Donn to Dusk

The Sweet Smell of Pork in Alberta

2011-10-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Just arrived back in Calgary from the Sultanate of Oman. I was out of Canada since September 5th and during my travels visited Indonesia and Kazakhstan, all for business. However, all are Muslim countries so I was craving a little pork when I arrived in Calgary.

Thanks to the current political environment in Alberta it did not take much time to overdose on pork.

We had the appointment of Gary Mar to the position of Alberta Trade Commissioner to Asia. One can argue this move from a political perspective;
1. Mar was qualified and had experience given his stint as the Alberta Envoy in Washington. A position he handled with reasonable success.
2. Gary's family is of course of Asian decent and one can argue this adds to the ability to understand the clients.
3. With Mar is this position it makes it damn difficult to criticize the new leadership.

Wow, that pork tasted good.

Now for the pork overdose!

Sources tell me that the next appointment will be Rick Orman to replace Gary Mar in Washington as the Alberta US Envoy.

Let's see them explain this pork to the people of Alberta. Alison supposedly represents change, a departure from "the old boys network".

How will they explain the appointment of Orman to this post;
1. Finished a distant 5th in the PC Leadership, just ahead of "ole what's his name".
2. Mediocre MLA for the Tories, 1986-1993.
3. Mediocre Energy Minister, 1989-1993, I believe we were in a recession in Alberta at the time.
4. Mediocre businessman, 1993-present.
5. Sorry, forgot the most important issue, a good looking man.

All the necessary pre-requisites to becoming the recipient of a large pork barrel position in Washington.

"Go Alison"

The Dust Begins to Settle on Alberta Politics

2011-10-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Time has passed, the sky has not fallen, and we have a woman Premier.

Coming from a family with a strong matriarchal head, a strong wife and four brilliant daughters, I for one applaud the decision made by the PC Party.

After all, Newfoundland saw the light as did British Columbia. I believe woman leaders will understand the needs of the citizens from the social side of the political equation and if Alison is true to form; she will balance the fiscal side as well.

Of course, there will be detractors questioning every decision including the lame left but unless they can show constructive alternatives no one will give them much attention.

No the path forward is for Alison to decide, she will make or break her future not the opposition or the media. She needs to handle tough decisions with precision such as the Gary Mar appointment. See the link;

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Gary+named+trade+representative+Asia/5552447/story.html

This scribe believes Mar was a good appointment, politically coloured but the right credentials. These will be the decisions that she needs to stay tough with, prove that the right decision can be made and defended.

I am looking forward to the future under Alison's leadership. Time will tell if I am to optimistic.

Democracy Speaks in Alberta

2011-10-02T01:37:00.000-07:00

Like a number of political observers I was pleasantly surprised by the election of Alison Redford as the new Leader of the PCs in Alberta and now the Premier of our Province.

A moderate, a woman, a person who repeatedly attacked her own Party's performance or dare I say lack of performance?

The future of Alberta looks bright from Oman.

A woman leader is just what we need at this stage in our development.

New Tory Leader

2011-10-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Alison!

Don Braid - Donn Lovett in drag

2011-09-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Don, thank you for reviewing the blog and agreeing with my assessment; no fall election, by-election and on with setting a direction that speaks to Albertans;

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Braid+After+vote+about+timing/5463089/story.html

Bill Kaufmann is still dreaming of a white Christmas and a fall election;

http://www.calgarysun.com/2011/09/26/mar-sets-120-day-gameplan-as-premier

What do you think

My prayers are with Alison and her mother.

Gary Mar and I agree on no fall election

2011-09-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

As I blogged earlier and now it appears substantiated by the Mar Campaign, there will not be a fall election in Alberta.

https://garymar.ca/2011/09/mar-ready-to-hit-the-ground-running-if-elected-premier

Furthermore, if Gary is able to set the 120 day agenda outlined in this release, he will speak to Albertans in a language that Albertans understand and have been looking for from the opposition parties in this Province.

I have been saying long and loud since October 2009, when I attempted to get the Alberta Liberal Party to move to the Centre; If you speak to Albertans about the issues that Albertans want to discuss you will have their attention and their vote.

Albertans, rural or urban, all economic classes, male or female all want the same things; A well-functioning, accessible public health care system, accessible education at high standards to make Albertans competitive globally, security of the home. These are common values we all share in Alberta. They make us moderate, caring, accepting people.

Mar seems to have captured.that sense and along with the majority of Albertans, I trust he will deliver the promise.

I am optimistic as always, but watching with the reality of having been in politics way to long.

First step, October 2nd, 2011.

If we believe in the plan we need to get Mar elected!

Sun TV Interview on Alberta Politics

2011-09-23T03:03:00.000-07:00

Here is the link, to bad it is not so clear;

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/news/868018287001/alberta-tory-leadership-race-heats-up/1170444167001/page/3

Wake Up Canada - A View From Afar

2011-09-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hello from The Sultanate of Oman

I have been watching as the Harper Government takes it's new found neo-Conservative, social-Conservative majority out for a test drive with the introduction in Parliament of the omnibus crime bill. We are wading in unemployment, markets in the toilet, Canadian dollar dropping and Harper shows us the crime bill.

Further to this, our international reputation has never been as weak as it is now in those parts of the world I frequent, the Middle East and South-East Asia. Witness the world's re-action to the Harper statement concerning the Palestinian issue at the last G8 meeting. It's as if Bush is still in power in the US and our Government is trying to see how far up their butt they can stick their head.

For the record, Canada is in a 30 year plus decrease in violent crime. Never mind that the folly of this initiative has been a colossal failure in the US and other right minded countries.

After Harper tells us how afraid of ourselves we should be and gives us the crime bill to make us feel secure tightly locked in our homes he will march out the next neo-Conservative, social-Conservative item on his agenda, either giving back the guns by removing the gun registry or taking away political opposition voices by stopping the funding of Opposition Parties in Parliament.

Nothing will phase Harper and his toadies, John Baird and Jason Kenney. Yes it's the religious and political hypocrites with the influence on their master. Moderates such as Peter MacKay are told to sit in the back of the room, keep quite and vote for and when they are advised to do so.

Lest we forget, Harper and his henchmen were the authors of the infamous Alberta firewall letter of 2001, see the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Agenda The letter was a bid to build a neo-Conservative wall around Alberta, he now feels he has the tools to do this to Canada.

More to come.

PLEASE BE AWARE!

Alberta PC Leadership Race

2011-09-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hello from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

I own a small oil & gas service company in Oman (http://www.omanenergyservices.com) and that takes my attention but I am missing my political fix and have been participating in and otherwise watching with re-newed interest the outcome of the PC Leadership race.

Prior to my departure on September 4th, 2011 I had been working through Mr. Ed Tam to support Gary Mar for the Leadership. I feel I need to state that up front because obviously I am a little biased.

I chose to work with Mar having left the Alberta Liberal Party in October of 2009 because they could not define themselves as Centrists in Alberta and therefore did not represent me any longer. Having worked closely with Dave Taylor, I moved to the Alberta Party trying to find a fit politically. This has caused some frustration due to lack of organization and other difficulties. However, I still maintain my membership and my foot in the door.

I met Gary Mar after he announced his intentions to seek the Leadership. The follow-up meeting allowed me to dialogue and get answers to my concerns with Alberta politics in general and PC politics specifically. I was convinced to support Gary and started the task of getting him elected, more importantly for me was to ensure that Alberta maintained a moderate leadership.

That leads me to the thoughts I have from a review of the initial results and what I believe will be the outcome of the Leadership race.

First let me say that people should see the first vote results as a move to the Centre in Alberta politics. Tory voters chose the 3 moderate candidates (so-called Red Tories) including a woman in 2nd place. This flies in the face of the perception from the rest of Canada that we are a bunch of back water conservatives, guns cocked, woman in the kitchen, etc...

Here is the outcome scenario;

Leadership hopefuls who did not make the cut will endorse Mar.

Mar wins the October 2nd vote convincingly.

He changes out the Cabinet in a clean sweep. Not to say all Ministers will be removed but changes are desperately required,

Mar calls Danielle Smith requests she re-join the family, she refuses, still he is seen to be opening up to Wildrose.

He then arranges a time to make an economic statement.

A by-election will be called because either Dave Hancock (destined to the Bench) or Teresa Woo Paw (don't know what they will do here) resigns and a seat is available.

Mar governs for several months to show Alberta what his Government will look like and to convince those who departed for the right that they need to re-think their choices.

May call a June election, most likely a fall, October vote.

From the voice of politics.

Homelessness not an issue during Stampede

2011-07-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

He's Back!

After being away from the site since February for a number of reasons I found an urgency last evening to get back in the saddle.

The issue is homelessness and the attitude of the Calgary media to stay away from such issues during the Calgary Stampede because their owners don't want negative stories during the 10 days of a spending spree in Calgary. Apparently homeless people do not exist during the Stampede.

They refuse to cover the Cross Canada Tour by Mark Horvath.

I need to explain the concern; first, read the following background.

InvisiblePeople.tv road trip keeps getting bigger continuing to be a catalyst for change in the fight against homelessness. Communities have rallied to house people experiencing homelessness and others have created housing programs, a farmer donated land that is now being used to help feed low-income families , and miracles that cannot be explained continue to happen. Last year, YouTube allowed InvisiblePeople.tv to curate their homepage for a day, that one day resulted in 1.6 million people touching homelessness that would have never rolled down their window at an exit ramp.

Thanks to Calgary Homeless Foundation and Community Action Committee InvisiblePeople.tv goes international traveling extensively throughout Canada. The road trip then returns to United States and continues from Maine through the Midwest and back to Southern California.

This year our friends at Pierce Family Foundation have donated a $10,000 matching grant. That means that every dollar donated will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000. Your donations will immediately double resulting in more impact to fight homelessness. Our friends at Razoo created this website for online donations and for you to “ride along” on the road trip. The site includes a live “Dash Cam” and real-time Google map so it’s almost like you are in the passenger seat. Make sure to bookmark http://invisiblepeople.tv/razoo and visit often as we travel Canada and the United States.

Then go to the website to see first hand;

http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/invisible-people-homeless-road-trip

If you agree with me that the media should be covering this issue call your media outlet and let them know how you feel.

Thank you!

Leaderless Politics - Alberta

2011-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

We are at a crossroads in the history of politics in Alberta.

Who would have imagined as they woke from their New Year's stupor that a few weeks down the road we would see;

1. The Alberta Party entering the Legislature via the new Alberta Party MLA, Dave Taylor.
2. The Progressive Conservatives would be leaderless.
3. The Alberta Liberal Party, leaderless for years, would now make it official.
4. The NDs, good boy, stay where you are, we'll let you have the 2 seats.
5. The strongest leader in Alberta politics is Danielle Smith.

This is the day we are supposed to pay tribute to Dr. David Swann and as an individual one can do that willingly.

However, as the Leader of the Opposition in Alberta he was an unmitigated failure leaving the Party in ashes. I once commented that Swann was so politically naive that he could not see his way and therefore could not hold a political thought or conversely, he was so calculating that he was willing to re-build the Liberal Party in his image no matter that only 6 members were standing when he was finished. I think the latter may be the case.

The winds of change are blowing. As my daughter Kate watches first hand from her house in Dahab in the Sinai, Egypt I m envious of here for being so close to change while as a parent also concerned about her safety, nonetheless she is witnessing history.

In Alberta over the next few weeks albeit a little less important on a world scale, we will watch history unfold in Alberta politics.

See you all February 14th when I return from the Sultanate of Oman.

Alberta Political Landscape Has Changed

2011-01-25T01:30:00.000-08:00

In my most recent comment on Alberta politics I said the following;

The Alberta Party needs to dramatically increase their efforts if they hope to make an impact on the Alberta Political scene. If they do hope to be a credible alternative they will have to plan for the next election, not the upcoming one. The caveat here is the Nenshi Campaign for Mayor in Calgary. Can the Alberta Party create the enthusiasm that was created for Nenshi and make a remarkable surge? And so it goes….

Well it appears they have dramatically increased their efforts.

The acquisition of Dave Taylor is a tremendous boost to the new kids on the block, now they need the "Nenshi Effect" and no telling what can happen.

In the last few days during intense negotiations in support of Taylor's move I became invigorated, felt like a kid again back in the 60's, I hope it lasts.

For the record, I am a Dave Taylor supporter, I know him, I trust him and I will help him as he requires.

I trust all of this will lead to a change in Alberta politics, God knows we all need and deserve it.

To the stars and beyond!

Great Moments in Apple History

2011-01-16T06:36:00.000-08:00

The Beginning—From the very beginning the ancients were truly enamoured with fruit. Apart from milk and honey, fruit is nature's only pleasure laden natural food. From the beginning apples have been associated with love, beauty, luck, health, comfort, pleasure, wisdom, temptation, sensuality, sexuality, virility and fertility. Stories and traditions about man's origins connect him to a garden of paradise filled with fruit trees. The stories are essentially the same whether it be the Semitic Adam, the Teutonic Iduna, the Greek Hesperides, or the Celtic Avalon, man's idea of paradise centers on an abundance of cultivated fruit, its sensual irresistibility and the consequential calamity of its seduction.

In Greek mythology, Gaia, or Mother Earth, presented a tree with golden apples to Zeus and his bride Hera on their wedding day. Guarded by Ladon, a serpent who never slept, the apple tree was in the garden of the Hesperides, daughters of the Evening Star. These golden apples became involved with many tales of love, bribery and temptation ranging from the abduction of Helen of Troy to the defeat and marriage of Atlanta. The sexual and romantic connotations of the apple were powerful reasons why apples came as dessert at the end of the meal. They not only tasted heavenly and were good for digestion but were regarded as a cunning transitional aphrodisiac for the pleasures that followed. Is it any wonder that apples became the most sought after fruit on earth? They have taken their rightful place in the pleasure gardens of the wealthy throughout the world in spite of the almost instinctive knowledge that eating them may lead one to a life of chaos and destruction.

8,000 B.C.—Nomadic hunter/gatherer societies invent agriculture and begin to "settle" in places throughout the "fertile crescent" from the Nile through the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus, and Yellow River Valleys. As both trade and military expeditions begin among these earliest civilizations, dessert apples quickly spread from the forests of their origin in the Tien Shan mountains of eastern Kazakstan throughout the "civilized" world. Each settlement seeks to embellish their "paradise" or pleasure grounds with the most tempting apples of the forests. Previously isolated gene pools from some of the 25 distinctly different species of apples found throughout the world are now brought in contact with each other and gene transfer among apple species occurs. Agriculturalists are charmed. Naturalists are alarmed.

6,500 B.C.—Remains of apples are found among excavations at Jericho in the Jordan Valley and dated to this time period.

5,000 B.C.—Feng Li, a Chinese diplomat, gives up his position when he becomes consumed by grafting peaches, almonds, persimmons, pears and apples as a commercial venture according to "The Precious Book of Enrichment", part I, chapt. 4. Agriculturalists are charmed. Naturalists are alarmed.

2500 B.C.—Dried apple slices are found on saucers in the tomb of Queen Pu-Abi at Ur near Basara, in Southern Iran, linking royalty to the irresistible seduction of apples.

1500 B.C.—A tablet found in northern Mesopotamia records the sale of an apple orchard by Tupkitilla, an Assyrian from Nuzi, for the significant sum of 3 prized breeder sheep. Hittite Law Codes specify a three shekel penalty for anyone allowing a fire to destroy an apple orchard.

800 B.C.—Homer's Odyssey recounts the memory of his fruit orchard to his aging father:

"12 pear trees bowing with their pendant load,
and ten, that red with blushing apples glow'd". . .

and later tells about how King Tantalus was "tantalized" by the unreachable "fruit over his head: pears, pomegranates, sweet figs, apples and juicy olives".

401 B.C.—Greek historian and essayist, Xenophon is so inspired by walled fruit gardens throughout the Persian empire that he establishes one on his own estate in Greece. He then proceeds to coin a new Greek word from the Persian pairidaeza, or walled garden, later becoming the Latin paradisus, and finally the English paradise.

323 B.C.—Theophrastos describes 6 varieties of apples and discusses why budding, grafting, and general tree care are required for optimum production and says seeds almost always produce trees of inferior quality fruit. Agriculturalists are charmed, naturalists are alarmed.

200 B.C.—Latin emerges from a localized dialect in Central Italy to a full and precise language still used in biology, law, medicine, and religion. The Latin "Fruor" meaning "I delight in" is the source of our word "fruit".

100 B.C.—Roman poet Horace notes that Italy has nearly become one big fruit orchard and the perfect meal begins with eggs and ends with apples. Apples moved west with the rise of the Roman empire as the Romans adopted the apples and orchard skills of the Greeks and Persians before them. They proceeded to carry apples to the far reaches of the Roman Empire including continental Europe and the British Isles where previously only crab apples were known. They even created a deity of the fruit trees, the goddess Pomona. Like the Persians and the Greeks, the Romans and many cultures since have responded to the basic human longing for a time and place where men and women are free from the battle with nature for food and shelter. This place is normally symbolized by a garden of paradise and pleasure complete with fruit laden trees featuring apples.

50 B.C.—Cicero, author, statesman, and philosopher urges his Roman countrymen to save their apple seeds from dessert to develop new cultivars. Agricultuaralists and naturalists concur.

50 A.D.—J.M. Columella, a Spaniard living in Rome, an early fruit tester and stickler for quality noted that each fruit seedling was a new and unique cultivar "none to be kept for a long time unless approved by experiment", an otherwise post-Linnean conclusion. To illustrate his point he adapted a verse from Virgil:

It serves no end their* numbers to describe,
The man that's fond of this laborious task,
With equal ease, may learn how many sands,
By western winds are tossed in Libyan plains.
(*i.e. seedling cultivars)

79 A.D.—Pliny the Elder in his Natural History describes 20 varieties of apples.

200 A.D.—Famous Greek physicians living in Rome, Galen and later Hippocrates, recommend sweet apples with meals as aids to digestion and sour apples only for fainting and constipation.

