Fildebrandt, Past and Present

The United Conservative Party, being less than a month old, is still in its infancy but it has officially been christened by its first bozo eruption.  Derek Fildebrandt, MLA for Strathmore - Brooks, was found to have been renting out his taxpayer funded apartment in Edmonton through AirBnB for personal profit.  Claiming his actions "never cost the taxpayer anything extra", Fildebrandt released a statement claiming his subletting for personal profit was "not against the rules" and has "always been... shared openly with (his) colleagues".  While the latter ensures each and every one of his WRP/UCP mates can be regarded as comfortably complicit in Derek's stewardship of taxpayer dollars, his leave of absence from his role as "co-shadow finance minister" suggests those same colleagues weren't willing to defend him in the face of public disappointment.

Alberta MLAs are eligible to claim up to $23,160 non-taxable dollars each year ($1,930 per month) to cover their accommodation expenses in Edmonton.  Upon his arrival in the Legislature in 2015, Alberta Party leader Greg Clark called for a change in the reimbursement process when he discovered he was unable to easily claim less than $1,930 per month.  In March of 2016, Clark's recommendations requiring MLAs "to claim actual living expenses" rather than a blanket amount were approved by the Member's Services Committee.  This change in accommodation expense rules is what will likely come back to haunt Fildebrandt as Clark has now requested an investigation and review of accommodation expenses claimed by current MLAs.

Fildebrandt staunchly claims he did nothing wrong and he is receiving some public support. Personally profiting from taxpayer funded accommodation "absolutely isn't an issue" said the Strathmore-Brooks Wildrose/UCP constituency association president, Ronda Klemmensen.  Had the shoe been on the other foot, most (if not all) people who don't support Fildebrandt feel strongly that he would have thrown everything he had in his meme arsenal at the offending MLA(s).  Frankly, this double standard, although not new, is confounding.

Had he used the rental income to decrease the cost to Alberta taxpayers, his actions would have been widely applauded.  In fact, it is that type of ingenuity one would have expected of a "fiscal hawk" and "champion of the taxpayers".  Back in 2013, Fildebrandt stated expense policies should require actual receipts in order to hold public servants accountable.  While campaigning for his seat in 2015 he claimed that it was the responsibility of politicians to first get their "own spending under control".  In fact, Derek Fildebrandt the MLA is facing such acute public backlash because of Derek Fildebrant the former Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation.

Whether you support Fildebrandt now or not, if you have heard anything from him over the past 8 years, you have heard him rail against irresponsible spending by government and elected officials.  One gets the impression from Fildebrandt of old that he would be the first person to ensure his own expenses and spending were above board.  While one right wing publication suggested what he did was not against the rules, it would appear they are unfamiliar with the change Greg Clark successfully implemented in 2016.  "Actual expenses" ensure that Fildebrandt's Air BnB profits should have reduced the amount of accommodation expenses claimed by the MLA.

There is no grey area here.  Fildebrandt's apartment was paid for by Alberta taxpayers.  Fildebrandt profited personally from that apartment and still charged Alberta taxpayers the full amount.  Even though he reimbursed taxpayers after he was caught, Fildebrandt the MLA should not be absolved because Fildebrandt the Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation would never have allowed it.

Update: Greg Clark has been combing over Fildebrandt's expenses and discovered more anomalies; claiming expenses in more than one city and claiming both receipts as well as his per diem expenses (ie twice for the same meals).  Clark has once again called for an investigation into all MLA expense claims.

Bringing Alberta Together

This week I was fortunate enough to attend not one but two meetings about unity.  First up was Derek Fildebrandt's Unity Town Hall on Thursday which I tweeted live as best as I was able.  In a room of about 80 people, Derek's speech fell flat on the crowd.  I've seen him a couple of times in person and he's not a bad speaker.  In Question Period he's quite dramatic and often amusing, if only because of his dramatic flair.  That was not the case on Thursday and I can't help but think it's because the speech was authored by someone else.  The questions at the end were more insightful and Derek was back to his more recognizable self while answering them.

Photo Credit: Daveberta.ca

"I look around the room and see 50 and 60 year olds" one man said, "where are the 40 year olds?" As Derek scanned the crowd, I imagine he was disappointed to see me as the lone representative of the age group in question.  I've had a few interactions with Derek in the past couple of years and he is well aware I do not support his "vision" for Alberta. "The young people are at the back" Derek said with obvious relief.  And they were; the youth volunteers.

"How are you going to engage the young people?" the same man asked.  "Liberty Conservativism" Derek replied.  "I don't think anyone should go to jail for smoking marijuana" he declared to a group of individuals who likely don't agree with him at all. "I realize that may not be a popular stance in this room" he said.  I do believe he is misinterpreting Trudeau's success as being heavily dependent on that statement.  What he's missing is how the younger people in this country reacted to Trudeau's declared commitment to the environment, adequately preparing Canada for a future in a global economy and inclusion; and Derek can't offer that commitment to his supporters without alienating a good majority of them.  Welcome to Alberta's right wing.

