Project Alberta

Tories stack Alberta boards
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday, September 16, 2007

Journal reporters Darcy Henton and Jason Markusoff analyzed the membership of 100 Alberta agencies, boards and commissions -- known as Alberta's ABCs -- and discovered a disproportionately large number of card-carrying, high-profile Tories.

- - -

Something unites the 13 appointed board members of the Peace Country Health Region -- and it's not just a stated commitment to fiscal responsibility and improving health care in Alberta's northwest.

They're all card-carrying members of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta.

With former Tory cabinet minister Marv Moore at the helm and another former MLA sitting on that all-PC board, the region stands out in an Edmonton Journal investigation of high-ranking Tories and government cronies serving on provincial boards. But scores of others are just as stacked.

The Conservatives have drawn criticism in the past over blatant patronage appointments, but The Journal probe, which analyzed the composition of 100 government agencies, boards and commissions, reveals just how far the party's influence reaches into the everyday lives of Albertans.

It shows that the province's most influential boards are loaded with Tories -- constituency executives, former candidates or key members of the party's powerful provincial executive.

Even the current president of the Tory party, Margaret Mrazek, chairs a government-appointed board -- the Alberta Fatality Review Board.

"That's called politics," says Alf Savage, a former party president who chairs the Auto Insurance Rate Board and serves on the Municipal Government Board. "In many cases you want the people you know -- and they're the people you know."

Keith Brownsey, who teaches political science at Calgary's Mount Royal College, is not impressed.

"The party has become the province, and it's a real slap in the face of democracy. It demonstrates that if people want to be appointed to these boards they have to become a card-carrying Conservative," he says. "We hope the government has appointed people of competence, but you have to question that when some of these boards are so overwhelmingly stacked with partisan individuals."

Premier Ed Stelmach's cabinet appointed Mrazek to the three-member Fatality Review Board in April as she was campaigning for the party presidency, which she won two weeks later.

She bristled when asked if she thought there might be a conflict of interest in serving on the board while being party president.

"They're totally different," Mrazek said. "I sit there as a member of the fatality review committee reviewing cases that are presented to us, as a lawyer. It has nothing to do with the PC party.

"I'm concerned that that's even being raised. I find that very offensive."

Moore didn't realize that every single member of his Peace Country Health Region board was a member of the same political party. But he says his government affiliation hasn't stopped him from standing up for the health concerns of northern Albertans.

He just does it respectfully.

"You don't do your health authority any good by bad-mouthing somebody in government," he says. "I state the facts about funding and our position, but I certainly don't go out of the way to criticize individuals. I'm a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, but I would do the same if it was some other government."

In Peace Country, the revelation of the health board's make-up is unsettling to some residents, unremarkable to others. After all, Alberta has been under Tory rule for the last 36 years.

But that doesn't mean they all like it.

Retired Peace River social worker Joan Wahl isn't critical of the individuals who serve, but she is dismayed they represent only one political ideology.

"I think the people on these boards have the best interests of the people they serve at heart," the 68-year-old says.

"The only problem is you don't have people with differing perspectives. I know I see things very differently from a very right-wing Conservative."

The Journal compared the "public" board membership lists against the names of Tory aides, organizers, politicians and candidates. It also matched those board members against the 60,000 names on PC party lists for 2002 to September 2006 -- a list that predates last fall's leadership campaign, when the party swelled with instant members of all political stripes.

The results?

Of the 100 boards, 44 -- including all nine health regions, some post-secondary schools and ATB Financial -- were at least half comprised of PC-connected directors, with 448 of the 983 board positions held by PC members. Another 15 were held by senior government officials.

That means while PC members made up about three per cent of Alberta's electorate of approximately two million people, they held 46 per cent -- nearly half -- of the board posts.

The names of current Alberta Liberal executives did not appear on any of the boards examined by The Journal.

'Threat to democracy'

Earlier this year, Stelmach announced a review of ABCs -- agencies, boards and commissions. A three-member panel, chaired by former Energy and Utilities Board chair Neil McCrank, is expected to report in October.

The premier says he will wait for the report to decide what changes might be required, but he is not alarmed by the number of Tory members on key provincial boards.

"If we were to rule out all Conservative affiliation -- anybody who might have a Progressive Conservative membership -- we would rule out an awful lot of people who have the skill sets to sit on boards and agencies," Stelmach said in an interview.

The boards include groups tasked to oversee massive taxpayer-funded budgets -- including some in excess of $2.5 billion -- and set policies that affect thousands of civil servants and dozens of public programs. They deal with everything from workers' compensation and liquor-licence inspections to cancer-treatment initiatives and living allowances for Albertans with developmental disabilities.

Although some positions come with no compensation, they include generous expense accounts. Some provide remuneration of up to $500 a day for attendance at meetings.

And even without pay, board posts afford members considerable public influence, and invariably appear on their curriculum vitae.

