UCP: Reviving Ralph Klein

It was a beautiful evening in downtown Calgary on Wednesday; the chinook had settled in and the wind was muted among the turn of the century buildings of 8th Avenue.  The UCP was holding a "Ralph Revival" at the St. Louis Hotel, a favourite watering hole of former Premier Ralph Klein.  Included in the $150 ticket price was a black t-shirt with a tuxedo print and the UCP logo, two drink tickets and Chicken on the Way.  A number of volunteers acted as registrars, coat check minders and wait staff.

I was fashionably late, arriving at 5:20 pm because I work and couldn't manage to leave early for the 4:30 pm start.  The room was bustling, mostly with men between the ages of 45 and 65 and the conversation seemed lively.  Since its renovation, the tavern is a blank slate and that night it had stand-up bar tables four or five deep along the middle of the room.  The room was warm, its occupants jovial and the air hummed with optimistic chatter. I looked around for some familiar faces and went to say hello.

"Don't you ever get tired of hanging out with the UCP crowd?"  I was asked.  Partially in jest, there is a genuine curiosity to that question and I laughed.  Answering honestly, I replied "Not at all; you say the most interesting things".  I was introduced to the table and welcomed into the conversation.  Within moments, a gentleman to my right asked a gentleman to my left "what do you think about the Alberta Party not running a candidate in the by-election?" 

The gentleman who responded was a former Alberta resident who now lives and operates an oil and gas company in Manitoba.  He was "forced out", he said, by the Stelmach royalty review.  "I think the Alberta Party is the smartest opposition party in the legislature" said one, "but they need to show up." "What do you think about the government's candidate?" Asked another.  "This could be a real shot for David Khan if he can beat the NDP candidate" offered someone else.  No one suggested there was a chance Kenney wouldn't win.

After a few minutes, I picked up my chicken in a box and found a less crowded table.  I befriended a friendly 40-something woman and she told me she used to work for a Reform MP in Ottawa.  She said she felt like it was time to see what was going on here and if she wanted to be involved.  She dragged her husband along, she said, because he wasn't really into politics but she spent time at sporting events so this was his way of giving back.  He was a dentist so I asked him what he thought of the proposed fee guidelines.  As they had just been released that evening, he hadn't had time to go over them but he said that because of the sterilization requirements in Alberta "there isn't an office in the rest of Canada that would meet Alberta standards."  He said it costs more to do business here to keep up with those regulations.  Personally, I think the fee guides are to pull costs closer together so people don't have to shop around for dental work but we were interrupted by Richard Gotfried's call to attention as the speeches were about to begin.

The first person invited to the podium was Leela Aheer's son who sang "O Canada"; that young man has an incredibly clear, strong voice which needed no technological amplification and it was joined by a number of individuals in the crowd.  Next we heard from an avid volunteer who became interested in politics when he was 14.  Ron Stevens, former PC MLA for Calgary Glenmore from 1997 to 2012, had caught the young man applying some graffiti to the side of a local building.  Stevens, as the story was told, did not chase the youth away or call the police. Instead, the MLA engaged the youth and invited him door knocking.  He happily explained that it was enough to turn his energy towards politics, where he remains a volunteer 6 or so years later.  It was this kindness and introduction to a new direction that made him want to be involved in a youth engagement strategy with the UCP.  He then explained that proceeds from the live and silent auction items would help fund their work.

Kenney spoke next and delivered a brief speech in a pace that rivaled the auctioneer who succeeded him.  Beginning with the "surplus of common sense of Ralph Klein" (perhaps for adopting changes Kenney advocated for as Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation), he nodded to the Klein government's decision "to do the right thing".  That "thing" was unexplained.  Klein is oft-admired for paying off Alberta's debt but I have yet to hear his fans remind Albertans how he paid off the debt; see: lowest personal return for tax investment in Canada.  I can't help but question why it is that Albertans are so lucky to have the lowest taxes, highest personal wealth and more money spent on them per capita by a doting, if misguided, government.  I highly doubt the "right thing" Kenney referred to involves actually paying for government services.

