LEE RICHARDSON AND HIS 'COME FLY WITH ME' DESIGNATED TRAVELER

LEE RICHARDSON MP

His fetching Designated Traveler

Lee Richardson MP for Calgary Center is in deep doo-doo. I feel sorry for the bloke because if there was a Conservative MP that I like it is Richardson. He is from that kinder and gentler ancestor of the Harperites, the now defunct federal Progressive Conservative Party. I’m sure you remember the old federal PCs. You know - the ones that gave us Dief, Joe Clark, Karlheinz Schreiber’s pal Brian Mulroney, and the asterisk Kim Campbell. The old federal PC party had a proud and noble history to be sure, and I still have respect for many of the old red Tories that ran it. They didn’t come any better than Alvin Hamilton, Flora Macdonald and Bob Stanfield. Because Richardson comes from that old red Tory strain and doesn’t hide his pedigree his chances of making the cabinet of Stephen Harper or even getting a decent sinecure for services rendered rate from zero to none.

Now, as a result of recently disclosed information Richardson’s bleak chances of a Harper-inspired reward have become much, much worse. And it’s all over an awe-inspiring blonde and one of the great babes on Canadian television these days – CBC-TV national political reporter Krista Erickson. See:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9015821.html

Richardson, a widower and a warm and cuddly guy, has admitted to being linked to the delectable newshound for a couple of years, and it’s something about which he is justly proud. After all, although he is reasonably well preserved and not quite ready for the glue factory or the Royal Tyrell Museum (for those of you from outside of Alberta, the Royal Tyrell is one of the finest Dinosaur museums in the world), he is several generations older than the dazzling Miss Erickson.

Richardson’s trouble arises as a result of Erickson being registered as the designated traveler for Richardson in his capacity as an MP. This qualifies her to fly on Canada’s airlines courtesy of guess who? Richardson? Nope. The Canadian taxpayer? Yep.

As a result, the pesky Canadian Taxpayers Federation is mightily pissed with Richardson. Not only does it want to find out just how much of the $143,850 worth of travel expenses he charged up during 2008-2009 was for his ravishing gal pal, its spokesman is convinced that this will be a problem for everybody including the Tories. Not surprisingly, both Richardson and his exquisite designated traveler claim they have no knowledge of she being on any tax payer sponsored trip.


While the dashing and debonair Richardson has the sumptuous Erickson as his designated traveler, it should be noted that defence minister Peter McKay – he who was unceremoniously dumped by the equally resplendent Belinda Stronach – has named his mother as his designated traveler. No surprise there.

But if Richardson is in the soup over this one, his gorgeous fellow traveler is in even deeper. The Canadian Association of Journalists is pissed with both Erickson and the CBC. According to the Association’s president Mary Agnes Welch, the Association’s Code of Ethics [the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Code of Ethics, now there’s an oxymoron for you!] says that journalists should not have a personal relationship with the people they report on. What’s even worse, she says, is flying free because of the relationship. Welch puts it this way: “It is one thing to have a personal relationship. It’s another thing entirely to be benefiting from that relationship. Actually being able to fly for free because of that relationship kind of brings it to a new level. A reporter who covers national politics in any way who is in a relationship with an MP is clearly in conflict.”

This is the second time that the ravishing Erickson has been accused of running afoul of the code of ethics. In 2007 during the Commons committee hearings looking into the sordid Mulroney – Schreiber affair she planted a few written questions with some Liberals to ask Mulroney. The Harperites screamed blue murder about the affair to the CBC which resulted in her being banished to the boring gulag of Toronto for almost two years.

What will happen to Erickson next is anybody’s guess. However, if the CBC gives her the pink slip she can always seek employment with the Calgary Herald whose conflict of interest rules for journalists are applied with much less rigor and severity - that is, if they are applied at all. For example, Tom Olsen happily continued writing his Herald column and reporting on the government of Ralph Klein even though his brother Gordon (with whom Tom obviously had a relationship) at the same time held various positions in Klein’s office including executive director of the premier’s south office, executive assistant to the premier, and the premier’s caucus liaison.

So, for Erickson, even if worse comes to worse – hell, it’s not the end of the world.

KLEIN INSIDERS SAY ALBERTA TORIES CONTINUE STAMPEDE TOWARDS WILDROSE ALLIANCE

ALBERTA TORIES ARE STILL ABANDONING THIS. . .

. . .FOR THIS!

You will recall that on January 18, 2010 I raved about Special Ed's deft decision to appoint California-born and bred Ted Morton as Alberta Minister of Finance and Enterprise and thereby set him up as Ed's logical successor. See: REPORT FROM ALBERTA: TORIES AND WILD ROSE ALLIANCE SET FOR THE MOTHER OF ALL TORY CIVIL WARS


I predicted that Morton's pure right-wing pedigree along with his reputed oratorical skills could very well stop the hemorrhaging of Progressive Conservative support over to the upstart Wildrose Alliance party now headed by that enticing political goddess, Danielle Smith.


Much to my surprise I have discovered that my rosy view of Morton's potential is not shared by a great many Tories, whether they still hold their party memberships or whether they trashed them already to join the party of the alluring Ms. Smith.


This afternoon I happened to share a glass of wine with two men who can only be described as establishment Alberta Tories. They were in the innermost sanctum of the Ralph Klein organization throughout his whole sorry tenure during Alberta's dark ages between 1992 to 2006. Over those dreary and unimaginative years whenever anything of consequence was going on these affable and erudite gentlemen (remember, they bought me the glass of wine) were at the very apex of power. They kept both the keys to, and the secrets of, the kingdom. They were among the strongest voices in the Premier's cheering section, and advanced and strategized many of the thin gruel of ideas that found their way into the half-baked policies of his misguided regime. In other words, they were Tories of influence.



Alas, these former movers and shakers have concluded at the same time as countless other Albertans, that the Morton appointment is simply too little too late to save the Tories. They are underwhelmed and unimpressed with Morton. They say his oratorical skills are overblown and his leadership skills wholly absent during his whole three-year tenure as a Stelmach minister.



Most surprising of all, they are convinced that Stelmach has no intention of setting Morton nor anybody else up as his successor and still harbours the delusion that he will survive and lead the Tories to victory in the next provincial election! As to anybody else in the wings who can save the PCs from oblivion, forget it, they say. It ain't gonna happen. With Jim Dinning happily ensconced in the cozy comfort of oak-paneled walls and expensive scotch in the private sector, the cupboard is bare for leadership candidates. Empty. Kaput. Finito. One of my hosts (remember, they bought the wine) has even bought his Wildrose Alliance membership.



If these men are right - and their survival instincts have served them well after more than a generation in PC politics - this is bad news for the Tories. The party will have to fight tooth and nail to remain in contention, and with Stelmach at the helm and in la-la land about his own abilities and future, that will be like fighting with one hand tied behind one's back.

These are dark days indeed for the once proud party of Peter Lougheed.

SOME SPONSORS OF THE 'MAKE DITZY SARAH RICH' EVENT IN THE COWTOWN

In case you are wondering just who are the sponsors of the forthcoming Palin-Wallin Calgary conservative gabfest, they are listed on a series of half page ads in the hapless Calgary Herald.

At the top of the list is Walton. Walton is a private Calgary-based land investment company estimated to be worth gazillions and with holdings in many corners of the world. The company has been a soft landing for several right-wing retired politicos who have joined its advisory board after the sun had set on their careers. Among the lucky ones who have landed this sought-after lucrative sinecure are Ernest Manning’s son Preston, conservative gadfly and political groupie Thompson MacDonald, and most recently, ex-Premier Ralph Klein.

The right-wing think tank, The Fraser Institute (surprise, surprise), is also on the list. Among its former directors are those great Canadian role models Conrad Black, David Radler, and Peter Pocklington. Oh yes, the Fraser Institute has also had among its ranks a noted plagiarist by the name of Dr. Owen Lippert. Dr. Lippert who served the institute as a senior fellow and policy analyst, you will recall, took the rap for Stephen Harper when it was disclosed that Harper had given a plagiarized speech in the House of Commons in defence of Canada entering the war in Iraq.

