I give Prentice a C+ for that.
The Good - He did a good job of setting up the problem at the start and preparing the viewers for difficult near term decisions that I assumed he would announce next. He also hit the mark with his staged proposal to eventually direct 50% of resource revenues to the Heritage Trust Fund.
The Bad - He completely fell flat on specific actionable near-term proposals. It was mostly political-speak statements like "contribute directly to health care", "hold the line on expenses, and "every Albertan will be contributing". I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt when he said he didn't want to preempt the budget, but it just gave the whole thing the feel of exactly what the Wild Rose is accusing him of...a government sponsored campaign speech on TV.
Swann gets a D. Not because I disagree with his ideas (I do), but because it just sounded like pipe dream left wing ideals (e.g. "eliminate child poverty") with zero recognition of the current economic environment and nearly zero on how he'd actually balance that kind of budget ("raise corporate taxes"). It was so empty and I can't see how it could get anyone on board with that plan. You want my attention, then give me a plan with what you want to do, how you're going to do it, how you're going to fund it, and what the economic ramafications of it are. I'll probably disagree with it due to my political leanings, but at least you'll have my attention and I'll take you seriously as an alternative.
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