John Clark
14815 - 123 Ave
Edmonton, ABT5L 2Y7
cyberclark@shaw.ca
February 11, 2005

Honorable Ralph Klein,
Room 307 Legislative Building,Edmonton, AB T4K 2C6
premier@gov.ab.ca

Dear Premier:

Further to your first centennial TV dog and pony show. Having time to dwell on some of your hair brained proposals I offer up the following in hope your government can catch a little direction that is sadly absent in this, our 100th year!

In response to reducing the entrance mark to be accepted for university. What would you hope to achieve by this? With an 80% acceptance mark the U of A is has one of the lowest graduating scores in the nation if not the continent. For every 100 kids that enrolled at 80% entrance marks half didn’t make it past the first year!

This is not because of their academic standing but more because of the Universities very real need to make money because of short funding and their use of the bell curve to achieve that end!. Could these kids who were forced out have made good engineers, lawyers or other professional group? The answer is yes if they were scored on their own achievement rather than the bell curve.

Your proposal to drop the entrance mark to University will result in larger starting classes and still fewer graduations with the marked difference of more money being pulled out of the population for the sole purpose of financing secondary education institutions; having nothing at all to do with individuals chances for a future.

Your myopic view of making the corporation rich, trickle down, is failing at every level! I have a letter from the Minister of Finance, Ralph Goodale who tells me Alberta is in debt to the Canada Pension Fund to the extent of 3.5 billions of dollars being bonds. Alberta has the option of paying off this debt or, rolling it over for one additional 20-year term at the same rate of interest they should pay on their other market borrowings.

Then, I have a letter from Pat Nelson saying Alberta has no intentions on taking over the Canada Pension plan and use it to finance power lines and infrastructure. A second letter from the Government of Canada speculates Alberta could not get such a royal deal as they have with the Canada Pension Plan, should Alberta try to go it alone.

Getting a good deal has never been a big priority with you. Your focus is on following a simplistic privatize everything program regardless of the cost and hurt to the population.

Do you have designs on the CPP? Is that why you don't pay it off? Most projects as we have determined are taken on with little or no firm plans or budgets in place. A disgrace!

Finally your wonderful “Water for Life” program. I agree it is good as far as you have taken it. After seeing the wholesale down hole pumping of water in northern Alberta I have to think it serves a dual purpose of being a front for a much darker agenda!

I still have received no answer regarding the sale of water rights on the East Slope of the Rockies being handled by Cardinal in a secret – not public- process.

You steadfastly refuse to change the royalty programs in this province guarding the corporate bottom line. In this case, allowing them to produce the highest profits in history while Alberta’s resources are sold off while recovering only pennies of what should belong to Albertans.

To hold an additional 15% for Albertan’s would still leave obscene profits for the oil companies. Absolute disgrace!

I think, like Kadafi of Libya you will have to hire people to celebrate with you.

John Clark