to only wish him the best of luck and if he wins they would regard his victory as a feather in every Alberta Liberal’s hat. I mean, he is one of us and he is running for arguably one of the most exciting political offices in the country. How does that reflect badly on the Alberta Liberal Party?

Thomson then moves to the dust-up in Kevin Taft’s riding of Edmonton-Riverview. Three members of the riding association executive have resigned from their positions because of the passing of a resolution at the recent convention of the Alberta Liberal Party. The resolution in question reads:

“be it resolved that the Alberta Liberal Party supports making every reasonable effort to persuade other progressive parties in Alberta to work together during general elections.”

The resolution was controversial and the final tally on the vote was close. I confess that I had something more than a little to do with its content as I had moved it in the workshop as an amendment and spoke for it on the convention floor just before it was passed.

My take on the resolution is simply this. Alberta Liberals, like any political party that aspires to govern, must create a big tent and fill it up with diverse thinking individuals who can set aside some of their differences to support the greater cause. Otherwise, power will forever elude them.

This approach is not new. It has been followed by most progressive parties that have attained power in the Western democracies. The best example in my memory in Alberta is the Progressive Conservative party under Peter Lougheed. Lougheed brilliantly put together a diverse team that represented all elements of Alberta society - business, labour, progressive thinkers, even right-wingers, and so on - who worked together for good government and it delivered for Albertans the best government in the province’s history.

Thus, the resolution meant to me and most others at that convention that Alberta Liberals were extending an invitation to a diverse group of people, many of whom had not supported us before, to work together with them in order to bring about an era of good government for the people of Alberta.

Oh, the wording of the resolution could have been spiffed up somewhat, but the idea was there, and it was clear: All you NDs, Greens, frustrated Tories, Wild Rose Alliancers and anybody else out there who believe in progressive policies that help ordinary people and who are sick and tired of lousy leadership, marginal support, or narrow ideology, come and talk to us . . . or let us talk to you. We want as many of you as possible who believe in progressive policies to come inside of our big tent so we can throw the rascals out in the next election.

Thomson complains that the resolution didn’t explain what “work together” meant, that it didn’t mention parties by name, and that it couldn’t have been aimed at the Tories or the Wildrose Alliance. If Thomson doesn’t know what “work together” means in a political setting he should choose another profession. Just to be sure Thomson understands, “working together” means “working together” to win elections!

As to the party names, why should they be listed in the resolution? Why wouldn’t the Liberals want to welcome disaffected Tories or Wildrose Alliancers along with NDs and Greens who wish to join them in common cause to promote progressive policies on the environment, health care, education, and so on? Do disgruntled Tories and Wildrose Alliancers have some contagious disease?

Thomson says he and others are puzzled about what the Liberals will do with the resolution. C’mon. The resolution is nothing more than a codification and a reminder of what political parties should be doing at all times – generating support for their cause – particularly from others who have not supported them before. This is not rocket science.

So, from the standpoint of someone - namely me - who had as much to do with the resolution being passed as anyone, there is no mystery to it. There are no hidden agendas; there is no intent on weakening the Liberals resolve to win the next election. The resolution simply means that Alberta Liberals should get out there and work towards inviting voters who share our values and who have never voted for us before to give us their support.

DAVID SWANN: A LEADER OF COMPETENCE, EXPERIENCE AND COURAGE

DAVID SWANN

A relevant and qualified leader of competence, experience and courage

CORBELLA

A pipsqueak

Yesterday on June 1 Licia Corbella, editorial page editor of the Calgary Herald, wrote a column about Premier Ed Stelmach’s new communications strategy of hiding from Alberta voters letting his ministers assume the task of getting out into the hinterland to talk to them. See: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/topic.html?t=Keyword&q=class+act+2010

In her column Corbella ridiculed Stelmach’s invisibility even when his government was able to wallow in the success of having finally come up with a satisfactory royalty program. Naturally, being the spear carrier for the extreme right that she is, Corbella attributed the new royalty program exclusively to the wisdom of the new darling of the lunatic fringe of the fractured Tory Party - Danielle Smith, the leader of the Palinesque Wildrose Alliance.