The crowd thinned out very quickly as 8:00 pm approached.  A few were heading to a nearby drinking establishment and I declined to join.  When I had my coat and t-shirt in hand, I stopped to say goodbye to a woman I'd met on a few occasions previously.  When asked if I had met Kenney, I shook my head and told her I wasn't really interested in doing so.  She told me she was giving the UCP six months before making her decision; she wanted to see if the party really did support women.  "He gave both Leela and Angela high-level appointments, which is smart, but it might just be good politics" she told me.  "I'll know in six months if I'm going to stay" she said.  Her declaration made me realize once again that we shouldn't discount UCP supporters so quickly; there are a number of smart and talented people in politics and they support different parties for different reasons.  As I walked back to my car I considered that the UCP may have hit their high note in 2017; the level of support for Trumpian politics in this province may well be at a ceiling rather than a floor.

Disclaimer: As of November 17, 2017, author is on the board of directors for the Alberta Party and also the executive as VP Membership. Former: member of Youth Justice Committee, Age-Friendly Steering Committee, Environmental Committee, Westerner Days Committee, and Miss Blackfalds 1991.

So You're Not Running a Candidate in Calgary-Lougheed

After a stellar showing at their AGM over the weekend, the Alberta Party officially announced Tuesday it would not be running a candidate in the Calgary-Lougheed by-election this Christmas season. A statement from the Party said they would instead abide by parliamentary tradition and allow three opposition leaders without a seat in the legislature, and the government, to duke it out while they prepared for a leadership race.  While one UCP supporter claimed announcing the outcome of the by-election was a "foregone conclusion" was defeatist, does anyone really believe Jason Kenney picked Calgary-Lougheed because he might have to work for it?   While this author took a stab at predicting who would step down for Kenney earlier this year, I missed the obvious benefit of removing the longest serving Calgary MLA, Dave Rodney; my bad.

Photo Credit: Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

Referred to as a "stronghold", incumbents have the best chance of re-election, especially those who have been re-elected three times.  Naturally, if not an incumbent, the incumbent's party leader.   The NDP had to run a candidate because they are the government and it's quite likely they held back from announcing the date of the by-election until they found someone who could be everything that Kenney wasn't (and also take away some bragging rights from the AB Libs).

When fighting a social conservative college drop out who "served" his country by grandstanding on decades old belief systems, there's few better to enter the ring than a happily married gay doctor.  Dr. Phillip van der Merwe takes the edge on a single gay lawyer by having already made a lifetime commitment to another in the eyes of the law and of course God, who witnesses all marital unions.  Oh, and the Alberta Green Party leader is running as well.

The Alberta Party can happily leave this definite hot mess alone.  Kenney only has good old faith in traditional marriage, anti-carbon tax, anti-socialism, anti-compassion and a pie-in-the-sky promise that economic miracles will abound if he forms government in 2019.  The NDP will run on policy, GSAs and the fact that the economy is getting better even without Jason Kenney's magic conservative wand.  David Khan will run on his anti-PAC advocacy and hope that Trudeau shows up to knock on a door or two.  I imagine Kenney is hoping for the same since it seems he'd rather be facing off with Trudeau anyway.

While some are trying to set the narrative that the Alberta Party was either too weak or lonesome to run a candidate, UCP supporters on social media are obsessing about the Alberta Party and not the by-election.  It would appear the Alberta Party doesn't have to enter a by-election to take headlines or energy away from the UCP and it's highly probable that annoys them more than anything else.

Disclaimer: As of November 17, 2017, author is on the board of directors for the Alberta Party and also the executive as VP Membership. Former: member of Youth Justice Committee, Age-Friendly Steering Committee, Environmental Committee, Westerner Days Committee, and Miss Blackfalds 1992.

UCP: From or Into the Ashes?

