Could things go too far?

At 5.35 PM, April 16 this post had a number of names redacted at the request of those named. While their names are removed, I think you will still get the gist of gravity of the situation.


~~~~~

The Alberta election has been getting very heated as the Wildrose continues to be a strong opponent to the governing Progressive Conservatives.  On Twitter the #abvote hashtag stream has become a minefield of a constant barrage of attacks. The attacks on Wildrose and its' supporters are getting more and more vicious.

I've been called "homophobic"; ironic since I have a bisexual daughter. I even stated that - yet the attacks continued.  I've been called "racist"; also ironic since I'm married to a man who is part native.

In fact he too recently had an interaction with Pat Walsh. Pat was very briefly employed by the Wildrose. He has since gone back to the PC's. He was Rick Orman's co-campaign manager, is a strong supporter and very active in the current campaign.  After trying to debate issues, Pat was clearly losing ground, so he shot this out at Cory "Shouldn't you be in a tanning booth?".

Cory and I have been around long enough that we let a lot of this crap slide. When we meet with people and discuss issues, things like sexual orientation and skin color have zero impact on our perspective or how we receive their view of issues.


There comes a point though when things can be carried too far. That point is when people may be fearful for their well being. Some might say "that's crazy, something like that will never happen in Alberta".

Well, I certainly hope it won't, but posts like the following from NAME REDACTED on Facebook do put up some red flags for me. This is what a Registered nurse in Alberta has to say about Danielle Smith:

.....someone pushes her onto the LRT tracks, or she gets caught in gangland crossfire (these are my dreams, don't take them away from me)

Picture deleted.

Some have commented on Twitter I shouldn't post a pic from Facebook, that it should be private. I'm not Facebook "friends" with those mentioned here, so that leads me to believe it is public and/or they have their settings set to public. All the same, I've agreed to removed the screen snaps.

You can still however see it here and here.

She posted that on NAME (TWIT # 1)  REDACTED  page yesterday and I waited until today, to see if  NAME (TWIT # 1)  REDACTED  would do the right thing and remove the comment. She hasn't.

If your curious as to who the two people who "liked" Michelle's comment, here they are.

Picture deleted.  

It's sad, ironic and hypocritical that many of those who "claim" the Wildrose and/or its' supporters to be full of hate seem to be doing a far better job at "actually" demonstrating they are not only hateful, but also appear to be okay with physical demise of individuals.

A reader has sent me note that both Michelle and   NAME (TWIT # 1) REDACTED   can be found on Twitter as well.

NAME REDACTED:  (TWIT # 1) 
NAME (TWIT # 2) REDACTED  TWITTER REDACTED  (one hosting the horrible comments)

People who "like" and perhaps share Michelle's dream of seeing Danielle Smith hit by train or bullet.


NAME (TWIT # 3) REDACTED
NAME (TWIT # 4) REDACTED 

h/t to 'tuned in' readers for the tips on Twitter accounts.


Interesting reaction:

And an apology.

Thank you Pat.

And an email demand:

I am demanding that you take my name off your site. There is absolutely no context to my "like"

I think the vast majority of people would agree that a "like" on Facebook, equates to agreeing with and supporting the post you have "liked". All the same in the interest of internet peace: Demand granted.


As of this afternoon   TWIT #2 REDACTED    has changed her Facebook settings so it is no longer public. All information contained in this blog were obtained late last night and first thing the morning of April 16 when it was still publicly available.

Informal polling on Alberta politics

Yesterday I had a conversion with someone who had no idea that we had a new Premier or who Alison Redford was. For that matter, they didn't know who Stelmach was.

This has prompted me to do some informal polling today of random people I encounter at work and elsewhere.

These are the questions I'm asking.

Who is our current Premier?

Can you name any of the political parties in Alberta?

Have you ever heard of the Alberta Party?

I will post my findings this evening.

Kyle (Fawcett); That isn't what I signed up for....

Let’s start with full disclosure.

