In the face of criticism over their cabinet tour, the glad-handing politicians of Alison Redford's Progressive Conservatives insist that this is nothing more than an indication of how open to listening they are.  Government MLAs are getting out in the public to hear our concerns, don't you know?

With a budget expected to come down on February 9th followed quickly by an election call, it isn't too difficult to see through the charade.  Even former P.C. members are calling the governing Tories on their B.S.

Premier Redford has been heavily slammed for a perceived I-know-what's-best-for-you heavy handed style of governing.  Her personal numbers trail Wildrose leader Danielle Smith as Albertan's choice for premier. Her party, while still riding high in recent polls, has become the target for an increasing number of Albertans who have realized, in spite of promises, that things haven't gotten better since the switch from Ed Stelmach to Redford.

In many ways, they have actually gotten worse.

The P.C.'s spin just doesn't fly.  It is obvious the series of town halls and public get-togethers is nothing more than a pre-campaign campaign.  The Tories are travelling to our communities on our dime so they can tell us how much of our money they are going to spend.

Putting aside any possible legal or ethical issue, I would just like to know what the tab is going to be.  How much of our money is Team Redford going to spend in order to get their message out? Just how much is the P.C. Farewell Tour 2012 going to cost Alberta taxpayers? 

If the Progressive Conservatives are going to empty our wallets to pay for their non-campaign campaign tour, we have a right to know how much they are going to spend.

Coming soon to a town near you: your very own Progressive Conservative MLA! Whether or not you will actually get a chance to meet, however…

Alberta’s P.C. government MLAs are hitting the road in an effort, as they claim, to hear the concerns of ‘real Albertans’. Unclear is if these meetings will be open to the general public or only to select party members and invitees. That really doesn’t matter, however. The real issue here is people don’t believe them.

Every new policy announcement since Alison Redford was appointed premier has had the tag line “…Albertan’s have told us…”

A backlash against a .05% driving law that makes criminals out of the innocent? It’s for your own good - Albertans have told us. Hike ‘sin’ taxes and float the idea of a PST? We know what’s best for the people - Albertans have told us. Defend a company that boycotts the oil sands? They have a point - Albertans have told us.



Redford: Campaigning
on our dime

 Now the Tories are going into the community to hear what Albertans really have to say. What is interesting is the timing. Redford has already announced that her government will introduce a budget on February 9th, which means it must be pretty much written by now and doesn’t really leave any time for inclusion of ideas the people may have.

So if the purpose of the tour isn’t really to hear what voters have to say, then the reason for the meet-and-greets must be campaigning.

Alison Redford is smart enough to realize that her government is in trouble, and her heavy-handed approach to governance has been criticized by a growing number of Albertans. She won’t do the honorable thing and call an election before handing down her budget, where all the vote-buying treats will be found. If Redford were serious about hearing what Albertans really had to say she could put all of her budget plans into an election platform, let voters compare the P.C. plan against those of the other parties, then make their voices heard at the ballot box.

But Redford won’t do that because she knows that would be political suicide. Without the desperate last-ditch effort to buy votes the 40+ year Tory reign will probably end.

What is even more distasteful to Albertans is the fact that this government campaign tour is being bought and paid for by the taxpayer. In essence, we have a government visiting the four corners of the province, all on the taxpayer’s dime, promoting an upcoming budget chalk full of goodies that will be paid for by you.

Even the best P.C. spin doctors must see how bad the optics look on this one.

What the Alison Redford government is doing is the same thing they’ve been doing for a while: playing Albertans as fools. Their arrogance has blinded them to the fact that we have caught on to their methods. We see the Progressive Conservative government as the bloated, old, corrupt bunch of cronies that they are, and refuse to be sucked in with more feeble promises or bought off with our own money.  We just don't believe the spin anymore.

There is one thing Albertans will tell Tories at their various glad-handing events: consider this the P.C. Farewell Tour 2012.

Recent tradition has indicated Canadians have been far more approving of Democrat American presidents in comparison to their Republican counterparts.

From Kennedy to Clinton, even many self-described ‘moderate’ conservative Canucks have given thumbs up to the more liberal of U.S. leaders. Bush-haters were just as prevalent in Canada as they were in any nation of the West, and our liberal population joined their American cousins riding the wave of Hope and Change when Obama won in 2008.

But those of us on the outside looking in have watched Obama’s first term unfold and have witnessed what the American people have experienced from the unique vantage point of ally and neighbor. It is no wonder, then, that those Canadians who were sucked into Obamamania have fallen relatively silent. They, like many of the Americans who suffered the same affliction, can no longer make excuses for the actions of the president or deny that fact that his time so far has been a failure.