400 A.D.—Saint Jerome, founder of Monasticism, tells his monks to spend more time grafting and budding fruit trees "to escape sloth and the devil".

650 A.D.—The Koran, codified by Caliph Utman hails fruit as a sublime gift of God.

900 A.D.—A sacred Shiite drama is written by a secret society of Moslem purists featuring the death of Mohammed in which he inhales eternal life by inhaling the scent of an apple an angel had brought him. Curiously, many centuries earlier, Aristoteles was said to have kept death away by holding an apple and inhaling its life sustaining fragrance. Finally and consciously he drops the apple thus releasing his soul.

1100 A.D.—The Medical School of Salerno teaches the therapeutic value of apples with regard to disturbances of the bowels, lungs and nervous systems.

1240 A.D.—Albertus Magnus of Cologne, bishop, naturalist, and influential philosopher, agonizes in his De Vegetabilibus over whether a fruit tree has a soul. Albertus' then novel philosophy is that the only way to advance knowledge of nature is by searching for nature's hidden principles rather than by relying on the writings of others, however venerable. Discarding the scholastic concept of fruit as a ready-made product of creation, Albertus held that cultivars developed from wild forms, centuries before Darwin draws similar conclusions about the origin of species.

1470 A.D.—The Fall of Man, a painting by the popular and highly respected Hugo Van Der Goes, in clear detail of both leaves and fruit, depicts an apple tree in the biblical Garden of Eden complete with Adam and Eve and the Devil. Thereafter artists everywhere choose apples for the Garden of Eden, even though the apples were no doubt borrowed from a similar creation story in Greek mythology, causing apple demand among illiterate Christians to plummet. Among learned Christians, e.g. in the monasteries and royal courts, apples continued to flourish.

1618 A.D.—William Lawson of Yorkshire, writes A New Orchard and Garden, the first book in the English language about the practical aspects of apple growing. He is more often quoted on his sensual observations. "All delight in orchards". "For whereas every other pleasure fills some one of our senses, and that only with delight, this makes all senses swim in pleasure". "What can your eyes desire to see, your ears to hear, your mouth to taste, your nose to smell that is not to be had in an orchard, with abundance of variety." Two mottos appear on the title page; "Skill and paines bring fruitful gaines" and "No man is an island". Lawson who believed orcharding offered the best of business and pleasure had a profound influence on the Lynd family of Yorkshire.

1665 A.D.—Sir Isaac Newton watches an apple fall to the ground and, wondering why it fell in a straight line, is inspired to discover the laws of gravitation and motion.

1751 A.D.—Carl Von Linne, founder of organized Botany, revealed his contempt for horticulture when he said "All our fruit trees are a result of Man's interference and, therefore, unworthy of the attention of even the lowliest botanist". Agriculturalists groaned. Naturalists applauded.

1790 A.D.—Thomas Andrew Knight of England begins the first controlled apple hybridization program for apple improvement. Agriculturalists are charmed and naturalists are alarmed.

1904 A.D.—"An apple a day keeps the doctor away", proclaimed J.T. Stinson in an address to the St. Louis Expositon.

1929 A.D.—Edward Bunyard, author of "The Anatomy of Dessert", comments on apples and the 6^th sense "the crunch is the thing, a certain joy in crashing through living tissue, a memory of Neanderthal days".

1945 A.D.—An apple breeding program is initiated jointly at Purdue and the University of Illinois using F₂-26829-2-2 the largest and highest quality apple known at the time to have resistance to the big three diseases of apples, fireblight, scab and powdery mildew. It came from a brilliant, out of the box, cross made by Dr. C. S. Crandall at the Univ. of Ill. earlier in the 1900s who crossed Rome with Malus floribunda 821, a pea sized crab apple that was highly resistant to all the major diseases of apple.

1988 A.D.—The great Alar controversy arises while toxicology experts on both sides argue. Apple growers are caught in the middle as apple demand falls to zero and the media rushes to report one sensationalized story after another about harmless, nearly non existent chemical residues on apples. Perception overrides reality and the U.S. apple industry goes into a steep economic decline. It is the year of peak apple production for Lynd Fruit Farm Inc. at 240,000 bushels. The consequential losses were enormous.

1989 A.D.—Researchers at Cornell University used a "gene gun" to successfully transfer an anti-bacterial gene from a Cecropia moth to a fireblight susceptible apple tree. This gene transfer from an animal to a plant enabled the tree to develop its own fireblight resistance and trees made from buds or graft wood from this tree also had blight resistance. Bio-tech as demonstrated could save the apple industry and consumers millions of dollars. Agricultualists are charmed. Naturalists are alarmed.

1993 A.D.—The world's first large scale commercial planting of naturally disease resistant apples is planted at Lynd Fruit Farm, on Morse Rd., Pataskala, Ohio. The trees then known as HER4T16 are later elevated to "Co-op 38" and finally named Goldrush. It is the first large scale application of the breeding program begun early in this century at the University of Ill. Agriculturalists and naturalists applaud.

1995 A.D.—Mitch Lynd named Apple Grower of the Year by the American Fruit Grower Magazine and the U.S. Apple Association from over 9,000 apple growers in the U.S and Canada.

1998 A.D.—Mitch Lynd and co-founder Ed Fackler start the Mid West Apple Improvement Association, a group dedicated to breeding disease resistant late bloomers to naturally escape fire blight, scab, powdery mildew, cedar apple rust and late spring freezes thus reducing the use of fungicides, antibiotics, and orchard heating. Agriculturalists and naturalists applaud and chemical companies cringe. Land grant colleges of agriculture are in a bind because increasingly their funding comes from pesticide manufacturers instead of the people through taxation and charitable giving.

2000 A.D.—Researchers at the University of California discover powerful new anti-oxidants in apples.

With the assistance of Mitch Lynd

Alberta Politics May Get Interesting

2011-01-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hello from Oman. I have been watching the Alberta political scene for several months from afar, having arrived in the Sultanate of Oman the 24^th of October last year.

I prepared some comments for your edification and am prompted to publish now based on the recent comments by Ken Chapman on the matter of Raj Sherman (http://ken-chapman.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-raj-sherman-should-do-and-why.html).

Therefore, while I want to discuss the action or inaction of all of the provincial political parties, I will also be commenting on Ken Chapman’s piece.

First, allow me to reference those who feel the need to do a little research.

On October 21^st, 2009 in my Blog, Donn to Dusk (http://donntodusk.blogspot.com) I wrote The Future of Alberta Politics – One Person’s Opinion (http://donntodusk.blogspot.com/2009/10/future-of-alberta-politics-one-persons.html). In this piece I discussed the political Centre in Alberta Politics and the advantage of capturing that ground.

Then on February 3^rd, 2010 I wrote, The Liberals Have Their Chance to Make It Right (Centre (http://donntodusk.blogspot.com/2010/02/here-is-httpwww.html). Essentially what they needed to do to capture the centre and failed.

Both of these suggested that Albertans by-and-large exist in the political centre. This may explain why we only see a 40% voter turnout; at present, no party represents the views of the majority of Albertans.

So let’s discuss the current status of the various political parties.

Progressive Conservative Party (PCs)

The PCs exist in a world best described as follows;

Imagine the older couple living in the mansion on the hill with servants preparing their meals and cleaning the house. They are always having guests to dinner to discuss matters of concern only to them. After the meal the men retire to a room to drink a little brandy, smoke a cigar and discuss the power they hold. The women retire to another room to sip sherry and discuss matters that, in fact, the men neither understand nor really care about, perhaps healthcare, education, etc…

Sometimes people appear on the lawn and raise their voices, while disturbing to the people in the house, as long as they do not break things or crap on the grass, they are tolerated. This is the political opposition in Alberta.

So the reality is, the Tories are out of touch with what Albertans care about, have an entitlement thought process and are ill-prepared to fight any real, organized and serious opposition. This is reflected in recent polling and in the accurate reflections of Janet Brown and her seat projection model. Presently, the PCs are on the cusp of majority and minority, with the Wildrose in opposition.

Wildrose Alliance Party (WAP)

In keeping with the mansion scenario WAP started out as a protest Party, jumping up and down on the lawn and screaming that the PCs were not in touch with the people albeit those people on the far right. Having learned the futility of that behavior WAP is beginning to understand the discussion of the Centre, where most Albertans live.

Therefore, Wildrose, having effectively captured support in the more right-wing rural constituencies is now in mind to moderate their appearance in order to capture support in the urban centres. Once again, the way to capture the support of Albertans is through the Centre.

In my estimation, this is a major trend to watch in the coming months leading to the next provincial election.

Alberta Liberal Party (ALP)

Once again, the ALP protested on the lawn of the mansion after they actually discovered where the PCs lived. However, they were more concerned about whether the water they were drinking came from a tap or was the awful bottled water so dramatically bad for the environment to discuss what Albertans really cared about.

They also spent more time trying to arrange the timing on the lawn with their friends from the New Democrats rather than examining what Albertans wanted to talk about.

One member of the ALP figured out if he talked to Albertans about matters they wanted to discuss, they would engage. Once he figured this out, he also figured out The Alberta Liberal Party would never get to that point and decided to sit as an Independent.

Recently, the ALP dismissed their mouthpiece but unless substantial communication changes are made their future is bleak,

New Democrats (NDs)

When the NDs go on the lawn to protest, they scream so loud no one understands what they are saying.

They have a firm grip on the left, not interested in moving off that position and one can argue that of all the parties, they are true to their support base. They do not appeal to a significant number of Albertans to make a major change in their status.

Alberta Party (AP)

The Alberta Party is work in progress and it will be interesting to see what they become when they grow up.

At present, they are too new to cause any major disruption in Alberta politics more than the writings of the pundits lacking anything else to say. Frustrated Liberals have moved to the Alberta party leaving the ALP with a membership base of 2 or 3 thousand members. Since the Alberta Party membership seems to be only a few hundred, my sense is that Liberals are still looking for an alternative.

The AP has a long way to go and any person getting involved needs to have the time, energy and inclination to build a new party in Alberta, not an easy task.

Where are we headed and what will happen between now and March 2012, the expected timing for the next provincial election.

The Tories will struggle with who they are and what to do to maintain power. Their Achilles heel is healthcare. Fix it or fight the next election on healthcare. I am not convinced they can recover.

Wildrose will continue to attempt to moderate their party to appeal to the urban voters while not upsetting the rural support they have managed to capture, an interesting balancing act and the major show for the view of the political junkie in Alberta. The easiest way to achieve moderation is to bring Raj Sherman in Edmonton and Dave Taylor in Calgary into the Party.

Will they be successful? Time will tell!

The Alberta Liberal Party is on life support. The dumping of the Communication Director is a step in the right direction. The next major decision needs to be; change the Leader, either physically or otherwise so from the perspective of Alberta voters the leadership understands what it is that Albertans want to discuss. Personally, I am not holding my breath.

The New Democrats want to be called when all changes are complete, they are fine and no changes required from their side.

The Alberta Party needs to dramatically increase their efforts if they hope to make an impact on the Alberta Political scene. If they do hope to be a credible alternative they will have to plan for the next election, not the upcoming one. The caveat here is the Nenshi Campaign for Mayor in Calgary. Can the Alberta Party create the enthusiasm that was created for Nenshi and make a remarkable surge? And so it goes….

Now to Ken Chapman: Any direct comments from Ken’s piece will be highlighted.

Ken states the obvious up-front, this is a non-scientific sampling of 174 self-selecting anonymous people. I suspect even more so the respondents are Alberta Party supporters grasping at the notion that Raj may join them.

From here we see the next obvious step, attack your enemy as being the worst possible thing that could happen to Alberta and Albertans. Hence his comment, The Wildrose is a political force with a core of supporters. The Wildrose is a political force with a core of supporters. My sense is their protest support is as deep as a dime and there is a lingering mistrust that pervades them. They have a history and we are not sure what they really stand for anymore. We are cautious about what the strong social conservative element might do to Alberta, once in power.

He then goes on to add the following; Look at Bill 44 that targeted homosexuals and teachers as an example of social conservative influence on politics and policy. In this case this was a Bill coming from the very party that Ken belonged to for many years; however let’s try to make it appear that this was a Wildrose initiative.

Although there is little evidence to support this Wildrose position on healthcare Ken adds, despite protest to the contrary, no thoughtful observer of the Wildrose Alliance Party could conclude that they would not also privatize health care...once in power. They are not stupid. Ken, if in fact, you believe they are not stupid why you would suggest WAP would move to privatize healthcare if Albertans do not support the initiative is a tremendous leap?

Then he jumps to the conspiracy theory approach by suggesting that, they will campaign on a middle of the road policy platform but their behind-the-scenes brain trust is pure Stephen Harper.

Now we can discus Chapman’s wooing of Raj Sherman to the Alberta Party. Initially he defeats his own argument by stating that as for the NDP, you can't fix health care with influence alone, you need power. So to extend this thought Ken must believe that the Alberta Party will form the next Government, I suggest not. To continue to defeat his argument Ken makes the following comment, The Liberal Party is a definite option for Raj to consider. Ken, if power is what Raj needs why would he align himself with the ALP?

Now to his rationale for Raj joining the Alberta Power; The Alberta Party is new. In fact it is so new that it is just now forming constituency organizations all over the province, and is just starting its leadership process. He adds, by joining the Alberta Party he can shift public attention, trigger some imagination and bring a new meaning to political participation in our province. What he really suggesting is that Raj Sherman can spend all of his energies building a new party and forget about his initiatives in healthcare.

Then back to the comments about the Devil; The Ayn Rand inspired, Libertarian influenced Wildrose Alliance Party conjures some serious suspicions about their real political intentions and where they would take us if they had power. Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my or the ever popular paranoid argument that the sky is falling.

Finally Chapman suggests; So what is Raj Sherman going to do? My advice is stay independent for a bit and go out and talk to Albertans as a non-partisan. Great suggestion but how does he do this if folks like you publically make the case he is joining the Alberta Party, huh?

Now I get to make suggestions. Ken and I agree on initial timing, Raj Sherman and Dave Taylor should remain as Independents, co-operate on issues where they can and seen to be above the fray of nasty politics. However, as we get closer to the next election consideration needs to be made with respect to joining a political party. At this time it’s a matter of Let’s Make a Deal.

Will they stay as Independents, join the Alberta Party and continue in the oblivion of Alberta politics albeit feeling the warmth of waving at the windmill or will they succumb to the opportunity to make a difference within Government and join the Wildrose. Time will tell!

One Person’s Opinion

Happy New Year, and Remember Men...

2010-12-31T02:46:00.000-08:00

When Women Lie

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river.

When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?'

The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.

The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires...'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies. 'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble. 'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, 'Yes.'

The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water.

When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?'

'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!'

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. 'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked...

Yes,' cried the seamstress.

The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!'

The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

Remember Men whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it!

Signed,

All Us Women

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T02:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from countries I've visited or worked in, try to figure them out, Merry Christmas,

Donn

Maligayang Pasko

Joyeux Noël

Frohe Weihnachten

عيد ميلاد مجيد

Selamat Hari Natal

Marjinal

Feliz Navidad

圣诞节快乐

Veselé Vánoce

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

Mutlu Noeller

Senior Texting Codes

2010-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

Since more and more seniors are texting and tweeting there appears to be a need for a STC (Senior Texting Code).

If you qualify for Senior Discounts this is the code for you.

ATD: At The Doctor's

BFF: Best Friend Farted

BTW: Bring The Wheelchair

BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth

CBM: Covered By Medicare

CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center

DWI: Driving While Incontinent

FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers

FWIW: Forgot Where I Was

FYI: Found Your Insulin

GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!

GHA: Got Heartburn Again

HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement

IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?

LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out

LOL: Living On Lipitor

LWO: Lawrence Welk's On

OMMR: On My Massage Recliner

OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.

ROFL CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing.And Can't Get Up

SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop

TTYL: Talk To You Louder

WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?

WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again

WTP: Where's The Prunes?

WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil

LMGA: Lost My Glasses Again

GG, LKI (Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking In)

The History of Turkish Coffee

2010-12-06T04:51:00.000-08:00

There are countless theories as to the origin of Turkish coffee, that distinctive foamy coffee which is cooked slowly in its own special pot over a brazier then served in a tiny cup accompanied by a piece of Turkish delight or some other confectionery. According to some, coffee originated in the Ethiopian city of Kaffa. Others claim that coffee originated in Yemen where it was called "qahwaw" which means "strength" or "fitness" in Arabic.

There are also countless stories as to how it was discovered. The central figure of the most popular is a Yemeni shepherd named Kaldi whose goats began frolicking about excitedly after they had eaten some red berries from a tree. The shepherd was curious and related his story to the local wise men. These sages ate some of these berries as an experiment and discovered that they were able to stay awake easily throughout their all-night worship rituals. The wise men decided that this was truly a sacred medicine. They boiled it into a drink and also used it as a balm for sores. Coffee immediately became popular, particularly as alcohol was forbidden by Islamic teachings. Coffee beans shipped out of the Mocha harbor in Yemen, were also taking on an historic mission, and thus the world discovered the pleasures of drinking coffee.

Sjehab-eddin, a mufti (muhammedan priest) during a trip to Abessinia (now Ethiopia) in the middle of 1400 century, learned to know about the brew which made the need to sleep disappear. The brew had been used and been grown for ages in Abessinia and beyond in the land of Kaffa. Sjehab-Eddin saw that it was good and decided to take bushes back to his hometown Aden in the land known now as Yemen. He especially felt that the dervesch (muhammedan monks), could use the brew to easier manage their nightly meditations. There is also consensus that the first users of coffee were indeed the Sufis who used it as a stimulus to stay awake during late night Thikr "Zikir" (remembrance of God). Coffee spread to the rest of Muslims of Yemen and eventually to all the Muslim world through travellers, pilgrims and traders. It reached Makkah and Turkey sometime in the late 15th century and Cairo in the16th century.

