The Alison Redford transgressions thread. Update- Redford quits.

[ken0042]

My understanding was that Stelmach made changes to existing deals. So if a company had a deal for the next 5, 10, or 20 years at a certain rate; that rate was going to change going forward.

I don't mind telling companies the new rate on new deals is going up, but to change existing deals is a very poor way to conduct business.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by ken0042

My understanding was that Stelmach made changes to existing deals. So if a company had a deal for the next 5, 10, or 20 years at a certain rate; that rate was going to change going forward.

I don't mind telling companies the new rate on new deals is going up, but to change existing deals is a very poor way to conduct business.

Then we were fools to offer 20 year rate deals. Where is the business savy from the government?

The original oilsand players already had a couple of changes to their rate deals by the time Stelmach proposed their royalty rate changes. Funny how they were happy to accept a new rate that was lower yet balk at a rate increase...

Indeed Sara Palin once raised the royalty rates during her term as governor. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aYdZoyTvFrTc

and yes the oil companies were not happy...

in the end Alberta Companies all got off better than they started as stelmach backed down on royalty increases - and switched the rate to the price of bitumen.

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

There's no risk of losing your investment. The infrastructure is already in place, and it is a proven revenue stream. The question is one of profit, and how profit vs. cost was derived. There should be a significant jump in royalties after costs are recouped by the companies involved, but the structure of the agreement makes it such that that threshold will never be reached.

This is an interesting short read on how other jurisdictions handle the resource.
http://desmog.ca/2013/02/28/if-canad...are-we-so-debt

If I remember correctly, when Stelmach was trying to raise the royalty rate, the CEO of Shell arrived to say that his company would welcome a new deal and raise in royalty. This is because he new that even doubling the royalty rate was far cheaper than straightening out the existing deal so that the high mark of 35% royalty to Alberta became a reality.

A friend of mine once summed it up like this. A company is not going to abandon an enterprise because now they are making only 3 billion a year as opposed to 4 billion. That our government is such a pushover on this issue, for so long, reeks of either incompetence or corruption.

That is correct - for oilsands projects. Everyone, industry included, expected an increase in royalties for oilsands. What was not expected, was a review and increase in conventional oil and gas royalties. This is where Stelmach miscalculated, and where you misunderstand the problem.

Existing projects would indeed not be touched, and existing wells would continue to produce, albeit at lower rates of profit for the operators. What was now brought into jeopardy, was new drilling, and new projects. These, due to the reduction in expected revenue, very quickly shifted from Alberta to Saskatchewan, BC, and other jurisdictions, as the change in which projects were most profitable caused the reallocation of available capital. Companies in Calgary are not required to spend their capital in Alberta, and the provincial government discovered this miscalculation very rapidly.

Oil and gas wells decline. Without additional spending on new wells, the cash flow dries up. Alberta politicians did not understand this, till it was too late. Things have been corrected now, but it is possible Redford is dealing with the remnants of this disastrous miscalculation. Sorry, was.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Oil and gas wells decline. Without additional spending on new wells, the cash flow dries up. Alberta politicians did not understand this, till it was too late. Things have been corrected now, but it is possible Redford is dealing with the remnants of this disastrous miscalculation. Sorry, was.

It's the job of a government to find what works, and do it for the good of the people, putting egos and personal gain aside. Every political party would have us believe that government should be run as a corporation, I even frequently have heard politicians referring to their constituency as their 'shareholders'. Politicians are our public servants, changed with governing an entity with more power than any business being run within its borders. It's a different animal.

I agree that initial costs should be incentive based to encourage growth, but the point where initial costs end should be definite and reasonable. That Stelmach found a problem and fixed it is laudable, but fixing small inconsistencies when obvious major issues are shoved under a rug is laughable. That we can't fix these problems anymore means that the corporations now have more power than our government, because the government is afraid or unable to wield the.power it has.

If we want to see a positive result from our next government, we should drop a half billion dollars into hiring a massive army of accountants and lawyers to deal with our issues, because we are being ridiculously outgunned.

I would love a premier who identified a serious problem, and dropped 800 starving accountants, and 200 idealistic lawyers on that problem until it was solved. I think it would be a justifiable expense. And we're the people, the politicians are our representatives. If we want 1000 attack suits to crush our adversaries, you know what? We can do that.

Of course we would require honest politicians first. And possibly a free and engaged media. Crap.

Late on a Sunday, I'm starting to ramble like an 80 year old man. To be true to the thread, I'll shake my fist in the air, and blame Redford for that.

[Jacks]

It's kind of old news now that she has stepped down but you have to wonder if these access to information requests didn't put the final nail in her coffin. This article presents a narrative of Redford not giving a crap about travel costs and going with what was most convenient to her and her staff.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03...ong-documents/

Can't believe they were going to have a plane sit in Ottawa the whole time waiting to fly her back.

[killer_carlson]

Wow Jacks. Good article.

So a national newspaper is calling BS on her claims and has paper to prove it.

It would have been a bloodbath had she not stepped down.

[RedHot25]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...ding-1.2589713

Former Alberta premier Alison Redford personally ordered a luxury penthouse “premier’s suite” be built in the provincially owned Federal Building now under renovation in Edmonton.


Documents obtained exclusively by CBC News through freedom of information show Redford’s executive assistant, Ryan Barberio, personally ordered changes to the building’s floor plan through direct contact with the architecture firm in charge of refurbishing the Federal Building.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by RedHot25

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...ding-1.2589713

Wow, good for Redford to have step down last week. If not, this plus the $45K Royal Canadian Airfare Farce are going to destroy her anyhow.

Redford clearly through she was some kind of royalty in Alberta and will rule forever.