Obama’s record is well-known and is increasingly reviled. International opinion is that he is disturbingly week on foreign policy – an opinion shared by friend and foe alike. A mix of inaction and bad policy reaction on the economy has created an undeniable crisis in the U.S.

What has destroyed any confidence people may have held in Barack Obama isn’t an image of being ‘aloof’, which would be a convenient yet pathetic way to explain his mistakes. What has reduced the President’s credibility and has many wondering with trepidation what his real agenda is, is his highly-suspicious decisions that go run counter to common sense.

The Keystone XL is not only the perfect example of this, but it is also going to become the albatross around Obama’s neck. With that one decision he did more than just choose alarmist environmentalism over labor unions and thousands of jobs (not to mention the boon for the local economies of communities along the proposed line). It also signaled President Obama’s true allegiances. He chose OPEC oil over a safe and secure source from America’s closes neighbor.



Gingrich: Pro-Keystone XL



All of this can explain why Canadians are following the current GOP race with heightened interest. Like most Americans we have been watching and waiting for someone – anyone – to launch into the clear cut number one position. We’ve been waiting for a star to emerge from a rather ordinary crop of hopefuls.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Newt Gingrich may be the one we’ve been waiting for. In spite of been seen as part of the old school Republican establishment and having a questionable personal life (it was years ago, people!), and that Green ad with Pelosi will always be hard to live down, when you consider the pressing issues of the day, he’s the one who has the right answers.

We believe Gingrich will reverse Obama’s ill-advised flirtation with government ownership of private business. We trust he will continue to stand up in the face of leftwing politically-correct maladroits and their chants of ‘racism’ when speaking the truth about the dangers of Sharia law.



P.M. Stephen Harper


For Western Canadians especially, we know a Newt Gingrich administration will quickly reverse Obama’s latest Middle-East appeasing ‘bow’ and sign off on the Keystone XL. To Obama’s dismay, it looks like the pipeline is going to be a major issue in the fall if Gingrich has anything to say. As reported on Sun TV, Gingrich went so far as to mention not only the Keystone but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper directly during his victory speech in South Carolina:

"What Prime Minister Harper -- who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American -- what he has said is he's gonna cut a deal with the Chinese and they'll build a pipeline straight across the Rockies to Vancouver," Gingrich said Saturday night. "We'll get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of the opportunity…

…Now, an American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country."

What happens in the States inevitable has an impact on Canada. The Harper government has done a masterful job steering the nation through choppy economic waters, but the prospect of another Obama term in the White House may be too much to defend against.

That makes the prospect of shared economic prosperity and security, and the thought of a Harper-Gingrich partnership, more and more appealing.

Like many others, I was waiting for one of the remaining GOP candidates to have The Moment - that one rare and spontaneous event that suddenly makes the best choice obvious.  Tonight, it happened:


Finally a Republican had the fortitude to call out the media as the pro-Obama lapdogs they are. 

Newt Gingrich is the man to save America from Barack Obama.

The Obama administration finally pulled the trigger on a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, and while very few were surprised at the President’s thumbs-down, many were disappointed.

The proposed line, which would actually be a twinning/extension of an existing one, would take raw bitumen from Alberta’s abundant oil sands down to the Gulf Coast of Texas to be refined.

The arguments have all been played out on both sides of the issue. Anti-oil sands environmentalist groups, backed by outspoken yet unknowledgeable (and hypocritical) eco-celebs grabbed the media spotlight with their protests. Pro-groups, including a large portion of Obama’s base support – unions – encouraged the President to approve the pipeline.

Ultimately, Obama killed the Keystone, which has now set off a firestorm of debate and controversy as to the ‘why’. EnviroNazi’s are of course cheering, claiming that Obama heeded their dire warnings of inevitable environmental disasters that would certainly be caused by the transfer of ‘dirty oil’ from Alberta’s ‘tar sands’.

White House spin doctors have thrown several excuses out to the public, blaming the Republicans (shock!) for not allowing enough time to ‘assess’ and ‘study’ the project. Interesting they didn’t demand more time to ‘assess’ ObamaCare before ramming it through.

Maybe the silliest statement from the Obama team was their claim that there are more jobs in unemployment by extending government handouts than there would be created from the Keystone. In other words, Obama would rather pay people not to work than see Americans employed (please – please remember that in November!).

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the decision ‘disappointing’. Alberta’s energy sector is the engine that runs the national economy, and this move certainly will have an impact not just economically, but in the realm of international relations.

