I invite you to participate in an unscientific and vital yet completely meaningless new poll question I've placed on the left side of the page.  The question is simple: Who is the Best Choice for Alberta Premier?

Each of the main provincial party leaders are in the running.

Be sure to get the vote out!

The poll closes February 8th, 2010.

Of all the topics I target, few match the level of response generated by a column on 'separation'.

While the focus has usually centered on the concept of Alberta or Western Canada independence, I have often touched on that most famous (infamous?) of all North American secessionists, those fun-loving French in Quebec.

The theme of feedback has become routine. Francophones take issue with my claim that so-called 'separatists' in Quebec use the threat of leaving as a tool of economic, social, and cultural blackmail - and a historically effective one at that.

Alberta separation is mostly scoffed at, yet there is always that evidence of something boiling just under the surface. What many see as a comical impossibility is actually very possible given the 'perfect storm' of events and circumstances.

We're always just one National Energy Program reincarnation away from having a serious discussion on that issue in Alberta, and in has been that way since the first NEP devastated the province.

What is interesting are the emails I get from my American readers, particularly from the Pacific Northwest and Texas. It seems the thirst to escape from living under a big government, socialist system extends beyond international borders.

Without fail every article receives at least one "...let's both separate and join together", referring to Alberta and whichever state they live in.

To kill any lingering stereotypes, be aware that the pro-independence minded Americans, like the various Canadian separatist I've spoken with, represent a wide and varied cross-section of society. They are not the backwoods, far-rightwing, religious, gun-toting zealots with no education that some would have you believe.

Supporters of increased provincial/state autonomy include people from the blue, white, and pink collar worlds. Doctors, lawyers, mechanics, butchers, even a few American politicians who prefer to remain anonymous, - they have given the subject great consideration and come to their own conclusions.

In both countries separatist risk being ostracised for a 'lack of patriotism'.

In Canada, centralized federal powers have been sold as part of our national fabric - our very unity is at risk if we dare to even whisper the idea of ending such important aspects of Canadiana as federally mandated bilingualism, or cutting off the billions of taxpayer dollars that go to fund the national television station (and coast to coast leftwing propaganda machine), the CBC.

I have previously stated my intention to put aside my separatist aspirations in order to support Alberta's new Wildrose Alliance party whose policies are reasonably pro-Albertan within a federal framework.

However, if that 'perfect storm' does come over the horizon, I am aware that there are others - in Canada and the United States - who can work together towards the common goal.

With his inability to pull his government out of the vortex of gaffes and blunders it has been stuck in, or slow the popularity freefall they are experiencing, there are some growing backroom whispers which suggest that Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach may try to repeat his strategy of 2008 by calling an early election in the hopes of catching the young Wildrose Alliance party off-guard.

That year, the provincial Alliance and Wildrose parties had just gone through the tedious process of merging. Some of the usual wounds from such an undertaking were still fresh. There hadn't been an actual leadership convention.

Even though there was a bit of a buzz about what the new party would achieve at the ballot box and some spotlight shone on the new guys during the campaign, the WAP actually lost its only holdover MLA when Paul Hinman was defeated.

After Stemach's P.C.'s rode to yet another massive majority victory, many 'experts' wrote the Alliance off. Few expected the party to even continue , let alone grow.

But the Wildrose Alliance didn't go anywhere. In fact, they continued to grow, attracting some big names in the political world as well as some big money from the business sector.

The good fortune of facing a horrible Premier leading a directionless party, a surprisingly buzz worthy and exciting leadership race, a populace ready for a change - the time since the '08 vote has seen a revolution in Alberta politics.

As opposed to the last time, Stelmach now faces a real threat in the WAP. Party growth seems unstoppable with constituency associations popping up in every corner of the province. Membership continues to skyrocket.

I would bet that any snap election call would see the WAP run candidates in each and every riding.

The Alliance now includes some big name, former P.C. MLAs who boosted WAP numbers in the Legislature with their very public dissing of Stelmach with their floor-crossing.

Perhaps the most significant threat to Stelmach's chances at victory is Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith. She is smart, capable, energetic, young.

And Smith possesses the one attribute Stelmach once held in a smaller dose but has long since lost never to return: people like her.

While Stelmach may take another pre-emptive move like 2008, the results this time would be far different.

Anytime you're ready, Eddie.

Another week, another defection from the Alberta P.C.s to the Wildrose Alliance.