I have known Kyle Fawcett since we ran against each other in the 2008 General Election. We have gone from calling each other Mr. Fawcett and Ms Morgan, to being comfortable with first names. We have communicated via email several times.

As my MLA he has answered my questions, sought my input, obtained passes for me to attend significant events at the Alberta Legislature, we’ve had lunch together on more than one occasion and he even helped me get my misplaced wallet safely returned to me.

His personal communication with me has been through his Legislative email of Kyle.Fawcett(at)assembly.ab.ca. Or in the case of community issues they come as bulk newsletters from his constituency office and are totally non-partisan; which I signed up for and can opt out of anytime.

I was a little surprised today to find an email from Kyle in my Spam folder. On closer inspection, it came from what looks to be a personal email address for Kyle and one I’ve never received emails from before.

More surprising though is that it is address to “North Hill Constituents” and it is a very partisan email soliciting for the Progressive Conservative Party.

I realize Kyle has my email and had he emailed me personally, I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it; but he clearly is soliciting all constituents with whom he has an email address. And as a constituent ……that isn’t what I signed up for.

This is the contents of the email.

Vote on Saturday for Alison Redford

Calgary-North Hill Constituents,

I wanted to bring to your attention a very important moment in the history of our province. This Saturday, the 1st of October the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta will choose a new leader, and Premier of our province. This is your chance to have a direct say in the future of our communities and our province. In doing so I would like to encourage you to vote for ALISON REDFORD.

Over and above her impressive resume of international and domestic policy work, ALISON is the best chance for CHANGE in both the PC Party and our province. ALISON understands that your government needs to work for you, and not for special interests and the political elite. She knows that the province is at a political crossroads and that the PC Party needs to continue to earn the trust of Albertans if it is to continue its legacy of excellent governance in Alberta.

Additionally, ALISON represents the constituency of Calgary-Elbow, which is similar in geographic and demographic composition as Calgary-North Hill and shares similar challenges. She knows the challenges that faced by your family and community.

ALISON wants to do politics and government different from the past, and this means bringing forward new ideas, and ensuring that the PC Party undertakes substantial renewal.

You can vote for ALISON this Saturday at the Highland Park Community Centre (3716 – 2 Street NW) between 9am – 7pm. All you require is an up-to-date PC Party Membership, and two pieces of ID (one with a picture and your address). If you do not have a current PC Party membership, you can purchase one for $5 at the polling station on Saturday. If you are no longer a resident of Calgary-North Hill, but still want to vote on Saturday, please call ALISON’s Campaign Headquarters at 403-xxx xxxx to find out where your polling station is located.

For more information about ALISON’s platform download the attached document (5 Reasons to Vote for Alison Redford) or visit ALISON’s web-site at www.alisonredford.ca

If you would like to purchase at membership before voting day or need a ride to the polling station, please contact 403-xxx xxxx.

Sincerely,
Kyle Fawcett, MLA
Calgary-North Hill

Editted at 3:20 PM to add Kyle's explanation from Twitter.

Well, I'm not a federal conservative member. But looks like others who are might have also received the email.

Predictions on PC Leadership Race

I said it (Twitter ‘ed it actually) a couple of months ago and a few weeks ago; that I thought Alison Redford might pull off the win.  I had no basis for my prediction, it was a just a gut feeling.  Now that they are going into the second round I’m getting a clearer picture of how this might come about.

Despite umpteen current MLA’s lining up behind Gary Mar and his high percentage in the first go round, there seems to a lot of hatred out there working against him.  I think in order for Gary to win he has to achieve his 50% at the first count on October 1^st.  If it goes to the second count it will go to Alison.

Here’s why (in my opinion)

Gary Mar’s supporters likely won’t put a second choice on the ballot.  They will want to avoid a “Stelmach” or “Dion” third placer coming up the middle. Redford and Horner supporters are far less likely to be worried about this; their main beef is with Gary and keeping him out of office.  They will mark a second choice. Redford supporters for Horner and vice versa.

