Shen Yung And Not Your Father's PC Party

The Shen Young Performing Arts troupe recently had their Alberta 2013 performance dates thrown into question when the Alberta Government revoked an agreement to use the Jubilee Auditoriums in Edmonton and Calgary.

The troupe celebrates Chinese Culture in a spectacular show of music and dance.  In their own words:

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in 2006 with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture.After more than 60 years of Communist rule in China, and especially after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese traditional culture has been all but completely demolished. However, the deeper spiritual core of the ancient culture, with its values of benevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity, as well as a reverence for the gods and the heavens, cannot be destroyed.

The troupe held sold out shows in Calgary in April 2012 but were unhappy because of some problems they had with the facility.  When they couldn't get their issues resolved they sent out a media release explaining their concerns.  What happened next, behind the scenes is fairly obvious, and the result was the government cancelling the agreement to allow the troupe's shows in 2013.  Alberta's Culture Minister Heather Klimchuk wrote a letter to the group informing them of the cancellation.  It was not written in all caps.

Shen Yung is connected with Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa), a religious group banned and persecuted in China.  Falun Gong is loosely based in Chinese Buddhism, and by most objective accounts is quite harmless.  There are Falun Gong societies everywhere in the West where there are Chinese Communities, including Calgary and Edmonton.  Religious freedom and freedom of conscience is a Charter Right in Canada, which extends even into Alberta.

The problem here is the very serious allegation being made by the group that the Chinese Government has pressured the Alberta Government into these punitive actions against Shen Yung.  The CBC and Canadian Press have been reporting on this. For example, Travel Alberta suddenly pulled out of a sponsorship deal that would have involved some mutual promotion.  Also, Tourism Calgary withdrew from a White Hat ceremony. Classy.

It becomes apparent through various comments and emails that the Chinese Consulate has been intervening with Calgary City Council and Alberta Governments against the group.  Sadly at this point, it is not economically feasible for Alberta to alienate Chinese business interests. Floor painter meet corner.

The key issue here is freedom of expression and not allowing foreign governments to interfere in Alberta's cultural activities.  The other issue is transparency.  The Auditoriums are Government owned.  These are really nice facilities, and it's rather objectionable that they are the centre of a campaign to bully and repress a cultural events.

Yes, this is not your father's PC Party.  Our father's generation knew a thing or two about fascism.

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A Tory Here, A Tory There.

The new Cabinet appointed today by Premier Redford is both a continuation of the status quo, but also contains a few hints about what to expect. If you view this as change, you need to get out more.

The 17 member cabinet has 7 associate ministers. Salary and size of cabinet are red herrings. The real issue is whether they can function well.  Previous cabinets were plagued by turf wars, empire building, and cross-jurisdictional disputes. I remain skeptical that the new Premier can fix those problems.

Surprisingly there are only 4 women in the cabinet, including the premier. (More conservative than progressive I guess.)  Edmonton and St. Albert have 5 and Calgary has 6 ministers.  The rest are rural members north of Red Deer.  The average age of the cabinet is about 48.  You could say it is more of an urban cabinet.

I was surprised to see Thomas Lukaszuk appointed deputy premier without portfolio.  You can probably guess by this the Premier will probably be spending most of her time on bitumen related issues.  Lukaszuk's job will be to keep the back benches busy, and to keep people with good ideas away from the Premier's office.

Everyone thought Ken Hughes would be the Health Minister.  As long time Redford loyalist  he was rewarded with the Energy portfolio, which is the most important ministry in this Government.  It is by far their highest priority. Hughes will travel around a lot, sort of a bitumen Ambassador.

The Health Ministry was left as is, under the care of Fred Horne.  I fully expect the Alberta Health Care system to continue to go sideways or backwards. It won't really be a priority.

The merger of Finance and the Treasury Board under Doug Horner is interesting.  Traditionally these two roles are separate because they look at spending from two different perspectives.  The merger of these two ministries suggests the Premier wants to start blasting out money without too much friction or dissent.

Jeff Johnson as Education Minister is an unknowable unknown.  Straightaway he will have to deal with the implementation of Bill 4, the relaunching of the failed new education act, and some public protests over prayer in public schools. And also those irritated religious mommy home school bloggers. Good luck with all that. Johnson and Hughes will likely work well together to get industry developed curriculum about the oilsands into the school system.  Or, as the Premier likes to call it, "facts and science".