Although the ruling Tories did not lose another sitting M.L.A. (yet), they did lose a valuable asset from a policy point of view today when Shayne Saskiw walked away from his position as Vice-President of Policy & Resolutions for the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta to join the WAP.

In a release announcing the move, Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith stated:

"Shayne Saskiw has made the decision to leave his executive position with the Alberta PC Association and join the Wildrose Alliance Party… Shayne will contribute to our policy development process and has accepted my invitation to work with our Policy Committee to help us move policy recommendations forward at our June 2010 Annual General Meeting."

We can once again expect the usual spin to come from the P.C. PR machine, with the reaction to be anything from pretending Saskiw’s contributions were minor to questioning his own abilities. All-to-familiar fare from those who still ride on Stelmach’s Sinking Ship.
Smith’s invite to Saskiw to join the WAP Policy Committee should further ruffle some P.C. feathers.

I’ve noticed that Smith has been mostly spared the P.C. backlash, with the Wildrose Alliance party itself being the focus of Tory anger. I think Stelmach and his ‘people’ are completely flustered about how to deal with the fact that their sudden number one foe is a woman, and a popular one at that.

They can’t find an ‘in’ without leaving their own image exposed. It really is comical.

From an Alliance-member POV, I welcome experienced and energetic politicos from all sides who have something to contribute to my party, but we do have to be careful that we don’t acquire so many former P.C. refugees that we start to look like ‘P.C.-lite’ in the eyes of the voters.

To that end, we should set a boundary: We’ll only take the worthy folks and leave the rest for Ed. That mean no Ted Morton.

The fallout from comments made by long-time conservative mover and shaker Tom Flanagan on a CBC political roundtable continues into the second week.

He was speaking on the issue of P.M. Stephen Harper’s controversial decision to prorogue (suspend) Parliament which has created a growing backlash.

Liberals and the socialist NDP are accusing the Tories of purposely ducking from an investigation into allegations that Canada turned over enemy POWs who were subsequently abused by Afghani officials.

I have to admit that I have a ‘who care’s?’ attitude on that one. Captured a terrorist from a group that kills innocent kids, rapes women, and tortures anyone who dares not to pray to their God? Need to do a little ‘interrogation’ via waterboarding or the like in order to save countless innocent Canadian lives?

Don’t let me stop you.

But the point here is that Flanagan isn’t speaking out in opposition to Harper’s move.

His opinion – one that I fully share –is that the prorogation is ‘defensible’ – something that the Prime Minister could have and should have been direct in communicating with people.

He is absolutely correct.

The Harper team has yet to grow up and realize that they can be honest with Canadians, even if its something we may not want to hear.

The reaction of fellow conservatives was, sadly, as expected.

As if anyone needed a clear-cut example of how the political right in Canada continues to suffer the lack of ability accept criticism from one of their own, the follow-up comments by Tory M.P. Shelly Glover is it.

Either she is a complete idiot and doesn’t know who Tom Flanagan – former Harper Chief of Staff and still deeply entrenched in the national (and more recently the Alberta provincial) political scene – is, or she is insulting every Canadian’s intelligence with her smarmy comments.

My money is on ‘idiot’.

Here in Alberta, one of the changes that resulted from Premier Eddie’s MLA Musical Chair’s game was the appointment of Ted Morton as Alberta’s point-man in the new round of Equalization negotiations with the federal government.

Clearly an effort to recapture many Wildrose Alliance members who fled the P.C.s, Morton’s reputation portrays him as the closest ‘Alliance-like’ member of Stelmach’s group.

Ed has once again underestimated his opponents. If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn about members of the upstart party, it’s that they are not naive. They can see a con from a mile away, and they realize that they are looking at one in Ted Morton.

Such a fiscal conservative is Morton that he stood right alongside his fellow Cabinet members and supported every lame-brained, economically-damaging idea the government had.

If he truly shared the values of the Wildrose Alliance, he would have the courage of his convictions and cross the floor, like Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth have done.

But he won’t. Not because the WAP wouldn’t have him (although the vast majority of members have told me that the longer Morton remains in Stelmach’s cabinet, the better it is for the Alliance), but because he talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk.

Have you noticed anything Morton has done in the last year? Anything at the top of your mind? No Googleing…

I expect a lot of huffing and puffing when he deals with The Terrible Feds. Lots of cunning sound bites by Ted in his role as Defender of Alberta, but in the end the deal will be the same, and Alberta will continue to get the short end of the stick.