Enmax Corporation is also a sponsor. Enmax is a 2 billion dollar energy distribution company wholly owned by the City of Calgary. Among its directors are Cliff Fryers, a former pooh-bah of the Reform and Alliance parties and loyal and faithful man-servant to Preston Manning, ex-Ontario premier Mike ‘Duffer’ Harris famous for his ‘Common Sense’ nonsense revolution of years gone by, former Klein-era Tory cabinet minister Greg Melchin, and the ubiquitous Thompson MacDonald.

The Rogers Group is also on the list. Apart from the usual assortment of conservative Bay Street captains of industry and members of the Rogers family that grace its board, surprisingly there appears to be a token Liberal – none other than David Peterson, former Ontario Premier who was confined to the dust heap of history by Bob Rae when he led the Ontario NDP to power almost twenty years ago.

The Progressive Group for Independent Business is a sponsor. It’s advisory council is a Who’s Who of Calgary’s lunatic far right including failed Wild Rose Alliance leadership candidate Mark Dyrholm, and uber rabid anti-gay rights conservative motor mouth Craig Chandler. Chandler has had mostly controversial associations with the Social Credit, federal and provincial Progressive Conservative, and Canadian Alliance parties. He has openly apologized to the citizens of the United States for Canada’s unwillingness to invade Iraq, was rejected by Premier Stelmach as a Progressive Conservative candidate to contest a provincial election, and has had run ins with the Alberta Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Among his more noteworthy public statements in 2007 the Ontario-born Chandler informed others who came to reside in Alberta:

"You came to here to enjoy our economy, our natural beauty and more. This is our home and if you wish to live here, you must adapt to our rules and our voting patterns or leave. Conservatism is our culture. Do not destroy what we have created."

For more on the distinguished career of the tolerant Mr. Chandler see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Chandler

And of course – you guessed it – the Calgary Herald is also a sponsor of this ‘Make Ditzy Sarah Rich’ event. The Herald’s participation was no doubt driven by its tiresome, ideological editors and scribes who have turned that once venerable publication into a second rate right wing pamphlet.

Bedford Biofuels, Oilsands Quest Inc. (which has Sarah’s stage prop Ms. Wallin on its board), the Jaymor Group, Land Rover Calgary, Business in Calgary, and It's Me, round out the list of advertised patrons.

All of this info is provided to you in case you are wondering what makes much of the cowtown tick. Dysfunctional? You think?

See: http://www.waltoninternational.com/
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
http://www.enmax.com/
http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?cm_mmc_o=mH4j7BBTkwCjC2By5jPyzEpjvivNi9jwECjCqBTwylCjCyBTwyl
http://www.pgib.ca/
http://www.calgaryherald.com/
http://www.bedfordbiofuels.com/
http://www.oilsandsquest.com/
http://www.landrovercalgary.com/index.htm?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CA4QFDAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landrovercalgary.com%2F&rct=j&q=land+rover+calgary+ab&ei=uE9wS5LeEYHssgPFl72yDQ&usg=AFQjCNHrCSxD4cFnfL1cKCZeCgKp3VUp-Q
http://www.businessincalgary.com/
http://www.learningtolovecancer.com/

DON MARTIN: CONSERVATIVE SCRIBE IN LA-LA LAND

Columnist Don Martin (left) doing what he does best - schmoozing Conservatives (even the obscure ones)

Don Martin is not a bad columnist. He’s a lively writer, has some wit – unusual in the current CanWest Global organization - and, albeit rarely, takes a shot at the Prime Minister like maybe once a year.

He’s a conservative columnist to be sure. Federally, his political affections have drifted seamlessly from the old kinder and gentler PCs, to the hard-ass Reform, Alliance and now Conservative parties. He has hung out exclusively with conservative movers and shakers for at least a generation and then some, and has followed and supported their rightward twists and turns with the instinct of a loyal and faithful bloodhound following the scent of his master’s prey.

Martin swooned over Mulroney during his hey-day as Prime Minister, believed Ralph Klein was the funniest and smartest guy on the planet (he even guffawed at Klein’s dinosaur fart jokes) when he was Premier during Alberta’s dark ages, thought the rise of Preston Manning was akin to the second coming of Christ, viewed Stockwell Day’s charisma as right up there with Pierre Trudeau’s when Day was doing his thing in his wet suit,* and almost always speaks reverentially of Stephen Harper as being profound, deep, and a master strategist (tsk, tsk).

(*He did, I swear it! You can find it in one of his columns written when the hapless Day was coming to power as party leader)

Martin stays away from Grits and people of other political persuasions as though they carried some deadly communicable disease. In all my years of rubbing shoulders with Liberals in Alberta and elsewhere I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Martin in their company. He is comfy with conservatives, and so he sticks to them and with them.

Naturally even if one belongs to some religious order, living that kind of a cloistered life can have negative consequences. One can lose touch with society, lose sight of reality, ignore history, draw baseless conclusions, and even become delusional – traits that frequently show up in Martin’s columns published in the various broadsheets that are part of the recently and mercifully defunct Asper press.

I was reminded of all of this when I read his recent column of January 21st, Recalibration Lost. See: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/21/don-martin-recalibration-lost.aspx#ixzz0dUqxYCMW


The column deals with the recent tightening polls between the Conservatives and Liberals as well as the negative public reaction to Harper’s second controversial prorogation of parliament within one year. Martin calls prorogation ‘a sleepy issue,’ believing it is of such little importance it can be blown off the front pages by some timely Harper generosity to the beleagured Haitians. He just doesn’t get it that Canadians have serious and distressing problems of their own that they want their government to solve – problems such as joblessness, soaring deficits, the continued sacrifice of lives and treasure in Afghanistan, and the detainee cover up. Canadians view prorogation as the government’s unnecessary and prolonged vacation from dealing with those festering problems. As a result, Canadians are angry and prorogation is no ‘sleepy issue.’


Martin really goes off the deep end with his next assertion about why the neck-and-neck polls are really of no concern to the Conservatives.


He writes that Conservatives know that three weeks from now there is “a firm end date to any real or rogue slide in their political fortunes.” Just what is happening three weeks from now that will save the Harperites? Why, its the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This is how Harper sees the Conservative universe unfolding:

“At the star-filled Feb. 12 spectacle in Vancouver, featuring the giddy hoopla of singers, dancers and athlete parades, the Olympic flame will fire up the sky and the word ‘prorogation’ will return to its natural domain in the vocabulary of parliamentary geeks.”


Apart from Martin’s staggeringly low and false opinion of the intelligence of the Canadian people and his failure to grasp their valid concerns or the dire straits many of them find themselves in, he has learned nothing from history during his professional lifetime as a Conservative scribe.

Twenty-two years ago next month Brian Mulroney had the chance to ride the coattails of Olympic ballyhoo into political popularity. The Calgary Olympics were held in February 1988 and the federal election followed November 21 later in the year. The result: Mulroney’s PCs lost 43 seats. Canada hosting the Olympics does not translate in support for the sitting government.

This is not the first time Martin has thrown logic and history to the winds in his exuberance while looking through rose colored glasses with his Conservative pals. He was so exhilarated by the last Harper victory at the polls that he was convinced Harper could get anything he wanted even though he had won only a minority of seats in parliament. With unrestrained confidence and joy at the Conservative victory he wrote on election night:

“The Conservatives have won a majority in political power if not in name” and that “. . . the Conservatives are now set to lead the an[sic] absolute-power minority, perhaps the strongest in history.”

Read: http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/10/harpers-minority-government-remember.html

Little more than two months later and about to be dethroned by a coalition as a result of his strategic excesses, Harper was on bended knee to the Governor General requesting a prorogation to save his skin.

ALBERTA TORIES: THE RODENTS BEGIN TO LEAVE

Not only are the Alberta Tory rodents scampering towards the nearest deck, today a couple of them even jumped over the side of the ship. Fish Creek MLA Heather Forsyth and Airdrie-Chestemere MLA Rob Anderson announced that they had finally given up on Special Ed and had become proud new members of the Wild Rose-Alliance caucus. With the defectors joining Calgary Glenmore MLA Paul Hinman, the new party now has three members in the legislature.

