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Wildrose point to maverick MLAs ousted by Conservatives

The Wildrose party's $1,000 "good conduct" bonds for those who attempted to win a party nomination are "undemocratic," says Progressive Conservative Leader Ali-son Redford.

"I think that if you have a political party and you have people that run for nominations, that those people I presume are still members of the party, are still entitled to have points of view," said Redford, campaigning in Calgary on Sunday.

Redford was commenting on the Wildrose policy of holding back a $1,000 deposit paid by each person who ran but lost a party nomination race. The cheque will be returned after the election if they don't "sabotage" or speak out against the winning candidate, according to party Leader Danielle Smith.

"I don't know what they would or wouldn't say but the fact that as a party they're worried about that, I find ridiculous," Redford added.

Edmonton-Castle Downs PC candidate Thomas Lukaszuk, said Wildrose claims to be the party of free speech have no credibility given the $1,000 no-talk bond.

"An election is exactly the time for dialogue with the voters, yet these party members are not allowed to talk?" said Lukaszuk. "How can you reconcile that party policy with their claim to free votes and an open caucus?"

Wildrose organizer and senate candidate Vitor Marciano downplayed the internal party rule, saying they borrowed it from the federal Conservatives.

Stephen Harper's party put the rule in place after the 2004 federal election, said Marciano, who worked for the newly unified party at the time.

In that election, some Conservative party members who failed to win their nomination race then went out in the election campaign and publicly endorsed the Liberals, said Marciano.

"We thought it was a good rule so we brought into to our party," said Marciano.

He also brushed aside suggestions that the bonds are an infringement of free speech.

"You can say what you want, but you will lose the $1,000."

"This is about party discipline before the election," he said. "Once they are elected, MLAs are obliged to represent every-one in the constituency."

Marciano said for the Tories criticize the $1,000 bond is "ludicrous" since that party that has kicked out of caucus MLAs like Guy Boutilier who dared to speak against the party line.

But Lukaszuk questioned why the party does not let local MLAs take part in election debates and requires them to check in with the party's headquarters before they can speak to the media.

Instead, party relies on "a few trusted operatives" like Marciano who has been appearing at some all-party debates, including three forums on education in Edmonton - even though he is a federal candidate, said Lukaszuk.

"Education is 100 per cent a provincial responsibility, yet I was debating a federal candidate," said Lukaszuk.

Marciano said since forums were not tied to local constituencies, it was decided he would be the spokesperson.

The Progressive Conservative party does not require a deposit from members running in a nomination race, party president Bill Smith con-firmed. Some constituencies may require those who enter the race to pay $500 to help defray the costs of the nomination process.

The Wildrose good con-duct bond is "highly unusual and speaks for itself," Smith added.

The rules for a leadership race are different, Smith said, and the party requires a $15,000 deposit from the handful of candidates running in that contest.

Jim Lightbody, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, said he doesn't think the $1,000 bond is a major issue in the campaign and would not prevent party members from speaking out if they felt strongly about an issues.

"The Wildrose have a lot of new party members who are aren't sure of their footing or skilled in the political arts," said Lightbody. "And they have a lot of sharp people running the campaign."

election calendar

- A day-by-day list of 2012 campaign activities, focused on party leaders and Edmonton-area candidate forums.

Contact Journal reporter Sarah O'Donnell by email at sodonnell@ edmontonjournal.com or on Twitter @scodonnell to add an event to the list.

Alberta Party Leader Glenn Taylor

- Campaigning in Edmonton be-fore returning to Hinton

NDP Leader Brian Mason

- Campaigning in Lethbridge be-fore heading back to Edmonton

PC Leader Alison Redford

- Campaigning in Calgary

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith

- Campaigning in Edmonton, Nisku, Devon and Camrose

Edmonton Journal, Mon Apr 16 2012
Byline: Sheila Pratt

CBC poll suggests Progressive Conservatives trailing Wildrose

A poll conducted for the CBC shows the Wildrose Party has a seven-point lead over the Progressive Conservatives just a week before the Alberta election, but it's edging towards majority territory.

