Keep Slave Lakers in Your Prayers

I'm sure everyone is aware now of the tragic devastating fires in Slave Lake in Northern Alberta burning down nearly one third of the town.this weekend. More firefighters are on their way to help.

SLAVE LAKE, Alta. — More firefighting help is on its way to Slave Lake, but it will arrive too late for some parts of the northern Alberta town already destroyed by a wind-whipped wildfire.
Police say nearly one third of the town has either been destroyed or damaged after strong winds Sunday suddenly turned the flames on the town of 7,000.
All residents were ordered to leave Sunday afternoon, but the evacuation process proved difficult as smoke and flames blocked some of the highways.
No deaths or injuries were reported.
About 70 firefighters from the Edmonton area are on their way to Slave Lake to help battle the wildfires.
The province says equipment and approximately 200 firefighters from British Columbia and Ontario are also expected later in the week to help with the provincial firefighting effort

Residents started evacuated on Sunday and a state of emergency has been declared. What a horrible thing to happen. I can't imagine what the residents are going through. Thank God no one is hurt!

Residents in the town of Slave Lake were told to evacuate town Sunday evening after a series of fires were encroaching on the town of Slave Lake. A state of emergency was declared and residents were told to evacuate town or face being arrested.
Everyone, other than those directly involved in the rescue, fled town and forced to wait from a safe distance as their homes and businesses burned to the ground.

 For those who are looking for family or friends or just wish to help here's some contact information.

• Family members looking for information on where medical patients were moved can call Alberta Health Services at 1-866-301-2668.
• Anyone looking for help in finding family and friends in Slave Lake can call 1-780-523-338 for assistance.
• The Alberta arm of the Red Cross is accepting donations for displaced residents. You can donate by calling 1-800-418-1111.

And please remember to keep the people of Slave Lake in your hearts and prayers!  They desperately need it at this time.

Jack,Who Do You Think You Are?

Jack I don't think realizes he and his NDP have less clout now that there is a majority government than they did when there was a minority.   With his rhetoric he thinks just because his party has official opposition status now he has more power to wield around. He's warning PM Harper, he's going to take him on! .

Jack Layton is warning Prime Minister Stephen Harper not to ignore the New Democrats.
“Yes, he won a majority. But he is facing the largest, most united opposition in 31 years,” the federal NDP Leader told 2,500 delegates attending a convention of the Canadian Labour Congress on Wednesday.
It was Mr. Layton's first major speech since his party vaulted over the Liberals to become the Official Opposition after last week's federal election. New Democrats won 103 seats.
Mr. Layton accused Mr. Harper of ignoring a “brewing storm” of problems in pensions, casting himself as an ally with the provinces in strengthening the Canada and Quebec pension plans.
“It's the kind of practical approach that the New Democrat opposition will bring to the house each and every day,” he said in the brisk speech.
“Stephen Harper is in power. We are going to take him on.”

Hello,Jack, Conservatives have 167 seats, you have 102. Even though you'll be allowed to have your say, Stephen Harper doesn't have to give you the time of day.  
 Jack, that's what got Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals into trouble. Remember "Your time is up," and "If you mess with me, I will mess with you until I'm done."

Jack maybe you should come back down to earth.

Are The Greens On Their Way Out?

Much has been made of the spiraling downward trend of the once mighty powerful most successful political party of Canada who has ruled most of the time,the Liberal Party of Canada.  They suffered the most devastated loss in history on May 2.   Not much has been made of the Green party though.

Even though their leader Elizabeth May managed to win the first ever Green seat in the HOC, don't let that fool you, the Green party on a whole fared pretty badly in the election. 

 Little noticed in the aftermath of the federal election is how badly the Green Party did.
In fact, if you weren’t paying attention, you’d get the opposite impression. The Greens managed to elect an MP for the first time, and all the attention was focused on Elizabeth May’s glorious victory, just as Green-related attention has focused on Ms. May ever since she took over the leadership of the party.
But, unless you’re besotted by the glories of Ms. May, you have to wonder about the party’s overall health. In the 2008 election, the Greens attracted 937,000 votes, an increase of 237,000 over the previous election. Last Monday they gave it all back, and more, dropping to 576,000 votes. That’s less than they polled in 2006 or 2004, under then-leader Jim Harris. You have to go back to 2000 to find a worse result.
Ms. May was supposed to bring the party a higher profile and greater credibility. She has succeeded in the first, although party members have to wonder exactly who is benefiting from the extra attention: the Greens or Elizabeth May.  To a large degree their party leader has succeeded in establishing the Elizabeth May Party as a regular fixture, and has her seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands to prove it.
Great for Ms. May, but what about the 307 other candidates, all of whom lost? The 361,000 drop in votes would mean a cut of more than $720,000 a year in the party’s federal subsidy under the existing system. It will be a lot worse if, as expected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper eliminates the subsidy system and forces parties to raise their own funds.

Global warming isn't quite the fad that it was a few years ago and the average person cares more about their job, putting food on the table and paying the bills.  Green policies with solar panels and windmills just won't cut it.
In Ontario where they have been trying the "green" thing,  the Greens lost a lot of support.

