Alberta Government posts $8 and a half billion dollar surplus, claim poverty ahead of public service contract negotiations

And so, the long tradition of Alberta's Conservative government low-balling revenues by billions of dollars a year continues. The stale tactic of claiming poverty to try to keep from having to share the wealth continues.

We have the spectacle of the government underfunding the school boards - they still haven't gotten back the inflationary cut in funding from the last budget - and refusing to get involved in the inevitable clashes between school boards and teachers. Criminal irresponsibility as official government policy.

We have starved municipalities forced to play hardball with bus drivers and paramedics - in a job market where employee retention is purely dependent on employee satisfaction.

We have a government that fetishized paying off the debt, the debt the same governing Progressive Conservative Party created in the first place, and smugly touting the shell game where they simply exchanged a fiscal debt for an infrastructure debt. An infrastructure debt that will end up being much more expensive now that costs for fixing it are sky-high.

And we have the same clueless government confused and concerned as to why the same old standard malign neglect is getting them so much flack lately - but not enough to change their ways of course.

Finally we have an Alberta public that may or may not be finally ready to give this democracy thing every other province is talking about a try.