Many Canadians see Obama’s rejection of the pipeline as a virtual slap-in-the-face. Given the choice of nations the United States has to import oil from – nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan, led by vicious dictators and regimes where there are no real environmental regulations not to mention little by way of human rights, or from Canada, America’s closest ally and trading partner which has stringent eco-rules and is a proud liberal democracy with an excellent human rights record – the message is loud and clear.

Barack Obama would rather buy oil from Hugo Chavez than from Stephen Harper. He chose blood oil from the Sudan and Iran over an ethical oil source from Alberta. No amount of spin or double-talk will shade the fact that Obama gave the finger to Canada while bowing to the Saudi King.

Years ago the death of such a pipeline would create damage to the Canadian economy. However, the Harper government has already started their plan to diversify our energy markets. We won’t be handcuffed by political decisions made by a foreign leader. If Obama doesn’t want to buy our oil, China will.

So while this is an obvious disappointment, the fact is the repercussions of the Keystone rejection will be felt more by the U.S. than by Canada. Canadians will, eventually, enjoy the jobs created by increasing our bitumen exports. We will still reap the financial benefits. Meanwhile, the United States will continue to struggle with outrageous unemployment numbers and a stumbling economy, and a president who turned his back on America’s closest ally.

If there were any doubts as to where Barack Obama’s allegiance was, this certainly puts those to rest.

On behalf of the people of Alberta, Canada, thank you for making a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.

Our crack team of investigators have sifted through the garbage and found these: a selection of election compaign slogans rejected by Alberta's Progressive Conservatives...



A movement is afoot, one that is as impressive as it is encouraging.

After years of being the target of condemnation by a rag-tag group made up of EnviroNazi’s, millionaire celebrities, and a complicit mass media, defenders of Alberta’s oil sands have finally had enough and are pushing back.

Tired of the misinformation, lies, and mock hysteria that comes with the foreign-funded tree hugging set, people inside and outside of our provincial borders are beginning to speak out. Everyday citizens are lining up behind groups such as Ethical Oil (http://www.ethicaloil.org/), or taking to the keyboard to fight in a battle zone once dominated by the radical left.

People are taking to Twitter and Facebook to show their support for our vital industry. Blog commentaries are on the attack and have been especially effective in uncovering questionable practices by the anti-oil sands mob. Yours truly has taken much enjoyment from pointing out the hypocrisy of certain EnviroCelebs and how their deeds in their private lives don’t match up with their public words.



Premier Redford:
Complete and
total failure.



While I attribute much of the pushback to grassroots Canadians finally reaching their breaking point with regards to being falsely labelled an enemy to the environment, some credit must be reserved for Alberta Premier Alison Redford.

If it wasn’t for the complete and total failure of her government in standing up and defending our oil sands, there certainly wouldn’t be the need for John Q. Public to take matters into his own hands.

We see our Prime Minister and several government M.P.’s speaking out against foreign-funded ‘radicals’ who seem compelled to make a mockery of public hearings over proposed pipelines. Even a member of B.C.’s Liberal government voiced support for the federal Tories over their opposition to groups outside of Canada spending money in the effort to influence our national agenda.

Government politicians, both provincial and federal from across Canada, spoke out in support of a boycott of Chiquita banana in retaliation of that company’s boycott of oil from Alberta.

What is the Alberta government’s history of defending our most important resource?

• Raise the royalty rates to the point some oil companies decide to build next door in Saskatchewan instead;

• Invite far-left Hollywood filmmakers to ‘tour’ the oil sands so that they may be more convincing in their lies (really, James Cameron makes millions from a film called Avatar which is essentially an anti-oil sands story and the government expects him to change his mind?);

• Defend a company that boycotts our oil sands as Alison Redford seemed to do regarding Chiquita.


Right now we have two major pipelines in limbo. The environmentalists are achieving their goal of distorting the truth just enough to cause problems. The current American president, himself a far-left zealot, has chosen the Green side of his base support over the union/jobs side by procrastinating on a decision on Keystone. The Friends of Chavez, Hollywood Chapter a.k.a. Kevin Bacon, Leo Dicaprio, et al, are grabbing headlines in their quest to destroy our economy.

And our provincial government chooses to remain complicit by their silence, deciding instead to take the opportunity to unilaterally implement a social engineering agenda which was never voted on by the public.

As long as Alberta Premier Alison Redford and her Progressive Conservative government fail in its duty to protect Alberta, that job will continue to fall on everyday citizens of the province. Someone has to speak up for Alberta. If they won’t do it, we will.