Whether at our Big Listens or talking to Albertans on their doorstep, the Alberta Party is often asked how they are different from other parties. Why should we be trusted any more than all the other politicians? In this video, you will hear our answer. Spoken from the mouths of everyday Albertans and from our candidates.

If you would like more information on the Alberta Party, you can contact us here.

US President Obama’s decision to turn down the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal was a disappointment to many, including the citizens ofAlberta. Pipelines are an integral part of marketing our natural resource and this decision points to problems with the overall process.

The decision is not a surprise except, perhaps to the Governments of Canada and Alberta. TransCanada Corporation even realized the route was wrong eventually and announced a different route right after the deferral announcement by the U.S. Government a few months ago.

Canada’s government seems to be out of touch with the Obama Administration and the Alberta Government is not engaged enough about telling the full story of oil sands importance to continental energy security. This is a wake up call to our provincial government who are no longer in touch with Albertans as well as the Canadian government who no longer understand American politics.

As for the oil sands industry, they have to realize that they must do more than focus on the economics of their leases and markets. They have to learn to be environmental stewards. The environment is not a cost of doing oil sands business. It is integral to the business. The oilsands contain one of the world’s largest oil reserves and with a more stringent regulatory oversight and enforcement process Alberta could improve our environmental conditions while simultaneously expanding our economy.

This week we are reaping the effects of not doing a very good job on oversight and regulation, nor of championing our ability to develop our oilsands in a more responsible and sustainable manner. Because a certain segment of the American population were able to overly influence the discussion regarding responsible development of our energy resources – and the P.C.’s in Alberta did little to respond – we have just witnessed a pipeline project being rejected because of our poor provincial reputation.  Pipelines, when built properly and subjected to third-party inspection are a safe and responsible way of transporting energy.

Currently, too much of the environmental oversight is left to the companies building and running the pipelines. There is a stronger role for government in enforcing and ensuring responsible stewardship of our resources. Energy and the environment are two sides of the same coin and we cannot and should not separate the impact of one from the other. If we don’t recognize, respond and adapt to this reality we will soon start to see that the coin itself – our economy – will be threatened.

Alberta’s energy sector has created immense value for our province and prosperity for our people. This can continue only if our energy sector adapts to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly changing world.

Albertans own the oil sands. The Alberta Party gets this. It’s time for a new, centrist alternative to our current government, one that gets this as well.

The Alberta Party supports the development of a pipeline corridor and a west coast liquid and natural gas facility. This development will allow access to markets for our oil and gas production while also honouring and preserving our unique natural ecosystem.

There are lessons here for the proposed Gateway pipeline too. We need to diversify markets and raise the bar on meeting ecological and social concerns so that we are able to continue to grow our economy in a responsible, sustainable manner for the future.

The Alberta Party has four energy priorities that include building on our strengths in oil and gas while reducing GHG emissions and working to transition to renewable energy. We balance this with a recognition and commitment to environmental priorities that include recognizing our responsibilities for water management, land management, air quality and climate. The full policy is available here.

www.suehuff.ca
@suehuff

Alberta Party news release Education in Ten Easy Steps

By Michael Walters
Candidate- Edmonton Rutherford and Former Alberta Party Provincial Organizer

“Thank God!”

These were the first words out of my mouth when I received the email from my friend Gerard MacLellan.

The email contained a link to the website www.renewalberta.ca which described an effort to start a new political party. It was the kind of party I had been longing for – balanced, moderate, based on imagination and common interest.

This was in December in 2009 and I had been working as a community organizer in Edmonton for the past 14 years. I had worked with thousands of citizens toward ending homelessness, creating more affordable housing, revitalizing neighbourhoods and depressed commercial districts through citizen action and local business development and by curbing urban sprawl by protecting farmland on the cities edges. I had spent years with seniors through churches and community groups organizing for more homecare and long-term care. I had also spent years volunteering with my community leagues, coaching local sports and mentoring youth through Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

The provincial government impacted so much of my work in the community and we needed another way and another voice in the Legislature. I never felt the provincial government was working with me, nor did I feel the legislature, including the opposition parties, was really helpful to the important work myself and so many others were doing in communities.

We needed change, but change for me was never about simply changing government, it was always about changing the way government worked with communities. Moving from the PC’s to the Liberals or the ND’s was not change for me.  Politics needed to be done differently. Politics needs to be about communities first.