The partisan board members, and the politicians who selected them, argue that appointments are based on merit rather than favours, and that political involvement shouldn't necessarily exclude qualified people.

But many people affected by board decisions worry how much sway these unelected public representatives have.

A spokesman for Friends of Medicare expressed alarm that the boards of every health region in the province -- boards that at one time were partially elected -- are so Tory top-heavy.

The group, which opposed the Klein government's push toward privatized health care, wants Alberta's auditor-general to investigate the impact patronage appointments may have upon the delivery of health services.

"We certainly think it should be probed," says Jack Goldberg, the group's chair. "We've always favoured elected boards and we've been vehemently opposed to the decision to stop the elections."

Auditor General Fred Dunn noted in his 2004-05 annual report that many boards "deliver significant services to, or protect, Albertans." But critics say the number of Tories on the public bodies raises questions about which master they serve: the government or the people.

Bruce Uditsky, CEO of the Alberta Association for Community Living, said the provincial boards for persons with developmental disabilities once included families of disabled Albertans, but many are now heavily dominated by appointed Tories.

"We know these boards are really responsible to government," he says. "We don't have any illusions that they are somehow really responsible to the community."

Liberal Leader Kevin Taft calls the depth of patronage on provincial bodies "a genuine threat to democracy."

"I think this should alarm every citizen in this province. The government and all of these organizations should not be run as a private club. These boards, first and foremost, should be made up of the most qualified people -- not the most politically connected."

Taft says it means that when a Tory-dominated board makes a poor decision, it is more likely to be covered up than aired publicly. "I think the public realizes it's time to drain this swamp."

Alliance Leader Paul Hinman says the Tories seem to abhor dissent on its boards, but says dissent is a necessary ingredient to good government.

"Dissenters make good organizations better and they bring down poor organizations quicker," he said.

Occasionally, the ruling Conservatives nominate retired opposition members for agency work. Former Liberal leader Ken Nicol was named last year to the board of the $100-million Rural Alberta's Development Fund, while former NDP head Pam Barrett served briefly on the Alberta Foundation for the Arts board in 2001.

Barrett said the board, which allocates cultural grants, never seemed overly sympathetic to the government line when she served on it -- but she was alarmed to learn that it is now chaired by the 2007 Tory convention organizer and that six of the 10 members are Tories, including two past government MLAs.

"It sounds to me like it's become a political machine, not like an arts support machine," Barrett said.

Selection process slammed

The Journal found that boards with a more formalized recruiting process have relatively few Tory card holders on them. Alberta's 10 Child and Family Services Authorities, which regulate day-care centres and handle foster placements and adoptions, have a rigorous, months-long board recruitment process.

The Alberta government also has a system in place that is supposed to ensure a fair process for recruitment to most of its other boards.

A directive introduced by former premier Ralph Klein in 1993 called on ministers to set up independent review panels to interview and vet candidates for each vacancy on dozens of top boards and prepare a short list for a minister's final decision. The process was tweaked further last year, at the urging of the auditor general.

But the recruitment directive is still only a guideline, and it's up to a cabinet minister's discretion whether to follow the process, says government spokesman Trevor Coloumbe.

As for those short lists drawn up by an ad-hoc review panel? "The minister can decide to not accept the recommendations and go his or her own way," Coloumbe says.

The auditor general says that's not good enough. "We would prefer to see the guidelines as being more than discretionary," Dunn says. "We'd like to see the guidelines viewed as leading practices that should be followed."

The process was far less formal last September when former government services minister George VanderBurg asked his riding PC association president, Dale Johnson, to consider serving on the board of Credit Counselling Services of Alberta, an agency that advises Albertans on debt problems and financial decisions.

Johnson submitted his resume, ministry staff were suitably impressed with his farming and small-business background and VanderBurg authorized the appointment through March 2009.

"I asked him to help us out -- it wasn't a very sought-after board position," says VanderBurg, now a backbench MLA for Whitecourt-Ste. Anne. The three-year position comes with no compensation, involves few meetings and drew little interest.

"If he's got the experience and the knowledge to sit on the board, why should he be excluded?"

NDP leader Brian Mason says there's a reason why patronage appointments continue in the face of recommendations from the provincial auditor general to improve practices.

"The Alberta Tory patronage system is designed to keep the Conservatives in power -- not to provide good services to the people of Alberta."

Retired Taber-area farmer and Tory party member Roy Reti, who sits on the Chinook Health Region board, says he's not bound to follow party lines when it's time to vote on health issues in the region.

If it came down to supporting the government or supporting the people in his health region, he says his loyalties lie with the people.

"I have never been one to favour anything the PCs have done simply because I am a member of the party or because I bought a membership," he said.

"It never affected the way I would look at an issue on the board.

"You attend the PC dinners and the PC golf tournaments so you get heard, so the MLAs know who you are and what you represent."