I think Horner will be in third. This is partly based on the showing after the first round and I believe Redford has a more organized campaign. (Granted, I could just be thinking this way because I know some of the people involved and I live in Calgary where she has a greater presence.) Either way, I think his supporters will be quite comfortable in putting a ‘2’ beside Alison’s name.  She is from their current cabinet, but still new enough and she is saying the right things to offer that glimmer of hope the PC’s so desperately need.

Conversely Mar, is so many things they are trying to distance themselves from. Bussing in “supporters”; rumors of leaking a members list to media; rumors of offering plum positions to those who back him; generally old-school distasteful politics.  

Should Redford pull it off… well she will have monumental, if not impossible task ahead of her.  As I understand it Alison has the backing of a handful of MLA’s: Doug Elniski, Kyle Fawcett, Art Johnston, David Xiao and Dave Rodney.  With the exception of Rodney they are all first term MLA’s and Johnston won’t even be running in the next general election, having lost his local nomination.  She will have to regroup the other MLA’s; mostly made up of long term members who now clearly stand behind Mar, and there are a LOT of them.

If I’m wrong though and Mar wins, there are two things I’m looking forward to.

      1)      The caucus funding to the PC’s to be cut since they no longer will have a Leader in an elected position. 

      2)      Their caucus putting out press releases, but not being able to name their “yet to be elected as an MLA, Leader”.

If you aren’t familiar with the background, one might say, “That’s absurd. Why would those things happen?’ You can read it for yourself, here and here. It’s exactly what the PC’s did to the Wildrose.

PS: I don't choose the ads that display on my blog and in no way support nor endorse any candidate who might happen to show up. :)

View From the Other Side - Part 6.1

This comment was left by an anonymous reader regarding the Part 6 post. I felt it deserved an expanded response.

Jane, as one who was at the PC AGM and heard that same line from the Premier, you omitted the fact that he emphasized that there is existing legislation that prohibits the imposition of a sales tax without the issue going to a referendum. He also stated the obvious when he expressed doubts that Albertans would approve such a tax in that vote.

I don't think that the facts and a full disclosure of the context of his comment left any confusion at all.

In this case the context is neither here nor there. If the Premier had stayed true to his earlier comments his response would have sounded something like this;

“This is an item that will be discussed and voted on by our members later today and I prefer not to influence those discussions. I would like to point out though, that here in Alberta we have legislation that prohibits the imposition of a sales tax without the issue going to a referendum. If our members are in favor of this our government will insure it comes forward on referendum.”

In my opinion the whole tax discussion from MLA Doug Griffiths and Premier Ed Stelmach over the past days was part of their communications strategy. I can imagine how the conversation went.

Strategist: “Ed we need to get some positive headlines that we resonate with the average Albertan.”

Ed: “Okay. Do you have something in mind?”

Strategist: “Yes. We will float a PST tax balloon.”

Ed: “Didn’t we already do this?”

Strategist: “Yes. And it worked, but we didn’t get nearly enough mileage out of it. It only got headlines from the CBC.”

Ed: “I don’t think I can ask Ted to go down that road again.”

Strategist: “You’re right. How about his PA, Doug Griffiths?”

Ed: “Hmmm. Yes. Yes, I like that. He’s due to take one for the team, him and his fiscal five or four or whatever that frat house thing was. BIG mistake, boys. They were trying to copy me you know. I was part of the "deep-six"; do you remember that? We had the craziest hospitality suite at the ‘93 convention.”
* hardy laugh *
"And we had these great little lapel pins. They were green bow ties. Where did that go?”
* Premier goes off in search of his old lapel pin. *

This time round it did play out much better for them. I’m not sure if the timing of it coming just prior to the AGM was planned, but it did afford them much better coverage than the sleepy days of summer.

The sad reality about motions that do pass at the PC AGM’s is that most will never see the light of day as legislation. And even though they are democratically voted on, they can be vetoed by the Premier.