And it will be another step towards a Wildrose Alliance-led Alberta.

From the ‘get the government the hell out of my life’ department comes news of more progress in the battle against the archaic marijuana laws in the United States.

Just one day after New Jersey became the 14th State to introduce some form of medical marijuana laws on their books, California took it a step further when it was announced that the California Assembly's public safety committee approved a bill to legalize pot.

While it still has some ways to go and many obstacles to face before becoming an actual law, the intent would be to regulate pot much the same way as government already does alcohol.

I’ve been watching the systematic move towards the legalization of pot in the U.S. for some time now, especially the West Coast state which has had some entertaining tug-of-war matches with the Feds over this.

Here in Canada, we’ve had our own recent colorful history with weed. Our relaxed laws became a bone of contention for many American anti-pot politicians who began to view Canada with disdain.

Waves were made when former Canadian P.M. Jean Chretien mused about enjoying a legal joint in his retirement.

Legal, then not, then legal again, no one is really sure if weed is currently legal or not in Canada. The interesting thing is the response when asked – no matter the answer, they all seem to follow up with the thought that if it isn’t, it should be.

I won’t go into the whole history of anti-pot laws and how those who benefitted from the continued banning of the plant cultivated (snicker!) a powerfully negative societal impression. That’s all on the record, from the first Church-led, cotton-growers opposition to hemp all the way to Nixon ignoring his own governments study into the effects of pot use on the person and on society in general.

The fact remains that the reasons for keeping weed illegal are dwindling. The facts are finally outweighing the spin. More and more ‘non-users’ are rejecting the old school excuses and scare tactics of those who wish to impede our rights and liberties.

As a self-professed libertarian-conservative, I've noticed less debate and more common ground when discussing pot laws with my more socially rightwing friends.  There is a growing acceptance.

If the California gambit succeeds, it could embolden the citizens of other States to speak up and tell their leaders to do the same. It’s a matter of liberty.

If you don’t like it, don’t smoke it.

There’s a radical idea that has been making its way through the political chat underground. Growing in support, some mainstream political parties are beginning to take notice.

The concept is for conservatives in Canada and the United States to undertake an intensive campaign with the purpose being to expose the farce that is the United Nations and the growing danger it poses to North American sovereignty, and propose either a precedent-setting overhaul to the international governing body or to gain enough public support to be able to pull out of the organization.

At first glance this doesn’t seem new. There have always been those who questioned the effectiveness of the U.N., even to the point of kicking the H.Q. out of New York, especially post-9/11.

The obvious leftism of the U.N. has been a point of conflict for years, and their insistence at taking polarizing positions without real debate while attempting to punish those nations that haven’t fallen in line gives credence to the optics.

Having representatives from nations with histories of human rights atrocities chair the U.N. Human Rights Council shows the depth of their ignorance.

Letting slightly retarded leaders with Oedipus complex written all over them make a mockery of the original intent and purpose of the U.N. with comically inappropriate speeches adds fuel to those who question our continued involvement.

You know it’s bad when Canada - this friendly nation to the North – walks out of a speech by Iran on the first day of the General Assembly.

Current evidence shows that United Nations involvement isn’t needed, and actually hampers, progress on some international issues.

It will take someone with some incredible foresight, fortitude, and steel-cased balls to seriously introduce this idea to the mainstream, daring to break that sense of obligation to the ineffective organization and the bureaucracy that is inherent and ever-growing (and ever dangerous) .

But just theoretically, imagine the shockwave if the next Republican presidential candidate and Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper both agreed to ‘study the effectiveness of the United Nations and our part in it’.

At the very least it could force the U.N. to renew into an effective international body. At most, it could spell the end to an organization that jumped the shark long ago.

I’ll have to start off by admitting that I’m not sure if it was meant as a late Christmas present or some sort of good will New Year’s gesture, but I have to thank you for the gift you gave every Wildrose Alliance supporter this week with your cabinet shuffle.

We couldn’t have asked for a better treasure to find under the tree.

In turfing such embarrassments as George Groeneveld from the Agriculture portfolio, you have all but admitted to the strong accusations of failure that have been permeating Alberta’s social circles, not to mention Wildrose talking points, for months.

But then to find out that you didn’t actually get rid of the worst offenders in your cabinet, but instead chose to play musical chairs in the hope that Albertan’s were just too indifferent to care – or too dumb to notice – well, that’s the best gift of all.

I actually feel bad that I didn’t get you anything.