Carmen Ewing had no idea that she was the only director on the 10-member Northern Alberta Development Council that hasn't bought a Tory membership -- and she's not entirely comfortable with it.

"I would prefer to see a variety of political stripes sitting around a table because I think you can't all be able to say yes," said Ewing, mayor of the northwestern Alberta village of Girouxville.

- - -

NO TICKET TO PROSPERITY

Working on an Alberta agency, board or commission may have its privileges, but it isn't a ticket to prosperity. Some appointments provide an honorarium while others pay expenses. For health authorities, it's between $134 and $350 per day for members, based on hours worked, and up to $492 daily for chairs. On the Peace Country Health board, Moore earned $42,000 in 2005-06, while most others members earned around $15,000, including additional allowances and benefits. At Capital Health, chair Neil Wilkinson -- an admitted fan of former premier Ralph Klein, under whom he was first selected -- earned $79,000 for 2005-06, the last year for which figures are available.

SOURCE: Alberta Government

- - -

A TORY TOP 40

The Journal has examined 100 Alberta agencies, boards and commissions and compared the names of the people appointed to serve on the boards to a recent membership list of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association.

Here are the top 40 boards with the highest percentages of card-carrying Conservatives serving on them.

Health boards and regions

- Peace Country Health Region: 13 Tories / 13-member board

- East Central Health: 9 Tories / 12-member board

- Capital Health: 8 Tories / 14-member board

- Calgary Health: 7 Tories / 13-member board

- Aspen Health Region: 11 Tories / 14-member board

- David Thompson Health: 11 Tories / 15-member board

- Chinook Health: 7 Tories / 12-member board

- Northern Lights Health: 7 Tories / 12-member board

- Palliser Health Region: 7 Tories / 13-member board

- Alberta Cancer Board: 5 Tories / 10-member board

- Health Quality Council: 4 Tories / 8-member board

- Public Health Appeal Board: 2 Tories / 4-member board

- Health Facilities Review Board: 8 Tories / 12-member board

Post-secondary Institutions

- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology: 8 Tories / 12-member board

- Portage College: 5 Tories / 7-member board

- Lethbridge College: 4 Tories / 7-member board

- Athabasca University: 6 Tories / 11-member board

- Red Deer College: 3 Tories / 6-member board

- Mount Royal College: 5 Tories / 10-member board

Financial

- ATB Financial: 9 Tories / 13-member board

- Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corp.: 4 Tories / 8-member board

Addictions and Disabilities

- Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities: 5 Tories / 8-member board

- Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission: 7 Tories / 10-member board

- Crystal Meth Task Force: 7 Tories / 12-member board

- Northwest Alberta Persons with Developmental Disabilities: 6 Tories / 7-member board

Agriculture

- Alberta Grain Commission: 8 Tories / 11-member board

- Agriculture Products Marketing Council: 7 Tories / 11-member board

- Alberta Agriculture Research Institute: 4 Tories / 7-member board

Other

- Seniors Advisory Council: 8 Tories / 10-member board

- Northern Alberta Development Council: 9 Tories / 10-member board

- Worker's Compensation Board: 3 Tories / 4-member board

- Alberta Foundation of the Arts: 6 Tories / 10-member board

- Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission: 6 Tories / 7-member board

- Alberta Economic Development Authority: 29 Tories / 60-member board

- Alberta Order of Excellence Council: 6 Tories / 6-member board

- Social Care Facilities Review Commission: 7 Tories / 11-member board

- Alberta Science and Research Authority: 9 Tories / 19-member board

- Northeast PDD Board: 5 Tories / 7-member board

- Alberta Fatality Review Board: 3 Tories / 3-member board

- Rural Alberta's Development Fund: 6 Tories / 12-member board

WHO'S TORY NOW?

SEE THE LIST: Find out how many PC party members sit on the 100 Alberta government agencies, boards and commissions scrutinized by The Journal. Go to Online Extras at edmontonjournal.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 07da830755

Government agencies and Conservative appointees

Here's a list of 100 Alberta government agencies, boards and commissions, plus task forces and provincial judicial appointments, and the number of Progressive Conservative party members appointed to each one;

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... mp;k=18119

The Fat Assed Liberal Stelmach and his PC Liberals run Alberta like their personal Fiefdom. It is time to kick them to the curb.

There's another problem with our current system,,if you think it is any different in other provinces you are dreaming.


You would be very hard-pressed to find even ONE tory appointed in saskatchewan.

The whole system is broken - it was designed a long time ago and was designed to have a king/queen oversee it as head of state. Once they made the head of state a figurehead only and gave all their powers to the PMO (or Premier) - it was really broken.

Our ancestors weren't scared to change things - weren't scared to change borders, weren't scared to create an entirely new political system (in the USA) by taking goods parts of some and merging them with some new ideas. Maybe they were scared - but they did it. I think it's about high time that we actually did something. Does our system even make sense anymore - NOPE.

