Alberta Politics

13 seats to fill on council



Mayor, time for Stephen "Closed , Divisive, unfair" Mandel and

David "Ed Stelmach" Dorward to not be looked at.



Anyone with the "Ed Stelmach" , "Danielle Smith", "Jan Reimer" lables should

not be considered.



We need a Laurence Decore - ish mayor!



That leaves Daryl Bonar, Dave Dowling, Dan Dromarsky, Bob Ligertwood &

Andrew Lineker



Please get back to us. I might look at Andrew Lineker, but would like to meet the rest of you.



Ward 1 - I know Linda Sloan personally and endorse her.



Ward 2 - I unendorse Kim Krushell and Don Koziak.

That leaves Thomas Hinderks, Roxie Malone-Richards,

Shelley Tupper, Michael Waddy



Ward 3 - I endorse Hatem Naboulsi



Ward 4 - unendorsements go to Dan Backs, Ed Gibbons and Scott Robb

Full endorement to Hafsa Goma .



Ward 5 - unendorsement for KAren Leibovici



Ward 6 - Full endorsement for Bryan Geogre Kapitza



Ward 7 - Unendorsement to Tony Caterina



Ward 8 - Unendorsements to Ben Henderson and Hana Razga



Ward 9 - Unendorsement to Bryan Kent Anderson



Ward 10 - Endorsement to Al Slemko



Ward 11 - Endorsement to Chinwe Okelu



Ward 12 - Unendorsement to Amarjeet Sohi



Why do you ask?



1) Parking levi in DownTowm Edmonton and Strathcona



2) Business and Property Taxes going up



From Edmonton Journal's Wasteful spending must stop:



Wasteful spending must stop





Edmonton Journal October 8, 2010







Re: "Mill Woods LRT possible by 2015, mayor says," The Journal, Oct. 6.



With our civic election less than two weeks away, there are a number of things voters in Edmonton need to be reminded of.



Within weeks of our last election, our council voted themselves a 23-per-cent pay increase, only a start to the incredible rate of largesse they have displayed in the last three years. Council has made great strides in making our city the zenith for irresponsible and wasteful spending.



We have made a bid to invite the world to visit our city, but we will be the laughing stock of the world when they see the state of our roadways.



Stephen Mandel says he will take money away from road construction to put toward the southeast LRT.



Is this really what citizens want? We don't have money to fix potholes or plow snow, but we fund every festival that makes an appeal.



We spend millions of dollars on "pie in the sky" ideas and edifices to the legacy of our council, but ignore the basic needs of our communities.



Mandel came into his mayoralty with a debt of zero dollars, and in six years has raised taxes by almost 40 per cent and has left us more than a billion dollars in debt.



Any responsible parent knows that you put the meat and potatoes on the table before you buy the dessert.



Mandel and his cohorts on council need to act more like responsible parents than banana republic tyrants.



Don Lindgren, Edmonton

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal



Don Lindgren very well put!!





3) Adult Massages PArlours next to daycares



4) One counsellor calling for a steep carbon tax



5) Road congestion in South LRT And Stony Plain Raod



6) What about the gang problem - no addressing!



7) Katz whining and bullying for Edmonton to put up a Downtown Arena and "be like the rest" !!



The articificial turfing of Commonwealth stadium



Recently a group call Yes for Edmoton whose real name should be Dead End for Edmoton is backing Mandel for Mayor. Please do not backing a losing cause like Mandel and the 11/12 puppets he has. Mandel is getting to be worst than Cec Purves.



And then accumulate to the Edmonton Muni Issue

but this is why I think council has to be clean out!



your take?

From The Edmonton Journal:



Health cuts 'ideological choice,' crowd told



More than 500 people attend town hall session organized by Friends of Medicare



By Richard Warnica, Edmonton JournalOctober 14, 2009 6:28 AM







The Alberta government has made an "ideological choice" to blow a hole in the public health system -- a move that will raise costs and erode care, a medicare advocate warned an audience of hundreds at a town hall meeting Tuesday.



"We are trying to stop money from flowing out of the system," said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.



"The government is completely swimming against the current."