For Ed and the tired and bedraggled Tories the chickens are coming home to roost big time. Forsyth was one of the Calgary ministers Ed purged upon his takeover of the party. She had been both Solicitor General and Minister of Children’s Services in a high profile political career that began with her first electoral victory in 1993. The protection of children was a major interest for her and even Reader’s Digest recognized her contribution in the area by naming her a Canadian Hero in 2002. But it didn’t matter to Ed and the boys. Calgary had taken enough from the cookie jar. It was the yokels' turn.

Forsyth must have smarted from her fall from being a prominent and senior minister to being relegated to the chair of the moribund Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and positions on such lowly committees as Private Bills, Privileges and Elections, and Orders and Printing. How much lower can you get?

Anderson is a new kid on the block having been elected in the spring election of 2007. He is reported to be a very bright guy who worked as one of the suits for the same downtown Calgary blue-chip law firm that pays Ralph Klein a tidy sum to tell dinosaur fart jokes while yukking it up over scotch with their clients in oak-paneled board rooms.

Forsyth said that she became a turncoat because Alberta needs a stable economy and fiscal policies that will “bring back investors confidence, lower taxes, and once again the Alberta Advantage needs to be back on the agenda,” and that she had confidence that she and the Wild Rose Alliance “can work together to build the province that Albertans deserve.”

Anderson’s statement accused Stelmach and his pals of failing to address his constituents’ concerns and of muzzling him in speaking out about the issues. Thus, he said, he was going to speak more forcefully for the people who elected him and added, “I have no interest in investing any more of my life and taxpayer’s money defending poor public policy that has been developed by a small band of out-of-touch government appointees and insiders.” I presume he was talking about Special Ed and his band of yokels.

They are the first of what is likely to be a steady procession of Alberta Tories abandoning what was once the proud party of Peter Lougheed for more promising prospects. Conservatives, after all, have proven more than once that they believe that “if the guy that brung ya falters on the dance floor, well then, we’re outta here,” such as when Socreds bolted from the party of Harry Strom to the party of Peter Lougheed. The best recent example was the fate of the federal Progressive Conservative Party in the wake of the unpopularity of Brian Mulroney and the ineptitude of his successor Kim Campbell. In the West, PCs switched and voted en masse for Preston Manning and his Reform Party and the old federal PCs were kaput.

The Alberta PCs blew their only chance of survival by not having the courage to dump Stelmach at the leadership review convention in November. Now they are stuck with him until the next election. Is there a chance of Eddie leaving before then in favour of a new and more attractive leader? I don’t think so. There is no messiah on the horizon. And besides, he and his yokels still have the cookie jar, which was what it was all about in the first place.

See: http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/01/04/12341791.html

THE ALBERTA ADVANTAGE: FLAMES GET VACCINATED BEFORE PREGNANT WOMEN AND BABIES

KEN KING

TORY PAL AND FORMER EMPLOYEE

OF CONVICTED FELON CONRAD BLACK

Special Ed! I guess, Special Ed! Just when you thought you heard it all there’s more.

Everybody knows about the botch-up on the H1 N1 vaccination program in Alberta. Between Ed and his bully-boy health minister Ron Leipert (aided and abetted by his federal cousins who have not come through with enough vaccine), the program is presently shut down for four days and scheduled to reopen Thursday. Contrary to the original plan which was to ensure vaccination of the high risk people first - namely, pregnant women and babies aged six months to five years - Ed opened the flood gates to all. Come one, come all, Ed said, first come, first served. In doing so he followed the advice of his incompetent - and I do really mean INCOMPETENT IN CAPITAL LETTERS - health minister who said that to vaccinate people who were in the high risk category first would be what the Soviet Union would do because the authorities would have to ask for proof that they were in that category. According ot Leipert, that was no system for Alberta to follow. No siree.

So Stelmach encouraged all Albertans to get right down to those vaccination centers - sick or not sick, unhealthy or healthy, high-risk or low risk – everybody was welcome to get their shots. The result was bedlam. Thousands lined up for hours on end in bone-chilling cold. Many in those queues who were in the high risk category had the doors to the clinic slammed in their faces because it was closing time or there was no more vaccine. Understandably, the people became perplexed, impatient, and very angry. They were also scared. This swine flu, they realize, is not to be trifled with. Why else, would governments want to vaccinate everybody? See: http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/provincial/Stelmach_accused_of_misleading_Albertans_by_downplaying_flu_outbreak_67462447.html
But it gets worse. Today we heard the astonishing news that none other than the whole Calgary Flames Hockey Club jumped the queue the day before the government suspended the vaccination program. According to a Flames statement it was the Stelmach government’s Alberta Health Services that allowed the pampered stars to get their shots many days ahead of the great unwashed - which include the vast majority of the pregnant women and babies who are in the high risk category.

According to Flames President Ken King, 'Our players did not seek to avoid a lineup. They didn't ask for special attention. They followed the direction of our physicians.' Yes, yes, the stars didn’t do it. Somebody on their behalf must have asked the Stelmach government for special attention. Now who could that be? You might remember Ken King during his career as the neocon publisher of the Calgary Herald back when his then employer Conrad Black was learning how to loot companies and enter the House of Lords. Well, because of his outstanding service in advancing Black's ideology in those days King has impeccable Tory connections. As do all of the fat cat owners.
See: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/11/03/calgary-flames-h1n1-swine-flu-shot.html

Ladies and Gentlemen, this Flames fiasco is what the “Alberta Advantage’ has been all about from the time the term was first introduced by the dumb and dumber crowd of the Klein years. It has always been an advantage only for the privileged establishment. While their incomes and stock portfolios grew and as they built their 10,000 square foot palazzos, the little people had to put up with lousy roads, deteriorating health care, declining education opportunities, and salary levels that just kept their heads above water – barely. The Flames chapter in this sorry saga merely points to a continuing theme in the Klein-Stelmach Tory era – money and power trumps all else. The Flames represent money and power. They jump the queue. To the Tories, nothing gets in the way of money and power - even pregnant women and babies during a swine flu pandemic.

This has to be the last straw for Stelmach. If the Tories don’t dump him in Red Deer and try to salvage what’s left of what was once a proud and honorable party, they are doomed, gonzo, kaput!

By the way, Special Ed's health officials announced yesterday that the vaccination centers are starting up on Thursday. This time it will only be for kids from six months to five years of age, and by God - just like the Soviet Union - they are going to ask for age identification. And on Friday, a week or so after the coddled Flames got theirs, pregnant women will get their shots.

And the Oilers have not received their shots. “Go Oilers, go!!!”

DEAR ED: MAYBE ITS TIME TO THINK OF WHAT THE JAPANESE DO AT A TIME LIKE THIS

Dear Ed,

Since you became leader of the Tories in Alberta I’ve always liked you. I know, I know, I was rough on you often, calling you names like ‘Special Ed’ and all, but I want you to know that what I did was always in your interests. It was my way of spurring you on to do great things. I knew the mess you were left by Ralph’s dumb and dumber crowd. In fact, I’m sure you knew it too given that you took such a major part in it. See: http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2007/01/fast-eddie-ralphs-big-stick.html

And I knew it was going to take brains and ability to clean it up. So my motive was to inspire you to do great things. After all Ed, I live here. If you succeeded so would I.

I think part of your initial problem was that you and your pals like Danyluk and Snelgrove thought governing was easy. You knew that your mentor Ralph for the most part had an easy time of it, didn’t he? Almost until the end he had all of the usual Tory political, business, and media establishment kissing his ample backside – the big daily newspapers, the fawning columnists (two of which are now working for you), neocon media barons and think tanks like Conrad Black and the Fraser Institute, etc. It seemed to me that all you guys thought about when you knocked off Dinning was that it was now your turn to divide the spoils – Calgary had its turn and now it was Northern Alberta’s turn. Governing is far more complicated than that Ed, as I’m sure you have come to realize.

