Pancakes, Politics and a Party in Panic
October 31st, 2008
The gaunt, drawn features of Alberta’s Deputy Premier, Ron Stevens, said it all. There was no hope that this senior Progressive Conservative figure might be interested in restoring meaningful communications with me, the party’s candidate in Calgary Currie for the March 3rd provincial election, now just three weeks away.
It was the morning of Friday, February 8th, in the Calgary Sheraton’s Wildrose Ballroom. Ron and I shook hands, but without a word. It was the same when the party’s local campaign chief, Bill Smith, appeared: all ice, no smiles.
I wondered: was it the gathering crowd that was bothering them? Because it appeared we were going to have a full house, upwards of 100 paying supporters for our campaign’s fundraising breakfast. And all of them had turned up in spite of the Progressive Conservative Party brass having unceremoniously pulled Premier Ed Stelmach from the proceedings some days earlier.
The decision had come when it became clear that there would be constituents at the event intending to take Premier Stelmach to task on a number of issues, concerns that I had presented personally to the Premier, and about which he had promised consultations prior to the election. A promise he had broken, without explanation.
Read More...A Rough Ride on the High Road
October 30th, 2008
The day before our Friday fundraising breakfast, a visitor strolled into our campaign office: Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s most respected reporters and columnists.
I was glad to see him, scarcely believing that our campaign in Calgary Currie was about to be profiled in Roy’s column. Who, in Canada, doesn’t read This Country at least a few times a week? Roy hadn’t phoned first, he hadn’t booked an appointment. “I was hoping I might be able to talk to you for a few minutes,” he told me, “and maybe go door knocking later on.”
It was day four of the campaign, and we still hadn’t been visited by a reporter from the city’s leading local newspaper, the Calgary Herald. Now here was a national icon wondering if I might have a moment to spare…
Then and there, we talked for forty minutes or so, and I told Roy he was welcome to come campaigning that evening. Inwardly, as an old reporter myself, I had to suppress the urge to break into the easy banter and graveyard humour that livens up the best one-on-one talks between journalists. Of course I’d be honest and straightforward with Roy, but I was now a candidate in the midst of an election - a candidate who was discovering that his most dangerous rivals might not be among the other parties, but lurking within his own.
Read More...Long Reach of the Backroom Boys
October 29th, 2008
It was only the second full day of our election campaign in Calgary’s Currie constituency, and already a sizeable dilemma loomed before our team.
Our own campaigning was off to a fast start: signs were going up, volunteers were coming in to our office atop the 14th Street hill, and my door-knocking squads were cruising like veterans (we had already been canvassing voters for weeks).
But Ed Stelmach’s people had abruptly withdrawn the Premier from our fundraiser, a breakfast scheduled only days away, on Friday, February 8th. How should we respond? Cancel the event? Or make it our own?
If there was any doubt as to why Ed would be a no-show, the small group of long-time Progressive Conservative Party insiders on my team soon dispelled it.
“It’s not your place to talk policy,” one veteran scolded. “You’re just a candidate. First get yourself elected, then try to have some input.”
Read More...Petroleum, Patients And Empty Promises
October 28th, 2008
Monday, February 4th should have signalled a clean start to our campaign to take back the constituency of Calgary Currie for Alberta’s Progressive Conservative government.
But confirmation that the writ had been dropped for a March 3rd election day was overshadowed by the mixed signals I was receiving from Premier Ed Stelmach’s office. Ed’s chief of staff, Ron Glen, had emailed Sunday afternoon, casting doubt on whether the Premier could “meet with individuals” during the campaign. Glen’s associate in the Calgary office, Ken Faulkner, was even more pointed.
“We just cannot make it work,” Ken wrote me, referring to the Premier’s pre-Christmas promise that he would meet, prior to the election, with myself and one of my constituents to discuss the elephant in Calgary’s oil and gas boardrooms: the “unintended consequences” of the recent royalty review.
Throughout January, the Premier and his people had been dodging his commitment. Twice over the phone and once in person, I reminded the Premier that Alberta’s oil and gas explorers deserved some kind of indication, however preliminary, as to how and when the government would relieve the excessive cost pressures that would affect a swathe of companies once the higher royalties kicked in. Capital, rigs and roughnecks were already fleeing Alberta. Government revenues were sure to follow.
Read More...Welcome To The Machine
October 27th, 2008
At home on Sunday, November 18th, 2007, the telephone rang just after noon.
“Hello Art? This is Ed calling. Uh, from the Premier’s office.”
It was indeed Ed Stelmach, the Premier of Alberta, calling to congratulate me on my win, the previous day, of the Progressive Conservative nomination in my home constituency, Calgary Currie. An election was expected early in the New Year.
“You’re a great addition to our team,” he told me, sounding much more fluent and relaxed than the tentative nature of his radio and TV interviews.
For 40 minutes, we talked policy. This is why I had accepted his invitation to become a candidate for his Progressive Conservative government. The province of Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province, and should be, by rights, North America’s shining star of administrative innovation and excellence.
But after 37 years in power, the PC’s had run out of steam. Ed Stelmach’s predecessor, Ralph Klein, had become a disappointment as Premier, presiding over a stagnant government. Now Ed, who had slipped up the middle against two frontrunners to secure the party leadership, was talking the talk of change.
Read More...When The Law Is The Only Option
October 24th, 2008
Allow me to begin, today, with a thank you for all the messages and phone calls of support following our launch on October 20th. A surprising number of you have offered fresh leads and information, which is already proving to be extremely valuable.
One sentiment is expressed over and over in your messages: only by working together can we force better performance from the news media – and from our political systems.
So please keep surfing by. This story has only begun to unfold. New visitors might want to start by scrolling down this homepage to have a look at our first entry, Challenging Defamation and Political Vandalism.
Of course whenever an individual or group resorts to litigation, there are those who venture to say that lawsuits are just another way of making a fast buck. Perhaps in some cases there’s a degree of truth in that view.
I would respond, though, by explaining that the only people who think that entering the realm of litigation is a saunter through Fort Knox haven’t been there yet. It’s hugely expensive, time consuming and full of tension and risk.
Read More...