Doug Griffiths in Municipal Affairs will have the primary challenge of trying to win back municipalities in southern Alberta who turned Wildrose.  What will the strategy be?  Ignore their needs?  Blast cash at them? I think we know by now that intimidation won't work.

What about Heather Klimchuk as Culture Minister you ask?  I don't really know much about her, or even what Alberta Culture does.  I did find a blog post from her that was written entirely in upper case. Something tells me Culture won't be all that important in this government.

This brings us to the new Transportation Minister Ric McIver.  When he was a Calgary City Councillor he postured as a fiscal conservative, got his boots licked repeatedly by Rick Bell, and on one occasion told Mayor Bronconnier that he should be nicer to Ed Stelmach.  Ric's biggest problem will be learning the new culture. In Calgary he was nick-named "Dr. No" for voting against almost every kind of spending.  As an Alberta Tory under Redford he'll certainly have to become known as "Dr. Yes, God Yes",  as they start blasting out money in all different directions. There is the outstanding issue of the South West Calgary Ring Road project, which will involve a new three way agreement between the City of Calgary, The Tsuu T'ina Nation, and the Provincial Government.  There is the more emotional and contentious upgrades to Highway 63.

Good luck to the Opposition Parties.  There is a lot to be skeptical about here.  Redford isn't a game changer or a reformer.  This is status quo politics with the usual emphasis on Party first.



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ABVOTE: Hell No

Warren Kinsella says here and here that Progressives should vote for Alison Redford's Progressive Conservative Party in Alberta's Provincial election. It is a formulaic and emotional appeal to strategic voting. It presents no argument that such a vote would accomplish anything useful.  The strategic voting argument is always stated as an urgent imperative, and is insulting to our intelligence. (So is this video, by the way.)

I will grant you at the outset, that a Wildrose government is the worst of all possible outcomes for Alberta. It's not an Alberta trait (in majority) to be ignorant racist anti-science homophobes. Few Alberta leaders (except perhaps Ralph Klein) have been so tolerant, even welcoming, of these malignant views as Danielle Smith. And yet, you can find those same views in the Progressive Conservative party any day of the week. They just manage their message better, that's all. I would rather face these people out in the open, rather than have the PC party's rodeo clowns wave their arms in my face and tell me they don't exist. I thought it would be obvious to Alberta's Progressives that voting for Alison Redford's Party will not solve any particular problem, and will probably make things worse.

So, I won't be voting for Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party under any circumstances. I never voted for them in any election from when I first started voting in the early 80's, and I likely never will.  Voting for the PC's to stop the Wildrose is a waste of time and energy.

Some reasons.

Fear and Loathing

Trying to provoke fear reactions does not work in politics when you are behind. Tim Powers is right about the Chicken Little argument, but he is wrong about the fear being unjustified.  Scaring people didn't work with Stephen Harper. We Progressives in the west knew what this train wreck would look like back in 1993. But moderate conservatives (in Ontario mostly) and the corporate media knew better, and said Harper was harmless. Now they act surprised and concerned. The same kind of media failure and cognitive distortion put Danielle Smith where she is now. Her superficial charm seems to appeal to some. Additionally, almost all of the fear tactics are being forwarded by PC supporters, with a bit of help from friends with typewriters.

A Credible Opposition

Regardless of who actually wins the election an effective, ethical and progressive opposition is more important that it has ever been. You must realize that next week we could have a legislature consisting entirely of conservatives.  In 1982 Grant Notley and Ray Martin were the sole opposition members to Peter Lougheed. Power should never go unchecked.  The PC party will be in no position to function as official opposition, even though they will likely win that status on numbers. Alison Redford will probably resign Monday night.  Last time they picked a leader it took almost a year, in what could be best described as a farcical infomercial that was fraudulently passed off as a general election of sorts.  The PC party will likely break down in infighting.  I think they are far too arrogant and used to playing god to be an effective opposition. They have no idea what the opposition does.   With the PC and Wildrose the only parties in the Legislature you can bet that most of their time will be taken up with their family feud. Aside from that being boring as hell, we have a lot of important issues to deal with.  Do you believe that 40% or 50% of Albertans who are not conservatives deserve no representation?