The overflow crowd of more than 500 had organizers scrambling to lay out chairs as Eggen took to the podium.



Lining the walls on either side of the hall, people broke into applause as experts argued that planned health cuts are uninformed, ill-timed and unnecessary.



"Alberta has less excuse than anywhere in the country to cut back," said Dr. Micheal Rachlis, a family doctor turned health policy analyst who spoke after Eggen.



Rachlis called plans to delist services and shut beds a breach in the "spirit of the Canada Health Act," one that won't save any money in the long run.



If the government really wanted to reduce costs, he said, it would expand coverage to include more drug coverage and community care and reform the way doctors and other health professionals are paid, not allow more private delivery.



"I think the best argument against going private is Tony Soprano's," he said: "Fuggetaboutit--you don't need it."



Diana Gibson, research director at the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute, told the crowd that the government is trying to use public relations to make health-care problems disappear.



"It appears with a couple of press releases, we can magic away nursing shortages," she said.



The crowd appeared to be overwhelmingly supportive of the speakers' messages, with some saying they were alarmed by stories of coming cuts and closures.



"I'm concerned by what I'm hearing in the media, but I'm also concerned by what I'm seeing," said Bill Davidson, who runs a boarding house for patients who fly in for treatment from the north. "I'm seeing new places getting built, but not enough staff going into them."



Others were there to protest plans to reduce beds at Alberta Hospital, an acute psychiatric care facility.



"I think it's an outrage that they're closing that mental hospital," said Shirley Lewis.



"I just feel like it's going to spiral into an even worse situation," said Agata Nowinka, a fourth-year medical student who worked at Alberta Hospital this fall.



The government has said it won't close beds at Alberta Hospital until new spaces for treatment are opened in the community. But that doesn't mollify Nowinka.



Acute psychotic patients often need constant intensive care, she said. "That just can't happen in the community. It's like sending your car to be treated by a hairdresser."



Eggen said the government is using the economy as an excuse to do what it wants with the health-care system.



"It's a business choice and an ideological choice," he said. "You blow a hole in the middle of your public health system and private health care will enter."

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal



End of Quote



NOt only PC ideology but also WRA ideology - Mark my words!!

From CBC's Website :





Voter support plummets for PCs, Stelmach: poll

Last Updated: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 | 6:02 PM MT

CBC News



Political support for Alberta's Progressive Conservative party is dropping at a dramatic pace with a majority of respondents in a new opinion poll disapproving of Premier Ed Stelmach's leadership.



If an election were held today, the Tories would still lead with 30 per cent support, followed by the Wildrose Alliance with 22 per cent, according to the survey conducted by Return On Insight, a strategic research consulting company.



The Alberta Liberals would place third with 18 per cent support, followed by the Alberta NDP with nine per cent, and the Green Party of Alberta — which was deregistered as a provincial political party in July — with four per cent.



'Much of the disenchantment rests with the perceived lack of leadership by Premier Ed Stelmach.'—Bruce Cameron, pollster



About one in eight Albertans, or 12 per cent, said they were undecided, while five per cent mentioned other parties.



The survey of 802 Albertans was done between Oct. 2-7 by phone using a random dialing sample. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



Among decided voters, the Tories received only 34 per cent support, compared to 64 per cent in January 2007, the poll found.



"The historic dominance of the PC party in Alberta is being threatened by a newly emerging three-way split in voter support between the PCs, the Liberals, who are holding onto their core voters, and the Wildrose Alliance, who are benefiting directly from the collapse in PC loyalty," said Bruce Cameron, the pollster behind Return On Insight.



Fifty-seven per cent — almost six in 10 Albertans — disapprove of Stelmach's performance. In comparison, Liberal Leader David Swann received a disapproval rating of 43 per cent.



Tories in freefall



"The party is in a virtual freefall in terms of public support and confidence," said Cameron, who said he is not a member of a provincial party.



"The difficult economic situation and the resulting budget deficits no doubt played a role in this decline, but much of the disenchantment rests with the perceived lack of leadership by Premier Ed Stelmach."



The Tories won 72 of 83 provincial seats in the March 2008 election, but the Wildrose Alliance captured Calgary-Glenmore — held by the Conservatives for 40 years — in a September byelection.



