Thomson: Politics by the numbers
In 2012, Alberta government was a very percentile business
According to psychics, clairvoyants, astrologers and other impeccable sources on the Internet, 2012 was supposed to be the year an alien spacecraft would land on Earth, the Holy Grail would be discovered and the world would “fall off its axis a little more.”
And there was that Mayan end-of-the-world stuff.
Nothing that interesting happened, of course. Although I’m not sure what the Earth falling off its axis “a little more” would look like.
In Alberta, 2012 meant another Progressive Conservative majority government, more warnings of volatility in energy prices and continuing protests against oilsand pipelines.
Leaving 2012 is much the same as entering 2012. It was the Year of the Möbius Strip.
Nevertheless, let’s take a peek at the past year not in words but in numbers with our annual Alberta Index (with apologies to the inimitable Harper’s magazine index):
Number of seats added to the Alberta legislature for the 2012 election: 4
Total number of seats now in the legislative assembly: 87
Number of MLAs who are rookies: 38
Number of seats won by Progressive Conservatives in 2012 (compared with 2008): 61 (72) Wildrose Party: 17 (0) Liberals: 5 (9) New Democrats: 4 (2) Percentage of the vote won by the PCs in 2012 (compared with 2008): 44 (53) Wildrose party: 34 (7) Liberals: 9.9 (26) NDP: 9.8 (8.5) Percentage voter turnout in 2012 (compared with 2008): 54 (40) Number of years the Progressive Conservatives have now governed Alberta: 41
Expressed as a percentage of the years since Alberta became a province in 1905: 38
Approximate number of viewers who tuned in to the leaders’ televised debate on April 12: 500,000
According to an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted at the time, the percentage of respondents who thought Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith won the debate vs. percentage for PC Leader Alison Redford: 37 vs. 28
Percentage who thought Redford “looked and sounded most like a premier” compared to Smith: 38 vs. 30
Amount of money spent in the provincial election by the PCs, Wildrose, NDP, Liberals: $ 4.6 million; $ 3 million; $650,000; $150,000
Number of votes won by PCs, Wildrose, NDP, Liberals: 570,000; 440,000; 126,000; 127,000
Amount spent per vote by PCs, Wildrose, NDP, Liberals: $8.20; $7; $5; $1.20
According to recently released figures, total number of Alberta farm workers killed and seriously injured in past 30 years: 355 and 678
Number of provinces that don’t protect paid farm workers under occupational health and safety laws: 1
Percentage odds that province is Alberta: 100
Number of times Premier Alison Redford told the Calgary Herald’s editorial board in 2011 that “we have to have farm workers protected”: 1
Number of laws passed since then to fulfil her promise: 0
Limit on individual contributions to an Alberta political party during an election year: $30,000
Limit on individual contributions to a federal party: $1,200
Total amount of money donated by Oilers owner Daryl Katz, his family and close business associates to the PCs during the election campaign: $300,000
Amount of money Katz would like the province to contribute toward a downtown arena in Edmonton: $ 100 million
Number of investigations into the Katz donations launched by Alberta’s chief electoral officer: 1
Number of years Liberals officials expect their new brand “Liberalberta” will last: 50
Total cost of the Alberta government’s mission to the London Olympics: $518,000
Amount spent on unused hotel rooms: $113,000
Total claimed by former Alberta health official Allaudin Merali for expenses including meals, travel and entertaining from 2005-08: $368,000.
Approximate annual salary for our premier: $200,000
Increase to premier’s salary recommended by an independent review of MLAs’ pay and perks: $155,000
Number of times Redford in a news conference referred to the recommended pay increase by saying, “I could not take that. I would not take that. It is not what Albertans want. I don’t think it’s appropriate”: 1
Length, in kilometres, of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, to Kitimat, B.C.: 1,177
Number of rivers and streams the pipeline will cross: 773
Square kilometres worth of islands environmentalists say Enbridge “photoshopped out” of the proposed tanker route through Douglas Channel: 1,100
Number of conditions British Columbia Premier Christy Clark wants met before approving the pipeline: 5
Number of conditions that demand B.C. receives its “fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits” of the proposed pipeline from Alberta: 1
Percentage chance that Redford will approve a royaltysharing plan with B.C.: 0
Total value of Alberta’s lawsuit against tobacco companies: $10 billion
Number of years ago that Premier Redford divorced lawyer Robert Hawkes, whose law firm she said was the “best choice” to handle the suit: 21
Estimated cost of a provincial inquiry into health-care queue-jumping: $10 million
Number of first-hand examples of queue-jumping offered by former Alberta Health Services CEO Stephen Duckett under oath: 0
Initial estimate of the provincial deficit when budget 201213 was released in February: $886 million Current estimate: $3 billion Value of Alberta’s savings account — the Sustainability Fund — in 2009: $17 billion
Estimated value at the end of 2012-13 fiscal year: $ 3.7 billion
Percentage chance I’m wishing you a Happy New Year: 100