Provincial Tory Leader in Smart Political Move Shocker

Tories veto candidate's nomination
Calling himself a 'martyr' for the cause, social conservative weighs next move
KATHERINE O'NEILL
December 3, 2007

EDMONTON -- An outspoken social conservative has been denied a chance to run for the Alberta Progressive Conservative party, as the country's oldest reigning political dynasty readies for a tough election expected to be called in the coming months.

Craig Chandler said in an interview yesterday that the rare decision by the Conservatives' executive committee on the weekend to not accept his constituency nomination is undemocratic and makes him a "martyr" for the province's social conservatives.

I have to say that Stelmach's made the right move here, although I was quite looking forward to watching the Tories get mauled by the opposition over the candidacy of Mr. Chandler, a man whose only reason for existence seems to be hatred of a) gays, and b) everybody else who isn't a viciously conservative Albertan (but mostly gays. And other people). Sigh. We will have to get our political theatre elsewhere, is seems, and we wonder who will perform the sacred duty of informing newcomers of their moral obligation to vote Tory?

I'm betting here that Chandler will run in the upcoming provincial election, possibly for the Alberta Alliance.

Ah, Ted, How We Missed You...

During our recent sabbatical from blogging ( "yeah, 'sabbatical', that's it..." * looks shifty * ), we were vaguely aware of some foofera going on about the amount of money owed to, and collected by, the Alberta government from the oil companies for the rights to drill in the province. To make a long story quite short, Ed Stelmach decided to raise the royalty rates, eventually, but not by as much as he'd been told to. Even this modest increase (and the promise to actually collect the money this time), displeased some people. As exhibit A, we present Ted Byfield crying out that the bolsheviks are at the door:

Shades of Tommy Douglas!
Alberta has basked in prosperity until Honest Ed came along and changed the rules
By TED BYFIELD

How many Albertans, you wonder, are conscious of the sharp change in direction Ed Stelmach has made in our government.

No, I don't, particularly.

He has done something not one of his five predecessor premiers ever attempted.

He has turned Albertans against the industry that has made them prosper and has made their province great.

No, this is not what Stelmach did. All he did was ask the oil companies to pay a little bit more than they already do for the right to get stinkin' rich off Alberta's resources.

How else can you interpret his new royalty regime, imposed without negotiation on the province's central economic engine?

Um, about that "without negotiation" thing? You may have missed the bit about the group together by Stelmach go over the royalty issue and negotiate some solutions to it, a group that, in Sam Spanglet, included at least one guy directly employed by the oil industry. Anyway, it was in all the papers.

If you believe the polls, he has persuaded Albertans the oil and gas producers are robbing them blind and that he, Ed Stelmach, will defend them.

Actually, not so much. While he did persuade a lot of us that the oil and gas companies were making out like bandits, the jury's still out on whether his measures will in fact defend us from this.

Shades of Tommy Douglas!

And Ted kicks it old school, going with a vintage bit of red-scaring!

Ironically, it was exactly 60 years ago that Imperial Oil, after drilling more than 100 dry wells, finally found a major oil pool near Leduc.

It is said the discovery rig had been moved into Alberta from Saskatchewan.

By whom is this said? Cite sources, please, sir!

There, the renowned Premier T.C. "Tommy" Douglas, Canada's first socialist head of state, had declared he would defend his people against exploitation by "Big Oil."

He would never allow the vicious multi-nationals to reap their customary "huge profits" out of Saskatchewan.

Well, he was certainly as good as his word.

Yeah, that evil communist bastard, rigging the geology so that Saskatchewan possesses "approximately a quarter of the ultimately recoverable conventional oil resources, and less than 5% of ultimately recoverable natural gas resources" in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (go read the linked article on the oil and gas industry in Saskatchewan. It's very interesting). The history of the oil industry in Saskatchewan is roughly akin to said history in Alberta, except with less oil. This is because there is actually less fucking oil in Saskatchewan, not because of Lenin.

Anyway, Ted blathers on, like the craven twit that he is, about the dangers of Saskatchewan-style socialism and angering the oil companies for awhile. I'll spare you all that, and jump to his final pronouncement:

There goes our carefully nurtured reputation for stability and dependability.

Actually, and only if Stelmach actually has the guts to follow through on the royalty increases (and collect them), there goes our reputation for being patsies.

Hello Again!

Well, we're back. And where were we, you ask? Buried in end-of-term stuff, we respond. However, the exams have been marked, the marks submitted, and life returns to a semblance of normal. So what did we miss? Some of the highlights, so to speak, of the last couple of weeks:

Ed Stelmach becomes premier of Alberta. The official Oi! Thump! position on this is that it could have been worse. Oh boy could it have been worse! And now we'll have the fun of watching Stelmach try to find a place for Ted Morton where he won't be able to do too much damage. Don't be surprised if Morton ends up running for the Alberta Alliance at some point in the future.

Stephane Dion became leader of the federal Liberals. Um, ok. A surprising choice, and there are questions about his electability, particularly in the West. However, once again, it could have been worse.

Parliament refused to ditch same-sex marriage. Not that they had much of a choice. Anyway, the next day, the sun amazingly rose in the East and set in the West, and has continued doing so since. Some people are still refusing to take the hint, though.

The Iraq Study Group recommended that George W. Bush do a number of highly reasonable things to rectify that situation. He will, of course, do none of them.

Rona Ambrose made a rather amusing Freudian slip. "These are the kinds of things we can show Canadians that we mean business when it comes to our environmental agenda," said Ambrose. Yes Rona, we know that your government has business, along with heavy industry, at the heart of its environmental policies.

Anyway, stay tuned for Friday Archaeology Blogging!

Release The Hounds!!! (Provincial Edition)


Arf!Arf!Arf!Arf!Arf!Arf!

Yeah, it's that time again, when we pick on people whose only crime (sometimes) is to aspire to political office. This time, we're going after the candidates to become the next Tory leader here in Alberta, filling the large, beer-stained boots belonging to Ralph Klein. Over the next few days, we'll be picking on the various contenders to be our next premier. Let's start with, oh, Ed Stelmach.

Ed Stelmach

• Who He?: Longtime Tory provincial cabinet minister. Not known for anything, good or bad, in particular.
  
  
• Why Should Progressives Support Him?: Good ideas on preserving wetlands and other sundry environmental matters. Or, at least he's making the right noises in that direction.
  
  
• Why Should We Not?: Dangerously vague on a number of issues (i.e. Arts, homelessness), which leads one to suspect that he actually intends to pretty much ignore them. Is trying to portray himself as "tough on crime", without having any notions about how to reduce the crime rate. Wants to build more prisons.
  
  
• Is He Likely To Pick Fights With Homeless People?: Not really, although it's a bit hard to tell.
  
  
• How are his chances?: Slim. There nothing that really sets him apart from the others, and he'll be happy to make to a second ballot.