If you really seek change, look to the methods used to elect our representatives to the legislature. Change the parameters and you can change the system.

If all candidates were alloted an equal amount of money to run their campaign then an election would be conducted based upon qualifications and issues. As it stands it is merely a popularity contest where the amounts of money spent determine the outcome. It is little more then an exercise in media relations.

If all money given to political interests were collected by a government agency and dispersed on an equal basis to qualified candidates things would be a little different.

The simple reality of politics is that there are numerous people behind the scenes who are looked after by elected representatives. This is the cause of the stacked positions retained by the Tories after some three and a half decades in power. To change governments now would mean a change to our society that we have never seen the scale of before. There was never this many boards and bureaucracies as there is today. Any new government would naturally remove all of the tendrils of the former government, this is only what can be expected of them. For any new government to function it must remove all of the former holders of power or face internal opposition which is detrimental to the interests of the new government. There is room to slash and burn the levels of bureaucracy and the numbers of public positions that could very well result in millions of dollars worth of savings to the people. But only if the new government is intent on reducing expenses. The great likely-hood is that those jobs would simply be rolled over to their cronies instead. It all comes down to partisan politics and the extremely detrimental impact to society that is caused by being buried in red tape. Its just another way to waste citizens hard earned tax dollars and reward the political flunkies attached to the partisan politicians.

It is time for change. It is time for citizens to act and make a difference in our society.

Membership has its privileges
Patronage system rolls on, despite political embarrassments
Darcy Henton and Jason Markusoff, The Edmonton Journal
Monday, September 17, 2007

EDMONTON - Remember Ken Kowalski's 1994 appointment to chair the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board? It stirred up so much oilpatch opposition that then premier Ralph Klein had to rescind the post he gave the former deputy premier who'd been freshly bounced from cabinet.

Governments in Alberta and elsewhere have traditionally rewarded loyal supporters with plum appointments, often over the hue and cry of opposition parties and the general public.

The Kowalski appointment enraged a sector with considerably more clout: Big Oil. When it said the position required somebody more qualified and less political, Klein was forced to respond.

All eyes will be on the Progressive Conservative government again this fall when it appoints a new EUB chair to replace longtime civil servant Neil McCrank, who stepped down last spring.

History has shown that governments do not always learn from such mistakes.

Klein's predecessor, Don Getty, used the patronage system to compensate the Stettler MLA who resigned in 1989, clearing the way for Getty to run in a byelection after he lost his own Edmonton seat. Brian Downey, the Castor-area farmer, soon landed jobs with the Alberta Hail and Crop Insurance Corp and the Alberta Grain Commission.

The government didn't announce those appointments. But the NDP did.

There have been other embarrassing moments for the Conservatives.

In 1996, a former Tory MLA who championed the province's first human rights legislation called for the replacement of the province's entire Human Rights Commission, including the chair and four commissioners with connections to the Conservative party.

Ron Ghitter, at that point a senator, urged the province to appoint more credible candidates. His concerns were echoed by Jack O'Neill, a former chief commissioner, who warned that "the government has too much control over the commission."

In 2002, the firing of the Palliser Health Region's medical officer of health drew more accusations of political interference. Dr. David Swann's offence was speaking out against the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. He was ousted by Len Mitzel -- then board chair and Tory constituency president for then environment minister Lorne Taylor, who strongly opposed Kyoto.

Taylor and Mitzel admitted to a phone conversation days before the firing, but both said they only discussed the board's climate-change stance, and not Swann.

Today, Mitzel is a Tory MLA.

Swann sits on the Liberal benches.

The membership of health authorities rarely escapes controversy, given that those appointees control budgets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In 2001, the Klein government named three of its former ministers as authority chairmen.

The debate grew even more heated in 2003 when the Tories nixed health-board elections, less than two years after first letting Albertans choose some of the members.

Klein reasoned that ordinary Albertans really didn't care who ran the boards, they just wanted to know the health-care system was reliable.

But being appointed doesn't mean you're not expendable.

Nine card-carrying Tories sat on the East Central Health board that was fired this summer after a probe into the

Vegreville hospital contamination scare found that the region's 12 health facilities had sterilization or safety problems.

The investigation by the Health Quality Council suggested that the province's Health Facilities Review Committee might not be suited to perform quality reviews, after writing "such a positive report" on the problem-plagued Vegreville hospital in 2004.

The Health Facilities Review Committee is two-thirds Tory, and chaired by an MLA.

While many well-connected board appointees say politics have nothing to do with their posts, some have been unabashed about the link.

"Does the sun come up in the morning?" businessman and former Tory vice-president Brian Heidecker once quipped to The Journal. He has served on the Alberta Securities Commission, as an ATB Financial director, and currently chairs the University of Alberta board of governors.

"I think I'm doing a good job of putting forward the view, the spirit and the philosophy of the government of the day," Heidecker said in 1992.

