We`ve been extremely busy over the past few days, and our support has been overwhelming, but I`ve been negligent in keeping up the blog. That said, we have not been negligent at keeping up our message to Calgarians that they should expect more from their civic politicians.

Case in point: Dave Bronconnier`s continued irrational support for Enmax Energy Corporation.

As you can read in Sandy`s press release today, Dave Bronconnier, who was first elected in 2001 by vowing that the city will retain ownership of Enmax, has been squandering millions of taxpayers dollars in order to prove some sort of viability of Enmax`s electricity trading arm.

First off, let us be clear on what Enmax is.

In 1998, the City of Calgary Calgary Electric System was incorporated as Enmax and separated from City Hall, though the latter still retains rights to approve capital expenditures of over $30 million. Therefore, city aldermen, all of whom have virtually no experience in the electricity trading industry, are the de facto directors of the board of Enmax.

Enmax Power is the distribution utility of the city of Calgary. It owns the wires, it supports the infrastructure, and ensures power gets to your home. It is a regulated utility and rightly has a mandate with the city.

Enmax Energy Corporation (EEC), on the other hand, is simply one of many players in the electrical commodity trading game. It buys electricity in Alberta through what is known as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and sells it through contracts to consumers. It is (supposedly) a for-profit player in a highly-volatile market and has no mandate whatsoever to serve the city.

In 2001, Premier Ralph Klein deregulated the electric market in Alberta and divested power generators by offering a one-time auction for PPAs to interested buyers. The interest was underwhelming, to say the least, and Enmax was able to successfully bid on two PPAs - Wabamun PPA for 3 years, and Keephills PPA for 20 years.

These were wise investments. In particular, the $241 million purchase price of Keephills PPA was a steal for Enmax, so much so that the company would have been able to make this cost back within two years had it not sold power at below-market prices.

That`s right. A public, for-profit utility chose to squander its new-found fortune by playing the risky game of undercutting its competitors in order to increase market share.

To see how much money was lost, one must first look at the amount of money which could have been made had Keephills power been sold at market prices. Between 2001 and 2005, Enmax could have made a profit of $215 million, $64million, $166 million, $125 million, and $208 million, respectively. In case you don`t have a calculator, this is a total of $778 million for six years, or nearly $130 million a year. (See this report by Aidan Hollis of the University of Calgary for a detailed analysis.)

This is in stark contrast to the profits which have been reported. Dave Bronconnier has noted that Enmax has paid dividends of approximately $50 million a year in that time, a figure which includes $30 million a year made through Enmax Power, the distribution system. Therefore, Calgary has made a profit of merely $20 million a year between 2001 and 2005. Therefore, the taxpayers of Calgary have made $110 million less than what they could have had power been sold at market value.

Let me repeat this: $110 million a year has disappeared.

Much of this money has gone into excessive advertising by Enmax. Anyone who has been to a Calgary Flames game can see this for themselves.

However, most of these lost millions is due to the practice of selling power far below market prices.

For example, Enmax customers in Edmonton pay 8 cents a kw hour while market prices now are set at 10 cents a kw hour. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of capitalism can tell you that this is not the way to operate a business.

Undervalued pricing also occurs with sales to industry and even to the federal government.

Therefore, through Enmax, the city of Calgary is subsidizing the federal government. Nice.

Dave Bronconnier must answer why he believes subsidizing Enmax customers in Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge is in the interest of Calgary taxpayers. This is especially relevant when one considers Bronco`s temper tantrum against the infrastructure funding offer made by the Stelmach government earlier this spring.

Those millions of dollars could have been invested in roads, transit or rec centres, yet we in Calgary get butkis.

As mayor, Sandy Jenkins will review the costly and risky pricing scheme of Enmax, and he will also call for an investigation on whether or not the city of Calgary should be involved in such a risky venture to begin with.

For now, Mayor Bronconnier must explain his actions to the citizens on Calgary, or else face the consequences during the municipal election on October 15th.

You've got to be kidding me:

Alnoor Kassam, if elected mayor, promises an accountability bylaw to ensure the "highest ethical standards" from civic politicians.

Yet, he freely admits he bribed elected officials in his native Kenya, ensuring the continued success of his bank. He was also accused of stealing $23 million from that country as his Trade Bank collapsed, taking with it the savings of thousands of Kenyans.

Affordable housing is in crisis in Calgary, and Kassam says the pressing issue requires leadership from civic politicians.

Yet, the local landlord hiked the rent in one of his Calgary apartment buildings by nearly 300 per cent earlier this year, trying to force tenants out so he could renovate -- and rent his suites out at a higher price.