In fact, I would say that of all the parties in the Alberta Legislature the PC’s are the most connected to Alberta communities. They have relationships and organization in every region of Alberta. Outside of Edmonton the New Democrats and Liberals are pretty much paper parties and more often than not use parachute candidates from Edmonton to run in rural areas, a practice which I find politically offensive.  If you can’t find a local candidate or one that lives at least in the same municipality you haven’t done the organizing you need to do, therefore you shouldn’t run. Your campaign is not about the community it is really only about the party.

After receiving that email from Gerard it didn’t take us long to get involved and within a few months the party had raised enough money to hire me as their Provincial Organizer, a job I was thrilled to have and Gerard joined the board.

We needed a new way of doing things. We needed a new voice focused on communities, conversations and collaboration, rather than the tired doctrinal partisanship that has relegated so many citizens to non-voter status.

And for the record I am not against partisanship. I think debate and opposing ideology is healthy, but it cannot be without an eventual yearning to seek a common ground where polarities can be reduced and shaped into policy and vision reflective of Alberta’s diversity and range.

So in the ensuing months after our shift from Renew Alberta to our new brand of the Alberta Party our progress was remarkable.

• We went from 40 members to over 2000 between March 2010 and April of 2011.
• We went from 0 constituency associations to over 40 between December 2010 and April 2011.
• We received unheralded press attention across Alberta for the Big Listen and the work of our Acting Leader Sue Huff
• We held a leadership race, fielding four candidates, hosted an exciting convention and elected one of Alberta’s most thoughtful and experienced municipal politicians in Glenn Taylor as our leader.
• By October 2011 we had completed most of our policy priorities and turned our focus toward recruitment of local candidates for the upcoming election.

Yet after a lot of work done by a lot of people including myself the real test would be during the election. This is what we were building for.

There has been a lot of chatter about the Alberta Party. It has come from those of us who have worked passionately to build it. It has also come from other parties who have advocated passionately against our existence.

I have been amazed quite frankly at the amount of attention we have received, both good and bad. Many people had an opinion about us, constructively critiqued us and even cheered for us, while many criticized constantly with varying degrees of vitriol and sarcasm. But all the while we continued to increase our profile among the politically aware and seemingly became a threat to other progressive parties who were the most vocal in their opposition to us.

And we still have not been through an election. We haven’t even had our shot yet. We still have not been able to properly introduce ourselves to the Alberta public.

2012 is our chance to begin this work. We will get the chance in many constituencies to take the story and the message of our party to the voters. I personally have been doing this work since last August in Edmonton Rutherford.

So far we have nominated some of the most outstanding community leaders I could hope for. The Alberta Party candidates are people we need as MLA’s and are people that every other party has coveted. They are talented, grounded in community and have rejected the baggage of the tired partisanship the Alberta Legislature has given us in recent years. They are interested in changing politics and working for communities.

Two years after getting that email from Gerard, a lot has changed in Alberta, but it is really still pretty much the same. The PC’s have a shiny new leader, and in my view the best one they could have chosen. But she is still the leader of a top down party with unchecked power and which they will always be without the fear of losing the next election. Nothing the Liberals and ND’s have done in the past year has positioned them to win the next election. The Wildrose is extremely thin behind their leader and will not win the next election.

Certainly the Alberta Party will not compete for government in 2012 either, but for us this is about the long view to 2016 and beginning to rebuild democracy in Alberta by having at least two parties that can compete for government. We need to win some seats this spring and then with increased legitimacy we can continue to do the hard work of building organizations across Alberta in every region, city and town, where we can find the right local candidates that truly speak with and for their communities.

So I invite you to stay with us, to join with us and to help start something new in 2012. We can elect a few Alberta Party MLA’s in the upcoming election. I intend to be one those MLA’s for the great communities of Edmonton Rutherford, where our dream is still very much alive.

Michael

I’m sure that we all remember Premier Redford’s promise to call a public inquiry into the allegations of physician intimidation and queue jumping. We waited two months for her to fulfill that promise. And on Nov 21, 2011 she did—sort of. She tabled Bill 24, the Health Quality Council of Alberta Act. Unfortunately Bill 24 just doesn’t cut it.

Yesterday the Minister of Health and Wellness “ordered a thorough examination of medical quality assurance processes as they relate to diagnostic imaging and pathology testing.” to be undertaken by the Health Quality Council of Alberta. Under the auspices, one would presume, of our new Bill 24.

Bill 24 and the Public Inquiries Act appear to be similar. Both provide the power to compel the attendance of witnesses and force them to produce documentation. Both carve out exceptions which allow documents to be kept confidential and testimony to be given “in camera”. However Bill 24 goes farther. It expands the power to compel testimony to be given “in camera” and fails to set up a system of checks and balances to ensure that this power is not abused.