"I think that is very important. If the government changes, I shouldn't be there."

PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONNECTIONS

- Alberta Foundation for the Arts directors include two Tory MLAs who left last election, as well as Kristina Kowalski, who married Speaker Ken Kowalski in 2005 after serving on the executive of his PC riding association. Six of the 11 directors are Tory party members.

- All six appointed members on the Alberta Order of Excellence Council are Tories. The council considers nominees for Alberta's highest honour for citizens. Among the council members is Walter Paszkowski, a former agriculture minister.

- Since her 2004 election defeat in St. Albert, former Tory MLA Mary O'Neill has been named to the Alberta Cancer Board and NAIT board.

- Joanne Taylor of the Law Enforcement Review Board is the spouse of Calgary Health CEO Jack Davis, a longtime Ralph Klein adviser. Her stepson is Peter Davis, who was top aide to former solicitor general Harvey Cenaiko when he made Taylor's appointment in 2005.

- Karen Bartsch was named to the University of Lethbridge board in 2004 by then learning minister Lyle Oberg. Two years later, she became president of his Strathmore-Brooks Conservative association.

- No card-carrying Tories sit on the Alberta College of Art and Design board.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... f284908c33

Loosen ties to Tories, Alberta board members urge
Darcy Henton and Jason Markusoff, The Edmonton Journal
Monday, September 17, 2007

EDMONTON - Albertans serving on public boards have served notice that they want to cut some of the ties that bind them to the provincial government.

They've told a panel reviewing the province's 300 agencies, boards and commissions that it's "poor policy" to appoint MLAs and senior government officials to sit on public bodies.

They've also said that "purely political appointments should be discouraged."

"Participants repeatedly said that merit and competency-based appointments are essential to good governance," the three-member panel reports in an 11-page document recapping consultation sessions that examined the independence and accountability of Alberta's boards.

Ron Crossley, who heads the Central Alberta Community Board for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, says there are no MLAs or government officials on his board.

He doesn't want them.

"I think it reduces the effectiveness and the purpose of the board, if in fact it has elected people on it, and the objectivity of the board may be in fact reduced because of political implications," said Crossley, a management consultant and part-time instructor at Red Deer College.

An Edmonton Journal investigation that looked at 100 of the province's "significant" boards, agencies and commissions revealed Sunday that many of Alberta's key boards are stacked with members of the Progressive Conservative party. Three of the 100 were wholly made up of card-carrying Tories.

The Journal's analysis showed top PC party executives, former MLAs and former nomination candidates serve on -- and chair -- many of the top boards, including most regional health authorities and college and university boards.

Panel chair Neil McCrank, a former Alberta deputy minister and former chairman of the Energy and Utilities Board, declined to comment on the concerns raised during the review of agencies, boards and commissions, known in government circles as ABCs.

He said the panel will address the issues in a report expected to be presented to Premier Ed Stelmach in October.

"There are options, obviously, as to how to deal with these issues," he said. "Every jurisdiction has experienced similar issues. We'll make a recommendation how to deal with it in Alberta as well."

Stelmach said in an interview that he is interested in what the report will say about MLAs sitting on committees.

MLAs sit on 47 ABCs, and serve as chair or co-chair on 31 of them.

Former Social Credit leader Bob Clark, who co-chairs Alberta's Rural Development Fund, said putting MLAs on boards is not something his government did when the SoCreds were in power.

"I think it's good for them to be ex-officio members, but they shouldn't be formal members."

He said placing MLAs on committees creates a problem of public perception. "It's better to have people who are unattached from a political standpoint."

Jack Perraton, who heads the University of Calgary's board of governors, says it's crucial that boards are independent.

"You can't have an institution that's run solely by individuals who feel they have a duty of obligation to an entity outside the institution."

No MLAs, government officials or ex-MLAs sit on his board.

Perraton says it works closely with the province to choose new appointees to ensure they have skills that the board requires.

"Independence is important and it's important to have people who know and understand that the institution functions as well as it can and in the best interests of all of its stakeholders," he said.

Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said MLAs are busy enough with legislature committee work and shouldn't be sitting on outside, arm's-length boards.

"If these agencies, boards and commissions are going to have independence, they don't need MLAs to be sitting as babysitters or political minders on these committees," he said.

"They should be looking after the public interest, and not the political interests of the governing party."

NDP Leader Brian Mason called on the Stelmach government to de-politicize the process. He wants an independent commission that advertises available positions, screens and interviews candidates and recommends appointments based on merit.

Current guidelines suggest -- but don't mandate -- that the province advertise board vacancies that can be filled by members of the general public. Some board positions are reserved for industry representatives.

Mason also called for the end of MLA appointments to the boards.

"They appoint backbenchers to these committees -- not because they're necessarily the right person, but because they need to keep their backbenchers busy and happy and well-paid," he said.

