Since being elected last year, the government of Premier Jason Kenney has introduced legislation to undermine the power of labour unions, remove environmental protection on sand-extraction pits, and set up a Crown corporation to attract investment to Alberta. Come to think of it, that was just Tuesday this week.

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…

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.

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.

I have to admit, I’ve always had trouble understanding exactly what it is that Grant Hunter, Alberta’s associate minister of red-tape reduction, actually does. It would seem Hunter himself has the same problem.