Now, with two other reviews on pathology testing already underway by the Health Quality Council of Alberta the Minister is directing another crucial review to be conducted by this same group, under the same rules, and I would expect we will get the same results. “Nothing to see here, move along folks…”

Bill 24, like the Public Inquiries Act, allows an inquiry to go behind closed doors if making the information public “would be injurious to the public interest”. However, Bill 24 goes further. It allows the HQC to go “in camera” if the HQC feels it’s essential to do so “in the interests of justice”. The only way to determine whether the HQC has interpreted either of these concepts correctly is to take the question to a court of law.

Unfortunately, Bill 24 expressly prohibits any court from questioning or reviewing the HQC’s decision to hear testimony in camera. The Public Inquiries Act on the other hand does not throw up barriers to judicial review.

This leads to the question of who can make the decision that certain testimony must be given “in camera”. Under the Public Inquiries Act only the Justice Minister can make this decision, and only if he certifies that he believes the disclosure would reveal Cabinet deliberations, matters that would not be in the public interest or matters which can’t be disclosed without prejudice to the interest of others not involved in the inquiry. Making a false certificate is cause for disbarment and is not a step taken lightly.

Going “in camera” under Bill 24 simply requires an application to the HQC. Bill 24 fails to specify who can make such an application and does not require any certifications stating why such an application is necessary. As a result any politician or government official concerned about the testimony may bring an application to go “in camera”. Given the ambiguity of the phrases like in the public interest” and “in the interests of justice” such an application will likely be approved by the HQC.

Lastly, a report by the Public Inquiry Commission may refer to the fact that some issues were discussed “in camera”. The only way that the HQC may allude to the existence of private discussions is if the HQC can convince itself that such a reference is essential to the completeness and integrity of the report and is in the public interest. Given that standard, it is very unlikely that the public will ever know that certain matters were discussed in camera, let alone find out what they were.

Bill 24 created a “public” inquiry process, but it failed to include the checks and balances necessary to ensure that controversial testimony will not be shuffled behind closed doors. This is not what Albertans expect from a Premier who promised to be more transparent and to rebuild public trust.

 

Alberta’s health system has been the most hotly politicized government department in our provincial government for the past decade. With today’s resignation of AHS Chair Ken Hughes and rumours of his seeking the PC nomination in Calgary West this trend continues.

“Rather than making the right investments in quality long term care, homecare, prevention and better mental health services, our health system has been lead through costly and unnecessary restructuring. The outcomes are often more focused toward better PC party fortunes instead of better outcomes for Albertans,” says Michael Walters, Alberta Party Candidate in Edmonton Rutherford and the party’s Health and Wellness Spokesperson.

“Considering Mr. Hughes relationship to Premier Redford he seems destined to become Minister of Health following the next election. This is not the kind of political cleansing our health system needs,” says Walters.

“While Mr. Hughes brought vast experience in board governance to his role as AHS chair, he’s always had one foot in AHS and the other in the PC Party. This resulted in a period of crisis management and the continued deterioration of the health system.”

The Alberta Party continues to push for a full judicial inquiry into Alberta’s health system and the role the government played in silencing health professionals.

“In October we launched www.healthinquirynow.ca to give voice to the growing number of Albertans who support an independent judge lead inquiry into our health system,” stated Glenn Taylor, Alberta Party Leader. “We’re hearing that what Premier Redford has offered, doesn’t cut it.”

For more information please call Michael Walters at 780-982-4635 or through
www.michaelwalters.ca

 

After a debate that featured strong multi-party support, Private Member’s Bill 205 has passed 2nd Reading in the Alberta Legislature. Drafted by Dave Taylor, Alberta Party MLA for Calgary-Currie, Bill 205 will amend the Municipal Government Act (MGA) so that municipalities can more effectively deal with significantly stalled, suspended or delayed developments.

“This is a good piece of legislation and it’s clear my colleagues recognize that,” says Taylor. “I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the bill so far.”

Bill 205 became not only practical, but necessary following discussions with various community representatives regarding the blight of undeveloped properties scattered across the province. The Bill will give municipalities the clear authority to demand the improvement of the appearance and usage of a site within a specified timeframe. The Currie community of Cliff Bungalow-Mission has lived with one of Alberta’s worst delayed developments – nicknamed the “Pit” – for 10 years now, although residents were recently promised that construction will be well underway before the end of 2011.