And so the first thing you did was screw Southern Alberta by tossing out most of its ministers. It was your first big mistake. Oh, I know, you tried to make amends. You put Ron Stevens in as your deputy premier, and added a couple of people in junior portfolios, but it wasn’t enough. You know the Calgary Tory establishment. They think they’re pretty good. They don’t like getting pushed around. This initial action, Ed, poisoned the well for you down here for sure.

Then there was the small matter of a lot of things going to pot in the province. I mean, we had deteriorating health care, education, infrastructure, and most everything else the provincial government is supposed to be taking care of. The problem was that people began to figure out that the Alberta Advantage that Ralph talked so often about was really no advantage at all. Oh sure, the oil companies were making big bucks. Developers, too. But the sick were being treated in hospital corridors. Some had to be flown to Saskatoon or Great Falls, Montana for treatment, for God’s sakes. Seniors’ care was understaffed, overcrowded, and generally a joke. Roads were an insult to the vaunted money generating capacity of big oil. There weren’t enough places or money available for our big universities to provide for all of the young people who wished to attend.*
[*On the matter of education perhaps when you are retired you will find time to read the following piece published on October 15 by the Herald’s premier columnist Deborah Yedlin: http://www.chtv.com/ch/chcanews/story.html?id=2104358]

Geez Ed, did you know that Alberta had the highest high school drop out rate in the country? Or that Alberta had the lowest participation rate in the crucial 18 to 25 age category in post secondary education in the country? Did you? How about Snelgrove? Danyluk, even? No? I didn’t think so.

As if all of that wasn’t bad enough you then goofed up on royalty policy. First of all, by ordering the task force study and then putting the study out for public debate just gave your opponents one big fat target to shoot at. Then when you decided on royalties you failed to provide for that dark day when oil and gas prices collapse (Did you know that it is an historical fact that they always do, sooner or later? Did you know that?). The whole royalty issue has won you legions of enemies and no friends whatsoever. Look at what oil companies put into the coffers of your party in the last year and a half. Hardly anything. Small gas producers are under the gun. It’s a helluva a mess.

I’m sure you will say that you couldn’t have been that bad because you won an election in the interim. Eddie – can I call you Eddie? – Eddie you won that election for two reasons. First of all, as Muhammed Ali used to say, the other guy didn’t ‘whup’ you, and secondly because the people wanted to give you a chance. It was not because the people thought you were competent, believe me.

While all of this is brewing, then we are hit by a financial crisis. That was something you and the Tories should have been prepared for. North America had been riding high for some time. There is a thing called the business cycle and it is more than a theory. Bubbles burst. Good governments prepare for that. The financial collapse forced your government to rocket into major deficit territory at a time when people were just figuring out that the Alberta Advantage for Martha and Henry was a crock. Bad timing for you, Ed. The result of all of that was the loss of Calgary Glenmore to the Wild Rose Alliance – even though you had a high profile candidate who ran a helluva good campaign.

Okay, okay, you might say much of this is bad luck. And you might be right in saying so. But Geez Ed, you have to try to help yourself. That statement you made the other day about reducing your pay by 15% makes you look like a weasel - even more than usual. You cut it by only 5.7% and everybody figured it out in about five minutes. And many are convinced you said it was 15% to mislead the people. See: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Braid+Premier+falls+short+mere/2109526/story.html
And you still haven’t learned how to give a decent speech where you do not look like a dweeb, for God's sakes!

And now on top of all of this, you’re confronted by the loquacious babe who just won the Wild Rose Alliance leadership. I hear old Tory stalwarts and ministers like Doug Main and Ernie Isley joined the party and voted for her. The story is that all kinds of old Tories are signing up for her. They’ve had it with you and the old Tory party. See: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/10/17/edmonton-wildrose-alliance-leader.html

Well, Ed, when I started this piece I thought I could still give you some constructive advice that might pull it out of the fire for you before your moment of truth coming up in Red Deer in three weeks. But after giving due consideration to everything, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do or say to help.

Perhaps you might think of going into your den, taking out your beretta, wrapping yourself in the Alberta flag, putting on maybe some of your favorite Hank Williams or Wilf Carter records, having a couple of slugs of chokecherry wine, locking the door and then do the honorable thing. Or perhaps do what the Japanese do when things are hopeless and they have run out of options. But, Ed, I think its over for you, and it’s probably over for the Tories.

STELMACH'S OPPONENTS SHARPENING THEIR BLADES

On Saturday September 19 I posted a tantalizing bit of gossip that Ralph Klein’s old comrades-in-arms, bankrolled by a well-known, publicity seeking, oil patch gazillionaire, were scheming to drive Premier Ed Stelmach out of the Tory leadership and out of office. The story goes that the Klein cabal is set to replace the hapless Stelmach beginning as early November 6th and 7th at the Tory Convention in Red Deer when it would engineer a negative vote against him in the mandatory leadership review. The plotters believe the vote results would leave Stelmach with no option but to resign, after which he would be replaced at an early date by the darling of Calgary’s oily Tory set, Jim Dinning.
See: Saturday, September 19, 2009
STELMACH HEADING FOR THE LAST ROUND-UP? KLEIN'S BARBARIANS AT THE GATE? YOU CAN SAY YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

Yesterday, Ralph himself seemed to publicly confirm at least part of the story. In a brief Email exchange with Canadian Press about what Stelmach should do in response to the results of his leadership review Ralph said, “I would advise he step down if he does not reach 70%.”

Klein's bold Email message follows closely upon the heels of a recent Email sent by one of his long-time inner sanctum, back splappin’, good ol’ boy pals, Hal Walker. Walker, a prominent businessman and former President of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, sent his message to 200 party members and business leaders complaining bitterly about the new royalty regime and that nobody in the Stelmach government was listening to the gripes.
See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOVge4x6xHnntGNQZOVZihz6R1uQ

Calgary Tories are not happy these days. They are all smarting over their third place finish in the by-election in Calgary Glenmore. They are worried sick over the rise in popularity of the Wildrose Alliance Party and see many of their former members embrace the new neocon movement. They remain angry at the bumpkin Stelmach for stealing the Tory leadership from their classy urbanite Jim Dinning. Of course, they blame Stelmach for all of their political woes and did not even allow him to campaign for the Tory candidate in the Glenmore by-election. More importantly, the oil patch, feeling the pain of sharply reduced oil prices and feeble gas prices, is up in arms at the government over the royalty policy. And everybody – Tories included – blames the government for shaky and costly health care and the mounting deficit. Add to that toxic brew the fact that the old Klein operatives are seething about being long ignored and neglected by the new regime, and you have an Alberta Tory party that is ready to explode.

My guess is that there is more than a good deal of truth to the rumour of a coup d’etat against Stelmach. I also foresee a disappointing leadership review vote for him particularly coming out of Calgary and Southern Alberta. If he is forced to pack it in – and I predict that this will happen – it will set the stage for another Tory leadership brawl. I can foresee Stelmach’s Northern Alberta and rural support being very antagonistic to any Calgary-based insurrection. I also foresee Stelmach’s ethnic voting base in Edmonton and Northern Alberta getting mad as hell at the knifing of one of theirs by a bunch of rich anglos from Calgary. In these circumstances whoever replaces the Premier is not going to have an easy time of it.

It is easy to sympathize with Stelmach as he faces his sad plight. Because of bone headed fiscal policies of his predecessor Ralph Klein – the man who just stuck the knife squarely between the Premier’s shoulderblades – Stelmach was forced to increase spending by billions of dollars on neglected infrastructure and declining services. Then he’s hit by an economic downturn that drives his province into a whopping deficit. Hell, he hadn’t even begun to start solving the huge problems left on his desk courtesy of Ralph Klein. Surely, one could – and probably should – blame Ralph Klein for the current mess we are in.

But wait a minute. Not so fast. Let’s think about this. Or preferably, read this:
Saturday, January 27, 2007
FAST EDDIE: RALPH'S BIG STICK

That brings us all back to earth, doesn’t it? Alas, there should be no tears when Special Ed throws in the towel.