In the course of her nonsense, Corbella naturally takes a shot at the Alberta Liberal Party. I doubt that she could write a column about the bathroom habits of bumble bees without her obligatory false malignments against Liberals. She writes that Liberal leader David Swann and some of his caucus attended a Herald editorial board session a week or so ago, and that given Swann’s performance there she predicts “Liberals will remain largely irrelevant.”

She bases her conclusion on 18 simple handouts containing 72 Alberta Liberal Party policy points that the Grit contingent gave to the editorial board during the course of the meeting. Handing out condensed material on policy is standard practice for all political parties who visit editorial boards. As you might expect, this type of simplification is especially important when visiting the Herald editorial board who understand only the simplest of one syllable words.

One of the 72 points contained a reference to a name the significance of which none of the assembled Liberal visitors could remember. I repeat, 1 out of 72! That was enough for Corbella. As a result, her column accuses Swann of putting out policies that he does not know anything about, and that the party was suffering from a lack of professionalism. I repeat - one small mistake out of 72 points. A serious leader, she says, would know them all - 72 out of 72!

When one thinks of the bullshit and factual errors one reads in the Calgary Herald on a daily basis – particularly on the editorial pages over which Corbella presides – her condemnation of the Liberals is – to say the least - galling.

David Swann is a medical doctor, who has practiced family medicine, taught at universities for which he received teaching awards, worked in the public health system, consulted internationally, and has made major contributions towards the betterment of his community. His stature makes Corbella and her ink-stained right-wing pals look like pipsqueaks! For those interested in Dr. Swann’s impressive career see: http://www.albertaliberal.com/index.php/alp/caucus_member/swann_david/

Corbella concludes by writing that the Tories aren’t worried about the Liberals because, “They view the Liberals, under Swann, as irrelevant.” I have two observations about that statement. First of all, Corbella fails to remember the results of the by-election in Calgary Glenmore in September - which for an editorial page editor is far worse than missing one out of 72 points. The Tories came third - behind the Wild Rose and the Liberals.

Secondly, in referring to the Liberals under Swann as irrelevant twice in the same flimsy column she repeats a big lie - expressed recently by a publicity seeking, malcontented former Liberal. I am sure Corbella knows from her prior reading - meager as it may be - that if you repeat the ‘big lie’ often enough, people will believe it. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie

How indeed can the Alberta Liberals under Swann be ‘irrelevant?’ He is a qualified leader of competence, experience and courage who leads the strongest party in Alberta by far, that advances progressive policies and ideas. For a better look at some of the policies he is promoting see: http://alp.whitematter.ca/index.php/alp/policies_index.

In fact, the Alberta Liberal Party is arguably the most relevant party in the province because it is the only party which is not a conservative party of the right or far right that can come within striking distance of victory.

Is Corbella only interested in right wing parties being on the Alberta ballot, and if so, what does that say about her?

BRUCE MILLER'S NEW POLITICAL PARTY: OF DUCKS AND HORSES

A Horse (according to Bruce Miller)

According to a piece that appeared today in the Calgary Herald some Alberta Grits along with a few interested others are conducting sub rosa meetings with a view to starting a new Alberta political party. See: Some Liberals Weigh Starting Party, http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/todays-paper/Some+Liberals+weigh+starting+party/1150177/story.html

Bruce Miller is an affable, intelligent, and well-meaning former United Church Minister who represented the riding of Edmonton Glenora for the Liberals through one term until the March 2008 election. He has been one of a discreetly silent and shadowy group of real or wannabe politicos who are conducting private meetings to get the ball rolling for the new party. He believes that no existing party has a chance of beating the provincial Tories. According to Miller, "It's obvious that the Liberal brand doesn't work. How many times do you have to lose in a big way? I think enough is enough. It's time to look at other possibilities."

I have two problems with Miller’s statement.

First of all, it fails to take into account the success of Laurence Decore as provincial Liberal leader in the late eighties and early nineties. In 1992 Decore’s Liberals won 32 seats and 39% of the vote. They also won a by-election in Three Hills, the buckle of Alberta’s bible belt. Surely a party that is that strong in a general election and can win seats in highly unlikely ridings has a chance to go all the way and win.

