Top 10 Things I Liked About Edmonton

That’s right, folks, we are pulling up stakes, loading of the Red River cart and heading back to the bright lights of Toronto.

Yessir, we’ve had enough of this oil loving, profit at all costs province and decided to make our fortunes in a less heady economic environment.

“But Ben,” you say, “surely there must be something you liked during your stay in the Wild Rose province?”  And you’re right…so here’s my top 10 things I liked about my time in Edmonton and Alberta.  While these are kind of in order of preference, they’re not really.

 Top 10 Things I Liked About Edmonton

1.  William Eddins

The conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is a transplant from Minneapolis, so he gets bonus points right there.  He had a terrific way of connecting with the audience and creating a relaxed atmosphere.  Plus, the exuberance with which he conducted was contagious and you couldn’t help but be engaged - and he gets major bonus points for the “bum wiggling” incident.

Alberta’s dismal voter turnout

 

I wanted to reproduce this editorial from today’s Edmonton Journal: 

‘Won’t vote’ wins majority

In the next three-plus years, each time you hear an Albertan complain about the provincial government, remember this

Chances will be almost three out of five that the grumbler cared so little about the future direction and management of public affairs he now bewails that he or she couldn’t be bothered to vote on March 3, 2008.

Alberta Election 2008 - Conclusions

 

I don’t even want to talk about it, I’ll just give you two sets of data to compare.

Popular Vote - by %

Conservatives - 53%

Liberal - 25%

NDP - 9%

Alliance - 7%

Green - 5%

Actual Seats in Legislature - Out of 83

Conservatives - 73

Liberal - 8

NDP - 2

Alliance - 0

Green - 0

Does this seem disproportionate to anyone else?

In any case, good riddance Alberta, you can have your 4 decade long dynasty of incompetence and shortsightedness.  Enjoy.

Alberta Election 2008

Well, all you Albertans should be wiping the sleep from your eyes and heading off to the polling station now. I, like many others, am not hopeful that any meaningful change will occur when polls close tonight.

As the Globe and Mail reports, this election has done little to capitalize on voter discontent around rampant growth, massive increases in the cost of living, and the environmental degradation that has occurred under the Alberta Tories (37 years and counting…).

Janice Brown predicts that the Tories will pick up 70 to 72 seats. I can hope for less, but in the end it appears that most Albertans are still either too dumb, lazy, or conservative to vote for any party other than the Conservatives.

While I had some faint hope that the influx of new Albertans might make a difference it appears that most people are more concerned with milking the hot economy for all it’s worth rather than making a political statement.

Good riddance, I say. Time to head somewhere where there is some semblance of a democratic process.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t vote, though, so find your polling station. At the very least Alberta can avoid having a record-low voter turnout. Maybe.

And keep your eye on Ben Co. for my Top 10 best and worst of Alberta.

Ed Stelmach threatens lawsuit over domain name

 

Anyone familiar with Alberta politics will have no doubt come across www.daveberta.ca, an Alberta blogger whose opinions I have agreed with on many occasions.  Turns out the forward thinking Daveberta snagged www.edstelmach.ca in the lead up to Stelmach’s coronation as King Ralph, Jr., and old Steady Eddie isn’t happy about it.

Daveberta received this letter from Stelmach’s lawyers.  They are claiming Daveberta misappropriated Stelmach’s identity and that his posts critical of Stelmach mean that he did not do this in good faith.

First, this issue of domain name registration is hot and will only get crazier.  My personal view is that if a high visibility person such as a politician can’t think that they should cover this end of things, tough.

Second, I’m ticked that the lawyers are relying on his posts which are critical of Stelmach as evidence of lack of good faith.  The implied statement, then, is that someone who fawned over Stelmach on www.edstelmach.ca would not be threatened in this manner.

Third, what on earth are Stelmach’s handlers thinking?  There was a zero percent chance Stelmach could come out looking good out of this.  Best case scenario is that he looks like an absentminded Luddite who can’t quite “get” this whole internet thing.  Worst case (which is where this is headed) is that he looks like a petty bully who can’t handle criticism and gets all litigious on college students who happen to have a different political affiliation (note to Ed…all college students most likely don’t agree with you on anything…they are college students, not bumpkin farmers).

In the end it’s just another sign that the Good Ship Conservative is slowly sinking in Alberta.

Ezra Levant, someone I never expected to be agreeing with, sums it up well here, too.

Alberta’s New Licence Plate

So the Government of Alberta is looking at revamping Alberta’s beloved “Wild Rose Country” licence plate and is asking the public for input.

Being the good pseudo-Albertan that I am I thought I would chip in. Here are some possible plates that I think really capture what Alberta is all about.

1. Might as well just say what everyone here thinks. Oh,wait, they say this.

2. Would be a nice alternate to the environment one.

Alberta Conservatives spend $225,000 of public money on “campaign ads”?

Okay, combine this with Ed’s Wednesday night 20-minute campaign ad and the Conservatives have managed to spend $350,000 of taxpayer dollars on thinly veiled attempts to boost Stelmach’s visibility and credibility in a lead up to an election call.

So what did we get for $225,000? Well, a headshot of Stemalch with “tough face #1″ who remind us that he made a commitment and delivered. I’ll tell you what, Ed: After seeing this I’ve made a commitment of my own for the upcoming election, and I’ll deliver, too.

But don’t just listen to me, judge for yourselves if this looks like a campaign ad to you:

 

Royalty policy “not a compromise”?

So the Conservative’s long awaited response to the Royalty Review Panels reccomendations were finally released yesterday and I have to admit I am of two minds.

On one hand I expected Stelmach and the Conservatives to cave into oil companies demands to a muchgreater extent than it appears they have.  I think that, overall, this royalty policy is an improvement on the existing structure, and that Albertans will benefit from this over the coming years.  So, from that perspective, kudos to Ed.

On the other hand, I don’t think that Stelmach should run around too much spouting off that this policy does not represent a compromise on the Royalty Review Panels recommendations.  Here’s why:

First, some definitions of compromise -

• com·pro·mise  / [kom-pruh-mahyz]  noun, verb, -mised, -mis·ing.

  –noun

  1.	a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.

  2.	the result of such a settlement.

  3.	something intermediate between different things: The split-level is a compromise between a ranch house and a multistoried house.

  4.	an endangering, esp. of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.: a compromise of one’s integrity.

Stelmach himself has stated that this policy addressed the needs for increased royalties while providing the adjustment period industry needs to soften the blow.  Also, the proposed policy pulls in $463 million less in royalty revenues than the panel called for.  Both of these things strike me as a compromise.

This isn’t to say that compromise is bad here, but don’t run around saying “The house isn’t burning” when, indeed, the house isburning.

Finally, I don’t hold out much hope of this policy seeing the light of day.  With implementation of the royalties being pushed back to 2009, there is lots of time for an election to take place.  Any election will most likely see this issue as front and centre, which gives plenty of opportunity for broken promises, backpedaling, and high-pressure lobbying and donations from industry.