Kassam calls for transparency and campaign finance rules, including donation caps.

Yet, he won't disclose before the election the amount he has spent or who has donated to his estimated $1-million campaign.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: The political theatre is no place to make amends for past misdeeds. Character is not something which can be purchased, nor is it something which can be developed over a 4-week election campaign. It takes years of honest living and thorough personal examination to acquire character, and only someone who has integrity could possibly know this.

This election is about credibility. The credible candidate is one who has not only hired slick handlers to say the right things, give the right message; the credible candidate has earned his or her credibility by developing trust and competence with the people who elects him or her.

And anyone who uses an election campaign as his own weird act of contrition has neither character nor credibility.

At the CJSW forum this past Tuesday, the moderator asked the candidates present-- JJ Sundstrum, David Bertram, Alnoor Kassam and yours truly -- for new policy ideas. Alnoor said he favoured campaign finance reform.

When the forum ended, I asked him what his plan on campaign finance reform was. He said that it should be $1 per voter. Knowing that this would be roughly $600,000 for a city the size of Calgary, JJ asked, "Are you spending more than that on this campaign?"

Alnoor looked at his Blackberry and said, "I gotta go."

It's all about credibility, people.

Danielle Smith has an excellent article in today's Herald about lax municipal campaign finance rules which deserves some attention:

There is nothing stopping a candidate from receiving tens of thousands of dollars from corporations, even though council members are called upon to make important decisions regarding land use, zoning and development.

A candidate can also receive tens of thousands of dollars from unions, such as the firefighter and police unions, even though council members also have to make important decisions involving remuneration, benefits and pensions for these employees.

There is nothing forcing a candidate to disclose his real estate holdings, even though he is making decisions about where major transit and road projects are going to be built and so could potentially be in a conflict of interest.

If an alderman or mayor doesn't spend all the money he raises during the course of an election campaign, he can hold onto it personally and invest it as he wishes. It doesn't have to be held in trust for future re-election purposes.

If a candidate chooses not to run for re-election, he can walk away with the surplus money left over from the prior election, plus all the money he's raised in between, as a tax-free personal gift to do with as he pleases.

The money shot is here:

The business community finds it galling that city politicians routinely pass regulations and rules that create paperwork headaches for small business with large penalties for non-compliance, yet these same elected officials are strangely reluctant to pass regulations governing themselves.

Indeed.

Sandy Jenkins will fight to implement campaign finance rules which are stringent, fair and pragmatic. No longer will a candidate require a million dollars to run for mayor, and no longer will aldermen be able to walk away with campaign surplus dollars to do with what they will.

Calgarians should expect more from their civic officials. They can expect more with Sandy Jenkins.

About a week-and-a-half ago I called a friend about a fundraising party he wanted to host for me. He told me he had received a call from Dave, a friend of a friend who was supporting Alnoor. Dave wanted me to meet with Alnoor and "join his team".

Anyway, on Friday Dave called me and left a message. Then Dave showed up at the party and tells me I should meet Alnoor because he is a great guy and he has a lot of money. It seems weird to me but maybe I can learn something about Alnoor’s polling so I say OK. Dave phones me Saturday morning and the man himself phones me 5 minutes later. I bike down to Mercado on 4th St SW.

He starts off by telling me last summer he went on a retreat in Merritt, BC, for 2 weeks where he meditated for 12 hours a day. He thought a lot about the concept of being a monk and an entrepreneur. In his words, a “monktrepreneur”.

And what would a monktrepreneur do? Well, run for mayor of course. He had made lots of money buying the Hawthorne Suites (5th Ave and 5th St. SW) off of Nelson Skalbania (the first guy to sell Gretzky) and then selling it for a lot more.

Alnoor said he could just give some money to a hospital or something, but by becoming mayor of Calgary he could touch the lives of a million people. His $1 million campaign fund and his 6 years of service as mayor will be his gift to the people of Calgary. Then he is planning to go places like Harvard giving speeches for $200,000 each in which he will inform people how to run cities like corporations.

Wow.

He told me after his retreat he had immersed himself in politics, read all the books, and gone to the Alberta PC leadership convention. After correctly predicting that Jim Dinning would not win, he knew he was ready. Inexplicably, he then tried to hire Dinning’s campaign manager, but had to end up asking several other people before Stephen Carter said yes. His rent scandal was difficult but Carter helped him through it.

And then there was, in his words, “that Kenyan shit”.

Indeed.