RALPH KLEIN: UNHERALDED HERO OF 9/11

God help us all. He’s back. Yesterday, Ralph Klein returned to the political rostrum in Calgary where he spoke to an audience of about 150 moles, spies, geeks, James Bond and Dick Cheney wannabes, and other right-wing maniacs and pursuers of government largesse. His subject ? Get this – “his government’s experiences related to security and public safety in the weeks and months following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.” For more on the advance hype to his speech read this bullshit: http://www.trilateralcalgary.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=36

The sponsoring organization was the Trilateral Conference, a group of delegates representing the lunatic fringe of the most conservative elements of society, top heavy with security corporations trying to get pork barrel government contracts.

In the course of his scintillating presentation of the dramatic heroics of his government in the face of code red terrorism, the ex-Premier of Alberta took the opportunity to hurl a couple of typically witless Kleinisms at federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. In answer to a question from the audience about Iggy, the cerebral Klein said, “Ignatieff, I think he’s playing a game. He says all the right things, especially when he’s in Alberta and in British Columbia, he says whatever the population desires. So what I think he should do to keep his mouth shut.” He then accused Iggy of saying different things about the oilsands to Westerners, than he did to Easterners - without offering a scintilla of evidence, of course.

Ah, yes, vintage Klein to be sure - cutting, rapier-like, clever discourse – akin to some of his previous gems like “bums and creeps” from Eastern Canada. Or his view that “dinosaur farts” caused global warming. Or his prescription for dealing with mad cow disease in Alberta, when he said, “I guess any self-respecting rancher would have shot, shoveled and shut up . . . ” Needless to say, the 150 others in attendance whose organizations paid good money for them to hear this drivel, har-de-hared at his every breath and gave him much applause. An increasingly typical Calgary audience, I'm afraid. Read: http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2009/06/19/9848346-sun.html

Also, http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/08/fraser-institute-invites-you-to-evening.html

and, http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/george-w-bush-is-coming-to-town-as.html

Klein however was content neither with merely talking about his bold and decisive actions in the wake of 9/11 nor trashing Iggy. The ex-Premier - who blew up hospitals and allowed his cronys to buy the land thereby vacated at cut-rate prices, who laid off teachers and nurses, and who allowed Alberta’s infrastructure to go into the tank, all in the name of an “Alberta Advantage” that Albertans have yet to see – also had some economic advice for his successor.

He criticized the steep Stelmach deficit and suggested he (Klein) would cut government services in order to deal with it if he was in Eddie’s position. How much would Klein cut? Klein had these trenchant and thoughtful comments: "You know, I'm not in politics any longer so I don't know what I would cut.” "Ten per cent or 5% ... across the board. Everything."

He bragged about his own record as Premier of cutting government employment by a third, rolling back government salaries, and getting “rid of our pension plans,” - no doubt forgetting the $700,000 severance allowance he pocketed after the Tories gave him the boot. Naturally, he took credit for his phony legislation – now repealed – making it illegal for Alberta to incur deficits.
Read: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1712547

For an enhanced and electrifying record of his piffle, read: http://communities.canada.com/calgaryherald/blogs/insidealberta/default.aspx

Fortunately, his successor Premier Stelmach - no prize or mental giant himself - shows no signs of listening to the failed ex-Premier's economic advice.

Klein’s appearance was a scary and nightmarish back to the future moment to be sure. Hopefully for Albertans, his reemergence onto the public stage is merely an anomaly and not a sign of things to come.

THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT STRIKES AGAIN

TWO LEADING MEMBERS OF THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

The gang that couldn’t shoot straight rides again. No matter that their sleazeball tactics secured only a minority win in what should have been a romp in the last election. No matter that strategies such as infantile and tasteless ads featuring defecating puffins and talking oil drips miserably failed to do the job even when its opponents were still on the canvas at the count of nine. No matter. Like Stephen Harper’s commitment to the preachings of Bushism, the Fraser Institute, the National Citizen’s Coalition, and other loony-bin nonsense still offered up by the now discredited neocon movement of the University of Calgary Economics and Political Science departments, he and his band of merry brownshirts continue to stick to sleaze and dirty tricks – this time to attempt to get Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and a prominent and promising colleague, Ruby Dhalla.

Only the naïve and stupid would deny that the Dhalla affair is a Conservative operation all the way. Anybody who believes the testimony of those two pathetic nannies who gave testimony against Ruby Dhalla earlier in the week would probably swallow Brian Mulroney’s evidence given at the Oliphant inquiry, or indeed believe that his tears were real. The two ladies, who were hired by Dhalla’s brother, worked in the Dhalla household for a very short time – one for three months and the other only for days. Furthermore, it took them more than fifteen months to make their vapid allegations public. And when they were made public, who was around for the soundbite? You guessed it - that champion of new Canadians who would have them all learn English before they set foot on Canadian soil, Harper’s full-bodied hatchet man, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Kenney, by the way, relates to new Canadians about as well as Maxime Bernier relates to diplomacy.

Reliable sources say that Kenney is a pal of one Parm Gill. Gill, like Dhalla, is from the Sikh community in the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale, for which Dhalla is the sitting Liberal MP. Gill gave her the run of her life in the last election, with Dhalla winning by only a few hundred votes. Kenney has been described as being very tight with Gill. They travel to Conservative snorefests together in and around Toronto, and Gill has even accompanied Kenney on a trip to India. Read this interesting piece on their interesting connections: http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2009/05/jason-kenney-and-private-investigator.html

Also, a must-read is:http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/05/ubiquitous-jason-kenney.html

Thanks to Kenney and his pal Parm, Nanniegate does not even come close to passing the Conservative aroma test. So look to Dhalla keeping her seat with a handsome majority.

And so we now turn to the latest negative ads. Don Martin, one of the Calgary Herald’s few remaining good writers, used to be one of the big cheerleaders of the old kinder and gentler PCs for which he was always a good and loyal soldier. I mean, he was such a pal he even laughed at Ralph Klein’s jokes about dinosaur farts and chuckled when Klein bailed out of a Premiers meeting on health care to play the slot machines at a casino.

But the excesses of the Harperites are even too much for Martin. His column today describes the tasteless ads and gives his readers the address of the Conservative website on which the ads can be found. The domain name is registered in the Balkans – Montenegro, to be exact, which as an aside he tells us is governed by a coalition. The web administrator is based in Arizona. The Conservatives have taken as much trouble to obscure the particulars of the website as Mulroney did to hide the cash he got from Schreiber. In addition Martin tells us that websurfers have told him that the domain is used frequently to exhibit pornography! For more on Martin’s piece you must read: http://www.calgaryherald.com/mikeholmes/Martin+Real+issues+begging+nastiness+takes+hold/1595681/story.html
All of which means that Harper has learned nothing in the more than three years he has been Prime Minister. He is sinking and sinking fast. Look to his early departure, and a Liberal majority in the next federal election. Prime Minister Ignatieff. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

WELCOME TO CALGARY'S HOSPITAL HELL: DON BRAID TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

For those of you who believe Calgary is a land of milk and honey, for those of you who swallowed the Klein line of ‘The Alberta Advantage,’ and for those of you who believe that Alberta is rolling in the good life because of petro dollars, I encourage to read Don Braid’s column in today’s Calgary Herald, “Welcome to Hospital Hell. 14 Hours in the Emergency Ward.” http://www.calgaryherald.com/Welcome+Hospital+Hell+hours+emergency+ward/1506017/story.html

Braid in my book is one of the last remaining objective writers of conscience still plying his trade with the Calgary Herald, who tells it like it is. He describes what happens when ideologues take power and put into motion the pet theories of their cronys. In this case, the Alberta government under Premier Ralph Klein attempted to bludgeon the people in Calgary into accepting private medicine by shutting down one active treatment hospital and blowing up another. Neither have been replaced in almost fifteen years. See the demolition and hear the cheering of the brainwashed and brain-dead observers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y4zCNv00OQ

The population meanwhile has grown since by one third - from 750,000 to more than one million.

