Alberta's Crony Capitalism on Display

While there are reports of inadequate care for our seniors, the Alberta Health Services (AHS) had to reach an agreement with its CFO to cancel his contact.  Apparently a Freedom of Information query revealed that , Allaudin Merali, who was looking after AHS' finances had some very expensive habits.

Elaborate dinners, wine selection, repairs to his personal vehicle all were authorized expenses to the tune of $350,000 over a three and a half year period.  He was also cited for overspending while working as a consultant for the Ontario government.

All that didn't deter Alberta's Progressive Government to hire him as CFO for the AHS Superboard.  To add insult to injury, the person that approved all these expenses, Sheila Weatherill, former Capital Health head honcho,  also sat on the AHS Superboard until her resignation yesterday.

Weatherhill apparently received $1.5 Million in severance when the Alberta Health Services Superboard was created.  Go figure and then she was rehired to sit on that board.  Does it smell of crony capitalism?  You bet.

The budget passed by the PCs in April is proving to be and "Alice in Wonderland" budget.  It was to generate Billions in surplus in a couple of years, based on bogus projected oil prices at $100 a barrel.  Needless to say the market is not even remotely close to that.  Working with an $800 million deficit, based on those estimates, you can rest assured that it will be much higher and will need revision during the next legislative session.

With both the XL Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines being questioned, Alberta may end up having to put the breaks on oilsands development.  That in itself will impact on royalties.  So far Alison Redford refuses to discuss the issue with Christie Clark and native groups are bound and determined to stop it.   At some point someone needs to talk.

With the recent spill of an Enbridge pipeline in Wisconsin, the XL Keystone project could be delayed for another year.  Meanwhile the Premier has traveled to London to sell Alberta at a cost of $84,000.  Message to the Premier:  "Brits hate the sealhunt and the oilsands, a few days visit will not change that."  Money well spent?  Not likely.

The question is will the PCs raise taxes or make cuts to current programs?  It will probably be a mixture of the two.  Isn't it strange how the Wildrose Party was demonized during the last days of the election campaign?  Yet much of what was predicted is starting to ring true.

While the scandal of overspending is presently raging in the Alberta Health Services, it calls into question in what other department the PCs have lost control?

While bureaucrats are taking the hit for the out of control spending for expense claims in the AHS, the buck should really stop with the Minister, if not the Premier.   After all, isn't the government accountable to the public?  Let's see how this plays out.  The next legislative session won't be pretty.  For the Tories is is business as usual.  After 41 years in power, there appears to be a culture of entitlement. 

Pipeline politics in Canada: national energy strategy

There has been a heated spat between British Columbia Premier Christie Clark and Alberta's Premier Alison Redford. The dispute started when Christie Clark paid a call on Redford to outline her conditions for the Northern Gateway pipeline, before going public.
Christie went public this week, prior to the Premier's Summit in Lunenburg, NS with her conditions:
1. Completing the environmental review process with a recommendation by the National Energy Board that the project proceed.
2. Deploying world leading marine oil spill response for the delicate BC coast line
3. Using world leading land spill response and prevention.
4. Addressing legal requirements of Aboriginal and treaty rights.
5. Ensuring that BC receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits. At present B.C. only gets eight percent of the pipeline revenue.  Full Story @allovoices 

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. 

HIghway 63 Twinning Should be a Priority

The fatal crash on Alberta deadliest highway that connects the Oilsand community of Fort McMurray with Edmonton has brought the twinning issue front and centre again.  About 7% of all traffic fatalities in Alberta occur on the highway between Redwater and Fort McMurray.

The 240 km stretch of  road, ,which is for the most part a two lane highway, is filled with cars, pick up trucks, semi-trailers and trucks carrying oversize equipment from Edmonton to the booming Alberta Oil Sands town.   Yet it appears that the Alberta government has not made the road a priority in infrastructure spending.

The excuses should stop and the job should get done and soon.   The Highway was an issue and was touted by the Wildrose Party as a priority.

"It's a No. 1 priority. It's critical. How many more lives must be lost before we widen that highway?" said Wildrose candidate and former mayor of Fort McMurray, Doug Faulkner.    "It's impossible to guarantee that if you are driving from Fort McMurray to Edmonton that you will not meet a very dangerous situation. People going too fast, pulling out to try to pass, not enough passing lanes. We need it done."


Without rekindling the election campaign, but one has to ask how many more people have to die.

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. 

Redford has taken some time away after the election and said that she would respond when she gets back next week. 

