[oilyfan]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...board/follows/

Alison Redford rubbed people the wrong way. She alienated the voting public, her grassroots support base and even her own party. She was called remote, uncommunicative, even bullying. She played fast and loose with travel expenses.

But the exiting Alberta premier’s successor, whomever that turns out to be, can be thankful that Ms. Redford’s premature political demise hasn’t featured an economic shambles to go with the political one. Whatever missteps led to the premier’s resignation less than two years after she was elected, messing up the economy wasn’t among them.

Still, even though it’s an accounting smoke-and-mirrors act that represents a step backward in transparent government financial reporting, it doesn’t change the broader narrative – that Alberta has essentially wiped out its deficit under Ms. Redford’s watch. Royal Bank of Canada senior economist Robert Hogue calculated that if you reverted the province’s latest numbers to its old budget presentation, it would have posted a tiny $335-million deficit for fiscal 2014, and would be headed for a surplus of $1.1-billion in fiscal 2015 – a swift turnaround from fiscal 2013’s $2.8-billion deficit.