Showing posts with label democratic deficit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label democratic deficit. Show all posts

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Ethically Challenged Ed

Ethically challenged Alberta CEO Ed Stelmach continues the Tired Old Tory tradition of protecting that ultimate special interest group; Tory Cabinet Ministers and MLA's. Smelling pending doom they quickly trashed Ed's first promise as Premier; accountability, transparency and ethics reform. And so once again Albertans suffer a Democratic Deficit.

Premier Ed Stelmach has given a free pass to cabinet ministers and senior aides who leave or get ousted after the election, ensuring that new conflict of interest rules won't apply until a month later.

Trying to distance himself from former premier Ralph Klein's distaste for ethics rules, one of the first moves Stelmach made as premier was to draft legislation that tightens the conditions for how top officials can peddle their skills and insider knowledge once they leave government.

But hours before Stelmach dropped the writ Monday, the Tory cabinet approved an order-in-council to have the Conflicts of Interest Amendment Act take effect on April 1, nearly a month after the March 3 vote. A government worker had earlier told The Journal the rules would be in place before the campaign began.

t means retiring finance ministers Lyle Oberg and Greg Melchin don't have to wait 12 months before they can start lobbying their former government on behalf of auto insurers or oilsands companies -- only the six months for ex-ministers under the old law.

And the premier's chief of staff, his deputies and all ministers' senior aides have no restrictions on their dealings if they hit the exits following the election, which they traditionally do in droves.

In fact, if the Tories get turfed from government, they all avoid the new rules Stelmach trumpeted as part of his approach to open and honest government.

Rivals said this proves Stelmach isn't much more serious about his ethics policies than Klein was.

"Maybe they should change their slogan to 'Change that works for Tory insiders,' " NDP Leader Brian Mason said. (The Tory slogan suggests the party's brand of change works for Albertans.)

"To them, (ethics are) a matter of convenience, and clearly they saw this as an inconvenience to themselves."



SEE

Fire The Bums


Transparency Alberta Style

Socialist Alberta

Where's That Damn Calculator

Alberta's Leaky Ship Of State


Alberta's next CEO


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Friday, January 04, 2008

Fire The Bums

These guys are all Tories appointed by the Tory government. They are the folks who told us to tighten our belts, who closed beds and laid off staff while giving themselves golden parachutes and corporate salaries that would be the envy of those in the private sector. And they still ran up a deficit. Because they cut staff and forced existing staff to work overtime. Fire the bums. And lets demand the right to elect health boards, something the Klein government took away. Once again we suffer a democratic deficit in the One Party State.

Calgary Health Region revealed Thursday that its 2007-08 deficit may balloon to $85 million and Jack Davis will hand over the reins as president in part of a senior executive shuffle.

Davis will retain his duties as chief executive officer in the reorganization that takes effect next week.

The CHR's executive team is being pared from about 18 positions to 11 in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy and allow for quicker decision-making.

But the organizational changes are not expected to produce major cost savings at the cash-strapped CHR, leading the Alberta Liberals to call on the government to assess how the province's health authorities are spending their money.

The financial troubles at CHR -- a $2.8 billion organization that runs Calgary's medical system -- are largely related to massive staff overtime costs, worth about $63 million.

The reorganization -- which includes sweeping changes to the way CHR is structured -- isn't likely to significantly cut costs from the region's $91 million administrative budget, in part because only two executive team members have left the organization. Others who aren't part of the new executive team have been reassigned to other areas.


SEE

Legacy Of The Ralph Revolution


Transparency Alberta Style



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Monday, October 29, 2007

Made In Calgary Homeless Plan

No rent controls. A bungled boondoggle of subsidies to renters. And now a corporate committee to deal with homelessness in Alberta sometime in the next decade.

Alberta's government has announced it's forming the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness to help end the problem over the next 10 years.

Premier Ed Stelmach says in a release that while that may be an ambitious goal, it's one that the government needs to strive for to help those in need.

The secretariat, which will include representation from across the province, is expected to be working by April.

It will be headed by Yvonne Fritz, the government's associate minister of affordable housing and urban development.