There should be no more excuses.  The community that has become the engine of the Canadian economy deserves to get something in return.  There should be cooperation between the operators at Fort McMurray, the Provincial and Federal government.  Let's get past the bureaucracy and get this job done.

Reflection on the Alberta Election

Albertans seemed to have send a clear message on Monday's election.  The message was, although we're dissatisfied with the Progressive Conservative Party (PC), we're not quite ready to embrace the conservatism of the Wildrose Party.  The PC party, with the help of Liberals have moved Alison Redford's Red Tories further to the left.  Regardless, the Wildrose Party received 34% support of Albertans, primarily in the south east corner of the province.

Danielle Smith's Wildrose Party ran a good campaign for approximately two weeks, highlighting the excessive spending, corruption and broken promises of the PCs.  Wildrose rolled out its policy and clearly differentiated itself from the cronyism of the progressive conservatives.  Then the campaign went off the rails.  Redford's PCs were able to divert off the issues and made the campaign about conscience issues, intolerant remarks and climate change.  None of these issues had much to do with the campaign, but were damaging to Wildrose.

Raj Sherman, Liberal Party leader, courageously left the PC party over health care and the emergency room situation.  His campaign and accusations of bigotry in the Wildrose Party resonated with his voters to the point that they ran in droves to the PCs.  His Liberal Party, which received 26% of the popular vote in the 2008 elections, only netted 10% on Monday.   His supporters found a new home in Redford's PC party or Brian Mason's NDP, which gained four seats.

Despite her majority, Redford has a few promises to keep.  She must satisfy the environmentalists, get harder on the oil and gas companies in the province and meet the expectations of the national media.  She has to find the money for her promises that clearly exceeded her budget.  These include 140 family care centres, $650 Million in post secondary education investment,

Redford said the clinics’ cost will be borne by existing Alberta Health Services funding and won’t require additional government dollars.

She estimated the total cost of the clinics at about $3.4 billion but said that will come from the $3.9 billion already budgeted for primary health care.

“A very big part of what we want to do is change the way that we’re providing primary health care,” said Redford.

Savings will come from the clinics because they will use infrastructure that is in some cases underutilized and by bringing health care professionals together to provide services, she said.

But Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the clinics have been estimated at $5 million apiece and will cost an additional $700 million on top of the existing health budget.

 Conservative leader Alison Redford on Tuesday announced a three-year, $650 million investment in colleges and universities across Alberta.
The money will benefit NAIT, NorQuest, the University of Calgary, Lethbridge College and Mount Royal University.
“There’s no doubt that post-secondary institutions in this province, no matter where they are, are the key to our future success,” Redford said at an announcement at Bow Valley College on Tuesday morning.
“We’re not just building buildings, we are educating Albertans and we’re educating future workers in this economy. … An investment in Alberta’s post-secondary infrastructure is an investment in Alberta’s future.”

With lawn bowlers in the background, Tory Leader Alison Redford made the latest pitch for the all-important seniors vote in the provincial election campaign.
Redford announced Tuesday in Lethbridge that a re-elected Progressive Conservative government would introduce a $500 senior’s activity tax credit.
The tax credit will cost the province about $24 million. Seniors will be eligible for the credit for physical activities, classes and crafts. Redford said keeping active helps keep seniors healthy.
“Making your lives better makes your family’s lives better and makes your community’s life better,” she said at the Nord-Bridge Senior Citizens Centre.
Earlier in the day, Redford promised $19 million for expansion of a pilot program to help train medical students outside of the province’s two major centres.

She pledged if her party is re-elected to invest $3-billion over 20 years in an energy research authority that will work to improve oil sands technology and environmental outcomes.  The group would be called AOSTRA 2, after the original Alberta Oilsands Technology and Research Authority created by Peter Lougheed when he was premier in 1974.
“In order for us to be able to continue to grow the economy in Alberta, in an environmentally sustainable way, we have to be global leaders with respect to energy development and with respect to environmental sustainability,” Redford said at a campaign stop at Suncor’s reclaimed Wapisiw Lookout in Fort McMurray, Alta.

“It’s going to allow us to continue to develop this wonderful region and the conventional resources that we have. It’s also going to allow us to develop technologies that can be marketed around the world.”

Needless to say all this has to be paid for.  In addition there is the issue of high voltage transmission lines, property rights and Bills 36 and 50.  

The Wildrose Party has obviously been on a sharp learning curve, but has an opportunity during the next four years to make their mark in the legislature.  While Redford has a clear majority, enough noise can be made to stop her from continuing with a PC spending spree, hold her to account, especially on health care and property rights.  There needs to be a full public inquiry on health care, physician intimidation and transmission lines.  Majority should not mean clear sailing for the Redford "Red Tories."