Voting into Decline

One good reason not to vote for the PC Party is that they are in steep decline.  We know the mythology about 1935 and 1971.  In both of those election years long running ruling parties were dumped. The 2012 election may or not follow this pattern entirely; however history would suggest that if Albertans say they are done with the PC party then they are really done with them. This may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think it is quite possible they could go the way of the Social Credit Party.  Either way, if you are a progressive in Alberta it would make more sense to take a longer view and vote into the future.  The project of fixing Alberta's political culture will take longer than any of us thought.  It's also worth considering that moderate conservative parties (red toryism) are in decline in many places. Conservative organizations seem to be more radical these days, more tea party like.

Homophobia

The PC party doesn't have an especially good record on the issue of gay rights. Stockwell Day, formerly Alberta's Treasurer and Social Services Minister had an appalling habit of saying stupid hateful things about gays.   They did remove the right of gay people to be foster parents, and that prohibition has been upheld ever since.  Between 1991 and 1998 Delwin Vriend's  human rights case against the Klein Government and the exclusion of gay people from basic human rights protection worked it's way through the courts. The Alberta government fought Vriend through to the Supreme Court of Canada, where they lost. Apparently it was quite expensive.  The result was the Supreme Court writing sexual orientation into Alberta's Human rights code, by force if you will.  The Alberta government has never apologized, nor have they ever acknowledged gay rights as human rights in any way.  I think it remains controversial for them.  And then there was Bill 44 which came out of nowhere. Some would say it was an attempt to stop discussion of gay issues in schools. That may be true. The Stelmach Government just wouldn't be honest about the purpose of the bill. 

I know the Wildrose will be worse for gay rights, with their jocular hate speech and the threats of referendums.  But at least we know that in Canada the courts will side with gay rights.  I'm not afraid to admit that I fear the worst.

Environment

Under future PC governments the output of carbon dioxide from industry will likely double or triple, with little or no mitigation. The Wildrose officially does not believe in climate change.  They had to articulate that position clearly to attract support from industry and their collection of little weenies who bravely brag online about wanting to assassinate David Suzuki.  Neither party will be effective on environmental issues. Not much of a choice on a fairly important issue.

Close Races and My Riding

Some pundits are saying that almost half of the ridings have a less than 10% lead for the front running. This, and the apparently large number of undecided voters will make the election interesting, among other things.  But in my riding the Alberta Liberal candidate has a pretty good chance of winning. To me that represents a better choice than voting PC.  And no, I'm not endorsing the Alberta Liberals, but I'm also not especially turned off by them. 

Conscience

Officially I'm still an undecided voter. But I plan on voting as in other elections, in agreement with my basic values. I know that this time next week we will be facing a whole new set of problems.  A lot of us won't be happy. Democracy and good will will be on the run.

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December 18

This is not the type of thing I usually write about, but...

This is one the few photos of my dad that I have, standing outside the Alberta Legislature in his RCAF uniform. Hard to say what the year is, or how old he is. I barely had any time with my father, and never got to know him at all. On a blistering cold December 18th day he died, and that was it. The memory images of that day are bizarre and frightening and come around now and again.

I think about him all the time, and more so at this time of year. Not that it would help, but I know next to nothing about what he did as a young man or what he was like. And none my elders who knew my father have ever shared anything. And of course I often think about what our lives would have been like if our families had been better or luckier.

As you can imagine, it's not hard for me to understand why many find this time of year full of mixed emotions. Please recommend this post

Who's Suing Whom - Alberta Edition

A 14 year old Alberta girl is being sued by a home owner after the home in which she was sitting went on fire. Fortunately no one was hurt but the house and the neighbor's house were damaged.  It sounds like she's the scapegoat for the insurance companies who see no problem suing a 14 year old for $350,000.  Sure she'll have to pay to defend herself, but I say saddle the girl with a 350K debt.  Send a message to all 14 year olds. Sort of a scorched earth policy. Now if only we could find a way to blame this on the Alberta Liberal Party.

The Alberta Legislature quietly passed Bill 49  in the spring session. This bill prohibits the right of home and business owners and insurance companies from suing Firefighters or municipal fire departments for any kind of negligence. Wrong address? Door chopped in? Sorry, pay for it yourself.  This will save TONNES of cash for the Calgary taxpayer.  We will no longer need to train our firefighters nor invest in  information systems to make sure we destroy the right home. 

