For backgrounders, visit the Alberta Liberal website at http://www.albertaliberal.com/index.php/alp/media/C31
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2008
It’s time to end the abuse of trust
Partisan PC Returning Officers just one example of how democracy has withered, Taft says
“On Thursday, Stelmach insisted he had nothing to do with selecting the returning officers. Tom Olsen, a spokesman for the premier, later clarified that Conservative MLAs and Tory constituency associations put names forward to party officials, and those officials submit the list to the chief electoral officer at Elections Alberta. Cabinet then approves the choices through an order-in-council.” – Edmonton Journal, Feb. 15, 2008
Edmonton – Kevin Taft’s Alberta Liberals will put the Chief Electoral Officer in charge of ensuring free and fair elections in Alberta.
Taft says bumbling PC leader Ed Stelmach’s defence of partisan electoral officers is part of a broader pattern of incompetence, abuse of trust, and misplaced priorities.
“This is one of the dangers of one-party rule for 37 years,” says Taft. “If we can’t trust the government to run elections properly, we can’t trust them to do much else.”
“The Alberta Liberals will implement the recommendations of the Chief Electoral Officer as soon as possible.”
“There’s a right way to do this, and it’s right there in detail in the recommendations from the Chief Electoral Officer in October, 2006.
“And it was there in the Alberta Liberals’ questions in the Assembly going back to before the 2004 election. The Stelmach government ignored expert advice on how democracy is supposed to work like they’ve ignored so many things.”
“It’s time for a change so we can get the job done right.”
Alberta Liberals Announce Plan to Ensure Municipal Autonomy for Major Cities
Calgary – The Alberta Liberal Party released details of its plan today to enact a Big Cities Charter to ensure Calgary and Edmonton have a seat at the provincial table in areas of direct municipal responsibility.
Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft says the plan will ensure cities are able to take part in budget decisions on issues like municipal funding, affordable housing, public transportation and other critical areas.
“Alberta’s municipalities should be partners in these discussions, not outsiders,” says Taft. “Our cities do not need the province looking over their shoulder, or provincial permission to take action on critical local issues. It’s time the provincial government recognized this.”
Taft says the charter will also help to ensure municipalities are provided with the sustainable, predictable funding they need to meet their infrastructure needs.
“Instead of budgeting appropriately for priorities like affordable housing, the current government’s approach has been to hand out unbudgeted crisis funding to municipalities. This is no way to treat our cities. We need to provide sustainable funding that cities can count on, not one-off funding announcements when an election is looming.”
Enacting the charter will return municipal autonomy to Alberta’s major cities through clearly spelled-out powers with respect to local matters and the authority to act independently within those areas of responsibility.
“Municipalities are the most in touch with the needs of their communities and their citizens,” says Taft. “In order for Alberta to remain effective on an international scale, the province’s major cities need the powers and authority to make decisions in the best interests of local citizens. The success of Alberta’s major cities on an international scale will benefit all Alberta’s communities, from big to small.”
Taft says the charter will also benefit the Alberta economy and increase jobs by enabling the big cities to enter into agreements with all levels of government and to form partnerships on major infrastructure projects.
“Local matters should be dealt with locally. By giving Alberta’s big cities more autonomy, it will ensure municipal governments are accountable to local citizens and that local governments have the authority they need to serve the interests of their citizens.”
“Unless the role of Calgary and Edmonton in the Alberta political system is recognized by a Big City Charter, the quality of our democracy, the efficiency of our public services and the equitable treatment of taxpayers are all compromised. Enacting this charter will help Alberta and its major cities achieve permanent prosperity.”
Other major Canadian cities have similar charters in place, including Toronto and Winnipeg.
"Now it's time for Albertans to decide who they trust to manage Alberta's growth, and make the most of this unique moment in our history." (Ed Stelmach, Edmonton Journal, Feb. 5, 2008)
Edmonton – At a press conference this morning, bumbling PC Leader Ed Stelmach said the Alberta Liberal action plan on climate change would put on “hard (emission) caps going back to Kyoto levels.”