The Return on Insight telephone poll found Wildrose has a commanding lead in rural areas, the most support of any party in Edmonton, and is running neck-and-neck with the PCs in Calgary.

ROI president Bruce Cameron said the race is tightening now that Liberal supporters appear to have moved to support the PCs in Calgary.

"It seems Albertans are increasingly lining up on one of two sides in this election: the Wildrose Party or the PC party," he said.

With the election on April 23, the poll shows among decided voters that:

The Wildrose Party leads with 43 per cent followed by the PCs at 36 per cent.

The Liberals at 11 per cent.

NDP at nine per cent.

Alberta Party at one per cent.

Cameron said a Wildrose majority government is possible, given its level of support. The real battleground, the poll suggests, will likely be in the province's two big cities.

In Calgary, the Tories have a slim four-point lead over Wildrose at 45 per cent support to 41 per cent. In Edmonton, it's the Wildrose Party with a slight lead of 37 per cent to 31 per cent.

Wildrose has strong lead in rural Alberta

The Wildrose Party has a commanding 21-point lead over the PCs outside of the two major cities, at 52 per cent to 31 per cent.

But the poll found 24 per cent of Albertans are undecided about who to vote for, which reflects a higher than normal level of voter uncertainty this close to an election.

"Strategic voting, in which Liberal and ND supporters abandon their traditional loyalties to vote PC to stop the Wildrose, may have already begun in Calgary, making it a virtual tie," he said.

"But in Edmonton, Liberal and New Democrat support has held firm thus far, preventing a PC comeback and enabling the Wildrose to take the lead in the capital.

"These types of unprecedented shifts are very difficult to predict and even more difficult to control, so we are likely to see a hotly contested finish to the 2012 Alberta election."

Results of the poll are based on a random poll of 800 Albertans. It was conducted April 13 and 14, and is accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

cbcnews, Mon Apr 16 2012

Personal views don't reflect policy: Smith

With a week to go in the most hard fought Alberta election campaign in decades, hot-button moral issues again put the front-running Wildrose party on the hot seat.

All four major party leaders were in Calgary on Sunday - a key battleground of the race - fanning out in visits to ethnic and religious communities, making new announcements and hammering home key points of their platform.

But it was Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith who attracted the most attention, refusing to condemn an online posting by one of her candidates decrying tolerance toward gays and lesbians, but reiterating that her party won't legislate on contentious moral issues.

In a June 2011 blog post, Edmonton-South West candidate Allan Hunsperger, a pastor with The House church in Tofield, referenced the Lady Gaga hit song Born this Way and said gay people can choose "to not live the way they were born."

"You can live the way you were born, and if you die the way you were born, then you will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering," he wrote, adding that "accepting people the way they are is cruel and not loving."

In the post, Hunsperger condemns the Edmonton Public School Board's policy calling for a safe and welcoming environment for all students, including those who identify as lesbian, gay and transgender.

Asked about the writing, Smith noted the party won't legislate on such social issues but said Hunsperger was free to hold his personal views.

"When a person is making personal statements in their capacity as a pastor, which he was, I don't think anybody should be surprised that they're expressing certain viewpoints," she said to reporters outside the Calgary Hindu Society's temple.

"We've communicated on this, that we will not be legislating on contentious social issues. He understands that. He accepts that."

When asked if there are personal opinions beyond the pale for the party, Smith did not directly answer.

"Look at our party platform. The things that we focus on are the things on which we agree," said Smith, who a day earlier had accused the media of being upset there had been no "bozo eruptions" among Wildrose candidates.

"We accept that people have a broad diversity of viewpoints but the way we get along is that we focus on the things on which we can agree."

By mid-afternoon, the blog post had been removed and Hunsperger had written a new entry addressing the issue, saying he had been speaking as a pastor about his personal religious viewpoints.

"I fully support equality for all people, and condemn any intolerance based on sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic," wrote Hunsperger.

Robyn Haugen, Hunsperger's campaign manager, said he was unable to talk Sunday.

Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford said Hunsperger's original comments were "shocking."

