Alberta Liberals call Washington trade office "a complete waste"

Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald has characterized Alberta's Washington trade office as "a complete waste of money":

“It’s a complete waste of money is what it is,” said Liberal critic Hugh MacDonald, the MLA for Goldbar.

“How ironic is it that the current premier, Mr. Stelmach, and the former energy minister Murray Smith were in the ‘deep six’ together: the fiscal hawks in cabinet who demanded the closure of these overseas offices. Now, they won’t even tell us what’s he’s going to get for a pension from this job.”

Ministers do have to go to Washington sometimes, said MacDonald, while Smith spends most of his time entertaining. “They have executive assistants to handle the travel and meeting planning for them.

"They don't need Murray Smith ..."

The story notes that the office in Washington costs Alberta taxpayers a total of $1.4 million annually.

Of course, it comes as no surprise to those who follow the Alberta Liberals that they want Alberta's Washington trade office closed. Liberals (and New Democrats) want to impose their view of a highly centralized Canadian federation on Alberta, which means Liberal Ottawa must "represent" Alberta's interests abroad. This very aggressive centralization agenda mandates that the jurisdiction and activities of the Alberta government be reduced - and the role of Ottawa enlarged - in every area, not just trade. This blog alone contains stories on Liberals and New Democrats taking the following positions:

1. The Alberta Securities Commission should be shut down, and replaced with a federal regulator. (*)
2. The federal government should take over responsibility for setting education standards in the provinces. (*)
3. The federal government should become the primary regulator of growth in the Athabasca oil sands, and use the new federal regulatory power to limit growth to a level that Ottawa unilaterally deems "sustainable". (*)

This small sampling is just the tip of the iceberg.

I also note that Hugh MacDonald couldn't make it through the interview without taking a shot at the American government:

"... If Dick Cheney wants a busboy, he should pay for it himself.”

Typical.

An interview on Alberta's trade office turns into a personal attack on Dick Cheney. This sort of attitude, and this kind of cheap shot, are the norm whenever Liberals and their ilk discuss America or the American government ...

... and this is exactly why Alberta should continue to have it's own representatives in Washington.

Source (click for full screencap):

Alberta Tories at 34%?

Werner Patels has a post up on Jeffrey Simpson's latest column in the Globe and Mail. In that column, Simpson alleges that the Tories are polling at 34% in Alberta:

Rub your eyes, political junkies, when you read this: The Alberta Conservative Party stands at 34 per cent in the latest public opinion polls. Yes, poll numbers rise and fall. They are just snapshots. But still: only 34 per cent support for Canada's leading political dynasty, the party of Peter Lougheed and Ralph Klein.

I left a comment over on Werner's blog regarding the inaccuracy of the column:

In his column, Simpson states that the Alberta Tories are polling at 34%. I have seen no poll that has them that low, and just blogged about this yesterday.

An Ipsos-Reid poll published on June 23 had the Tories at 47%. There was a poll from Leger Marketing last week that put Stelmach's approval rating at 39%, and had the Tories at 34% in Calgary, 37% in Edmonton, and 45% in the rest of the province. That poll was reported in the Calgary Herald.

The Calgary Herald and Leger Marketing rarely get things right. They predicted Dinning was way out front in the PC leadership race, followed by Oberg. The rest, including Ted Morton, were supposedly in the 5% range.

We all know how accurate that prediction turned out to be.

Posted by: The Watcher ¦ July 18, 2007 at 09:48 AM

I, for one, don't buy this 34% nonsense. I think Mr. Simpson is letting his own Liberal bias cloud his reading comprehension.

I would welcome a link to a credible poll that has the Alberta Tories at 34%, and will open comments for this purpose.

Correction: The Calgary Herald poll that I refer to in my comment on Werner's blog as being published "last week", was in fact published on July 3, 2007.

New polls roundup

You can read about the latest Alberta provincial polling data at Nodice.ca. In fact, they have compiled most of the provincial polls since 2006 in one chart. Here is a screencap:



For more detailed coverage of some of these numbers, go to this post and this post at Alberta Alliance Watch.

When blogging Liberals, screencap often

I noticed something strange today when doing up my response to Liberal tough guy Aman Hayer. His blog, "Wild Rose Grit", was formerly hosted at the following URL:

http://wildrosegrit.blogspot.com

When you go there now, you will find nothing but jibberish. "Wild Rose Grit" was definitely at this URL; it is where I got the screencap of Hayer's January 4, 2007 post (that being the one in which he intimates Taft should step down). Now, "Wild Rose Grit" is hosted here:

http://wildrosecitygrit.blogspot.com

If you look at the January archives, the January 4 post shown in my screencap has vanished.

