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alberta bizarro world continued…

More weirdness coming out of Alberta’s right-wing columnists… first Lorne Gunter… this time, Tom Olsen from the Calgary Herald isn’t slamming the provincial Liberals… weird…

“Liberal scattergun takes shots at premier wannabes
The Calgary Herald
Wed 16 Nov 2005
By: Tom Olsen

Kevin Taft chose the scattergun approach, standing up in the legislature and letting loose with a spray of figurative bullets.

Five Tory ministers were the targets within Taft’s first five questions, starting with the three cabinet ministers who want to be king — Lyle Oberg, Dave Hancock and Ed Stelmach.

This opening day of the fall session wasn’t about health care at all. Instead, the official Opposition Liberals trained their guns on the Tories’ budgeting process — which, truth be told, doesn’t exist in any real sense.

The government spends billions of dollars. By happy circumstance, it has billions extra. So it spends billions more.

Taft went straight to Oberg, probably the first time the infrastructure minister has fielded the first question on the first day of a session.

“Can this minister tell us how far over budget his department is so far this year?” said Taft.

Oberg was nonchalant, first assuring the legislature his department was right on target, then acknowledging an extra $400 million in spending. Not sure how the two square.

Next up was Hancock, with a question Taft prefaced with “fiscal hawks turning into fiscal turkeys.”

The advanced education minister, freshly coiffed and trimmed down as befits a premierial wannabe, used a lot of words to run down all the things the province has done in education lately.

Then it was on to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stelmach, a guy who seems to be about everybody’s second choice for next Tory leader.

Asked Taft: “Can this minister tell the assembly if his department is on target to finish the year on budget?”

Eddie ran through some stuff his department is doing, but no one really cares. It’s not like he’s building universities or hospitals. …”

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