Case in point:

A resolution introduced at the Alberta Progressive Conservative Convention on Saturday argued that sophisticated and well-financed environmental organizations and special interest groups are having success in attempts to redefine Alberta's image in "extremely negative" terms.
It says Alberta's efforts to counter "nefarious public relation campaigns" have been ineffective and both industry and government must work together to come up with a new strategy to turn the tide of public opinion.


"Unless you've been living on another planet you've probably heard all sorts of comments about Alberta's oilsands industry which is really part of the backbone of our economy. We think it's very important to engage industry and government," said Stephen Hope, a delegate from the riding of Calgary Shaw who introduced the resolution.


"The purpose of the collaboration is to create and develop a new and effective image of the province that will be the basis of countering these smear campaigns."


The vote in favour of the resolution was unanimous.


But Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach told delegates he is satisfied with the strategy currently in place and that he has no intention of replying in kind to the negative campaigns.

The motions didn't say anything about launching an "in kind" campaign. Likely those are his own words and thoughts. But they did clearly express they aren't satisfied with the current strategy. Here is the full wording of the resolution:

Whereas, highly sophisticated and well financed environmental organizations and special interest groups in Alberta and beyond, including Greenpeace, Corporate Ethic International and Forest Ethics, are currently experiencing success in their attempts to redefine Alberta’s image in extremely negative terms or worse for the purpose of denigrating the important development of Alberta’s oil sands. It is apparent that the Government of Alberta’s recent branding efforts (”Freedom to Create. Spirit to Achieve”) are ineffective in countering such elaborate smear campaigns that are intended to damage Alberta’s economy now and into the future; therefore

Be it resolved that, the Government of Alberta through appropriate government departments collaborates with representative organizations of Alberta industries whose businesses that have been or are being harmfully affected through nefarious public relation campaigns smearing the image of Alberta. The purpose of the collaboration is to create and develop a new and effective image of the province that will be the basis of countering the smear campaigns. Additionally, external experts in the field of communications relative to this issue should be engaged to assist in the process. Ideally, Alberta’s new image should be multi-dimensional and any copy lines simple but Memorable; and therefore

Be it further resolved that, such collaboration begins immediately to counter inaccurate and misleading information, false statements and dubious claims portraying Alberta’s environmental record in the worse possible manner.

It’s refreshing to see that even PC members don’t like our new cumbersome branding. In theory the “big tent” party is a cross section representative of Albertans, yet many of the ideas coming out of this weekend will fall on deaf years.

View From the Other Side - Part 6

During the morning media session Premier Stelmach was asked his position on a motion that would be going before the delegates this afternoon. He answered it very diplomatically and in my opinion the way a most leaders would. He explained he would rather not give his personal position and leave it to the members to decide. He went on to say, when a leader either speaks in favor or against it may sway the membership. This is paraphrased, but conveys the nature of his position.

During the lunch hour Q & A with members, he was asked about talk of a sales/consumption tax. This is also a motion in the afternoon policy session. He gave his very strong position on it stating; "There won't be a sales tax in Alberta as long as I'm premier". In less than two hours he went from not wanting to comment on resolutions up for debate, to giving a full, definitive opinion on one.

It might not seem like a huge deal, but it’s these variances that cause confusion and reduce confidence. Ed is not alone in this; I’ve seen similar fumbles by nearly all the leaders.

View From the Other Side - Part 3

The theme for the 2010 PC AGM is “TeamPC”. There are hints of this within the handouts, the décor and in the Leader’s Address. In the main reception area there are hockey jersey’s honoring past PC premiers, behind the stage there are very simple banners with “TeamPC” and of course in the party colors.

They really remind me of this…….

... except the stripes are vertical.

Edited to add new photo. Thanks Joey.

I will give the PC’s credit for the décor and staging; it’s simple, functional and likely reasonably priced.