So Hayer has changed the URL of his blog, and deleted at least one post. Why? If he wanted to revise history, why not just delete the January 4 post, and pretend it wasn't there?

And why keep the original URL, delete the posts, and insert some phrases from a foreign language?

I don't know the answers to these questions, and I certainly am not going to waste any time trying to find some logic in the strange behavior of Aman Hayer. However, it is obvious that Hayer is trying to cover something up, and he is willing to engage in destructive tactics to achieve whatever end he has in mind.

Which only goes to show that you need to have a good screencap program when blogging Liberals, because what is here today, could be "Hayered" tomorrow.

Liberal punk threatens lawsuit

Back on January 6, 2007, I wrote a post wherein I quoted a Liberal blogger known as the Wild Rose Grit, and accurately reproduced statements from his blog in which he impugned the leadership abilities of one Kevin Taft. In his post, the Wild Rose Grit stated Taft was about to "reach his expiration date", and he further stated that Taft did not have what it takes to be "Priemer".

His post seemed pretty definitive at the time, so, I was a bit surprised to receive an email on March 9, 2007, from "Aman Hayer (aka Wild Rose Grit)", asking me to take the post down, and threatening legal action if I failed to do so:

The Watcher (albertaliberalarchive)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please, Remove Post from January 6, 2007
1 message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aman Hayer Fri, Mar 9, 2007 at 9:54 PM
To: albertaliberalarchive@gmail.com

Hi,

This Aman Hayer (aka Wild Rose Grit),

Could you take down your post, from Saturday January 6, 2007? You have taken one of my quotes (at complete fault of my own) out of context.

What I meant by the quote was that I am undecided on what Taft’s role is for our Party. I believe Taft is either the next Lougheed, who is now prepared to oust a dynasty. Or he is the person who is laying out the foundation for his successor and the person who will oust the Tory Dynasty.

I maybe forced to take Legal Action if that post is not removed.

Thank You Very Much.

~Aman

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hayer, your email is bullshit, and your threats are frivolous. I did not quote out of context. Here is a screencap of the post.

In the paragraph following the one from which I pulled the first quote, you state: "If the Alberta Liberal Party wants the premiership we should ponder a new leader." You then go on to list 4 potential replacements for Taft, and give the pros and cons of each.

In addition, several of the comments to your post reflect the fact that other people recognized this post for what it was - a call for Taft to resign.

I should have responded to your nonsense earlier, but, your legal threats didn't exactly leave me quaking in my boots, and I forgot about your email back in March. I am responding now because I happened to come across the email while cleaning out my inbox.

So, the post will be staying up. In fact, I'm thinking of forwarding it by email (along with the screencap) to Taft's office, in order to remind him that you were trying to stick the knife in him and destroy his leadership. As for the lawsuit, this is my formal response:

Bring. It. On.

Hayer, I will open comments on this post, in case you wish to respond here. I do moderate comments, but will publish anything you submit as is.

A fixer upper

"The Archive" reached a milestone in traffic last week, so I decided to give it an upgrade.

I have changed the blog template used on this site and at Alberta Alliance Watch. Things went flawlessly. I have also moved all audio to my shared media account on Twango. The server I used previously to host my audio files was a bit moody. Twango is much faster, and appears to be more reliable. If you are looking for a reliable, free, audio host, I recommend Twango.

Pretty impressed thus far.

Adscam investigation finally focuses on Jacques Corriveau

Blogger Trevor Harris has a post up regarding the ongoing investigation into the Adscam affair:

Jean Lafleur gets 45 months in jail and is ordered to repay $1.5 million that he stole from Canadian taxpayers as part of the Liberal sponsorship scandal. You would think we would be nearing the end of the road when it comes to tales of Liberal corruption, scandal and greed...nope!

A long-time Liberal party campaign organizer and friend of former prime minister Jean Chretien, Jacques Corriveau, saw his house get raided by the RCMP just yesterday. Remember him? Gomery characterized Corriveau as:

"the central figure in an elaborate kickback scheme by which he enriched himself personally and provided funds and benefits to the (Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec)."

I assume as time passes we will discover why - and who knows - maybe we'll find out who was driving that armoured getaway car when $200 million or so was heisted from hard working taxpayers.

