Alberta PCs: SOME PARTY THAT I USED TO KNOW

The following video is the result of a creative endeavor by Amanda Achtman and friends.

While I was only a member of the PC party for three weeks; I have many friends who are still hanging in there hoping for "change from within".  For those who have left, I think Amanda has captured how they now feel.

Enjoy.

Ed Stelmach's Resignation Speech - Translation

Sometimes you hear a speech and you laugh, because you know what they really meant. Here is my translation of Ed Stelmach's non-resignation speech.


And before all the PC'ers start jumping down my throat.... it's satire; not US style politicking. 


• Ed's original words are preceded by the bullet points. 
Translation is in bold.


~~~~~


• Since the New Year I have been spending the last few weeks asking my Caucus to indicate to me their intentions for the next provincial election.


Over the last few weeks my Caucus has been telling me they have no intention to run if I’m the leader.


• I am impressed by the passion of my caucus colleagues and their desire to serve Albertans.


I am impressed with how adamant they are to see me gone.


• They firmly believe in the mandate that Albertans gave us in the last election- the largest majority for a new Premier in Alberta's history.


They firmly believe that the mandate that Albertans gave us was an opportunity to show Albertans we could take care of the province, yet we failed.


• Our members are also equally committed to continuing in their role as members of the PC Caucus and fight in the next election.


Our members are also equally committed to continuing in their role as members of any party (other than the PC) and fight against us in the next election.


• I have been asking these good men and women to make a minimum commitment of five years. It is a commitment to serve Albertans and those in public office know that this service comes with a personal sacrifice.


I have been asking these good men and women to make a minimum commitment of five years. It is a commitment to serve as PC MLA and it is an unrealistic expectation.


• As I have been having these discussions I have also been reflecting on my own commitment to serve beyond the next election.


As I have been having these discussions everyone is telling me, it is I who should be reflecting on my own commitment to serve beyond the next election.


• Upon much reflection and consultation with family and close friends, I have determined that after 25 years of public service I am not be prepared to serve another full term as Premier.


After many arguments with Ted Morton and bitter consultation with caucus, they have convinced me that I am not competent enough to serve another full term as Premier.


• Therefore I have decided to announce today I will not be running as a candidate in the next general election.


Therefore with Ted’s ultimatum I have decided I will not be running as a candidate in the next general election.

 • There is no doubt that my decision today will come as a shock to many and a disappointment to my friends and Albertans.


There is no doubt that my decision today will come as a shock since I didn’t even run it past my communications manager. It may be a disappointment to my three friends, but Marie is very happy.


• I am grateful to all those who supported me – who gave me the opportunity to raise integrity and honesty into government for the benefit of all Albertans.


I am grateful to all those who supported me as their second choice – who gave me the opportunity to raise royalties and bring dictatorship into government for the benefit of all PC members.


• At a further date, I will provide written notice to the President of the PC Party, my intention to resign as leader.


At a further date, I will provide written notice to the President of the PC Party, because I want to hang onto my title as long as possible.


• In due course, a full, fair and transparent leadership race will be held to select my successor.


In due course, a full, fair and transparent leadership race will be held to select my successor; I can say this as I have absolutely no control over it and it would indeed be a first for the PC Party.


• Until I provide the formal notice of intent to resign, I will continue to govern to fulfill commitments I made in the last general election.


Until I provide the formal notice of intent to resign, I will continue to govern and fall short on all the commitments I made in the last general election.


• And to advance the interests of Alberta to the best of my ability and will put my full effort into this work – as I always have.


And to advance the interests of PC members to the best of my ability and will put my full effort into this work – as I always have.


• And to this end, we will present a budget that shows the way to being balanced on a fully consolidated basis in 2013 – a year later than we had hoped.


And to this end, we will present a budget that Ted Morton refuses to put his signature on because we will not be balanced until 2013 – a year later than we had promised.


• It will be a budget that will be received by most as tough yet responsible.


It will be a budget that will be received by every progressive as tough yet responsible.


