McNAMARA: Bullying by the Alberta Government
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:02 amOusting Offending Officials Out Of Office
Bullying by the Alberta Government
by Pat McNamara April 1, 2012
We are some of the people who chased the nuclear industry out of Alberta last year. We’ve regrouped for the Alberta election to hold our MLA Frank Oberle and his cronies accountable for their corrupt and unethical conduct. Elections offer residents their only opportunity to do so.
To ensure transparency and induce some panic, I contacted Mr. Oberle the day the election was called (Monday March 26, 2012) to inform him of our plans. The message had the desired effect as I received the following e-mail only 49 minutes later. The e-mail included the fact that no reduction in emissions has occurred at Three Creeks despite the efforts of residents for the past decade.
“I just got a call from Doug Dallyn (Sunrise County councilor for Three Creeks). It seems Oberle is quite upset about your message. He was talking to Carmen Langer (Three Creeks Emissions Working Group) and I guess he feels threatened. Anyway I guess Frank is quite upset and worried and was wanting to know If you were in the area. Doug also said that the monitors have been going off there for the past few days and the emissions are as bad as they have ever been. So Carmen is on the war path again. Not good timing for Oberle's campaign.”
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/03/14/
hell-pollution-bitumen/
Oberle wasn’t having a good start to his campaign. The elevated tarsands emissions causing the problem, which few Albertans know about, are in Oberle’s jurisdiction. I was a member of the Three Creeks Emissions Working Group in 2010-2011. My friend Langer (240-pound cowboy with attitude) being on the warpath was a full load for Oberle and then we came in and tag-teamed him. He had his hands full. I let Oberle “stew in his own juices” until Friday morning, March 30, when I sent him this e-mail:
“Just wanted to let you know I posted the CBC’s story about you removing our signs, to my 769 contacts on Facebook a couple of minutes ago. This is the first of 250 e-mails that will go out in the next few minutes. I wish I could send more but that’s all Hotmail allows each day. It takes me three days to get each message out about you.”
“I’m sending these e-mails to you as a courtesy to keep you up to speed with what we’re doing. If you would prefer being surprised every three or four days for the duration of the campaign, let me know and I’ll quit sending them to you.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 010/04/13/
edmonton-no-nukes-signs-investigation.html
We weren’t the only target for the province’s intimidation tactics. Electricity utilities critic Joe Anglin has been subjected to repeated attacks from the provincial government to try to silence him. The first instance occurred in 2007 when the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) were found guilty by Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner of illegally hiring private investigators to spy on landowners opposed to the construction of a 500 volt transmission line. (1)
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/
story.html?id=34baf518-0745-4ac3-91c7-6909e74af67a&k=19812
Energy Minister Mel Knight ended up splitting the EUB into two separate entities but did nothing to reprimand the employees who broke the law. It should be noted Knight also removed sections of the legislation that provided for public notice and consultation in the event of energy construction projects when he split the EUB in two. This was just another step in the province’s plan to silence all opposition to resource based projects.
http://www.vueweekly.com/front/story/
bill_46_another_step_back_for_democracy_in_alberta/
Rimbey Town Councilor Dave Karroll heard one of Premier Stelmach’s ministers suggest that speaking out against the businesses wanting to build transmission lines in Alberta could cost Joe Anglin his life to shut him up. Karroll states: “It was clear from the content of his statement that Minister Ouellette was implying why someone hadn’t eliminated (killed) or dealt harm to Mr. Anglin in an attempt to silence him.” Alberta Transportation Minister Luc Ouelette made the comments to Ponoka Mayor Larry Henkelman at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference on November 6, 2009. Mr. Karroll was seated at the table with them. Mr. Karroll wrote the premier but the matter was pursued no further.
