Archives for August 2012

By Bryan Weismiller And Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald; With Files From Kelly Cryderman August 31, 2012 9:41 AM

As the Tory government warned it’s not ponying up extra cash for public sector negotiations, doctors, teachers and other groups say they’re still expecting a fair shake at the bargaining table.

Finance Minister Doug Horner told reporters Thursday “there will be no new money for public service sector negotiations until we see improvement,” after announcing the provincial deficit is projected this year to surge to as high as $3 billion, based on a fiscal update.

AUPE president Guy Smith said he heard similar warnings in 2010 and his membership is getting “fed up with that broken record of a message.”

“We expect them to say things like that and then we go to the table and negotiate in good faith,” Smith said, referring to the new deal needed for about 21,000 provincial employees next year.

Horner said department spending will also be capped at original budget allocations, meaning there will be no new money available for public sector contracts until the financial picture improves. He said that didn’t necessarily mean a pay freeze for public sector workers, but departments will have to live within whatever budget they received at the start of the year.

Health-care workers’ negotiations may prove particularly thorny in light of Thursday’s announcement.

The province is locked in a contract battle with the Alberta Medical Association after offering a prime deal days before the spring election was called – then, according to the physicians’ group, unilaterally changing the terms and sending the two sides back to the bargaining table in July.

The master agreement for the province’s 7,200 doctors expired March 31, 2011.

According to a statement released Thursday by AMA president Dr. Linda Slocombe, the association hasn’t been informed by government about the implications of the fiscal update on ongoing contract negotiations. She pointed out Alberta doctors haven’t had a fee increase since 2010, while staffing, equipment and other costs have gone up.

Dire words from government are a bargaining tactic that public sector groups in Alberta have had to deal with many times in the past, said Heather Smith of the United Nurses Association. The provincial nurses’ contract expires next March.

Meanwhile, teachers, school boards and the government are trying to hammer out a new framework as provincewide collective agreements expire Friday. Members of the tripartite group told the Herald they’re confident a deal can be reached by the end of October.

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© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald August 31, 2012 6:25 AM

The provincial government signalled Thursday it will cap spending, look for at least $500 million in savings and re-evaluate all planned building projects as it grapples with lower-than-predicted energy revenues and a growing deficit now projected to surge as high as $3 billion this year.

However, critics were quick to pounce on the “bad news” first-quarter fiscal update delivered by Finance Minister Doug Horner, blaming the Conservative government’s performance as a weak financial manager rather than any wild swings in the global economy or energy prices.

“This is ugly,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Scott Hennig, summing up the numbers. “They’ve had a lot of bad news quarters.”

In the February budget, the Redford government predicted it would post a more manageable $886-million deficit for the 2012-13 fiscal year. But in its first-quarter update Thursday, the province forecast a deficit between $2.3 billion and $3 billion this year.

Horner said the government will take a number of steps – without raising taxes or imposing drastic cutbacks – to improve the province’s financial health.

All departments will be asked to find $500 million in “in-year savings,” up from $360 million requested in the budget.

All government ministries have also been asked to review capital projects to see what can be delayed or cancelled – although at this point nothing is specifically on the chopping block, Horner said.

In fact, the finance minister said the decision earlier this week to quash the longplanned police college in Fort Macleod wasn’t a financial decision, but based on merit.

But later, when discussing the tough spending decisions ministries will make on capital projects, Horner said “the police college was a very good example of this.”

Despite $400-million less in energy revenues during the first three months of this fiscal year, Horner insisted the province remains on track to record a balanced budget in 2013-14.

He blamed sagging energy revenues in the first three months of the budget year on lower-than-predicted bitumen royalties, conventional oil revenues and Crown lease sales.

In February, the government predicted oil prices would average $99.25 US a barrel this fiscal year. However, it now projects oil averaging $92.75 per barrel for the year. The government also revised its natural gas price to $2 per gigajoule, down from $3 in the budget.

“It’s a bit of a roller-coaster,” Horner said at the legislature.

However, Hennig said the government originally made wildly optimistic projections for other revenue streams, including corporate profits.