Paul Hinman, the Wildrose Alliance's only MLA, was sworn in on Wednesday.



Stelmach faces a mandatory party leadership review on Nov. 7, while the Wildrose Alliance chooses a new leader on Saturday.



The premier will be addressing Albertans about the recession in a televised speech on Wednesday evening, followed by a fundraising dinner for the party in Red Deer.



End of Quote!

David Swann there is a lot of work to be done!!

Friends of Medicare has a Health Care Town Hall with Guest Speakers Dr Michael Rachlis and Diana Gibson the Tuesday 13 Oct 2009 7 p.m. at the Polish Hall across from the Royal Alex Hospital 10960 104 Street Edmonton; Free Parking. More Health Cuts? Wrong Way!!!

From http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Liepert+tweaks+style/2088843/story.html



Liepert tweaks style





By Archie McLean, Edmonton JournalOctober 10, 2009 7:06 AM







Alberta health policy? Full steam ahead.



Minister Ron Liepert's personal style?Well, maybe that needs a little tweak. "I'm constantly being told by certain people that I need to put a more human face on things," Liepert said in an interview on Friday. "And if that's what's required, I'm quite prepared to try to do that."



Liepert has come under criticism this week as the face of health reform in the province. Former Tory cabinet minister Ernie Isley called for him to be fired, and a CBC poll suggested 54 per cent of Albertans believe he is doing a poor or very poor job.



But Liepert stressed that the government's health policies are not his alone, and said he stands by even the most controversial decisions taken since the last election, including the decision not to redevelop Alberta Hospital.



Alberta Health Services said in August they would not redevelop the hospital for the mentally ill and would close roughly one-third of the 400 acute-care beds. The news release was issued late Friday afternoon and was vague about future plans.



Stakeholders, including physicians at the hospital, were furious and said they weren't consulted. Dr. P.J. White, the physician originally promoting the plan, later expressed concern that AHS was "rushing at breakneck speed" to close the beds, which had jumped to 246.



After weeks of public outcry, the government struck a panel that will look at implementing the plan. Liepert said the problems were the result of poor communications.



"Hindsight is great. I think at the time what Alberta Health Services was doing was saying, 'Look, here's the three-year plan ... no patient is going to be moved until the appropriate care is in the community. The forensic unit is not going to be closed, there will still be an Alberta Hospital, those who need institutional treatment will still receive it at Alberta Hospital.' But those messages didn't get through."



Liepert is embarking on a six-week tour around the province to talk to people about the government's health-care reform. One notion he wants to dispel is that the changes involve more private health care.



"I don't know how much more clear I can be, how many more times I have to say it, we are clearly standing behind a publicly funded health-care system," he said.



But Liepert said that privately funded is different than privately delivered, which is already common in the province.



Liepert said he wants to talk with as many people as possible.



"When I have the opportunity to meet with groups, there's generally a much better understanding about what we're trying to do."



amclean@thejournal.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal



2 options : Have Liepert ejected from caucus or have a byelection in Calgary West

From The Edmonton Journal :



Wildrose Alliance vies for second place in Alberta: poll





By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com October 8, 2009 5:57 AM



EDMONTON — The Wildrose Alliance party could be Premier Ed Stelmach’s primary competition if an election was held today, according to a poll released Wednesday.



A telephone survey of 1,201 eligible voters conducted over the weekend shows the Alliance and Alberta Liberals in a “statistical dead heat,” vying for second place behind the governing Tories.



“You have to keep in mind the Conservatives still lead in all categories,” said political scientist Faron Ellis of the University of Lethbridge, who conducted the poll. “The barbarians are not at the gates of the legislature just yet.”



But increased media attention after former Alliance leader Paul Hinman captured Calgary-Glenmore in a byelection — and ahead of the fledgling party’s Oct. 17 leadership vote — has led to a new level of support for a party that “up until now (was) a very fringe element,” Ellis said.



Across the province, the poll suggests 38.4 per cent of Albertans would vote for Stelmach’s Tories today, compared to the 52.7 per cent who supported the party in the 2008 election.