Danielle Smith reflected on the Wildrose flop on Tuesday and blamed party policy rather than the controversy on the sudden surprising turn of the election.

"Smith said she has no regrets for not taking a harder line on the anti-gay and racist sentiments of two candidates.  Some pundits and Wildrose foes say that stance showed a crucial leadership void just as the race entered its last laps.

“I received a lot of phone calls from our own candidates saying how grateful they were that I didn’t throw these two candidates under the bus at the first sign of trouble,” Smith told the Sun.

But she said such candidate banter and other issues, like conscience rights, the party’s stance questioning human-caused global warming and an Alberta agenda on pensions and policing will be reviewed.

“We have to deal with these as a party — these are the issues that caused the most controversy, those are the issues we have to take direction from Albertans,” she said.

“If staying on those issues is causing us problems with Albertans, we’ll have to make the right decisions and modify those policies.

“We have to think seriously about what Albertans said to us.”  Calgary Sun

In summary, Alison Redford has promises to keep and must show how she will pay for them without increasing the province's deficit or raising taxes, the Wildrose Party has to keep Redford to account, gain valuable legislative experience and have a look at some of its candidates and policies for the next election.   Raj Sherman, should he remain leader of the Liberal Party has to figure out how to get his base back into his party's tent, while Brian Mason must keep building on his limited success. 

Alison Redford - First Elected Female Premier of Alberta

This is what democracy is all about.  Despite all the hype and polls indicating an upset in the Alberta election, the Redford Tories won and overwhelming majority in Alberta.  Alison Redford is the first elected female Premier of Alberta and the Progressive Conservative Party continues its 41 year dynasty in Alberta.

The final seat count is not official yet, but according to CTV the Redford Tories took 61 of the 87 seats in the Legislature, the Wildrose Party ended up with 18 seats, and both the New Democratic Party and Liberal Party walked away with 4.  Global TV reports 62 for PCs, 16 for Wildrose, NDP 5 and Liberals at 4 seats.

Overall the PCs  received 44.1% of the vote, while Wildrose received 34.6%, the Liberals and NDP 9.8% each and the Alberta Party 1.4% of the vote. Overall voter turn out was 53%, which is low when you consider the hype that preceded this election.

Alison Redford will form the next majority government and she is expected to announce her new cabinet in about ten days.

In her victory speech, Redford thanked her supporters and talked about the future of her party as well as the future of Alberta.

"I ran to be leader of the Progressive Conservative Party because I wanted to bring change to Alberta.  We talked about change in the campaign. We began to introduce change in the last 7 months.  I promised Alberta we would."

Everyone knew that this campaign was about building bridges. Tonight Alberta chose to build bridges."

Wildrose leader, Danielle Smith, with 34.6% of the popular vote and 18 seats, is the leader of the official opposition.  Although she said she was disappointed, she said she was not discouraged. She said she had phoned Redford and congratulated her on her victory. She said she would hold the Redford Tories accountable.

  "Well folks, tonight we found out that change might take a little longer than we thought.  I think the strategic voting actually surprisingly may have worked," Smith said. "I think Ms. Redford won this campaign in the same way she won the PC Leadership, by convincing Liberal and NDP supporters to vote for her party."

"Am I surprised, yeah, am I disappointed, yeah, am I discouraged, not a chance," she said.

Raj Sherman, Liberal Party leader, a party that had 8 seats prior to the election, congratulated Redford on her victory.

  "We must remember a great maxim of democracy, the people are wise.  It is out of deference and respect that I congratulate Alison Redford and the Progressive Conservative Party."

Brian Mason's NDP gained two seats in this election and he also credited the Progressive Conservative win to strategic voting.

 "I think people were scared of the Wildrose and that's unfortunate, but the fact of the matter is we doubled our seats, and I am very much looking forward to getting back into the Legislature."

The people have spoken, the pollsters and pundits were wrong in their predictions.  The most disappointing is really the voter turn out, pegged at just over 53%.  Of  2,265,169 voters only 1,201,834  turned out.  

Regardless the voters are never wrong.  Congratulations to Alison Redford and her Tories.  

Premier Redford Says She Didn't Know Mar Got Reinstated

Yesterday the Rutherford show revealed that Gary Mar, former leadership candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party, had been cleared of ethics violations and reinstated as Alberta's envoy to Hong Kong.  Rutherford quoted anonymous sources.  Alison Redford, who suspended Mar without pay said she had no knowledge of his reinstatement.

