They just might have a little difficulty governing...

Couldn't help but notice the following passage in the Globe story about two Alberta PCs who defected to the Wildrose Alliance:

Ms. Forsyth and Mr. Anderson rhymed off a long list of reasons for crossing the floor to sit with Wildrose MLA Paul Hinman, who won a surprising by-election in Calgary last fall.

They pointed to the government's unpopular revamp of the royalty regime, making it unfavourable to oil and gas companies. They also cited deficit spending and cuts to health and social programs....

Um, the revamp to royalties is a tax hike. Health and social programs are, by my count, 44.1% of all Alberta spending this fiscal year, so one might say that with their apparent inability to grasp basic arithmetic, it is not clear how well this party might do in government.

The reality is that Alberta is running out of low cost conventional oil, has a very low tax structure, and absolutely no recognition that it might be facing some future difficulties.  Sure, very high oil prices will keep then out of trouble for awhile but such prices will also spur a search for alternatives.  There has always been a certain cluelessness in the Albertan outlook (with some exceptions) and Wildrose is keeping it alive.