An election in Alberta is looming. A new leader is about to be picked for the Progressive Conservatives. I believe the new leader will want to have an election as soon as possible so that he/she can have a fresh mandate. Even if the leader does not call an early election, an election is still around the corner.

Alberta’s population is changing though. With leaky schools, the Tories lack of regard for oil revenues and no plan for the oil sands, the Progressive Conservatives are going to have to work really hard for their usual vote they are accustomed to in Alberta. I really do believe that we are coming to a shift of power in Alberta, and the party who truly stands up for Albertans and proves to Albertans that they actually care, will be the winners.

Not only have the issues caused the PC party to lose support, but also new comers to the province are creating greater support to the other parties. People from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and everywhere else know that things can be done a lot better. Why do Albertans, living the richest province in Canada, pay health premiums, high auto insurance and high oil/gas prices? Why do several schools in Calgary have leaky roofs? Why is our homeless rate climbing higher and higher? Where are the affordable homes? These are appropriate questions that the Tories are going to need to address and solve in the next election if they want to be elected again. I am very doubtful the questions will even be addressed, let alone dealt with and solved.

It’s time for a change Alberta. Make your vote count in the next election, vote for change.

Well I’ve been following this spotted owl story (link) and another story where Rona Ambrose is being sued (link).

Well it looks like she is being sued again, this time regarding the spotted owl extinction. As I had mentioned before, Rona Ambrose (Minister of the environment) has refused to enact an emergency order un the federal Species at Risk Act. There are only 17 of these owls left in Canada, yet the minister sees “no imminent threat to the survival or recovery of the northern spotted owl at this time”.

This is a shame!

Ambrose, resign now - you are an embarrassment!

Last week an independent evaluation was released and it stated that the federal government was not properly implementing the “Species at Risk Act” and a leaked document from Environment Canada shows they are trying to make the act less effective. Here is a press release from the Sierra Club of Canada. (I’ve added emphasis on parts I feel are important.)

Ottawa: An independent evaluation released yesterday reveals rampant federal mismanagement in implementing the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The evaluation by private consulting firm Stratos Inc., points out serious deficiencies in all of the key areas evaluated.

The evaluation was released by Environment Canada’s Audit and Evaluation Branch in response to a request from the federal Treasury Board. It concludes that ‘the species at risk programs and activities are not yet on track to ensure that the Act’s objectives and intended outcomes will be realized.’

“From figuring out which species to protect, to figuring out how to protect them, this report reveals, at best, governmental bungling, and at worst negligence,” said Gwen Barlee, the Policy Director of the Wilderness Committee. “Canada’s endangered species deserve better.”

The number one cause of species’ decline in Canada is habitat loss. The identification of critical habitat is the primary tool under SARA to enable habitat protection. One of the key findings of the evaluation is that critical habitat was not being identified or legally protected. The evaluation also finds that a significant portion of available resources was either re-allocated to other departmental priorities, allowed to lapse, or extensively re-profiled within SARA programs. This means that money that was allocated for such crucial things as recovery planning and critical habitat identification was misspent.

“Worse yet,” added Rachel Plotkin, Sierra Club of Canada’s Director of Forests and Biodiversity, “an Environment Canada document leaked to Sierra Club outlines current federal policy directives that dilute SARA’s potential even further. The draft policy essentially encourages provinces not to identify critical habitat in recovery strategies and to dilute a science-based process with economic considerations. The Conservative government can’t blame the Liberals for this grim new direction!”

The Stratos evaluation also highlights failed cooperation between the federal government and the provinces to protect Canada’s endangered plants and animals. Because the Species at Risk Act doesn’t automatically require protection of species on provincial lands, provincial governments are left in charge, even though many do not have laws to protect species at-risk and their habitat. The failure to protect species in the provinces has led to lawsuits in British Columbia and Alberta.

“When the federal government passed this legislation, they promised no species would fall through the cracks but many are,” said Sierra Legal lawyer, Devon Page. “As it stands now, we’re back to where we started from before we had national legislation – battling province by province and species by species.”

The federal government has committed to addressing concerns raised by the report, but the leaked policy document reveals that the federal government might, in fact, be tracking in the opposite direction. The report can be downloaded at http://www.ec.gc.ca/….

Well I just shot off a quick email to Rona Ambrose regarding this story. I will be sure to keep you all up to date on any response I receive. The questions are quite simple. I’m asking her to give the reasons behind her statement and I’m also asking what she plans on doing about it. Here is the letter:

Dear: Rona Ambrose

This is regarding this: http://www.cbc.ca/story/……

Now you have said the Spotted Owl “does not currently face imminent threats to its survival or recovery.” However, there are only 17 left. 100 were left 10 years ago and it is estimated they will go extinct by 2010 if nothing is done. You are legally bound by the “Species at Risk Act” to do something about this. What are you going to do?

I would also like you to clarify your statement above and your reasoning behind it. There are only 17 owls left; how many owls have to be left before they face imminent threats to their survival and recovery? Do you even care?

Thank you,
(Contact Information Here)

I urge everyone else concerned to write a similar letter expressing concerns and questions for the Environment Minister over this issue.

And there is a new poll up on the left side of this page regard Rona Ambrose. Evaluate her job so far!

As I had previously mentioned, the Conservative government had announced that they were doing major cuts to many housing initiatives.Well it looks like they changed their mind, and they are reversing the cuts.

OTTAWA – NDP Housing Critic Irene Mathyssen applauded the victory for housing groups across Canada today as Minister for Social Development Diane Finley announced that cuts to federal funding for housing through the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) have been reversed and the program’s $37 million rollover from 2005-06 will now be released.

“Minister Finley’s announcement comes as welcome news to housing groups across Canada, but there’s still work to be done,” said Mathyssen. “We need to ensure the funds now promised are delivered on time and put to effective use. With only seven months left to spend the 2006-07 funds, housing groups need their support delivered as soon as possible.”

Earlier this month, housing groups in Toronto and Ottawa were informed that federal funding for housing in their communities would be cut by $5.8 million and $1 million respectively. As well, Service Canada recently sent letters to housing shelters in Winnipeg confirming that it “had not received the full budget allocation [from the Conservative government]” it had been promised and would therefore be cutting housing spending.

“I applaud the hard work of housing advocates and organizations across Canada as well as the municipal officials who helped apply pressure on the Minister. The NDP will continue to serve as the effective opposition to any cuts the Harper government imposes in housing or in other programs that benefit our society’s most vulnerable,” said Mathyssen.

And some people say the NDP is an ineffective opposition. Without the NDP these cuts would not had been reversed. The NDP is effective!

And if you think the Liberals were apart of reversing the cuts. Think again. Joe Fontana was of course speaking words of progressiveness, but does he really mean it? He was slamming the NDP for bringing down the Liberal government.

And the London-North-Centre MP said the NDP must share the blame for bringing down the Liberal government just as it was developing a national housing strategy.

It wasn’t the NDP. It was the voters! The voters got tired of the Liberal’s arrogance, corruption and inaction. Also the NDP hardly called that election. It would have been held weeks later, that is if Paul Martin would keep one of his promises. And the Liberal Government would have not done anything to help fund housing, their record speaks for itself. As you can read here:

A majority Liberal government abolished the world-recognized housing program in the 1990s: “Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will phase out its remaining role in social housing except for housing on Indian reserves.” (Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget in Brief, 6 March 1996, p. 11)

As always, the Liberals are full of words but lack any action. They actually do the opposite of what they say will do. While the NDP says these things too, and accomplishes them even when they are outside of Government.