Aboriginal Delegates to 2006 Liberal Leadership Convention

Some people have been asking me how many delegate spots the Aboriginal Peoples' Commission has. 245 are set aside for delegates from APC provincial and territorial associations (PTA) . On top of that 8 table officers of the national executive of the APC, as well at the APC PTAs Presidents are all ex-officio. I beleive each PTA can also appoint two (2) ex-offcio from their commissions. The Aboriginal Caucus (4 MPs and 5 Senators) and Aboriginal candidates from the past election are ex-officio. I also expect some Aboriginal delegates will go through their constituency associations. Especially where the Aboriginal population is very high (ie: Western & Northern ridings).

Provincial Breakdown:
APC Delegates to the 2006 Leadership Convention

Provincial % of National Aboriginal Population
(According to 2001 “Aboriginal Identity” Provincial Percentages)
Total Number of APC Delegates to National Convention

Yukon
0.7%
3 Minimum Delegates

Northwest Territories
1.9%
5 Delegates

Nunavut
2.3%
5 Delegates

British
Columbia
17.4%
42 Delegates

Alberta
16.0%
38 Delegates

Saskatchewan
13.3%
32 Delegates

Manitoba
15.4%
37 Delegates

Ontario
19.3%
47 Delegates

Quebec
8.1%
20 Delegates

New Brunswick
1.7%
4 Delegates

Newfoundland and Labrador
1.9%
5 Delegates

Prince Edward Island
0.1%
3 Minimum Delegates

Nova Scotia
1.7%
4 Delegates

Total Aboriginal Population in Canada 1,319,890

Canada 100%
245 Total APC Delegates

Red Ribbon Task Force - Recommendations for Commissions

The Red Ribbon Committee Report has been released, here is the section that deals with Commission. I will comment on my thoughts after a thorough look at the ideas.
(But from the start, they don't look too bad, I actually like many of these ideas.)

Commissions

Commissions have become an integral part of the Party. There is seeming consensus
that each of the Young Liberals, Aboriginal Peoples’, Womens’ and Seniors’ Liberal
Commissions have provided net benefits to the Party. Their continued existence is
important to a great number of people. The Task Force is not inclined to challenge their
continued existence.

However, there are perverse effects commensurate with the establishment of
Commissions. First and foremost, anything that detracts from the core functions of the
Party and does not contribute – directly or indirectly - to the formulation of policy or the
ultimate election of Liberals to the House of Commons should be rejected.
Commissions exist, essentially, to increase the representation of their constituent
members in the Party and as Members of Parliament. They do this by encouraging the
Party to adopt policies that entice members of their constituencies to vote Liberal, and
L I B E R A L P A R T Y O F C A N A D A
by encouraging members of their constituencies to seek Party office and elective office.
They are not designed to be parallel organizations that dissuade people from adding their
energies to EDAs and the National Party. Rather, they are expected to add their unique
voices to the existing efforts of the Party. This means, in our view, that Commissions
must refocus their energies around adding energy and perspective to the Party’s core
functions.

There have been success stories in this regard. Liberals have fielded, and elected, more
aboriginal candidates than ever before. Legendary are those "former" Young Liberals
who have gone on to occupy positions of prominence in the Party. However, challenges
remain. Women still do not run as Liberal candidates for the House of Commons in
sufficient numbers, and the Seniors’ Liberal Commission, still in its early days, has not yet
attracted a significant number of eligible Liberals to its active ranks.

Perversely, Commission club provisions of the Constitution have also been used to
generate accredited delegate spots for Conventions, only to disappear once the
relevant Convention has ended. This should not detract from the excellent work done
by legitimate clubs, but clearly everyone has an interest in seeing the abuses end. The
Task Force believes that strengthened accreditation requirements should be adopted to
reward those clubs that have been established legitimately, and ward off establishment of
"paper clubs" that undermine the Party’s electoral processes and reputation. Clubs that
achieve the new accreditation threshold would receive delegate spots as follows: two
per women’s club, two (1M, 1F) per seniors’ club, and of course four (2m, 2F) per campus
club. Aboriginal delegates will be elected in EDAs, with two spots per riding.

