Alberta PC leadership - 1st round

Saturday I sat at home debating whether to vote in this leadership race although I do not support the PC Party.  I ran some errands to fill in the day and drove by the Oliver Community League where the polling station was.  I parked and walked to the door and then had a strong feeling that I should turn around.  Then I said to myself, "You get to pick who you think would make the best premier."  So I entered and was quickly greeted by a volunteer.  I didn't have a $5 membership so I bought one in mostly quarters--coinage I'd never use and so I wouldn't waste a perfectly good $5 bill.

At that moment though I thought, "What are you doing? You can't stand this party and yet you have a membership now?"  Then the volunteer interrupted the thought and told me to take my membership and voting card to the desk and then to get a ballot.

I knew going in who'd I vote for.  Rick Orman--essentially the closest candidate to being an outsider in this race and a self-professed libertarian.  Unfortunately, his campaign never took hold

Why not Morton this time like last time for me?  I think most of us libertarian-conservative type folks had the same feeling about him.  As provincial treasurer, he saw the largest deficits in Alberta history.  To me, this simply shows a lack of leadership, and just following the party line.  Morton's biggest blunder was becoming treasurer in the first place instead of staying on the outside perhaps as it highlighted his "unconservativeness".  When a conservative stops being conservative, they lose support fast.  And in Ted's case, that's exactly what happened.

For Doug Griffiths, the relatively young MLA was smart to enter this race to keep his profile up.

So now onto the top three, if it's really even that; it's more like top one with scraps now.

With Mr. Integrity Gary Mar at 41%, sweeping Edmonton, will the remaining Redford and Horner campaigns abandon him as their second choice?  Will Horner garner the swift support of new Edmonton voters and Northern Alberta like Ed Stelmach did?  Ed had 15% and won so it's not out of the question but that was because Jim Dinning and Ted Morton were polarized enough and both from Southern Alberta to invigorate Edmonton and Northern folks to buy a membership and mark an "X" for Steady Eddie.

While most true conservatives and libertarians have already abandoned the PCs, where will those remaining park their support on the run off vote October 1st?  My bet is on Alison Redford or no one.

So now if there ever was a clear choice for libertarian-conservatives, it's certainly with Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Party.  That is, if the party gets better organized and more media attention.  As I said to the National Post last month, it's not ready for prime-time governing, but a successful stint as official opposition, and being able to raise some real cash, the possibility of governing in say 2015 is not out of the question, if not as a serious challenge to the PCs.

Forty years with the same party in power is not healthy for any democracy.  I urge Albertans to vote for anyone but the PCs in the upcoming election.  Even if you're a soft PC supporter, you'll be doing the province a favour.

In the meantime, I'll be debating whether I'll be voting in the final run-off vote on October 1st. 

"Gary Mar unrepentant on improper membership sales"

And super blogger Alberta Ardvark is relentless on following this story... 

PCAA leadership candidate Gary Mar said his campaign volunteers did nothing wrong by selling party memberships within 50 metres of an Edmonton polling station. Adding that his supporters were only trying to help people who can't speak English. "Within the polling station, the advance polling station, you could buy a membership from the party," Mar said. "Except that there's no one at the party table that speaks three different dialects of Chinese."

Update: A scrutineer from the advanced vote says that she "spoke with at least 3 volunteers who were acting as interpreters and always available."

This is how Gary Mar runs his campaign.  If he were premier, this is one example of how he'd run our province.  Integrity.

And another thing...  If I were on another campaign, I'd have the party double check the resident addresses of the members signed-up from other campaigns, or maybe just a specific one.  Call it a hunch.  I've seen it happen on other nomination races and it disgusts me.  Luckily the candidate who was doing it didn't win.

Rick Orman questions latest poll

Alberta PC leadership contender Rick Orman has challenged the validity of the latest poll released by Environics which put Gary Mar on top with 31%.

And he has every right to considering the unusual circumstances.

Not only that, but PC Party president, Bill Smith (no, not that Bill Smith) has also published a scathing rebuke of the release of this poll saying that it is a breach of the party rules.  Read blogger David Climenhaga's article for more info.  Here is the text from the PC Party website:

Statement on unauthorized use of membership list
The Progressive Conservative Association is very concerned with respect to the recent use of what appears to be a private Party membership list by a public research company. Any unauthorised and inappropriate use of our Association’s private membership lists  is absolutely unacceptable. The privacy of our members is of paramount importance to myself and our organisation.

We have been able confirm that the list did not come from the Party. What we have determined is that a list was given to a media outlet who subsequently gave it to a polling firm. We are surprised that any public research firm would use a list that was obtained in such a manner. Furthermore the list in question is not at all an accurate reflection of the membership that will be participating  in our leadership process.

We will be contacting all leadership campaigns regarding this issue . It should be noted that all Leadership Candidates signed a confidentiality agreement not to disclose or disseminate the membership list prior to receiving it.

The conduct in question does not reflect our Party’s values, our commitment to our membership, or the ideals expressed by all campaigns throughout this Leadership process.

Bill Smith
President PC Alberta

Why was a private list given to the media?  A list, by the way, that has my name on it from the previous leadership campaign where I bought a membership to vote.  I wonder if any lawsuits will result.

But I think we all know what really happened here.  Same with campaigns selling memberships at advanced polls.  So what happens now?  Will the guilty campaign's candidate have to resign?  Or will they put the blame on "overzealous supporters".