http://www.albertawest.info/2009_11_01_archive.html
Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer Lori McKee-Jeske e-mailed and called Joe Anglin on September 11, 2009 and threatened him with a $100,000 fine and a year in jail over two anonymous complaints her office received accusing Mr. Anglin of improperly using a list of electors in the Calgary by-election to distribute a mail-out. There was no truth to the complaints as the mail-outs had no addresses on them. This reeked of political interference as the Chief Electoral Officer herself stayed late on a Friday afternoon to investigate an anonymous complaint without corroborating evidence within hours of receiving it.
http://www.albertawest.info/2009_09_01_archive.html
Anglin was accosted by a man at the January 21, 2010 AltaLink open house for the Heartland Transmission Lines over voicing his concerns about it. The man was rude and very agitated. Anglin asked him his name three times and the man refused to give it. After a few minutes, the man left and continued to mingle in the room. Anglin watched him as he imposed himself into conversations and aggressively berated anyone who opposed building the lines. The man was later identified as Tim Grant, the Assistant Deputy Minister of Electricity at Alberta Energy.
http://www.albertawest.info/2010/01/
alberta-government-caught-spying-again.html
On April 12, 2011, Mel Knight and fellow cabinet minister Luc Ouellette crashed the stage during a presentation by Joe Anglin on the government’s controversial land rights bills. There’s a video on YouTube showing Mel Knight bullying Joe Anglin on stage and preventing him from speaking at his own presentation. Though Knight and Ouelette took over the stage, they refused to answer questions from the audience. Ouelette said he couldn’t discuss the Bills because: “I have one heck of a time understanding a lot of the real legal stuff within bills and how it works.” It’s a sad indictment of Alberta’s government when the people voting on these Bills don’t understand them.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-iju6CU8bug&context=C49022baADvjVQa1PpcFOSTjBFs8ecRgKYKvkXjYDNlhmu9v3Gr3c=
The most recent example of intimidation was just three weeks before the election call when MLA Hec Goudreau was removed as head of a cabinet policy committee for threatening the Grimshaw school board. Premier Redford publicly sacked him in the Legislature for teling the school board their chances of getting a new school could be affected if they continued to complain about the conditions at Holy Family School in Grimshaw.
http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/
goudreau+demoted+chastised+by+premier+for+warning+letter/6442594837/story.html
Linda Sloan, the president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), was next to feel the province’s wrath because she suggested municipalities “are funded based on how they vote”. Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffith wrote Ms. Sloan and said he’d keep Conservative MLAs from the AUMA breakfast unless she apologized for her remarks. Ms. Sloan stood her ground and affirmed her previous comments. Premier Redford’s Chief of Staff, Stephen Carter got his Tweeter going and wrote: "Let's be clear, Linda Sloan didn't just criticize the budget, she lied. Maliciously." Premier Redford forced Griffith to attend the breakfast and Carter to apologize to Ms. Sloan.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 012/02/15/
edmonton-auma-sloan-funding.html
Eight of us met with MLA Oberle in July 2009 to complain about the county’s refusal to accept the findings of our surveys to extinguish their letter of support for the nuclear project. Oberle was adamant that he couldn’t do anything about it. He told us our only option was to petition for an anti-nuclear bylaw. We collected the required signatures for the petition across the 20,000 square km county and submitted the application to the county administrator. She informed us the application wasn’t valid as the county didn’t have jurisdiction over the nuclear project. Either Oberle didn’t know what he was talking about or he was maliciously wasting our time and resources (350 hours and a thousand dollars in fuel).
On January 7, 2010, four farmers and I went to Alberta Transportation offices in Peace River to ask questions about them removing our signs. We made it clear we’d be back for answers. On March 15, Premier Stelmach plucked Frank Oberle (sign stealer) from the back-benches and made him Solicitor General. He installed Hec Goudreau (threatened school board) as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Luc Ouellette (eliminate Joe Anglin) was Minister of Transportation. This was the “Who’s who” of provincial bullies. On January 21, 2010, six farmers and I met with Bill Gish, second-in-command at Alberta Transportation. Within four minutes of the meeting starting, he refused to answer questions and threatened to call the RCMP on us. We took over their reception area for four hours until it was time to go home and do chores. They were quickly finding out we were the wrong people to try and intimidate.