The government says issues such as a budget and membership will be worked out over the next few months.

Last January, a committee that includes some of Canada's biggest corporate leaders formed with the aim to wipe out Calgary's homelessness problem over the next decade.

Calling any announcement on the issue a good one, Calgary Homeless Foundation president and CEO Wayne Stewart said he's hoping Stelmach will focus on long-term sustainability.

Stewart said his group has been working on a 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness in Calgary and expects to release its preliminary findings in January.


This is not a solution to the problem of affordable housing it is just another Tired Old Tory form of the old poor laws updated for the 21st century. Where the old poor laws produced workhouses run by the Church, we now have corporate philanthropists coming up with housing solutions, but no cheap housing while the condo conversions boom and tent cities for the homeless spread across the province.

Premier Ed Stelmach unveiled an initiative Monday to build 11,000 new affordable homes in Alberta over the next five years.


Eleven thousand homes is a drop in the bucket. What we need is the end to condo conversions, rent control and the creation of mass public housing NOW; town houses, row housing and apartments subsidized by the provincial and federal governments.


About 2,600 people in Edmonton and 3,400 in Calgary don't have a place to live, according to the last count of the homeless population in 2006.

Both major cities have seen an increase of at least 20 per cent in their homeless populations since 2004.




Add to that the fact that Syncrude alone is looking to hire 5000 workers to live in Fort McMurray a 11,000 homes across the province is a joke.

Not only is the oil boom in Alberta causing a labour shortage, but Syncrude faces a host of retirements, with an attrition rate of eight to nine per cent, he said.

"We're trying to get up to 5,000 employees," said House, adding the company now employs some 4,600 people.

Exciting as all this might sound, he was finding few takers at the CASTLE event.

"Housing cost is the number one deterrent," said House.

In labour-starved Fort McMurray, he said, "you can work at a Burger King and make $15 an hour.

"But in order to afford the housing, you'd better work a lot of hours," he added. "A person making $15 could not survive alone."

SEE:

This Is Better Than Rent Controls?

Stelmach's Robber Barons

And New York Has Rent Controls


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Monday, October 15, 2007

This Is Better Than Rent Controls?

Instead of accepting the Government appointed Public Panel on Affordable Housing recommendation that the province introduce rent controls, the government instead did what it loves to do; create a subsidization fund. And as usual with the these kind of Tory schemes this of course was so loosy goosey that it was open to abuse. Not by the users but by the bureaucrats in charge.

And while the internal audit by the department found no fraud, which is irrelevant, what they found was business as usual in this Tired Old Tory government.

And note that the average payment made was $827 dollars while provincial average rental rates are over $1000 per month for a one bedroom apartment. Not only a drop in the proverbial bucket, but less than what is needed for one months rent. And for the rest of the eleven months of they year......nothing. And this is better than rent controls, ha, ha!

Nearly three-in-10 claims granted from a fund to help stave off homelessness were improperly approved -- but no fraud has been found, a provincial audit has concluded.

An internal investigation into the $7-million fund -- which is expected to balloon to $21 million by the end of the year -- found more than $60,000 of the nearly $200,000 put under the microscope was handed out without proper checks and balances.


The Government of Alberta, through Municipal Affairs and Housing, introduced

the Homeless and Eviction Prevention Fund (HEPF) in response to the
recommendations of the Alberta Affordable Housing Task Force. Alberta
Employment Immigration and Industry (AEII) began delivering the program on
May 11, 2007. The program is designed to assist Albertans at risk of losing their
homes due to rent increases and to assist those who require assistance in
establishing a residence.

On July 17, 2007 Global News aired a story alleging that the HEPF was being
abused by individuals presenting inadequate and fraudulent documentation for
rent increases, eviction notices, and utility arrears, and that AEII staff were not
taking sufficient steps to verify the authenticity of the claims. On July 18, 2007,
Minister Evans asked the department’s internal auditors to undertake a review of
the administration of the fund to ensure accountability for the program’s
procedures.