This 'stimulating' effect caused influential religious leaders to forbid the drinking of coffee in 1511, because it had similarly damaging effects to alcohol. Within a very short time this led to the burning of all coffee stores and a ban on sales. But the actual reason for the ban was less the stimulating effect of coffee than the growing number of coffee houses, which were suspected of being the breeding ground for free political thinking. The spread of coffee was not to be stopped that easily, however. Mecca was the hub of many trading routes, so it was only a question of time until the beans also appeared in the big trading cities of Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo. The Yemeni port city of Al-Mukha, a flourishing Red Sea coast trading centre between the Middle East and India, became the main coffee shipping location. It is from here that the strong coffee of the Orient takes its name: mocha.

To make sure that they maintained their world monopoly on coffee, the Yemeni rulers prohibited the export of coffee plants. Only roasted or boiled coffee beans, which were no use for planting, could leave the country. Theft of the plants was heavily punished. This explains why, for a very long time, no country outside Yemen was able to cultivate coffee.

The Ottomans were first introduced to coffee when Ozdemir Pasha served the sultan Suleyman the Magnificent with coffee he had brought back from Yemen. In this same period, Ibrahim Bey of Pesevel reportedly said that "a man from Aleppo named Hakem and a woman from Damascus called Sems opened the first coffeehouse in Istanbul's Tahtakale."

Soon coffee drinking became popular and widespread throughout the nation. Although coffee itself originated in Ethiopia, because of the way the Turks both cooked and served it, it soon became known as " Turkish Coffee." In 1543, when the public began to frequent the coffeehouse more than the mosque, the Sheikh ul-Islam of the time issued a proclamation to the effect that "the juice of an object which is produced from something burned until it is coal-like is not religiously permissible." However, coffee maintained its popularity, despite the prohibitions, arrests, and even executions. Cultural events were common in Turkish coffeehouses, particularly the traditional Karagoz shadow puppets, troubadours, mimics and instrumentalists. The fame of coffee soon spread throughout Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and Southeastern Europe. The beans reached France by 1669 and then to Venice. Even though the Church proclaimed coffee to be the " work of the devil ," Italian-style coffee soon became highly popular.

From the site http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com

The Origin of the Tulip

2010-12-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Tulips

History

The Tulip was originally a wild flower, growing in Central Asia. It was first cultivated by the Turks as early as 1000 AD; the flower was introduced in Western Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century by Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna. In the 1590’s he became the director of the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical garden of Europe, in Leiden. He was hired by the University of Leiden to research medicinal plants and, while doing so, he received some bulbs from his friend, Ogier de Busbecq, the Ambassador to Constantinople (presently Istanbul). He had seen the beautiful flower called the tulip, after the Turkish word for turban, growing in the palace gardens and sent a few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. He planted them and this was the beginning of the amazing bulb fields we see today.

In the beginning of the 17th century, the tulip was starting to be used as a garden decoration in addition to its medicinal use. It soon gained major popularity as a trading product, especially in Holland. The interest in the flower was huge and bulbs sold for unbelievably high prices. Botanists began to hybridize the flower. They soon found ways of making the tulip even more decorative and tempting. Hybrids and mutations of the flower were seen as rarities and a sign of high status. In the months of late 1636 to early 1637, there was a complete "Tulipmania" in the Netherlands. Some varieties could cost more than an Amsterdam house at that time. Even ordinary men took part in the business. They saw how much money the upper class made in the commodity and thought it was an easy way of getting lots of money with no risk. The bulbs were usually sold by weight while they were still in the ground. This trade in un-sprouted flowers came to be called "wind trade".

The traders made huge amounts of money every month. People started selling their businesses, family homes, farm animals, furnishing and dowries to participate. The government could not do anything to stop "Tulipmania"; the trade was all about access and demand. Finally, the tulip did not appear to quite so rare as to justify such high prices. Over-supply led to lower prices and dealers went bankrupt while many people lost their savings because of the trade. This "Tulip Crash" made the government introduce special trading restrictions on the flower. It is said that the tulip became so popular because of its bright colours, dramatic flames and frilly petals. To have tulips in one's home was a way to impress and, when the wealth spread down the social ladder, so did the urge for tulips.

In the 20th century it was discovered that the frilly petals and dramatic flames that gave the flower its stunning look were, in fact, the symptoms of an infection by the mosaic virus. The healthy flower was supposed to be solid, smooth and monotone. The virus came to the tulip from a louse living on peaches and potatoes. Diseased varieties of tulips are no longer sold. What you find today are hybrids that look similar but are genetically stable.

Borrowed in detail from the website www.holland.nl/uk

What do Tulips Mean?

Beautiful and romantic, tulip blooms are right for any occasion! The reason being, tulips have enjoyed an important position in our history and culture. In the ancient times, tulips were worn inside a turban in Turkey. (Tulips belong originally to Persia and Turkey.) Once the popularity of tulips spread, it was associated with true love. This was also because of certain Turkish legends. Over the years, however, the meaning of tulips has changed with time. In terms of color, red symbolizes love where as yellow tulips symbolize happiness in one’s life. A purple tulip stands for royalty where as white tulips signify peace or forgiveness. When one takes a trip back into time, one can know many more interesting facts about tulips. Tulips have a center that is velvet in texture and almost black in color, and this is said to represent the heart of a lover that is fired with passion!

From the site http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-tulips-mean.html

Social Media; a Panacea for Election Victory?

2010-11-19T00:59:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reading some of the background from the so-called Calgary pundits on the rationale for the Nenshi victory in the 2010 campaign for the Mayor’s chair in Calgary. Most claim the Nenshi Campaign won using social media; Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc…

Once again the media declares that Calgary voters are not bright enough to select the right person unless they are manipulated into doing so.

Opposition Parties tried the “blame game” in the last Provincial election, blaming the voters for not voting other than Conservative or as the majority did, not vote at all.

I, for one do not believe the social media campaign played as major a role as some folks would have us believe. Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe the Nenshi campaign used social media far more effectively than the other major campaigns but to suggest it was the major reason for the victory does not compute with me.

What do I mean by this?

Well, from all or most of the media reports the Nenshi team won the campaign by methods best described as unconventional, innovative, forward-thinking and other descriptors that preclude the fact that voters simply reviewed the cast of characters, wanted to make sure they didn’t display the apathy from past elections, felt the need for a change at the Mayor’s position, got off their collective butts and voted.

Allow me a little preamble that will include some obvious facts.

First, the Higgins campaign came out of the gate fast and furious failed to deliver and fizzled at the end. There are reasons for this some of which were a result of my poor decision making and others that need to be discussed.

1. Barb Higgins came into the race albeit late (end of July) with huge trust numbers and fantastic name recognition, all great aspects for a municipal campaign usually decided on these very factors due mainly to poor voter turnout.

2. The candidate being a political novice had some difficulty delivering a political message. Some examples were the issue of the Southwest Ring Road debated at the Oakridge Community Centre forum and the matter of campaign donors. The media jumped all over these miscues early.

3. We played the forum game too early and too long and did not engage directly with the voter from the beginning. What I mean is we started attending all the small, usually single issue forums which attract a handful of undecided voters at best and wasted valuable time getting the message to the voter. The local media made the decision to attend the vast majority of these forums, reporting mostly on the absence of the various candidates, slamming those who did not attend and not giving adequate coverage on issues using many excuses for this decision. I consider this a very lazy way to report on campaigns, but hey I don’t direct the news. Global bought into the game by broadcasting the likes of the Brian Lee forum, even reporting it as Calgary’s first Mayor’s forum when there had already been a number of forums previous to this one. Since they were a de facto sponsor it was in their interest to declare this to be the first forum.

4. The Calgary media soon began to diminish any strength that Higgins had. The major municipal reporter from the Calgary Sun decided to play the candidate as a light weight, earnestly and continuously. The Herald reporters were not much better and one Calgary MLA was outright rude and abusive to her in a conversation with his colleagues that become public. I have to question the elephant in the room and wonder would they have done this to a male candidate.

5. We should have released policy earlier and in a more concise fashion.

Aside from the above, we should have and could have run a much better campaign. We had a great team, a terrific candidate and the financing to get the job done. Again, that rests with me. The bottom line, it was our campaign to lose and we did. Some will say 3^rd place isn’t the end of the world; remember there were only 3 candidates of significance at the end.

Second, the McIver campaign did what it was supposed to do. Ric, steady as she goes, received the support he was always meant to get. In true Conservative fashion in Calgary, keep your head down, march straight ahead and the voters will stay true to form and vote for the Conservatives.

What the McIver team, bolstered by Ted Morton’s people and Rob Ander’s folks failed to understand was that Calgary voters have not, in recent memory, elected the most Conservative candidate. In fact, they elected Liberals in the form of Ralph Klein, Al Duerr and Dave Bronconnier.

So there were no surprises here.

Now let’s get to what did happen.

The simple fact is this, the voters chose the candidate that they felt would best do the job, clear and simple and history supports this perspective; the candidate that resonated with them.

The David Peterson Ontario Provincial election in 1990 was a prime example of my hypothesis. Peterson called an ill-conceived election early in his mandate, less than 3 years in. He also was a key player in the support for the failed Meech Lake Accord which fell apart in June, 1990. The final insult to the voter was calling a summer election when the last thing Ontarians wanted to do was think about politics.

Initially reporters felt Peterson would return with a majority Government but the voters were thinking something else, to punish him for Meech Lake and the election call in the summer months.

Ontario voters looked at the three parties, Liberals, Conservatives and the NDP and surprising all, they gave the nod in overwhelming fashion to the NDP increasing their seat count by 55. The NDP Leader, Bob Rae looked like a deer in the headlights the night of the election. No one was more surprised than Rae that the NDP had won and with such a resounding result; much like Nenshi in Calgary.

In the aftermath of that election victory the NDP attributed the outcome to a negative; US style campaign they ran in that election. Of course this was not the reason for the victory, simply put, the voters trusted Bob Rae.

The negative, US style campaign was tried again in the ’92 by-election held in Calgary-Buffalo after the death of Sheldon Chumir. I managed the winning campaign for Gary Dickson. The NDP sent out their Ontario team to work with the ND candidate, Elaine Husband. The result of their negative campaign was 54% support for Dickson and 25% support for Husband on Election Day.

Next we move to 1993 federal campaign and the election of the Jean Chrétien Liberals. The Progressive Conservatives were coming off back to back significant majority Governments, 1884 & 1988. While there were cracks in the PC armor the outcome was not predicted.

I managed the ’93 election for Bob Blair in Calgary Centre and we had access to a daily tracking poll coming out of BC. This poll was days ahead of the national polls, even as much as a week. Unknown to most, the electorate moved en masse, leaving the PCs and moving to the new Reform Party. For a period of 6 days during that campaign the voters of Canada were electing a majority Reform Government.

Finally, they moved to the Liberals in numbers large enough to reward Chrétien with an increase of 97 seats and a majority Government. In the end the voters chose honesty, trust and integrity similar to the decision in the 1990 Ontario election.

Folks, this is what voters in Calgary did, choosing Nenshi because they perceived him to be honest and qualified for the job.

However, always looking for magic, I expect campaigns to place over-emphasized efforts on social media.

However, campaigns are about hard work and organization. The most important factor in any successful campaign is the ability to speak to and connect to voters on matters that the voters want to discuss.

When campaigns do not talk to Calgarians and Albertans about issues that they want to speak about we get, understandably so, voter apathy and low voter turnout.

So please no more discussion of the magic of the social media. Voters supported Nenshi across all of the political demographics, age, income, education, gender and ethnicity. Not all are heavily connected with social media. Social media is one tool in a campaign strategy, not a panacea for future elections. If we fall into this trap we will not put the work into a campaign that creates success.

One man’s opinion

Relations between Canada and the UAE Hit New Low

2010-11-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

The ongoing battle between Canada and the UAE has escalated to a stage that the UAE will require Canadians to apply for a visa effective Jan. 2011, see below;

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/uae-announces-new-visa-rules-for-canadians-361163.html

As a business person holding the magic Canadian passport I was always able to travel from Muscat, Oman to Dubai or Abu Dhabi either via air or land without the requirement of a visa. However, those niceties end in January with the imposition of a visa and a full layer of bureaucratic red tape.

It appears this all stems from a dispute over landing rights for Emirates Air and Ethiad, the two flag carriers for Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively.

We have already seen the Canadian military unceremoniously discharged form the base we occupied in the UAE effective this month.

A simplistic view suggests that Air Canada holds too much sway in Ottawa with respect to our Foreign Affairs decisions. For instance, they have frustrated the efforts of Turkish Airlines to extend landing rights in Montreal and Toronto.

One wonders what kind of a Lobby is exercised by Air Canada in Ottawa that silences the moderate voices of Peter McKay and Lawrence Cannon in favour of John Baird and the real Foreign Minister, Harper.

What do you believe will be the outcome of another dispute we have entered into in the Middle East, who will the USA support? What will be the negative impact on business growth in Canada since the UAE is our largest trading partner in the Middle East?

Weather Turning Cold Here

2010-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

The weather is turning cold here in anticipation of the coming winter months. Last night we experienced 26 degrees C, brrr!

Today we are meeting with a Sudanese delegation to discuss opportunities between our company, Oman Energy Services LLC and oil/gas projects in Sudan.

Interesting and ironic after having done PR work with Talisman prior to their departure from Sudan.

And so it goes.....

Abu Dhabi Muscat Return

2010-11-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Drove to Abu Dhabi November 2nd, returned this evening, the 3rd. Blew a tire on the Jaguar at +120, a little nerve racking. Outcome; no damage other than the front right tire and my nerves for a few minutes.

Had to arrange visas for some of my folks for a project in Kazakhstan for oil well stimulation at the state oil company, KazMunaiGas. We start the programme in a few days.

If anyone would care to make comment on the Alberta PC Party, I would welcome some input given their new polling numbers and a recent convention.

I'll await your comments.

Merci,

Donn

Snorkling in Oman

2010-10-27T01:59:00.001-07:00

32 degrees this morning, went for a swim, some snorkling and a long walk along the beach. They tell me the Reef sharks are in close to shore with young ones. Can anyone tell me if these sharks are dangerous.

Unethical, Immoral or Illegal - You Decide

2010-10-23T07:00:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when you're on your honeymoon one of your cheques bounce.

This blogger was advised by two of the recent campaigns, one Aldermanic and one Public School Trustee that one or more of the Mayor's campaigns interfered in their campaigns. I question the involvement on Legal, Moral or just plain Ethical grounds. You be the judge.

The first information comes from the Brian Pincott campaign. They claim that the Ric McIver campaign supported James Maxim for the Ward 11 seat and on the day of the election, the phone out from the McIver campaign encouraged their supporters to vote for Maxim. This comes from a very reliable source close to the Pincott campaign. Names and numbers available on request.

The second campaign impacted was the Laura Shutiak campaign for Public School Trustee in the Ward 8 & 9 race. A race that was very tight and decided by only a few hundred votes. She claims that the Naheed Nenshi campaign supported Pat Cochrane for the Ward 8 & 9 seat and on the day of the election, the phone out from the Nenshi campaign encouraged their supporters to vote for Cochrane. She tells me when she complained to Stephen Carter she was given a rude and explicit send-off.

So the question is; Should a Mayor's campaign interfere with Aldermanic and/or Trustee campaigns that run concurrently?

Please respond to the poll.

The Sunrise Was Purple and The Sky Did Not Fall

2010-10-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Two days after the election of Mr. Nenshi and the sky has not fallen as Kyle Fawcett would have us believe. We have attention from all over North America and more to come.

The honeymoon will last a while longer before the Mayor and Council gets down to the serious business of the deficit and other matters awaiting the fix.

This is not the time for negative feedback as displayed by Mr. Fawcett. Mr. Nenshi needs space to act within and time to get his sea legs this ole Haligonian believes.

Onwards and upwards.

A New Day, A New Era, A New Mayor

2010-10-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Calgary wakes up today, some of us very hungover, to a new face in the Mayor's chair in Calgary, Mr. Naheed Nenshi. It will take us a while to get to know him as reflected by the radio station that I was listening to when I awoke this morning. They kept reporting that he was a U of C professor. Mr. Nenshi in fact comes to us from MRU.

Joining him on Council are very few new faces as voters did not do what they promised and clean a little house at City Hall. They chose the old tried and true in most of the Wards. That was a surprise for me.

This person did not support Naheed during the race but as I always do I will support him as my Mayor and allow him the opportunity to get his hands on the tremendous difficulty of the current state of affairs at City Hall including the large deficit.

So bonne chance and give it your best.

Back Online October 19th, 2010

2010-10-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Watch for the new blog following the Municipal Election, October 18th, 2010. New banner, new attitude, clean underwear in case I have an accident (thanks Mom).

Dahab, Egypt

2010-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely in Dahab, June 21st, got settled @ the Red Sea Relax Resort, had a lovely meal and planned the days in Dahab.

Nora decided to complete her PADI Open Water Course under the tutelage of Kate. This was a full time event and was successfully completed on June 25th.

Kate was a terrific instructor; patient, obviously well trained and fastidious in her approach. I encourage all to visit Dahab and book some diving time with Kate. Interested contact me and I will provide contacts.

Dahab was + 40 degrees and I was able to find cool places to enhance the economy, bar wise. I got totally immersed in the World Cup. More importantly, a time to unwind for all of us.

We left Dahab June 26th, back to London for a couple of days prior to departing for Toronto, June 29th.

The Red Sea at night from the terraces of Dahab is quite beautiful and completely serene.

A Break, London, UK & Dahab, Egypt

2010-06-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Finally had a chance to get a break. June 11th, flew to the UK from Oman to meet Nora coming from Canada.

Had a fitting for the Ascot Morning Suit, rented a car and drove to Bath for 3 glorious days of R & R. This included a brilliant tour of Bath given by an older gentleman who obviously loved the City. Then a comedy tour, Bizarre Bath, a 2 hour comedy trip around the streets of Bath, highly recommend this. A leisurely stroll along the canals of Bath and a not so leisurely stroll through the woods surrounding Bath followed when I got lost.