But we can't forget the sage words from all Liberals when it comes to this historic breach of public trust - most recently uttered by MP, Mark Holland;

"It was in fact the Liberal party that called for the Gomery Inquiry, that called for the auditor general, that ensured we were able to go after the individuals who were responsible."

True... but it was in fact the Liberal party that was running the government when former Cabinet Ministers and dozens of Liberal friendly operatives violated the public trust by funnelling millions of dollars into the hands of people like Jean Lafleur. Pleading guilty does not absolve you of the crime. Nice try though.

Two points:

1. It is great to see Jacques Corriveau taking some heat. I hope some incriminating evidence managed to escape the paper shredder in the 18 month period between Gomery fingering Corriveau, and the police finally getting around to searching Corriveau's premises.
2. It comes as no surprise to see Liberal Party pipsqueak Mark Holland giving the Liberals credit for calling the Gomery Inquiry. In saying this, Holland is in fact dredging up an old mantra used by Paul Martin during his brief time as Prime Minister. For those readers interested in the full history of the Liberal Party's approach to Gomery, may I remind you that Jean Chretien and his entourage were against any type of inquiry, and thought Paul Martin was a complete incompetent for calling the Gomery Inquiry and shining so much light on this issue.
If it was up to Chretien and his minions, the Gomery Inquiry never would have happened, and the sordid operations of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec likely never would have become public knowledge.
But, why let the facts get in the way of some good propaganda, eh Mark?

Alberta Liberals are "gristle from ear to ear"; Alberta New Democrats are "boneheads"

That's the verdict of Calgary Sun columnist Paul Jackson, in a column he wrote on April 1, 2007:

Back to Alberta and our 36-year rule of the Progressive Conservatives.

Isn't it about time it's over?

Is it not time we got some fresh blood, and some new ideas at the Alberta Legislative Assembly?

Well, I don't think we are going to get any out of Premier Ed Stelmach and his team.

So what's the alternative?

Where is Alberta's Mario Dumont and ADQ?

It's certainly not Kevin Taft's zany Liberals -- every one of them gristle from ear-to-ear.

It's not Brian Mason's socialist New Democrats -- every one a bonehead.

What then, has happened to Hinman and the Alberta Alliance, which under former leader Randy Thorsteinson, hauled in 9% of the vote in the 2004 provincial election.

Where have they gone to ground. And why?

Why now? I just happened to stumble across this journalistic masterpiece, and found it funny. Besides, given the positions of the Alberta Liberal Party and Alberta New Democrats on federal-provincial issues, Jackson's comments are totally justifiable.

Have a pleasant day.

Source (click for screencap):

Dave Rutherford bitchslaps Mark Holland

I'm still catching up on posting audio files that have been sitting on my server for months. Today's clip is from February 2, 2007, and features Liberal MP Mark Holland being interviewed by Dave Rutherford.

I blogged about Mark Holland's nutty NEP II proposal here. Given the huge interventions into the Alberta economy being proposed by Holland, it should come as no surprise that the Alberta media picked up on this rather quickly. In addition to proposing a new NEP, the interview contains many examples of how ill-informed many of the pro-Kyoto people are.

I will fisk the interview at a later date.

Listen here:

Mark Holland's infamous attack on Alberta

Fun, fun, fun.

Today's audio is dated, but memorable. It features an appearance by Liberal MP Mark Holland on the February 1, 2007 Charles Adler Show. During the interview, Holland creates the impression that a Dion government would engage in a massive intrusion into the regulatory jurisdiction of Alberta over the Athabasca oil sands.

Holland was at one time considered an up and comer in the Liberal Party of Canada, and was appearing a lot in the national media. I notice that his appearances have been scaled back considerably since the spring.

Another example of the Peter Principle in action?

Listen here:

The David Suzuki Meltdown

I have figured out how to embed audio in blog posts.

This is a welcome development, given that Liberals and their statist allies in the NDP and Green Party like nothing more than the sound of their own hyperbole, and this trait, combined with the fact that Liberals and their ilk don't know what they are talking about half the time, leads to plenty of factual errors - and overwrought displays of emotion - whenever a Liberal takes to the airwaves.

My first offering is a classic case of Liberal meltdown on the radio. It is a recording of a segment of "The John Oakley Morning Show", dating from February 15, 2007. The interviewee is one Dr. David Suzuki, and the subject is Kyoto. He is literally talking out of his ass the whole time he is on the air.

Suzuki also gets quite ticked at Oakley's intransigence and questions, and evidently stomps out of the interview just after its conclusion. More analysis of the many Suzuki falsehoods contained in this clip will follow.

Listen here: