Cos and Eleanor Gabriele what you to meet Beth Gignac

Calgary-West Wine and Cheese

Calgary-West Alberta Liberal Association Wine and Cheese

A wine and cheese reception will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Thursday Feb. 21 at the home of Eleanor and Cos Gabriele as an informal event for the upcoming election. Come and meet our dynamic and wonderful candidate and soon to be elected MLA for the riding. Beth Gignac, for those of you that have not met her, is a fantastic speaker with great energy. Donations of any amount to Beth’s campaign will be gratefully accepted.

A contribution of $200, for example, would result in getting $150 back in your taxes.

The address is: 139 Aspen Meadows Place SW.

Please RSVP by email to Eleanor at or Cos at or at http://www.bethgignac.com/.
Beth looks forward to having you attend.

School board, government, minister, private-sector somebody stand up to account

Public Private Partnership (P3), Who’s Accountable

This week’s announcement by Ron Liepart comes with a claim that he cannot be held responsible or accountable for the perceived lack of decisions or progress made on the issue of school shortages in Calgary and the Province of Alberta in the past year. However, he has been the Minister since 2006 and a member of the Legislative Assembly since 2004.

Given the approach of opening new schools where the province mortgages, over 30 years, schools for school boards, current government cannot be held accountable for the decisions they make today. Can school boards really be responsible for these schools? Not them either. So no elected official, school board trustee nor Minister of education or infrastructure is accountable for the decisions they make. This is perfect political cover, not just outsourcing the contract, but the accountability.

So who is accountable? Voters. Calgary-West residents should not be satisfied with paying more and getting less with zero accountability. Remember this at the polls. Ask school board trustees who they would like to be accountable. Ask your MLA who they would like to be accountable.

Building schools under public-private partnerships doesn't give taxpayers the most bang for their buck

Public-private school deals make ‘no economic sense’: study

Calgary-west residents deserve excellent public schools that don’t waste tax-payers money. An economic analysis released by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Wednesday suggests fewer schools will be built financed by the so-called P3 collaboration than if they were constructed as public projects.

“For every two schools that you can build under the P3 model, if you built them all conventionally, you could build three,” said Hugh Mackenzie, an economic consultant who wrote the report titled, “Doing the math: Why P3s for Alberta schools don’t add up.”

Under a P3 deal, the province will contract out the design and construction of 18 schools to be built by 2010. The winning bidder will also have a 25- to 30-year contract for major maintenance and repair, such as replacing boilers and roofs.

School boards will retain ownership of the buildings.

Three companies have made the shortlist to bid on P3 contracts for nine schools in Calgary and another nine in Edmonton.

Using a mortgage analogy, Mackenzie questioned how private companies can build schools cheaper than the government could. “How could it possibly be cheaper for me to pay somebody eight per cent to go and borrow money to buy a house when I can borrow the money myself for six? How could it possibly be cheaper?” he said at a news conference in Calgary.

“The evidence is clear that relying on P3s to finance public infrastructure makes no economic sense.”

Minister dismisses economic study

Ron Liepert, Alberta’s education minister, said he hasn’t read the report and doesn’t plan to because final figures won’t be in until July.

“There are way too many assumptions being made on numbers that frankly, are not proven out yet,” he said.

“Going this model in a large centre like Calgary and Edmonton, we can get schools built more efficiently and we can get them built at less cost.”

But the Opposition Liberals disagree, predicting P3s will end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars in the long run.

“This is political opportunism at its worst,” said Liberal infrastructure critic Harry Chase. “Because the people who sign these deals for P3s won’t be around 30 years from now nor will they be liable.”

Chase claims the province originally planned to build the Calgary Courts Centre, which opened in September 2007, as a public-private partnership, but abandoned that plan when the full costs became clear.

from CBC

Nomination Success

Let’s get ready

What a great meeting! Lots of people showed up at the Strathcona Community Centre to make sure that Calgary-West nominated an excellent candidate. The community centre was full of residents, supporters, and media to listen to Beth Gignac accept her nomination. Beth was available to all in attendance to get their thoughts and concerns for Calgary-West and Alberta. From hockey-moms and dads to university students and seniors Beth let residents know that her campaign would be “all about you”.

The campaign team is already in full swing. Visiting residents, door knocking, obtaining an office, and recording videos for youtube and facebook. Join us in showing your support and touching base with the Beth Gignac.

For more information check out Beth on Facebook and her website. Or if you want to volunteer for the campaign, contact Beth.

AGM and Nomination Meeting

Calgary-West Annual General Meeting and Candidate Nomination

The Calgary-West association will meet hold their AGM and to nominate a candidate for the next election on Jan. 16. All are welcome come and meet your new candidate. For further information or to obtain a membership contact the ALP at or 1-800-661-9201.

Strathcona Park Community Association (Founders Room), 277 Strathcona Drive SW, Calgary 6:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m.
Map

Link to Facebook Event

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