He told me of his numerous business successes here there and everywhere, as well as the subsequent big losses along the way.

Alnoor says I am third in his polls. He wonders if I will keep campaigning until the end? I said I would and that was the end of our meeting.

I am left with two questions: Will Calgarians vote for someone who did not live here during the last municipal election 3 years ago? And if he wins, how long before he polishes up a few rough edges here and flips Calgary to Dubai?

Maybe that last one was a bit harsh. But the first question is still valid.

Got up early and went to the Hillhurst Sunnyside Flea Market. I wanted to get a table to meet people. I wanted a sign, so I printed the biggest font I could find on my 1994 HP inkjet. That thing works amazingly well. The tables cost $22.00 but Bonnie said I could have it for free because I was not selling anything.

Took the kids to Nellie's for Breakfast. Nice to see a decent quote in the Sun. Went with the kids to the Downtown Dogs soccer tournament on 8th Ave. Rob came down to discuss some changes to our info.  Talked to a few camera people. Walked home.

Dropped of the kids and Rob and I went to OJ’s for a beer. Puzzling over the question how do we drive the agenda ...

Rob and I are scrambling to put out a press release on the underground LRT.

Met with Campaign Team at lunch. We mostly talked about signs and Tickets for Change brochure (soon to be released)

Went for a beer at Ceili`s with Herm Spike and Roland after work to talk about a scholarship in our friend Farm's name at U of Manitoba

Shaw TV wants me to do an interview at 11:15. They emailed the questions so I took a stab at writing the answers. I think it went well, the people up there are very nice.

After the Shaw interview, they said it went well but I bet they say that to all the guys.

I had lunch with Jim who was in town from Perth, Australia. He says `put the biggest sign you want` at his place in town. ` I don`t think he knows what he`s committing to.

Both the Herald and CBC called looking for comment on LRT

Voice mails Gordon Sick from U of C; He clarified the `counter flow` comment I read in his excellent letter to the editor.

Very cold walking the kids to school this AM. Quotes In the paper looked okay, hockey at lunch and then met with Rob. Lots of candidate surveys to do. I went to the Homeless Forum after dinner. I think I was the only politician who did not get up to the mic. Met U of C`s Mikes Selnes and MRC`s Naheed Nenshi after. Interested to hear his ideas about campaign finance reform.

Herald and Sun and Metro phoned me for a quote on an Ispos Reid  Poll that Bronco did. I was second but a long way off. High number of undecided plus it was a small poll. Had a call from Barry Eldridge also mentioned in the poll as running for mayor, but he is actually really running for ward and alderman. He thought it was hilarious.

Mayor Bronconnier has paid the ultimate compliment to Sandy Jenkins -- by usurping a great campaign idea.

It's too bad that the mayor took a good idea and just ruined it when he tried to make it his own.

Bronconnier announced yesterday to give $25,000 of your tax dollars to those who currently operate illegal secondary suites in order to upgrade them to code. That's right. If you fail to meet the standards set by the city, you will get rewarded for it.

It gets worse. Considering that there are, by some estimates, 50,000 suites currently operating outside the code, the costs could run in the billions of dollars, but I'll let you do the math.

Keep in mind, this doesn't even take into account the predictable widespread abuse of the program by unscrupulous sorts.

Sandy Jenkins, as he has done throughout this campaign, has taken the pragmatic approach. As he has indicated publicly for several weeks now, he will offer amnesty to those operating secondary suites to encourage them to get up to code, and then he will simplify the code to make it easier for them and others who are thinking about doing the same.

Sandy Jenkins will not attempt to buy the votes of Calgarians during this election, and this includes especially buying votes of homeowners who not complied to the codes set by the city. Personally, I'm appalled that an incumbent with an enormous campaign fund has to resort to these tactics in order to win votes.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Sandy Jenkins has had more than enough compliments paid by the mayor. That sort of flattery is getting expensive.

As written in today's Calgary Sun:

RE: Mayor Dave Bronconnier's statement he wants "200,000 new riders" on the LRT system, maybe the first thing they should do is expand capacity of platforms downtown, then increase the trains to every five minutes during rush hour. Each day it's a struggle to just get on the platform after work, then wait while three southbound trains come and go, then when the northbound train comes to pick the rest of us up it's a sardine can! The only time train service is at its peak is during Stampede, but I guess they're trying to please visitors going to the grounds. Hopefully the mayor realizes visitors aren't the ones paying taxes and his salary, and I hope people remember this when they go to the polls to vote Oct 15.

Diane Galley

Couldn't put it better myself.