More importantly, he added, the fiscal document was significantly pared down compared with past quarterly reports, suggesting the government has something to hide.

He said the “brochure” was scant on financial details or what Albertans could expect in the months ahead.

“I wouldn’t trust anyone who wouldn’t show me any numbers,” Hennig said.

Horner told reporters that he wanted a more “meaningful” and “understandable” report.

Critics have argued Alberta’s Progressive Conservative government is over-reliant on volatile energy revenues and too optimistic recently in its energy price predictions.

The Wildrose party immediately criticized the government Thursday for failing to balance the budget with oil currently above $90 a barrel, saying their decision put core government programs at risk.

Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson charged the Conservative party was disingenuous to campaign this spring on spending hundreds of millions of dollars for new schools, roads and other programs, while still balancing the books.

“It shows that the preelection Alison Wonderland budget was deceitful, and I believe intentionally so.”

The province has a number of ambitious capital plans still on the books, including adding passing lanes to Highway 63 this year and a promise to build 50 new schools over four years. In June, Health Minister Fred Horne said a new cancer centre in Calgary was once again on the government’s radar.

Horner said Thursday he didn’t want to talk about which capital projects would live or die, but did volunteer that the new Royal Alberta Museum project in downtown Edmonton will go ahead.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said the first-quarter update gives opposition parties new fodder to criticize the governing Tories during the legislature sitting in October.

“It’s not what (the Conservatives) said when they produced their budget, and not what they promised during the election campaign.”

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© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

By Karen Kleiss, Edmonton Journal August 30, 2012

EDMONTON – Transparency and accountability advocates lambasted the Redford government Thursday for severely restricting Albertans’ access to information about the troubled state of the province’s finances.

Finance Minister Doug Horner released a first-quarter fiscal update Thursday that makes no financial projections, omits capital planning and financial assets, and dramatically reduces the number of raw figures available for public scrutiny.

The government also revoked journalists’ access to finance officials, who have for decades been available at technical briefings to explain the most complicated aspects of the province’s financial situation. Reporters rely on these briefings to prepare informed questions for political leaders.

Advocates said keeping financial details hidden from the public robs the electorate of its ability to understand what government is doing and strips Albertans of their democratic rights. Horner said the changes were designed to make the information easier for Albertans to understand.

“We didn’t do a technical briefing, because the reality is if we have to do a technical briefing for (journalists), how do we expect that Albertans are going to understand what I am telling them?

“I want Albertans to understand (that) the first-quarter results are based on actual-to-budget, just the way they would do at home or in their businesses, and that’s the way we are going to report.”

He said the Redford government is not going to rewrite the budget four times a year. “We are not going to make decisions for the rest of the year based on what happened three months ago.”

Premier Alison Redford campaigned on promises of transparency and accountability, but advocates say her government has restricted access to the most basic financial information.

“It’s not up to the government to decide what information Albertans should have. They should present all the information,” Democracy Watch spokesman Tyler Sommers said. “If they want to present something simplified, in layman’s terms, they can do that in addition to releasing full information.”

Sommers said it is “insulting” to suggest Albertans should have access to less financial information so they don’t get confused. “Withholding information is essentially stripping Albertans of their democratic rights,” he said.

Michael Karanicolas, a lawyer with the Centre for Law and Democracy, said the move “is very troubling in terms of the government’s broader attitude toward transparency.

“Budgets — and particularly the raw data — are fundamentally important,” Karanicolas said. “That’s really what’s giving you a clear and unadulterated picture of what’s going on, without government spin.

“Journalists play a critical role, and the fact that they’re not getting access to raw information would be very troubling in the sense that it could rob the electorate of full accountability and understanding of what’s happening in their government.”

Karanicolas said the government’s simplified version “represents the version that a particular political administration wants to be reported, rather than the actual truth,” he said. “So there’s enormous potential for manipulation there.”

Scott Hennig of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation said the financial brochure released by the government Thursday is “not open or transparent.

“The reason why we have these (updates) … is because Albertans need to know the numbers. I find it absolutely stunning that the finance minister would stand there and say he is not doing a technical briefing because … Albertans are all too stupid to understand it.

