Alberta - Shadow Cabinet and Redford's New Chief of Staff

On Monday, Alberta Premier Alison Redford announced  a change in Chief of Staff, Farouk Adatia.  He replaces Stephen Carter,  who served as Redford's Chief of Staff for the past six months. Earlier this year Adatia failed to win the PC party's nomination for Calgary-Hawkwood.  His annual salary is expected to be $264,000.  A nice reward for the Calgary lawyer. 

"As a lawyer specializing in corporate and commercial law and as a volunteer leader with deep ties to the community, Farouk's experience and values are reflective of a new government focused on building an even better Alberta,"said Redford.

Isn't that what voters were appalled at during the election, the PC dynasty rewarding crony's with plumb jobs?  Regardless, voters get the government they deserve.  Meanwhile the pressure has been on after a fatal accident on Highway 63, which killed seven people.  While Doug Horner responded, Premier Redford said she would answer some letters regarding concerns over twinning of the highway when she returns from vacation next week.  Will it be more excuses? 

Meanwhile there was an education session for the newly elected MLAs in the legislature.  The session is intended to introduce new members to the procedures and obviously give some helpful advice.  Former Speaker Ken Kowalski, urged MLAs to be civil and to turn down the rhetoric.  He said that one can disagree with the other side, but can still work with them.  Civility is certainly something that would be desired.  Albertans want their MLAs to get things done. 

Official Opposition Leader, Danielle Smith, used the occasion to introduce her shadow cabinet. 

“Wildrose campaigned on the slogan ‘new ideas that put Albertans first’, and more than one-third of Albertans rallied to that cause,” said Smith, noting that Wildrose earned more votes than any other opposition party in Alberta history on April 23.

Among the major critic roles, Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth will return to their chief critic portfolios of Finance and Health, respectively. Anderson will also return as House Leader. Bruce McAllister (Chestermere-Rocky View) will be Education Critic, Kerry Towle (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) will be Seniors Critic and Whip, Shayne Saskiw (Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills) will be Critic for Justice and Solicitor General, and Jason Hale (Strathmore-Brooks) will serve as Energy Critic.

“While we will not needlessly oppose the Redford PCs, we intend to use our role as Official Opposition to ensure that Albertans’ voices are clearly heard in the Alberta Legislature,” Smith said.   Wildrose Website

Premier Alison Redford is expected to announce her new cabinet next week, with a legislature session starting on May 16th.  The session should include the throne speech and will hopefully deal with the Highway 63 issue prior to breaking for the summer. 

With a large official opposition, it should no longer be business as usual. 

Twinning Highway 63 - AB Government Responds

Days after the tragic accident on Highway 63 that killed seven people on what many call the "Deadliest Highway in Alberta, the government responded.  Doug Horner, Deputy Premier of Alberta called the accident tragic, but said he could not give a timeline on when the twinning of the highway could be completed. 

Horner said that the construction crews had to deal with marshlands, which had significantly slowed progress on the project. 

"If you've got a bottomless bog, how do you fill that?" Horner said. "So they've got to do some interesting things there.
"You've got to make sure the highway is safe when it's complete too, because you don't want the bottom falling out of it."

Horner said that 33 km of the highway had been twinned and another 36 km should be completed by fall this year.

He said that the highway is a priority for the government and if the Premier could wave a magic wand and have it twinned it would be done.

 "If it was in the premier's power to wave her wand today and have it twinned, it would be done," Horner said. "That's not in her power, but it is a priority of this government."

Horner said that the loss of life was painful an he would look into fast tracking the project, but that he was worried that it might not be possible.

 "It is a tragedy, and we are working as quickly as we can to make sure those kinds of tragedies don't occur again. However, we don't know all of the factors around it right now."

The construction on this highway started six years ago and to say the least 33 km in six years has amounted to five km being completed annually.  There are 300 km of highway to complete.  To say the least this is at a snails pace.   One has to wonder how the work was tendered and who estimated the work to determine the difficulties.  

After six years, surely someone did an environmental assessment, did an assessment of the work required and established a timeline.  After all how else was it tendered?  Companies can't tender a contract without that basic knowledge.  So where is the timeline?