RON WOOD AND HIS BELOVED 'MANYBERRIES'

In Alberta there was a time when people of a different political stripe were pleasant and civilized to one another. They could work together and enjoy each other’s company. Whether it was the workplace or mutual charitable pursuits or interests, politics was only the slightest impediment to normal discourse and communication.

This civilized and democratic behaviour began to disintegrate in Alberta and elsewhere some time ago. I don’t exactly know when, but it seems to me to have originated with the era of conflict infotainment in the media, hard-edged talk shows, and the rise of the neocons. The neocons of course can be traced right back to the Reagan era, and I suppose that’s probably where it all began. In Alberta, this disturbing trend was magnified by the highly partisan Klein era, the rise of the ideological right in the Reform/Alliance rebellion against the old federal Tories, and the very divisive editorial policies of the major print outlets first under Hollinger and now CanWest.

But there are still oases of civilization in the body politic out here. There are still people in Alberta, who although having very divergent views as to what is best for Canadians, can speak to one another with wit, intelligence and respect.

One of those is Ron Wood. I met Ron the first time many years ago when he was a prominent radio newsman and had the misfortune of moderating a political forum that I participated in during one of the federal elections 1979, 1980 or 1984. I’m not sure which one it was exactly. I did run as a Liberal candidate in Calgary North in all three. And no, I didn’t win any of them. I had no idea of Ron’s politics back in those days as he handled his duties with such an even hand he was the epitome of fairness.

Ron had gone to school in Calgary and began his career in the news business there. By the time I met him he had already worked in Ottawa for some time in the Press Gallery, had been news director at a couple of radio stations, and was on his way to becoming an award winning journalist.

In 1990 he went into politics, first working as press secretary to Reform Party leader Preston Manning. He later worked as an executive assistant and communications advisor to opposition leaders John Reynolds and Stephen Harper. Now if that isn’t a conservative pedigree I don’t know what is. When Harper won the big show in 2006, Wood decided he’d had enough. He returned to Calgary and began his career as a damn good writer.

I have just finished reading his first venture into the literary world ‘And God Created Manyberries’ published by Frontenac House in 2007. For those of you unfamiliar with ‘Manyberries,’ it is a very small Hamlet of no more than 100 souls in Forty Mile County very close to the U.S. border about 50 miles south of Medicine Hat at the eastern end of Highway 61.

Wood’s book is a tribute to small town virtues and values. It is a gentle, funny, and at times sentimental work about small town characters, their adventures, and their spouses and secrets. The reader will learn about their town celebrations and listen to their conversations and political and world views. We get to know their pets and, in their dotage, even accompany them on their sad final visit to the vets. We join them on their hunting trips and learn something of the town’s colorful history. We get to meet Three-Eyed Tom and even Four-Eyed Tom, two prominent residents of Manyberries, only one of which is a human being. And we learn much about their civilized drinking habits in their beloved Ranchmen’s Saloon.

‘And God Created Manyberries,’ is written in the down home tradition of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prarie Home Companion’ and Stuart McLean's 'Vinyl Cafe.' The chapters are short and crystal clear snippets of experience and shrewd observation from a great admirer of rural western Canadiana. It is a great read.

Recently, I have had occasion to spend some quality time with Ron. Over good vintages of Oaky Merlot, we trade stories of our experiences, talk politics and talk about writing. Ron is from the old school. He’s candid, honest, civilized and great company – he’s a throwback to the good old days when most everyone was civilized.

FRASER INSTITUTE: ALBERTA ROADS GONE TO POT(HOLES)

If anyone needed convincing that the Alberta infrastructure has gone to potholes under the successive Klein and Stelmach regimes, one need not look further than a recent report from the Fraser Institute.

The right-wing, neocon unthinktank comprised of fanatical deregulation fat cat windbags, issued a report ranking Alberta in 7th place out of the 10 provinces in respect to roads in “good condition.” In fact, the report says that only 63% of Alberta’s roads are in good condition. See: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=1503efef-f1b6-4ca0-a48c-974d4ecb0df7&p=2

The dismal state of Alberta’s roads were confirmed by an Alberta Transportation spokesman who acknowledged the province was behind in road repair due to insufficient funding, rising construction costs and a shortage of labour and material.

According to the Institute’s study, the top three provinces with roads in good condition are Ontario which is in first place, followed by Nova Scotia and Quebec. See: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fraser-institute-ontario-has-best/story.aspx?guid=%7BC19C21EE-6F54-48DD-8A7E-755ACAE78DAA%7D&dist=hppr

Given the Institute’s great affection for Ralph Klein, the ex-Premier primarily responsible for the current dilapidated state of all public services and public infrastructure, the province’s ranking would probably be much lower than 7th place, if the study was performed by an institution with a record for objectivity.

PRESTON MANNING WANTS GEORGE W. BUSH TO MANAGE THE CANADIAN ECONOMY

Fraser Institute political hack, Preston Manning

Canada's George W. Bush (on the left) with the real thing (on the right)

Preston Manning’s column of this today’s Globe and Mail asks the question: Who would be the best person at the helm of the ship of state as Canada heads into stormy economic seas?

After giving short shrift to Elizabeth May ( “ . .weak, terribly weak, on the economy.”), Jack Layton (“ . . . cut from the same cloth” as “economic disasters . . Bob Rae and Dave Barrett”), Stephane Dion (Dion’s degrees from university “are in political science and sociology – adequate preparation for salon politics but not for economic crises.”) - - surprise, surprise, he recommends his fellow arch-conservative and prodigy Stephen Harper.

Manning these days spends much of his time beating the drum for conservative causes. He remains a Fellow of the Fraser Institute.

You know the Fraser Institute, don’t you? It is that political arm of the Conservative Party that masquerades as a think tank. Amongst its former trustees are convicted felons David Radler and Conrad Black, both of whom helped to fund it. A former Fellow is Dr. Owen Lippert, an admitted plagiarist and patsy who fed Stephen Harper his Commons speech urging that Canada join George W. Bush in invading Iraq. Another Fellow of the Institute is that genius that brought Health Care in Alberta to its knees. Yes, Ralph Klein is also a Fellow of the Institute.

It is the same organization that has recently hosted George W. Bush’s political guru Karl Rove in two expensive dinners in Toronto and Calgary so that they could listen intently about what a great success his boss’s Presidency has been.

Yes, Manning actually believes that Stephen Harper is the best man to lead our country as the economy goes into the tank.

But think about this. Harper is an unabashed cheerleader for Bush and has been during all of the dark Bush era. Whether it was supporting the war in Iraq, mindlessly supporting the lost cause in Afghanistan, sticking a finger in the eye of China, supporting a disastrous course in the Middle East, or telling the Canadian people that the fundamentals of the economy are strong as we headed towards the abyss, Harper has been Canada’s George W. Bush.

And now Manning is telling the Canadian people that they should support Canada’s George W. Bush to manage the Canadian economy! That’s like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum.

Preston Manning is a neocon Reform/Alliance hack, and has been since his first foray into the federal arena. His advice is not only worthless, it is downright dangerous!

THE FRASER INSTITUTE INVITES YOU TO AN EVENING WITH 'TURD BLOSSOM'

Turd Blossom

Former Trustee Conrad Black

Former Trustee David Radler

Yesterday I had a big surprise. I received an invitation to a reception and dinner from the far right wing Fraser Institute, the Calgary Herald's think tank of choice. The event will be held on September 24th at a tony downtown Calgary Art Gallery. The guests will be treated to a lecture by Karl Rove.

Rove, you will recall, until last year was the loyal and faithful servant of President George W. Bush. He served as the President's Deputy Chief of Staff, and headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Despite these lofty positions he has been described as 'Bush's Brain,' - not exactly a complement. In fact, Rove is a university dropout. He did attend university for a time - long enough to get draft deferrals until the draft ended in June of 1973.

His boss the President, showing the privileged and Ivy League class for which he is so famous, calls him 'Turd Blossom.' For his part, Rove describes the President as "one of the most intellectually gifted presidents we've had."

Throughout the greater part of Bush II's political career as Governor of Texas and President of the United States, Rove has been his closest political advisor. Thus he has been in on all of the great decisions - like going to war in Iraq and the public misinformation initiative that was its foundation, the woeful lack of preparation for rebuilding Iraq after the invasion, paying little more than lip-service to the war against the Taliban, the feeble response to Hurricane Katrina, public policy that has brought about the near bankruptcy of the United States, the wink-wink approach to torture and rendition, and foreign policy that resulted in the plummeting of American influence throughout the world. And that is only a partial list of the catastrophes of the Bush II years.

Rove's political gifts however, are not something to sneer at. He is an expert in smear tactics and dirty tricks. Rove the draft dodger has been given credit for labelling 1972 Democratic candidate for President George McGovern as a "left-wing peacenik" notwithstanding McGovern's stellar World War II service as a B-24 pilot. Rove has been accused of masterminding a telephone poll to voters in the Texas Gubernatorial contest between Bush II and Democrat Ann Richards, wherein the people being polled were asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for Richards if they knew that her staff was 'dominated by lesbians.'

He has been accused of doing the same thing in the 2000 Republican Primary in South Carolina, a contest between George W. Bush and John McCain. The telephone pollsters asked the question if they were more or less likely to vote for John McCain for president 'if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child."

During his long stint at the President's side, Rove had been up to his neck in other allegations -like being instrumental in the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative, dismissing U.S. federally appointed attorneys for failing to prosecute democrats, and being involved in the 'swiftboating' of John Kerry's military service during the Viet Nam war.

So Mr. Rove is the guest speaker at the dinner to which I was invited. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. If I were to go it is not for free. Tickets are $500 per individual, $900 per couple and $5000 for a table of ten. Mr. Rove does not come cheap these days. However, probably unbeknownst to the Fraserites in Toronto, he comes cheaper in Calgary. On September 23 in Toronto, the Bay Street Harperite cheerleaders will pay $700 for one ticket, $1300 a couple and $7000 for a table of ten. I guess the recent downturn of oil prices from $150 a barrel to $120 or so prompted the better Calgary deal.

The Fraser Institute is a registered charity with Revenue Canada. It is a rabid proponent of competitive markets, less government spending and regulation, less gun restrictions, more privatisation of government services and more private medicine. It opposes government involvement in global warming. Two of its illustrious former members of its Board of Trustees are Conrad Black and David Radler formerly of Hollinger fame, and presently indisposed. The current Board is comprised primarily of Canadian captains of industry, past and present. Among speakers at Institute functions in the coming months are former Socred Preston Manning, fallen Premier Ralph Klein, failed magazine publisher Ezra Levant, and Harper eminence grise Tom Flanagan. Just so you know.

As for me, I'm skipping the Rove banquet.

MENDACITY OR IGNORANCE ?

Jason Fekete, wrote on July 5, 2008 for his employer, the Calgary Herald:

"The NEP - which set domestic oil prices lower than the world price and steered energy exploration out of Alberta - crippled the province's economy for a decade, but it was compounded by a collapse in world oil markets." http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/07/calgary-heralds-disrespect-of.html


Gwyn Morgan (last year) speechified as reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail:

“when Ralph became Premier [1993], Alberta was suffering the after effects of Trudeau's national energy program followed by a prolonged slump in energy prices."
http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2007/10/gwyn-morgan-pinnochio-failing-memory-or.html


Neil Waugh (yesterday) as reported in the Edmonton Sun wrote:

". . . Pierre Trudeau's evil 1980 national energy program . . . brought on 10 years of economic winter in Alberta . . ." "http://edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Waugh_Neil/2008/07/08/6093641-sun.html



All of the above indicated in italics are either statements of mendacity or ignorance.

You decide which.

For further reading see:

http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2007/02/neil-waugh-weasel-words-and-art-of-big.html

http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie

STEPHEN HARPER'S DESTRUCTION OF CANADIAN VALUES

I’m betting that most Canadians are content with Canadian values. Human rights, a charitable spirit, peace, tolerance, compassion. All of the good basic stuff of a civilized society that has evolved here in he last 350 or so years. It makes Canada one of the best. Most Canadians like it. Indeed they love it. And they will protect it. That's my bet.

And the first line of defense of that protection is not against the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is not in Iran, or Iraq. It is right here in Canada. And the battle that determines whether my bet wins will be the next federal election.

Make no mistake, this Harper Conservative party – the Reform Alliance Tory mishmash (the acronym is, fittingly, RAT) - does not believe in Canadian values.

We know where Conservatives stand on human rights. They have been bitching and complaining about the Charter of Rights since then Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau introduced the idea in 1967. Conservatives have no respect for the Charter (unless, of course, they are under arrest). Neither do they have respect for judges that interpret the Charter. Conservatives have launched cowardly attacks on judges of Charter cases since the cases began coming before the courts.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, while Alberta Provincial Treasurer during the dark ages of the Klein years made it very clear about what he thought about human rights. In a statement about Clifford Olson – admittedly not a popular Canadian – Day said: “People like myself say. ‘Fix the problem. Put him in the general (prison) population. The moral prisoner will deal with in a way which we don’t have the nerve to do.’” http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/imc-vancouver/2000-November/002788.html

Of course, in April 2007, the Harper Conservatives boorishly refused to take part in the commemoration 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Rights. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=76a8a5c9-d036-4985-8e87-cdb0c868d735&k=76569

The Conservatives believing in charity? That’s some kind of joke. Oh, maybe when Conservative politicians put fellow Conservatives on the payroll. The homeless, the young finding ways to pay for their education, the sick and permanently infirm, or the trucker going broke because of the price of gasoline – Conservatives have no time for them. Tough luck, they say. Live and die by the market.

And peace? Had Harper been Prime Minister when his chicken hawk pal in the states went off to war over Saddam’s WMD’s, Canadian soldiers would have been marching into Baghdad lock-step with their American comrades. He and his pal Stockwell even wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal lamenting the Chretien government’s decision to take a pass in Iraq. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/879589/posts

In Afghanistan, we are bleeding more than any other country. Afghanistan is in a helluva mess. Canada is in a helluva mess in Afghanistan. Our so-called allies do little more than wish us well. Ah, but Conservatives like spilled Canadian blood on the battlefield. It gives Canada a seat at the table with the ‘big boys’ as they and their pals have said so often. http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/04/general-hillier-hes-no-macarthur.html

And when it comes to tolerance, think of the record of their Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (the Conservatives gift to the Liberals that keeps on giving). In the dark ages when he was a Minister for Ralph Klein, Day supported a move to ban John Steinbeck’s classic novel Of Mice and Men from Alberta schools because of profanity. When the Supreme Court said that gays and lesbians are protected under Alberta human rights legislation he argued overruling the case by applying the notwithstanding clause. Day’s record on a host of issues is one to be laughed at – and feared.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011938

Harper, for his part, refused to attend the Toronto's biggest conference of the year in August of 2006. It happened to be an AIDS conference attended by 24,000 delegates from 132 countries, including Bill and Melinda Gates and Bill Clinton. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=76a8a5c9-d036-4985-8e87-cdb0c868d735&k=76569

And then there is Art Hangar, the loud mouth ex-cop, soon to be retiring Calgary MP. A former Jasper, Alberta resident, Stan Faulder had spent years on death row in Texas after being convicted of the 1975 murder of an oil rich 75 year old widow. By the late nineties, many were making representations to Gov. George W. Bush for a commutation of his sentence or at least a delay pending appeals. They included Bishop Desmond Tutu, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and the Government of Canada. The basis of the appeals was that for years Faulder had been denied the right to contact his native government for help, contrary to the Vienna Convention.

During Faulder's appeals process, enter ex-cop Hangar MP. He led a delegation to Texas to tell the authorities that Ottawa should stop interfering in the Faulder case. Said Hangar, “We feel he has, indeed, received due process. More than due process, actually. Now the time has come . . . . that he just be executed.”

