EDMONTON
- Veteran Edmonton journalist and former magazine publisher Link
Byfield announced today he will be running in the race for Alberta
"senator-elect" in the next provincial election, expected
in late November.
"Alberta
is heading into another decade of crisis like the 1970s," said
Byfield. "Resource revenues are high, and Albertans need a
strong, clear voice defending their constitutional rights."
Byfield, 52,
published the widely read newsmagazine Alberta Report for 18 years.
He is now chairman of the Citizens Centre, a nonpartisan group
promoting responsible government. His father Ted Byfield was a
pioneer of the Triple E Senate reform movement in the 1980s.
Byfield is
running as an independent candidate. His campaign chairman is the
Hon. Grant Hill, a member of the Privy Council who was elected
federally three times for Macleod.
"As
senator-elect I will press for two things," said Byfield,
"provincial rights and a new federal vision. If we Albertans
don't respect our own rights, neither will Ottawa. And if we don't
point out to the whole country that Ottawa's huge fiscal transfers
are ruining the regions they're supposed to help, no one will."
Byfield noted
that in the past four decades, federal intrusions have almost
obliterated the original constitutional understanding that Ottawa
would deal with issues of sovereignty while provinces look after
their own economic and social development.
The Alberta
government announced the Senate election only two weeks ago, leaving
scant time for candidates to organize. Byfield said his campaign will
be based on town hall meetings around the province. These will be
co-hosted by the Citizens Centre and the Alberta Residents League. He
urged people willing to help set them up to call the Citizens Centre
office in Edmonton, 1-866-666-6768.