A former student of the elite Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School is suing the school for $400,000 because they expelled her. Suddenly, after a school function, they came to realize she maybe wasn't their kind of people.  And all it took was the hearsay evidence of a relative of Peter Lougheed who may have seen something in a washroom, involving groping or something.  I tell you, this Tory elitism and moral staunchness is really something.  The funny part of this story is that private schools in Alberta are heavily funded by the public. (Well, maybe not funny.) So when it settles, you may get an additional tax bill. Your contribution is deeply appreciated. Now get off our lawn.

The Bank of Montreal is suing former customers, employees, and anyone else they can find after discovering one of the largest mortgage frauds in Canadian history.  Apparently they are also suing Calgary CPC Member of Parliament Devinder Shory. I didn`t know who he was. After reading some of his QP gems in Hansard I`d say he`s not the brightest bulb.  But which of them are?  I tell you this Tory elitism and moral staunchness is really something.

We conclude with the sad tale of Ihor Broda. The Edmonton Lawyer and former would be Alberta PC MLA, has finally been disbarred by the Law Society of Alberta for numerous citations of misconduct. I only mention it because we were discussing law suits, and well, it would be hard not to mention it.

I tell you, this Tory elitism ... Please recommend this post

More on the Carrington Fire

(Please see additional update at bottom of post)

I haven't heard anything about how the Edmonton Police are progressing with their investigation into the fire at the Carrington Seniors Residence, apparently considered an arson.

However, I did receive an email from a man who claimed to be a first responder at the fire and he made some interesting observations backed up with pictures. It seems that the sidewalk immediately outside one of the fire exits was being replaced and there was an excavated trench about 8 inches deep. For seniors with various levels of capabilities, to exit down 3 or 4 flights of stairs, then to try to cross this trench at 3am seems a bit scary. Many of them just couldn't get across the trench without help. It raises an obvious question about the fire code which I'm not qualified to answer. The rule of thumb is you do not block an escape route in any way. The details were forwarded to the Fire Inspector for consideration.

Immediately after the fire, the entire complex was sealed off and fenced. The author of this email claims that he went back the next day and the trench had been filled in. Its a strange allegation. If true, what would be the reason for filling in a hole on a condemned building?

Please keep in mind that the photos are somewhat inconclusive and there are no photos at 3am, at the time of the evacuation. I have no way of knowing if this story is true, but it does concern me.

I would definitely like to see these buildings made easier to get out of. I'm very grateful to these people who responded at the time and prevented loss of life. But some things about the evacuation plan still don't seem right to me.

Update (July 30,2009)

I misconstrued some of the details Jim had sent in previous emails, so here is his latest email point out a couple of my errors:

I read your latest blog and have to point out some errors...

"the sidewalk immediately outside one of the fire exits was being replaced and there was an excavated trench"

not true, there was no work being done, the sidewalk/trough was built to funnel water to the sewer, now the system wont work because the sidewalk is above the sewer feeder trough. It was built that way and had been there for approx 10 years.

"The author of this email claims that he went back the next day"

not true, I went back 3 days later (Wed June 3rd/8:30pm) to find the sidewalk/trough had been back filled and the courtyard had been soden,by 11am Friday there was a sidewalk installed and the staircase had been changed from a wooden one to a concrete staircase.

I just have to keep the facts straight.

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Carrington Fire Apparently Arson

My 80 something mother had been living at the Carrington Assisted living apartments in Edmonton. She lived in the building on 106st and 40th avenue. On May 31, in the middle of the night, the building went on fire and over 200 seniors were out on the street. Miraculously, none of them were hurt. The EFD, EPD and passers by did a great job in making sure everyone got out in time.

The western wing of the building went up in flames and was destroyed completely. The east wing where my mother's suite was, was thoroughly damaged by water. None of these seniors will return to the building as it is condemned and it is unlikely any personal effects can be recovered.

The Carrington facility at Riverbend was under capacity so they took in most of the displaced seniors on short notice. However, imagine the circumstances of having no personal possessions, no furniture. This was a highly traumatic event for people who shouldn't have to deal with something like this at their age.

TV's and couches can be replaced by insurance. But family bibles and love letters from the 1940's are gone forever.

The City of Edmonton announced this morning that the fire is believed to have been deliberately set and the EPD is investigating. The fire was briefly discussed in the AB Leg QP a few weeks ago, relative to fire code adherence and evacuation protocols. As expected, the Government said everything was fine.