2. Program Description
The Homeless and Eviction Prevention Fund (HEPF) is designed to assist
Albertans with limited resources who are at risk of losing their homes due to rent
increases and to assist those who require assistance in establishing a residence.
The authority to determine eligibility and to provide benefits under the HEPF is
provided under the Income Supports, Health and Training Benefits Regulation.Review the administration of the HEP Fund to ensure compliance with
program directives, policies, and procedures regarding client’s eligibility and
entitlements.

During this period, payments from the HEP Fund totalled $4,866,406 for 5,880 clients for an average of $827 per client


Of the 239 files reviewed from all regions of the province, 171 files (72%) were
processed in accordance with program directives, policies, and procedures. The
documentation (eviction notices, tenancy agreements, notices of arrears, clients’
bank statements, etc.) in these files and staff comments entered into LISA were
sufficiently detailed to support the HEP Fund benefits issued.

In the remaining 68 files the following observations were noted:

• There were 51 files, totalling $50,462 where there was incomplete
documentation detailing the client’s situation for the auditor to confirm that the
client qualified for benefits from the HEP Fund.

• There were 14 files where benefits issued from the HEP Fund were incorrectly
determined resulting in overpayments totalling $6,357. Included in this group
was one case where $3,923 (62% of total overpayments) was incorrectly issued
to cover mortgage arrears. This occurred within 10 days of the start of the
program which suggests the worker may have inadvertently applied the
Income Support policy which allows shelter benefits to be applied to mortgage
arrears.

• Three files totalling $5525 were identified by the audit team for supervisor
review and possible referral to the Investigation and Review Branch. It was
noted that two other files ($2524) of the 171 files processed correctly had
already been referred to the Investigation and Review Branch prior to the
commencement of the audit.


See

The Autumn Of Our Discontent

Transparency Alberta Style

Pay 'Em What They Want

And New York Has Rent Controls

Stelmach Blames Eastern Bums

He Can't Manage

Drumheller Bell Weather

Stelmach Tanks

Alberta Deja Vu

Padrone Me Is This Alberta

Income Trusts

Housing


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Friday, October 05, 2007

Move To Alberta

The former mayor of Vernon, B.C. should move to Alberta where credit card fraud by Government ministers, MLA's and their pals gets a slap on the wrist from the Auditor General. And they charged a heck of a lot more personal expenses to their government credit cards than this guy did.

But of course in Alberta dems dats got the gold makes the rules and in this case the rules are "broad" whereas in other provinces they would result in criminal charges.

Man who resigned as Vernon mayor over credit scam faces new fraud charges


THE CANADIAN PRESS

VERNON, B.C. - There are more legal troubles for the disgraced former mayor of Vernon, B.C.

Sean Harvey has been charged with five counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of forgery.

The charges stem from dealings Harvey had with a former business partner over a two-year period ending in April 2005.

Vernon dentist Chris Laidlaw alleges he was ripped off for more than $50,000 dollars by Harvey's use of deceit and fraudulent documents.

Harvey was forced to resign as Vernon mayor in July 2005 and was later convicted of breach of trust after admitting to using his city credit card for personal expenses.

Harvey was ordered to pay $14,000 and given a one-year conditional sentence, but also served a week in jail in January after breaching the terms of that sentence.

Disgraced ex-B.C. mayor pleads guilty to breach of trust

Last Updated: Monday, August 21, 2006

The former mayor of Vernon has pleaded guilty to breach of trust in connection with his city expense account, a year after resigning amid a spending scandal.

A second charge of fraud over $5,000 against 36-year-old Sean Harvey was stayed.

Harvey appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in the North Okanagan city on Monday. He admitted to misusing his municipal credit card 90 different times between February 2003 and June 2005 while still serving as mayor.

It is alleged he claimed almost $14,000 of the city's money for business and political meetings that never took place. Instead he spent it on personal meals and trips, including a vacation in Las Vegas.

The former mayor has promised to reimburse the city and has repaid more than $5,000 so far.

When Harvey announced his resignation in July 2005, he apologized to his community and asked people to pray for him and his family.

He tearfully apologized again on Monday for abusing his power and betraying the public's trust.

"People are increasingly cynical of their elected officials and my actions reinforced and added to that level of cynicism, and I'm really sorry for that," he said.

The case came to light after two Vernon residents obtained copies of Harvey's expense statements.




SEE
Transparency Alberta Style

Stelmach the Perfect Strom


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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Ralph's Ghost Haunts Alberta

Calgary Blogger Rusty Idols points out;

in any other province the sheer overwhelming profusion of one huge scandal after another would be government killers.

But in One Party State Alberta those in power as King Ralph's henchmen simply give the Nuremberg Defense for their high crimes and misdemeanors. We were just following orders. Along with the other pathetic excuses. Gosh shucks we didn't know. Not our Fault. Don't look back, lets move forward. It's all Ralph's fault.

Like the proverbial three monkeys they saw no evil, heard no evil, and spoke no evil.

The Department of Energy
Royalty Review Scandal.

Murray Smith, the former Energy Minister, went to Washington as a Tory Shill for Big Oil interests. Now he has retired in with a pile of patronage payola, to be replaced by Gary Mar, another former cabinet minister at the trough. And the past Minister Greg Melchin was demoted to Seniors. While the current Minister Mel Knight denies all knowledge of the cover up despite the fact he sat in the inner sanctum of Ralph's world.


Alberta’s auditor general suggested Monday that the province has been the woolly-headed chump of the global oilpatch for years by willingly allowing billions of dollars in royalties to slip through its fingers due to political inaction.

“The royalty resources belong to Albertans,” Fred Dunn told reporters as he released his annual report.

He said Alberta is among the lowest jurisdictions for royalties and has stood still while others moved ahead to charge more as prices in the industry rose.

“Why is Alberta selling it low? What is the support for Alberta to receive less for a similar commodity than other jurisdictions?” he asked.

“There’s good evidence going back to 2004 that the royalty regime was very low. What was needed, really, was just leadership.”

Dunn said that as far back as three years ago, researchers in Alberta’s Energy Department stated that the province’s share of royalties from its giant petroleum industry had fallen below its target range. They also said the government could easily collect an additional $1 billion or more per year without stifling industry profitability.

It even got to the point, said Dunn, that a specific request urging a decision moved up the department chain to then-energy minister Greg Melchin.

Dunn said Melchin, now minister in charge of seniors, told his investigators he decided to not go forward because more study was needed.

“It was paralysis by analysis.”

Overall, Dunn paints a damning picture of the energy department under former Minister Greg Melchin. He says it did not fully meet a single one of the audit's criteria. In particular, the ministry need to do a better job publicly explaining and justifying its work.

As early as 2000, Energy Department staffers were telling senior management that they weren't collecting their appropriate share. Dunn placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of senior management, including assistant deputy ministers, deputy minister and ultimately, Melchin.

Melchin defended his record as minister.

"I'm very proud of the work that we've done and in fact how successful our model has been. On balance I stand behind the decisions made at that time."

While Melchin was energy minister, his department publicly released almost no information about the royalty review and the outcomes. Much of the public information currently available comes from a Journal freedom of information request, which has big portions blacked out or excluded entirely.

That’s despite both Melchin and Klein saying publicly that the government’s studies showed Alberta was getting “a very generous” return, as Klein claimed on June 12, 2006.

"We get enough," said Klein about royalties before welcoming delegates to the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary.

Melchin said today he stands by his decisions, despite the majority of experts having claimed both at the time and presently that Albertans were being shortchanged.

“I was in receipt of that information. I was also in receipt of many other documents, and you have to make sure you look at all of the information available,” he said.

“I think when you realize that you’ve got something that’s going well, one can always look at the model and extrapolate a number. But we also have to look at what made us successful and you don’t lightly change those things.

“I stand by that as the best judgement at the time for Albertans.”

Dunn's audit set out to answer three questions about the province's royalty review systems: Do they exist? Are they well-designed? Do they operate as they should?

His findings paint a damning picture of the Energy Department under former energy ministers Greg Melchin and Murray Smith.

Current Energy Minister Mel Knight said Dunn's report actually reflects well on his ministry. He rejected the idea that his senior staff were negligent in failing to act on the department's internal recommendations. Knight also claimed Dunn, who is employed by the legislature, was airing personal grievances when he criticized the deputy minister.

"It absolutely was a personal attack and I really feel that it wasn't necessary," Knight said.

Evan Chrapko, a member of the government-appointed royalty review panel, said the auditor general's report reaffirms the conclusion that royalty rates need to be increased.

"It's an interesting coincidence that independent reviews conducted with different mandates reached the exact same conclusion given the same set of facts."

Chrapko noted, as Dunn's report concludes, that the government has known for several years that it hasn't received its fair share. All that was needed to rebalance the royalties to the proper level was the signature of Melchin or Smith.

Energy Minister Mel Knight has refused to review any actions taken by the department prior to his appointment earlier this year, despite a scathing report delivered yesterday that identifies "critical issues" by failing to collect billions in past oil royalties.

"We work from today forward. I can’t look back," he told reporters yesterday. "It wasn’t my responsibility at that point."

Would Be Premier Treated Government Credit Card
as Personal Expense Account

And Energy is not the only department Dunn found problems with. Another would be Ralph from last years leadership race; Edmontonian Mark Norris, a single term MLA and Cabinet Minister had his head handed to him by the Auditor General. Rumours abounded about his free spending ways during the Leadership race, and Norris whined about a smear campaign. However as we find out now, the rumours were true.

And while it pales in comparison to billions not collected, it still shows the Tired Old Tories have overspent their welcome. When they view the government and tax payers money as their personal piggy bank.

Norris top aide used gov't credit card to party in Vegas

Nobody in government bothered to crack down on the misuse as the top aide to former cabinet minister Mark Norris racked up more than $35,000 in personal debt on his government credit card, Auditor General Fred Dunn said Monday.

Norris himself was also inappropriately charging items on his government-issued card, Dunn found. Together, he and his executive assistant, Sasha Angus, rang up more than $47,700 in personal charges between 2003 and 2004.

Angus's expenses included a bachelor party in Las Vegas, CBC-TV reported earlier this year.

Norris was economic development minister from 2001 to 2004, before being voted out of office. His aide repaid the $30,000 he still owed government in November 2004, after the provincial election left Norris and Angus jobless.

Angus told auditors that he was never trained to properly use government credit cards, the report says. Dunn didn't buy the excuse.

"People knew what they're to be used for," he said. "They're supposed to be used for government purposes."

Norris was supposed to approve Angus's credit card statements monthly. "Mr. Norris told us that when he received credit card statements and supporting receipts for review and approval, he often approved them without a thorough review," the report says.

Norris claims that Angus paid his credit card expenses;

Norris, who mounted an failed bid to become Conservative leader and premier last year, told The Canadian Press it was "an unfortunate situation" that the credit card given to Angus "got used in that fashion," but he noted that taxpayers weren't affected because Angus repaid it.


Funny though that's not what the Auditor General says.

He rapped Norris's department, in particular. "It's not a good use of the government's senior resources, chasing down assistants for invoices," he said, adding Economic Development was "by far and away the worst."

Of Norris's $45,776.23 total spent on the card between 2002 and 2004, fully $9,466 was spent on "self-disclosed personal expenses". Another $10,500 went towards alleged government expenses with no supporting documentation.

Angus spent $143,426 on his card in the same period. More than half of that did not include supporting documentation, including some $38,291 in personal spending. The government eventually garnisheed his $80,000 annual salary to address repayment.

"The approval process for paying Mr. Angus's card included a review and approval by the minister," said Dunn. "Mr. Norris told us that when he received credit card statements and supporting receipts for review and approval, he often approved them without a thorough review."

And although Norris paid off his charges monthly, his assistant racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debts, including one period in 2004 when his bill reached nearly $30,000 and languished unpaid for months, costing Albertans thousands in interest that was never repaid.



Unfortunately they were not alone in abusing government credit cards. Just the guys with the most expensive tastes. After all this is a government that believes it is entitled to it's entitlements. Sounds familiar, heck some even bought golf balls.


By comparison, Dunn's office reviewed 1,300 recent credit-card transactions in other ministries between 2003 and 2006, and found only 14 of them were for personal use, worth a total of $7,100.