Alliance support was at 21.5 per cent in the poll, up sharply from 6.8 per cent of the votes the party took in the last election.



The poll had the Liberals at 20.8 per cent, the NDP at 10.7 per cent and other parties at a total of 8.5 per cent. The Alberta Greens were deregistered this summer.



“The existing opposition parties don’t have a lot of good news in this poll, unless they can count on vote-splitting in Edmonton,” Ellis said.



In the capital — the only place where the Alliance falls well behind both the Liberals and NDP — the poll shows Tory support at 34.5 per cent, the Liberals at 27.5 per cent, the NDP at 17 per cent, the Wildrose Alliance at 13.1 per cent and other parties at a total of 11.1 per cent.



Edmonton’s numbers are markedly different from Calgary’s, where the Tories polled at 38.2 per cent, the Wildrose Alliance at 27 per cent, the Liberals at 20.7 per cent, and the NDP at 6.6 per cent. Other parties there polled at 7.7 per cent.



Across the province, the Alliance curried slightly more favour among men, middle-income voters, people 65 or older, and people who identify themselves as religious. University grads were least likely to favour the new party.



In analyzing the data, Ellis concluded that the governing Tories face “growing political unrest on their right flank.”



Still, much of the Alliance’s future success depends on whether the party can field candidates in ridings across the province, and the outcome of a leadership race between Mark Dyrholm and Danielle Smith.



“One of the problems this party’s going to have is, they’re going to go down the populist road,” said Ellis, who was a federal Reform party member. He said he currently holds a Wildrose Alliance membership for research purposes and works with the federal Conservative party.



“If you’re Conservative, you can look at these numbers and say, ‘Conservatives are ahead everywhere, good news,’ ” Ellis said.



Stelmach’s Tories have likely seen similar results in their own post-byelection polls, he said.



The Wildrose Alliance claims it now has 11,670 members, up from 1,800 in June.



Alliance president Jeff Callaway said Ellis’s results are not surprising, as the party has done its own internal polls in ridings across the province. “The results are consistent and in some instances even better,” he said. “I think once we get our leader crowned Oct. 17 in Edmonton, it will be one more step closer for us. It is exciting times for the party.”



Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann said it’s important to remember that polls are a snapshot and reflect what people say at the time they were surveyed.



“Of course, the focus of this time was the real upset in Calgary-Glenmore, where most of the Conservative vote went away from the Tories and to the Wildrose Alliance,” he said. “I think anyone who studies political science will also recognize that with a party without a leader, there is a strong tendency for people to give them the benefit of the doubt and to assume something about their policies which most people don’t know anything about yet. There is this strong honeymoon effect.”



Swann said he thinks the numbers will change once the Alliance has a leader and voters see where the party stands on issues such as deregulation, health care, environmental stewardship and human rights.



Tom Olsen, director of media relations for the premier’s office, said Stelmach “does not take for granted” his role as the premier of Alberta.



“To that end, he is committed to continue providing good government to the citizens of Alberta,” Olsen said in an e-mail. “The premier has also been known to say the poll that matters most is the poll that occurs on election day.”



The provincial poll, conducted by students at Lethbridge College and Athabasca University, has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for the Edmonton data was five percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



with files from Florence Loyie



My comments are if you look at the my Calgary Glenmore post, I was right!

FRom the Leg:



Tune into Alberta Prime time tonight at 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm on channel 9 (Access Television).



David will be featured in a 5 minute segment talking about the political climate in Alberta, specifically what role the Wildrose Alliance plays and what role we play as the Official Opposition. David will be doing a one on one interview with Jennifer Martin.

check it out at the Edmonton Journal .

Ernie Isley announces membership in Wildrose Alliance . About that 70%+ Ralph Klein was talking about. I knew the supports of Ed Stelmach in the last leadership race. Nice to be socialable butdoes it pay off?

Interesting how the CONs distorts that facts.



1) They do not get permission to publish copyrighted material, and taking

a picture from a person's Webiste does contribute to the such.



2) Debate on the 'homosexual rights' - Clarification, we need precise definition not

an unlimited blanket as we have now. Could pedophiles get these rights. Explicitness please!