We then drove to the Cotswolds, where we found a lovely B & B in Stow on the Wold. The days in the Cotswolds were spent walking about the countryside and eating in our favourite pub, the Queen's Head in Stow. Shanda managed to find her Ascot attire in Stow,

June 14th I managed a train from the nearby village of Kingham to London for a visit with Chris Fox, the Executive Officer for the Liberal Democrats. We had an hour together to discuss politics and anyone who knows me, knows I had a great time. This was arranged by a mutual friend in Muscat, John Passmore.

June 16th we departed The Cotswolds and drove to London to prepare for Ascot. Ascot was June 17th, Ladies Day and the Gold Cup race, attended by Her Majesty. Ascot was arranged by my good friend, Arthur Millholland, who has Box #215.

We bet all 6 races that day and Shanda managed to pick the winner of the 2nd race to everyone's delight. A great time was had by all.

June 18th was the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush to see Like a Fishbone, "A remote valley. An unspeakable crime. A prominent architect is commissioned to design a memorial to the victims." Enjoyed it immensely.

June 19th lunch with Art Millholland at the Grenadier's Pub, Tucked away down exclusive Wilton Mews, on the corner of Old Barrack Yard, the patriotic Grenadier is painted red, white and blue. A bright red sentry box tells you, if you hadn't guessed, this is a pub with a military history. The Duke of Wellington's Grenadier Guards used it as their mess. Inside it is small, dark and cosy; the ceiling coffee black, the walls dark panelled. The bar counter has an original pewter top, maybe the oldest of its kind.

June 20th was Ramy's birthday, spent in beautiful Holland Park, Holland Park is about 22 hectares (54.36 acres) in area and is considered one of the most romantic and peaceful parks of central London. The northern half or so of the park is semi-wild woodland, the central section around the ruins of Holland House is more formal with several garden areas, and the southernmost section is used for sport.

June 21st off to Dahab and 5 days with Kate, our dive instructor daughter. Dahab, Nestled beneath the shattered mountains of South Sinai, on golden sands and above warm, marine rich seas, Dahab, Egypt is famous for its chilled out atmosphere, fantastic all year season, its breathtaking scenery and some of the best scuba diving sites on earth.

Kate and Nora will dive and I will make sure the financial integrity of the local bars is secure. A dirty job but it always falls to someone.

Federal Politics - Conservatives Take 6 Point Lead

2010-06-08T01:11:00.000-07:00

Thank heaven it is the beginning of the summer doldrums or we may have to take the polling data more serious.

However, with all of the negative news for the Harper Conservatives it appears that the Ignatieff Liberals cannot take advantage.

See the Poll

http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-W10-T424E.pdf

Oman Hit Hard

2010-06-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

While I was in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, a cyclone pumelled Oman, see the link.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20100606T130905ZBJA66/Cyclone%20Phet%20kills%2016%20in%20Oman%3A%20civil%20defence

I'm Back!

2010-05-28T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hello from Oman,

Wickedly busy here. Contracts being signed we have negotiated for months.

Today I am in Baku, Azerbaijan to meet with the State Oil Company, SOCAR and Saturday off to Almaty, Kazakhstan to meet with their State Oil Company.

All good news.

I return to Oman June 5th, then off to London, UK, June 10th.

Meet Nora in London returning to Canada June 29th, stopping at the family cottage north of Toronto and in Calgary July 10th, Whew!

In London I will meet with Chris Fox, June 14th at #4 Cowley Street, London. Chris is the Chief Executive for the Liberal Democrats. I have one hour with him thanks to a mutual friend, John Passmore.

June 17th it's tails and a top hat and the Gold Cup at Ascot, 2 boxes from HM the Queen. The Chief of Staff for the new PM, Cameron will be with us. Thanks to Art Millholland.

You can kiss my political ring when I return.

Anything you want me to say to these guys?

At the Post

2010-05-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the Blog for a few weeks. Mainly because I'm seeking a new technology for the extraction of heavy oil and I was assisting Dave Taylor with his move to Independent MLA status.

The Blog will rise again in one or two days, stay tuned and thanks for the patience,

Donn

2010-04-12T13:25:00.001-07:00

Let the Games Begin!

The Hehr for Mayor Campaign leads in Voting

2010-04-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hehr for Mayor attracted the largest number of total votes and garnered the highest number of Yes votes (62%) of all of the candidates examined on this Blog.

Any comments from the public?

One more day to vote for 'Hehr for Mayor'

2010-04-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

Of the many names polled as potential candidates for Mayor of Calgary Kent Hehr has received the highest yes vote at 65% and attracted the most votes in total.

One more day to vote in the poll.

Slow is the new fast

2010-04-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

Join us for an unusual look at the world of cars, people and bicycles. Traffic is a constant source of irritation for Calgarians and regularly ranks as one of the topics of chief concern in the community. This is for good reason - we drive a lot and incidents on the road are responsible for lost lives, trauma and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

What if the answer to improving this situation was actually to slow things down? What if there was less congestion and faster travel times? What if taking away traffic signals and signs made driving, walking and cycling safer? Perhaps messing with the minds of drivers and pedestrians might actually help?

Safer Calgary wants you to help investigate these questions. Dutch traffic expert Paul van de Coevering will be in Calgary to engage in an interactive workshop that tackles Calgary’s traffic issues with imagination and clear thinking.

http://slowisfast.eventbrite.com

Hehr for Mayor

2010-03-30T15:11:00.001-07:00

Get your votes in for the recent poll asking for your opinion on Kent Hehr for Mayor of Calgary.

Is there going to be a Swann Dive?

2010-03-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

The crowd at the Wharf is waiting and it’s a tad surly right now.

Insiders tell this person that the Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party was given a 30 day ultimatum to walk a short plank or be thrown over the side of the good ship ALP. It’s taking on huge volumes of water and listing to one side (guess which side). The good doctor was also told he would be allowed to make this needed exit with grace, dignity and support.

Apparently, the news was delivered in person by Tony ‘I make house calls but I’m no MD’ Sansotta, current Party president. I am told the message was supported by a majority of the Party executive. The Leader apparently considered it, vacillated, and then decided to reject the plan. Allegedly, a second plan was put to him with slight variations but with the same bottom line. Again, with a half-hearted digging in of the heels this was followed by an awkward and eerie silence.

Sooooooooooo, what was the outcome?

Has the Leader told the Party to 'go forth and multiply?

Has the plan been exaggerated by the delivery man who often bends the spectrum of truth to suit his own needs?

Are my Deep Throats gagging on the information provided?

Gather in small groups and discuss.

Can anyone confirm the suspicious information?

Do you believe it's time to change the Leadership of the Alberta Liberal Party to re-look at strategies in a last ditch attempt to ensure success at the polls in the next provincial election?

Is it too late for any of this because the Party boat is already below the waves and about to hit the bottom of the political ocean?

Will the May convention be the beginning of the Alberta Liberal Party’s watery send-off to Davey Jones Locker?

After your discussion please forward your group’s views to this blogger (the First Mate manning the lifeboat…but please hurry…it’s getting really crowded on board).

Is Calgary A Dark City?

2010-03-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Which Calgary is Your Calgary?

I have always thought of Calgary as a moderate thinking city a little right of centre on the political spectrum but one that embraced Peter Lougheed and his so-called 'Red Tories", followed by the Klein era and again a time I considered in a similar vein. Perhaps I was deluded into ignoring the neo-conservative, social conservative, racist overtones that have surfaced with the likes of the standing ovation offered to Ann Coulter at the Red and White Club this past week.

Grant it, this was a manipulated event by the ever infamous Ezra Lavant, who spun the hell out of the University of Ottawa's refusal to allow the person that Fox News felt was too right wing for their tastes to speak at their University.

I want your opinions please;

Are we a City that is represented by the recent spate of speakers like George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice and now Ann Coulter?

Alberta Liberal Party Still Taking Happy Pills

2010-03-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

I have been in the Sultanate of Oman since early February, watching Alberta politics from afar. Even from this great distance across the oceans it is still painfully obvious that the Alberta Liberal Party continues to delude itself into a false belief that there is a relevance to their current incarnation.

My perspective is reinforced by the voters in the Province who have strongly expressed their opinions about the future of Alberta politics.

The polls have the Alberta Liberal Party mired in 3rd place at 23% according to the local conservative pollster, Environics, placing them out of shouting range of the Tories and the Wildrose.

They are a distant memory in Calgary at 22% and barely hanging on at 28% in Edmonton. In rural Alberta the Liberals are a no-show.

In the disaster of the 2008 general election the Alberta Liberal Party gained the support of 26.4% of Albertans and in the recent Calgary-Glenmore by-election they received 34% of the vote.

The Party should be building on that momentum. Instead, they are heading in the opposite direction despite the obvious opportunities.

The response from the Party can best be described as immature and out of touch with reality. This scribe read in a recent Herald article that the Party leader is attacking rural Alberta for getting extra seats assigned by the new boundaries commission. Wouldn’t it be a better strategy to try and encourage support from those folks since the Party does so poorly outside of the urban centres?

Effective political leaders usually look to gather votes, not drive them away!

I also read that Rob Anderson has offered to resign his newly minted Wildrose seat in Airdrie-Chestermere. This represents another great opportunity and the Party should rise to that challenge. However, again they are letting it slip away as the Party fads in popularity.

They should be searching for a suitable candidate to contest this seat? This is a battleground the Party needs to show well in since it is a rural/urban constituency. So rather than screaming at the poor folks in rural Alberta and treating them like an enemy they should choose a candidate who potentially represents them and get on with the business of garnering support.

To its credit the Party did return to the mainstream values of Alberta voters with the Energy Policy release early this year. At that time this person suggested that they should have been followed that with effective policy positions on health care, education and agriculture.

So far the response has been deafening silence. If they had acted then perhaps we would not see the Party so far behind at this critical stage.

Meanwhile we have the curmudgeon-elf from the Herald fancifully floating the extreme possibility of a Liberal Government in a recent column. He must be drinking the same Kool Aid being passed around by the communication folks surrounding the Liberal leader who have convinced those few hunkered down in the ‘red bunker’ they can come up the middle in the next election.

What if 3rd place in the current polls turns out to be 3rd place in the next election???

The Alberta Liberal Party would then self destruct, going from the official opposition to a non-factor, both in the Legislature and more importantly in the consciousness of Alberta voters.

The reality is they will finish a distant third unless drastic changes are implemented STARTING AT THE TOP!

One Person's Opinion

The Polls Have CLosed

2010-03-19T03:17:00.000-07:00

When we asked the voter this question;

Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Your response was;

Gary Bobrovitz
Yes 25%
No 54%
Don't Care 17%
Don't Know This Person 4%

Darryl Raymaker
Yes 35%
No 43%
Don't Care 11%
Don't Know This Person 11%

Dave Taylor
Yes 50%
No 39%
Don't Care 0%
Don't Know This Person 11%

Analysis:

Of the 3 Gary Bobrovitz had the least number of persons reporting 'Don't Know This Person'. Dave Taylor had a 0% response to the issue of 'Don't 'Care'. All had good name recognition. Dave Taylor polled the highest positive numbers for support.

Finally, Bobrovitz did not garner more votes than the other 2 and therefore is deemed to have lost the wager on the supply of booze to the Blogger.

Initial Informal Poll Results for Mayor of Calgary #2

2010-03-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

When asked the following question, you responded;
Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Gary Bobrovitz
Yes 26%
No 52%
Don’t Care 18%
Don’t Know This Person 4%

Darryl Raymaker
Yes 35%
No 44%
Don’t Care 12%
Don’t Know This Person 9%

Dave Taylor
Yes 52%
No 37%
Don’t Care 0%
Don’t Know This Person 11%

Small sample size, but getting larger.
The margin of error for this size sample is directly proportional to
the percentage of people who believe Elvis is still alive (He is, isn't he?).

Vote for the Person to be Mayor of Calgary

2010-03-13T01:31:00.001-08:00

So far we have run the following names and published the results;
Brett Wilson
John Mar
Joe Connelly

Now we have;
Darryl Raymaker
Dave Taylor
Gary Bobrovitz

However, we have a twist or should I say twisted element. Bobrovitz has bet the author an alcoholic beverage that he will garner more votes than either Raymaker or Taylor. So, just for the record you are also being polled to see if you want me to win an alcoholic beverage of my choice.

Vote early and vote often!

Informal Poll Results for Mayor of Calgary

2010-03-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

When asked the following question, you responded;

Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Brett Wilson
Yes 28%
No 72%

John Mar
Yes 14%
No 86%

Joe Connelly
Yes 14%
No 72%
Don’t Care 14%

Small sample size.
The margin of error for this size sample is directly proportional to
the intersection of Venus and Saturn in the fall of the year.

News From 'The Gulf"

2010-03-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister and Head of Trade Promotion Organization, Babak Afghahi during his visit to Kuwait on Tuesday said that the two countries should take advantage of all economic and commercial capacities to boost bilateral trade.

"Iran is ready to raise its goods and services exports to Kuwait," Afghahi said while visiting Kuwait's Jomeiah Cooperative Chain Store. Heading a delegation, Afghahi left for Kuwait to attend the 9th meeting of Iran-Kuwait Joint Commercial Committee planned for March 8-10.

He said that during his meetings with Kuwaiti officials the two sides agreed on expansion of ties in various fields including foodstuffs, agriculture, nanotechnology, medicine, free trade, technical and engineering services, energy, etc.

Referring to the $300 million annual trade between Iran and Kuwait, he said that the figure should rise in the near future.

He also announced readiness to export nuclear technology to the Arab country.

Iran will start gas exports to Bahrain and Oman in the near future, an Iranian oil official said.

Tehran feels confident that negotiations with Bahrain and Oman have developed to the point that Iran can start gas exports soon, Hojatollah Ghanimifard said.

"Considering the results of the meetings and negotiations with Bahraini and Omani officials, I believe that in case the demanding sides announce the final and definite views, Iran will be ready to export gas to the two aforementioned countries," he added.

Oman is in need of natural gas and liquefied natural gas to feed its energy-hungry industries. Natural gas from Iran is slated for delivery to markets in Oman through a 124-mile pipeline along the floor of the Persian Gulf planned for 2012.

Rumours in Ottawa

2010-03-08T06:54:00.001-08:00

Can anyone confirm the following rumour?

I heard this weekend . . . .confirmed by an Ottawa insider, that Stephen Harper and his wife have split.

Apparently, she is dating an RCMP officer and living in a Hotel in Ottawa.

The rumour has been around for some time now.

Don't want to see any family split up but the tension on a sitting Prime Minister must be tremendous if in fact the rumour is true.

Should we even be discussing such rumours in a Blog?

Comments please.

What Do Canadians Have To Be Proud Of?

2010-03-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

1. Smarties
2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp
3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down, and bigger balls.
4. Baseball is Canadian - First game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll, ON
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Apple pie is Canadian
9. Mr. Dress-up
10. Tim Horton’s
11. In the war of 1812, started by America, Canadians pushed the Americans back past their White House. Then we burned it and most of Washington. We got bored because they ran away. Then, we came home and partied........ Go figure.
12. We have the largest population that never ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER. (We got clobbered in the odd battle, but prevailed in ALL the wars).
13. Our civil war was fought in a bar and lasted a little over an hour
14. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary. He slept in and missed the whole thing. He showed up just in time to get caught.
15. A Canadian invented Standard Time.
16. The Hudson’s Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earth's surface and is still around as the world's oldest company.
17. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in less than 3 minutes. (That's more information than I need!)
18. We know what to do with the parts of a buffalo.
19. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, the paint roller, roller skates, duct tape, the jolly-jumper, air conditioned vehicles, the Zamboni, the barcode, the Blackberry and the telephone. Also short wave radios that save countless lives each year.
20. The light bulb was actually invented by a Canadian (Henry Woodward patented it in 1874). The patent was bought by some obscure American named Edison who improved upon the design and took credit for inventing it.
21. We ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.
22. A Canadian invented Superman.
23. We have coloured money.
24. Our beer advertisements kick ass, incidentally...so does our beer and the handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands with mitts on.

OOoohhhhh.... Canada!!

Oh yeah... And our elections only take one day.

Who is the Next Mayor of Calgary?

2010-03-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

We will begin to speculate on the outcome of the Mayor's race over the next few blogs.

To begin with I need you to tell me who you believe will run for Mayor.

Please provide a name and a rationale for why that person should be or will be Mayor.

We will then start the process of gambling on the outcome of the election for the new Mayor of Calgary.

Please send as many persons as you wish.

Thank You Note From The United States

2010-03-02T22:30:00.001-08:00

from the NBC Olympic anchorman:

Leaving behind a thank-you note

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Dave Bronconnier - Thrice Mayor of Calgary

2010-03-01T22:39:00.001-08:00

With apologies to ‘Dick Whittington and His Cat’

Dave Bronconnier – Thrice Mayor of Calgary

Bronconnier was born on October 7, 1962. A third generation Calgarian (his great grandmother was born in Calgary in 1895), he grew up in the southwest community of Glenbrook and attended Viscount Bennett High School. Bronconnier enrolled at the University of Calgary but left after a short while to pursue work opportunities.

He worked for the City of Calgary Electric System and for Alberta Government Telephones and then in 1983 started a small construction company. In 1987, Bronconnier and his business partner founded First General Services. The company specializes exclusively in insurance restoration and fire damage repairs and now employs 15 people. He is married to Cindy Bronconnier, with whom he has four children.

Political career

Bronconnier served on Calgary's city council as the Alderman for Ward 6 for nine years. He was first elected in 1992 and then served 3 terms before deciding to run for mayor.

In 1997, Bronconnier ran in the federal election as the Liberal candidate for Calgary West. Bronconnier was defeated in a landslide in this election by Reform Party candidate Rob Anders.

Long serving and very popular mayor Al Duerr was retiring leaving the position open. Bronconnier narrowly defeated Bev Longstaff, Duerr's protege, winning the mayoralty race of 2001. He became Calgary's 35th mayor.

