The Cormac MacSweeney Blog - 660News Calgary

Today I got to sit down with members of the R.C.M.P.

Before you ask I can’t really talk about specifics because it’s “top secret.” Okay that’s not true, I just like the sound of it. I still shouldn’t talk about specifics because it was a private meeting between the top brass in Alberta and members of the Calgary media.

Don’t worry, it’s not like the principal calling in a student who has misbehaved, it was under good terms.

Without getting into detail I can let you know that it was a friendly meeting to try and work out any communication issues between the media and police. We sat around a big table and just talked about what we would like and how we can all work together to get you the information as quickly and accurately as possible.

At first I just wanted to go because there would be free food. In the end I was very pleased with the meeting because there was this openness between both sides to compromise and work for the greater good. Now this may sound like there were problems in the past, but there really weren’t. It was a simple check up time. They wanted to know what we thought of their communications system and we wanted to know more about it to better serve our needs…that is getting the information as fast as possible.

These sorts of meetings are not just with the R.C.M.P., but have also happened with Calgary Police. I always feel happy when we get a chance to talk to organizations that really take our input seriously to better not only their organization but also the way you get your information.

I left feeling good about the meeting and was all smiles because I got free food and a free pen; a reporter can always use a free pen.

I must apologize for the lack of blogging over the last week or so. I have been on vacation and have been quite busy with vacationy stuff (I know “vacationy” is not a word but this is blogging and English teachers need not criticize).

My time was completely tied up from watching movies, lazing on the couch, and having an occasional beer or two…or three. It’s funny that whenever you get vacation time you think of so many things to do but generally get none of it done.

I was considering taking a trip to the Mountains, or visiting Heritage Park, or even heading downtown and wandering around to different shops. Of course none of this got done. Instead, the most exciting thing I did on my vacation was meet a friend at a bar on 17th, have lunch, and go back to his place to play Guitar Hero for hours. I promise I will invite you next time.

Now that everything is back to normal I hope all of you are getting as pumped up for the election as I am. Okay maybe you’re not and maybe I’m just a loser and a political junkie. While I had time off I took the chance to sit down with three of the six candidates that are running in my riding of Calgary Lougheed.

I got to meet and have coffee with Dave Rodney with the PC’s, Lori Czerwinski with the Liberals, and Derrick Jacobson of the Wildrose Alliance. Every single one of them surprised me by being intelligent, wonderful people who would make excellent MLA’s. Don’t take that the wrong way, it’s not like I expected them to be dumb and boring people who would suck in the legislature. I was just happy to know that no matter who is elected this time around, I have someone competent on my side.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to meet the candidates for the Greens, the NDP, and the one Independent. I plan on meeting them soon…and BEFORE the election on March 3rd. I urge all of you to follow my lead and get to know your candidates. You may change your mind, finding a person you think will best serve you in Edmonton in a party you never thought you’d vote for. But sometimes the best person for the job is the one you’ve always had. My point is, you won’t know until you check them all out.

I went from vacation to election…it seems everything I talk about ends up in politics.

It was just one of those morning where you are doomed to be in the South.

On two separate occasions thousands of people were without power for at least an hour. What can we blame it on? The weather of course. About 75-thousand Enmax customers lost their juice all thanks to some ice fog that led to separate and unrelated equipment failures at two south Calgary substations.

Of course the newsroom is absolutely flooded with calls right after the lights went out. I was just arriving back to the station when I got a call from my editor who wanted me to head down to the South. Fortunately for me (because I probably would have had to work overtime) I was already back and Glory Przekop simply jumped in the cruiser and took off.

Normally when you do stories you don’t always think of the obvious and then the obvious smacks you right in the face. While I was at the station Kevin Usselman and I were fielding the many calls into the station and helping the mid-day crew get all the info to pass on to you the listener. Then I get a call from my girlfriend. It’s like all of a sudden I forgot about the fact that I live in the south and that my girlfriend is working a late shift today and was home.