3) Please read the Bible on Homosexuality. I will be happy to provide quotes.



4) You do not mention Dan Banks vying for the Conservative Nomination. Also, the Liberal

association, my successor, not me said for vying for another party's nomination, your

membership has been revoked.



5) NO statements has been made by me when I was President of the Edmonton Manning Liberal Association.



6) As for debate, edm.general have too many kooks, even Terry PEarson looks reasonable.

FRom http://www.ctvedmonton.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080302/EDM_mason_predict_030208/20080302/?hub=EdmontonHome



Tories to form majority: Mason



Sonia Sunger, Updated: Sun Mar. 02 2008 18:38:00



CTV.ca News Staff



NDP Leader Brian Mason is predicting Premier Ed Stelmach will win big when Albertans go to the polls Monday.



"I think the reality is that the Conservatives are headed to another majority government," Mason told CTV News during a campaign stop Sunday in Edmonton.



Liberal Leader Kevin Taft was quick to pounce on Mason's comment and used it as a platform to grab NDP votes.



"If Brian is already conceding last place, that's not good enough," said Taft while standing outside a Sikh temple on Sunday. "If New Democrat voters want change, vote for the Alberta Liberals."



Premier Ed Stelmach welcomed Mason's comment and thanked him for the vote of confidence.



"Maybe he'll buy lunch if it's true," said Stelmach.



Mason made the comment to try to convince voters his party, and not the Alberta Liberals under Kevin Taft, would be the best opposition.



"What we need now is a strong group of NDP MLAs who can be trusted and counted on to stand up to the Conservatives on issues that are important to the ordinary families of this province," he said.



Mason pointed to the Tory's fundraising success for giving that party an upper hand in the campaign.



"Let's not forget the Conservatives went into this campaign with $4 million in the bank," said Mason. "Money talks in an election and if you have a lot of money, it really gets you a lot of mileage."



Mason, a former Edmonton Transit bus driver, spent the day on a whistlestop tour of Edmonton, making appearances at numerous campaign offices across the city.



At dissolution of the legislature, the New Democrats held four seats, the Liberals had 16 and the Tories had 60. The Wildrose Alliance held one seat, one seat was held by an independent and one seat sat vacant.



With files from Scott Roberts





end of quote. Personally if the NDP does not have the drive for government, then come over to the Liberals; it's time for a change to see Ed and Brian retire! Brian the defeatist does it again!

From http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/election/2008/03/02/4888191.html





Sun, March 2, 2008

Alberta votes Monday after campaign that focused on change from Klein era

UPDATED: 2008-03-02 13:42:39 MST





By Dean Bennett, THE CANADIAN PRESS





Undecided voters hold power: analysts NDP leader urges Alberta voters to elect his party as strong opposition Tories show Calgary the love



EDMONTON — Like Monty Python’s fabled Dead Parrot sketch, it started with an argument over what is and what isn’t.



But after 28 days of assertions from all sides about the need for change, Alberta’s election campaign will likely end with something less than completely different.



In Monday’s provincial election voters will decide whether to give Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach his first mandate as leader and his party its 11th consecutive majority. While the Alberta Liberals are confident they can steal some seats, most observers figure the party in power for nearly 37 years is far from finished.



“There is a reluctant support for the status quo,” said Chaldeans Mensah, a political scientist at Edmonton’s Grant MacEwan College.



“The voters have not been given a credible reason to make a dramatic change.”





It began on a bizarre note, when Stelmach broke the unwritten rule of not using public money to promote partisan political business when he launched his campaign inside the legislature.



As government staffers scurried to organize and record the event, Stelmach strode to the podium: “We’re drawing candidates from different walks of life and cultural backgrounds, and I’m happy to work with them in moving ahead and winning another solid majority.”



This is a party announcement, reporters charged.



No, Stelmach shot back.



“This isn’t the campaign launch,” he insisted as his campaign spokeswoman looked on. For baffled reporters, it was a Pythonesque moment reminiscent of the TV comedy troupe’s signature sketch, in which an intractable shopkeeper insists to an irate customer that his newly purchased parrot — nailed to its perch in rock-hard rigor mortis — is in fact not dead but merely resting.