Your idea to airlift Ron Liepert from the devastation he caused as Health minister and make him your Energy minister is an absolute dream!

He’s the most overrated MLA in recent history; a man whose reputation for intelligence and cunning far exceeds what the evidence has proven.

Ron Liepert: ready to devistate our Energy sector

John T. of Fort Saskatchewan says: “He’s just the guy to continue the methodical screwing up our energy sector."

Moving Iris Evans out of Finance was also an obvious move, which segues into the next thing I’d like to thank you for, Ed.

Of all the repercussions of this cabinet move perhaps the greatest, the one that is too grand to wrap, was your transparent attempt to woo back some of the support you’ve lost.

They are calling it a ‘move to the right’ in the media. Giving Ted Morton the keys to the vault is an obvious move to appeal to fiscal conservatives, many of whom have become Wildrose Alliance members.

Too bad we've come to realize that Ted is One of Your Gang, Ed. 

As Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith astutely pointed out, Morton "...was part of the cabinet that returned us to deficit spending -- the biggest deficit in Alberta history."

Slipping Gene Zwozdesky into the embattled Health chair is a direct appeal to the feel-good liberals out there. It’s a temporary stop-gap measure.

As area resident and reader Shawna J. put it: “…as if we are that oblivious to the intent of your actions, Ed.”

You have given us years of directionless, big-spending government, and now we’re supposed to believe that you and your rearranged Gang of Usual Idiots have suddenly become born again fiscal conservatives?

Really – one cabinet shuffle can be overlooked or at least debated. But already you’ve let the cat out of the bag about plans for another one before the next provincial election. By the time the voters go to the polls, you could have changed or replaced over half of your cabinet.

That’s a pretty big ‘whoops! I f*cked up!’ hanging out there, Eddie-baby.

I can’t wait for your next move. Surely, there can't be a third shuffle. You can’t keep bailing the sinking ship with a spoon.

Sooner or later you will have to call an election and face the public.

My wish is that you keep on keepin’ on, Ed. Don’t change a thing (except for your ministers, of course).

And, for the sake of the Wildrose Alliance and Alberta as a whole, never, ever admit you were wrong and keep those same incompetent clowns front and center.

It’s the best present we could have wished for.

I am blessed to be able to call John 'Johnny B' Byrne my friend.  Check out his amazing story here:

http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/video/index.html?releasePID=KiQAW6f7O16Qnv06eNPO__NFfPDTXE47

One of the most appealing aspects of being an op-ed writer is being in full control of such things as content and direction of a topic. 

It isn't often that I hand over that power and subject myself to the will and the questions of another, but that's just what I did a few nights back when I sat down and opened up for an interview by blogmeister Manganic.

Check it out here: 
http://blog.manganic.com/2010/01/learning-about-leigh.html


Tip of my hat to Mang for a very cool, very laid-back chat!

It’s that time again when we make those yearly promises to ourselves. Naturally, I vow to be just as reserved with my opinions and exude the usual warmth, grace, and conciliatory tone when discussing political issues with brain-dead socialists.

…and Quebecers.

Here’s a list of 2010 New Year’s Resolutions I’d like to see:


“I resolve/vow/promise…”

Barack Obama: “…to reveal my true religion; to reveal my true birth certificate; to reveal my true socialist plan.”

Howard Stern: “…to stay on the air – somehow, somewhere – for another 10 years. Baba Booey!”

Al Gore: “…to find new ways of scaring more enviro-bucks out of those gullible sheep.”

Canadian P.M. Stephen Harper: “…to keep pushing for Senate reform; to keep the economic plan on track; to change out the weaker members of Cabinet before the next election comes around.”

Perez Hilton: “…to learn the difference between ‘Gay man’ and ‘fag’, and to stop acting like an annoying stereotype of the latter.”

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach: “…not to change one thing. Forget the numbers, everything is fine. Really.”

Usama bin Laden: “…to find new ways of brainwashing gullible sheep into dying for me.”

Canadian enviro-nut David Suzuki: “…to keep working on my plan to have all disbelievers jailed….or put to death! Ahhh-Hahaha!!!!”




Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith: “…to get Alberta’s government-in-waiting ready.”

Venezuela leader Hugo 'nutjob' Chavez: “…to bang more airhead supermodels and B-list activist actresses.”

Hugh Hefner: “…to cut down to 5 blondes a day. I’m gettin’ too old for this sh*t.”

‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery: “…not to let an archaic legal system and outdated thinking win.”