In 1999 the Texans executed Faulder by lethal injection. http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:1C6otW2krh4J:www.ccadp.org/faulder.htm+Stanley+Faulder+Art+Hangar&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1

For years it was the practice of the federal government to lobby foreign governments on humanitarian grounds not to impose the death penalty on Canadians convicted within their jurisdictions. Equally, if a Canadian was convicted and sentenced in a foreign court the federal government’s practice was to lobby the foreign government so that the sentence would be served in Canada.

Ronald Allen Smith of Red Deer has been on death row in Montana for more than twenty years. In November, after considering Smith's plight, Stockwell Day announced that henceforth the feds would not lobby on behalf of murderers “who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law,” adding that “it would send a wrong message.” Mr. Smith awaits his fate. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/11/01/death-penalty.html

The smart money says that should Harper win the next election, capital punishment will be back on the table in Canada. The names of wrongfully convicted murder susupects Donald Marshall, Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard, Thomas Sophonow, yada, yada, yada, be damned!

The case of Brenda Martin was little different from the Smith case. It mattered not a whit to Harper and Day that Martin had been convicted in a largely outlaw state ridden by corruption at all levels. The state had no evidence against Martin. She was a maid/cook for a fraud artist. Harper's government did nothing to help her, until she started to scream at the top of her lungs from her Guadalajara jail. It was a high risk action on her part, because the noise she made undoubtedly angered her hosts. However, as a result of her pleas enough Canadians became outraged so that the Harperites finally did something about it. They brought her home on a private jet – after she spent two years in a Mexican slammer for a crime she didn’t commit. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/01/martin-return.html

Harper's Conservatives continue their mayhem on Canadian values. Canadians rotting in foreign prisons, many of them for crimes they did not commit, have been advised that before they can be transferred back to Canada to serve out their sentences, they must go though a CSIS terrorism check. The process will take months and perhaps years. One of those affected is a 57 year old former fireman who had voluntarily given himself up to the authorities in respect of some drug offenses. Since Day took office prison transfers back to Canada have been reduced by almost 50%.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080616.wcriminals14/BNStory/National/

The foregoing examples are just tips of the iceberg. Harper's attack on Canadian values continues unabated with daily examples. An increasing number of Canadians recognize what is happening. And they are becoming afraid. If not, they better be. If given a free rein, a Conservative government will change this country to some unrecognizable, mean-spirited neocon replica of Bush’s United States. It will be a country of Harper's values.

Yes, be very afraid.

FIRST IT WAS DEAD DUCKS, NOW ITS LAME DUCKS: BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN SPECIAL ED

Dead Duck

Lame Duck

Edmonton Duck (Left) with Dead Duck

The honeymoon is over for Premier Stelmach's second coming.

Albertans were unimpressed with the Stelmach government's early bumbling performance prior to the last election. But on March 3rd - for want of a better alternative - they held their noses and gave the Stelmach Tories a commanding electoral victory. It could have only happened in Tory Alberta. All was forgiven - the lacklustre new Premier, his bumpkin government, and the public wreckage of years of Tory mismanagement and neglect to which the Premier himself was a major contributor.

However, the tragedy of the dead ducks in the pristine Aurora mine toxic tailings pond north of Fort McMurray has reminded Albertans of the incompetence and ineptitude of the pre-election Stelmach government. The catastrophe has shown that Eddie's team is the discredited Klein regime all over again. It is a story of government incompetence, coverup, callousness, and toadyism to their big business pals in the oil industry. And it is not likely to go away soon.

And now some lame ducks are having an impact on the government as well. Those 'lame ducks' are officials of the Calgary Health Region together with CEO and former Klein apparatchik, Jack Davis - both of which can be assumed to be on their way out.

Ever since the blowing up of the General Hospital and the sale of the Holy Cross Hospital to Klein cronys - decisions taken by the Klein government when Mr. Davis was its right hand man - Calgarians have suffered from inadequate hospital services and insufficient space for the sick. Compounding the problem is the rapid population growth in the Calgary region. The result: among many other horrors, Calgary hospitals are housing 137 patients a day in hallways and lounges with no end in sight.

Davis and his CHR are beating the drum for the government to cough up 100 million to cover the Calgary hospitals deficit plus another 25 million to open completely two new medical facilities and do away with hallway medicine. They point out - quite reasonably - that the Edmonton Capital Health Region gets 2.5 billion a year from the province to operate and the CHR gets only 2.4. In addition, in the past four years or so, the Edmonton region has received 500 million more than the Calgary region.

Stelmach and his Health Minister Ron Leipert are unmoved. They have advanced the spurious explanation that because of demographics, Edmonton has larger health care costs needs. In other words, if you don't like it, then lump it . . . . Calgary!

Could it be that Ed is once again reverting to his anti-Calgary hangups which were so evident when he decimated cabinet representation from the cowtown upon the appointment of his first cabinet? Could it be that this is a spiteful act directed against Davis and his cronys for having embarrassed his government by putting heat on Stelmach for more hospital bucks in the midst of the last election campaign? And could it be that this is Ed's retaliation against some of the Klein henchmen and hangers-on who badmouthed Stelmach at every opportunity in the wake of his win over Dinning right on through to the election? Five will get you ten that the answer to those questions are yes, yes and yes.

And so, look for more trouble from the cowtown for the Stelmach government.

THE ALBERTA ELECTION: ON SUFFERING, SWILL, AND IDEAS

If they haven't suffered enough, it's their God-given right to suffer some more. That's the first idea to come to my mind in the wake of Premier Stelmach's 72 to 9 to 2 romp to a massive majority victory in the Alberta Election.

What motivated Albertans to be so apathetic in the wake of such poor government? Two hundred and fifty thousand Calgarians cannot find a family physician. Eleven hours or more waiting time for treatment in emergency wards. Patients being cared for in the hospital hallways or room showers. Premature babies having to be flown to Saskatoon for treatment because of a lack of facilities in Alberta. An abysmal lack of schools to serve the fastest growing province in the country. Crumbling and leaking schools. A chronic lack of spaces to serve students enrolled in higher learning. Deteriorating and unsafe highways. All of this in the wealthiest province in the history of the country.

The desecration of our environment. The refusal to launch even a token attack on climate change. The looting of bitumin by big oil via pipeline thus transferring both unimaginable wealth and tens of thousands of jobs to cheap labour destinations in the United States. A fumbling and bumbling Premier - an embarrassment, really - who gets by by memorizing a few lines from his campaign cheat sheets, who has trouble putting two coherent phrases together. Yada, yada, yada. There's more.

Oh, it's true the Grits talked too much policy. Until people's eyes began to glaze over at times. And yes, there was a shortage of passion, urgency and righteous indignation in the delivery of their message - that 'it was time!' But by God, it was time!! It would have been 'time' in every other province of Canada whose government had a similar dismal record as the Alberta Tories.

In fact, the Kevin Taft Alberta Liberals ran a great campaign. They had candidates of quality who ran visible and active campaigns. The Liberals had ideas. Boy, did they have ideas! And what is wrong with ideas? There was a time when people cared about ideas. Even columnists cared about whether a party presented ideas.

Sun columnist Rick Bell, one of my favorite columnists (when he is not mean-spirited and subconsciously yearning for the return of Ralph Klein who was so full of yuk, yuks in the good old days like plagerizing his college term paper, getting into a shouting match with the homeless on Christmas Eve, or talking about dinosaur farts), thinks the Liberals are arrogant. See http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Bell_Rick/2008/03/04/4901326-sun.php
In Rick's world, any politician who presents ideas on the hustings is a latte swilling intellectual snob, who whines when he loses.

I got news for you Ricky. The Grits know how to take their lumps and they take them like real men (or women). They will be back with their ideas another day. Not every successful politician is in the tradition of lubricated blowhards who duck out of Premiers' meetings on health care to play the slots. Some think. Some have ideas. And whether they swill latte or pellegrino or cheap vino sometimes they win. And it is these men and women of ideas that make a difference. The Grits will be back Ricky, don't you worry.