The campaign itself focused on Alberta’s oilsands bounty, which has brought billions of dollars into the treasury and, since 2001, about a quarter-million more people.



The province is now Canada’s economic engine, but quality of life has suffered. Housing is scarce and pricey; rents are soaring; homelessness, food bank usage and crime are edging up; more doctors and nurses and workers of all stripes are needed; traffic is snarled and parents struggle to find daycare spaces.



The angst was manifested in campaign surveys that suggested as many as one in four voters didn’t know how or even if they’d mark their ballot.



Such ennui would be poison to the Tories. In the 2004 election their vote count fell 34 per cent to just over 400,000, leading to a loss of 12 seats and opposition gains across the board.



The Tories won 62 out of 83 seats in 2004 and had 60 at dissolution last month. The Liberals had 16, the NDP four, the Wildrose Alliance one. There was one Independent and one seat vacant.



Stelmach ran on his record: a multibillion-dollar capital spending program to fix and build roads, schools and hospitals and to increase the government take on oil and gas royalties by $1.4 billion a year starting in 2009.



He was dogged by enviro-critics for refusing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the oilsands for at least a decade and then go slow after that to prevent what he termed industry collapse.



“We took a lot of issues off the back burner and we dealt with them,” said Stelmach. “They were difficult decisions, but necessary.”



The Alberta Liberals, under Kevin Taft, made similar promises to recruit, hire and build to keep the hot economy from breaking down, but said they would start capping greenhouse gas emissions within five years.



Taft also jumped on Elections Alberta’s admission that existing rules had allowed the appointment of people with Tory ties to oversee voting in half of the 83 constituencies. In Edmonton-Castle Downs, where Thomas Lukaszuk beat a Liberal by just three votes last time, the deputy returning officer — the one who will determine spoiled ballots and break a tie — is the Tory incumbent’s former executive assistant.



“Nothing changes unless we change government,” said Taft. “Albertans have a chance to send a message, to change the future.”



The NDP and leader Brian Mason fought a two-front war, challenging Stelmach’s record, but also trying to paint the Liberals — their main opponent in Edmonton — as Corporate Alberta glove puppets for taking business contributions. The New Democrats promised rent controls, public auto insurance, bulk prescription drug purchasing, a new oil royalties system, and a go-slow approach to oilsands growth.



Mason said he was mystified by surveys that suggested voters want a change but will vote the Tories back in anyway: “If people want change, then they have to vote for the change they want.”



Some protest ballots will likely be marked for the Alberta Greens, who have steadily increased their popular vote without winning any seats. But the wild card, says Mensah, is the Wildrose Alliance.



The party, created by a core group of disaffected conservatives after the 2001 election, captured more than 77,000 votes in 2004 — most of them in Calgary and rural areas.



The party promises hands-off, pro-business government with social conservatism, fixed election dates and citizen referendums.



Political observers said Paul Hinman, the leader and lone elected legislature member, gave the party a booster shot of credibility with a polished performance in the campaign’s only television debate.



Mensah said a strong Alliance alternative bleeds votes away from Calgary — the one place that the Tories could always count on.



The Liberals landed a beachhead there in 2004 by winning three of the 23 seats. They took another in a byelection last year last year in Ralph Klein’s old riding — not because they increased their votes by much, but because the Tory vote was down by nearly 3,000 votes from 2004.



And this time, Tory candidates have reported hearing anger at the doorsteps over Stelmach, who defeated favourite local son Jim Dinning for the premier’s job and then picked a cabinet light on Calgary ministers.



Stelmach needs to do well to keep internal rivals at bay; a seat count under 50 is expected to bring out the knives. Anything over 60, though, would be gold — and reinforce the political adage that success is relative.



Sixty-two seats in 2004 put then-premier Ralph Klein on a political slab.



Sixty-two seats in 2008, say party insiders, and the champagne corks will be popping.

