Yellowhead by-election Does Grande Cache Care?

A by-election sparked by the resignation of conservative MP Rob Merrifield will be held November 17. With the election only a couple of weeks away it is surprising that there has been no indication of a campaign until the past couple of days when a couple of signs have been erected. From the signs we see the Conservative candidate is Jim Eglinski and the Liberals are running Ryan Maguhn. A google search tells me Eglinski is an ex RCMP office from Edson and Maguhn is a municipal councillor from Hinton. Oh, and that google search tells me Cory Lystang is running as a Libertarian. That is it. That is all the info out there.

I'm not sure if Grande Cache cares as there has been no visible effort to host a candidate's forum. More surprising than that though is it appears the candidates don't care enough to let us know who they are or what they will be doing for us. In the past election the Conservatives won the riding with 77% of the vote, the NDP coming in second with a tad over 13%, the Greens a bit over 5% and the liberals coming in at under 3%.

Looking then at the past results and the lack of campaigning it appears we will see coronation for the candidate of the party that has mocked our democratic system and instituted policy based on their narrow perspective of our great country. Looks like we will have to wait until the next federal election to see if there will be a significant challenge to the autocratic rule of the governing Tories.

9 Years too Late?

In 2005 I had the opportunity to attend the 100th birthday party for Alberta with my colleague on Crowsnest Pass municipal council, Gail Sygutek. That day was the start of what was to be a good friendship. Noting that, it is not the intent of this post to elaborate on our relationship. The event held at Commonwealth Stadium, in the pouring rain, was graced by Queen Elizabeth. Of course the show piece of the ceremonies was a video history of Alberta's 100 years displayed on a very large screen.

I watched with anticipation as the video moved from one geographic location to another showing us all what the province deemed important enough to be showcased. My anticipation turned to hopefulness and then to utter disappointment as we watched the history of agriculture, oil, then tourism and the communities that built up around those industries. There was no mention of any of our Crowsnest Pass towns, Coleman, Blairmore, Frank, Hillcrest, nor Bellevue. Neither was there any mention of Lethbridge, Drumheller, Canmore, nor Nordegg. No mention of the fact that coal and coal mining towns were a major contributor to Alberta's economy from the turn of the century up until the 60's.

Not one coal mining town was mentioned in that version of our history save for Edmonton, (oil, and capital city) and Banff (noted for its bid to become the capital). What a horrible feeling to be the guest of our province  and to find our host was ashamed of its history in coal and all of us that were part of or grew out of that history.

We now have a premier that hails from Grande Cache, worked in the coal mines at Coleman, and was a member of the UMWA. I am hopeful that Jim Prentice will remember where he came from, institute policy to the benefit of working men and women, and insure that coal (not just its history) plays a role in Alberta's economy.

Time to Begin Again

It has been some time since I blogged on a regular basis. My blog is definitely dated and most of the picture links are broken because my pics were uploaded to a server I no longer have access to. I am going to spend some time looking for the pics to reload them. The blog doesn't look good with out them and I do want to maintain what was here.

The blog was initially created with the spirit of selling the Crowsnest Pass and touched softly on politics mostly municipal in nature. While there may be some updates on what is happening personally I will mainly be using this forum to comment on the political scene here in Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada, and the World and what it means for working men and women here and abroad.

I am hopeful that you will find it interesting.

It was a good election in Grande Cache

Grande Cache has elected their council and mayor and did a good job in doing it. The people picked a good mixture of experience and fresh minds. It was interesting and I am quite pleased with the result. Congratulations to all the candidates for doing their part in ensuring democracy works and best of luck to the new mayor and council.

Grande Cache Election Forum

The local Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum last night for the 3 mayorality candidates, 2 school board trustee candidates and 11 of us candidates running for 6 council seats. The chamber did a great job hosting the event and the Metis hall was standing room only as many citizens showed up to participate.

The mayor's seat is open as the incumbent decided not to run. Running for that office is one term councillor Herb Castle, a Grande Cache businessman and one time councillor Terry Corey, and a new comer to municipal politics Lisa Steciuk. All three did a decent job of presenting themselves and answering submitted questions. No biggies, no tough questions given nor strong stands taken. All three presented themselves quite well.

The councillors section went very well with all candidates presenting their similar views quite well. The incumbents (well one didn't show) did a fine job showing the gathered what and why they did in their past term. Honestly I have to say incumbents Shawn Moulun and Yo Zwart did very well and showed the potential voters that they deserve to be returned to office. Past council had a tough time this past term and did leave the town on solid footing for an incoming government to build on leaving a little room for them to facilitate desirable growth. I would be happy to serve on a council with them if we are all fortunate enough to be given the nod to represent the people of Grande Cache.

Yvonne Rempel is returning to the game after a short absence and articulated all of her desires for a new council and direction in a professional manner. A number of new comers, Aaron Aiken, Mary Nelson, Annette Stad, Bert Optiz, Rod Head, and an old name Bob Krewusik, expressed them selves with passion and a good understanding of some of the problems our town faces. Fresh faces with fresh ideas on a council is always a good thing and voters will have a tough choice to make from all of us running for the six seats. No matter how the people choose to make up their next council I am sure they will be well  served

I am hopeful the citizens present saw that I have the experience and qualifications that would be beneficial to the next town council in the discharge of their duties. Guess we will find out in a couple of weeks.

Buiding an Open and Transparent Council in Grande Cache

One of the very first things I noticed when I attended my first council meeting in Grande Cache is that there were no microphones or recorders. I then looked over at the secretary to see if she was typing verbatim. That wasn't happening either. From my experience I thought it was a must that all open council meetings be completely recorded. I then find out that it is against the procedural bylaw to record here. Amazing.

It is important to have a complete and accurate record of all that is said in open council. The bylaw has to be changed and proper equipment installed in council chambers to insure every word spoken in open council is recorded and kept on file. Doing this is just one step in in insuring openness in council proceedings.

Crowsnest Pass Election

Well municipal elections across Alberta are done for another 3 years (let us hope the province doesn't succumb to the big cities desire move to 4 year terms for municipal councils) and the voters of Crowsnest Pass behaved a tad differently than normal. Until last year, when the voters returned 3 incumbents (Ward, Irwin, myself) and one returning after a leave (Cole) Crowsnest voters usually returned 2 incumbents, one returnee, and elected 4 new councillors. This year's results then can be considered quite surprising with only one incumbent being returned to the uncomfortable council seats and I will remind Larry once again that it is not the chairs that are uncomfortable. It is what you are required to do while sitting that makes them uncomfortable.

With the surprise vote Crowsnest citizens put in what appears to be the right council at the right time. Clearly voters wanted to see councillors that can bring to the table a "sense of place" and put long time (if not life long) residents of the Pass, Jerry Lonsbury (I still remember the strap he gave me in grade 8) and Siegbert Gail into those unnerving chairs. Once again the electorate wanted new fresh faces and with them, fresh direction and decided to allow Brian Gallant, Andrew Saje, and Emile Saindon a chance to feel those, at times, painful seats. Still the people wanted some experience and told Larry Mitchell he would have to endure his bumpy perch for another 3 years. Crowsnest constituents, not surprisingly, also elected a relatively unknown, Bruce Decoux, to keep order while having to endure the most prickly seat of all. Congratulations to our newly elected council. You will learn to feel comfortable in those old leather chairs. Good luck!

Of course I would be remiss if I did not offer the new council some advice. I will give them the same advice one time councillor, Howard Bennet of Bellevue, gave me at the start of my first term, "remember, do that which is politic".