Kerry Cundal and Stephanie Shostak

The second event I attended was the Alberta Together meeting in Red Deer.  On Friday I was told the event had sold 250 tickets.  They accepted registration at the door as well and had 50 blank cards for name tags.  They ran out of blank tags and the later arrivals used blank paper squares.  They hadn't ordered enough food for lunch and it was pushed back an extra hour as the staff at The Black Knight Inn accommodated a request for food for an additional one hundred people.

To the gentleman at Derek's Unity event, I found the 40 year olds; and the 30 year olds and the 20 year olds who were willing to attend an event about a new political vision for Alberta.  There were also 50 year olds and 60 year olds.  People from different cultural backgrounds and people from all over the province.  There were people from different political backgrounds as well.  It was an incredible mix of people who looked a lot like the Alberta I've seen while traveling around the province over the past three months.

At the beginning of the session we logged in to a wireless poll and questions were presented so we could get an idea of whether or not people agreed with statements taken from Alberta Party policy, Liberal policy and former Progressive Conservative policy.  There were also a few statements from Wildrose policy.  On Liberal, ABP and Progressive Conservative policy, people voted over 90% in agreement with the polices.  On Wildrose policy, they voted over 90% in disagreement in all but one category; "the government should provide incentives to employment for people receiving government benefits".  That was almost an even split.  Talking with attendees afterward, many said it would depend on the program.  AISH, Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, for example, was not a program people believed should be "incentivized" as recipients often could not work, or could not work full-time due to permanent mental or physical disabilities.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark
Photo Credit: Nicolas Pelletier/Radio-Canada

While the Alberta Liberal Party was invited to speak to the crowd, they (likely politely) declined.  An unfortunate choice to make since the room was full of people looking to hear what their best options were for a party to support in 2019.  As it was, they heard from Greg Clark, leader of the Alberta Party, Stephen Mandel, a prominent (former?) Progressive Conservative, and Kerry Cundal, who must be everyone's favourite recent Alberta Liberal supporter.  The question "How do we move forward" was posed near the end of the meeting.  The options were: Start a new party, attempt a merge with another centrist party, join the Alberta Party and "other".  83% chose "join the Alberta Party".

As the former PC Party and Wildrose fight for the Wildrose supporters of late and the PC members of old, the moderates in Alberta don't seem willing to give up their progressive, or conservative, values.  Welcome to the centre; we will build Alberta together.

Another Week, Another Move Toward Unity

It feels like "hurry up and wait".  On the left we have the governing NDP making good use of their time and stature holding meet and greets.  We have the Alberta Liberal Party's new leader David Khan who has begun an "87 constituency tour", Jason Kenney on a similar path to garner support for Unite the Right and Brian Jean has been reaching out as well.  Derek Fildebrandt has also stated he will join the race if the parties merge.  The former Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose members will vote on unity July 22, 2017.

Meanwhile, the Unite the Centre initiative has enjoyed a publicity boost from the acquisition of Katherine O'Neill, former President of the Progressive Conservative Party.  O'Neill has recently accepted the position of Director of Alberta Together, a political action committee that, according to their website was "started to help shape and support a growing fearless, focused and forward thinking centrist political voice" in Alberta. "It is a not-for-profit organization that puts public service, pragmatic centrist principles and province-building at the top of its agenda."

http://albertatogether.ca 

Back in April, the first Unite the Centre meeting was held in Red Deer.  People were invited based on the organizers' knowledge of the invitees' political leanings.  Each of the invitees were asked to reach out to others within their communities to bring as many voices to the table as possible.

At that time Kerry Cundal was running for the leadership of the Alberta Liberal Party and though she did not speak on behalf of the party, she attended.  Had she won the leadership, she would have known what these conversations were about and how or if her party could benefit from taking part.

The NDP's connection with its federal party will continue to be a tough shadow to cast off. With the latest announcement from the federal NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh that he and his party will oppose both Kinder Morgan and Energy East, the AB NDP are left holding a bag. As much as they would like to move centre, their federal counterparts seem intent upon making them look like Greens on steroids. Add to that the slim-to-none chance of Wildrose or Kenney's party or the UCP quieting their socially conservative, death threat making, immigrant hating, refugee bashing, homophobic members to appeal to a centrist base... and you have just two parties in the centre.

As O'Neill said on Ryan Jespersen's show last week, "there are two parties in the centre; the Liberals and the Alberta Party... what is the best option for 2019?"  Greg Clark will be in the room but I believe David Khan is restricted to maintaining the status quo.  Seems we'll find out where the conversation leads on Saturday.

If you would like to be part of these discussions, or just want to have lunch and listen, tickets are available for the Alberta Together event on June 24, 2017.  The event is scheduled to run from 11:00 am (registration opens at 9:30) until 3:00 pm at the Black Knight Inn in Red Deer.