CanPol - Alberta edition

[Flubber]

Wow, everyone thinks I'm totally wrong here.

You know, I really get tired of that. "Ben is delusional" etc.

Fine, I get it you don't like me. You're letting your perceptions cloud your judgement.

Ben -- I don't hate you but I also find many of your positions and comments to be completely deluded

[notyoueither]

The convention is that leadership alternates between North and South.

I find it somewhat humorous that people in Calgary would have their noses out of joint following Lougheed, Getty, Klein, Stelmach.

Calgary is making a good study of Toronto.

[Wezil]

Calgary is making a good study of Toronto.

?

[notyoueither]

?

Centre of the universe. Everything is about them.

Calgarians are grousing that the leader of the party is not from there. That despite...
Lougheed, Calgary, 1971-85
Getty, Edmonton, 1985-92
Klein, Calgary, 1992-2006
Stelmach, Northern Alberta, 2006-

Not to mention the current PM.

[Asher]

Note that it alternates between acceptable premiers and **** premiers.

Guess which city corresponds to which.

There's a reason the "northern Alberta" premiers have massively shorter political lifespans.

[Asher]

?

It's Edmontonian sentiment.

People in Calgary don't give a **** where the premier is from, to be honest. It's a non-issue.

The problem is Stelmach is a ****ing charismaless moron. He's a farmer and it shows, he's not a politician or intellectual. Blaming this on regionalism is a joke -- if anything it only explains why the good folks in Edmonton don't yet have their pitchforks out yet, not why Calgary wants him out.

An analysis of the Alberta economy and how the Stelmach government has dealt with it would show he ****ed up more than once in massive ways.

[Wezil]

Centre of the universe. Everything is about them.

Ahh.

Toronto is currently in euphoria over winning the 2015 PanAm Games. I guess it's something.

The rest of us are just waiting to see how far TO wants to dig into our pockets this time. The city is broke and they want to spend $1.5B on some second rate event.

[Asher]

It's Ben and nye's combined worst nightmare.

Small-c conservative focus for Ben, Calgary focus for nye.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Alberta+Tories+plan+back+Calgary/2200436/story.html

Tories plan to win back Calgary

Blueprint also aims to fight off Alliance threat

CALGARY - The Alberta Progressive Conservative party is set to launch a two-year plan in the lead-up to the next provincial election designed to win back alienated small-c conservatives--especially in Calgary--and appeal to a broad range of voters.

Fresh off a divisive leadership review and facing tumbling polling numbers, new PC party president Bill Smith said Sunday the organization is taking stock and will spend the next few months consulting with members to fine-tune the two-year strategy.

Beyond reaching out to centre-right voters, the plan will also aim to improve fund-raising and communication efforts, and identify the critical values and policies the party wants to champion.

The Tories have ruled Alberta for the past 38 years, but their grip on power has loosened recently. The party finished third in a recent byelection in their former stronghold of Calgary-Glenmore-- a race won by the emerging Wildrose Alliance.

An Environics poll released last week also revealed the Conservatives have dipped to their lowest popular support in 16 years and have been overtaken by the Wildrose Alliance as the favoured party in Calgary. Some of that discontent manifested itself over the weekend at the Tory leadership review in Red Deer, when Premier Ed Stelmach nabbed 77.4 per cent support from PC delegates.

"It was clear coming out of (the) Calgary-Glenmore (byelection) there's some things the government can work on, there's a lot of things that we can do as a party," said Smith, 46, who took over the party presidency Saturday at the Tory convention.

"There's been some real challenges (in Calgary) in terms of some government decisions being unpopular."

Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, the failed PC candidate in the Calgary-Glenmore race, said she experienced the discontent while campaigning for the byelection.

While the premier survived his leadership review with comfortable support, the results must not blind party members to the growing concerns being raised in the city, she said.

"I am pleased that things are happy in Toryland, but we need to take those (concerns) seriously," Colley-Urquhart said. "Messages have been sent. I know that all too well."

Stelmach told Conservative delegates on the weekend his government has heard loud and clear that PC members and the general public are looking for change. But he wouldn't speculate on whether he'll shuffle his cabinet and overhaul his top aides, like some Tories are calling for.

"Yes, (we've) listened very carefully. Changes are coming but they will be done in due course on my timeline," Stelmach said.

The premier also said he's heard "time and time again" from Tory faithful about the need to improve communication with Albertans and respond to their worries.

The new PC president, meanwhile, is hoping he can help patch up the threadbare relationship some Calgarians now have with the governing party.

Smith--a respected Calgary lawyer, business owner and member of the University of Calgary's board of governors -- takes over from Marg Mrazek, an Edmonton-area lawyer.

Calgary-area cabinet ministers Ted Morton and Alison Redford both said the government must reach out to the energy industry and address any lingering competitiveness issues, something Smith wholeheartedly agrees with.

He acknowledges the party faces some challenges, including bringing disillusioned conservatives back into the PC fold and maintaining strong fundraising as the Wildrose party builds its own war chest.

"The PC brand in Calgary still has a solid name," he added. "We certainly know the Wildrose Alliance is there and that they're making some steps in fundraising."

Indeed, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith is the featured guest at a sold-out fundraising breakfast today sponsored by FirstEnergy Capital, an energy industry investment bank, with a few hundred of Calgary's oil and gas players expected to attend. She's also scheduled to speak Tuesday at a heavy oil conference in the city and make a "major" energy-related policy announcement.

She said following the Tory leadership review that "Albertans are upset with this government for destroying investor confidence in our energy industry, for mishandling our health-care system and for taking us back into deficits."

