[Dion]

What was the breathless fuss about? Redford wanted to point out that Lyle Oberg (a former Tory Health minister and now a Wildrose adviser) was involved with a private hospital that might be built in B.C.

Was she merely seeking to inform reporters of an intriguing coincidence? Of course not. Redford was hoping to raise public fears about Wildrose’s commitment to public health care.

It was “hidden agenda” stuff worthy of federal Liberal attacks on Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives in the 2004 and 2006 national elections.

Remember the Liberals’ ominous 2006 drumbeat ads in which they charged that if the Harper Conservatives were elected there would be “Soldiers with guns. In our cities. In Canada." Expect similar baseless threats from the Tories against Wildrose in the coming week.

There will be allegations galore that if Wildrose is elected your community will not get the school it needs or the hospital it requires. Seniors will not get the aid they deserve and public services will suffer.

Nowhere will there be any recognition that Alberta already spends the most per capita of any government in the country on health, education and other public services or that the province pays the highest public-sector wages.

Those who love big government are never satisfied no matter how many tax dollars are spent.

The Tories might even try putting the fear in voters of cuts to rival those under Ralph Klein in 1993. Never mind that those cuts were made by their party. The Tories, of course, are “not your father’s PC Party” any longer.

The Tories will do everything they can to pull together those who, like themselves, benefit from big government and ever-expanding budgets.

It wouldn’t be pretty, but with any luck it will all be over in a week.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/04/1...-without-fight