• But it will not be a budget that guts funding to municipalities, mothballs health projects underway or halts school, and road construction at a time when people need work and the prices for construction are good.


But it will not be a budget that can pass the rigorous demands of fiscal conservatives and Morton in particular.


• The budget my government brings in will use the cash we saved during the boom to help us through the bust and position us to leap ahead of the nation and the continent.


The budget my government brings in will suck the rest of the cash out of the Sustainability Fund.


• My successor will be under no obligation to go to the polls in March of 2012.


My successor will be under no obligation to go to the polls in March of 2012; he or she will have the same lack of respect for democracy and fixed election dates.


• That was my timetable and mine alone.


That was my timetable and mine alone. Even though my advisors have been saying we have to go early to catch the other guys off guard.


• My successor has the parliamentary authority to call an election anytime up to the constitutional deadline of March of 2013.


My successor will enjoy the same dictatorial powers that I hold dear; to call an election anytime.


• No one needs to be stampeded into a decision. Let’s all take the time to get this right.


No one needs to be stampeded into a decision. Let’s all take some time, so I can enjoy more days as a lame duck premier.


• I have always put my family, my constituents, my province and my party ahead of myself.
• So I say to you this as directly as I can.


I have held my tongue since the Calgary-Glenmore by-election. So I say to you this as directly as I can.

• There is a profound danger that the next election campaign will focus on personality and US style negative, attack politics that is directed at me personally.


There is a profound danger that the next election campaign will be just like Glenmore; that all of our shortcomings will be under a microscope.


• The danger is that it could allow for an extreme right party to disguise itself as a moderate party by focusing on personality – on me personally.


The danger is that it could allow for Wildrose Alliance; a moderate, fiscally conservative party to make serious gains at our expense.


• This type of US style wedge politics is coming into Canada, and it comes at our peril.


This type of real life campaigning in politics in Canada scares the heck out of me.


• Albertans deserve to have better level of public debate on our policy options.


Albertans deserve to have better level of public debate on our policy options. And I there is no way I can debate Danielle in a public forum.


• Alberta must move forward to address the challenges of the future. 


Alberta must move forward to address the challenges of the future. Albertans realize Danielle is the one best suited to this.


• Alberta must be a participant in the global community.


Alberta must be a participant in the global community and the fact that it is bigger than Lamont scares the pants off me.


• Alberta must lead the way in responsible resource development.


Alberta must lead the way in responsible resource development and after 25 years I still don’t know what that means.


• Alberta must not look backward when all the world is looking for modern leadership.


Alberta must not look at me; for modern leadership when Danielle Smith is available.


• As a grandson of immigrants who came to this country to harness a better future for their children out of a piece of prairie they could claim as their own, I believe in the good and truth of private enterprise and democracy.


As a grandson of immigrants who came to this country to harness a better future for their children out of a piece of prairie they could claim as their own, I believe the government should have the right to extinguish those land rights at any given time.


• I believe deeply in democratic institutions and the parliamentary system of government that has served Canada so well.


I believe deeply in democratic institutions and the parliamentary system of government so long as it serves the PC Party.


• And I believe that the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta is the best institution we have to unite Albertans around a positive, progressive future.


And I believe that the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta was the best institution we had to unite Albertans around a positive, progressive future.


• The PC Party has been a fundamental success story in Alberta politics because it is firmly rooted in our culture – a culture that is conservative, yet looks always to achieving a bold future.

The PC Party has been a success story in Alberta politics but we must now take our place in the history books and look forward to the future with the Wildrose Alliance.

Who is Rebecca?

A while back I had an anonymous comment and in my response I hinted that I knew where they were posting from. You can see it here. I thought that would be enough to enlighten them that they are not completely “anonymous” and since there were no subsequent comments from them on that entry… I figured they got the hint.

That is until today, when I got this second comment from the same IP.

Anonymous said...