Bronconnier was re-elected in 2004 with nearly 80% of the votes. Only 18% of the population voted, making it the lowest voter turnout for a Calgary municipal election in Western Canada.

He campaigned for re-election in the 2007 Calgary municipal election and was re-elected with 61% of the votes.

On February 23, 2010, Bronconnier announced he will not seek reelection in the 2010 October Election.

Yeah Canada

2010-02-28T22:19:00.000-08:00

Pictures

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_print.html?id=2624981&tab=PHOT&sponsor=

Stolen From the Boston Globe - February 28th, 2010

2010-02-28T03:39:00.000-08:00

Because it sums up what I think about the issue and remember theft (oops, imitation) is the sincerest form of flattery.

Celebration of equality
A good time to cross party lines

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff | February 28, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - What, they play a game that not long ago was exclusively a man’s game, and now the women can’t party like the opposite sex? Call me a flaming feminist - please, just once, to make me fell all PC-like - but I have no problem with Team Canada’s women going totally man-cave here Thursday night after beating the United States for the Olympic hockey gold medal.

For those who missed it, most of the proud Canadians returned to the ice about a half-hour after the medal ceremony, and they soaked up the moment, literally, chugging bottles of champagne and cans of beer. A good number of them even went Total Papelbon and smoked cigars, though they had the decency to keep their pants on, thank goodness.

Boy, could the International Olympic Committee use a pint of the Dropkick Murphys.

Livers and lungs be damned, Team Canada’s women had themselves a great impromptu party, then were forced to issue a formal apology the next day after the IOC got its collective starched shorts in a bunch over the blatant display of unbridled masculinity. Actually, the IOC didn’t say anything about gender. It just didn’t like the look of, you know, Canadian Girls Gone Wild, what with all the pictures posted on the Internet that showed them holding cans of Molson Canadian and Coors Light and giving those cigars some serious chomp.

Now, I could get really sardonic here and suggest that the IOC’s chief beef was that Molson and Coors aren’t among the official $1 billion sponsors of the Games. But I’ll stick to the comment by Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s director of the Olympic Games, who said, “It is not what we want to see. I don’t think it is a good promotion of sports values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened.’’

In other words, uh, ladies, this is the Olympics and not a sorority kegger.

Investigate? Please, spare us the “Casablanca’’-like roundup of “the usual suspects.’’ We know what happened. They won a gold medal, in front of a screaming full house at Canada Hockey Place, and they broke out the booze and had a ball. Then they had to apologize.

Because . . . why?

We’ve watched guys make alcohol- and tobacco-centered celebrations an art form, especially in recent years. Major league clubhouses mask players’ cubicles with thick sheets of plastic on potential party nights. The players come equipped with goggles for these not-so-spontaneous occasions.

Maybe it’s all a little too much, even juvenile, but no one is asking the guys to dial it down, hide it from the public, take it to the back room. They love doing it. Fans drink it up. Granted, watching all that champagne go to waste puts a little sting in my eye, not to mention a bump in the French economy, but c’est la vie.

All of us, including the goody-two-snowshoes who own the Five Rings, should have moved beyond this stuff long ago. Brandi Chastain, bless her sports bra, broke down this wall in 1999, when she yanked off her USA shirt in sheer glee when her goal, on a fifth penalty kick, won the Women’s World Cup of soccer.

When we all got over the shock and horror that Chastain had a chest, she explained, “I wasn’t thinking about anything. I thought, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life on the soccer field.’ ’’ Something scores upon scores of male soccer players had done for decades. In context, it made perfect sense, and only the most puritanical among us weren’t able to understand her mind-set.

The Canadian women (can we call them the Lady Lager Louts?) were in precisely the same place after their emotional win over the Yanks. It was their third gold medal.

They did it with much of their country watching on TV and in front of a crazed full house that included the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Michael J. Fox, and Donald Sutherland. Heady stuff. I was a little surprised, frankly, that none of them scaled the boards and glass and jumped into the crowd for hugs and kisses.

Much to their credit - easy to forget in the hullabaloo - Team Canada’s women won with dignity and grace and style. They did and said all the right things right through the ceremony when they were handed their gold medals and broccoli bouquets.

When the building was nearly empty, save for the cleanup crew, volunteer staff, and lingering writers and photographers, they returned to the ice and savored the moment the way the boys do. They drank. They puffed. They horsed around on the Zamboni. They stretched out on the ice, backs flat on the Olympic logo between the blue lines, and stared up at the arena roof as if peering into hockey heaven and they were the reflection of the stars.

If you get a chance, please, find the pictures online. If they offend your senses, then it might be time for you to send a résumé to the IOC, or maybe stop reading the sports pages.

Meanwhile, cheers to the world’s best female hockey players. Drink up, ladies, and smoke ’em if you got ’em. You’re the very best at playing a game that for decades was for men only. You’re every bit their equal and even better partiers.

Kevin Paul Dupont’s “On Second Thought’’ appears on Page 2 of the Sunday Globe Sports section. He can be reached at dupont@globe.com.

A Canada/US Perspective - Update

2010-02-27T19:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks, the following now appears on the link to youtube;

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by NBC Universal (Sports).

Canada's Gold Medal Women's Hockey Team

2010-02-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

Celebrate the victory, savour your time and to hell with the critics!

You made me proud!

A Canada/US Perspective

2010-02-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a Canada/US perspective you won’t see every day.

Enjoy!

For years we have complained that the majority of Americans don't know nearly enough about Canada. While I suspect this will still be true after the Olympic games, this piece (see link below) by Tom Brokaw on NBC puts our relationship in perspective.

The images are beautiful, the writing is outstanding and the feeling you are left with is uplifting.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYoTJItSPt0

Interesting Comments on Democracy

2010-02-25T01:01:00.000-08:00

A citizen of America (Alberta) will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national (provincial) election.
Bill Vaughan

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
George Bernard Shaw

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
Gore Vidal

A Message For A Few Party Leaders

2010-02-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a quote that Oliver Cromwell used when he dissolved the rump parliament in 1653.

Leo Amery directed it at Chamberlain in 1940 after the German invasion of France.

"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

Christopher Columbus Was The First Socialist

2010-02-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t know where he was… and he did it all at taxpayers expense.

2010-02-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

Voltaire:

So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.

Kent Hehr Challenges the Government to Live Up to Promises

2010-02-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

In 2004 this government announced it would be building the Alberta police college in Fort Macleod. At that time the government indicated that it was necessary to build this complex in order to ensure that a well-trained police force was present in Alberta. To date the project has not been built. I assume there must be a reason for this.

Kent Hehr, Official Opposition Critic for Justice

See the following excerpt from Hansard.

Peace and Police Officer Training Centre

Mr. Hehr:
My question is to the Solicitor General. Does the government still believe that the building of an Alberta police college is necessary to improve the delivery of law enforcement services in this province, or can we get by with the status quo?

Mr. Oberle:
Thank you for the question. As the member correctly points out, we have not built the college in Fort Macleod. We’re reviewing the financial situation at the moment. As members opposite have pointed out, we are in fiscal difficulties right now. I’m reviewing the situation and will report back to this House when I’m ready.

Mr. Hehr:
Well, it sounds like we still sort of need a site; we’re just not sure when. That’s, I guess, fair. Is Fort Macleod, then, still the preferred site for this training centre?

Mr. Oberle:
Well, the member just made a bunch of assumptions that I never gave him in the first question, so I can’t really address it. I didn’t say that we absolutely needed it, nor did I say that we’re looking at Fort Macleod or any other centre. I said that I would report back to this House when I’m ready to do so.

Mr. Hehr:
Well, let me back up the bus. In 2004 I thought we were clear: you guys announced you were building a training centre. Is that on or off the table? Can you confirm to this community whether you are going to be building it and quit jerking around, then?

Mr. Oberle:
Might I refer the hon. member to answer 1(a).

Alberta Hansard, February 9, 2010

Could this be the beginning of the false promises, talk tough on crime and then do not deliver the services needed. Photo Ops with the Premier announcing more cops, but not providing the training centre needed to prepare them.

Back in Oman

2010-02-12T02:23:00.000-08:00

Arrived in Oman late Thursday evening, February 11th.

We came through Frankfurt and a storm that closed a load of airports in the Netherlands and Russia. We were delayed 2 hours on our departure to Oman and had to de-ice the wings. The take-off was a little scary as the plane swerved on the runway during acceleration for the take-off.

Landed in Oman to 20 degree temp. at midnight, daytime temp. 25 degrees and bright blue sky.

I am able to pick up all the local media in Alberta so will stay in touch with politics in the Province. I just heard the sound of Neil and Tony saying "oh goood"!

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

2010-02-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Those of us properly educated by the Jesuits will understand the title.

I am of course including the scribe from my alma mater in Winnipeg, St. Paul’s College, the eminent Rick Bell.

It was Rick who got it right about the budget in his February 7th column, ‘Budget fear called scare tactics’

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/rick_bell/2010/02/06/12774941.html

So now he deserves the right to gloat in today's column, ‘Tories pick from the magic money tree’.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/rick_bell/2010/02/09/12812701.html

However, let's not forgot some ultimate truths;
1. There is only one source of revenue in Alberta and that's the people of Alberta and all of the jiggery-pokery around the spending is buying us back with our money.
2. This Government has a revenue problem, created when they re-jigged the progressive tax structure and introduced a flat tax regime. That gave us a revenue short-fall of 5.6 billion dollars in revenue since it's introduction (supported by economists such as Greg Flanagan).
3. The majority of Albertans exist in the political centre and the Tories seem to have woken up to that fact. I have been stressing since October of last year for the opposition Liberals to find and play in the centre, it may be too late for them.
4. The Tories, with this budget, are saying to Danielle Smith, "bring it on".
5. Finally, I owe Joseph Lougheed a beer, his choice where and when.

Let the political games begin.

PS: Where's Guy Boutilier, did my sources let me down on this one? I think perhaps he's having to wait now that the budget confused everyone in Alberta.

PPS: I leave for Oman in the Gulf Region of the Middle East today, returning at the end of March. Next Blog from there!

Budget Day in Alberta

2010-02-09T03:22:00.000-08:00

With apologies to the Groundhog,

"If Ted Morton remains the Finance Minister will we have 6 more years of financial mismanagement."

Today is budget day and as predicted by this Blogger it's cut, slash and burn day in Alberta.

This Government cannot manage our finances so we need to suffer, almost religious in nature wouldn't you say?

There are alternatives, for instance a scenario brought forth by Greg Flanagan, the eminent Alberta economist in the Edmonton Journal article , 'Revenue the real problem
Now's the time to dip into 'rainy-day' fund, avoid raising taxes', offers a solution, see the link below.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/story_print.html?id=2516693&sponsor=

Others have offered solutions such as Dr. Avalon Roberts' initiative for a 'value for money audit' prior to any reduction of front line services, but I'm afraid it's all about cuts for this Minister and this Government.

Ted Morton sees Health Care, Education and Social Services as expense items on a balance sheet rather than investment in people. So when 2 + 2 needs to = 4 rather than look into the future for solutions they will revert to the past and fall back on 'the Klein Revolution' or as it was called 'the New Zealand Experiment". Incidentally, New Zealand considered the experiment a colossal failure.

And so it goes.....

PS: Budget Day is also Crossing Day for Guy Boutilier. Watch for Danielle Smith, the Wildrose Crossing Guard in action today.

CBC The House Discusses Alberta Politics

2010-02-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

A challenge to all the young Libs who called me this week to comment on positions I've taken in the past few months.

This is worth listening to;

CBC The House Goes to Alberta

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/thehouse_20100206_27104.mp3

Is the CBC wrong?

Am I wrong?

I welcome your comments.

The Liberals Have Their Chance to Make it Right (sorry Centre)

2010-02-03T06:10:00.001-08:00

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
Courtesy of the Dixie Chicks

I've been asked to give the Liberals a chance and here it is;

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_print.html?id=2516474&sponsor=

However, as expressed in the Braid article, they need to get it correct this time. They need to talk to Albertans about issues Albertans want to talk about.

It can be done on Energy as we've seen recently with the Taylor release on a new direction for the Party. This was signed off by the Caucus.

Now we need to produce similar documents on Health Care, Education and Agriculture if we are to become relevant to ALbertans.

WE WILL SEE!

Stelmach Gets a Message from the Energy Sector

2010-01-31T08:10:00.000-08:00

In recent meetings with folks from the energy sector, Stelmach gets a clear message on royalties;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvx_1f2kgmw&feature=related

Will he respond when he announces the Competitive Review?

Wildrose May Try to Disrupt Budget Day!

2010-01-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Rumour has it that Guy Boutilier, the Independent MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, will announce his intention to sit with the Wildrose on Budget Day, February 9th, in an attempt to disrupt the Government media agenda.

Since my experience with the Leader of the Wildrose Danielle Smith is "it's all about me", it stands to reason she will try to steal the light form the Government on Budget Day as she has been out of the media too long for her liking.

The stream of mediocre announcements will continue until the people of Alberta get bored with the Wildrose being silent on issues and all about flash, or should I say their idea of flash.

Stelmach Government Mean Spirited

2010-01-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

As Kent Hehr and Dave Taylor, both MLAs from The Alberta Liberal Party pointed out today;

The Stelmach Government is cutting funding to Albertans with developmental disabilities in a callous move to balance the budget on the backs of the disadvantaged in our Province.

More than 11 million dollars is being chopped from assistance given to people suffering from conditions such as autism, Down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Instead of changing his Cabinet, in a weak attempt to win the next election, Premier Ed Stelmach should have changed his Government’s attitude and reached out to those disabled Albertans who need a hand up not a hand out.

That would have demonstrated compassion and real leadership.

The cuts implemented by the Stelmach Government are mean spirited. Albertans use this funding for daily needs and a quality of life the rest of us take for granted.

This Government sees health care, education and social services as expense items on a balance sheet rather than investments in Albertans.

If this Government had not mismanaged our economy there would be plenty of funding for all Albertans living in the richest jurisdiction in North America.

This Government should ensure that persons involved in the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program receive the funding necessary for quality services and the quality of life they have a right to.

These cuts will harm the quality of life of Albertans like Kimberly Evanosko, Sarah Mah and Corey Prevost.

Kimberly is 25 and suffers from tuberous sclerosis and Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), which together have resulted in various medical issues and intellectual disabilities.

Kimberly receives residential support and although she can work she requires extra support in the work place. The organizations which assist her had their funding cut, and have been notified to expect further cuts in the upcoming budget.

Corey Prevost suffers from severe cerebral palsy, which has left him a quadriplegic with a developmental disability. He is non-verbal, and is dependent on his caregivers for everything. His mother, Teena Prevost, said “we just found these good services for Corey, and now here we are shortly after, worried that his supports and quality of life will be placed in jeopardy.”

Sarah Mau is affected by a genetic defect, Trisomy 18, which means that she requires one-on-one care, 24/7. During the day she is cared for by the Universal Rehabilitation Service Agency, and receives in-home respite care 4 hours a week.

Please tell the Stelmach Government to cease and desist funding cuts!

Taylor Energy Policy

2010-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Alberta Liberal Party begins to discuss issues Albertans are interested in.

The new energy policy hits the mark. The document as presented;

Our relationship with the oil and gas industry is vital. Alberta’s oil and gas resources belong to the people of Alberta, and we rely on the industry to develop those resources. The oil and gas industry is the backbone of Alberta’s economy. With that in mind, over the last several months we have consulted in detail with members of the oil and gas industry. We have offered proposals, we have asked for suggestions, and we have listened to their advice.

The Principles

Our consultations have led us to five principles:

One
That the health of the Alberta economy is inextricably tied to the health of the energy
industry.

Two
That the Alberta Liberals view the energy industry as a positive force in Alberta.

Three.
That the energy industry requires certainty, sustainability, consistency and effectiveness in regulation and policy.

Four
That energy policy and royalty rates should be determined in consultation with the industry, be based in fact, and be competitive.

Five
That a responsible government and the Alberta energy industry will work together to be good stewards of the environment.

Defining the Process

We believe the process of developing sound energy policy must include the following:

• both industry and all other interested and affected parties must be consulted on an ongoing basis and at every stage of policy development, and their perspectives taken seriously

• policy must reflect an understanding of the industry’s need for an adequate return on investment, that reflects the level of risk undertaken.

• policy must reflect an understanding of the industry’s need for stability, certainty and the need to be competitive on a global scale

• policy must balance the recognition of the importance of a healthy energy industry with that of taking responsibility for climate and the environment

• policy must commit industry, government and the people of Alberta in partnership to continuous improvement in clean energy, conservation, and reduction of our environmental footprint

• policy and regulations must be effective, efficient, consistent, and based in fact

Royalties and Resource Revenues

• Government will sit down with the energy industry and the financial industry to define a process for setting royalties that are competitive and allow for a return on investment.

• This determination will take into account the full spectrum of government revenue generated by the energy industry

• We would consider using the royalty system to incentivize lower environmental impact behaviours.

Regulatory Reform

• We would have a simplified regulatory system with a quicker, more effective process.

• We would ensure that the resources in the ERCB are deployed to the maximum effect.

• We would institute a one-window approach to approvals, permits, inspections and so on.

• We would improve co-ordination on oil and gas matters between the ERCB, Alberta Environment, Alberta Energy and Sustainable Resource Development, and also with the Federal Government and First Nations.

Infrastructure

• Where infrastructure is demonstrably related to industry activity, we would work with industry to determine their appropriate funding contribution.

Distinctions Within the Oil and Gas Sector

Conventional Gas

• We would take into account the mature state of Alberta’s conventional gas reserves in designing its royalties and incentives with the goal of preserving the ongoing viability of the sector for as long as possible

• One option we would consider is to start royalties low, raising them as risk is reduced and costs come down, and then reducing them as production wanes to encourage protracted development.

Unconventional Gas: Tight Gas, Shale Gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM)

• We would rework royalties on unconventional gas so that government is not
maximizing its “take” on the front end, when development costs are the highest.

• We also recognize the need to be competitive with other jurisdictions, while being careful not to get caught in a race to the bottom.