But the audit found also found shoddy paperwork throughout government. If found 383 transactions worth $36,346 that were identified as "gifts." Officials usually gave in receipts, but rarely disclosed who received the gifts and why, the report says.

The auditor eventually reviewed 80 government credit cards and found thousands in expenses that were simply identified as "gifts."

Some spent their money on fridge magnets or golf balls featuring their constituency address. Another bought 160 legislature watches as gifts for overachieving school kids.

In four cases, MLAs used the gift budget to supplement constituency assistants’ salaries to the tune of nearly $20,000.

But in many cases there was “little to no indication” of who received a gift or how the public would benefit.


While the previous stories made news, there are other departments that came under criticism from the Auditor General. And they did not make the news yet. One of those was the Department of Agriculture, a vote gathering slush fund.

The Ministry received $531 million in revenue in 2006–2007.

In 2006–2007, the Ministry spent $1.068 billion.

Its largest expenditures are:
Farm income support $ 573
Insurance $216
Environment and food safety $63
Infrastructure assistance $51
Industry development $46
Rural services $37
Farm fuel distribution allowance $32

The Review of the Department of Agriculture found a bigger boondoggle than just a loosey goosey farm fuel give away program. In fact the departments loans and support payments to farmers has a high failure rate. The department is a net loss, it spends more than it takes in. And fails to assess risk on farm loans it makes. And once again it is a question of failure of any oversight being taken. It in fact lost over $30 million in bad loans. And it could not account for how that happened.


The Agriculture Financial Services Corporation


The Corporation recorded an SLLA of $12.1 million and a GLLA of
$18.5 million at March 31, 2007.

The loan loss allowance is an estimate of the losses that exist in the loan portfolio at a specific time. The loan loss allowance has two parts—the specific
loan loss allowance (SLLA) and the general loan loss allowance (GLLA). The
Corporation records an SLLA for loans it identifies as impaired and a GLLA for
loans at risk of loss, but not specifically impaired.
However, the Corporation’s processes do not ensure that credit risk indicators and security values are updated regularly for all loans.

Account managers update the indicators annually for
commercial loans, through the annual commercial account review. However,
they do not update these indicators for farm loans annually—instead, they
update these loans only if a customer requests additional funds or a loan is
amended.

We found that 47% of the Corporation’s loan customers did not have the credit
risk indicators in the lending system. For 54% of the Corporation’s loan
customers, the Corporation had not updated the security values in the lending
system in more than two years.
Other recommendations, the Government can accurately budget but doesn't

Government’s revenue forecasting systems (Vol. 1, p. 142)—government has adequate systems for preparing revenue budgets and forecasts. The government’s actual revenues have exceeded budgets by an average of $5 billion in the last 4 years;


Your privacy is not protected. In fact the computer you are using to read this on is probably more secure than the ones used by the government and its departments. Let alone all those scandals around the loss of private information via contracted out registry services.


Yep Rusty Idols was right any other province and just one of these scandals would bring down the government. But in Alberta the Tired Old Tories simply arch an eyebrow and go back to being asleep at the wheel.


Read the report here.


SEE
Transparency Alberta Style

Stelmach the Perfect Strom


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, , , , , , , , href="http://tagcentral.net/?tag=Ed" Stelmach="" rel="tag">Ed Stelmach,
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Hey Ed You Were In Cabinet


Farmer Ed the man who is now Alberta CEO was in cabinet when this happened.

Albertans were shortchanged by as much as $2 billion annually over the last three years because the government failed to act on its own energy department's royalty recommendations, the auditor general has reported.


Oh yeah and he was Minister of Agriculture when this happened.
Province's farm fuel benefits program at centre of costly controversy

The provincial government sat on a report for seven years that outlined massive failures in policing its $100-million-a-year farm fuel benefit program, before similar concerns were raised by Alberta’s auditor general in 2006.

Now it must explain how Albertans can be sure the almost $1-billion spent on the program in that time was used wisely, said Liberal critic Hugh MacDonald.