“This is one of the most disrespectful things I have ever seen this government do.”

With files from Keith Gerein

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© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Journal August 30, 2012

EDMONTON – Premier Alison Redford out-raised and outspent rival party leaders by a wide margin during the 2012 spring election, financial documents filed with Elections Alberta show.

The documents, posted online Thursday, show Redford raised nearly $192,000 and spent roughly $154,000 to get elected in her riding of Calgary-Elbow, more than all other party leaders combined.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith raised just over $57,000 and spent $55,000, while Liberal Leader Raj Sherman raised about $28,500 and spent just over $48,000, making up the difference from savings.

NDP Leader Brian Mason did no fundraising and paid roughly $34,500 for his campaign, a bill paid with transfers from the party.

Bill Moore-Kilgannon of Public Interest Alberta says the extra support for Redford is evidence that Alberta’s campaign finance rules need to be reformed.

“We need better campaign finance rules that actually limit contributors to the people who can vote, rather than organizations like unions and corporations trying to curry favour with government,” Moore-Kilgannon said.

“Some other provinces don’t allow corporations or unions to contribute. Federally they’re not able to contribute, but here in Alberta we see a huge amount of money coming from the corporate sector trying to influence the most senior government officials in the PC party.”

The records reveal the names of people who donated more than $375 to each candidate. Redford’s list of donors includes corporate heavyweights like EnCana Corp., Cenovus Energy, Northwest Upgrading, Telus, and a numbered company tied to AgeCare, a private eldercare company that developed the aging-in-place model the province has adopted.

The disclosures also show Allaudin Merali, the former health executive embroiled in a scandal over his lavish spending, donated $500 to Health Minister Fred Horne’s campaign. Merali recently left his position at Alberta Health Services after revelations that he racked up nearly $350,000 in expenses during his time with the former Capital Health Authority from 2005 to 2008.

Merali’s $500 was among more than $50,000 Horne raised, mostly from individuals rather than companies. He spent more than $86,000 to win what had been expected to be a very tight Edmonton-Rutherford riding.

Energy Minister Ken Hughes raised just over $55,000 for his campaign in Calgary-West. His contributors included Maxim Power Corp., which is building a new coal plant in Alberta, along with several other energy companies and Cathy Roozen, who succeeded Hughes as Alberta Health Services board chair.

Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen raised almost $24,000 for her campaign in Drayton Valley-Devon. Her contributors included a number of energy companies, including $1,000 from Encana, and $500 each from Atco, Cenovus and Marathon Oil. Two forestry companies also donated money.

Atco, Encana, Telus, CN and Cameron Development Corp. were among contributors that helped Finance Minister Doug Horner raise close to $85,000 in donations. Deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk collected donations totalling more than $41,000, including $2,500 from a pair of unions.

By Sheila Pratt, Edmonton Journal August 30, 2012

EDMONTON – Enbridge will construct a new, 400,000 barrel a day pipeline from Fort McMurray to Sherwood Park to carry bitumen as production from the oilsands continues to grow rapidly.

The new pipeline — slightly smaller than Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway, designed to send 585,000 barrels a day to the British Columbia coast — met few objections from landowners at a June hearing in Edmonton, according the Energy Resources Conservation Board, which announced its approval Thursday.

The 385-kilometre line, parallel to existing pipelines from the northeast, is needed to bring increasing bitumen production, specifically from Imperial Oil’s Kearl project, to Enbridge’s Edmonton hub, says the ERCB report.

Enbridge told the board its existing Waupisoo pipeline “would be operating at capacity in the near future,” making it necessary to build the new line, called the “Woodland pipeline extension.”

“The board also notes the need for the project was not challenged and was not an issue raised at the hearing.”

In approving a new pipeline, the ERCB is not concerned with where the bitumen will end up, just with the operation of the pipeline, said spokesperson Bob Curran.

Enbridge was unavailable for comment.

The ERCB approval comes just days before federal hearings resume in Edmonton into Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, proposed to run from Hardisty, Alta., to Kitimat on the West Coast.