With two lanes already in place, the terrain in the area has to be well known.  There is also a network of pipelines that move crude from Fort McMurray to the Edmonton area.   

It took only six years to complete the Alaska Highway, which covered 2700 kilometers through some of the most difficult terrain in North America.   Granted it was an all out war effort and it was given a high priority.  Nonetheless it was completed.

Wildrose leader and Leader of the Official Opposition, Danielle Smith said that making the highway a priority means actually twinning it.

 "If they continue at this rate, they're not going to be done for 70 years," said Smith. "Making it a priority means actually delivering on twinning it."

It's time for the Alberta government to get serious about Highway 63.  Provide a timeline for completion, including the cost and how it will be funded.  Albertans have heard enough excuses over the past six years and it's time for the Alberta government to act in an open and transparent matter.   Not knowing all the factors around it right now, is just not good enough. 

Keep the pressure on the Progressive Government, the time for excuses is over.  Albertans demand action.



 A facebook group has been organized PLEASE TWIN HIGHWAY 63 and has more than 13,000 members in just two days.  If you agree that the Highway should be made a priority and should be twinned take some time to visit and leave a comment for Premier Alison Redford.

There is also a petition Twin Highway 63.  Please take the time to sign it. 

Alberta - Redford Promises a Shake Up - Where are the Priorities

With the election in Alberta in the books, a final analysis shows that although the Redford Tories captured 61 seats in the Alberta Legislature, they only received 44% of the popular vote, compared to the Wildrose Party, which received 17 seats with 34% of the popular vote.  Essentially that means that 56% of Albertans vote against the Redford Tories.  22% of the remaining electorate was voted for leftist parties (the NDP and Liberal Party).  Alison Redford promises a major "shake up"

She wants to transform how government delivers services, boost the opposition's influence in the legislature and improve how Alberta relates to the rest of Canada. The Province

Unfortunately, while she says she wants to boost the opposition's influence in the legislature, in the same breath she takes another swipe at the Wildrose leader Danielle Smith. 

In her interview she says that a defining issue were the so called Dani Dollars.  In fact she said that while the polls may have shown that this was popular with the public, she had the pulse of the Province.  Really?  Personally, she had the pulse of the Alberta Teacher's Association and unions.  The robocalls by unions to voters demonizing the Wildrose party are a good indicator of that.  The author was a recipient of those.  In simple terms it could be called "Dirty Tricks."

"I want to really revitalize the legislative process. I want legislative committees to work the way that they should, and they should be all-party committees. They should be holding public hearings, and that's where we should be talking about policy."

The Wildrose, she said, inadvertently reinforced that theme by defending religious "conscience rights," a concept many Albertans perceived as thinly veiled discrimination against minorities. "They (Wildrose) still kept proposing it, qualifying and changing it - 'Oh, there'll be rules here, there'll be rules there' - but they didn't actually give up on the idea, and I was absolutely amazed by that."

The state of Alberta infrastructure

In the past 36 hours ten people have been killed on Alberta roads, seven on Highway 63, which links Fort McMurray to Edmonton.  Highway 63 has been in the forefront

A report on CTV Edmonton says that 7% of all fatalities on Alberta highways occurs on a stretch of Highway 63/28 between Redwater and Fort McMurray.

Police say seven per cent of fatalities on Alberta highways last year happened between Redwater and Fort McMurray.

High vehicle traffic on Highway 63 plays a major role. Eight years ago, about 2,000 vehicles used the road each day. Fast forward six years and that number has grown to about 3,400 vehicles per day.

Dangerous speeds is also a large factor. Driver Bryson Brown says he regularly sees drivers going faster than the 100 km/h speed limit.

"They pass me about 140, 150 easy," he says.

Const. Fossen says he caught drivers going even faster.

"I've had as high as up to 200 km/h on this stretch of highway," he said.

 Seldom a week goes by where there isn't a report of someone killed or seriously injured on that stretch of highway.  The Tories have been paying lip service to the issue but little has been done.  It has come down to excuses, which have been not enough traffic to substantiate the expenditure to difficult terrain to build a highway.  How much is a life worth? 