• To better enable development of unconventional natural gas resources in northwest Alberta, we would ensure that the appropriate infrastructure is in place, either by directly building it with public funding, or by incentivizing industry to do so privately.

Conventional Oil

• Recognizing the costs of further development, we would institute a royalty system and a simplified regulatory process that encourages the horizontal multi-stage fracturing needed to unlock both tight oil and a lot of unrecovered conventional oil

• We would provide strong and continued support for systems to distribute and use carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.

• We would consider applying drilling credits as an incentive for both tight oil and conventional oil investment.

Oil Sands

• Contracts will be honoured for their duration, with the intention of reviewing and improving licenses at times of renewal.

• Conditions of license will be used to promote best practices and optimal development

• We would sit down with industry to remove the cap on royalties at the top end of oil prices (over $120 a barrel).

Adding Value, Adding Markets

• We believe that adding value is important, and our target would be that current proportions of Alberta-based bitumen upgrading are at least maintained as oil sands development grows.

• We would undertake a detailed study of Alberta’s petrochemical sector to identify capacity, potential for expansion, technology needs, capital availability, and market opportunities.

• We would work with British Columbia to prioritize the west-coast pipeline project, particularly the environmental approvals.

• We would make this project a point of particular emphasis at the federal level.

What if Alberta’s Oil Sands Could Produce the Cleanest Oil in the World?

• We see this as a Race-to-the-Moon-scale quest to discover, develop, and apply the technologies that will unlock the oil from the sands in a carbon-free or carbon-reduced, environmentally-sustainably, earth-friendly way

• We would revive the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, a specific body that revolutionized oil sands development before, and will do so again.

• We would implement a 2 to 3 cent per barrel levy on bitumen production to fund the expansion of R & D spending [Climate change points to be included once determined independently]

QR 770 Interview - Food For Thought

2010-01-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

This interview took place Wednesday, January 21st.

http://dev.cpted.net/lovett.mp3

All comments welcome!

How to Shoot Yourself in Both Feet

2010-01-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside as an Alberta Liberal, we get this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZNe5fDyRhU

2010-01-15T05:28:00.001-08:00

So, you think you know where you stand, politically.

Think again.

The result from this short test may surprise you and give you some food for thought. You'll be asked just 10 questions, and then it instantly tells you where you stand politically.

It shows your position as a red dot on a "political map" so you'll see exactly where you score.

Click on the link below...

http://www.theadvocates.org/quizp/index.html

The Captain of the Titanic Has Made His Move!

2010-01-13T02:32:00.001-08:00

Premier Ed Stelmach has received news that there is an iceberg ahead. He has assembled his gurus and has made the momentous decision; the iceberg will move.

Initially, this Government thought the iceberg would simply melt. However, given the advice from their friends on the extreme right, Ms Smith and the Wildrose, that there is no science to support Global Warming; they have come to the conclusion that the iceberg cannot melt. While this caused them some concern, they now realize option two is acceptable; the iceberg will move.

With this in mind they will announce, most probably today, that the deck chairs on the Titanic have been successfully shuffled.

The Cabinet Shuffle we've all been waiting for (yawn) will look something like this;

1. Ron Liepert, having successfully screwed over the Health Care portfolio, will now move to Energy. The sector will be given all they ask for so he can then join them for drinks at the Pete Club. With this move Albertans will no longer need to worry about Health Care in Alberta: they will have to move to BC or Saskatchewan since they have no jobs in Alberta.

2. Ted Morton will be given a major economic portfolio; either Finance or Treasury Board. He will be able to practise the Reagan Economics he learned from south of the border. We witness the last signal to the moderates in the Tory Caucus that the move to protect their right flank from the Wildrose has begun in earnest. This will result in Health Care, Education and Social Services being treated as an expense to be cut dramatically rather than an investment to be embraced as a future requirement; a healthy, educated population.

Following this they announce a Throne Speech for February 4th and a budget for February 9th. The budget will show that finances aren't as bad as people might think (thank heaven the gas price was up for a while). After this they will steal from Stephen Harper and prorogue the Legislature by mid-March declaring all is well and good in Alberta.

They now look down the road and see their options as;

Option #1
Since they have accomplished everything they have promised us (in their minds), they will call an early election. Not a good decision since even this group can read the tea leaves and see that the voter is not very happy with their mismanagement of everything. They will be advised that this anger will translate into Wildrose support, even though the Wildrose stands for nothing at present the voter will choose Tweedle Dumb over Tweedle Dumber.

Option # 2
By proroguing the Legislature they "get outta Dodge" and can "re-calibrate", making the voter realize they are the best option and should be allowed to continue to mismanage the Province, while cutting the hell out of all that is sacred to Albertans.

Option # 3
Sorry Ed, all out of options.

Response from the Opposition;

New Democrats
We are morally outraged. Let's organize some town halls.

Liberals
They can't do that, can they? Let's all get ready to shake our fist at them.

Wildrose
How do we eat at the trough? Do we have to use our hands?

One Person's Opinion

Taking a break from politics

2010-01-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Off for the weekend, was able to find a room at the last minute.

http://www.sycuanresort.com

Wait, did I say a weekend away from politics?

Sorry, in San Diego with my Iraqi friends from the early stages of the protest against the US invasions of Iraq so there will be politics.

Update when I return as they are just back from Iraq.

Stay tuned!

Former Liberal says party facing bleak prospects

2010-01-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/01/06/12362206-sun.html

I can only hope that my comments and rants are getting through to the people that need to hear and act.

We are missing so much by not grabbing the centre where the majority of Albertans reside.

The Sky is Falling in Alberta Politics

2010-01-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

Two no-name PCs (Progressive Conservatives) bolt to the TCs (True Conservatives) and the media is agog.

It's the end of the political world as we know it!

Never in the history of Alberta has this ever happened and so what!

Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth, both self described conservatives, social conservative, fiscal conservatives, who cares, conservatives non-the-less decide their time at the political trough provided by Alberta taxpayers is in jeopardy and something must be done. Obviously, they figure out that under Stelmach they cannot win their seats so off they go to what they determine will be a haven that will keep them in the feeding frenzy they are accustomed to.

The point is they leave the Conservatives to join the conservatives and the media world is in a frenzy.

Are provincial politics so moribund in Alberta that we come down to this; the only excitement is watching Conservatives become conservatives. As my daughter would say OMG!

Meanwhile, the Alberta Liberals as the Official Opposition (for the time being), sit blithely by saying little. I saw nothing on either their Caucus or their Party website. Do they not understand that they are culpable?

I suppose that's a rhetorical question!

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part IX

2010-01-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

June 2007 to December 2009

I was in the Sultanate of Oman for both the ’08 provincial and federal campaigns dealing with the ole prostate problem. It all ended well and a 100% recovery thanks to good care in Canada and Oman.

The final chapter of my involvement with the Alberta Liberal Party came with the by-election in Calgary-Glenmore.

The by-election was necessitated when Ron Stevens resigned and was immediately appointed an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench judge not being satisfied with pocketing our money as an MLA and a Cabinet Minister and he now needed more of our asset as a judge.

After the nomination for the Liberal Party was convened and Dr. Avalon Roberts won the day I was asked by Brendan Dunphy to consider managing her campaign. I must admit at first glance I didn’t like her chances but every time we met my respect and admiration for her grew and finally I felt she was a brilliant candidate and we could win this. I thank Brendan for getting me involved.

Once again we had a terrific campaign team with too many to mention but there was Ruth Huber organizing people and delivering every time.

We had an excellent run and came within 200 plus votes of winning a very Conservative seat and when squeezed for reasons why we lost they were as follows;
1. Ignatieff mused about a fall election which voters did not want and the doors started to say “you Liberals, we don’t need an election”. We are lumped together with the feds and if he had only stayed quiet until September 15th, who knows. Our polling showed a decline in support after he spoke.
2. Voters did not understand what the Provincial Liberals stood for.
3. The doors did not know or understand Dr. Swann even though he was a tireless campaigner, there was no recognition.

After the by-election I traveled to Oman and from there offered to once again organize the provincial constituencies and once again was rejected.

I resigned from any organizational capacity December 21st, 2009.

Presently, I am contemplating my future…

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part VIII

2010-01-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

November 2004 to June 2007

After the Taylor campaign I assisted Dave with the organization of the Currie constituency and wrote a letter to Kevin Taft June ’05 offering to assist with provincial constituency organization and advised him I could and would put a team together to retire the debt and no response until October ’05 when he basically blew me off.

The 2006 federal election was held on January 23, 2006. I managed the campaign for Jennifer Pollock in Calgary West against Rob Anders, welcome to Alberta.

The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada.

Meanwhile in Alberta provincial politics Ralph Klein resigns from the Premier’s position.

Prior to the 2004 election, Klein had stated his intention to serve only one more term in office. Pressure mounted on Klein to set a firm date and, following such a request from party executive director Peter Elzinga, Klein announced on March 14, 2006, that he will be tendering his resignation on October 31, 2007. He subsequently stated that his resignation would take effect in early 2008 after a successor is chosen at the party's leadership election.

Klein announced his timetable days before party delegates were to vote in a review of his leadership on March 31, 2006. The drawn-out schedule for his retirement, along with his announcement that any cabinet minister who wished to run for leader must resign by June 2006, generated a large degree of controversy, including criticism from cabinet minister Lyle Oberg who was subsequently fired from cabinet and suspended from caucus.

When the leadership review ballot was held, Klein won the support of only 55% of delegates, down from the 90% level of support he had won at previous reviews and far lower than the 75% Klein felt he needed in order to continue. The result was described as a "crushing blow" to Klein's leadership.

In the weeks prior to the vote, Klein had said he would resign immediately if he did not win the leadership review by a "substantial" margin. In the hours following the vote, Klein released a statement thanking delegates for their support and saying he would take several days to consider his future.

"Given the results of this vote, I intend to meet with party officials and my staff to discuss my next step," he said. "I will do this as quickly as possible and announce a decision about my future shortly”.

At a press conference on April 4th, 2006, Klein announced that as a result of the lukewarm vote for his continued leadership he would submit a letter in September to Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party urging them to convene a leadership contest. Klein said he would resign as party leader and Premier after a successor was named, and would assist the new leader in their transition to Premier.

Klein officially handed in his resignation as party leader on September 20, 2006, officially kicking off the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party leadership race. However, Klein remained premier until the new PC Leader, Ed Stelmach, assumed office on December 14, 2006. He resigned his seat in the legislature on January 15, 2007.

Klein’s resignation resulted in a by-election call for June 12th, 2007 in his constituency of Calgary-Elbow.

Craig Cheffins decided to run as the Liberal candidate and asked me to manage his campaign which I readily agreed to having come close to winning Elbow in ’97 I relished the thought of winning the seat.

We had a terrific candidate an excellent campaign team and of course the power of Ruth Huber. What we didn’t have was any bump from the provincial Party, so we ran almost as an Independent.

We did have the support of Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier who took on Premier Stelmach in a Calgary versus the Province battle creating a positive effect for our campaign.

We won and Calgary-Elbow was represented by a Liberal. A pattern was extended, Sheldon was the first Liberal in Calgary-Buffalo, Dave was the first Liberal in Calgary-Currie and now Craig, the first Liberal in Calgary-Elbow.

What you can't do with a great team and a terrific candidate…

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part VII

2010-01-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

June 1997 to November 2004

A good deal of this period was taken up with my Iraq involvement which I reported on earlier.

I did manage to create some mayhem in Alberta politics in the 2000 federal election held on November 27th, 2000. I supported and assisted Joe Clark in his Calgary Centre victory over the Canadian Alliance Party. I wanted to drive a stake through the heart of the Alliance Party in Calgary. My first option was to run for the Liberals but after the Liberal organizers messed with my nomination I contacted Maureen McTeer, flew to Ottawa for tea at the Chateau Laurier and conspired to get Joe elected.

I had 2 goals; One, to get Joe elected, Two, to ensure the Liberals did not get 10% of the vote as punishment for messing with my desire to run in “my town”. Incidentally, Joe won by more than 4,000 votes and the Liberals received 9.83%.

I did very little in the Alberta general election of 2001 held on March 12th, 2001 due to time spent in Iraq. The Conservative Party, led by Ralph Klein, won a strong majority. In addition to increasing its share of the popular vote to almost 62%, the PC Party won a majority of seats in Edmonton for the first time since 1982. They ran on the slogan “Ralph’s Team” and nobody could name the Tory candidates.

The Liberals lost 11 seats and ran up a large debt and the leader, Nancy MacBeth, was defeated in her own constituency.

The NDs, led by Raj Pannu, hoped to make gains at the expense of the Liberals in Edmonton and replace them as the official opposition. This did not materialize, but the party did manage to maintain its share of the popular vote and its two seats in the legislature. The NDs attempted to attract young voters with the slogan, "Raj against the Machine".

The right-wing Alberta First Party, contesting its first election, failed to win any seats or come close. The Social Credit Party, led by James Albers, was unable to build on its moderate success in the 1997 election, and sank back into obscurity.

In the 2004 federal election held on June 28th, 2004, I managed the campaign for Cathy McClusky in Calgary Centre-North coming 2nd but losing to Jim Prentice who was later to become a Cabinet Minister.

In the Alberta general election of 2004 held on November 22, 2004 I managed Dave Taylor’s first political campaign. We defeated the Tory incumbent and Calgary Currie is still represented by a Liberal.

The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated deadline of March 2006. This election was held in conjunction with the Alberta Senate nominee election, 2004.

When the election was called, it was expected to be anticlimactic, with Klein cruising to his fourth straight majority.

Shortly after the drop of the writs, Klein's mother died and all parties suspended their campaigns for several days. After the campaign resumed, Klein avoided making any policy announcements and attended few events. One commentator called it "Kleinfeld: the campaign about nothing" (a reference to the television sitcom Seinfeld). The Liberal Party, which had hoped to hold onto the five seats it had and regain the two seats that it had lost to resignations, began to pick up momentum and became far more optimistic.

In the end, the Conservatives were re-elected, despite losing 11 seats and 15% of the popular vote. The Liberals more than doubled their seats by electing 17 MLA's on election night while dominating Edmonton, and making strong inroads in Calgary. The NDs held on to their two seats and gained two more, all in Edmonton. The Conservatives swept rural Alberta except for one seat that went to the Alberta Alliance, which placed second in a number of rural ridings. The Green Party gained in the popular vote, jumping from 0.3% in the 2001 election to 2.8%, and placed third in some places. Also placing second in the riding of Drayton Valley-Calmar ahead of the Liberals, It was unable to win any seats, however. Social Credit placed third in a number of ridings, and its leader tied for second in Rocky Mountain House. The Conservative, Liberal and NDP leaders all easily held onto their own seats.

The Conservative Juggernaut continues...

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part VI

2010-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

October 1993 to June 1997

The1997 provincial general election was held on March 11th, 1997.

The Provincial Liberal Leader, Grant Mitchell personally requested that I manage the campaign of Dr. Harold Swanson. Dr. Swanson had run against Klein in the nomination meeting for the Elbow Tories and came close to defeating him. Still very much interested in publicly discussing Klein’s attack on Health Care, Harold was persuaded to run as the Liberal candidate against Klein in Calgary-Elbow.

This was the 3rd time I took on Rod Love and the first time I was up against Al Hallman, Klein’s manager. We ran a very successful campaign on a shoe string budget (spending 10% of Ralph’s budget) and held the biggest political theatre event in years when we debated Klein at the North Glenmore Park Community Centre. We came within reach of defeating Klein and at the very least we scared the hell out of his organization. What we did do was show the Provincial Liberals that a solid campaign organization could produce positive results.

This was Klein's second election as leader of the Conservatives and was considerably more successful than his first. The PCs won over half the popular vote, and 63 of the 83 seats in the legislature.

The Alberta Liberal Party of Grant Mitchell lost about 7% of the popular vote it had won in the 1993 election and was reduced from 32 members to 18. Pam Barrett led the NDP back into the legislature with two seats (both in Edmonton), despite winning an even smaller share of the popular vote than in 1993.

The 1997 provincial election was followed closely by a federal election on June 2nd. In the ’97 federal election I was asked by David Smith, now Senator Smith, to find a candidate for Calgary Centre. I determined that Bev Longstaff would be the best person so I arranged a meeting at her Aldermanic offices and we discussed the matter at length. She agreed to be the candidate and I agreed to manage the campaign. However, the Party had different ideas and after a successful nomination meeting I was advised that my participation was not required. Longstaff lost the ’97 federal campaign by a little more than 3,000 votes, a campaign I never would have lost.

My first-hand experience with the culture of defeat in Alberta Liberal politics…

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part V

2010-01-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

July 1992 to October 1993

I was still heavily involved in Party organization during this period. I worked on the Calgary Buffalo campaign and we won Buffalo for a 4th consecutive time.

The 1993 provincial general election was held on June 15th, 1993. The Liberal Party was led by Laurence Decore, a former mayor of Edmonton. Despite being the smallest of the three parties in the legislature, the Liberals made major gains by criticizing the Conservatives' fiscal responsibility, the province's rapidly rising debt, and the government's involvement in the private sector which resulted in some companies defaulting on government loans.

Don Getty resigned as provincial premier 1n 1992 after polls showed that he would not win re-election. The party chose former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein to succeed Getty. Klein campaigned for the leadership in part by making arguments similar to Decore's. He favoured a near-immediate balancing of the provincial budget and rapid debt repayment thereafter, and declared his government "out of the business of business". By the time Klein dropped the writs, his party had regained the lead on polls.

Decore, facing a Premier with whom he agreed on many issues, argued that the Progressive Conservative party had no moral authority left on the issues on which Klein was campaigning. There were several televised debates; however viewership was low since it coincided with the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals.

Klein's efforts were successful in reinvigorating the Conservatives from certain defeat and they retained a solid majority in the legislature for its seventh consecutive term in government. The Conservatives increased its share of the popular vote marginally, and lost eight seats in the legislature.