The Woodland pipeline in Alberta has no connection to Northern Gateway, which is a federally regulated project, said Curran, adding that about 7,500 kilometres of new pipeline has been added in Alberta annually in recent years.

Jennifer Grant of the Pembina Institute, an environmental research centre, said it’s important to know whether the bitumen will go into Enbridge’s U.S. pipelines for American refineries or whether the company is ramping up for the proposed Northern Gateway.

The Pembina’s view is that there is enough capacity in existing pipelines to handle current production into the U.S.

Alberta currently produces 1.7 million barrels a day from the oilsands, but a recent report from the National Energy Board said that could increase to 5 million barrels a day by 2035 if all projects go ahead.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

By James Wood, Calgary Herald August 30, 2012 6:50 AM

The mayor of Fort Macleod says the fight is just beginning after the Tory government abruptly pulled the plug on a long-awaited provincial police college in the southern Alberta town.

The government cancelled the $122-million Alberta Public Safety and Law Enforcement Training Centre on Wednesday, nearly six years to the day after it was announced and less than two months after a construction firm was awarded a contract for the project.

A furious Mayor Shawn Patience said the announcement by Justice Minister Jonathan Denis is a “nightmare” for the community, which spent more than $100,000 on its original proposal and has invested nearly $4 million in service lines to the site of the proposed college.

“We are seeking legal advice as we speak and it will be up to my council the direction we take from here. But this is certainly not the end of the story by any means and I have to say, we elect people to be leaders and we expect them to have integrity, we expect them to fulfil commitments,” Patience said in an interview.

“I hope Alberta is listening here and I’m asking the premier to rescind this. This is a poor decision.”

But Denis said concerns both over costs and the level of use for the facility played a role in the decision.

While Bird Design-Build Construction Inc. was retained to build the college in July, Denis said Wednesday he subsequently received a letter last month from the Alberta Association of Police Chiefs questioning the need for the new facility.

Further feedback from the Calgary and Edmonton police services and the RCMP suggested the facility would not be missed, he said.

“I have to be a steward of the taxpayer dollar and this is a big-ticket item. And when three of your large stakeholders tell you that it’s not going to affect the quality of policing, that has a very big impact on your decision,” said Denis.

“Continuing with this project would not be in the best interests of the taxpayer or law enforcement.”

The government has put just under $2 million toward the project so far and there could be further costs related to the cancellation, according to Denis’s office.

While the decision was primary financial, Denis said it had nothing to do with belttightening efforts by the Progressive Conservative government.

Finance Minister Doug Horner is expected to release a first-quarter financial report Thursday that will show the government grappling with lower-than-anticipated oil revenue.

In February, the government earmarked $19 million for the college in this year’s budget.

Denis also denied political calculations played a role in the cancellation. The Livingstone-Macleod constituency where the college was to be located was held by Tory MLAs until the spring election, when it was won by Wildrose’s Pat Stier.

Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw, the party’s justice critic, said the Opposition supported the creation of the college and questioned how the government could determine the facility’s fate on last-minute input from police services.

“It appears that Minister Denis is entirely incompetent if he didn’t make the proper consultations months ago,” he said. “How on earth is he making his decisions?”

Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said the college never made much sense but there’s undoubtedly a political dynamic at play.

The facility was continually held out as a promise to southern Alberta residents, only to be yanked as punishment when voters supported Wildrose, she said.

“They’re making the right decision for the wrong reasons,” Blakeman said of the PCs.

Ralph Klein’s government initially announced funding for the project in 2006, but the recession put it on the back burner.

In the summer of 2011, outgoing Premier Ed Stelmach announced the college would go ahead and a sod-turning event with government ministers took place.

According to Alberta Infrastructure, the college was to include classroom space, residences, a driving track, indoor and outdoor firing ranges.

The approximately 28,000-square-metre facility was expected to train 400 police officers and 1,000 peace officers each year, while offering professional development for another 1,200 police, corrections and peace officers.

The province received support for kiboshing the college from Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson, Edmonton’s Chief Rod Knecht and RCMP K Division Commander Dale McGowan.