[CaptainCrunch]

I wonder how high this is going to get, if you include the severance paid for her departing aides is this a 7 figure scandal.

It also is starting to look like besides the facts that she was spoiled, and entitled, that she was dishonest with the whole I didn't know, I'm disappointed BS.

Its too bad that this is more of an ethical issue then a legal issue because she basically stole money from this province to fuel here travel and expensive habits fetish.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I wonder how high this is going to get, if you include the severance paid for her departing aides is this a 7 figure scandal.

It also is starting to look like besides the facts that she was spoiled, and entitled, that she was dishonest with the whole I didn't know, I'm disappointed BS.

Its too bad that this is more of an ethical issue then a legal issue because she basically stole money from this province to fuel here travel and expensive habits fetish.

Can you include the severance though? I know that as a Wildrose supporter you want to in order to drive the costs of the whole thing higher, but people who are let go get severance packages...that's the way business operates in the private sector as well.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its too bad that this is more of an ethical issue then a legal issue because she basically stole money from this province to fuel here travel and expensive habits fetish.

There no doubt that during her stay in SA as a white woman lawyer working with the Mandela government, she'd enjoyed some sort of previlege life style. So much so that she applied for SA citizenship and got turned down.

It is easy to see how she developed her champagne taste.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I wonder how high this is going to get, if you include the severance paid for her departing aides is this a 7 figure scandal.

Severance for nine of Alison Redford's former staff totals $1,135,647 plus $177K in vacation payouts.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by darklord700

So much so that she applied for SA citizenship and got turned down.

I'm not Canadian, so I could be totally wrong, but it sure seems to me that a lot of Canadian political leaders have, or have attempted to acquire, citizenship or residency rights in a nation other than Canada.

I just cannot fathom electing (directly or indirectly) someone to lead a country who, by their past actions, appears to not even really want to live in that country.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Slava

Can you include the severance though? I know that as a Wildrose supporter you want to in order to drive the costs of the whole thing higher, but people who are let go get severance packages...that's the way business operates in the private sector as well.

How am I a wildrose supporter, I didn't vote for them in the last election, I haven't made any kind of decision for the next election yet. I haven't come out here spouting the greatness of Danielle Smith.

However, because Redford left and her staff left with her due to their being complicate in this, I would make an assumption that when this came to a boil it was either quit get your severance keep your mouth shut or be fired and get nothing.

So I would certainly in my mind count their costs as the part of the entire costs of Redfords business.

At the very least we would have to count the severance of her primary aid who probably got a fairly good package to walk away.

They are part of her office and her cost

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Slava

Can you include the severance though? I know that as a Wildrose supporter you want to in order to drive the costs of the whole thing higher, but people who are let go get severance packages...that's the way business operates in the private sector as well.

General opinion is that her aides were wildly overpaid, which in turn overvalues their severance packages. This will fall into the same category as the flight expenses: There's a reasonable figure, and then there is Redford's figure. Being a Redford crony obviously paid well before the gravy train jumped the tracks.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

General opinion is that her aides were wildly overpaid, which in turn overvalues their severance packages. This will fall into the same category as the flight expenses:

Not just overpaid but who in their right mind hire people from the Federal ON cricle to be her AB chief of staff and communication director? Redford did and you wounder why she's a lousy premier. This whole farce is so commical that it's probably worth the $1M waste of severance it entails.

[Flash Walken]

Has Wild Rose said anything really in the last week since the oustre?

Jockeying for position, taken on a new cause celebre?

[Voodooman]

Originally Posted by Jacks

It's kind of old news now that she has stepped down but you have to wonder if these access to information requests didn't put the final nail in her coffin. This article presents a narrative of Redford not giving a crap about travel costs and going with what was most convenient to her and her staff.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03...ong-documents/

Can't believe they were going to have a plane sit in Ottawa the whole time waiting to fly her back.

In reading the latest set of documents, it's apparently that either Redford herself, or someone in the Premier's office, was either absolutely delusional or power mad. Requesting private transportation on the ground in SA? Asking Ottawa if her secretary could take a seat on the plane if another Premier declined? Why was Alison Redford the only premier who felt compelled to bring someone along with her? Is she so helpless that she can't dial her own Blackberry or find the bus by herself?

It seems to come down to 2 or 3 possible explanations. She saw herself as some sort of queen, who demanded to be waited on hand and foot, and legitimately saw herself as equal in status to the Prime Minister, and certainly far more important that other lowly Premiers. Alternatively, her staff, and specifically this executive assistant, thought of her as a queen, waited on her hand and foot, and dedicated their entire existence to stroking her already massive ego. Or thirdly, there's something "personal" between her and the assistant.

I still really believe that she doesn't see anything wrong with her conduct, and she shouldn't have been forced to step down. There's absolutely zero remorse, and basically, she only repaid the expenses because the party would have been destroyed otherwise. I have a sneaking suspicion that she'll be made whole for that through some sort of consulting contract or board appointment someday soon.

In the end, thank God the PC's finally fixed their internal election processes. I'd question whether either her or Stelmach would have been elected leader except under their idiotic second choice system.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Has Wild Rose said anything really in the last week since the oustre?

Jockeying for position, taken on a new cause celebre?

All three opposition parties appear to have taken a step back. Makes sense, really. Why risk overplaying your hand now? The Tories will have a new leader in a few months, at which point the work to undermine the new leader begins in earnest.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Voodooman

IShe saw herself as some sort of queen, who demanded to be waited on hand and foot, and legitimately saw herself as equal in status to the Prime Minister, and certainly far more important that other lowly Premiers.

Redford did very prematurely and naively hint at succeeding Harper as the leader of the Federal PC at one point. So there you go.