Check with the Salvation Army or Red Cross in Edmonton to see if they still need donations of money or personal effects. Or phone Riverbend facility at (780) 433-2223 to see if they still need anything.

Update: Edit for Clarity. The Whitemud facility burned down. Most Seniors were relocated to the Riverbend facility which was under capacity. Please recommend this post

630Ched Manipulates Anger Over Tori Stafford

There's a death penalty poll up at 630ched.com. It deliberately coincides with the horrible news regarding Tori Stafford.

The usual inflammatory bullshit forms the question:

With little evidence Canada's "soft" treatment of hardened criminals is working, is it time to bring back the death penalty for cold blooded killers?

There are too many fallacies there to properly deal with in brief, but please go over and vote.

When four RCMP officers were killed in Mayerthorpe Alberta, then Premier Ralph Klein said it was no time to talk about gun control. I guess reform types like Bob Layton are into situational ethics when it comes to exploiting victims for cheap politics.

It makes me angry that 62% of Edmontonians would consider bringing back a medieval
barbarism like the death penalty. Please recommend this post

Edmonton PD Issues Amber Alert

The Edmonton police issued an Amber alert this morning for a seven year old girl who was abducted in north east Edmonton.

Edmonton Journal has full details and descriptions here.

Lets hope for a speedy and positive outcome.

Update 4:30pm MST. According to Canadian Press:

EDMONTON — A seven-year-old girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert after police said she was abducted from a northside Edmonton park was abandoned by a man in a gas station after an alert attendant noticed her crying...

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Christmas, Numerically Speaking

I went to Edmonton for Christmas and had a fairly good time. The facts below speak for themselves:

Number of toilets I heroically unplugged on Christmas day: 1

Number of family stories I heard at Christmas Eve dinner that involved electrocution, house fires, near drowning, and putting dentures into the recently deceased: 5

Number of family members missing for Christmas dinner: 4

Number of times my niece told me to shut up: 5

Number of times I got beat at foosball: 4

Number of times someone asked me when when I was going home: 3

Number of people at the dinner table wearing dumb-ass hats from South America: 1

Number of different plans I heard about the route the Christmas day foul was taking from Canmore, Alberta to Sherwood Park, Alberta: 5

Number of phone calls I fielded about the location and eta of the Christmas day foul: 3

Number of times the front desk of my hotel phoned me on boxing day morning to ask me dumb questions: 4. I waited until they were really busy then phoned them and asked them if there was a guy in the lobby with a blue toque. Then I phoned back and said, sorry, I meant red. A "toque" is a Canadianism for a winter hat made of wool.

Number of years in a row I have asked politely for a Pony: 40

Number of Ponies I have received for Christmas: 0

Number of times at dinner that I was telling somebody something that I thought was pretty important only to find out they were'nt even remotely listening: 5
(Try this: "blah blah blah i'm building a nuclear bomb blah blah blah")

Number of people at Christmas Dinner: 17

Average age at Christmas Dinner: 36.9375. This suggests a proposed generic parental response: Shut up, you're well below the mean.

Weirdest Christmas Scene: Driving down Whyte Avenue late on Christmas Eve three guys were trying to haul a shopping cart full of pop bottles across the train tracks on 103st. Poverty never takes a day off.

Prettiest Christmas Scene: Driving past the refineries on the way back from Sherwood Park. All the refineries were lit and there was a full moon. You can see all the lights from Edmonton from baseline road.

Best Kept Christmas Secret: I accidentally brought home an unopened gift from Grandma to my Niece. I know what it is. Who knows how long I'll hang on to it.

Worst Christmas Movie I was forced to Watch: This year its a tie. 1) That stupid movie A Christmas Story with that stupid little kid named Ralphie with the big round glasses. Kids can't act. Horrible movie. 2) Ghost. No idea what this horrible horrible horrible movie has to do with Christmas but its a horrible movie. For some reasons several stations ran it over and over again on the 24th and 25th. What's the moral in this movie anyway? You die and you get to make out with Demi Moore? The only way you could have even remotely saved this movie would have been to dump Swayze and put Pacino in that role. Pacino as an angry dead guy who makes out with Demi Moore - think about it.

Weirdest Christmas Conversation with a Stranger: Talking with a dude at Canadian Tire about the merits of the various plungers they had for sale. Please recommend this post