The Liberals capitalized on the stagnant PC vote and the collapse of the NDP. Opposition to the PC government coalesced around Decore and the Liberals; they managed to win almost 40% of the popular vote and 32 seats in the legislature, including every seat in Edmonton. They formed what still stands as the largest opposition caucus in Alberta history. To the surprise of many, Decore stepped down as Liberal leader not long after the election, supposedly being pressured to resign by party insiders who felt that he missed the chance to form the government. The Liberals still eat their young.

The New Democrats went down to defeat by being shut out of the legislature for the first time since 1967 as the anti-PC vote consolidated around the Liberals.

The Federal election was held on October 25th, 1993 and I managed the Bob Blair campaign in Calgary Centre, taking the Party from a distant 4th and 11% of the vote in ’88 to a close second and more than 30% of the vote.

Surprising what can be done for the Liberals in Calgary...

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part IV

2009-12-31T06:09:00.000-08:00

March 1989 to July 1992

I was heavily involved in Party organization during this period but the dramatic news that Sheldon had cancer overrode all else. We were out for supper with our Viet Namese friends late October 1991. This was the family that Sheldon sponsored from Viet Nam to Canada some years earlier.

Sheldon had been in Lethbridge playing hockey and dropped in on his way back home. He complained about feeling exhausted and said he was going to the doctor the next day for a check-up. Unfortunately, the cancer was diagnosed and that began a long arduous battle for Sheldon because he never took on anything lightly.

I saw him twice during the battle, once when Harold Finkleman and I infiltrated the Foothills Hospital against Sheldon’s orders and last on Christmas Eve 1991 when Nora and I and our house guests walked from our house to Sheldon’s and sang Christmas carols outside his door. I remember seeing him struggle to the door with his friend and caregiver, Susan Matheny. He was attached to an intravenous. I will always remember his smile that night.

Sheldon passed January 26th, 1992 and his death created a major void in Alberta politics, both ethics and intelligence suffered dramatically.

Calgary Buffalo was left without its MLA and under the laws of the Legislature they had to call a by-election within 6 months. While Sheldon was almost impossible to replace I met with Gary Dickson and we convinced each other to run, he as the candidate and I as the manager. This was my 3rd Calgary Buffalo campaign and I was determined to win for Gary and of course for Sheldon.

The by-election was called for July 21st, 1992. The Tories threw Rod Love at us as their candidate, hoping to join his master in Edmonton. Although having known Rod I’m not sure who the master was, he or Ralph. The NDP countered with Elaine Husband and very nasty negative campaigning taught to them by Ontario organizers.

The voters knew better, recognizing the talent of Dickson and the memory of Sheldon, they returned a Liberal MLA with more than 50% of the total vote. We used a slogan, “Give Getty a wake-up call”, copied by the Wildrose in the recent Glenmore by-election. Husband was a distance 2nd and Rod Love barely limped into 3rd place. I had beaten Rod Love twice, 1989 and this by-election.

Voters always know best...

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part III

2009-12-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

May 1986 to March 1989

After the ’86 election I took a new position with Schlumberger and set about getting comfortable with the new job. However, always engaged in politics, I became President of the constituency and put an organization in place.

I also managed a municipal by-election for Yvonne Fritz in Ward 5 against Jon Havelock. We lost a very close race by 200 votes after Havelock misrepresented the approval of a new school in Falconbridge. I worked with Fritz again in the Municipal General Election in 1988 when she won the seat in Ward 5. The hope was that she would eventually run for the Liberals as she expressed to her friend, Karen Gainer. However, Fritz took the all too familiar route through the Tories in the ’93 provincial election, winning handily.

I then worked with Sheldon Chumir’s Leadership in the ’88 ALP Leadership campaign. Sheldon dropped out after 73 days when he realized he would win the race and did not want the position of Leader because he wanted to focus on policy for the Party. After Sheldon resigned I went over to the Mitchell campaign and after Decore’s win I went to work to support Lawrence.

In the ’88 federal election I worked with the NDP candidate, Elaine Husband for the following reasons;
1. Only 66 people showed up to vote at the Liberal nomination.
2. The pro-life candidate received 34 votes and the openly gay man received 32 votes.
3. I can work with a gay man but not a pro-life man.

The PCs won but we came second increasing the vote and the Liberal was 4th after the Reform candidate.

The ‘89 provincial election was held on March 20th, 1989 and once again I managed Sheldon’s campaign. Many political observers were surprised by the early election call - less than three years had passed since the previous election.

The Tories threw $75,000.00 at Kate Thrasher and gave her a campaign team involving Rod Love and some conservative lawyers to defeat Sheldon. I was somewhat concerned after finding out how badly they wanted to beat us and finding our first hand how the Conservatives could not tolerate opposition, even the likes of Sheldon.

Sheldon on the other hand was quite relaxed. The doors where constantly giving him good news, we had in excess of 600 volunteers and great voter identification. Sheldon won easily with 61% of the vote.

Premier Don Getty, in his second election as Progressive Conservative Party leader, led it to its sixth consecutive term in government, despite losing a significant share of the popular vote and two seats in the legislature, including his own seat of Edmonton-Whitemud to Liberal candidate Percy Wickman.

The New Democratic Party led by Ray Martin largely held its share of the popular vote, and also its 16 seats in the legislature.

The Liberal Party, under new leader Laurence Decore, was the principal beneficiary of the voters' continuing distrust of Don Getty. The Liberals' share of the popular vote increased to over 28%, more than the NDP, but the party's legislative caucus increased from four to only eight members.

Tough to figure, perhaps the brand needs a makeover...

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part II

2009-12-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

November 1982 to May 1986

After the experience of the 1982 election I went about getting involved in various levels of government including municipal, provincial and federal.

I was very much interested in the closure of public schools and the Provincial Government’s attack on public school funding in general. This led me to education activism which changed my life because it was through this activism that I met Sheldon Chumir and his organization; Save Public Education (SPE).

I was advised that he would be good council with respect to public education matters so I walked up to his house on the cliff overlooking Cliff Bungalow and we talked for hours about public education philosophy and found we were in accord.

I volunteered on the Karen Gainer federal campaign in Calgary Centre and witnessed the blood bath of the ’84 election when the Federal Liberals were reduced to 40 seats under John Turner.

In September 1985 I contemplated running provincially but that all changed when Sheldon contacted me, told me he wanted to run in the next election and asked me to be his campaign manager. It did not take much time to agree to the request because I held Sheldon in such high regard.

The only decision was the choice of constituencies; Calgary Elbow, where he lived or Calgary Buffalo, where he was born and raised. The decision was enhanced when we were advised by senior Tories that they would fight us in Elbow but support us in Buffalo. The Buffalo campaign started with a nomination meeting in the fall of 1985 held at the Kerby Centre.

However, before we arrived at a nomination meeting we had to fight the constituency association. They did not want an outsider running in Calgary Buffalo. Imagine a group of so-called Liberals not wanting Sheldon as a candidate.

We started working immediately after the nomination putting in place the campaign. We knew we would have to work very hard to win because we had only 8% name recognition going in and there had not been a provincial Liberal elected since 1969.

This was the campaign that introduced me to the power of Ruth Huber. Ruth had looked after Sheldon’s mother and came to the campaign at the right time to manage the canvass. She has run every canvass for me since and anyone who has worked with and for Ruth will certainly understand why.

The election was held on May 8th, 1986 and we received more than 52% of the vote and defeated the PC candidate, Brian Lee quite handily thanks to the prestige and work ethic of Sheldon. A tremendous outcome since we did not run a candidate in the ’82 election in Buffalo. Four Liberals representing 12% of the popular vote, were elected; Sheldon, the only Liberal in Calgary, Grant Mitchell, Nick Taylor and Bettie Hewes.

The New Democratic Party, now led by Ray Martin, was able to make itself the focus of opposition to the PC government, winning almost 30% of the vote, and sixteen seats in the legislature (up from two in the 1982 election.)

The election of a 22-member opposition to Alberta's legislature signals for the first time since 1971 a significant competitive voice to the dominant Conservative Party in that province's voting citizenship. However, only 47% of eligible voters cast a ballot.

And so it goes...

My History with the Alberta Liberal Party - Part I

2009-12-29T10:50:00.001-08:00

September 1982 to November 1982

I was born in Halifax to liberal-thinking parents and raised by a mother who taught us equality of race, gender and sexuality and therefore I felt most comfortable with the Liberal Party when I began my participation in politics.

My father was in the Canadian military and we were transferred to Winnipeg in 1959, where I lived until my move to Calgary. My participation in politics began in 1968 after listening to Trudeau speak in South Winnipeg and getting hooked by the man and the message.

I worked on several campaigns in Winnipeg prior to coming to Calgary and it was quite natural for me to get engaged as soon as I could after arriving in Calgary. In Winnipeg politics was fun and you could change Governments because people were engaged in the process.

I arrived in Calgary September 27th, 1982, unloaded my belongings into the house we rented at 2106 Hope Street in Mount Royal and after a few days getting settled I discovered there was a provincial election in progress with E-day November 2, 1982. I went next door, blithely introduced myself as a Liberal and asked the person at the door who the Liberal candidate was. To my ultimate surprise I discovered that he was the candidate, John Webb, a Calgary lawyer. I offered my assistance but advised I could not vote since I was not in Alberta in the proper time frame prior to the November 2nd writ.

Then the shock of Alberta Liberal politics unfolded. John was poorly supported with no Party infrastructure and infinitely less voter support producing a dismal outcome.

Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lougheed decided to call a snap election to catch fledgling new parties off guard, most notably the separatist Western Canada Concept which was capitalizing on anger over Lougheed's perceived weakness in dealings with the federal government, in particular his acceptance of the hugely unpopular National Energy Program. The WCC had won a by-election earlier in the year, and Lougheed decided that it would be wise to stage a showdown with the WCC sooner rather than later.

Lougheed then proceeded to mount a campaign based largely on scare tactics, warning Albertans angry with Ottawa but yet uneasy with the WCC that they could end up with a separatist government by voting for a separatist party. The strategy worked for the Tories, who won their fourth consecutive term in government, and returned to the 62% popular vote level it had attained in the 1975 election. The PC party won 75 of the 79 seats in the legislature.

The New Democratic Party, led by Grant Notley, doubled its legislative caucus from one member to two and became the official opposition after a debate over whether the NDP or the 2 Independents should be appointed official Opposition.

The Alberta Liberal Party was punished in the wake of the NEP and was barely able to field candidates in a third of the riding's, and went down to one of its worst showings in party history.

Welcome to Alberta...

Alberta Liberal Party Resignation - December 21st, 2009

2009-12-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Mr. Tony Sansotta,

Please accept my resignation from any and all involvement in Alberta Liberal Party Organization.

As we discussed since the Calgary-Glenmore By-election, I have offered my time and considerable expertise to assist with the organization and development of the constituencies. To that end I have attached a number of documents which will help to understand my position.

1. My letter to Kevin Taft dated June 14th, 2005, updated in red for today's purposes. I could write the same letter today with simple modifications to the Leader's name. The point is, I have tried to assist this Party for years with little or no response.

2. Having been frustrated by the Leader, I designed a programme for the Party in 2007 including costs to organize and run a successful campaign.

3. On October 6th, 2009 I met with the Party to offer my services to organize the constituencies.

4. On October 11th I received an email from Dr. Swann requesting my participation in organization.

5. On October 21st I made comments related to the current status of the various provincial parties in Alberta. That was picked up in the Calgary Herald October 22nd.

6. The database spreadsheet was designed November 17th and sent to the Party for basic information in order for me to start the constituency organization.

7. When you and I met November 29th you requested again that I be involved in organization.

Within the past few weeks I have been able to determine from various sources that you have blocked my access to the information requested on the spreadsheet. You have not had the decency to advise me directly.

Therefore, I consider myself persona non gratis within the ALP and regretfully tender my resignation from my involvement.

Over the next few days I will consider my membership in the Alberta Liberal Party.

Respectfully Submitted,

Donn Lovett

Part 12 - Activism - A Prologue September 2003

2009-12-21T03:07:00.000-08:00

A great deal has happened vis a vis Iraq since this paper was written in April of 2003. For our part a large group of activists and academics traveled to Northern Cyprus on April 25th and met at the Eastern Mediterranean University to discuss what to do next. Out of those discussions came the dream of Dr. Tareq Ismael to build the International University of Baghdad (IUB). The initial proposal was developed in Cyprus and it was decided that the initiative should be a Canadian sponsored initiative.

The IUB would begin as a “virtual university”, meaning that the project will begin to get underway in terms of establishing programs, international connections, and so forth, even before it would acquire a physical presence in Iraq. Once established, however, it will be a graduate-focused institution and would compliment post-secondary education in Iraq, rather than compete in the post-Ba’ath environment. Not only will the university spearhead needed educational programs, but it will also make available a wealth of educated individuals capable of filling the “brain-drain” that resulted from the years of war, militarization and sanctions. Before the U.S. and British-led attack on Iraq, there were 10 universities in the country, but the quality of education provided at these universities was in decline as there was not enough funding available to run these institutions properly, principally due to the UN Security Council sanctions and the choices made by the previous Iraqi government to focus predominantly on militarization. Vast numbers of university professors and professionals, such as doctors and engineers, left the country in the 1990s as a result of the dramatic decline in social services. Now, largely due to the destruction and looting incurred in the recent war and its aftermath, none of the universities in Iraq remain fully functional. This is a predicament that urgently requires attention, as access to education has always been instrumental in developing a lively and independent civil environment.

The established universities in Iraq will benefit greatly from an internationally-focused and graduate-centred educational facility in their country. The IUB will be able to draw students from all over the world to study in Iraq, alongside Iraqi citizens, creating a constructive dialogue that is capable of transcending the simplicities of international conflict scenarios. The breadth of experiences possessed by the international students will enhance the resources and connections that Iraqi citizens themselves would have, fostering greater civil society through an ever increasing independence from governmental contacts. At the same time, the unique experiences of the Iraqi students – historically, politically, economically and culturally – along with the potential revival of a “cosmopolitan” Baghdad, will serve to enrich the international students who would be studying at the IUB.

The planning committee has already garnered a great deal of international recognition for this project, including support from individuals such as Betty Williams, the Irish Nobel laureate, and Jordan's Prince el-Hassan Bin Talal, brother of the late King Hussein, who is acting as the chairman of the board of trustees. Furthermore, IUB advocates include Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; along with Edward Broadbent, former leader of NDP; Richard Falk, professor of international law (Emeritus) at Princeton University; and John Polanyi, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry and professor of chemistry at the University of Toronto.

With the help of other supporters, the IUB planning committee is also currently working to urge Nelson Mandela, former South African President, to become a member of the university’s board of trustees.

At this crucial time when many Iraqis see any outside involvement as largely negative and tied to an “occupation”, and relate to the international environment in terms of “conflict”, the reconstruction of Iraqi educational infrastructure through this project and others will help to provide an example for the positive possibilities of international cooperation. Canada is in a unique position to spearhead such a project and should seize the opportunity to foster positive development in Iraq and advance our traditional role as a peacemaker in the international environment.

While in Ottawa over the past few months we have had meetings with several MPs, Senators, DFAIT, CIDA and potential partner agencies such as the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

To summarize the rationale we presented in Ottawa for why Canada should lead this initiative:
1. Canada has had a long-standing relationship with the Middle East and in particular with Iraq. Prior to the Gulf War of 1991, Canada was one of Iraq’s primary trading partners, and the Canadian Wheat Board was the largest supplier of wheat to Iraq.
2. Canada is considered a non-imperialistic actor in the region. We have not had the expansionist policies of France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
3. Canada has had a reputation as a Middle Power and a peacemaker in world affairs.
4. The stance that Canada took in the recent Gulf War of not supporting unilateral US action has reinforced Canada’s image in world affairs.
5. Canada can exercise a tremendous amount of influence in Iraq and the region by taking these kinds of initiatives.

You may contact me at donn.lovett@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from all of you and your personal journeys.

Part 11 - Activism - Initial Conclusion 2003

2009-12-21T03:02:00.000-08:00

The point of this article is to let people know that anyone can make a difference. Although we failed in our attempt to prevent the U.S. from invading Iraq we accomplished great things during the past few years. Canada did not change its position and support the US/UK war. Canada maintained its support for the UN. We met with several governments around the world and we felt we influenced their decisions. And we must not forget the events of February 15th, 2003 when the world stood up in the largest support for peace ever experienced.

My 23 year old daughter, Shanda traveled to Iraq in 1999 as part of an international women’s conference. While in Iraq she visited several schools and talked to children about the sanctions. She was invited to meet with Madame Aline Chrétien and in December 1999 had a 90 minute audience with Madame Chrétien to discuss her experience in Iraq.

More recently, my 12 year old daughter, Kate visited the Iraqi Embassy in Ottawa 2 weeks ago to have a tea with the Iraqi Charge. My daughters have become anti-war activists in there own right. I cannot forget the undying support I receive from my wife, Nora Stewart. Nora is an engineer and a senior partner in a large energy evaluation firm in Calgary. Without her absolute support I would not be able to accomplish anything.

Our responsibility now is to ensure that the US does not become the judge, jury and executioner for the world.

We shall overcome.

Written in 2003

Part 10 - Activism - A Brave Canadian MP & Diplomacy

2009-12-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

In January 2003 I organized a parliamentary delegation to go to Iraq with the knowledge of Prime Minister Chrétien and Foreign Minister Graham. Madame Colleen Beaumier and her able assistant, Natalie Jewett joined me on the trip.

Also in Baghdad at the same time were Gary Bobrovitz from Global News Calgary and Linda Slobodian from the Calgary Herald on visas we arranged. They reported the situation on the ground from Baghdad.

In Baghdad we met with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Tariq Aziz, the Foreign Minister, Mr. Naji Sabri, the Iraq Trade Minister, Communications and Transportation Minister, Deputy Agriculture Minister and the Deputy Speaker of the Iraq National Assembly accompanied by several members of the Assembly.