Therefore, the Task Force recommends:
• That a minimum of 50 members be required to accredit a Commission club.
• That commission ceases to exist once Party members, at Convention
determine that they have completed or fulfilled their mandate.

The 50 member minimum for accreditation in no way discourages the establishment of
clubs of any size. In fact, the Party should encourage clubs of any size to be established.
However, only accredited clubs would be eligible to participate in activities established
pursuant to the Constitution of the Party, such as Conventions.

Smog is our future? Some of us care...

I am a contributor for Calgary Herald's Q Blog. Here is my latest contribution.

The last couple of days it has been very hazy and smoky in the City of Calgary. It got me thinking about the environment and the future of our great country. I look out the window and the visibility is very poor. I thought to myself, what if it was always like this or maybe it would get worse. For a person who is asthmatic and has allergies, this can be especially troubling. I know forest fires cause most of this smoke, but our smog factor seems to be getting worse each year.

I think about how wasteful we live in our oil rich city. I catch the bus to work in the mornings and I realize how many people are driving big gas guzzling trucks and SUVs often with just one person in them. Maybe they can afford the gas, but how wasteful and unnecessary. Do people believe just because they can do something they should?

One of the reasons why I always loved Calgary and Alberta so much is because of the how clean and pristine the environment and air was. But as our city passes the million mark and industry moves forward with a hurricanes force this is starting to change.

I was in Toronto a few years back for a week. I admired the big city, its cultural and vibrant metro life. But after a few days I started to miss Calgary. I missed the bountiful prairies, the view of the Mountains and freshness of our water. I walked around downtown Toronto and I could smell the pollution and I started to get depressed as a realized there was very little green spaces in this concrete jungle. I remembered when I first flew over Toronto I seen this small black cloud over it and I wondered if this was a weather phenomena. But my friend corrected me and let me know that it was a permanent feature, it was there smog cloud that was generally always there. I walked along the streets and I could smell the filth and see the steam come up from the sewers. It eventually made me very sick and I wanted to come home to our beautiful city and walk in a park.

But our city is starting to change and with growth come this filth. After a while you will understand when you smell car exhaust on your clothes and in your hair. Imagine our city in 20-30 years. You go to look up at the skyscrapers, but you cannot see the top, clouded by a smoke and pollution. At night you remember when you were young and you looked up at the stars, later you start to forget what stars look like. You remember when you were young and you could see the beautiful Rocky Mountains, but all you can see now a thick black cloud of smog on the horizon.

It is time we start thinking seriously about our city and province and what direction we want to head. We can choose to let industry have carte blanche over the industrial and resource development of our province. Or do we take a serious look at degradation of our environment and what cost will come to our quality of life? I wonder do the CEOs and politicians care about what kind of life and future there children, grandchildren and descendents will have? Or do they just care about their immediate monetary gain?

It is not just the CEOs and politicians we all have a responsibility to do something more comprehensive if we want a healthy future. Many Albertans cry foul over the possibility of a carbon tax and the cost to industry. What about the cost to life and humanity? Is not that also important?

Links
Scott Brison's Clean Air Policy
Michael Ignateff's Plan for the Environment

I was born a Liberal, I just came out a few years ago

'I was born a Liberal, I just came out a few years ago,' says Brison
2006-08-14Scott Brison has been called the dark horse of the Liberal leadership race, but then again he doesn't care much for being the front-runner.

http://www.scottbrison.ca/campaign-news-details_e.php?pid=48&year=2006

(On a funny side note, I was part of the Mount Royal College Liberal Association in 2003, at the 2003 Liberal Leadership Convention our humble campus club one the 'YLC Campus Club of the Year award', which goes back many generations of young liberals. Here we were a small but active campus club in a college in Calgary, and we beat out all these much larger university campus clubs to take the award back to the college. I remember when I accepted the award on behalf of MRCLA presented by Paul Martin. My short speech, was "in Calgary, it's sometimes hard to be a Liberal, I used to be a closet-Liberal, but I am now very proud to say I am a Liberal." Scott Brison has a bright future in our party...