"I think that it's absolutely wrong. Of course I disagree with it, and the fact that these are people who think that that's a legitimate perspective just absolutely blows my mind," she told reporters at an event at Calgary's Sikh temple.

Redford said the situation speaks to who would make up a Wildrose government. "Take a look at who you want to represent you. What do they believe?"

Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said he would not allow a Liberal candidate with Hunsperger's views to run for the party.

"I'm shocked and disappointed that a man of the cloth would make these comments," Sherman said at the McDougall Centre, where he proposed a revamp of the province's election system. "Jesus would not make these comments."

NDP Leader Brian Mason - in Calgary to talk about electricity regulation - said Smith had to answer for Hunsperger's statement.

"Do those comments by that candidate constitute an embarrassment to the Wildrose party and to her?" he said.

Since the writ was dropped, Smith - who describes herself as prochoice and pro-gay marriage - has had to fend off accusations the social conservative component within Wildrose would lead the party to wade into areas such as abortion and gay rights.

Faron Ellis, a political scientist at Lethbridge College, said Smith has done a skilful job with what have been "generic responses to generic situations."

But the tangible nature of Hunsperger's comments - and the fact they touch upon an area of provincial jurisdiction - may make it a lightning rod in the last week of the campaign, he said.

"She has to go further in some kind of condemnation of that type of statement," said Ellis, who noted Smith also does not want to alienate social conservative voters.

Meanwhile, Redford was supposed to hold an event Sunday afternoon with Alberta PC icon Peter Lougheed - who strongly backed Redford publicly two days earlier - but it had to be rescheduled.

Redford said she was touched by Lougheed's public endorsement and the party had not asked him to weigh in.

But Smith said it was "tragic that it was considered news for a former leader of the PC party to endorse the current leader of the PC party."

"We've put forward a positive campaign, talking about the issues that matter to Albertans. We're going to continue that in the last week."

Calgary Herald, Mon Apr 16 2012
Byline: James Wood, with files from Chris Varcoe and Bryan Weismiller and Sheila Pratt

Reducing immigration barriers is long overdue

Immigration is the federal department most likely to be viewed as the stodgiest and burdened with the most cumbersome processes. This is not necessarily a reflection of how the department operates, but it's a public perception that comes from hearing of the lengthy wait times, stacks of documents and bottomless quantities of patience required of those who are either trying to sponsor a family member to come to Canada or are immigrating here themselves.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is doing a bang-up job of dispelling that perception and showing just how flexible the federal government can be in meeting the demands of an economy that's just picking up momentum, coming out of the doldrums of 2008.

Kenney has announced the establishment of a new queue for skilled tradespeople, which will streamline things and make it easier for foreigners working in the trades to come to Canada and help fill shortages in the labourstarved resource-based and construction industries.

The new queue is long overdue, for as Kenney himself told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, "in the past, it was virtually impossible for skilled tradespeople to get in through our rigid economic programs at the federal level."

In fact, of the 48,678 people who came to Canada through the skilled worker program in 2010, skilled tradespeople made up only three per cent. That just goes to show how the barriers need to come tumbling down.

Lack of advanced Englishlanguage skills and the absence of a post-secondary degree meant people were often passed over, but all that will, thankfully, change by the end of this year. A "workable level of English," according to Kenney, will be all that is required as far as language fluency, while the 100-point grid typically used to assess a foreign worker's admissibility will be revamped for tradespeople.

The Alberta Federation of Labour is concerned that loosening the requirements for the admission of foreign tradespeople will divert interest and incentive for the next crop of Canadian-born tradespeople. However, one of the reasons the shortage exists is that Canadian youth are traditionally encouraged to go to university and pursue careers in the professions. There is a pervasive, if contradictory, attitude among Canadians that society couldn't possibly function without skilled tradespeople, but they'd rather see their own children eschew a future in the trades.

If Canadians aren't going to enter the trades in large enough numbers, employers have to look elsewhere because the work simply needs to get done, and someone qualified has to do it. In fact, part of Kenney's new plan includes setting up a list of qualified job seekers for prospective employers to peruse.