We chatted for a total of 30 seconds before I convinced her to tell me about the outage and how her day is being effected. Of course she couldn’t cook her food without an appliance, she had to light candles to see in some of the rooms in our house, she had to use her cell phone to call because our phones are cordless, and she couldn’t even listen to the radio to find out about the black out.

It’s amazing how useless we become when the power goes out. I guess the point of this entry is to simply say I love it when I get to chat with my girlfriend at work and not get in trouble for making personal calls.

It seems no major political leader in this election can catch a break. The Tory’s Ed Stelmach, Liberal leader Kevin Taft and the NDP’s main man Brian Mason, all faced some issues on the campaign trail. Stelmach has been getting the short end of the stick lately, facing a lot of criticism from regular citizens at recent announcements.

The most recent embarrassment for Eddy came in Red Deer when a group of moms grilled him over the childcare plan he was there to announce. In this mornings Herald one mother is quoted as saying “you can decrease my taxes, but if my daycare costs go up another $100, you’ve still done nothing for parents.” It’s a harsh criticism that probably stings a bit.

He probably thought getting out of Red Deer would help, but the battle of criticism raged on when he arrived in Drayton Valley. Stelly was visited by a group of oil and gas workers who weren’t too happy with him. He was blasted for his new royalty plan, some calling it “the final nail in the coffin” or saying, “it’s going to have a terrible rippling effect.” Once again thank you to the Herald for the quotes.

On the other side of the spectrum Liberal leader Kevin Taft made a goof while tripping over his own policy. Taft announced that the Liberals would indefinitely halt school closures in the province…the problem is, that’s not what the Liberal policy book says. It promises a three-year moratorium on the closures. Instead of actually closing schools the Liberals want to keep some classrooms open for the children who do go to certain schools, even if there are only 90 kids attending, and then rent out the extra school space for other public services.

This isn’t going over well with the Calgary Board of Education or the Alberta School Boards Association who say they want the authority to close schools they need to close rather than be forced to keep them open and stretch their resources thin.

Finally we go to Brian Mason. The NDP stance on royalties is not exactly the most popular in our province. Out of all parties they want the biggest chunk out of royalty revenues, which hasn’t received the greatest buzz out of the oil and gas sector. Then yesterday Mason kicked off his Calgary campaign by unveiling his pharmacare plan that would cap the monthly drug costs for seniors at $25. I think that’s all I need to say.

Needless to say in the last couple of days the leaders have had a bit of a rough ride. It will be interesting to see how they fair from here on out. It could mean many votes, and it could mean some changes for Calgary and Alberta.

It’s probably the worst kept secret in Alberta politics but we now know that we will be heading to the polls on March 3rd.

Directly after the throne speech, Premier Ed Stelmach walked into the office of Lt.-Gov. Norman Kwong and asked for the legislature to be dissolved for an election. Am I surprised? Not at all. For months there has been speculation that the Premier, who hasn’t faced the voting public yet, would take the plunge and drop the writ.

The Premier used the throne speech as a well-publicised way of shining light on the PC platform. It’s not a new move but a good strategic one to try and let everyone know what the conservatives stand for. The throne speech always gets a tonne of media coverage, so it makes sense to use that to promote the PC values. But the herald is reporting that Stelmach has been under fire for this strategy. Wildrose Alliance leader Paul Hinman was not happy that Stelmach would use the throne speech as a campaign commercial. The quote in the Herald reads like this: “The Lieutenant-Governor’s throne speech is an expression of a vision of Alberta’s future; it should not be dragged into the campaign arena”.

While most of the initiatives in the speech had already been announced, there was that golden nugget Stelmach was saving for the election. It was announced that the PC’s would like to eliminate health care premiums, which would save individuals about 500 bucks a year and families just over a thousand. Before we praise the Tories for making the move let’s look at both sides of the story.