Stelmach is wrong. The Alberta Liberal action plan is not based on the targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol. It is impossible to meet Kyoto emissions targets because so much time has lapsed in which the Alberta government has done nothing on climate change. The Alberta Liberal action plan on climate change outlines a “made-in-Alberta” solution.
Stelmach: “The other (Alberta Liberal) plan destroys 335,000 jobs.”
Stelmach is wrong: The Alberta Liberal action plan would include consultations with industry that would protect employment. Besides, in the PC war room attack release on Friday, Stelmach indicated this number represents EVERY SINGLE JOB currently tied to the oilsands. Clearly, Stelmach doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
A Canadian Press report on the press conference stated: “Stelmach could not clearly explain where he got the numbers.”
Stelmach: “"I'm for good change for Albertans. I am not for radical change.”
Stelmach is wrong: Taking real action on climate change is what Albertans want. It is what should have been done five years ago. Instead, Stelmach served in the cabinet of the PC government that spent $1.5 million on advertising promoting the untruth that climate change doesn’t exist.
An Alberta Liberal government would implement an action plan on climate change that:
Establishes an absolute cap on greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, to take effect five years after forming government, through an active partnership with the energy industry;
Ensures that Alberta’s royalty system supports the protection of our air, land and water;
Improves building code standards to reduce energy use;
Supports increased use of public transportation, recycling and composting;
Promotes cleaner renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind and geothermal power;
Implements appropriate financial and economic incentives to develop carbon capture and storage technology.
Stelmach and his desperate government are going back to the politics of fear. It’s not going to work.
It’s time for a leader you can trust on climate change.
Only Ed Stelmach is getting endorsements from all the forced dropped out candidates. Ted Morton is getting Reform/Alliance help. Jimm Dinning gets a Peter Lougheed endorsement.
Could go to 3 ballots.
First ballot gone.
So will it be Deficit Jim Diddin, Dread Mo(r)trin or Dead Stalledmach?
Taft Calls for Public Inquiry Into Calgary Health Region Emergency Room Crisis
Edmonton – Alberta Liberal Caucus Leader Kevin Taft has sent an official request to Premier Klein, calling for an independent public inquiry into the management and operations of emergency room care in the Calgary Health Region.
“There’s a serious problem with wait times in Calgary’s emergency rooms, and we need to tackle that problem now,” said Taft. “People sometimes wait for days in Calgary ERs. Those waits have resulted in avoidable deaths and who knows how much needless human suffering. In an emergency, you need care as quickly as possible.”
Just days ago Rose Lundy experienced a miscarriage in front of 40 other patients as she waited for medical treatment at Peter Lougheed Centre. People routinely spend hours and even days waiting for treatment in Calgary emergency rooms – too often with similarly tragic, and in some cases even fatal, consequences.
“People don’t visit the ER because they’re feeling a little under the weather, they go because they need urgent, immediate help,” Taft said.
Taft has an even more serious concern: because the system clearly lacks the capacity to deal with everyday emergency needs in Calgary, it will be completely unable to face unanticipated disaster.
“What happens if the province is hit with a natural disaster, an epidemic, or even a bus crash? A sudden influx of patients could bring Calgary’s health care system to its knees,” Taft writes in his letter.
Taft urges the Premier to quickly begin an independent public inquiry.
“I would hope that the Premier understands the degree of this crisis, just as I hope he understands that a public inquiry will help us fix the serious problems the CHR faces. This government must take action now to solve this problem.”
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Attached: Text of the letter from Kevin Taft to Premier Klein
We know Ralph Klein will be replaced as leader in Nov 2006. Still we know Preston Manning is not running and that Jim Dinning is. Will the new leader call a snap election? Depends if Stephen Harper does first.
Interesting Policy Brainstorming happened yesterday at the Alberta Liberal Party Edmotnon Section. Yes, we were discussing policy and also how the Conservatives were doing?
Are the Progressive Conservatives set to break apart?
Alberta is a province with an identity crisis. The NOrth is intellectual and booming. The South are full of hicking hillbillies and arid. This province should be split in 2. Everything north on the David Thompson highway with the exception of Jim Keegstra's Eckville should be the dividing line so that the intellectual to North can be separated from the hillbillie South. Everyone wins out.