The Audience

During the Premier Stelmach’s Leader’s Address there seemed to be several people throughout the crowd who started banging their “fan-fans” at key points. These very well could have been very dedicated supporters, but I got the sense it was somewhat staged. One of the individuals was behind me, pacing the back of the room and in between his enthusiastic moments he saw fit to chat with other people. The individuals directly around me were much more subdued.

The Delivery

I’ve seen Premier Stelmach speak a few times over the years and I haven’t seen the changes I expected to see. He just doesn’t seem comfortable up there and appears more to be “reading” than “sharing” a vision. I don’t envy anyone who speaks to a large group; it’s one of the things I hate to do myself. Even though I don’t relish the thought of public speaking, many people have told me how much I changed in just five months of campaigning recently. Our Premier has had over two years and likely has resources, maybe even coaches available to him.

I don’t know if Premier Stelmach writes his own material, but if he doesn’t I believe that might be part of the issue. At one point during my recent campaign, someone else wrote some script for me. I found I couldn’t deliver it as written; it just wasn't the way I would say it. I ended up rewriting it. I kept the base content, but added my own personality and spirit to it.

He did have one moment where he clearly was adlibbing, during which he was definitely more comfortable and personable. If he could capture that and apply it to all of his presentations, they would have far more enthusiastic supporters.

The Content

Premier Stelmach spoke at length about environmentalists attacking us and how Alberta isn’t being treated fairly by Ottawa. At one point he said (regarding the activists); “Nor will we give them what they want, which is attention.” It would seem to me if you use nearly 400 words on the topic during a speech you know the media is covering extensively … you are giving them attention. As for the Ottawa comments; it reminded me of the King Ralph days, when he would rattle his saber, but at the end of the day nothing changed. Also he didn’t take it to the next logical step… the How. How are they going to fix the disparity? How are they going to stop the intrusions on provincial jurisdiction?

Twice during the address, he referred to the massive majority won in 2008. They seem to rely on this as if time stopped on that day; as if there has been no political change in Alberta since that day. What he didn’t address was; what are their chances of doing that again? More than one Calgary PC MLA has shared concerns with me about their chances next time around. If I’m hearing surely the members and brass within their own party are hearing it. Perhaps this is one area that is just too sensitive for the Premier to publicly admit is an issue.

Premier Stelmach also declared the following;

“…. I am proud to announce our Party is embarking upon the most democratic engagement process for policy development in the history of any political party in our province. The process will encourage input of grassroots Party members and individuals who share our values through constituency and regional forums. The end result will be a comprehensive PC Policy Blue Paper that will form the foundation for the next platform and ultimately help set the direction for the future of our province. And in the coming weeks, we will announce our co-chairs of the Platform Development Process.”

Right now it’s lacking in details, but on the surface it sounds like what the Wildrose Alliance has been doing all along. And truthfully, I actually thought the PC’s had a fairly democratic process in place for those who wanted to be involved. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Further reading on the speech:

Alberta premier in fighting form
BY KEITH GEREIN AND KAREN KLEISS, EDMONTON JOURNAL

Stelmach takes aim at detractors
By MICHAEL WOOD, CALGARY SUN

View From the Other Side - Part 2

Today there were two other bloggers in the media room. Alex writer of The Roundhouse and Joey aka The Enlightened Savage. I highly recommend reading their coverage of the PC 2010 AGM as well. It's due to Joey's involvement that I've been granted the freedom to report on this event. Joey, I will have to find a way to get back at you errr, thank you.

I would like to thank Don Braid, Graham Thomson and the other (real) media members welcoming me into their realm. Even though we (bloggers) are in their midst, our reporting of the events will be distinctly different. Bloggers tend to have a bias and in some cases even a partisan view. You will see evidence of this in my subsequent posts.

Tonight's reception had several tables; each had about three constituencies represented. This was a great idea; you could head to the appropriate table to meet the MLA and/or CA representatives. I was surprised by the number of people I recognized, but even more surprised by the number of people who know who I am. I chuckled to myself when I overheard one person say to another; "Isn't she with the Wildrose? Why is she here?"