It's been quite the week and a half since UCP members overwhelmingly chose Jason Kenney as their Leader.  Despite publishing the results before the official announcement, people without cell phones or internet were still quite excited to find out who won.  "We don't care in this party what God you worship or who you love.." Kenney declared to a crowd of both ecstatic and disappointed observers.  That little shocker aside, we've heard it all before.

Walking around the room, I spoke with a number of people.  Of all my conversations, the most difficult was with Leela Aheer who suggested I join her board.  I've spoken with her at a few events this year and  I like Leela, I really do; I just don't understand why she is a UCP member.

Granted, she whole-heartedly supported the more likable Brian Jean but after almost two weeks, she is still there.  Perhaps her promotion to Deputy Leader the morning after gave her hope she may wield some influence.  Dave Rodney, MLA for Calgary-Lougheed stepped down the day after the announcement to allow Jason "I'm in no rush to get into the legislature" Kenney to run for a seat in the legislature.

A number of people migrated to the Wildrose when they were fed up with the PC party.  Alberta has historically been a conservative province and they don't appreciate government waste.  There was a large group of recently-Wildrose-now-UCP members supporting Brian Jean who were part of that migration: fiscal conservatives who were also either socially liberal or socially libertarian. In either case, they don't identify with Jason Kenney's social conservatism.

Kenney did other political parties in Alberta a favour by running for the PC leadership and he did them an even bigger favour by uniting with the Wildrose.  Through the subsequent leadership race conservatives were offered three options:  Doug Schweitzer who campaigned to the young and centre-right, Kenney to the staunch social conservatives and Brian Jean held up the centre to middle right.  Although they tried not to fracture the newly-formed party, the vast difference between the leadership candidates ensured the culmination of that race would benefit someone other than the UCP.

Most polls proclaimed if the election were held yesterday, the UCP would win.  Polls also said that UCP would have more support under Brian Jean than Jason Kenney but that was then.  This week, Jason Kenney decided not to take Rob Breakenridge's advice and opposed Bill 24, a bill that legislates children's privacy in being a member of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at their school (Breakenridge has written four articles in 2017 regarding Kenney and social conservatism).

In a vote on the second reading of Bill 24, legislation that allows for the creation of Gay Straight Alliances, only 8 UCP MLAs attended to vote on record; and they all voted against the Bill.  Derek Fildebrandt, the independent but highly partisan MLA for Strathmore-Brooks also voted against the Bill.

Leela Aheer, MLA for Chestermere - Rockyview gave an impassioned speech acknowledging the need for GSAs prior to the vote but did not return to vote; neither did MLA for Grande Prairie - Smoky Todd Loewen nor Prasad Panda MLA for Calgary-Foothills, who were also present prior to the 15 minute division.  Adding salt to the already open wound, Mike Ellis, UCP MLA for Calgary-West presented an amendment to remove section 9 from Bill 24 the next morning.  In his statement, Ellis accused the government of providing sexual education without parental consent through GSAs.

Seeing people defend their membership in a party that now has a leader they fundamentally disagree with has been enlightening.  They disagree with the leadership directive but they are defending their choice to stay or, worse, remaining silent.  There is no reason to stay loyal to a party that has existed for all of four months except one: those aforementioned polls.  If the MLAs cannot or will not stand up for what they believe in then it would seem they aren't worth the votes that put them there.  If they wish to stand for the  principles they claim to have, there is no time like the present to remove themselves from the heat of Kenney's socially conservative agenda.  The Lake of Fire 2.0 will not be as kind to the party the second time around.

UCP Leadership: Won and Done?

As Albertans enter the final leg of a leadership race that has seemed to emulate American political theatre ad nauseam, let's take a moment to reflect on the past three months.  Yes, the leadership race officially began on July 22, 2017.  It feels longer because unemployed politician Jason Kenney, Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA Brian Jean and Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer have been campaigning for 15, 10 and 4 months respectively.  It probably also feels longer because as of today, the leadership race has been going on for three months and 5 mind-bendingly long days.