Faron Ellis, who teaches political science at Lethbridge College, said governments that fill their boards with cronies could find themselves on the hook if a board can't do the job.

"If you find extreme incompetence on a board and it is stacked, then you have a political problem," he said.

A discussion paper presented by the panel suggests the work of ABCs "has a profound effect on the lives of Albertans" and "to perform their activities effectively, ABCs require some independence from government.

"However, they remain government organizations that must be accountable, effective and subject to legitimate government policy direction," it notes.

It states that boards must meet "conflicting expectations of government, the end user and public opinion," but "their bottom line is the public good."

Vern Hartwell, a former Strathcona county mayor who won his job as chair of the Natural Resources Conservation Board through a competition, said government doesn't influence his quasi-judicial board, but he doesn't think the fact that some boards are chaired by MLAs or made up of members of the Tory party is necessarily bad.

"They may carry any (party's) card, but if you get down deep you will find compassion and humanity are the main things in their lives."

Some board members who aren't Tories say there can be a benefit to having MLAs sitting on government boards.

Carmen Ewing, who serves on the Northern Alberta Development Council, says having an MLA chair is vital to her board.

"If we didn't have an MLA as chair, our input into provincial issues that regard the north particularly would not be the same," she said. "I think you have to have that contact, that direct link."

While some Tories may be appointed to serve on boards as a reward for their party work and loyalty, "I don't think they all are," she said.

NorQuest College chair Wendy Kinsella, a former city councillor who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories against Liberal Leader Kevin Taft in 2001, said she would support an impartial appointment process.

But she says her work on the NorQuest board shouldn't be demeaned just because she's a Tory.

"It might be patronage in a way, but it's not a gift. You really have to work hard. ... I'm a card-carrying Conservative, but I think I do a pretty good job on the board."

Stelmach said there was no one incident that prompted him to launch a review of ABCs, but he was concerned about the need for the boards to be accountable since they allocate or spend 50 per cent of the provincial budget.

Some of the health authority budgets are alone in excess of $2.5 billion annually.

"At the end of the day, government is held responsible by the electorate (so) we have to make sure we have good people in place."

Tim Plumptre, president of the non-profit, Ottawa-based Institute on Governance, said it's tough to wean governments from making politically motivated appointments.

"What you find very often at the political level is a real reluctance to abandon the power to appoint," he said.

Too often governments appoint people who have been "good party workhorses" rather than people with the skills for the job, Plumptre said.

He suggested Alberta may want to adopt the British Columbia model -- an "exemplary" appointment process "that looks to me like one of the best approaches in the country."

B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell established a Board Resourcing and Development Office in 2001 in the wake of the province's "Fast Ferry Fiasco," and the guidelines were strengthened in 2004.

Vancouver lawyer Elizabeth Watson, who manages the office, has said the scandal, which cost B.C. taxpayers $430 million, became "a lightning rod for discussions on the lack of appropriate governance."

In a paper to the Institute of Public Administration of Canada, she noted that B.C.'s recruitment and selection process -- which stresses competency over politics -- "is a leading-edge practice that is equal to the best director recruitment practices in the public sector.

"It's hard to understand why any government would not act quickly and decisively to implement the systems necessary to recruit the most qualified directors available," she stated.

SOME PROMINENT TORIES WITH MULTIPLE APPOINTMENTS

- Audrey Luft, organizer of 2007 Alberta PC annual convention: Alberta Foundation for the Arts (chair), NAIT, Alberta Economic Development Authority

- Doug Goss, Edmonton co-chair of Tories' next election campaign: Capital Health, Alberta Economic Development Authority

- Wayne Jacques, former Conservative MLA: Peace Country Health Region, Transportation Safety Board, Law Enforcement Review Board

- Alf Savage, former PC president: Auto Insurance Rate Board (chair), Municipal Government Board

- Wendy Kinsella, losing Edmonton PC candidate in 2001: NorQuest College (chair), Capital Health (vice-chair)

- Marvin Moore, former PC campaign manager and cabinet minister: Peace Country Health (chair), Agriculture Marketing Products Council Appeal Tribunal

- Dale Johnson, president of Whitecourt-Ste. Anne PC association: Aspen Health, Credit Counselling Services of Alberta

- Robert Seidel, lawyer to former treasurer Stockwell Day: Grant MacEwan College, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research

- Skip McDonald, former president of Klein's PC constituency association: Calgary Health, ATB Financial

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 9afddeb569

Commonwealth::: The problem is not just in Alberta with the conservatives,,, Saskatchewan is rotten to the core with the NDP at the centre of it all,, Ottawa is a cess-pool of Liberal patronage, I would dare say there is no jurisdiction that is immune.

Jack::: I could'nt agree with you more.. We desparately need wholesale change. As time goes by, it does seem more difficult to invoke change, the powers that be constantly work to supress the action of the people,

It gets more and more problematic to form new parties,raise capital,etc.