"I didn't know it had been resolved until I heard that it was on Rutherford this morning.  We put in place that process because it is a public service circumstance. It's something that Peter Watson has been dealing with. I haven't been made aware of it so I have no comment on it."

This is interesting and both unbelievable, since Redford ordered the probe and suspended Mar without pay when it was revealed that Mar had allegedly used his office to promote a fundraising event to pay off debts incurred running against Redford in last year's PC leadership race.

Gary Mar, who was the forerunner of the PC Leadership contest and had won the first two polls with more than 41%, and only lost in the third ballot, when the second choices of the third place candidate were counted to determine the eventual winner, which was Redford.  

Redford had initially asked the Ethics Commissioner to lead the probe, however when he advised Redford that he didn't have the jurisdiction she assigned the case to Peter Watson, who works out of the Premier's office.  

Redford said that ""At that point it moved to the public service and Peter Watson took on the responsibility and he has carried that responsibility and I have had no part of it."

The whole situation was handled badly and doesn't speak well of Alison Redford's leadership.  There seems to have been a certain overreaction when the incident was first brought to light and for a human rights expert, it seems odd that Redford would have not applied the rule of "Innocent until proven guilty".   It almost smells of vindictiveness.  

New Democratic Party leader, Brian Mason also thinks it was handled badly and that he thinks the information that Mar was reinstated was suppressed.

"The fact she left her challenger for leader hanging for well over a month while his reputation was in the balance was not how you deal with people.  If he violated the ethical guidelines he should have been fired and not treated the way he was.  I think it was frankly suppressed until after the leaders' debate."

Raj Sherman, Liberal Leader, joined he chorus and said that he believed the reinstatement was suppressed.

"She promised change, the day after the election she started making patronage appointments. Mr. Mar is allowed to ask for a job but it is her job to make it fair.  They've been scratching each others' backs for too long and Albertans are getting ripped off."

Mar was appointed as the Hong Kong envoy without competition.  

In  her short few months as Premier, Alison Redford has not really been a shining light.   As soon as she got into office, Redford restored $100 Million to education, without making any adjustments to her budget.  Although she promised to do this within ten days, diligence should have been used to ensure that all other aspects are covered.   It is no surprise that whenever cuts are announced bureaucracies have difficulty in cutting in their own backyard.  Cuts are almost always carried on the backs of teachers.  At the very least the PC government should have conducted a study to see where the education funding is being spend.

Redford's second move was the approval of Bill 50, the portion that approved the Heartland Transmission  Project to the East of Sherwood Park, near Edmonton.  This action was taken despite the fact that a closer examination of the requirement for the transmission lines were needed.

The Alberta Uitilities Commission(AUC) states in its decision that the Alberta Government has taken away the Commission’s legal ability to deal with the costs of the line and whether Bill 50 lines are even needed.  The AUC emphasized in its decision that Cabinet now makes those decisions and Bill 50 prevents the Commission from turning down any Bill 50 line on the grounds that it is not needed or that it is not in the public interest.  More Here

This was followed by the "Do Nothing Committee", a committee that never met for 39 months, but collected $1000 a month for being a member.  Yet Redford didn't think it was necessary to pay back the almost $40,000.  After being shamed by the opposition, she reluctantly asked her party members to pay back $6,000 and after more pressure told them to pay back all of it.  Is this leadership?

A recent TQHQ poll, conducted on April 17th and 18th, with over 1400 respondents, indicates that 51% of Albertans don't think that the Progressive Conservatives deserve to be re-elected, while 28% think they do.  21% are not sure.  Poll Here 

During the last election, Albertans did not have much choice and it resulted in only a 40% voter turn out.  This election seems to have a lot of interest and based on advance polls that opened yesterday and continue today and tomorrow, the turn out has already been high.  The election is on April 23rd.  Regardless of the outcome, polls indicate that the PCs will be  hard pressed to get a majority, if a minority government.  The political landscape is changing in Alberta and not a minute too soon.  41 years of Tory rule is enough.  Yep it's time Alberta.

Alison Redford's First 45 days in Office

Alison Redford was elected by the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta on October 1st and sworn in as Premier of Alberta the following Friday.  During the first ballot she came a distant third, which required a run-off election.  Gary Marr, who was the winner with 41% of the vote on the first ballot, also came first of three prospective candidates during the run off, gaining around 40% support.  Since none of the three candidates had a clear 50% majority, second choice votes were used to determine the final count.  Redford won fair and square by party rules.  IMHO this should have gone to a third ballot with the third place candidate dropping off.  In all likelihood the results would have been different.