Everyone already knows that the Wildrose Alliance is radical, extreme right wing, redneck, and far right. Now add petty to the list.

July 8, 2009 1:32 PM

Clearly a comment with no evidence to support their claim and likely intended to stir things up. Well, be careful what you wish for.


Upon further digging I have discovered that since late March this person has been all over all of my blogs. Here is a screen shot of the IP in question. (You can click on the images to them full size)

As you can see there have been multiple visits over more than one day; also no referring link, so they likely have my blog bookmarked. None of this is unusual. The interesting aspect is the source, Alberta PWSS. Which is short for Public Works Supply and Services.

Now I get a lot of hits from the Legislature and the House of Commons. However, none of them have taken the risk of posting from their publicly funded offices while they are supposed to be earning their salary. (Also courtesy of the taxpayer)

For the heck of it I Googled the IP address, it netted several results, most simply showing stats for this IP. One did confirm this IP is registered to the Government of Alberta.


Another caught my attention, I recognized a very familiar name, Kevin Taft. Of course I had to click on it and it appears to be his constituency website. Here is a close up of the relevant information.


A search for “Rebecca” within Taft’s constituency website nets 22 results of posts made from (coincidently) March to as most recently this week from the same IP.

I have tried to find exactly what they "do" at Alberta PWSS, but no luck so far. It does seem odd though that their tasks would include updating MLA’s constituency websites. I would think that task would more likely be done by staff within their own office, by an independent webmaster or even by a volunteer. (The latter being most likely for the Liberal Party)

Of course the more interesting question is why is someone from Alberta PWSS spending their workday surfing and posting on blogs at the taxpayers’ expense?

Top Ten Reasons Alberta’s in a Deficit !

Reprinted with permission from the author; Todd Loewen.

10) Adding in extra elections for strategy rather than democracy is expensive.

9) Ed increases cabinet size to repay friends for sticking with him, costing Albertans millions.

8) Alberta cabinet ministers give themselves 30% pay raises in May, costing more millions.

7) Ed Stelmach and crew make $1.3 billion election promises in the two weeks before election to ensure re-election. Your vote is expensive to buy; with your money!

6) Albertans realize after the regional health boards are dismissed that it costs a lot to have appointed executives, but even more to fire them.

5) Oil prices failed to continue to sky rocket. Go figure!

4) Even though oil prices plummeted, Stelmach and Evans kept spending.

3) Alberta Progressive Conservatives practice fiscally liberal policies.

2) Ed Stelmach and Mel Knight’s bumbled Royalty scheme drove out Billions of dollars of investment.

And the number one reason Alberta’s in a Deficit:

1) Alberta PC’s have been spending money like drunken sailors. No offense to drunken sailors; at least they spend their own money.

ATB best place to launder money in Alberta

Thanks to CaramonLS at the puck forum for reminding me to blog about this.

In my business I conduct the banking for some of my clients; in the course of a month I deal with nearly every major bank in Alberta.

I can tell you things like; RBC is the worst for business service charges, CIBC and Scotia do not have convenient locations, the TD despite their long hours always has line ups, etc…

But the most alarming discovery I have made is that the Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) are the best place to launder money. Now, this should not to be construed that I do launder money or that I encourage it; but if I have figured it out, certainly the criminals have as well.

Case in point:

For one of my clients I deposit payroll cheques and sometimes cash (hotshot) on behalf of the employees. One particular employee deals with the ATB. His cheques were continually being held. The only explanation they gave was “that’s the way we do it”.

I asked once; “These cheques are going in on a regular basis without any NSF problems. Doesn’t that constitute a good record and further cheques should be accessible right away?” …. Answer: NO.

We then we switched to doing certified cheques for this employee, yet the issue continued. So I asked them; “Why on earth would you hold “certified funds”, they are the same as cash?” To which they said; “With the amount of cheque fraud, we must still wait for the funds to clear.” Huh? The money has already “cleared” at the bank it is drawn on.

I then asked; “What if I deposited cash?” Response; “Cash is ok.” So I asked; “What identification would I need to provide?” …. Response; “None.”
Which is odd, since at every other bank when I deposit cash to someone else’s’ account I have to produce my drivers license and they record the number. This is to prevent, discourage and track money laundering.

The ATB’s rules are encouraging businesses to move away from cheques and use cash. They have created a very friendly environment for the criminals. I wonder if it is just coincidence that they are completely regulated by the Alberta Government.