Kenney's reforms are a perfect example of the federal government being keenly attuned to the needs of the market. Instead of clinging to some stifling bureaucratic status quo, the Immigration department is responding accordingly to help industry, with the ultimate goal of promoting and maintaining the health and vigour of the economy.

Calgary Herald, Sun Apr 15 2012

Processing oilsands output in Alberta will create jobs, ND leader argues

New Democrat Leader Brian Mason would move forward with four upgraders planned for the Industrial Heartland area northeast of Edmonton, saying on Saturday that keeping bitumen in Alberta creates more jobs and stronger communities.

"We need to not just be the exporter of unprocessed raw materials for the rest of the world to create employment, but to create employment right here in our province," Mason said.

This follows Mason's earlier campaign announcement to increase royalties from bitumen production by 25 per cent, a raise the NDP said would bring in $1.4 billion annually and could be used to improve public services.

"It would be a 25 per cent increase in royalties on bitumen as opposed to refined or upgraded synthetic crude oil. That would have the impact of creating the investment here in our province, instead of in other parts of the world, and I think that's what Albertans expect and demand," Mason said on Saturday.

The NDP announcement comes after organizations, including the Alberta Federation of Labour and Alberta's Industrial Heartland Association, called on party leaders to address plans for the province's petrochemical sector.

AFL President Gil McGowan said the question of whether bitumen should be upgraded in the province or exported in its raw form is one of the most important economic issues facing Alberta today.

"More upgrading makes sense because it keeps jobs, profits and tax revenue here in Alberta, instead of sending all of those things to places like the U.S. or China," McGowan said.

He was pleased with Mason's plans to move forward with the upgraders, if the NDP are elected, and noted he has been "profoundly disappointed" that other party leaders have not addressed the question of upgrading. The Alberta Liberals, Tories and Wildrose parties have all said they will not increase oil and gas royalties if they are elected.

Mason targeted both the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties in his announcement, noting the Conservatives are allowing an increasing amount of bitumen to be shipped out of the province, while the Wildrose is "bankrolled by oil companies hoping to keep royalties low and profit margins at record highs."

"The Conservative government has allowed bitumen to be exported from this province without being upgraded here, despite the promise made in the last election by former Premier Ed Stelmach, who likened the export of unprocessed bitumen from the province to scraping off the topsoil from your farm and selling it," Mason said.

By moving forward with the four proposed upgraders, which have been stalled since 2008, Mason said 4,000 permanent operations jobs and 12,000 jobs in service and related industries would be created.

Calgary Herald, Sat Apr 14 2012
Byline: Cailynn Klingbeil

EDMONTON - The Alberta election campaign officially began March 26th, but in many ways, the campaign really won't start until Thursday night. At 6:30 to be precise.

That's when the leaders of the four main political parties will face each other for the first and only televised debate of the campaign.

It promises to be a crucial moment, perhaps pivotal. Really.

I know it's a cliché to say leaders' debates are important, that they mark a watershed moment when voters finally start paying attention to the campaign. Then there's the cliché of clichés: there might be a "knock out" punch delivered at some point, a "you had an option, sir (or ma'am)" moment.

But this time it's true.

If the public opinion polls are correct, the election race has become a too-close-to-call horse race between the ruling Progressive Conservatives and the upstart Wildrose. The race appears to be so close that the opposition parties, NDP and Liberals, could end up holding the balance of power in a minority government.

We haven't seen this kind of race since 1993 when the Liberals almost defeated the Tories or since 1971 when the Tories defeated the Social Credit. We haven't seen this much excitement heading into a leaders' debate since, well, ever.

The stakes are always highest for the front-runner in these debates and what's deliciously confusing is that this time we aren't sure who the front-runner is. Conservative Leader Alison Redford will have to defend her foot-dragging response to the "no-meet" committee and her definition of what makes up a public inquiry into health care, while Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith will no doubt find herself having to fend off attacks by Redford, who has called some Wildrose polices on social issues frightening.

All the leaders say they want to focus on policies and avoid personal attacks, but plenty of people will be tuning in to see how nasty it gets.