Stelmach defended over farm fuel flap

"Premier Stelmach was the minister who identified the issue, period," said Sands. "First, Minister Stelmach ordered a renewal of the applications for the program in 1998. Second, Minister Stelmach ordered an internal review of the that very process. That's the document being banded about today - the very one Minister Stelmach ordered."


But Stelmach left the portfolio in May 1999, Sands said, and the internal review wasn't completed until a month later.

That doesn't explain why, in the following eight years that he was in other cabinet roles, Stelmach didn't notice that the most significant complaint against the program - that it had no way of verifying whether participants were eligible - hadn't been fixed, said Liberal critic Hugh MacDonald. It also doesn't explain why three more agriculture ministers after him didn't follow through, either.

In fact, the issue wasn't raised again until a 2003 recommendation from the auditor general that the portion of the program offering a rebate on diesel purchases was a "high risk" due to its low number of audits.

And his Tired Old Tory policies of government fiscal ineptitude have followed him as the unelected Premier. Instead of rent and condo controls the government shoveled out money to renters to pay for rent increases. And that too has turned into another boondoggle.What kind of fiscal conservative would do that? The kind that have been in power way, way, too long.

Nearly three-in-10 claims granted from a fund to help stave off homelessness were improperly approved -- but no fraud has been found, a provincial audit has concluded.

An internal investigation into the $7-million fund -- which is expected to balloon to $21 million by the end of the year -- found more than $60,000 of the nearly $200,000 put under the microscope was handed out without proper checks and balances.


The opposition wants the auditor general to look at Alberta's Homeless and Eviction Prevention Fund.

NDP Leader Brian Mason says an internal audit that isn't worth the paper it's written on. He says that's because the auditors only interviewed the staff administering the program.

Those are the same people whom news reports earlier this year suggested were ordered to hand out program money without proper documentation in the first place.

Nope no fraud just business as usual in Alberta.


And just to show how out of touch Prince Edward is.....

"The real test will come at the next general election," Stelmach stressed because "Alberta does not run on autopilot"



Ha, Ha, Ha, please stop it.


SEE
Transparency Alberta Style

Stelmach the Perfect Strom


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Friday, September 28, 2007

Morons

"We are not morons" was the screaming front page headline in the Edmonton Journal yesterday

Alberta's royalty review panel fired back Wednesday at industry critics of its report, arguing its call to hike energy royalties by 20 per cent is reasonable by global standards and based on sound data provided by the oilpatch itself.

Since issuing its report to the Stelmach government last week, the panel led by former Al-Pac president Bill Hunter has been accused by some in the energy sector and investment community of basing its report's controversial conclusions on flawed math that doesn't reflect reality. Hunter and fellow panelists said the industry's arguments distort the real picture as they see it.

"We're not a bunch of morons, as is indicated by some of the folks who are fighting against us," Hunter said in a group interview with Journal columnists and reporters Wednesday.

Nope they aren't morons, but the guys in the Tired Old Tory government are as another report showed today.

The provincial government sat on a report for seven years that outlined massive failures in policing its $100-million-a-year farm fuel benefit program, before similar concerns were raised by Alberta’s auditor general in 2006.

Now it must explain how Albertans can be sure the almost $1-billion spent on the program in that time was used wisely, said Liberal critic Hugh MacDonald.

Auditor General Fred Dunn said last year the process “does not verify the information in application forms before issuing a certificate” for the program, which gives farmers a six-cents per litre deduction on diesel, and eliminates the tax on both diesel and gas the government would normally get.

“Nor does it have any other processes to ensure that only eligible individuals get certificates -- or to identify people who became ineligible,” Dunn wrote, adding that the “department has not completed a renewal process or requested confirmation of eligibility from registrants since 1997.”

But the government did produce an audit of the renewal process -- one year later, in 1998. And the 10-page document outlined identical concerns to the auditor’s in 2006, which themselves came three years after Dunn declared the program “high risk”.



Which is what the Royalty Review also said, that the Government lost $8 billion in royalties paid. It went somewhere but nobody knows where or if it was even collected.

It's a joy to watch capitalists tarred with the same brush as the left by Big Oil. Of course the facts back the Royalty Review board not the Petro Bullies.