L-R Doug Schweitzer, Jason Kenney, MLA Brian Jean
Credit: LethbridgenewsNOW.com 

On a positive note, it is almost over and we will finally have the privilege of knowing who almost half of the UCP membership will choose to lead the united conservative party.  There's something old, something new and a veritable palette of shades of blue.

Doug Schweitzer made non-UCP members pay attention in the wake of Charlottesville when he called out Rebel Media's Alberta Bureau Chief for stoking white nationalism. It also garnered Schweitzer the title of "leftist" from said Chief.  Schweitzer ran a decent campaign as the "moderate conservative" and has attracted support from a number of former PCs who somehow believe he has a hope of winning the leadership.  While his campaign is almost as factually creative as Kenney's, Schweitzer's message of "new blue" moderate conservatism speaks to a broader general electorate who, after 44 years of electing progressive conservatives, may themselves be moderately conservative.

Brian Jean is the favourite among moderate conservatives from the former Wildrose camp (who are also likely former PCs).  Brian has been a staunch conservative, voting against same-sex marriage while an MP and strangling all effectiveness out of the phrase "will not increase your taxes" as the newly elected Wildrose leader.  He has mellowed somewhat since being elected to serve Albertans in the legislature and now takes a a more libertarian stance of "social issues only exist if we talk about them".  Brian Jean is in the unique position of having the party stalwarts turn on him in favour of Jason Kenney who, ironically, won the leadership of the socially progressive party. And if you haven't seen Kenney's number one fan, Campaign Life Coalition's, updated criticism of Brian Jean's voting record (here), you are missing out on basking in the intended consequence of social conservative back-patting.

And then there is Jason Kenney, self-styled as Alberta's Saviour.  The plucky young liberal from Saskatchewan, who realized he was instead a conservative, bragged about running from a Saskatchewan NDP government two full years before the NDP were elected there.  Kenney spread his doom and gloom clear across the province at the fiscally conservative cost of $1.5 million dollars; that's $250,000 per month or $1,347.71 for each of the 1,113 votes he received to become leader. Kenney has indeed accomplished something spectacular in winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta; where once a proud legacy of social progressiveness was an honourable badge of leadership, Kenney's personal brand of social stagnancy now tarnishes the legacy of a once innovative and forward-thinking party that helped Alberta become the economic envy of a nation.

While the votes are still being counted, side bets are being taken on how much of the vote Kenney will take on the first ballot.  In certain circles of people who know people, the numbers are as high as 65%.   There are few who believe the other two candidates have a chance against Kenney; some of whom have probably paid the $20 fee to be in the Palomino Room at the BMO Centre in Calgary on Saturday at 5:00 pm.  While there are few who believe a second ballot will be needed, it's still fun to imagine something interesting could happen.

Calgary Election: Where's the Political Line?

The long weekend brought a number of opinions on the municipal electoral races happening in Calgary.  The Canadian Taxpayer Federation released the responses to their questionnaire on October 3 and as near as I can tell, the responses they agree with are coloured green. Danielle Smith, former leader of the Wildrose Party and current host of QR770's mid-morning show in Calgary released a list of "Pro-taxpayer, conservative candidates as identified by listeners" and "Pro-union, progressive candidates as identified by the Calgary District Labour Council" on October 7.  To be honest, I find
the term "pro-taxpayer" misleading: taxpayer dollars have been wasted by conservatives.  To be fair, progressives have also wasted taxpayer dollars.

Credit:City of Calgary Twitter account
Find your Voting Station

That week was topped off with a report of an email from a Calgary developer who encouraged his employees to vote for the "conservative" choices.  The article notes that Nenshi is attempting to lessen the urban sprawl due to the increased costs for the city (aka taxpayers) associated with outward development; which is not good for a single-family residential developer.  Like too many complaints I hear about change, many want things to stay the same and seem to be unwilling to flex their innovation muscles.  If Nenshi wins, will this developer fold his business or will he look to become competitive in multi-family developments?  It's not as if he truly doesn't have an option.