Tories are flirting with their first electoral loss in 41 years and the only person who can save them is Redford, tonight. The Wildrose is on the cusp of Alberta's first electoral upset in 41 years and tonight is Smith's opportunity to solidify the party's standing.

Liberals are facing a possible wipeout on election day and tonight is Raj Sherman's chance to reverse the negative momentum. The NDP could be a major player in a minority government and Brian Mason has to convince his supporters to get out and give him as many seats as possible.

Every vote will count. I know that's a cliché, too, but there are so many ridings where the winner will squeak by with just a few votes that your vote really will make a difference not only to what happens in your own riding but in the whole province.

And you really can't count on the public opinion polls to tell you what's going to happen because polls sometimes create unexpected reactions.

Just look at the provincial election of 1997. With 10 days left in the campaign a poll said the Klein Conservatives were set to sweep Edmonton and wipe out the Liberals in the city. Instead, Liberals won 15 seats and the Conservatives got just two. So, what happened to the big Tory breakthrough forecast by the poll? Was the poll wrong?

No, the poll was probably dead on. The Tories were indeed headed to a city sweep. However, when Edmontonians realized the size of the Tory juggernaut, they decided to vote strategically, according to Conservative analysts after the election.

There are signs the same could happen again, this time to blunt the rise of the Wildrose. A Leger poll this week showed support softening for the Wildrose and strengthening for the Tories.

I discovered the same in my own unscientific survey of lunch diners at the Commerce Place food court in downtown Edmonton on Wednesday, where voters such as Jordan Hodges were having second thoughts about the Wildrose.

He was all set to send a message to the Conservatives "who have been in power for a long time," but he was turned off by the Wildrose promise for $300 energy dividend cheques.

"I think that really could be better spent on things that have lasting value instead of just giving to people to spend wildly on whatever and fritter away in bits and pieces," said Hodges, while his friend (who didn't want to be named) nodded.

His friend, whom I'll call "Fred," said he normally votes Liberal, but this time he'll hold his nose and vote PC to head off a Wildrose majority.

Edmonton has a record of surprising the politicians and confounding the pundits. In 1986, the New Democrats came from nowhere to win 16 seats and become a strong, vocal opposition.

This election campaign is far from over. Heck, it's only getting started, Thursday night at 6:30.

(The 90-minute leaders' debate is live on Global and CTV as well as CPAC and SUNTV with a radio broadcast on CHED. CBC will play a tape delay after the hockey game.)

Edmonton Journal, Apr 12 2012
Byline: Graham Thomson

With Alberta's economy steaming ahead, industry leaders are welcoming a new federal immigration program designed to ease a shortage of skilled tradespeople.

The federal government announced Tuesday it is creating a separate queue for foreign tradespeople in an effort to combat labour shortages in construction and resource-based industries.

The new stream for tradespeople will place a greater emphasis on their practical training and work experience, rather than formal education.

"In the past it was virtually impossible for skilled tradespeople to get in through our rigid economic programs at the federal level," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a speech at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

"And this meant that the Polish welder . . . American tradespeople couldn't get in through the skilled worker program.

"They didn't have a postsecondary degree."

Foreign workers are assessed against a 100-point grid examining several factors, including proficiency in English or French, education, work experience and whether they have arranged employment.

Proficiency in one of Canada's official languages remains important for skilled workers, said Kenney, but there will be more flexibility for tradespeople.

"You don't need university-level English to weld pipe. You need a workable level of English," he said.

Kenney said he hopes the new program, with a revamped grid for tradespeople, will be in place by the end of 2012.

The minister estimated the program may only see a few thousand applicants at first, but expects that number to increase. "It will probably start as a fairly small stream," Kenney told reporters afterward. "It could grow into the tens of thousands."

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers welcomed the news, saying the industry is expecting to spend $55 billion on capital projects in 2012. "It's going to require a lot of skilled labour to address this growth," spokesman Travis Davies said.

Hiring Canadiantrained workers and increasing mobility between provinces are favoured methods of finding workers, but Davies said those measures alone won't meet the industry's needs.

"We have to look beyond our borders," he said.