From http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/features/albertavotes/story.html?id=dd4f5246-3483-4650-80d2-3cf4b89a32cf&k=80467



Taft courts NDP voters

Albertans go to the polls Monday

Darcy Henton, Edmonton Journal

Published: Sunday, March 02, 2008



EDMONTON - Liberal Leader Kevin Taft says Albertans want change and they will wake up to a bright new day Tuesday with a new Liberal government.



"What we heard on the doorsteps over and over was exactly that -- that our message (It's Time) captured the public mood," Taft said Sunday. "More than half of Albertans think it's time for a new government and our message just connected."



He said the desire for change was the number one issue of the campaign.



The Liberal leader dropped by two Mill Woods temples Sunday where he urged New Democratic Party voters to cast their votes for Liberals this election to throw out the Progressive Conservatives who have been in power nearly 37 years.





He said voters can only vote in opposition members if they vote for Brian Mason's NDP party -- but if they vote Liberal they can change the government.



"Brian has always played for third place," he said. "We're in this for the gold medal."



Taft was optimistic his party will make inroads in Calgary and hold its seats "and grow" in Edmonton "and I think we will make breakthroughs in other areas, too."



"Calgary started feeling different in 2004," he said. "It's going to feel a lot different Tuesday morning."

From http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=22e24be8-69ca-4869-8f6c-f6e1f4c20ffd&k=92856





Are we a "banana republic"?

Taft wants electoral system overhauled

Darcy Henton, edmontonjourn.com

Published: 7:38 pm



EDMONTON - Alberta needs to overhaul its electoral system because votes conducted in the province almost have the feel of "a banana republic," says Liberal leader Kevin Taft.



Taft made the call as Albertans prepare to go to the polls Monday to elect a new government.



The leader of Alberta's official opposition cited a number of longstanding concerns his party has with the electoral process after visiting several temples and seniors residences for some last minute campaigning in Edmonton Sunday.



He said the situation has become so acute that there's a risk voters will lose confidence in it and that could be dangerous for democracy.



"I am concerned that casting a ballot is the most fundamental thing in our democracy and when that gets undermined, the whole democracy gets undermined so we need to be absolutely vigilant about making sure it's a legitimate process," Taft told reporters.



He suggested some of the problems being raised by his candidates Sunday, like concerns about controls to prevent people from voting both in the advance polls and on election day, could be addressed by requiring voters to produce photo identification.



"I know it's controversial but I have come out in the past and said yes," he said.



Taft has complained about abuses of the electoral process in his book Democracy Derailed, which outlined a situation where special ballots were cast on behalf of people who weren't even in the country.



"One of the biggest voting scandals in recent history was just in Calgary in a municipal election where there were 1,000 fraudulent ballots," Taft said. "We've seen dead people turn up on voter's lists. ... We have clear evidence of people voting in constituencies where they don't live."



Earlier in the campaign, Taft called for changes to the way returning officers are appointed after it was revealed that many of the elections officials have close ties to the government. A spokesman for Premier Ed Stelmach later said the names of prospective returning officers are provided by the Conservative party to the chief electoral officer - a process the chief electoral officer tried unsuccessfully to change two years ago.



"We need a complete overhaul of voting registration," Taft said. "We need fixed election dates so that there is enough time to plan for these elections - and more than anything we need the public to understand that if we lose the legitimacy of our voting process we're going to lose democracy itself."



Taft said concerns about the fairness of the process may be partly to blame for Alberta's record low voter turnout in the 2004 election.



"If people think that voting is not legitimate, they're not going to participate," he said.



"It's like cheating in sports. If there's a lot of cheating in sports, spectators disconnect. Spectators leave. Spectators don't watch. ... If there's cheating in voting, people are going to leave democracy. It's the same kind of thing and that's a really serious danger."



Elections Alberta declined to respond to Taft's criticisms.



The Liberal leader expressed confidence his party will do well in Monday's vote, even though there's only been one change in government in the past 72 years.



"We're very excited," he said. "I feel over the last two, three, four days the undecided is shifting our way. We're getting great reports from our campaigns."



He said there's going to be dramatically different politics in Alberta on Tuesday morning than there has been in many, many decades.



"People in Alberta know in their gut that Alberta needs a new government and there's a chance they will actually see that tomorrow."



dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com





© Edmonton Journal 2008

From http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=4f6d...