Again, if the party cannot even hold an above-the-board leadership vote, is this a reflection of how they govern the province by stretching and breaking rules?

Of course it is.

Where's the integrity?

There isn't any.

If this isn't enough to show you that it's time to punt these corrupt bastards out of office, then I think you should start to question your own political ethics and decide what's best for our provincial democracy.

Strathcona County drops photo radar

Credit is given where credit is due.  Strathcona County smartly voted 5-4 in favour of dropping photo radar and using a more physical police presence to curb speeding and other infractions.

"Our officers on the street can enforce a whole lot more than just speeding," said Botterill. "They can go after the root cause of the accidents, not just the contributing factor.

"We have the advantage of telling our residents we're no longer doing the random road tax," said Botterill.

Wow. Common sense prevails!

"Another bad day for Team Gary Mar"

Here's another Alberta Ardvark article on the questionable tactics of the Gary Mar campaign.  This is typical old-school politics crap... ship them in by bus and sell memberships at the polling station door by a campaign, not by the party.  And then put the blame on someone else by using the old "overzealous supporters" line.  Yeah, whatever.  I call that lack of leadership in ethics.

Doug Griffiths, another candidate is right in saying "If you can't run the campaign with integrity, then how can you promise integrity after?"

So I think I might vote in this race now.  But not for Gary Mar, that's for sure.   And I don't think anything will change in this province with him at the helm either.

Gary Mar campaign buying PC memberships

Blogger Alberta Ardvark has delved into the story that the Gary Mar campaign has been buying PC Party of Alberta memberships for supporters.  And unbelievably, it is not against the party rules.

The Ardvark is right in saying these are "antiquated rules for an antiquated party".

I've also checked various campaign websites to see if you can still buy a membership at the polling place just before you vote (as in the last leadership votes) and they all say you need to show your membership card.  So are they selling them there or not?   I don't know.

I have received numerous emails from each of the campaigns.  The only phone call I got was from Gary Mar's team while I was at the Eskimo game.  Friends of mine on some of the teams have not contacted me to try and win me over.

So with that, it's looking more and more likely that I won't be voting in this race.

"Alberta has the stupidest gov't in Canada"

Ezra goes off on how stupid the Alberta PC government is.  I couldn't agree more--40 years is enough of this drifting, visionless, anti-liberty, and wasteful government party.  The PCs need to go.

Have not McGuinty

I normally don't bother with Ontario politics, but I do note that in general, after some time to reflect, when Ontarians put the Liberals or NDP in power at Queen's Park, they then soon balance it out with a federal Conservative government, so it doesn't bother me who's running the show there.

That said, before Dalton McGuinty, Ontario was a proud "have" province.  Since McGuinty, Ontario is a "have not", which puts the pressure on "have" provinces--BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador--to dish out even more.

I don't care whether you like Ontario PC leader, Tim Hudak, or not, even if you're a Liberal, Ontario needs to go back to being a "have" province again and it seems the only way is to ditch McGuinty.  He's had his time.  If you're on the left, even slightly, then vote NDP already.

Very tired of this Alberta PC Party

Oh here we go again.. PC leadership candidates yapping about high-speed rail, like it's some dangling carrot.  Well, this bunny's not gonna bite.

The only way this rail link would work and makes sense is if it went from downtown Edmonton to Red Deer to downtown Calgary.  Otherwise, folks will continue to drive since they'll still want to get around their destination city.  And what about winter time and the blowing snow? Oh, and why not have it go to Ft. McMurray too?

Speaking of the Mac, more people died on Highway 63 yesterday.

Before we even begin talking about luxury items like high-speed rail, why isn't more effort being put in to twin Highway 63 and get it done before more people die?  Years ago, I also advocated that to pay for maintenance it should be a toll road since it's mostly business that uses it, and if workers are headed up there, they should be allowed to expense the toll.  You know who also advocated that?  Peter Lougheed.

On another note, with this stupid distracted driving law in effect yesterday, people in Calgary are being pulled over for.. wait for it... drinking coffee.  What's next, switching stations on your radio? *Sigh*.

I've really had it with this PC party.  They have no idea what they're doing anymore (and haven't for many years).  Come on people, it's not like there's a threat from any of the left leaning parties. Isn't 40 years enough already?  I doubt I'll bother voting in their leadership race. 

Robocop Nation

And you wonder why we are relying on machines and nanny-state laws more and more for lack of policing...

Police were ill-prepared for riot: report

An independent report has found that confusion among police caused them to lose control of the sprawling crowds gathered on Vancouver's streets to take in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on June 15, setting the stage for the rioting that followed.

...

"A huge factor in what happened that day was alcohol," Furlong said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "It had an enormous impact on the atmosphere and the attitude and the behaviour of people from fairly early on and right to the end of the day."

My bet is if this type of event is occurring, they'll look at having bars and liquor stores close early or not be open at all that day; yet another intrusive law that won't stop anything.  What would have stopped the rioting is having police better managed with a strong presence prior to the game.  Let people go to the bars, sure, but when they exit, they'll see well-policed streets.

Oh, and no one has been charged yet.  Apparently, due to the lack of police, they're relying on citizens' video and pictures to convict.  Has it really come to this?

Public surveillance cameras, red-light cameras, photo radar, Tasers, useless redundant laws, draconian bylaws, and now relying on cellphone cameras... sorry folks but none of that can hold a candle to having the physical presence of law enforcement personnel maintaining good public order.