Alberta's largest labour organization, however, is concerned the scheme is moving in the wrong direction.

"The real question is whether we should be opening the floodgates to tradespeople from outside the country when we have 1.4 million Canadians looking for work," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. "We're concerned that giving employers quicker access to foreign journeyman is going to remove the incentive for construction employers to take on Canadian apprentices and train the next generation of Canadian tradespeople."

Canada admitted 48,678 people via the skilled worker program in 2010, but the government estimates only about three per cent of them are skilled tradespeople.

Overall, Canada has allowed an average of 254,000 permanent residents into the country per year since 2006.

The announcement Tuesday is the latest in a series of reforms to the immigration system recently unveiled by the federal government.

While the oil and gas sector may be a beneficiary of Tuesday's announcement, it's not the only sector concerned about a labour crunch.

"Labour shortages are the biggest economic drag on Alberta," said Ben Brunnen, chief economist at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

"The challenges our members are having are attracting and maintaining good employees. The demand in Alberta is across the board."

Dawn Farrell, president and CEO of TransAlta, said finding skilled workers is "a greater and greater problem almost every day" for the power company.

While TransAlta struggles to find workers in Alberta, it has plants in the U.S. with high rates of unemployment, said Farrell. "We're working together with the federal government on how to address that," she said.

All of the government's recent reforms are aimed at better matching foreign-trained workers with jobs here and reducing the time it takes to process their applications, said Kenney.

Part of the government's plan is creating a job bank of qualified applicants that prospective employers could use to find workers.

The government also plans to hire an outside company to evaluate the credentials of foreign skilled worker applicants in licensed professions, such as medicine or law.

The idea, Kenney said, is to give would-be newcomers an idea of how their credentials stack up against someone with a similar Canadian education. "We can give those applicants an indication of whether they have a better than even chance of getting their licence in Canada," he said.

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma said the dedicated stream for tradespeople should help address labour shortages.

But Sharma added he's concerned the government is placing too high an emphasis on matching newcomers with specific occupations.

Demand for certain jobs and professions can come and go, Sharma said and added it's also important to focus on an immigrant's work ethic and ability to adapt. "Looking at attributes, rather than a job description, is probably better," he said.

To speed up processing times for skilled worker applications, Kenney said it was necessary for the government to eliminate a huge backlog and close the files of anyone who applied before the end of February 2008.

Opponents have criticized the move, which may affect up to 300,000 people, but Kenney said Canada was losing too many skilled workers who opted to settle elsewhere instead of waiting years to get into Canada.

"The best and brightest were choosing not to come here," he said.

Sharma called the action a "tragedy," saying it unfairly penalized applicants who tried coming to Canada legally instead of jumping the queue with illegitimate refugee claims or by sneaking into Canada.

"It's not their fault (the government) couldn't process. These people put their lives on hold," he said.

Calgary Herald, Wed Apr 11 2012
Byline: Jason Van Rassel

Feds launch new immigration program

CALGARY — Ottawa has announced a new immigration program that it says will make it easier for Canadian business to hire the workers most urgently needed — skilled tradespeople.

The new stream for workers in fields such as construction and manufacturing should be set up later this year, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Tuesday in Calgary, the financial heart of Canada's oil and gas industry and a city all too familiar with skilled labour shortages.

"In Canada we've been welcoming historic high numbers of immigrants, partly to help us fuel our prosperity in the future and fill growing labour shortages," Kenney said at the construction site of The Bow, a 58-storey downtown skyscraper that's close to completion.

"But, to be honest, our immigration programs haven't been effective in addressing a lot of those shortages. Our immigration programs have become rigid and slow and passive."

The labour market in Alberta is already tight, with a bevy of multibillion-dollar oilsands projects on the go. A recent report suggested it's only going to get tighter.

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada has said the oilsands sector may need to double its workforce by 2021 to compensate for both the gap left by retiring baby boomers and fill the needs of new projects.

And that doesn't include the ripple effects of that growth on the wider economy — like the need for new homes and offices to be constructed, or demand for more service industry staffers.