Liberals blew a golden chance

Stumbling, bumbling Tories were there for the picking this election

Lorne Gunter, The Edmonton Journal

Published: 2:03 am



The best ads of this provincial election campaign, bar none, have been those produced by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Building Trades Council. Too bad they will have almost no electoral impact.



The ads are sneaky in that they don't admit who paid for them. They air under the stealth banner "Albertans for Change."



They effectively whip up discontent against the provincial Tory government, yet fail to channel the widespread restlessness into a specific political recommendation, such as voting Liberal or NDP.



They create an itch they cannot scratch.



But at least the visual and audio messages of the Albertans for Change ads are consistent. The images one sees on the screen match the spoken messages being conveyed.



These ads may have an indirect impact if they help to further depress the Tory vote and allow the odd extra opposition MLA to get elected. But despite their obvious expense, I suspect they will have very little influence on the outcome one way or the other.



The worst ads are the Liberals', particularly the ones showing party leader Kevin Taft driving around Edmonton's Refinery Row.



That ad has Taft saying "This is our (Hesitate. Look down.) moment," to a tiny crowd that appears artificially



eager to give him a standing ovation -- leaving the impression that Taft appeals to very few people and even they have to be prodded into showering him with praise.



That's bad enough, but in the same commercial, as Taft is saying, "Ed Stelmach says the future is full of risks.



I say it is full of opportunity," he is driving. The camera is shooting up at his face from seat level and Taft appears to be ducking down and squinting as if to look out the side window for a house number or street sign -- you know, the way you do when you are having trouble finding your way.



The message: "I'm lost." Not exactly the impression a leader wants to leave.



Both ad campaigns, though, are indicative of the campaign as a whole: There is a lot of discontent with the Tories, but everyone who opposes them is at a loss to capitalize on voters' desire for something new.



If, as nearly everyone suspects, the Tories are returned tomorrow with a reduced, but still comfortable majority, those who oppose the government should kick themselves for the hapless way they have conducted this campaign. This was their best opportunity in 15 years to loose the Tories grip on power and they failed -- utterly -- to do it.



Taft may see the province's future as full of opportunity, but he should look back on the past 30 days as a giant missed opportunity. The Tories were there for the taking. They had a leader that inspired few in his party. Their campaign team were the benchwarmers from their B squad. The cabinet mishandled nearly every major issue thrown its way in the past 12 months and the Tories' strategists completely flubbed the first 10 days on the campaign trail.



This election has come as close to shooting fish in the Tory barrel as the Liberals, NDP and unions are ever going to get and, still, they could not hit the target.



Since 1992, when Ralph Klein became premier, Alberta's Liberals, in particular, have sneered and scoffed at every Tory win, insisting they were smarter, morally superior and better able to plan the province's future, if only the province's voters would get over their inexplicable love affair with Ralph.



Well, this time, the Liberals have no excuses. Klein is no longer premier. The Tories' leader is a farmer in a province where two-thirds of the residents live in the two largest urban areas -- and many of those residents have no natural affinity to the Conservatives, having moved here within the last election cycle or two.



Ed Stelmach is also not a Calgarian, so the Tories could not count on winning 20 or more of that city's seats by default this time. The Tories do not enjoy their customary Calgary head start.



And there is the desire for change, which is greater than at any time since the Tories replaced the Socreds back in 1971.



So how come the smug Liberals, who for so long have contemptuously dismissed the Tories, couldn't even manage to kick them when they were down? The truth is, for all their self-satisfaction, Alberta Liberals would have trouble arranging for flatulence at a bean dinner.



And something happened during this campaign that none of the opposition groups counted on: Ed Stelmach got better. To be honest, that development surprised me, too.



It's not that Stelmach has grown on me during the provincial election campaign, but rather I think he has begun to grow into his job as Alberta premier. After a disastrous opening 10 days, Stelmach has slowly, gradually, incrementally become more comfortable in his own skin.



I still don't like many of his policies or his spendthrift ways, but he has shown himself better than the alternatives.



lgunter@shaw.ca



© The Edmonton Journal 2008