Who was the biggest loser in last week’s election? You get a gold star for guessing right. It wasn’t the Bloc or the Liberals. It was the Greens. Although Elizabeth May finally won a seat, the Green share of the national vote plummeted. It sank from its 2008 high-water mark of 6.8 per cent to under 4 per cent – its worst showing in 11 years. In Ontario, formerly a hotbed of environmentalism, the Green vote fell by half.

Even  the well known influential environmental journalist,George Monboit, is starting to have questions.

Last week, Mr. Monbiot wrote a pair of searching columns in the Guardian. Environmentalism, he said, is stuck in denial, “and we have no idea what to do next.” Environmentalists simply can’t accept the fact that the vast majority of people on the planet prefer progress and economic growth to no growth. And yes, it is a choice. They don’t understand the science and they don’t understand the economics. They pretend that tackling climate change is relatively easy, when in fact it is demonically hard.

The Green party seems to be on it's way out. When the government gets rid of  the per vote subsidy, in my opinion, the Greens will be gone.

One Week After Election

Well it's one week after the historic election the dust is starting to settle. I thought I would share a few of my thoughts.

  PM Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have that much deserved and coveted majority although I'm sad to see that some capable ministers will not be back.   Conservatives will be able to govern for four years without the constant election threats,committees controlled by the opposition that obstruct, dilute and pursue faux scandals that waste time and taxpayer money.  They will actually be able to get some good things done for a change like finally killing the long gun registry but that doesn't mean they should have carte blanch.  We the public will have to watch,keep them accountable and make sure they don't get arrogant and adopt that culture of entitlement that brought the Liberals down.  

Jack and Olivia  moving into Stornoway are wondering how they're going to go about putting out fires and control  their new greatly expanded inexperienced caucus which is made up with a few young  kids that are going to need some training. I wish them well. Even though the NDP is now the official opposition, they will have less influence and power than they did before when there were minority governments and they had fewer seats.

Meanwhile the Liberals are licking their wounds from a devastating loss wondering what to do next and who will be their next messiah. The next few years the once mighty party will decide whether the party rebuilds, merges with the NDP or just dies.  Interesting days ahead to see what happens.

The Bloc, well it's a good day for Canada because now the Bloc has no longer any influence on the nation's business.

We'll have to listen to Lizzy May's screeching for four years but hopefully not too much.

The main stream media has lost the influence they once had.  They did everything in their power to sink PM Harper and the Conservatives but it didn't work.  Voters looked passed the hate, vitriol and the bias this time and made their choice.

Lastly congratulations to all who won their seats no matter what party.  The next four years are going to be fun and interesting to watch and just think no federal election until 2015. 




 

The Conservative Victory From an Alberta Perspective

I first want to congratulate PM Stephen Harper and all the team for winning a STRONG STABLE NATIONAL CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY GOVERNMENT!!!   Five weeks NO, it was since 2003 Stephen Harper along with Peter MacKay put this current party together and have worked hard to achieve this victory. It's well deserved.   Way to go!

A few proud prominent Albertans have come out to express their views and relish in this momentous   occasion.  Here is a comment from Premier Ed Stelmach

"I congratulate Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada on their resounding election victory tonight," said Premier Stelmach. "Canada can now move forward with a stable government that can continue to build our economy, balance the federal budget, get tough on crime, and keep taxes low for working families. I applaud all of the candidates who stood for election - whether they won or lost. I appreciate their commitment to our nation's democratic process. And on behalf of the Government of Alberta, I continue to look forward to working with Prime Minister Harper and his government on matters of mutual interest."

 Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith weighs in too.

“On behalf of the Wildrose, I’d like to congratulate Prime Minister Stephen Harper on his victory tonight and the election of a Conservative majority government. Tonight’s election result is the best possible outcome not only for Alberta, but for the entire country. Under his leadership, I believe Alberta and Ottawa will continue to have a strong relationship, based on co-operation and mutual respect for jurisdictional authority. Further, a Conservative majority led by Prime Minister Harper brings with it never-before seen opportunities to reform the Senate, strengthen the criminal justice system, lower the tax burden on families and reduce government spending. The Wildrose looks forward to working with the new Conservative government toward these ends.”

It all started with Preston Manning another proud  Albertan. His  father was Premier for many years. It was Preston who took disaffected PCs, formed and lead the Reform party, then later pressed for the right to be reunited.  Here's what he had this to say:

Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning is pleased the Harper Conservatives are being returned to Ottawa with a strong majority.  But Manning tells QR77's Dave Rutherford he's almost more pleased by the losses sustained by the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
Manning says,  "I don't agree with Jack Layton on very much,  but I congratulate Jack on wiping out the Bloc in Quebec.  I think that was a national service that had to be done."

To all the candidates who didn't win, thanks for your effort and hard work.  Best wishes for the future and I hope to see you back in four years. 

Sitting in Alberta it's a sweet victory but we also expect some things done like the wasteful gun registry should go, choice for farmers and senate reform.  We also expect the Conservative majority government to reduce the size of government and put us in the black again in the time frame they have set out.   We expect them too,to run a clean majority government and  not get arrogant! That's what did the Liberals in.

Once again it's a good day for Alberta and the rest of Canada too.  Now it's time for the new parliamentarians  to get to work and  do some good things to make a great country an even greater one.