The purpose of the trip was to convey to Iraq the Canadian position with regard to disarmament and to receive any message that Iraq wanted put before our government. The Iraqis asked one thing and that was for Canada to maintain its position in support of the UN.

We arrived back in Canada on January 29th, 2003 and worked non-stop to try and reach agreement on an initiative that would prevent the U.S. from invading. This involved a two stage proposal.

Initially there was the six points for piece plan that was developed through the efforts of Scott Ritter and the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, Mr. Pahad and was an extension of the Canadian initiative that was being discussed by the non permanent members of the UN Security Council in February 2003.

After the attack by the US and the UK a modification of that plan which was now being sponsored by the Vatican was tabled. Both of these proposals had been somewhat agreed to by Iraq and involved Disarmament, Human Rights, Democracy, Diplomacy, Economy and of course Peace.

These initiatives are attached to this paper for review. But as the entire world now understands the U.S. and the UK were not interested in a peaceful solution to Iraq.

Part 9 - Activism - Weapons' Inspectors Return to Iraq

2009-12-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

While this was being organized and unfolding, Bush was dragged kicking and screaming to the UN on September 12th. This happened through the efforts of a number of countries including Canada and the UK. He appeared at the UN because there was virtually no support for U.S. actions against Iraq and Bush felt that the U.S. could beat the UN into submission. The timing worked out for Iraq who had agreed to come to New York for September 14th and, through a series of negotiations in New York that I was involved in, made its proposal to the UN through Kofi Annan on September 16th, 2002. The proposal allowed for a return of weapons inspectors to Iraq with no conditions attached. The negotiations were finalized in November 2002 and that way was paved for Hans Blix to return to Iraq after 4 years without inspections.

The return of the inspectors neutralized the U.S. demand that Iraq disarm. However, it soon became apparent that the U.S. was not interested in a disarmed Iraq, but rather wanted control of the country for several reasons, not least of which was Iraqi oil and the fact that in their war on terrorism they had not been able to find Osama bin Laden. The U.S. then moved to the language of “regime change” and the world began to respond to their actions, culminating in the mass rallies held worldwide on February 15th, 2003. Tens of millions of people protested the U.S. position including 1.5 million people in London, who opposed Tony Blair’s pro-U.S. stance and 1 million people in Rome, who opposed their government’s support for the U.S. Spain saw hundreds of thousands of people in Madrid and Barcelona protesting the Spanish government’s support of Bush. As a result, the U.S. changed its rhetoric from “regime change” to “liberation of the Iraqi people and a change in human rights”.

Part 8 - Activism - Return of Weapons' Inspectors Con't.

2009-12-16T05:42:00.000-08:00

In August 2002, Scott Ritter went to South Africa to meet with the Tariq Aziz of Iraq, Mr. Pahad, the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, and the Belgium Foreign Minister. During these meetings it was agreed that Scott would go to Baghdad to address the Iraq National Assembly on September 8th, and during the presentation would discuss the return of the inspectors. South Africa and Belgium agreed to cooperate with Canada, if Canada would take the lead on the “honest broker” initiative.

Meanwhile back in Canada, I stayed in touch with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister to ensure that, at the very least, Canada would continue to support the UN and not support US unilateral actions. On two occasions in July and August of 2002, in direct phone conversations with Prime Minister Chrétien, I was assured that Canada would keep supporting the UN. On August 9th, 2002 at a meeting with Bush in Detroit, Mr. Chrétien reiterated Canada’s support for a UN resolution to the Iraq situation. At the same time I had met with Minister Graham, who also assured me that Canada would stay with a UN resolution. To this day they have maintained that position and I believe that Canadians should be very proud of these actions of our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in the face of the tremendous pressure from the Americans to support their unilateral actions. I was in the Canadian House of Commons on March 17th, 2003 when the Prime Minister announced that Canada would not support the US war on Iraq. This was one of the bravest things our Prime Minister has ever done.

Scott Ritter met with the Iraq National Assembly on September 8th, 2002 and told them in no uncertain words that they had to allow the inspectors to return and that there was no room for negotiations on this matter. Further, they had to advise the UN that they would accept the inspectors before the U.S. was able to get a resolution before the UN that they would not be able to deal with. Iraq accepted what Scott had to say and dispatched Foreign Minister Sabri to New York for September 14th.

Part 7 - Activism - Return of the Weapons' Inspectors

2009-12-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

In January of 2002, Prime Minister Chrétien appointed Bill Graham as the new Canadian Foreign Minister and hopes for a more sovereign Canadian position with regard to the USA gave us a reason to quicken our attempts to get the weapons inspectors back into Iraq. By this time Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck were now concentrating their efforts in Europe. Arthur Millholland was in the UK and busy with his business efforts. Lloyd Axworthy became busy with his UBC institute. It was left to Scott Ritter and I, to continue the discussions started in New York in the fall of 2001.

Scott Ritter arranged to meet with the Labour Party in the UK and the French Government to discuss the return of the inspectors. I began to build support in Ottawa with MPs with whom we could work. Notably, Madame Francine Lalonde of the Bloq, Dr. Keith Martin of the Alliance, Joe Clark of the Conservatives and Alexa McDonough of the NDP were contacted and they agreed to keep in touch with the initiative. Madame Lalonde became quite active and was a strong source of support. I was in constant contact with Madame Colleen Beaumier who gave us access to the Liberal caucus.

Meanwhile, I developed a relationship with Robert Fry, the senior advisor to Bill Graham, the Foreign Minister, as well as with Chris Hull and Graeme McIntyre from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT). Through Robert Fry we could get access to the Foreign Minister if the matter was significant enough. At this point we were feeling quite encouraged and I asked the Standing Committee to meet with Scott Ritter to discuss the return of weapons inspectors. Thanks to the efforts of Madame Lalonde and Dr. Martin the Committee agreed to meet with Scott Ritter and Denis Halliday in early June 2002.

The meeting with the Standing Committee was very successful. Scott Ritter was able to convey the importance of getting the weapons inspectors back into Iraq as a necessary step to getting the economic sanctions removed. There was a sense from the meeting that Canada could play a role once the inspectors had returned. Scott Ritter and I then met with Madame Lalonde to develop a document entitled “The Honest Broker”. The thrust of this document was to ask Iraq to agree first to the return of the weapons’ inspectors and then to permit Canada, South Africa and Belgium to help mitigate any difficulties that might arise between Iraq and the UN as a consequence of the inspections. These countries would not interfere with the inspectors themselves because they recognized that the U.S. would not tolerate any interference with the inspection process. However, situations might have arisen requiring some form of reconciliation between the UN and Iraq during the inspections. Canada was chosen because it is the major trading partner of the U.S. with a close historical, political and geographical relationship. South Africa was chosen to represent the non-aligned nations and Belgium because of its membership in NATO and the EU.

Part 6 - Activism - Scott Ritter's Influence

2009-12-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

A new parliament was elected in November 2000 and we restarted our efforts to get Report #5 accepted by the Canadian Government. However, we now faced a new resistance. John Manley was appointed to the position of Foreign Minister and he took an even closer stance with Washington. During Manley’s tenure Canada moved as close to Washington as Canada had ever been. This caused individual MPs in the Liberal ranks to distance themselves from any initiative that may confront the U.S. We also witnessed a hardening of a pro-American position with the Alliance Party, under their new leader, Stockwell Day. Although we still held the support of the Bloq, the NDP and the Tories, getting majority support was becoming increasingly more difficult. This, combined with the election of the neo-conservative Bush Administration, made the matter of getting a resolution of the Iraqi sanctions almost impossible. It became clear to me that removal of sanctions could not happen without the return of the weapons inspectors and a resolution on the question of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), which became the buzzword of the Bush White House.

At this time the Bush White House had little or no interest in foreign relations. It seemed hunkered down in an isolationist mentality until the attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001. The ensuing “War on Terrorism” set a course for Bush and his neo-conservative cohorts that continues to affect the world in a seriously negative way. The appetite for war, demonstrated by Bush after the September attack, provoked me to call a meeting of international diplomats and interested individuals, to meet in New York to see what we could do to dampen the US enthusiasm for war. I contacted Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, both former United Nations Humanitarian Coordinators in Iraq at the Assistant Secretary-General level. I contacted Scott Ritter, the former US Marine Major and head of the UN weapons inspections in Iraq from 1991 through 1998. I also asked the former Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy to join us, along with the president of the Canadian oil company, Oilexco, Arthur Millholland. Lloyd Axworthy had had a change of heart since leaving Ottawa and wanted to see what could be done to ease the pressure on Iraqi civilians. All agreed and a meeting was arranged for the end of November 2001 in New York, ironically held at the Republican Women’s Center. Mr. von Sponeck could not join us but was in contact via phone and email.

Although several ideas were discussed, it became clear that the return of the weapons inspectors was the only way out of the impasse. It was thought that Canada could play a role, given that it had an outstanding reputation at the UN and was not an imperialist nation. Iraq might accept recommendations coming from there. However, John Manley was still Foreign Minister in Canada and not predisposed to anything that may confront the U.S. We decided to continue discussions and to formulate a plan that could be discussed between Canada, Iraq and the UN.

Lloyd Axworthy agreed to discuss our meeting with Louise Frechette, a Canadian and the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, and with Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, whom he was to meet with at dinner while he was in New York and Washington. Conversations within the group continued over the last part of 2001 and into 2002.

Part 5 - Activism - Report #5

2009-12-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

Report #5 (see side-bar), which was unanimously supported by the 18 Members of Parliament sitting on the Committee and representing all five political parties, called for a de-linking of sanctions. This meant the removal of economic sanctions but leaving military sanctions in place. It further called for an opening of dialogue between Canada and Iraq. The deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Mr. Tariq Aziz, accepted Report #5, as a good basis to resolve the situation in Iraq. It was suggested that the Secretary General of the United Nations might use that report as a basis for breaking the impasse on getting proper humanitarian relief to Iraq.

Report #5 was rejected outright by the then Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, and it died without being taken to the UN. The main reason given by senior advisors to Axworthy, at a meeting that I attended, were as follows. “While we recognize the destruction to the people of Iraq, we cannot do anything to upset the U.S. Administration because they will beat us up on trade.” One of the senior advisors was a medical doctor who had visited Iraq and seen first hand the difficulties being experienced by the people of Iraq.

This resulted in two important outcomes for me. I met Madame Colleen Beaumier, the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I discovered that Lloyd Axworthy would not act if it meant confronting the United States.

I invited Madame Beaumier to come to New York to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Mr. Tariq Aziz. She agreed and the meeting was arranged for September 2000 at the Iraq Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. We discussed Report #5 as a basis to solving the economic embargo on Iraq while agreeing that at this stage the military embargo had to remain in place. The meeting was cordial and it was the first time that parliamentarians from Canada and Iraq had met since the Gulf War. By now Canada had closed its embassy in Baghdad even though Iraq maintained a Charge d’Affaire in Ottawa. The action now became one of getting individual MPs to endorse Report #5, in an attempt to get a majority of the 301 MPs to sign a letter addressed to the Prime Minister (and copied to the Foreign Minister) demanding that Canada accept the results of the Report drafted by the Standing Committee assigned the task of advising the Foreign Minister. We received unanimous support from the Bloq Quebecois, the New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservatives, while individual members of both the Liberal Party and the Alliance Party, led by Dr. Keith Martin agreed to endorse the Report. We had the support of 127 members when Parliament was dissolved on October 22nd, 2000 and an election called. This nullified our efforts until after the election.

Part 4 - Activism - Action with Canadian Government

2009-12-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

I began to contact people I thought could give me information to help me develop a plan of action to assist the people of Iraq. The first was Denis Halliday. I remembered reading a statement that Mr. Halliday had made after he resigned his position with the UN in protest over U.S. interference in the relief operations in Iraq. He said, “I can find no legitimate justification for sustaining economic sanctions under these circumstances. To do so in my view is to disregard the high principles of the United Nation’s Charter, the Convention of Human Rights, the very moral leadership and the credibility of the United Nations itself.”

Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Denis J. Halliday, an Irish national, to the post of United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, at the Assistant Secretary-General level on September 1, 1997. Halliday served as such until the end of September 1998. During this period, the Security Council Resolution 986 “Oil for Food” Programme, introduced in 1996/97 to assist the people of Iraq under the Economic Sanctions imposed and sustained by the Security Council, was more than doubled in terms of oil revenues allowed. This enabled the introduction of a multi-sectored approach, albeit modest, to the problems of resolving malnutrition and child mortality. Mr. Halliday resigned from the post in Iraq, and from the United Nations as a whole, on October 31, 1998, after serving the Organization for 34 years.

After running the "Oil for Food" program, which uses Iraqi oil revenues to distribute basic food rations and medical aid to Iraqi civilians, Halliday turned his attention to spreading the word about sanctions-related suffering. I contacted Mr. Halliday in late 1999 and invited him to Canada. We met in Ottawa for a series of lectures and I took him to the House of Commons to meet the Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bill Graham. I wanted him to ask Mr. Graham to hold hearings on Iraq at the Standing Committee. Graham agreed immediately and the hearing was scheduled for March 2000. I arranged for Mr. Halliday and Mr. Arthur Millholland the president of Oilexco, the only Canadian company participating in the “Oil-for-Food” programme, to come to Ottawa as witnesses to the Committee. The Hearings lasted for three days, culminating in Report #5, “Resolution on Iraq”, which was tabled in the Canadian House of Commons on April 12th, 2000.

Part 3 - Activism - Effects of the US/UK Embargo

2009-12-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

The World Health Organization (WHO), reported that “Pre-1990 Iraq reflects the health status of a modern developing society, in which the wealth it obtained from exporting its main commodity, oil, contributed to improving the quality of life of the Iraqi people, which then (1988/1989), was already at a relatively ‘satisfactory’ level, with indications of a trend for further improvement.”

UNICEF reported that, “The Government of Iraq made sizable investments in the education sector from the mid-1970’s until 1990. Educational policy included provision for scholarships, research facilities and medical support for students. By 1989 the combined primary and secondary enrollment stood at 75% (slightly above the average for all developing countries at 70%). Illiteracy had been reduced to 20% by 1987.

Education accounted for over 5% of the state budget above developing countries of 3.8%.”

After the imposition of sanctions in 1991 we know that:

1. 1.5 million Iraqi civilians have died since 1991 as a direct result of the sanctions.

2. 600,000 of the dead were children under 5 years of age according to UNICEF reports and substantiated by the Red Cross. A recent UN report stated that the infant mortality rate in Iraq is 133. This means that for every 1,000 children born, 133 will not reach the age of 5. By comparison, Canada’s infant mortality rate is less than four.

3. The number of malnourished children has increased over 300% since 1991.

4. Maternal mortality rates have more than doubled during this period of the sanctions and 70% of Iraqi women suffer from anemia.

5. Unemployment has soared under the sanctions, as has inflation. The average civilian salary, for example, is CAD$3.60 per month.

6. An estimated 800 tonnes of depleted uranium contained in ammunitions were used by the allied forces in the Gulf War. Cancer rates in Iraq have increased five-fold since the Gulf War. Childhood leukemia in Iraq has the highest rate in the world.

These undeniable facts lead me to travel to Iraq to view first hand the devastation to the Iraqi civilian population and the complete destruction of the civilian infrastructure and the civilian economy. I could no longer stand by and let the crimes continue, crimes to which the Canadian government was a partner. Tacit approval of the unjust conditions to which Iraqis were subjected was tantamount to direct involvement in the destruction.

Continued from October 3rd Blog

2009-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Also, vivid in my memory was the fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis was solved, not because one country attacked another, but rather as an outcome of dialogue. Yes, the Russians sent ships and the Americans countered with more ships, but ultimately dialogue prevented a war and the United Nations was involved in the solution. This message that I received from the events of 1962 still resonates today. That is, that dialogue is still the best way to solve disputes and the United Nations Organization is needed more than ever.

My activism carried me through high school and the Viet Nam War. The point is, my activism was born out of these events and the tumultuous 60’s. In 1981 I found myself living in Baghdad and working for a Canadian company called Canron. We were providing water pipe and fittings to Iraq for the supply of drinking water. The Iraqi regime had decreed that everyone in Iraq would have clean drinking water and properly treated sewage. As a Canadian company we were doing millions of dollars of trade in Iraq and I was sent to administer the contracts. My experience living among the people of Iraq and interacting with them was one of respect, kindness and honesty. When the Gulf War broke out and the U.S. talked about collateral damage for the first time, I thought of my Iraqis friends, and so I saw the war from a different perspective than did most North Americans.

I followed the events in Iraq and learned about the effect of the embargo on the people of Iraq and in particular to increased infant mortality. My daughter was born in December of 1990 and, being a ‘stay at home father’, I was deeply involved in raising my child and – readily empathized with those Iraqis who were losing their children at an alarming rate. Reports of the rise in infant mortality rate and deaths of civilians were stalled by the U.S. and U.K. at the United Nations. They blocked reports coming from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Finally, the information could no longer be hidden and the “Oil-For-Food” programme was initiated in an attempt to alleviate the hunger to which years of embargo had subjected the Iraqi people.

We learned that during the 1991 Gulf War the U.S. led bombing raids that attacked every hospital, every water treatment plant, every wastewater plant, most schools and every major intersection in downtown Baghdad in order to destroy the water distribution and sewer collection systems. All attacks against civilian infrastructure are in direct violation of the UN Charter and must be considered war crimes. A good friend of mine, Denis Halliday, the former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq said the following;

“We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as that. It is illegal and immoral.”

Back to the Blog - Back in Canada

2009-12-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

Folks, my last entry was back in mid-November, prior to my trip from Oman to the UAE, back to Oman and then my departure to Canada, arriving in the winter cold, November 28th.

Got my feet planted again and wanted to continue what I started at the very beginning of the Blog, the rationale for my activism.

So, the next few excerpts will continue the theme and then I intend to right a brief history of my involvement in the Alberta Liberal Party, ending with what needs to be done to in order for the Party to become relevant once again in Alberta politics.

Bear with me as there is a point to all of this, including my self-indulgence.

Thank you,

Donn to Dusk