'200,000 new riders'? Where will the city put them?

The first thing Calgary has to do is remove the bottleneck out of the downtown core with an underground LRT. Place the tracks beneath the surface and suddenly you have room for 5 car C-Trains which do not have to wait for traffic lights during peak hours.

What a concept! So original! So revolutionary! It's a wonder that no city has ever thought of this before!

All sarcasm aside, if Calgary does wish to aspire to be a world-class city, a downtown subway is merely the first step along the way.

Way to go, Diane Galley!

Calgary has made the grade  yet again. Unfortunately, the grade given is a Big D, according to a report released by the Appleton Charitable Foundation.

The report ranks Calgary 16th out of 27th Canadian cities with respect to urban transportation practices.

It was revealed that Calgary has high carbon dioxide emissions per capita and the highest level of vehicle ownership in Canada.

The report cites the 2006 Calgary Climate Change Action Plan Target 50 which, among other things, identifies action areas in need of improvement, including encouraging the use of transit ridership in the downtown core  and stopping downtown road and parking expansions.

What has the mayor's office done since then? Far from decreasing parking, the mayor has recently increased parking spaces on the streets with the new meter system.

The mayor has increased road congestion by shutting down 6th Avenue for an entire year (at least).

Most notably, the mayor has not made any attempt to mitigate the low-density developments which put a strain on the entire city infrastructure.

And now the mayor expects you to believe that by simply extending the LRT lines to a system already running at capacity, he will be in sync with the Target 50 goals.

Leading with passion and purpose indeed.

The only way we are going to get more people on the trains is by making them run at a higher capacity and with faster scheduling. The best - and only -  solution to this is to construct a LRT subway line beneath 8th Avenue downtown. The 5-car C-Trains will be able to carry far more passengers than the antiquated 3-car trains of today. The trains will not be slowed by traffic lights, jay walkers or automobiles, and will be able to slip in and slip out, no matter what time of day.

Sandy Jenkins is the only candidate who has a vision past the next election cycle. He believes that any expansion of the LRT system will be ultimately limited by the bottleneck in the downtown core.

Expect more than glorified streetcars posing as 'rapid transit.' Elect Sandy Jenkins.

Also my wife's first day at work since July.  She left at 7 am so I got the kids up and fed them breakfast.  It was raining so we took umbrellas on our walk to school.  I was hoping to ride my bike to City Hall but I took the train instead.  Everything was in order, the scrum went well.

At lunch I was back at the #264 Legion and gave a short speech to the retired Oilmen who meet there once a month.  I gave out lots of cards, got some good luck style comments.  I met Steve at the Unicorn for a beer at 4:30 and saw myself on the early news.  I probably would have had more air time if one of the incumbent aldermen had not screwed up the signature forms.  I took the #1 bus home.

At 10:30, I took the kids to Riley Park for the Homeless Awareness week picnic.  There were some inflatable play structures (aka jumpy castles) set up so they were all over that.  Calgary Varsity MLA Harry Chase untangled the strings on my daughter's Chinese dragon puppet.  We rushed over to the Y for my son's indoor soccer game, and I went swimming with my daughter.

Dropped in on Huck at Fionn's for a quick  chat.  Then it was back in the bike trailer to the playground at Prince's Island, followed by another trip to Riley Park for more jumping.  At 4:30 I hopped on my bike, rode to the Bay, bought a new shirt and tie and was back by 5 pm, much to my wife's amazement.

My sister is passing through town after spending 6 months in Asia.  We had breakfast at Nellie's, after which she gave some marionette-style puppets to the kids she bought in Shanghai.  She gave me a fob to attach to my cell phone, for luck.  Soon after the Herald phoned me for a quote, so I guess it worked.  She went to Riley Park with the kids while Me and Huck went to the Tailgate party before the Rider – Stamps game.  The Sun's Pablo Fernandez phoned for a quote which also went well.

I had a late lunch at Master's and got some very nice people to sign my nomination papers.  I went canvassing in my neighbourhood Friday night.  There are 2 houses in my block where not one person has lived in Calgary more than 6 months.  I spend too long at the houses but it is fun when you are making a connection with people.  It seems a shame to move on.  It gets dark very early all of a sudden.

I went to CBC at 8 am to get interviewed by Jim Brown on the Calgary Eyeopener.  He is a real professional,  I felt like Blair Macdonald playing with Gretzky.  I was nervous for the first 2 questions but I was fine after that.  I received some nice compliments on the interview.  I went to McNally Robinson to drop off some copies of my book “Yellow Sunday” and had a nice chat with the woman doing loom work near the front door.