Residents had many concerns about county council. Councilors Komieniecki and Frith owned water trucks and bulldozers respectively. Both had their equipment working on county projects without ever having submitted to a bidding process of any type. Despite having pecuniary interests, neither of them recused themselves from discussions and votes concerning county projects their equipment worked on. Councilor Anderson had her subdivision application granted while in office. CAO Theresa Van Oort had a pecuniary interest in the nuclear project as her property was just down the road from the proposed site. She did not recuse herself from nuclear-related discussions or votes. There were concerns with nepotism as CAO Theresa Van Oort’s husband headed up one arm of public works while her son operated a grader. The costs of installing the water distribution system were going through the roof. The county was paying 3-4 times more than neighbouring jurisdiction for the same service.
Ron Darling appeared as a delegation to council and raised some of these issues. He asked that council request an inspection of its policies and programs by Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Council voted on the matter and supported Mr. Darling’s motion five votes to one. Their request to Municipal Affairs was turned down by Minister Hec Goudreau.
It seemed as if the province and the county were in bed together trying to ram the nuclear project down our throats. The county refused to consider the wishes of its constituents and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs prevented us from holding the county accountable. Hopefully, the next government will order the investigation so our questions may be answered.
These are but a few of many instances of the provincial government attacking its constituents. Our elected officials acted illegally and unethically without any fear of being punished. There are no effective mechanisms in place between elections to file complaints against offenders and residents can’t afford the cost of legal action to seek redress. Voting wisely is our only recourse.
This is the first of four papers I’ll put out this month to help inform Albertans before they choose their government for the next four years. If this paper was helpful, please forward it to your contacts. It’s posted on Facebook under: Ousting Offending Officials Out Of Office.
Pat McNamara
entwork@hotmail.com
Bullying by the Alberta Government
by Pat McNamara April 1, 2012
We are some of the people who chased the nuclear industry out of Alberta last year. We’ve regrouped for the Alberta election to hold our MLA Frank Oberle and his cronies accountable for their corrupt and unethical conduct. Elections offer residents their only opportunity to do so.
To ensure transparency and induce some panic, I contacted Mr. Oberle the day the election was called (Monday March 26, 2012) to inform him of our plans. The message had the desired effect as I received the following e-mail only 49 minutes later. The e-mail included the fact that no reduction in emissions has occurred at Three Creeks despite the efforts of residents for the past decade.
“I just got a call from Doug Dallyn (Sunrise County councilor for Three Creeks). It seems Oberle is quite upset about your message. He was talking to Carmen Langer (Three Creeks Emissions Working Group) and I guess he feels threatened. Anyway I guess Frank is quite upset and worried and was wanting to know If you were in the area. Doug also said that the monitors have been going off there for the past few days and the emissions are as bad as they have ever been. So Carmen is on the war path again. Not good timing for Oberle's campaign.”
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/03/14/
hell-pollution-bitumen/
Oberle wasn’t having a good start to his campaign. The elevated tarsands emissions causing the problem, which few Albertans know about, are in Oberle’s jurisdiction. I was a member of the Three Creeks Emissions Working Group in 2010-2011. My friend Langer (240-pound cowboy with attitude) being on the warpath was a full load for Oberle and then we came in and tag-teamed him. He had his hands full. I let Oberle “stew in his own juices” until Friday morning, March 30, when I sent him this e-mail:
“Just wanted to let you know I posted the CBC’s story about you removing our signs, to my 769 contacts on Facebook a couple of minutes ago. This is the first of 250 e-mails that will go out in the next few minutes. I wish I could send more but that’s all Hotmail allows each day. It takes me three days to get each message out about you.”