It seems that any real change may require bloody revolution........

Not likely to happen,,government has too much control of the people,, they are afraid.......

Most of the symptoms we are seeing are simply due to a government that has been in power for too long. We need change and that is agreed.

I disagree that people are afraid of the government however.

People are indifferent to government.

Alberta (and any other province) has the means to make change with every election not to mention efforts that can be made between elections.

Instead of working on that however, most people seem to be putting political news on mute in favor of watching such pressing stories as how fat Brittany Spears is looking this week.

Until the apathy ends on the part of the electorate I fear any large change will not be forthcoming.

Sadly the only thing that seems to motivate people is hard times. People in general are reactive rather than proactive politically.

Things will get worse before they get better unfortunately. One has to wonder how bad it will have to get before enough people begin to pay attention.

Brian Mulroney himself said we should fear the government..

I have seen enough to know he is right.[ Andy and the CWB is just one example even you may be familiar with].

Citizens of canada have suffered considerably more than her politicians.

I fear the government,, someday you will too..

Coming to the aid of the party
Patronage system has merit, but so would more transparency
Calgary Herald
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Albertans could hardly have been surprised to learn that the boards governing more than 300 provincial agencies were overwhelmingly made up of members of the ruling Progressive Conservative Party.

The question is how alarmed they should be. The answer is that while there is no evidence this party ascendancy has led to perverse outcomes, the government of Premier Ed Stelmach could score an easy public relations win by introducing greater transparency to the appointment process.

Patronage, which is what it is, is common to all governments based on parliamentary systems and, in principle, has some merit.

Boards are a vehicle by which people with specialized knowledge can be co-opted into government. They make it possible for larger numbers of the public to be involved in the process of government and, depending upon how board members see their role, allow governments to be more responsive to local concerns.

Of course, they can also be used as dumping grounds for political hacks, and rewards for the party faithful. In the worst case, a government may stack public agencies with its friends, in the expectation they will use public money for partisan advantage. The Gomery Commission described instances of this at the federal level.

And, critics question their independence.

This is the least valid concern, however.

Drawing on election promises, voters elect politicians to govern, with certain expectations. It follows, therefore, that individuals appointed to boards by a responsible government have no mandate to construct their own conflicting policies, and thereby thwart that government's intentions.

Imagine, for instance, the confusion that would arise if the board of a health region broke ranks with the government on a matter as fundamental as contracting out services, or the provision of controversial procedures.

It is, in short, reasonable for governments to appoint those who sympathize with their policies and directions, to guide what is intended to be a neutral agency in administering them. People who have shown they are sufficiently engaged by politics to get involved, and who have displayed some ability in managing a campaign, perhaps, are an obvious talent pool for positions where specialized knowledge is needed. The political process is, in fact, a useful filter to decide who knows how to work on a board.

And, when the government changes, so do all these political appointments.

The test of whether Alberta's public appointment process is working well is three -fold:

- Is a private individual using party connections to feather his nest at the public expense?

- Are unqualified people appointed to positions they do not merit, and in which they make flawed judgments?

- How difficult is it for a person who is not a party member to find a place on a provincial board, if he wants one?

Although some board positions pay moderately well, most would represent a pay cut for a professional person. For instance, health-board members overseeing budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, may earn $50 to $100 an hour, and do not typically put in the hours to make a living at it. The rewards of board membership are typically in such prestige as it bestows, not in the pocket.

Nor has there been much to suggest Alberta's board members are incompetent.

Nevertheless, a government that wished to put meat upon the bones of its transparency pledges would consider opening up the process.

In the end, these appointments will always be political: Responsible elected officials can do no other. But, by establishing a commission to advertise vacancies and recommend candidates, the government would dispel the widely held view that it operates the province as a club -- and may well discover some talented Albertans with much to offer their neighbours.

© The Calgary Herald 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 8d06a9ca84

Nothing wrong with Tory appointments to boards, says Tory MLA
At worst, ministers only guilty of 'unintended bias'
Jason Markusoff and Darcy Henton, The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

EDMONTON - A Progressive Conservative MLA who has studied political conflict-of-interest issues insists there's nothing wrong with top Tory party executives having influential posts on provincial boards -- as long as they're not selected solely based on political favouritism.

Calgary MLA Neil Brown said cabinet ministers who name fellow Tories to Alberta's public boards are, at worst, guilty of "unintended bias" because they may tend to appoint people they know.

Commenting on a Journal investigation into board appointments which found disproportionate levels of card-carrying Tories as public board members, he said he hoped it wasn't cronyism.

"I don't know -- I would hope not," Brown said Monday. "You do tend to probably select qualified people that you're acquainted with, that you know, so there might be some unintended bias in the selection process."

Brown spearheaded a bill this spring that cracks down on conflicts of interest among cabinet ministers and their senior political staff, tightening the rules on what jobs they can hold after leaving office.