Perhaps the question that Miller and his band of revolutionaries should ask is, why is it that the Liberals have not done nearly as well since Decore was the leader? The answer is obvious. Laurence Decore was a leader. He worked the length and breadth of the province, came up with attractive policies, and sold them well enough to have given the Tories their greatest scare since they took power in 1971. Had his health remained robust, he could have gone all the way. But tragically, it was not to be. As far as leadership skills were concerned, no Grit leader in the province since Decore - and we have now had four of them – was able to touch him. So when Miller asks the question why the Liberal brand doesn’t work in Alberta, he should think of Decore, and if he thinks of Decore he will come to one conclusion. It is all about leadership, stupid!

The second point I would make to Miller and his insurrectionists is that the Alberta Liberal Party has through the years stood for being “business friendly and environmentally and socially progressive.” This is exactly what Miller wants his new party to be. That being the case, does he really believe he can hoodwink Alberta voters into thinking that Miller’s new party, whatever its name, and with its membership comprised of a bunch of Liberals, is a different party than the Alberta Liberal Party. Does he believe that Albertans will conclude that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a horse? That, with respect, is contemptuous of the intelligence of the people of Alberta.

Finally, Miller and his band of plotters should heed the advice of new leader David Swann and political scientist David Taras. A new party will only further split the anti-government vote and make life easier for Premier Stelmach and the provincial Tories. Hopefully, that will give Miller and his pals some pause.

STEPHANE DION: A DEFT MOVE FOR THE GREEN VOTE

If anybody knows anything about the Green Party, they know that it is a Party whose members and supporters are not short of brains. In addition, they are idealists. They support the Green Party for a high moral purpose: to prevent the pirates and brigands of this world from destroying the planet Earth.

Having brains and principle, Green Party membership and supporters know how to vote strategically. In any election, if they become satisfied that another party's candidate shares their values, they will vote strategically and support that other candidate from that other party.

An example of this occured in Calgary in the last provincial election in the Riding of Mountain View. The Green support in the riding was strong. David Swann, the Liberal candidate, was a known fighter for the environment. As a matter of fact, he had been fired by the Medicine Hat Health Region on orders from a Tory Provincial Minister, because he had publicly supported the Kyoto Accord. A lot of Medicine Hat residents were appalled at this ham-handed move, and so applied pressure on the Health Region to reinstate Swann. The Region, feeling the heat, offered Swann his job back. He refused. He then ran in the next election in the riding of Calgary Mountain View as a Liberal. The Green Party knew he was on their side. He received the Green vote (and a good many NDP votes as well) and won the riding handily. The Greens had voted strategically for a person from another party that they knew represented their goals and values.


Stephane Dion has agreed not to run a Liberal in the next Federal Election in Central Nova so as to allow Elizabeth May, the Green Party Leader, a better chance to defeat Peter McKay, the current Tory MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Equally, Ms. May has agreed that the Greens will not run a candidate in Dion's riding of Saint Laurent in Montreal. This was a deft strategic move by Dion. It gives him extra cachet with the Greens (and very likely the NDP as well) right across the country. It was a move designed to show clearly that he supported their great cause. May, for her part, made clear her respect for Dion and that she believes that he is sincere on the environment. Convinced that Dion is serious about the environment, she helps the Green cause by helping the Liberals. And so, the Green Party leader has enhanced the credibility of Stephane Dion both amongst her following and amongst those of the NDP who are ardent Greenies on the issue that most matters to them.

This highly political and influential move is designed to get Greens and some NDP to vote strategically to elect Liberal candidates in the next Federal election. The message from this May-Dion pact that goes out to all Green and NDP voters across the country is simple one. The Liberals are friends of the Greens, and so a strategic vote for the Liberals is a vote for a better and cleaner environment.

This spells bad news for the Bush's pal Steve Harper and Jack Layton. There are twenty to thirty percent of the Canadian electorate that could park their vote with the Greens and the NDP in the next Federal Election. By this move Dion is sure to siphon some of that towards the Liberals.

Let's see, the SES poll done a week or so ago had the Conservatives at 36% and the Liberals at 33%. If 10% of the Green/NDP support goes to the Grits from strategic Green and NDP voters - why, that puts Dion and his Grits in majority country. Remember to say you heard it hear first: it will be 'Prime Minister Stephane Dion' after the next Federal Election.