There are some avenues for newcomers to become permanent residents, like the Provincial Nominee Program and the Canadian Experience Class. Kenney said those have been helpful, but insufficient.

"There are still huge gaps. We're talking about tens if not hundreds of thousands of shortages in the skilled trades predicted in the next decade alone."

Skilled tradespeople make up a small percentage of immigrants coming to Canada under the current program, even though the resource and construction sectors are clamouring for welders, pipefitters, electricians and other workers.

Criteria required to enter Canada under the existing program put tradespeople at a disadvantage because the rules are geared toward professionals, said Kenney.

"Let's be honest — we don't need more people coming to Canada with advanced degrees that end up driving taxi cabs and end up working in convenience stores. That's a waste of human capital," he said.

Businesses know better than the government what sorts of skills are needed and should have the flexibility to head hunt workers overseas or even just south of the border where unemployment is high and the skillsets are a good fit for Canada, he added.

"Frankly, we've been selecting a lot of people through our skilled worker program who end up unemployed and underemployed while businesses have skill shortages," Kenney said.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said the new program is an improvement from the tendency to use temporary foreign workers to back-stop labour shortages.

But he said he remains "deeply troubled" that there are some 1.5 million unemployed workers within Canada that could fill the gap if they had the right training.

"There's a gap that needs to be bridged between the demand for workers in areas like the oilsands and the supply of workers in places like Ontario and Quebec," said McGowan.

The changes are part of a broader set of immigration reforms laid out in last month's federal budget.

Halifax Chronicle Herald, Wed Apr 11 2012
Byline: Lauren Krugel (Canadian Press)

CALGARY Ottawa has announced a new immigration program that it says will make it easier for Canadian business to hire the workers most urgently needed — skilled tradespeople.

The new stream for workers in fields such as construction and manufacturing should be set up later this year, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Tuesday in Calgary, the financial heart of Canada's oil and gas industry and a city all too familiar with skilled labour shortages.

"In Canada, we've been welcoming historic high numbers of immigrants, partly to help us fuel our prosperity in the future and fill growing labour shortages," Kenney said.

"But to be honest, our immigration programs haven't been effective in addressing a lot of those shortages. Our immigration programs have become rigid and slow and passive."

The labour market in Alberta is already tight, with a bevy of multibillion-dollar oilsands projects on the go. A recent report suggested it's only going to get tighter.

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada has said the oilsands sector may need to double its workforce by 2021 to compensate for both the gap left by retiring baby boomers and fill the needs of new projects.

And that doesn't include the ripple effects of that growth on the wider economy — like the need for new homes and offices to be constructed, or demand for more service industry staffers.

There are some avenues for newcomers to become permanent residents, such as the Provincial Nominee Program and the Canadian Experience Class. Kenney said those have been helpful, but insufficient.

Skilled tradespeople make up a small percentage of immigrants coming to Canada under the current program, even though the resource and construction sectors are clamouring for welders, pipefitters, electricians and other workers.

Criteria required to enter Canada under the existing program put tradespeople at a disadvantage because the rules are geared toward professionals, said Kenney.

"Let's be honest — we don't need more people coming to Canada with advanced degrees that end up driving taxi cabs and end up working in convenience stores. That's a waste of human capital," he said.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said the new program is an improvement from the tendency to use temporary foreign workers to backstop labour shortages.

But he said he remains "deeply troubled" that there are some 1.5 million unemployed workers within Canada that could fill the gap if they had the right training.

"There's a gap that needs to be bridged between the demand for workers in areas like the oilsands and the supply of workers in places like Ontario and Quebec," said McGowan.

The changes are part of a broader set of immigration reforms laid out in last month's federal budget.

Hamilton Spectator, Wed Apr 11 2012

'Muzzling' accusations fly

The Alberta election turned into a war of ideas Saturday, with accusations of hidden agendas, stifled opinions, retrograde notions and stolen platform planks.

In Calgary, Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford said the Wildrose party wanted to reopen contentious debates on social issues and suggested its candidates were being kept under wraps by the party, a comment that drew a quick rejoinder from Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith.

"I find it hilarious that the PC party, which pioneered muzzling of MLAs, is making accusations against other parties," Smith said in Cardston.