Highway 63 is but one example of misplaced priorities of the Tories.  Add to that a promised senior centre in Fort McMurray.  The centre was promised under Ed Stelmach, yet it never happened and it caused Guy Boutelier, the local PC to leave the party and eventually join the Wildrose Party.  The imposition of high voltage power lines, a failing health care system with long waiting lists are just a few other examples.

Range and Town ship roads in rural communities are unsafe and unfit for the 21st century and all of this in a province that is touted to be the richest in Canada.  Reliable internet service in rural Alberta is atrocious.  The list goes on and on..  You get my point.

Instead the Tories went after an expensive carbon capture experiment.  Millions were wasted in the project.  

If the Premier is going to implement change and shake things up, then it's time to get her head out of the sand and set some realistic priorities.  While urban communities may want hockey arenas and museums, all worthwhile projects, it is incumbent that the infrastructure in this province be prioritized. 

It seems obvious that if asked the companies benefiting from extracting oil from the oilsands would probably be prepared to fix Highway 63 in a partnership.   Has anyone approached them?

The Premier needs to set priorities that are important to Albertans, including those of rural Albertans.  While most of the votes are in the cities, rural Alberta still contributes to the Alberta economy and should not be ignored.  Contrary to popular belief, we're not backwood hillbillies rednecks.   The Premier should remember that.  We will pay close attention to her so-called shake up..

Alberta - Convenient Release of Mar Ethics Report

The Alberta government chose a Friday afternoon to release the results of the Ethics report on Gary Mar.  Even though the information was apparently available well ahead of the election on April 23rd. 

During the campaign it was reported that Mar had been reinstated to his position by Redford’s deputy minister, Peter Watson, well before the televised Leaders’ debate.  At the time, the PC campaign and Redford insisted they had seen nothing of the report despite the close connections with the Premier’s office.

Gary Mar, who faced Redford during the Progressive Conservative Party Leadership campaign an lost in the third ballot, was handpicked by Redford as the Alberta envoy to Asia in Hong Kong.  He was   investigated after auctioning off a trip to his Hong Kong government office at a personal fundraiser earlier this year organized to help him pay off PC leadership debts. The trip reportedly fetched $20,000.

Alison Redford suspended Mar without pay and ordered and ethics investigation.  She referred the investigation to the Deputy Minister of Executive Council, Peter Watson, who is responsible for administering the Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Public Service which applies to senior officials in the Government of Alberta.  He apparently hired an independent investigator and legal advice. 

When queried about the report, during the election campaign, Redford said she was not aware of any report.  Then just a few days after the election, on a Friday, the report is released, with the following findings:

• The wording of the invitation was changed when concerns were raised to make it clear that the dinner was a private affair
• Mr. Mar was not involved in the direct solicitation of funds from the dinner
• The funds raised from the dinner did not relate to the discharge of Mr. Mar's duties in public office;
• None of the funds raised from the dinner would be paid to Mr. Mar
• No information was conveyed to attendees that was not freely available to the public
• No special access was provided to or expected by the winner of a trip to Hong Kong auctioned at the dinner

The investigation found that there was no conflict of interest and Mar is returning to his duties in Hong Kong.

Obviously Alison Redford wanted to avoid any controversy and criticism during the election.  The Wildrose Party was quick to respond.  Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith commented on the report and said that the transaction involving Mr. Mar does not pass the smell test.

 “Regardless of the report, this transaction involving Mr. Mar doesn’t pass the smell test,” Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said. “Ms. Redford should force Mr. Mar to repay the $20,000 as a condition of remaining on the job.” Source Wildrose Party

Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson criticized Redford for fumbling the Mar file from the start by keeping the report behind closed doors and by handing out a patronage posting in the first place.

“Redford is building a reputation of wanting to keep the public in the dark, whether it’s her time as Justice Minister creating laws that shroud illegal donation investigations into secrecy, or punting important issues until after the election,” Anderson said.  “It’s time to hold an open and transparent competitive process for international offices instead of continuing on with the PC pattern of giving plum patronage postings to party officials.”

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, in all likelihood it's a duck.