What if you are interested in trying to keep provincial or federal politics out of municipal decision-making?  Do you believe provincial politicians are concerned about how often your garbage is picked up or whether there should be increased transit routes or fees?  That's not their job and it's not the concern of provincial political parties either.  Just like your candidate for school trustee would like to "fix math" but has zero opportunity to do that unless they are also an experienced educator and working on curriculum; in Edmonton.  However, the conservative students count slate has received a lot of press.  Should Calgarians pay less taxes or should they be assured their tax dollars are benefiting their communities?  Conservatives have misused tax dollars and so have progressives but do you know who doesn't?  Good people.

Municipal elections offer citizens the one opportunity within our levels of government to vote for the best person; the opportunity to choose a person who will represent your needs at the community level.  How are your taxes spent?  What types of developments do you want in your community?  Can you purchase your first home in the community?  How about your first family home?  What about aging within your home community?  What recreation, transit and community gathering options are available?  These are the concerns addressed by city councilors.

Credit: Sam Hester @calgaryhester

So what are the options if you were hoping to vote for a good representative for your ward who didn't have any provincial/federal party-affiliated endorsements?  The list below outlines candidates who you might want to look closely at if you are not seeking to stack your municipal council seats with people who may be more susceptible to provincial/federal influence over community members.

(Note: I just read a lot and write about politics, the choice is yours. This list is solely my opinion based on the candidate platforms and provincial/federal party-affiliated endorsements. I also ignored platforms claiming one would fight for lower taxes but keep or increase service levels; it's an unrealistic proposal and I was annoyed at having my time wasted reading it.)

Mayor: Andre Chabot, Naheed Nenshi
Ward 1: Coral Bliss Taylor, Cole Christensen
Ward 2: Christopher Maitland, Jennifer Wyness
Ward 3: Connie Hamilton, Ian McAnerin
Ward 4: Blair Berdusco, Srinivas Ganti
Ward 5: George Chalal, Tudor Dinca, Hirde Paul Jassal, Balraj (Raj) Nijjar, Aryan Sadat
Ward 6: Alex Columbos, Esmahan Rasavi, Sanjeev Kad, Grace Nelson
Ward 7: Margot Aftergood, Dean Brawn, Druh Farrell
Ward 8: Carter Thomson, Evan Woolley
Ward 9: Gian-Carlo Carra, Boss Madimba
Ward 10: Ray Jones, Salimah Kassam, Issa Mossa, Michelle Robinson
Ward 11: Robert Dickinson, Janet Eremenko, Linda Johnson, Keith Simmons
Ward 12: Shane Keating, Mackenzie Quigley
Ward 13: Kay Adeniyi, Adam Boechler, Mark Dyrholm
Ward 14: Sorry to hear about your lack of options.

As the Legislature Turns

As of October 4, 2017, there are officially three independent MLAs in the Alberta Legislature; former NDP MLA Karen McPherson became the second MLA in the past few weeks to sit as an independent after Rick Fraser resigned from the UCP caucus on September 21.  Derek Fildebrandt, MLA for Strathmore-Brooks resigned from the UCP caucus in August over an expense scandal but that was simply to take heat off of the party.  Add to this the lone MLAs from the Liberal party, Dr. David Swann, the Alberta Party, Greg Clark, and Richard Starke who was granted permission to remain a PC MLA for Vegreville - Lloydminster, and you have a very different set up in the legislature than was elected in 2015.

Speculation about where the independents will go has been going on since Starke refused to become a UCP MLA and became deeper when Fraser resigned.  With the addition of Karen McPherson, some, like Cory Morgan, are predicting a surge to the Alberta Party.  If Morgan is correct, though, we should see a number of NDP MLAs outside of the provincial capital also taking on independent status in order to give themselves a chance at re-election.