Hanson told reporters in Calgary he was “relieved” with the government’s decision and said the college was never a “police-driven initiative.”

WITH FILES FROM SHERRI ZICKEFOOSE, CALGARY HERALD [email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Original source article: Fort Macleod mayor says town now faces ‘nightmare’ after province pulls plug on police college plans

By Don Braid, Calgary Herald August 30, 2012 6:38 AM

CALGARY — The Redford PCs sure move fast to stamp out some things they don’t care for — rats, for instance, or a police college in an opposition riding.

Cynicism about this shocking decision is inevitable, no matter what the Progressive Conservatives say about police chiefs being cool to the idea (after being quite warm to it not so long ago.)

If this training centre was such a flawed idea all along, why did the government plan it for six years, allot $117 million in the spring budget, and delight local Mayor Shawn Patience less than two months ago by signing a construction contract?

This is no postponement or delay. It’s a cancellation, period. The government is unusually clear about that, although it’s hardly ever clear about anything.

Searching for logic is futile, so we turn to politics.

Voters chose Wildrose businessman Pat Stier in the Livingstone-Macleod riding in April.

The loser was Tory Agriculture Minister Evan Berger, who was quickly hired back by the same department after an astonishing clearance by the ethics commissioner, and now has an office in the riding.

Berger says he hasn’t ruled out running again. His government job certainly gives him a friendly presence in the riding.

And suddenly, there’s a sharp message from Edmonton about what can happen in a riding that doesn’t vote PC. Really, Mother Teresa would be cynical.

Fort Macleod, the birthplace of policing in Alberta, still had the project plastered all over its website Wednesday, complete with photos of Mounties, town officials, First Nation leaders and PC ministers turning sod.

Nobody had a clue cancellation was coming. “I just attended a council meeting in Fort Macleod on Monday,” says Stier.

“They actually passed the final development permit for the project in front of my very eyes.

“And now they cancel it — unbelievable, the worst thing I’ve seen.”

It’s curious, too, that the police college breathed its last breath shortly after AHS announced the unexpected closure of the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre in the village of Carmangay.

As the Herald’s Licia Corbella detailed last week, serious money had recently been spent on the seniors’ residence.

It had passed an inspection. There were all sorts of reasons to believe AHS saw a future for the centre. Nobody expected it to be mothballed.

Now it will be.

The PCs vigorously deny this was a political decision, insisting AHS made the move entirely on its own.

But once again, it happened in a Wildrose riding. Ian Donovan won the Little Bow seat in April, beating PC John Kolk by nearly 2,500 votes.

Trench warfare appears to be developing in many of these new Wildrose areas, and neither side seems to know the rules of engagement yet.

There hasn’t been any real rural opposition to the PCs for decades. In 2004, former MLA Paul Hinman was the only opposition member for many years to actually win a rural seat, Cardston-Taber-Warner.

Now there are 17 Wildrose MLAs, most of them rural. And the PCs, as they pick through new minefields sowed on their traditional lands, seem to alternate between confusion and frontal attack.

There was another blow-up this week, as the Sylvan Lake town council posted a long denunciation of the area’s new Wildrose MLA, Kerry Towle, insisting she hadn’t communicated with council about a road project.

The details are dense, but the local politicians’ discomfort at losing their cosy relationship with a government MLA could not be more obvious.

Even in this context, though, the decision to axe the police college seems spectacularly brutal.

Could there be another factor?

The government’s latest quarterly financial report comes out Thursday, less than 24 hours after the Fort Macleod decision.

There’s revenue trouble, if oil and gas prices are any guide.

Some things will have to give — and the first giving seems to be expected of opposition ridings.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the [email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Original source article: Braid: Scrapping of Fort Macleod police college may be a sign Wildrose ridings will be first to sacrifice

By Peter O’Neil, Edmonton Journal August 27, 2012

OTTAWA – Transport Canada is being asked to assess how Enbridge Inc.’s “voluntary” commitments to prevent the dumping of diluted bitumen crude into the Pacific Ocean can be made “mandatory and enforceable.”