“I’m sending these e-mails to you as a courtesy to keep you up to speed with what we’re doing. If you would prefer being surprised every three or four days for the duration of the campaign, let me know and I’ll quit sending them to you.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 010/04/13/
edmonton-no-nukes-signs-investigation.html
We weren’t the only target for the province’s intimidation tactics. Electricity utilities critic Joe Anglin has been subjected to repeated attacks from the provincial government to try to silence him. The first instance occurred in 2007 when the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) were found guilty by Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner of illegally hiring private investigators to spy on landowners opposed to the construction of a 500 volt transmission line. (1)
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/
story.html?id=34baf518-0745-4ac3-91c7-6909e74af67a&k=19812
Energy Minister Mel Knight ended up splitting the EUB into two separate entities but did nothing to reprimand the employees who broke the law. It should be noted Knight also removed sections of the legislation that provided for public notice and consultation in the event of energy construction projects when he split the EUB in two. This was just another step in the province’s plan to silence all opposition to resource based projects.
http://www.vueweekly.com/front/story/
bill_46_another_step_back_for_democracy_in_alberta/
Rimbey Town Councilor Dave Karroll heard one of Premier Stelmach’s ministers suggest that speaking out against the businesses wanting to build transmission lines in Alberta could cost Joe Anglin his life to shut him up. Karroll states: “It was clear from the content of his statement that Minister Ouellette was implying why someone hadn’t eliminated (killed) or dealt harm to Mr. Anglin in an attempt to silence him.” Alberta Transportation Minister Luc Ouelette made the comments to Ponoka Mayor Larry Henkelman at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference on November 6, 2009. Mr. Karroll was seated at the table with them. Mr. Karroll wrote the premier but the matter was pursued no further.
http://www.albertawest.info/2009_11_01_archive.html
Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer Lori McKee-Jeske e-mailed and called Joe Anglin on September 11, 2009 and threatened him with a $100,000 fine and a year in jail over two anonymous complaints her office received accusing Mr. Anglin of improperly using a list of electors in the Calgary by-election to distribute a mail-out. There was no truth to the complaints as the mail-outs had no addresses on them. This reeked of political interference as the Chief Electoral Officer herself stayed late on a Friday afternoon to investigate an anonymous complaint without corroborating evidence within hours of receiving it.
http://www.albertawest.info/2009_09_01_archive.html
Anglin was accosted by a man at the January 21, 2010 AltaLink open house for the Heartland Transmission Lines over voicing his concerns about it. The man was rude and very agitated. Anglin asked him his name three times and the man refused to give it. After a few minutes, the man left and continued to mingle in the room. Anglin watched him as he imposed himself into conversations and aggressively berated anyone who opposed building the lines. The man was later identified as Tim Grant, the Assistant Deputy Minister of Electricity at Alberta Energy.
http://www.albertawest.info/2010/01/
alberta-government-caught-spying-again.html
On April 12, 2011, Mel Knight and fellow cabinet minister Luc Ouellette crashed the stage during a presentation by Joe Anglin on the government’s controversial land rights bills. There’s a video on YouTube showing Mel Knight bullying Joe Anglin on stage and preventing him from speaking at his own presentation. Though Knight and Ouelette took over the stage, they refused to answer questions from the audience. Ouelette said he couldn’t discuss the Bills because: “I have one heck of a time understanding a lot of the real legal stuff within bills and how it works.” It’s a sad indictment of Alberta’s government when the people voting on these Bills don’t understand them.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-iju6CU8bug&context=C49022baADvjVQa1PpcFOSTjBFs8ecRgKYKvkXjYDNlhmu9v3Gr3c=
The most recent example of intimidation was just three weeks before the election call when MLA Hec Goudreau was removed as head of a cabinet policy committee for threatening the Grimshaw school board. Premier Redford publicly sacked him in the Legislature for teling the school board their chances of getting a new school could be affected if they continued to complain about the conditions at Holy Family School in Grimshaw.