The MLA said the Journal investigation didn't adequately consider leading opposition Liberals on government boards and suggested Tory members likely rank high on United Way boards, too, given their tendency to get involved in their community.

He also defended the appointment of Tory MLAs to boards, pointing out that his role as chair of the Alberta Forestry Research Institute is required by legislation, and that politicians as members help boards stay accountable to the legislature.

Tory MLAs get paid for serving on 49 boards -- even when other board members do not. A task force reviewing Alberta's boards has heard that board members think that appointing MLAs or senior civil servants on their boards is a "poor practice."

Calgary Liberal MLA David Swann said the government uses the board appointments to spread its ideology and dampen dissent.

Swann lost his previous job as Palliser medical health officer because of his endorsement of the Kyoto accord -- the climate change agreement that was opposed by the area MLA Lorne Taylor, who was also Alberta's environment minister.

The head of the Palliser health region board just happened to be Taylor's constituency association president, Len Mitzel.

Swann said that when he asked Mitzel why he was being fired, Mitzel blurted out: "The minister called and you're gone!"

Swann says the incident sparked his entry into politics.

Edmonton city councillor Karen Leibovici, a former Liberal MLA, said she expects Premier Ed Stelmach, who campaigned for the Tory leadership on a platform of openness and transparency, to make the appointment process fairer and less political.

"He's shown he's willing to govern in a different way. I expect the appointments from now on should show that as well," she said. "It's important for the premier to show that his government is different from the last and this is one way to show that."

But NDP Leader Brian Mason said he's not holding his breath.

"This government hasn't got much right since the new premier and cabinet were sworn in and I am not optimistic that they will get this right," he said.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 818d744505

"PC MLA says nothing is wrong!!!"

In other news, the sun is likely to rise tomorrow.

Maybe if they close the shutters and rock the carriage back and forth, they can convince Albertans that they're actually going somewhere......

Board of PCs not rare
The Edmonton Journal
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Marg Mrazek bristled when asked if she thought there might be a conflict of interest in serving as both Alberta PC president and chair of the provincial Fatality Review Board. "I'm concerned that that's even being raised. I find that very offensive," she said.

Trouble is, other Albertans might find Mrazek's brand of noblesse oblige less than laudatory, too. Her comments were linked to recent Journal reporting detailing the astonishingly high percentage of card-carrying Alberta Tories among those who sit on government appointed agencies, boards and commissions.

A breakdown of the number of party members on "ABCs" published earlier this week is eloquent and damning. The single inescapable fact is that there is a broad, deep pattern of selecting party members to sit on important bodies affecting nearly every corner of provincial life and endeavour. Surely we would scoff at any other jurisdiction with such a top-heavy political concentration. Some of the board compositions are outright laughable, as in the case of 13 card carrying PCs out of 13 serving on the Peace Country Health Region. Others, such as eight of 12 on the NAIT board or six out of ten on the Alberta Foundation of the Arts board, are almost as troubling and inexplicable.

And doesn't it smack of rank hypocrisy, when we recall the righteous indignation expended in those same Alberta Tory circles over years of federal Liberal patronage. "The pot calling the kettle black" doesn't quite cover it; the provincial PCs seem to have elevated partisan appointments to a dark arts form.

The federal Conservatives, led by Calgarian Stephen Harper, rightly made Liberal patronage appointments a major plank in their formula for wholesale changes in their vaunted Federal Accountability Act, which was forged in the wake of the sponsorship scandal.

Unfortunately, peeved when opposition MPs scuttled the choice of Calgary oilman Gywn Morgan as chief of a newly struck patronage watchdog office, Stephen Harper childishly scrapped the entire commission. He would wait, he said, until he enjoyed a majority government, since opposition parties were up to no good.

In fact, the Ottawa opposition claimed their objection was only to Morgan's appointment, which indeed was a source of some irony given his strong Conservative party ties and long paper trail of partisan pronouncements. A truly independent appointments body was at least rhetorically welcomed on all sides.

Ed Stelmach also promised a new, more transparent approach to governance in his leadership campaign. Reciting the old mantra that government must not only be open and accountable but be seen to be open and accountable, he vowed to wield a stiff broom when required.

To his credit, the premier has already taken the first important step: He effectively admitted there are problems with public appointments when he created a panel to look at the situation. Panel chair Neil McCrank has said a report will be tendered to the premier some time in October. Under the circumstances, it's difficult to imagine any scenario short of total denial that wouldn't recommend a new body designed to provide decision makers with a list of qualified Albertans.

It should go without saying that many appointees will continue to be proud Alberta PCs. Even choosing sitting MLAs might make sense in certain cases. The anger some current board members must feel at the taint of these latest revelations is understandable, since many work hard for little or no compensation.

All the more reason for the Stelmach government to make history by leaving no doubt that in Alberta, it's not who you know but what you know that counts.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

Source; http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/n ... 4cc1f7f1c8