Depending on who you ask, this week’s recovery plan for Alberta’s economy is either a bold and ambitious plan or a hackneyed and desperate gamble. As far as Premier Jason Kenney is concerned, he is investing in infrastructure, introducing “job creation” tax cuts, establishing a new investment agency, and targeting incentives to create jobs. But, to his critics, he’s gambling…

Pop Quiz! What do you call a government that runs up record deficits, intervenes in the marketplace, restricts people’s movements and pays workers to stay home?a. Socialistb. Communistc. New Democraticd. LiberalIn Alberta, the answer is “none of the above.” Or, put another way: United Conservative.

What’s the plural form of referendum? Is it referendums or referenda? It doesn’t really matter. Using either doesn’t change the fact that a referendum is, politically speaking, an optical illusion. It gives the appearance of direct democracy at its purest. After all, everybody gets one vote.

To read the “Fair Deal” panel’s report is to gaze into a crystal ball. This is your future, Alberta. It’s a future where we’ll be picking fights with the federal government, pitting Alberta against Canada, embroiling Albertans in never-ending debates over equalization, launching expensive and meaningless referendums and blaming others for all our problems. Come to think of it, this…

The newly released report from Alberta’s “Fair Deal” panel is not a screed arguing for the province’s secession. But it does sound at times like it was written by a group of grumpy Albertans shaking their fists at the sky.