“It’s good to see something happening for the community, but a decade is ten years too long,” says Taylor. “I hope to see the momentum behind this Bill continue for the sake of everyone living with a stalled development that is currently disrupting the attractiveness and the continuity of their neighbourhood.”

The Alberta Party celebrates our remarkable progress in 2011 and looks forward to 2012

With the Alberta Party about to celebrate the 2 year mark after it’s union with the Renew Alberta movement, we wanted to provide you with an update on the progress we have made. These are, to say the least, interesting times for politics in Alberta and for the Alberta Party.

In the last several months we have moved to approximately 2,500 members and 2,160 “likes” on Facebook. We have approximately 50 Constituency Associations started and 9 Candidates nominated to run in the next Provincial Election, expected in spring 2012.

Our hard-working Election Readiness Team has put together a great package of materials for our candidates and aspiring candidates, and we are well on the way to meet our goal of 20 to 30 candidates running in the next election. We have a great core group of candidates so far, and we encourage you to go out and support them as the door knock in their constituencies and raise the profile of the Alberta Party in the community.

On the organizational side, we are hard at work trying to support the energy of our candidates and constituency associations. As a completely volunteer based organization, we need your help. Please pitch in and help the candidates in your area, and the constituency associations that need your help building. Please take the amazing ideas you have for our party and implement them. Our Board is committed to trying to do everything we can to facilitate the quick implementation of great ideas.

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. The other parties (including the governing party) in Alberta have copied our organization, our communications and even our pub nights. Many of our policies are being copied as well, including our commitment to transparency in government, our call for a public judicial inquiry, and our commitment to fixed election dates.

The problem with imitation is that it lacks the core ingredient of being genuine. As you all know, the Alberta Party was founded on the principles of openness, and transparency and democratic renewal. The Premier was elected to leadership of her party based on embracing many of the Alberta Parties policies. But keeping those promises is much more difficult than making them in a party committed to their own survival. Dynasties are not change agents.

The Alberta Party, as a movement founded on these very positive principles, has no such restraints. And we hope you as our members will be enthused and engaged to see how people react to our ideas. We know we are the best vehicle for implementation of change. We thank you for your continued support, enthusiasm and commitment.

Sincerely,

Glenn Taylor
Leader

Brian Thiessen
President

The following letter was sent today to the editors of the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal in follow up to an article about the Alberta Party printed in today’s editions of both newspapers.

In Keith Geiren’s article on December 5th, he asked the question “What happened to the Alberta Party?”. We thought your readers might be interested in the answer.

In the last several months we have moved to approximately 2,500 members and 2,160 “likes” on Facebook. We have approximately 50 Constituency Associations created, and 9 Candidates nominated to run in the next Provincial election. We have a great core team of candidates, including: Danielle Klooster (Inisfail-Sylvain Lake), Michael Walters (Edmonton-Rutherford), Tim Osbourne (St. Albert), Sue Huff (Edmonton–Glenora), John Hudson (Edmonton – McClung) and our Party Leader Glenn Taylor (West Yellowhead).

We know that doing something right is more important than doing it fast. We understand that we could quickly grow the party with the disaffected underperforming members of other parties by sacrificing our principles. We simply will not compromise our beliefs for any MLA, no matter what the short term gain. That’s not how you build a party that reflects the values of Albertans.

Like most Albertans, the Alberta Party knows the value of good, honest, hard work. The work of building something right, that we can all be proud of. That’s why we worked so hard, and engaged so many Albertans, in developing our detailed and comprehensive policies on Energy and the Environment, Health Care, Municipalities, and Education. We are also working hard on many other areas of key importance to Albertans including work to improve early education and childcare opportunities for Alberta families. We could not be more proud to be working hard on issues that Albertan’s have told us is so important to them.

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Other parties, including the governing party, have copied our organization, our communications and even our pub nights. Many of our policies are being copied as well, including our commitment to transparency in government, our call for a public judicial inquiry into health care, and our commitment to fixed election dates.

The problem with imitation is that it lacks the core ingredient of being genuine. The Alberta Party was founded on the principles of openness, transparency and democratic renewal. The Premier was elected to leadership of her party based on a platform that included many of the Alberta Party’s policies and principles. But keeping those promises and principles is much more difficult than making them in a party committed to their own survival. Dynasties are not change agents.

The Alberta Party is a movement founded on these very positive principles, and we have no such restraints to change. We are more of a movement than a political party and our members are enthusiastic and genuine agents of change.

Brian Thiessen
President, Alberta Party