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Alberta conflict of interest protection
 Posted 8/31/2010 2:00:00 PM
By: T. Lightfoot
I painted my upstairs hallway last night. I was laying down green tape to protect the carpet, marveling how handy it is, and started thinking about red tape.
Red tape has been getting a bad rep of late, but isn’t it sometimes a good thing? Red tape sometimes acts as an important divider.
For example, signing onto the Alberta government lobbyist registry involves applications and approvals that could easily qualify as ‘red tape.’
In 2008, Premier Stelmach brought in the Lobbyist Registry to “further transparency.” It publicly identifies individuals and companies who ask government for funding or changes in policy.
Stelmach has said the lobbyist registry helps ensure that someone who is paid to advise the government won’t be hired to carry out the advice. It helps avert a classic ‘fox getting into the chicken coop’ scenario.
The federal government and other provinces have lobbyist ...
Alberta’s Fiscal Fields of Green
Posted 8/26/2010 7:00:00 AM
By: T. Lightfoot
The latest fiscal forecast stands to build confidence, at least in Alberta Finance’s ability to hold fast to an earlier budget forecast.
Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton released the 1st quarter fiscal up-date in the Alberta Legislature. In one sense, it’s a model of stability in a highly uncertain environment. The bold texts below are quotes from the government news release:
“Alberta’s forecast deficit for 2010-11 is virtually unchanged from budget in the face of continued economic uncertainty, faltering markets, a rising Canadian dollar, lower natural gas prices and fluctuating oil prices.”
The good news on projections is dampened by a return from the last deficit project of $1 billion to: “Deficit for 2010-11 is forecast at $4.76 billion, an increase of $7 million from budget.”
Morton reverted to the first budget projections for the fiscal year, except that revenues are up $602 million to $34.6 billion. ...
Decisions, decisions
Posted 8/25/2010 9:00:00 AM
By: iNews880's Brent Pushkarenko
A tip of the hat to two groups that never gave up in their fight for what they believe in.
But, in the big picture, has democracy been wounded?
Envision Edmonton pounded the pavement in all corners of the city to garner enough signatures to force a plebiscite on the future of the City Centre Airport. Expect city hall to verify that the necessary 78,000 names are on the list, then get the printing presses ready for another ballot you'll be stuffing into boxes October 18th. The effort comes a year after the majority of our democratically-elected council members -- the ones you've entrusted to make informed decisions in the best interest of your community as a whole -- decided to phase-out the airport. Instead of an air feeder service to rural Alberta, a place to park private jets, and a close to hospitals medi-vac hub, they ...
Syncrude Dead Ducks Case In Settlement Discussions
Posted 8/23/2010 4:20:00 AM
By: T. Lightfoot
The high-profile Syncrude ‘dead ducks’ trial will now move into settlement discussions.
In June, Judge Ken Tjosvold found Syncrude Canada Ltd. guilty on one federal and one provincial charge for failing to adequately protect wildlife.The charges sprang from the discovery in April 2008 of about 1600 waterfowl dying in the bitumen on a company tailings pond in northern Alberta.
Syncrude’s legal council, J.J. Marshall, will argue that the two charges are ‘double jeopardy,’ ie two offenses involving the same matter. Marshall will invoke the precedent ‘Kienapple’ case. Syncrude spokesperson Cheryl Robb said it’s too early to say whether one of the charges will be dropped.
Syncrude and Crown lawyers will also discuss creative sentencing options. These could involve fines and/or conservation requirements.
The ducks were caught in the tailings pond after a mid-April storm delayed the setting up of noise cannons and other bird deterrents.
Since then ...
Red Bull is my hero
Posted 8/20/2010 6:00:00 AM
By: iNews880's Travis Dosser
Throughout my life I have done many stupid or dangerous things. Whether it involves extreme stunts or just complete lack of safety on tame tricks. But Red Bull and its extensive collection of extreme athletes have made everything I've ever tried completely pedestrian.
Their teams seem to live in a different reality where near death stunts seem to be old hat for these daredevils. But their new "experiment" Red Bull Stratos is hoping to push the limits of human beings. For this will be their mission to the edge of space, and they will attempt to break records that have existed for since the late 50's and early 60's.
Some of these amazing records were set by one extraordinary man. Retired United States Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger who set the stage for manned space programs. Project Excelsior was the name of the missions and on ...
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