Politics Archives - Page 5 of 11

Lou Hyndman’s reply to Preston Manning’s proposal

19Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Health, Politics

Lou Hyndman’s reply to Preston Manning’s proposal

In an earlier post, in the fall of 1983, Preston Manning, then President of Manning Consultants a firm his father established wished push fiscal policy changes. The timing may be significant because by that time Peter Lougheed had been in office for 12 years and there was speculation growing about when her would exit. Lou Hyndman's somewhat testy reply to Preston Manning's circulation of his groups report to all M.L.A.'s and to Progressive Conservative delegates at the annual convention was especially cool. The displeasure is evident in Manning's courageous and naive proposal to reduce the size of the Alberta Legislative Assembly consistent with principles that fiscal discipline should begin at the top. His reference to the earlier Social Credit government allowing the civil service to r...

Danielle Smith’s cabinet policy committees

9Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research, Politics

Danielle Smith’s cabinet policy committees

Updated 10July 2023 On Thursday 6 July, Premier Danielle Smith announced the formation of her cabinet policy committees. These five committees, in addition to the statutory Treasury Board committee chaired by the Treasury Board President and Finance Minister Nate Horner, reflect the government’s key policy priorities for the next four years. The names of the committees are Alberta First Building Communities Economic Diversification Public Safety and Wellness and Legislative Review Committee. All committees are chaired by non-cabinet members and have a balanced number of backbench MLAs and cabinet ministers. In this brief I examine the significance and role of the committees as well as taking a more in depth look at the published backgrounds of the backbench chairs. “I want to thank the ...

30Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Economic Data, Energy, Fiscal History, Politics

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments Episode 4- Conversation with Robert Bhatia

This conversation occurred one week before the provincial election and canvassed three main topics- fiscal and economic policies, and politics. Click here to see the conversation. Robert Bhatia is a retired, long-term Alberta public servant rising to the position of deputy minister. He served as deputy minister in four ministries including Alberta Revenue and Alberta Finance. During his tenure he served on the boards of provincial agencies including the Alberta Investment Management Corporation and the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation. Since his retirement, he has joined the Local Authorities Pension Plan Board, was chair of the Alberta Balancing Pool and was named as a public member to the Credit Union Central Alberta board of directors where he is now Vice-Chair. He had signi...

Initial Reactions -Alberta 2023 election- Opinion and Analysis

1Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Opinion/Research, Politics

Initial Reactions -Alberta 2023 election- Opinion and Analysis

Updated 27 December 2023 This post stems from a friend's questions concerning the implications of the 29 May election results. Seats in the assembly? 38 NDP, UCP 48, "Independent" Jennifer Johnson polled ahead with 5,789 votes to the NDP's Dave Dale's 2,477 votes in the Lacombe-Ponoka riding, These numbers may change with recounts. https://results.elections.ab.ca/8400 Official tally will be Thursday late next week Price of Oil? who knows? Provincial royalties/personal and corporate tax revenues? Will know the actuals to March 31 2023 at the end of June when consolidated financial statements are published. For 2023-24 the first quarter results will be published by the end of August. Budget 23-24 used $79 U.S. per barrel. To the end of May from April 1 WTI ha...

31May

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Fiscal History, Politics

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments- Alberta 2023 Conversation with thought leaders Episode 2- Lori Williams

To watch the conversation click here. In the second of a series of conversations with well known Albertans, Bob Ascah speaks to Professor Lori Williams of Mount Royal University. This conversation was recorded on Thursday 18, before the leadership debate. The discussion delved into the 2023 election which, at just past the mid-point remained too close to call. Ms. Williams identified health care and affordability as the key policy issues in this election. Other topics covered included how safe are the 41 "rural seats" for the UCP? Williams noted that during the 2019 election, Jason Kenney's controversial history as a student at a San Francisco Jesuit seminary this was generally ignored in the campaign. So why did Smith's leadership opponents not dig out these con...

3Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Credit Ratings, Energy, Government Finances, Politics

Auditor General and orphaned wells

On 23 March the Auditor General issued his spring reports into four areas including the Liability Management program for oil and gas wells administered by the Alberta Energy Regulator. AER has a system to mitigate the risks for the closure of oil and gas infrastructure; however, parts of the system have not operated effectively…criteria were not fully met in the following areas: risk management practices goals, performance measurement and public accountability assessing information from OWA timely closure of inactive sites collecting sufficient financial security and minimizing risk of inappropriate licence transfers suspension, abandonment, remediation and reclamation regulatory processes Three main problems with the current liability management system are: lack of pr...

28Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Environment, Government Finances, Health, Opinion/Research, Politics

Solutions-based policy development and Some Modest Recommendations

There are major issues confronting Alberta- a massive understatement if there ever was! As a student, practitioner, and teacher of public policy for over 40 years, the following ideas are in a germination phase and readers are encouraged to comment and add their suggestions on the central germ of this idea. A solutions-based approach to government policy-making offers a means of identifying a small number of “problems” which require immediate attention and on which there is a consensus on the need for action. This approach starts with Problem identification. The government’s prerogative, but our current government arguably sees things much differently than a majority of Albertans- (e.g. the visceral hate of the federal government as represented by Mr. Trudeau.) In this blogpost, I set o...

2Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Employment, Energy, Environment, Opinion/Research, Politics

Sustainable Jobs- An Interim Plan plus Pathways pitch

“The budget and the economy bill are replete with folly and injustice. It is a tragedy that the moral energies and enthusiasm of many truly self-sacrificing and well wishing people should be so misdirected.” John Maynard Keynes, Essays in Persuasion, “The Economy Bill, “19 September 1931 at page 145. On 17 February Natural Resources Canada’s minister Jonathan Wilkinson led the release of an “interim” Sustainable Jobs Plan (ISJP), The news release begins: Canada has what it takes to be a clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world….to secure and create jobs, to grow our industries, and to lead the world with the resources and technologies it will need for generations to come. A chicken in every pot is proposed- “highly skilled and dedicated workers, abundant nat...

Breaking News- Premier Smith’s delivers ultimatum to Trudeau

16Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Environment, Opinion/Research, Politics

Breaking News- Premier Smith’s delivers ultimatum to Trudeau

Letter from Premier Smith to Prime Minister Trudeau February 16, 2023 Media inquiries Premier Danielle Smith invites Ottawa to collaborate with Alberta on carbon capture, utilization and storage investment and halt introduction of Just Transition legislation and oil and gas emissions cap. Dear Prime Minister: I am writing in follow up to our meeting of February 7th, during which we discussed the need for the Government of Canada to halt introduction of the proposed Just Transition legislation and implementation of unachievable targets and measures under the federal Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) such as the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) and oil and gas sector emissions cap. As a much more productive alternative, I invited your government to agree to commencing a collaborative ef...

Budgetary advice from UofC and the Fraser Institute – cross-examined

15Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Environment, Opinion/Research, Politics

Budgetary advice from UofC and the Fraser Institute – cross-examined

“Don’t Spend Away the Windfall: Better Options for Alberta’s Unexpected Revenues,” written by Jack M. Mintz, Trevor Tombe, Joel Emes, and Tegan Hill is timely asit arrives a few weeks before the provincial budget (28 February). This contribution, combining the right leaning Fraser Institute and two well-known University of Calgary economists offers three approaches for considering the windfall by Alberta’s finance minister Travis Toews. The paper’s moralistic title suggests politicians are not to be trusted with windfalls At this moment, we are also awaiting the report of Todd Hirsch who was engaged by the Alberta NDP to study “how an NDP government can stabilize the province’s finances and build a more resilient economy.” His mandate has been interpreted as what to do with the windfall b...