Check my Media page for a link to the interview.

Windy day today. I went to Browarny Photographics Ltd to get my picture taken for this web site.  It was nice to hear Walter Browarny had photographed successful mayoral candidates in the past. Got out of there just in time to play hockey at lunch, which is always fun as long as you don't get stitches.  I did an interview with Metro, which can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm going to do my best to keep you up-to-date on all my happenings, so you're welcome to stop by as much as you like, and I encourage you send me messages to sandy@electsandyjenkins.com.

My campaign kick-off was held at the #264 Legion on  Kensington Road NW.  We were in the Royal Kensington room which is a fantastic venue, a far cry from La Caille on the Bow, but equally as comfortable.  Approximately 75 people were in attendance.  It was a very supportive crowd except for the Alnoor spy.  It was great to see the media show up as well. I gave a short speech in which I paid tribute to my Dad's service in World War II, and I launched a view items from my platform. It was a great time.

Big day today. Sandy walked into Calgary city hall at 9:20 am this morning, and by 10:00, he was the first major candidate to have submitted his nominations papers, complete with ample signatures and enough money to get his name on the ballot. We had to get him through the media scrum without messing his clothes up too much, and we even had a chance to chat with a few candidates who were running for alderman.

He couldn't linger as we had high-tailed it over to the 264 Legion on Kensington -- the same Legion where we launched our campaign less than a week earlier -- so that we could say a few words to a group of retired oil men having their monthly luncheon. We met some interesting folk, swapped a few stories and had more than a few laughs. The guys treated us really right. True gentlemen, to say the least.

Many of these older fellows seemed to take to Sandy's pledge to cap the Market Value Assessment for long-term home owners, and I'm guessing that this is a start of things to come.

And why wouldn't they? Placing a time limit on how long a homeowner should continue to be under pressure from the MVA is exactly how the city of Calgary ought to reward those who have given to the city more than they have taken. It's really the least we could do.

Sandy will be out and about the city more and more over the next few days and weeks. We'll do our best to let you know where he's going to be. Alternately, if you would like Sandy to come visit your club, association, or what have you, simply give me a call and I'll set it up: 803-2595.

While the incumbent mayor basks in his `victory` in gaining money from the provincial government -- wherein he scored infrastructure money with no ties to include affordable housing -- some city hall watchers prove to be more observant than others:

"In every practical way, council has fumbled the ball on the homelessness issue," said Naheed Nenshi of the Better Calgary Campaign, which advocates for improved municipal government. "This city is completely different than it was three years ago.

"They waited until the situation was untenable."`

Affordable housing also emerged as a key issue as the cost to buy a home went through the roof, though city hall watchers said council has also failed to address low-cost housing.

"We've seen a little bit of housing," said Nenshi, noting council is still turning in circles over a change that would immediately ease the situation: legalizing secondary suites.

Absolutely. One of the main pillars of the Sandy Jenkins campaign is to provide amnesty for those operating secondary suites outside the present code, in addition to simplifying the codes which will allow for the development of even more housing options for students and young people.

"For this term -- I'm a teacher, so I can grade them -- I give them a solid D," said Nenshi. "They get a B for effort, but a D for execution."

That`s awfully generous of you, Mr Nenshi.

The web site is finally up and running and we're getting out platform finalized, so it's fine time to start blogging.

This site was designed by Brad Peterson and the miracle workers over at Core Creative. Many thanks for their efforts; we couldn't be happier with their ideas on the layout and functions. There is still work to do here, so if there are any problems you see, you're more than welcome to email me at huck@electsandyjenkins.com for ideas or issues you've run across. But I think we got over the major hurdles, so you ought to find useful stuff here.

Sandy's been out and about trying to drum up support from all over the city. Yesterday, for example, we ventured over to the big tailgate party at McMahon before the Stamps/Riders tilt. We met quite a few interesting people and Sandy had some nice chats with those enjoying the festivities. I don't think we got around to nearly enough people because Sandy loves to engage in long discussions with everyone and anyone. Still, it is nice to know that there is a political candidate running in this election who is willing to engage in dialogue instead of relying on spending money on cheap gimmicks. It was good to see.

Among other ventures into the community, Sandy held his campaign launch last Thursday at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 264 on Kensington Road. More than 80 people were in attendance to hear Sandy's message on a variety of issues and to support his campaign. We had a lot of fun chatting and met some really great people. I think we're going to have a great time doing more of these things as he campaign goes on.