In 2006, Alberta's top five energy firms alone earned more than $17 billion. That's twice the province's 2007 budget surplus, and eight times the $2-billion annual hike in royalty fees called for by a government-appointed review panel.

Drillers complain that their sector -- already hit by low natural gas prices and a surplus of rigs -- would be decimated if the report is implemented.

But panel members stress that 82 per cent of conventional natural gas wells, and 57 per cent of conventional oil wells, would actually see royalty rates decline, based on 2006 prices.

Report finds Alberta still a bargain, even with higher royalties

Higher oil sands royalties could cut 13 per cent of the value from current and planned projects around Fort McMurray, but Alberta would remain one of the cheaper places to do business in the world even with more money going to government, according to research by British energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Of 100 fiscal regimes around the world analyzed by Wood Mackenzie, money paid to government in the oil sands is ranked as the 11th-most generous system for industry. Should higher royalties and taxes be instituted, the ranking would fall to 44th, still in the top half.

Canada’s oil nationalism

Sudden change in fiscal regimes is bad for planning. Yet it is hardly surprising that a resource-rich government wants a bigger slice of the pie when oil is topping $80 a barrel. At an estimated 64 per cent share of the value of oil sands projects, Alberta’s “take” would remain moderate compared with the likes of Venezuela and Russia. And the Canadians are at least being upfront about simply wanting a bigger cheque, rather than hiding behind professed environmental concerns.

The biggest impact would come from an increase in the royalty on production after initial investment has been recovered, hitting operators with projects already up and running. The value of projects still in the investment phase should suffer less, as the affected cash flows are further in the future. Rather cynically, the proposals largely preserve the attraction for new developers, while milking existing producers a little more – after all, where will the latter go?

The silver lining is that this measure could cool a sector suffering rampant cost inflation – and cut speculative valuations on potential takeover targets – by making potential new entrants think twice. Moreover, if the pace of development really does slow, it will be time to upgrade long-term oil price projections in those project models.


Gee I said that here.

And a comment in Ken Chapman's blog also points out the simple empirical fact that ;

In "Alberta's Royalty Review and the Law of Grandparenting" IAPR Fellow Nigel Bankes, a Professor in the Faculty of Law, reviews the law on this question and concludes that the royalty review panel has proposed nothing that violates existing contracts or is otherwise inappropriate or unusual.
Big Oil is painting all of us as morons, the real morons of course run the Government of Alberta on their behalf.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates
make sure Ed hears from you.

SEE:

Stelmach Sells Out

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Stelmach Sells Out

Uh oh prepare for a sell out by Prince Ed. He has appointed Ron Stevens to oversee reactions to the Royalty Report , the most negative coming form the self interested oil tycoons, and he announced in Toronto that any decision will be in favour of big oil.

"I've promised Albertans a royalty regime that is fair to the companies who are investing billions of dollars to develop Alberta's resources," Stelmach said, according to a text copy of his speech.

Ron is also Minister responsible for the Oil Sands Secretariat, so the deal is sealed.

Rick Bell commenting in the Calgary Sun wonders too if Prince Eddie will take on the dragon of big oil, and has his doubts.

Now, Premier Ed has this panel report. Those in Big Oil's culture of entitlement who cry catastrophe but still strut the flash-the-cash attitude downtown won't surrender a copper, reminding the Tories who wags the dog.

Big Oil wring their well-manicured pinkies in front of Deputy Premier Ron Stevens, a Calgary lawyer who hears more blues than in the old days at the King Eddy.

Energy Minister Mel Knight, the Spymaster, so named because of the Energy and Utilities Board's hiring of private eyes to spy on citizens opposing a power line, has his deep thinkers give the panel report a look-see.

Those numbskulls couldn't do the math on the existing royalties. Beautiful.

NDP Leader Brian Mason likens the move to handing over the keys of the new locomotive to those who have been asleep at the wheel.

No matter. It comes down to Ed. Does he have the guts to be the leader for all Albertans or is he just the latest dude along for the ride willing to risk a train wreck?
Since Ed wants to hear from all Albertans make sure he hears from you.

SEE:

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