[chemgear]

The NDP government is flailing now, beset by the quadruple woes of low oil, huge spending promises, crippling inexperience, and the exhaustion that can overwhelm a new regime trying to do too much at the wrong time.

http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/col...-crisis-mounts

In the past week we’ve twice seen the kind of muddle and confusion that destroys confidence (such as it is) in a government. Premier Rachel Notley suggested to the Herald that if economic conditions warrant, she might reconsider her vow to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018. After that was reported, the premier’s office spent the better part of a day trying to convince other media she didn’t say or imply that.

We can only assume that interest groups got to Notley, just as they used to get to the Progressive Conservatives — although not at all the same groups, mind you.

Ceci almost floored me, to be honest, when he said in an interview on Monday that the loss of Alberta’s Triple A credit rating wouldn’t cost the province more, because lenders have already been factoring in the state of the economy, and charging more.

But how is this a good thing? Why should we be soothed by paying more even before the province is demoted?

Pity isn’t in order, though. That’s reserved for the thousands without jobs. The NDP needs a prod in the general direction of the real world.