http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/
goudreau+demoted+chastised+by+premier+for+warning+letter/6442594837/story.html
Linda Sloan, the president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), was next to feel the province’s wrath because she suggested municipalities “are funded based on how they vote”. Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffith wrote Ms. Sloan and said he’d keep Conservative MLAs from the AUMA breakfast unless she apologized for her remarks. Ms. Sloan stood her ground and affirmed her previous comments. Premier Redford’s Chief of Staff, Stephen Carter got his Tweeter going and wrote: "Let's be clear, Linda Sloan didn't just criticize the budget, she lied. Maliciously." Premier Redford forced Griffith to attend the breakfast and Carter to apologize to Ms. Sloan.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 012/02/15/
edmonton-auma-sloan-funding.html
Eight of us met with MLA Oberle in July 2009 to complain about the county’s refusal to accept the findings of our surveys to extinguish their letter of support for the nuclear project. Oberle was adamant that he couldn’t do anything about it. He told us our only option was to petition for an anti-nuclear bylaw. We collected the required signatures for the petition across the 20,000 square km county and submitted the application to the county administrator. She informed us the application wasn’t valid as the county didn’t have jurisdiction over the nuclear project. Either Oberle didn’t know what he was talking about or he was maliciously wasting our time and resources (350 hours and a thousand dollars in fuel).
On January 7, 2010, four farmers and I went to Alberta Transportation offices in Peace River to ask questions about them removing our signs. We made it clear we’d be back for answers. On March 15, Premier Stelmach plucked Frank Oberle (sign stealer) from the back-benches and made him Solicitor General. He installed Hec Goudreau (threatened school board) as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Luc Ouellette (eliminate Joe Anglin) was Minister of Transportation. This was the “Who’s who” of provincial bullies. On January 21, 2010, six farmers and I met with Bill Gish, second-in-command at Alberta Transportation. Within four minutes of the meeting starting, he refused to answer questions and threatened to call the RCMP on us. We took over their reception area for four hours until it was time to go home and do chores. They were quickly finding out we were the wrong people to try and intimidate.
Residents had many concerns about county council. Councilors Komieniecki and Frith owned water trucks and bulldozers respectively. Both had their equipment working on county projects without ever having submitted to a bidding process of any type. Despite having pecuniary interests, neither of them recused themselves from discussions and votes concerning county projects their equipment worked on. Councilor Anderson had her subdivision application granted while in office. CAO Theresa Van Oort had a pecuniary interest in the nuclear project as her property was just down the road from the proposed site. She did not recuse herself from nuclear-related discussions or votes. There were concerns with nepotism as CAO Theresa Van Oort’s husband headed up one arm of public works while her son operated a grader. The costs of installing the water distribution system were going through the roof. The county was paying 3-4 times more than neighbouring jurisdiction for the same service.
Ron Darling appeared as a delegation to council and raised some of these issues. He asked that council request an inspection of its policies and programs by Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Council voted on the matter and supported Mr. Darling’s motion five votes to one. Their request to Municipal Affairs was turned down by Minister Hec Goudreau.
It seemed as if the province and the county were in bed together trying to ram the nuclear project down our throats. The county refused to consider the wishes of its constituents and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs prevented us from holding the county accountable. Hopefully, the next government will order the investigation so our questions may be answered.
These are but a few of many instances of the provincial government attacking its constituents. Our elected officials acted illegally and unethically without any fear of being punished. There are no effective mechanisms in place between elections to file complaints against offenders and residents can’t afford the cost of legal action to seek redress. Voting wisely is our only recourse.
This is the first of four papers I’ll put out this month to help inform Albertans before they choose their government for the next four years. If this paper was helpful, please forward it to your contacts. It’s posted on Facebook under: Ousting Offending Officials Out Of Office.
Pat McNamara
entwork@hotmail.com