Not to be outdone by allowing media a moment to focus on someone else, Jeff Callaway, UCP leadership contender also resigned and, unsurprisingly, endorsed Kenney.  Callaway sent out an email blaming Brian Jean's staff for attempting to intimidate him.  Yes, Callaway pointed the finger, take your guess of which one, squarely at Brian Jean; if you can't beat 'em, smear 'em.  All of this is meant to drive hundreds or thousands of voters away from Mean Jean and into the welcoming arms of Jason Kenney, who also had his detractors today.

If you happened to miss the reports of a terror attack in Edmonton over the weekend, news is starting to come out about the suspect who was taken into custody that night.  In a unique twist, the driver of the truck was an asylum seeker from the U.S. whose petition was granted under Jason Kenney's watch as Immigration Minister back in 2012.  My expectation would be the connection matters much less to those who don't support Kenney than those who do, which is an unfortunate side effect of fear-mongering to your base.

So for those of you keeping track, while Callaway may have earned some points for Kenney by dragging Jean and his supporters through the mud, his base might be a more put off by the idea that a potential terrorist was allowed in under his term.  To Kenney's credit, or lack thereof, he blamed the Liberals, the NDP and Obama (yes, Obama) for Canada granting asylum to a man who was ordered to be deported from the U.S.  And quietly we lay down wondering what the hell is going to happen in Alberta politics tomorrow.

Protecting Taxpayer Dollars Shouldn't Cost Nenshi the Election

It's not the five CEO's but it is five wealthy gentleman.  Are the Calgary Flames owners negotiating, campaigning for a new mayor of Calgary or are they truly finished with making profit in Alberta?  While Mayor Nenshi is often referred to as "Spendshi" by his political detractors, he was the first to say "no" to tax dollars being used to fund a new arena during a recession in 2016.  Nenshi's popularity has taken a hit over the past couple of years and Calgary's need for an arena seems to have been elevated to an election issue a mere 32 days before the October 16 election.

Private industry has a love-hate relationship with government. Government is responsible for regulations, by-laws, tax collection and spending.  While the former are often considered "unnecessary", "job-killing" and "scaring off investment" the latter, spending, is only considered to be a bad thing if private industry is not somehow benefiting.

Photo credit: Jeff MacIntosh/The Canadian Press

The initial proposal for the new arena, Calgary Next, asked the city (aka: residents and taxpayers) to match the owners' personal investment.  In an investment, if one puts money toward a profit-yielding venture, they often negotiate an ownership agreement or at the very least, a percentage of profits in return for said investment.  For the city and its taxpayers, the Calgary Next proposal was nothing of the sort.

In addition to loaning Calgary Next a half billion ($240 million in a direct loan and $250 million through a city revitalization loan) and giving them the $200 million they initially requested, Calgary taxpayers would also pay to clean up the contaminated soil on the West Village site which the city believed would bring the total cost of an $890 million proposal to $1.8 billion. For this generosity, Calgary Next would build a public-access field house, pay no future taxes and keep all the profits.  The city, aka Calgary taxpayers would not be considered equal partners in this venture; what the Flames owners proposed was/is literally a hand out.

Jason Markusoff, Calgary resident, journalist and Macleans contributor, wrote that it was unlikely a conservative contender for Mayor would have a better chance of winning if they agreed to use taxpayer dollars to fund the arena but that's exactly what private industry in this province is used to. The election of Mayors Nenshi and Iveson was an indication that people were fed up with the status quo in Alberta.  Many people understand their taxes are meant to pay for things that make their lives and their communities better.  Seeing those tax dollars used to benefit a few million or billionaires didn't sit well with the electorates if the 2015 election of the NDP over the ultra-conservative Wildrose is anything to go by.

Taxpayer dollars are meant to be used to benefit taxpayers.  Public art, for all its controversies, is available to all.  Roads, whether you use them for your own vehicle or take public transit, are available to all. A new arena that will house events at a cost is not available to all; it is available only to those who can afford to attend.  Nenshi was right to say no to the "deal" but if the arena becomes an election issue, and if money really does talk, it could cost him his job.