ALBERTA - The "Scud Stud" says he doesn't intend to curb his tongue as the Alberta provincial election continues. Arthur Kent, who garnered attention while reporting on the Gulf War in 1991, is running for the Tories in Calgary. He was chastised by party officials for publicly complaining about the way Premier Ed Stelmach's staff treat candidates and constituents. Kent says it would appear he is on the right track and that his would-be constituents feel he could be a "vigorous champion." (kc)
- The Canadian Press
With friends like Stelmach who needs enemies? Still the word PC self-destruction come to mind.
EDMONTON - More than a year after Ed Stelmach became premier of Alberta, it's still not unusual to find people on the streets of Edmonton who don't recognize his photo. But it's even worse for his political opponents. During an informal survey of a dozen people in the Alberta capital, even fewer could identify photos of Liberal Leader Kevin Taft or the N-D-P's Brian Mason at first glance. The vote will be held March 3rd. (kc)
- The Canadian Press
Come on Alberta!! We are in the middle of an election.
Edmonton – As Week 2 of the campaign wraps up, the Alberta Liberals continue to work hard putting their plan in front of Albertans.
Last week, Alberta Liberals released announcements on seniors, post-secondary education, empowering major cities and democratic reform.
“We put out a few surprises this week, such as our announcement on a $1000-a-year tuition rollback and our tools and textbooks grant. But most of what we said was consistent, long-standing policy,” Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said.
“That’s what planning is: sticking to the things you say. Albertans shouldn’t have to wonder how we’re going to run the province, because we’ve been telling them for years.
“Our policies aren’t simply one-off spending announcements to capture votes. Each one is like a single brick in our overall blueprint for the province. Everything is consistent and works toward our vision of Alberta: a place where not only the economy thrives, but also each individual citizen,” Taft said.
“Albertans know that after 37 years of one-party rule, we desperately need a change. The evidence keeps piling up as the Tory campaign lurches from one embarrassing gaffe to another.
“The politics of the past need to be replaced if Alberta is to seize its role as a leader in Canada and the world. It’s time to get the job done right,” Taft said.
Edmonton – Albertans want to know: Why is bumbling PC Leader Ed Stelmach campaigning in a bubble?
Friday, when faced with more questions about the PC Party members appointed as election Returning Officers, Stelmach was kept away from the microphone and replaced by his chief of staff, Ron Glen, in the Canadian Press:
Stelmach spokesman Ron Glen said the Tories are open to reviewing the recommendations of the chief electoral officer…Glen did concede Alberta's current method of selecting returning officers is an ‘old process.’”
On Thursday, Stelmach’s media handler Tom Olsen had to step in to spin the Returning Officer scandal after Stelmach was caught in a fib saying that his government had nothing to do with elevating party hacks to election officials:
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. (February 15, Calgary Herald)
Finally, it looks like veteran conservative Svengali Hal Danchilla and the PC’s million-dollar war room is taking drastic measures to keep Stelmach in the bubble. They’ve stopped posting his schedule on the PC campaign web site.
Which unelected handler is going to speak for Ed next week?
You just can’t trust Ed Stelmach to face the music like a real leader should.
Auto insurance premiums need to be taken out of the hands of PC hacks
Alberta Liberals would reform Automobile Insurance Rate Board and freeze premiums
Edmonton – The Alberta Liberals would reform the Automobile Insurance Rate Board to include more consumer representatives, disallow politically connected appointees, and force it to hold more public forums.
These immediate steps will protect Albertans from being gouged on threatened auto-insurance premium increases after the Feb. 8, 2008 decision by the Court of Queen’s Bench striking down the bumbling PC government’s $4,000 cap on soft-tissue injury awards.
“It’s clear the Automobile Insurance Rate Board is beholden to the PC Party and its supporters in the insurance industry,” said Rick Miller, Alberta Liberal candidate for Edmonton-Rutherford and the party’s shadow minister of finance in the last Legislature.
The AIRB assesses and approves basic-coverage insurance premiums and ratings for passenger vehicles.
“Out of nine board members, there’s only one representing consumers. We believe consumers should have at least three voices on this board,” Mr. Miller said.
He added that the board’s current chairman, Alf Savage, is a former president of the Alberta PC Party. “It’s another example of how the PC elite have been able to infiltrate and erode the public interest,” he said.
Finally, an Alberta Liberal government will force the insurance industry to freeze premiums for a year while it sorts out the PC mess left by its illegal move to cap soft-tissue injury claims.
“The industry has made record profits on the backs of hard-working Albertans since 2004, thanks to the government’s discrimination against a class of injury victims. I think we are being more than reasonable.”
“Public auto insurance is not the only option,” he said. “The Alberta Liberals will conduct a full review of how auto insurance works and which system best protects consumers. Public auto insurance has some advantages, but Albertans need immediate protection from the threats of the insurance industry to hike premiums.”
The choice is clear: If consumers want to be protected, the Alberta Liberals have the answer.
Alberta Liberals will lower post-secondary tuitions by $1,000 per year
"Every time I talk to them [the post-secondary institutions], I tell them the same thing - you have three customers and we own you. So don't tell me you are going to go off and do this if you haven't brought me along as a partner. We decide - because we paid for it - where the capacity goes." – Doug Horner, Advanced Education Minister (Globe and Mail, November 27, 2007)
Edmonton – Kevin Taft announced that the Alberta Liberals will lower post-secondary tuitions by an average of almost $1,000 per year, starting this fall.
Taft also announced a $300 per year grant for every qualifying post-secondary student, to help with the costs of tools and texts.
“There’s no better investment in our quality of life, our communities and our economy,” said Taft. “Responsible government spends money on its priorities, and this is one of our top priorities.”
The Alberta Liberals will replace the money through direct funding to the institutions, and will go further with funding to boost the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education. It will also bring future tuition increases back under the control of the Legislature.
He said the Alberta Liberals will work in partnership with institutions, and in close consultation with students and other stakeholders, while implementing their action plan.
The Alberta Liberal Action Plan for post-Secondary Education will super-charge Alberta’s post-secondary institutions by improving student/faculty ratios, boosting graduate student numbers, and establishing teacher chair positions.
The Action Plan will also improve access to post-secondary education through the creation of new, targeted learning spaces for areas with high numbers of applicants.
“It’s time we stopped turning away qualified students because we don’t have space for them. We need to make it possible for every qualifying student to benefit from these resources. If the Stelmach government had looked ahead, it would have seen this coming years ago.”
In 2005, the Tory government promised the most affordable tuition in Canada, Taft noted. Because of their neglect, they are nowhere near that goal, and they have no plan for getting there.
“While we can’t make up for years of mismanagement of post-secondary education all at once, we will start with the Alberta Liberal Action Plan,” said Taft. “It’s time to start getting this right, and we have to start now.”
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.