The only Stability is Instability for the Stelmach PCs

For Immediate Release

The Stelmach government continues to fiddle with investment rules and a Global Investment Survey revealed Alberta to be an uncompetitive place to do business. This ranking encompasses the reasons behind the lower levels of economic activity, building permits, and employment rates. Meanwhile, his MLA’s and Ministers that should be primarily responsible for reversing these trends seem focused on ill-advised parenting advice and bikini car washes.

A Global Petroleum Survey yesterday announced Alberta ranks 92 out of 143 jurisdictions and dead last of the Provinces in Canada. Premier Stelmach announced an extension of a royalty incentive plan for one year, previously announced in the spring. Unfortunately, the original proposal hasn’t helped drilling rates as evidenced by the historically low drilling levels that continue. In fact, less than 10% of rigs available are working in Alberta right now which is a multi-year low. Further, land sales in the Province total just over $100 million this year versus the almost $3.5 billion in 2006 and $178 million just last week in BC. Land acquisition is the ultimate leading indicator of future activity for without the land to drill upon, there is no drilling. With no drilling, the impact of these incentives is small. The NRF also takes away alot of the cash flow from current wells that would have been able to finance future drilling.

Interim Leader Paul Hinman commented “For the first time in memory Alberta is losing people to Saskatchewan, a province that under Premier Brad Wall is experiencing economic surplus while Alberta under Premier Ed Stelmach is experiencing economic deficits. This isn't market failure. This is government failure!”

“This is another revision of their New Royalty Framework and I don’t think I have enough fingers to count the number of revisions.” Mr. Hinman continued, “Albertans and industry need some form of certainty in planning their future and the Stelmach PC’s only provide instability. I’m looking forward to the bye-election campaign in Calgary Glenmore where Albertans will have the chance to send Ed a message!”

The Wildrose Alliance calls for the cancellation of the NRF and to bring back the former Royalty Framework that led to over-flowing government coffers rather than empty cupboards. The old system provided healthy employment levels where anyone who wanted a job could get a job. The stability of the former Royalty Framework brought billions of dollars of investment into the Province. Alberta truly had an advantage with low taxes, fully funded health care and education, a strong economy, and cared for its’ seniors.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Paul Hinman
Interim Leader
Wildrose Alliance
Phone: 403 479-6000

info@wildrosealliance.ca

"Send Ed a Message"

For Immediate Release

It was officially announced that Paul Hinman will represent the Wildrose Alliance Party in the upcoming Calgary Glenmore by-election, at a packed house rally in the Haysboro community hall last night.

"The turn out exceeded expectations, with almost 100 people in attendance", said constituency president Mike Miles. "The main topics discussed were Alberta's mismanaged health care system and its economy".

Paul Hinman championed those concerns, by stating "for the first time in memory, Alberta is losing people to Saskatchewan, a province that under Premier Brad Wall is experiencing record economic surplus while Alberta, under Ed Stelmach, is experiencing economic deficits. This isn't market failure. This is government failure. And it's Alberta's government, with Ed Stelmach at the helm, that has failed us".

He also went on to say that, "although, it took Ed 25 million dollars to get rid of Alberta's slogan 'the Alberta Advantage', in reality, it's Ed's 4.5 BILLION dollars of deficit spending, and his deteriorating health care management that has eliminated the Alberta advantage, and it will take the support of the Wildrose Alliance to get it back".

The party believes that Paul Hinman's prior experience as an MLA, and the benefit of growing up in the community of Haysboro he will definitely provide the people of Calgary-Glenmore a strong voice in the Legislature, and the opportunity to "Send Ed a Message".

info@wildrosealliance.ca

Wildrose Alliance Officially Welcomes Candidates to Leadership Race.

The Wildrose Alliance announces today two Official Candidates for the Leadership of the Party: Mark Dyrholm and Danielle Smith. The Party is very pleased to have candidates of such high quality express their interest and looks forward to their contributions toward building the Party and bringing back the Alberta Advantage.

Information and contact for their campaigns can be found at the following:

Mark Dyrholm:
Internet: www.markdyrholm.ca
Phone: 403-203-3456
Fax: 403-273-2940
Email: membership@markdyrholm.ca

Danielle Smith: www.daniellesmith.ca
Internet:
Phone: 403-256-0444
Email: info@daniellesmith.ca

The Party continues to receive interest in the Leadership of the Party with other individuals investigating a potential candidacy. The deadline for fulfilling Leadership Candidacy requirements is September 1.

A series of Leadership Townhalls is being planned for September and early October across the Province following up on the 12 Townhalls the Party held this spring to engage Albertans and listen to their concerns.

The Leadership Convention will be held in Edmonton on October 17, 2009. In order to vote, a person must be a member two weeks prior to the vote. The vote will be a mail-in ballot but can also be cast at the Leadership Convention.

For further information, please contact:
John Hilton-O’Brien
Leadership Committee, Chair
john.hiltonobrien@wildrosealliance.ca

Updated policies now on the website.

For those of you who were unable to attend the AGM, you will be pleased to see our website has now been updated with the policies that were adopted.