One of the people I bumped into was Sean Chu. Even though we recently ran against one another, we have a great deal in common. (Including losing...) We shared post-election stories and we are both still recovering from the effects of a long campaign.

Side notes:

Food at reception was top notch.
Media room is spacious, enough plug-ins today, but think we will be short tomorrow.
Beverage service was provided to media; although it seemed to have been a last minute thing rather than planned.

Next up: Premiers speech

View From the Other Side - Part 1

I've decided to call this series "View from the Other Side". As background for new readers; I have a long history with the Wildrose Alliance Party. I sat on their Provincial board for over four years as CFO and Executive Director.

Needless to say, it came as a bit of surprise when a member of the PC AGM Organizing team contacted me and asked that I attend as an Accredited Media blogger. So it is that a partisan Wildroser has ended up in the midst of “TeamPC”.

At 4:30 today I attended business meeting of the PC AGM. It was likely the shortest of these I’ve ever been too. (Even the Alberta Party had a longer one with only 99 members back in Oct 2009) It should be noted, this doesn’t cover the policy resolution portion; which will fill the day tomorrow. By my estimation there were about 250 in attendance.

This meeting had reports from the President, Treasurer and PCYA President.
The following are items I felt noteworthy.

President, Bill Smith reported they have had some positive polling results and perhaps some will now be able to sleep better. An internal survey revealed the greatest concern of members was a need for more communication from the party. New memberships fees will be introduced in 2012; $10.00 for 1 year, $25.00 for 3 year and $40.00 for 5 year. (Hmm looks familiar..LOL) He touched briefly of the Election Readiness session for tomorrow. (This is only session that media is not allowed to attend)

Treasurer, Ron Renaud gave a recap of last year’s financials. Given this was public information back in April, there wasn't much new on this front.

PCYA President, Riley Georgsen (this is youth wing of party), reported they have had success online both on Facebook and Twitter. One of their biggest challenges has been gaining members. But they are quite pleased that members are not leaving anymore. According to Riley they have about over 100 youth attending this AGM.

The meeting went onto ‘new business’; which there was none. Next would normally be speeches for those seeking positions on the board; however Bill Smith advised all positions had been acclaimed. Thus the meeting was closed, not even 20 minutes after it had started.

Next on tonight's agenda---
6:00 - 8:00 Constituencies Reception
8:00 Leader's Address

Unusual weekend

Today and tomorrow I will be at the PC AGM. I've attended other party's AGM's as an observer before, but this is the first time as Accredited Media. (New media = blogger).  And the first time I've been to a Progressive Conservative one.

I will be Tweeting throughout the two days. You can follow me at @Jaanikka and the Twitter hashtag for the event is #pcagm.

Also open to suggestions for the name of series of posts to come out of this weekend.  Suggestions so far:

Sleeping with the Enemy
Behind Enemy Lines

Not sure enemy is right word. The PC's after all are our governing party and even I will admit they've done some things right.... Sshhhh.
Stay tuned.

Stats and Twitter are a buzzing.

For a Saturday, my stat counter is racking up the hits today; haven’t had this kind of activity since I exposed Rebecca. I also seem to have a new batch of Diane Colley-Urquhart supporters following me on Twitter.

It didn’t take long to get a response from Diane Colley-Urquhart in reaction to my morning entry.



As you can see two of my three questions have been answered. Diane Colley-Urquhart has now removed my name from the entry and deleted Travis’ comment. However, she maintains her stance that investing copious sums of money in the carbon capture boondoggle is critical. So it is safe to say the Progressive Conservative’s (PC’s) will be pissing away more money on CCS.

Diane Colley-Urquhart has also confirmed her resignation from the HRC. (This question was previously brought up on Travis’ blog)

She goes on to explain how her campaign will not engage in name calling. For the most part I agree with that comment; facts certainly make a better argument than petty names. However in politics, it is inevitable. I have been on the receiving end and I sure there are examples out there of me dishing it out as well.

