Wednesday, 29 August 2012 20:01 May, Katie

Katie May
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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The town of Fort Macleod is devastated by a “kick below the belt” decision to cancel construction of a high-tech police training centre in the small southern Alberta community.
Long-anticipated plans for the new police training centre came to a screeching halt Wednesday when the provincial government shocked southern Albertans by announcing it won’t pay for the proposed multi-million-dollar police college.
“Everyone’s been dropped down an elevator shaft here,” said Fort Macleod Mayor Shawn Patience, fresh out of a 1.5-hour emergency council meeting Wednesday evening. “We believe our municipal and our provincial and our federal leaders need to deal from a place of integrity, and that their commitments whether they’re verbal or written, need to mean something. And today that definition has changed dramatically. I’ve lost a lot of confidence and faith in the system.”
The province, which first announced it would build the centre in Fort Macleod six years ago, now says the project is an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money. If built today, the centre would cost $120.7 million, according to Jonathan Denis, Alberta’s minister of Justice and Solicitor General. The government has already sunk just under $2 million into the project for architectural designs and construction site preparation, Denis said, although Patience argues much more money has been invested.
“Given the large price tag, it’s not in the taxpayers’ interest to proceed with this large project, nor in the interest of law enforcement,” Denis said. “The police college is not something that’s necessary to continue with the quality of training that we do have. We can accomplish this through existing facilities and frankly, I think the money is better spent elsewhere.”
A persuasive letter from the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police, which argued existing police training facilities in Calgary, Edmonton and Regina are sufficient, changed Denis’ mind about the project, he said. After he received the letter in July, the minister asked police forces across the province for their feedback on the proposed Fort Macleod centre and found that a majority saw no need for it.
Asked why the government didn’t seek input from law enforcement agencies earlier in the planning process, Denis said only that cancelling the project was one of the most difficult decisions he’s had to make as minister.
“I can’t speak for previous ministers. I’ve been in this position about 10 months. But I can tell you that this was a very difficult decision to make, but I believe it’s the correct one,” he said, adding he was influenced by police from Calgary, Edmonton and the RCMP, whose members comprise most of Alberta’s police. “When 94 per cent of your stakeholders are telling you something, that weighs very heavily on the decision-making process.”
The much-delayed Alberta Public Safety and Law Enforcement Training Centre picked up momentum just last month when provincially-contracted architects unveiled impressive designs for the expansive campus, billing it as the first high-tech police training centre of its kind in Canada. Contracts were awarded to Bird Construction and Stantec Architecture Ltd. to complete the centre by Aug. 2014. Architects – hired in July to draw up plans for the centre within a $95 million design budget set by the Solicitor General’s office – boasted that the state-of-the-art centre could attract recruits from across Canada and even the United States.
The Lethbridge Regional Police Service (LRPS) and smaller municipal police departments in the region had been eagerly awaiting the completion of those plans, which included a high-speed driving track, indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, urban and rural training properties and a mock courtroom.
“We could have gained a lot of advantages by having this high-tech, fully advanced training centre that close to us,” said Lethbridge police chief Tom McKenzie, who said the LRPS wrote a letter in support of the project when the Solicitor General asked for feedback last month. But the concerns expressed by larger police forces with different priorities for policing ultimately tipped the scales toward scrapping the project.
“I guess that’s politics,” said McKenzie, who added the province heard some opposition to the new training centre since it was first proposed.
“I feel that we were consulted. Were we consulted effectively and efficiently to the point that we should have (been)? No. But it’s difficult with any project,” he said diplomatically.
The sudden Conservative government cancellation prompted provincial opposition members from the Wildrose, NDP and Liberal parties to accuse the province of axing the project because Fort Macleod is represented by a Wildrose MLA. Livingstone-Macleod MLA Pat Stier did not return calls for comment by deadline Wednesday, but he issued a statement on the “devastating news” in a Wildrose press release.
“This government led us down a path, made us believe this facility was coming, told us how important it was, even announced a construction company and design firm, and just like that it’s all gone. I’m appalled and extremely disappointed.”
Mayor Patience echoed that bitter disappointment, mourning a project that had been hailed as a saviour for the town’s economic slump – a project he’d poured his hopes into for years.
“Right now, I just have a community that’s extremely devastated and the rationale behind it is so hollow that it doesn’t even allow for anything to lean on,” he said. “You know what, we’re tough out here and this process has made us stronger and it’s united this community. I want to ensure that the community stays united. As for the provincial government, if that’s their rural development strategy, then I suggest they take a hard look at it.”

Wednesday, 29 August 2012 20:00 Gauthier, Gerald

Garrett Simmons
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
[email protected]
Every summer, it’s always the same for southern Alberta agricultural producers.
As the days get shorter and the crops begin to ripen, harvest anxiety kicks in. With only so many perfect harvest days on the calendar, the pressure is on to maximize those days to the fullest potential. Unfortunately, that often leads to problems.
Laura Nelson, executive director of the Alberta Farm Safety Centre in Raymond, said reports of mishaps are more frequent come harvest time, and still follow a familiar pattern.
“We’re still dealing with a lot of machine entanglements, rollover and runovers,” she said, and added July-August in particular see a jump in the latter two occurrences
Machinery, of course, can be temperamental and come the busy season, those breakdowns can cause significant stress for producers.
“In a perfect world, you’d buy a new piece of equipment and it would never plug or break,” said Nelson, who added when breakdowns do occur, a slight slip up, such as trying to make a quick adjustment while the machinery is still running, can lead to a life-altering injury.
Advances in equipment technology have helped, as Nelson highlighted rollover-protection structures in tractors as an example, but only help if farmers use another important safety feature, one which is often neglected – seatbelts.
“If you catch a tire in the ditch or a pivot track, you want to be safe in that passenger area,” said Nelson, who added even though slower speeds are involved in farm work, the 15,000-pound weight of an average tractor plays a huge factor. “If it rolls over on you, it just doesn’t matter.”
Older tractors can be retrofitted with rollover-protection structures as well, for an added safety feature.
Safety features can make a difference but often, time is a huge factor, especially as the calendar flips from August to September. The dog days of summer give way to long days in the field, and Nelson added farmers need to ensure they get a proper rest.
“No one can work 18-20-hour days day after day and be as sharp on the 15th and 20th day,” she said, and mentioned even short breaks throughout the day can make a big difference. “After a few hours, you need a break, even if it’s just for a few minutes.”
Nelson added growers are sitting on record crops, and the recent hail storm Cardston experienced proves a crop is never safe, until it’s tucked away in the bins.
But safety can’t be lost in the go-go nature of harvest, according to Nelson, who pointed to an Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research report, called Agricultural-Related Injuries in Alberta, which stated an average of 18 deaths a year took place between 1990-2009. Unlike other injuries, children and the elderly factor into those numbers, due to the unique nature of farm work.
With that, Nelson added it’s important for parents to educate their children, recognize their limitations and follow some simple guidelines. She suggested any farm worker out on the job should communicate where they are going, when they are expected to be back and be provided with a communication device, should any problems arise.
“It’s just a matter of thinking ahead and doing some preparation,” said Nelson, who added it’s also important for workers to know the legal land location, and/or identification number of the land they’re working on.
Nelson mentioned the centre in Raymond focuses on educating youngsters as early as students in kindergarten in rural and colony schools, to build a consistent farm-safety message over the years.
“Before you know it, these kids will be the farm operators,” she said, and added the goal is to create a proactive attitude towards safety, which will ideally positively impact the on-farm decisions they will one day make on the farm.

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.