Oilpatch veteran and FirstEnergy co-founder Brett Wilson is one of the prominent energy industry leaders to voice his displeasure with the Tory government over its new oil and gas royalty framework and the direction the province is headed.

"The PC party endorsed the premier. His mandate is to repair the rift his party created between rural and urban, Calgary and Edmonton. Now," Wilson said on his Twitter feed.

Former southern Alberta federal Conservative cabinet minister Monte Solberg, who now works in downtown Calgary, believes changes are quickly coming within the provincial government as the Tories attempt to stem their bleeding popular support.

"In the end, Premier Stelmach handily won the vote on a leadership review, but there will be choppy waters ahead. I'd be amazed if there weren't cabinet and maybe staff changes before Christmas," Solberg said on his blog.

"Between the rise of the (Wildrose) Alliance, and the woes of Premier Stelmach, Alberta politics have once again become fascinating."

Alberta Conservative Senator Bert Brown said he's not worried just yet about the Wildrose party and voted to support the premier in the review.

But he cautioned the Stelmach government must listen--and answer-- the public's mounting concerns, otherwise the Tories could crumble like the provincial Socreds did at the hands of the PCs, or the Mulroney government's downfall during the Reform party's rise.

"It's a message to everybody," Brown said. "You either deal with the complaints or you lose. It's not a philosophy, it's a fact. There's a lot of gripes out there and if you don't address them, you're going to lose seats."

[notyoueither]

Yes, I am very upset. The PCs are trying to campaign in Calgary. The nerve of them.

[Asher]

Yes, centre of the western universe. Edmontonians are very, very upset that no one is giving them attention.

[notyoueither]

[Flubber]

The convention is that leadership alternates between North and South.

I find it somewhat humorous that people in Calgary would have their noses out of joint following Lougheed, Getty, Klein, Stelmach.

.

I understand the rotation type sentiment. I just don't happen to believe in it that much . In the last leadership race, unfortunately the strongest candidate was not Ed Stelmach. But the regionalist sentiment played a part in his election as leader.

Calgary PCs and voters generally did not get their nose out of joint then-- c'est la vie etc etc-- The PC faithful in calgary did their part and elected steady Eddie with a HUGE majority. Its only when he has started to , you know , "do stuff" , that the issues have started to arise.

The royalty fiasco is the biggest example. Is there anyone that can see any good in this government's management on this issue? First Eddie raises the issue when he didn't have to. Then to keep a promise he appoints a panel to review the royalty issue but fails to put enough oil people on there . The report comes out and calls for a radical increase in royalties. The assumption of the report is that the government/people can take a much bigger share of the pie without altering the size of the pie. Since commodity prices are high, any mention that things change are poo-pooed. The government announces it will implement much of the report.

Average prices paid at Alberta land sales plummet (removing much of the monetary benefit of higher royalties) and drilling goes down as commodity prices decrease. I know, I know, that was all oil company scaremongering but gosh darn it they actually did start drilling more in BC and Sask over Alberta because those pesky economics were so much better.

Facing a downturn, the Stelmach government has since rescinded some of the planned royalty changes and actually created a number of ad hoc incentive programs to encourage drilling. In a mere couple of years the government has looked awful at every turn on the issue and pretty much lost the confidence of industry.


So my distrust of Stelmach has very little to do with where he is from (except to the extent it influences his knowledge about the oil industry). I simply don't think that Stelmach has been governing at all well and as Asher says, he lacks the charisma or whatever to keep support even in the face of gaffes

[Flubber]

Centre of the universe. Everything is about them.

Calgarians are grousing that the leader of the party is not from there. That despite...
Lougheed, Calgary, 1971-85
Getty, Edmonton, 1985-92
Klein, Calgary, 1992-2006
Stelmach, Northern Alberta, 2006-

Not to mention the current PM.

I don't think Calgarians think that having the premier from here in Calgary is such a massive benefit. Its not like having a premier/provincial minister where it makes huge difference in how much paving/infrastructure seems to get done. Maybe there are many things happening in the background but compared to the fed's dominant role in Atlantic Canada (largely due to fishery jurisdiction, plus coast guard and marine links) the fed's seem downright invisible in Alberta

[Ben Kenobi]

Flubber, fair enough. I know Stelmach has been extremely unpopular, and was a 'compromise candidate' per se. It has been a boon to BC and SK when he passed the royalties, sure it was a good way to slow the patch, but it was also a good way to kill your economy. As bad as Gordon Campbell is, he at least is investing in Northern Development which is good to see. All we need now is for that offshore oil project to get off the ground, and we'll be doing well.

[Flubber]

Flubber, fair enough. I know Stelmach has been extremely unpopular, and was a 'compromise candidate' per se. It has been a boon to BC and SK when he passed the royalties, sure it was a good way to slow the patch, but it was also a good way to kill your economy. As bad as Gordon Campbell is, he at least is investing in Northern Development which is good to see. All we need now is for that offshore oil project to get off the ground, and we'll be doing well.

The patch didn't need to be slowed with a royalty disincentive. By the time the royalty changes were being announced the patch was already slowing. The boom of activity in many ways worked to cool itself as labour prices were being driven so high that several projects were being shelved. Royalty changes on top made things worse.

One of the most negative aspects for industry was the idea that government was going to unilaterally change oilsands royalties that had been NEGOTIATED as part of getting the first projects going. I haven't followed how that ended up but the very idea that government would backtrack on promises that were made to trigger billions and billions in investment gave industry a very cold feeling