As you may recall we had quite a bloated set before. Thanks to the efforts of a rather large group of members, they were able to bring it down to a more concise and manageable size document.

You can see for yourself click here.

Here we grow again…WAP now hiring!!!

We are in search of another energetic team member to join us in our head office as an Office Administrator.

Do you have what it takes to get on board with the most exciting and fastest growing political party in Alberta?

Pertinent skill set would include being proficient in the latest MS Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint). As an essential member of the team you must be able to multi-task, yet stay organized. A key component of the position is the ability to quickly and accurately enter data into various programs. You should enjoy meeting and interacting with new people, on the phone and in person on a frequent basis.

Additional skills that would be a bonus include experience with CiviCRM, ACT! or Simply Accounting.

Send resume and cover letter in confidence, directly to jane.morgan@wildrosealliance.ca

The Wildrose Alliance has been a registered party in Alberta since June 2002; as our party continues to enjoy strong growth, this position also has the potential to grow in responsibility.

Our office is located in the McCall Industrial area, just off of 12 St. south of McKnight; we have free parking and Calgary Transit bus route #32 stops across the street.

2009 - 2010 Board of Directors

I am very pleased to announce our new Provincial Board of Directors. Quite a few familiar faces; with a sprinkling of new energetic representatives.


President, Jeff Callaway (returning)

VP Membership, Sandra Terry

VP Policy, John Hilton-O'Brien (HOB) (previously VP Membership)

VP Fundraising, Blaine Maller (returning)

VP Communications, Jim Bray (returning)

Treasurer, Darren Hopkins (returning, but very recent addition)

Secretary, Link Byfield (previously Northern Director and VP Policy)

Northern Directors:

Barry Croucher (returning)
Todd Loewen (returning)
Justin Page

Southern Directors:

Gordon Butler
Jody Fireman
Cory Morgan (previously VP Policy)


As you can see we have all new Southern Directors and I am very happy with the addition of Gord Butler. He is a rancher in the eastern portion of the province and will provide us excellent balance in our rural communities.

Outgoing Southern directors are Lindsay Mather and Said Abdulbaki; both of whom I am confident will remain very active in their respective constituencies. Thank you for all your work over the past year.

For the Northern Directors we could not have asked for a more balanced outcome. With the addition of Justin Page (Lloydminster), along with Todd (Valleyview)and Barry (Edmonton) we have all our bases covered. Along with the support of the entire board they have Link Byfield right in all of their backyards.

I am really looking forward to working with Sandra Terry. She, like me, is a "country girl" in the city. We have already been chatting about doing a summer tour of rodeos and small town fairs. Stay tuned. Or if you want us to visit your event let us know!

In case you missed it Paul Hinman did step down as Leader, but he has been appointed Interim Leader.

Qualifying Leadership candidates made an appearance at the AGM, specifically Mark Dyrholm and Danielle Smith. It should be noted to qualify to speak at the AGM they needed to complete the candidate questionnaire and provide the $10,000.00 entry fee. This is only a portion of the process to be declared "official candidates". Other steps include obtaining 100 member signatures and a vetting process with the Leadership Committee.

For more coverage of the AGM see the "WAP member blogs" on the right-hand side of this page.

Great kick off.

Tonight was a great kick off to our AGM. The speakers were amazing.

Nadeem Esmail gave us great insight into just how poorly our healthcare compares on the national and even global scene.

John Carpay very eloquently laid out how our freedom of speech is infringed upon and the relevance of protecting it.

Dave Yager had us in stitches; despite the grim picture he portrayed for the future of the O & G industry. Most of the laughs though were at the expense of the PC's. Well, not all of them, but I think you can figure out the one or two he may have named for the brunt of his jokes.

It feels a bit like Christmas Eve for me. There has been months of preparation, good food and drink will be consumed. Old friends will get reacquainted and new friendships will be forged. Most exciting though, is that there will a number of things finally "unwrapped". It will take some pressure off me as I will be able to freely discuss the things that I have had to keep hush, hush.

Other things might not be so obvious; but if you are there and looking for clues...you might just put an interesting puzzle together.

That's all for now, I have to put the finishing touches on my two speeches for tomorrow.

OH and Happy Birthday to my sister Irene!!! I know I will not get a chance to call you tomorrow.

AGM finishing touches.......

We are packing a lot of activity into this week as we complete the final preparations for the AGM this weekend.

Over 200 member packages and approximately 30 media packages are being compiled bringing us very close to full capacity.

The agenda and nominee list has been updated. Most notable being the list of guest speakers.

Friday:

Nadeem Esmail: Director, Health System Performance Studies, The Fraser Institute.
John Carpay: Executive Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation.
Dave Yager: CEO, HSE Integrated & Columnist for Oilweek & Calgary

Saturday:

Lunch with guest speaker, Danielle Smith. Former Director of Provincial Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. (CFIB)

Evening Keynote Speaker: Tom Flanagan, Professor at the U of C, Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute, National Campaign Manager for the Canadian Alliance & Conservative Parties.

Also time previously set aside for the Leadership Review will now be available for brief speeches from any qualified Leadership candidates!!!