Alta Election

[grassfarmer]

"..is going to dictate..." being the operative words. This is the problem with a one party state. It's a dictatorship that will allow the greed of big business to steam roll over the needs and wishes of Albertans.

[coppertop]

I view it differently grassfarmer. I have been involved in decision making on land use issues for well over a decade and the problems that arise with pipelines and power lines across numerous tracts of private land are huge.
Municipal Land Use By-Laws and Municipal Development Plans both dictate what kind of development can take place in different zones. This does not mean that every municipality is a dictatorship....just that there does need to be rules that apply to everyone....

The fact this province has a very one sided government is due to decisions made by the electorate...if it would have been the party you favored grassfarmer that ended up with 72 seats would you feel the same way ???

[per]

Whether it is Grassfarmer's or my party of choice, it would have been good to see a robust opposition. In this type of British system a larger opposition helps with accountability. Grassfarmer, it is impossible to please everyone all the time. You can work to change things next time. Also work within the system until then. As I said earlier, it takes lots of work to affect change. No amount of complaining will be very effective. (well a little complaining might be good for the soul)

[coppertop]

per, I agree with you, it would have been nice to see a good effective opposition. The key is effective, the Liberals and ND's wasted so much time just digging up what they thought was dirt on the government vs bringing forward some positive suggestions.
When Ed was elected leader he immediately introduced All Party committees, something that Klein would have never done.
I would have liked to see a couple of Green Party MLA's and a couple of Wildrose/Alliance as well, but it is tough to unseat long serving MLA's because many of them are former municipal councillors that served their constituents well for years.

I take a wait and see attitude to who goes into cabinet, and then give them a year to see whether or not they are working in the best interest of all of us. I think the best possible way for grassfarmer to work toward changes is for him to consider running for municipal council in 2010, counties do a wonderful job of lobbying government and for the most part they get results.

[GreenValley]

coppertop, I think you have overlook, with Bill 46, it was passed on the morning of 3am, only just 1 hour of debate. Why on earth PC so rush and push to get Bill 46 passed and why in in 3am morning so that few people attend at meeting. Calgary Mayor has opposition this Bill 46. The main purpose of this Bill 46 is that they want less hearing concerns meaning we or some of people may can't attend meeting which we losing our rights. Our living standard is losing not better you has overlook. AGT phone bill was 20.00 and now over 55.00 yuck, power was 200 yearly and now over 1000 yuck, and list go on. Shame on PC. Look at homeless has increase, pity on them. Look at house value soar. Pity on them for 40 years mortgage.

[cakadu]

Coppertop, in my opinion, the reason the majority of citizens were (presumably) appeased by Mel Knight's response is that the majority of them are NOT in any way affected if they live in an urban setting. They cannot have their land expropriated or taken away or not be informed that there is going to be activity on their land. Let's face it, with today's "me, me, me" attitudes, if it doesn't affect me, it doesn't matter.

The fact that the Bill was passed in the middle of the night, and most importantly, with SO many amendments should be concerning for all of us.

Our urban cousins should be concerned because if it can happen in the rural areas, it can happen in urban areas as well. Simply put, Bill 46 was an encroachment on our rights as landowners and it may be taken to court at some point.

As for the Land Use Framework helping out, I wouldn't hold my breath. I was part of the process and was hopeful that more would have come out of it.

I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and hope that new Ministers will be more receptive and willing to make change.

[grassfarmer]

Exactly the point I was making Per, party preferences aside - I was pointing out that electing any party with this size of majority is a misuse of democracy. It just does not work.
It seems that like the US, Alberta has slipped from being a democracy to a plutocracy and I am not happy with that situation.

[per]

Should have sent Bill 46 to an all party committee. That would have gone a long way to appeasing me. Now we have even less of the other parties for those all party committee's. Too bad. It doesn't mean that we should just bury our heads because a Bill got passed us. There will be more and we need to pay attention. Having said all that, this government has a pile of good people within it including the Premier.

[GreenValley]

Making sense? First Bill 46 setting up, then soon or not too far distance that govt make contract to sell water to US and we has no right. huh.. You has been fool into this. Court is not that hard if we lose our rights may need court action than been going to hearing meeting.

NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed

Here what I copy and paste from theglobeandmail.com news

Next up is our water. The U.S. is already officially into its supply problems and it will, over the next 20 years, become a catastrophic crisis, outpacing even their predicted energy crisis.

NAFTA defines water as a good — meaning that, as soon as any provincial government signs a contract to export bulk water to the U.S. (by river diversion or tanker), nothing can stop further exports.

www.theglobeandmail.com

[coppertop]

Linda, if you re-read my post you will note that the question to Mel Knight regarding Bill 46 was posed from the floor of the AAMD C Convention which is totally rural, not urban. You are correct in saying that if something doesn't have a negative effect, people don't get concerned over it.
Having said that, I will say that urban and rural alike did step up to the plate to support the beef industry in 2003....
I was involved in the Land Use Framework as well and my one huge concern is that nobody reached consensus on many of the crucial issues, which will make it very difficult to 'sell' to Albertans.

I don't have power lines in my area to worry about, but there are sour wells being drilled all around my community. I don't think the fear of sour gas is what causes the most concern in the communities, it is the lack of confidence in the regulatory system, and the lack of willingness by some industry players to self report or to take responsiblity.