The request from the Joint Review Panel considering the company’s $6-billion pipeline project was in response to a Transport Canada-headed government review released in February.

The study said there are “no regulatory concerns” regarding marine safety due to a significant increase in tanker traffic on B.C.’s north coast to deliver crude to and from the Northern Gateway terminal in Kitimat.

Enbridge used Transport Canada’s conclusions to reassure its shareholders, and a senior company official said in March the report proves the pipeline will actually enhance shipping safety on the north coast.

Anti-Northern Gateway groups such as the Coastal First Nations said the report either ignored or minimized factors such as “treacherous passageways, poor weather conditions and human error.”

The JRP, established under the National Energy Board Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, has given Transport Canada until next Tuesday to respond to its request.

That day marks the start of the autumn session of public hearings at which registered participants can cross-examine witnesses, starting with four days of hearings in Edmonton.

“Please provide a detailed discussion on what provisions exist in relevant Canadian marine shipping legislation to ensure that Northern Gateway’s voluntary marine shipping risk reduction measures (e.g. use of escort tugs, installation of radar, transit speeds, and operational limits) are and remain mandatory and enforceable,” the JRP said.

The JRP, Transport Canada and Enbridge all refused to comment Monday on the thorny issue of how voluntary actions could be made mandatory without changes in laws or regulations. However, Enbridge spokesman Ivan Giesbrecht defended his company’s plan to protect the ocean.

“We won’t speculate about future legislation changes, but we can confidently say that our marine safety plan, as it is proposed today, meets or exceeds all applicable Canadian regulations,” Giesbrecht wrote in an email.

The original Transport Canada report, made public in February, was conducted under a process known as the Technical Review Process of Marine Terminal Systems and Transshipment Sites.

It is a non-binding interdepartmental process launched in the late 1970s that included, in this instance, the participation starting in 2009 of several federal departments, as well as the B.C. environment ministry, the municipality of Kitimat, the Haisla First Nations, the B.C. Chamber of Shipping and the Council of Marine Carriers.

TERMPOL looked at the implications of a project that would involve the annual export of approximately 30 million tonnes of crude oil, and the import of 11 million tonnes of condensate, transported by 250 or so tankers arriving and leaving the Kitimat terminal.

The report cited various national and international laws and conventions that shipping companies must adhere to, including Canada’s Marine Liability Act that is based on the “polluter pay” principle.

By Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald August 28, 2012 5:58 AM

“It just may be a very slow process.”

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald August 23, 2012

CALGARY — A last-ditch effort to persuade the government to stop clear-cut logging in the Castle wilderness area has fallen on deaf ears, according to groups opposed to the development.

On Thursday morning, environmentalists and business representatives of the Stop Castle Logging Group met with Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Diana McQueen in Calgary to discuss the issue.

“We tried yet again to convince her to stop the logging in the Castle Special Place and protect the area as a wildland park,” said Sarah Elmeligi, senior conservation planner with Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and a representative of the Stop Castle Logging Group. “Overall, our meeting has been disappointing.”

McQueen said later Thursday she thought it was a good meeting.

“It was a great opportunity,” she said, noting it gave her a chance to hear from the concerned groups directly.

McQueen said, however, that she hadn’t planned on making any decisions before having a chance to listen to all of the affected parties.

“I am really trying to take a holistic approach to this,” she said. “They are very passionate.

“I understand where they are coming from, but we have to look at all sides on this issue.”

McQueen declined to give any timelines on when a decision might be made.

The representatives said they appreciated the minister taking time to listen to their concerns, but they noted that the government has been listening to the concerns of the Stop Castle Logging Group for decades.

“Now is not the time for listening, now is the time for action,” said Elmeligi. “That’s what we didn’t get today.”

The battle over the Castle wilderness heated up last January when area residents started protesting a decision by the province to allow Spray Lake Sawmills to harvest 120 hectares of forest under the province’s forest management plan for the region.

Environmentalists and landowners argue logging will have a negative effect on the already threatened grizzly bear population, as well as other species, which includes elk, wolves and cutthroat trout.

More to come …

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