This will likely be one of those promises that creates buzz amongst voters. But the funny thing is, the Tories want you to believe this is their strategy, yet by taking this step it only confirms that basically no matter who you vote for…the premiums will be scrapped. Opposition parties, like the Liberals and NDP, have been calling for the elimination of premiums for years along with organizations like the Canadian Taxpayers Association. So you can vote Red or neon Orange and still eliminate the health care premiums. At least now the holdout Tories have set the plan in stone, which is obviously good news for us.

Now that the election has been called, the battle begins. I predict that this could get nasty. I don’t mean really nasty, like people swearing or name calling, but more like passionate debates and some heavy campaigning to bash the “other guys” political stance.

Of course Calgary will be the battleground of this election. Slowly but surely we have seen poll after poll showing support for Stelmach’s PC’s dropping and the undecided voters grow massively. With the Liberals not really moving in their position of popularity, those undecideds obviously came from the Tory side of Alberta politics. This shows that the official opposition (the Liberals) has so far failed to convince voters that they will govern better than the Tories, meanwhile those voters are losing confidence in the PC party.

This election will be the “undecided election”. That is the Cormac Mac Sweeney unofficial title for the 2008 campaign. All parties will be scrambling for your vote since you don’t know who you want as a representative in the legislature. The Tories will be desperately trying to keep their former supporters on their side and the Liberals will be desperately trying to convince you they can do a better job over the next 4-5 years than Stelmach and his buddies. Meanwhile on both sides of the political spectrum, the two major parties have to try and steal or retain votes from the other Alberta parties. The NDP on the far left and the newly formed/merged Wildrose Alliance on the far right.

Those two parties are trying their darndest to establish themselves as a serious threat on a provincial level, but have failed to gain widespread support in recent years. None the less, they will most likely be thorns in the sides of both the Liberals and Tories. The Wildrose Alliance will steal right wing votes from the PC’s and the Liberals could lose valuable left wing support to the New Democrats.

This whole equation should result in a fiery and passionate campaign where the only rule should be “no holds barred”. All candidates will put on their charm to sweet talk you or become aggressive while attacking their opponents. Just like school children they will do everything in their power to get your vote and win a seat in Edmonton.

For the PC’s this is a critical campaign to re-establish themselves as the governing party of Alberta…a tradition that has lasted more than 3 decades. For the Liberals it is their chance to take advantage of the Tories, who are showing a rare weakness in the history of the party, to prove to Albertans they have the nuts and bolts to keep this province prosperous and powerful. The Liberals have the most to gain and the PC’s have the most to lose, meanwhile there are two other parties just trying to break through.

No matter how this ends someone is bound to fail, making the taste of victory that much better for the winners. Stelmach does not want to face a minority government or a significant loss of seats (it could cost him his job), and with the slight momentum the Liberals have picked up leading into this election they can’t afford to lose seats and take a big step back in progress. In other words, this battle we call an election should be good.

The Super Bowl is this Sunday and it’s time to eat nachos, chilli, and other foods that will fatten us up. Oh and we can’t forget to drink copious amounts of beer…but that should be a given. This is the time of year to indulge around a TV and watch the brutal spectacle of action and sport we call football.

But some would like this tradition to take a different route. Today I spoke with a nutritionist who is advising people to make some healthier choices. Jane Rose says we can easily pig out on veggie platters, cheese trays, fruit trays and humus and pita bread, and not put on all those calories.

Calories are those things you’re told not to have too many of but are in large amounts in many of your favourite foods. I don’t plan on changing my Super Diet for Super Bowl Sunday, but maybe some of you will after hearing how many calories you ingest.

Rose says in an average meal on Super Bowl Sunday, you will probably take in 1600 calories, which is approximately your daily max for calories. So in one meal you’re basically maxing yourself out. Not only that, but you can add about 600 more calories by drinking 4 beers throughout the evening…which I’m sure many men will.

Does this scare you? It probably should but if you’re like me you probably don’t care and just want to live a little on the one day a year you can watch football, Ryan Seacrest, commercials you actually want to see, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers…all in one sitting.

So my advice to all of you is drink, eat and be merry because you only live once.