Alison Redford really doesn't have a mandate from the electorate to make some of the the decisions she has made during the past 45 days.  She should present her platform and call a general election.  Let Albertans decide if they want to support that platform.

As soon as she got into office, Redford restored $100 Million to education, without making any adjustments to her budget.  Although she promised to do this within ten days, diligence should have been used to ensure that all other aspects are covered.   It is no surprise that whenever cuts are announced bureaucracies have difficulty in cutting in their own backyard.  Cuts are almost always carried on the backs of teachers.  At the very least the PC government should have conducted a study to see where the education funding is being spend.

Redford's second move was the approval of Bill 50, the portion that approved the Heartland Transmission  Project to the East of Sherwood Park, near Edmonton.  This action was taken despite the fact that a closer examination of the requirement for the transmission lines were needed.

The Alberta Uitilities Commission(AUC) states in its decision that the Alberta Government has taken away the Commission’s legal ability to deal with the costs of the line and whether Bill 50 lines are even needed.  The AUC emphasized in its decision that Cabinet now makes those decisions and Bill 50 prevents the Commission from turning down any Bill 50 line on the grounds that it is not needed or that it is not in the public interest.  

Strathcona County Mayor Linda Osinchuk has been speaking out regarding the transmission line and has send a letter to Premier Redford's government urging that Alberta's energy needs and costs be  reviewed before proceeding with the above  ground line.

Strathcona County's mayor has seized the opportunity to take her concerns on electricity transmission to the energy minister.
Strathcona County Mayor Linda Osinchuk has been speaking out against the Heartland Transmission project since the Alberta Utilities Commission approved the 65-kilometre above ground powerline through Strathcona County.
The line is a 500 kilovolt, double-circuit transmission line that would cover 65 kilometres from south Edmonton to the Heartland region near Fort Saskatchewan.
At a session Thursday with cabinet ministers at the Association of Municipal Districts Convention, Osinchuk renewed her call for the province to review electricity needs and costs in Alberta.
Energy Minister Ted Morton says the new line is needed, not just for the Heartland, but to power the oilsands as well.
This comes one day after Osinchuk delivered letters to MLA's on the county's plans to file an application in court to review the decision by the Alberta Utilities Commission. CTV Edmonton

Redford traveled to Washington, D.C. this week, apparently to tell Alberta's story on the XL Keystone Pipeline.   She also met with business leaders in New York City, before a final stop in Ottawa for a discussion with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

 Alberta's Premier is taking some heat on the last leg of her tour promoting the province's energy sector.  Thursday, Alison Redford criticized New Democrat M.P.'s who went to Washington, D.C. and openly opposed the Keystone XL pipeline.  Prior to her meeting with the Prime Minister, Redford told reporters that it's not appropriate for Canadian politicians to advise American decision makers and serve as political activists.Redford's words raised the ire of the opposition.  Alberta's only NDP Member of Parliament, Linda Duncan, says she was appalled to hear Redford's statement. Redford met with Stephen Harper Thursday afternoon. Along with a Canadian energy strategy, she discussed immigration policies and pushed for per capita health funding.Redford says the discussion went well but no promises were made.Source CTV

The big news from the national media tonight is that Redford  is calling for a National Energy Strategy.  You can read more about it here.

In her first 45 days in office, Redford has demonstrated that she is of the same ilk as the PC old boys club.  In essence, nothing has changed.  The idea of a provincial sales tax was floated yesterday.  The PC government quickly denied that they were even thinking of the idea.

The Wildrose Alliance, under the leadership of Danielle Smith, released the Redford files on November 21st.  In an e-mail it said:

It has been just over 45 days since Alison Redford became Premier of Alberta, and already her list of flip-flops and fumbles is staggering.

From breaking her campaign promise of introducing fixed election dates, appointing Gary Mar and Rick Orman as senior government officials without holding an open and competitive application process, her “missing in action” approach on fighting for the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and most recently, her government talking about a provincial sales tax and reintroducing health care premiums, it is clear that Premier Redford is out of touch with the views of everyday Albertans.

That's why today, we have launched The Redford Files, a website which outlines the Premier’s string of broken promises and missteps.

 The Website The Redford Files chronicles Redford's first 45 days, her flip flops and spending. It also carries a tweet from Linda Duncan, New Democratic Party, stating:

@LindaDuncanMP Linda Duncan

#yegfed # cdnpoli pleased Redford adopting federal NDP platform for public dialogue on sustainable energy future for Canadians

Without a mandate from the general public, Redford and her government should stop making life changing decisions for Albertans.   She should call a general election based on her agenda as soon as possible.