If Diane Colley-Urquhart is taking issue with my using the moniker of “Big Red”; she must really have a hate on for Rick Bell, he uses it no less than nine times in this article.

Lastly, it is rather comical that she posted during her volunteer rally. I feel honored that she would take time away from her volunteers and supporters to respond to a member of an opposing party.
Hmmm, wonder how they feel about it?

Quite an Interesting Day

I attended the Alberta Speech from the Throne today. You can watch or listen to it here. Be prepared though, it is a long one. I tried, unsuccessfully, to find the transcript. I did find this one from March 2007; I suspect the site will be updated in due course. Interesting to note the 2007 one is 9 pages of text and today's was 14; no wonder Mr. Kwong pointed out the great length of it.

Perhaps Mr. Stelmach thinks more means better. Despite its length it had little to offer. He missed many points that the CFIB clearly understands are necessary.

Sadly I did not get to meet Mr. Stelmach. After doing a few media interviews, he quickly left the reception. Kudos to those MLA's who did stick around to meet the public.

Meanwhile, outside the Leg a prairie wildfire is starting. Not to worry though; sometimes you need a good fire to clean out the dead wood.

Lastly, I would like to extend a thank you to the MLA who made it possible for me to attend. It is greatly appreciated....and not to worry, I won't name you......;)

Wildrose Alliance - Press Release

Wildrose Alliance Runs Surplus,

Other Parties Run Deficits

The campaign statements are out and this government has proven it cannot grasp fiscal responsibility. They spent five times their fund raising and were happy to raid the rainy day fund built up by Ralph Klein supporters. The PC's believe if they spend enough money the voters will follow. The Wildrose Alliance believes Albertans cannot be so easily fooled.

This government has been exposed for their excessive spending and open cheque book policies. Like the federal Liberals, Premier Stelmach now finds it necessary to put in spending gag laws to protect their interests. Just like their personal pay raises they do it in secret and behind closed doors. The Wildrose Alliance believes this is unethical. Prime Minister Steven Harper and the federal Conservatives fought against such gag laws, why is this government implementing them?

The Wildrose Alliance is a party of principles and during the recent Election we demonstrated fiscal accountability to our members and Albertans. We have proven we are the fiscally responsible party and that we will respect the wealth of Albertans.

Clearly, this deficit spending by the PC's underscores why they called an Election. Albertans are shutting the door on donations to the PC's and only 1/5th of Albertans voted for them. With the rising support the Wildrose Alliance is receiving from Albertans it is clear we are a threat to their self preservation and 36 year reign.

The big concern we have for all Albertans is this government's budgeting. Their latest fiscal update left little room for error yet billions have been promised for environmental initiatives against millions in funding for crime and health care. Oil and Gas prices are far below even their latest economic assumptions just 2 weeks ago and threaten their budget. The PC's could not estimate oil and gas gas prices on the way up, how can we trust they'll make the right estimate on the way down? Further, when they prioritize high speed trains and carbon dioxide pipelines versus funding hospitals and fighting gangs, they've proven they are out of touch with everyday Albertans.

The Wildrose Alliance focuses on the issues of everyday Albertans: a strong vibrant economy, innovative health care available to all, quality education, responsible environmental management and safe communities.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Paul Hinman
Wildrose Alliance leader
Phone: 403 393-2003

info@wildrosealliance.ca

Alberta 2008 General Election “financial” Results

The financials for the campaign period (Feb. 4th to May 3rd.) are now public on Elections Alberta site. I was pretty confident the WRP would end up in a better situation than the opposition parties; but I never dreamed we would out do Ed Stelmachs PC's......

GRN $ (20,094.50) Deficit
LIB $ (162,683.62) Deficit
NDP $ (351,257.94) Deficit
PC $ (2,426,412.00) DEFICIT.

Yup, double checked it is nearly 2.5 MILLION and is deficit.

WRP $ 49,409.41 SURPLUS ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Remind me again; who is the "fiscally responsible" party in this province???

Source: http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/efpublic/efParties.cfm?MID=FP