"The only muzzling I'm doing is of my two dogs."

The provincial election has marked the Wildrose party as a rising force, with recent polls showing it solidly in the lead and potentially poised to end the Tories' 41-year reign in power on election day on April 23.

But in recent days, Wildrose has come under fire from its opponents over the issues of "conscience rights" - the ability of civil servants and health professionals to refuse to provide services for moral reasons - and delisting abortion from medicare payments.

Smith has pledged her party won't force women to pay for abortions themselves, a position she has held in the past. However, she left open the possibility that the issue of abortion funding could come forward through a citizeninitiated vote.

Redford questioned why "some pretty basic human rights that were determined in this province about 20 years ago" are being looked at by Wildrose.

"Albertans know what their rights are, and those are rights that have already been determined by courts well before today," said Redford when asked about delisting abortion.

"I find it odd this is becoming part of the conversation. It does trouble me. I don't think it's what Albertans want to be talking about ... some of these issues are settled. The fact that they're percolating bothers me. It bothers me as a woman."

The issue flared up when a letter sent by Wildrose chief administrative officer Jeffrey Trynchy to a Calgary writer this week indicated the party favoured a referendum on delisting abortion. Smith said the statement was incorrect and suggested it was unlikely the issue could even make it through the process to become the subject of a vote.

Redford said she understood that some Wildrose candidates were being muzzled and suggested trust between local candidates and voters would be a key issue in the campaign.

Wildrose Airdrie candidate Rob Anderson said the party's candidates are encouraged to take part in forums and can talk to the media, although they are supposed to check in with the campaign war room before doing interviews.

When asked if any of her candidates with controversial resumes or socially conservative views were being told to keep quiet about those topics, Smith deflected the question.

"One of the things we have come to terms with as a party is that we focus on the things in which we all agree," she said.

"In our party, we have people with a broad range of perspectives, but we don't spend all our time sitting around talking about contentious moral issues. We know Albertans aren't interested in having debates that could stand to rip our province apart. We want to focus on things that will unite us."

Redford announced Saturday morning that a re-elected Progressive Conservative government would introduce a $500 tax credit for children's physical activity at a cost of $36 million and double the current funding for amateur sport from $10 million to $20 million.

"We're investing in the families and the organizations and the staff that are running sports teams and running athletic organizations," she told reporters at the Talisman Centre, with her daughter Sarah, who turned 10 on Saturday, and her husband Glen Jermyn beside her.

But the tax credit matches a promise made by the frontrunning Wildrose, which last week announced its own $500 culture, arts and sports tax credit for children at an estimated cost of $30 million. The party has also pledged a $2,000 children's tax credit at a cost of $130 million.

Liberal Leader Raj Sherman laughingly accused the Tories of more "plagiarism" a day after Redford promised a teachers' tax credit that matched an earlier Liberal promise. The Liberal platform calls for amateur sports funding to rise to $25 million.

Sherman promised Saturday a three-year guarantee against defects in labour and materials, five years on defects in the building envelope and a 10-year warranty against structural defects on new houses and condominiums.

Those guarantees would be among the strongest in Canada, he said.

"Right now, the muffler on your car and your blender has a better warranty than most homes," said Sherman.

Sherman said many homebuilders already do offer warranties on construction.

"There are some, fly-bynighters, who come into the boom and slap up homes really quickly with low quality," he said.

But Redford said the Liberal plan was based on actions already being taken by the PC government. Last month, Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths said legislation on warranties would be presented in the fall sitting of the legislature.

In Edmonton, NDP Leader Brian Mason again accused both the PCs and the Wildrose of having concealed intentions to pursue private health care.

"I don't think we can trust the Progressive Conservatives to protect our public health-care system. They've repeatedly tried to privatize it, they're talking about it behind closed doors, they're doing it again."

"I think their plans and intentions are similar to the Wildrose, however I think that they, from experience, have realized that they don't want to talk about that in the election because it will cost them votes."

Edmonton Journal, Tues Apr 10 2012
Byline: James Wood and Keith Gerein