If the Alberta and federal governments' mismanagement of oil sands development were not so clear and their defence of their policies not so divisive and intellectually dishonest, one could feel a little more sympathy with their foot-stomping and tears of outrage at Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair's diagnosis Canada suffers from "Dutch Disease."

If recent polling is to be believed, Alberta's ultra-conservative Wildrose Party looks poised to capture an electoral majority in the upcoming provincial election only a few years after its creation. While we could just chalk this up to Alberta's peculiar penchant for right-wing populism within it's unique political culture and shrug our shoulders, we would make a grave mistake if we were to believe that Alberta's choice in the next election only affects Albertans.

In opposition to the Conservatives' transformational C-10 omnibus crime bill, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland are refusing to take on the costs associated with the bill. British Columbia and Manitoba are similarly concerned about the costs of the federal legislation, asking for a full-accounting of the bill's provisions and cost-sharing agreements with the federal government.

I have argued that ideology makes you stupid and if you have power it makes you dangerous. One of the best examples is the idiocy of more and more tax cuts with the supposed goal of making Canadian business internationally "competitive." First, tax rates regularly come about sixth or seventh down the list of factors that actual CEOs look at when deciding whether or not to invest. For large firms, the tax bill often makes up less than two per cent of total costs. Secondly, huge amounts of the revenue raised by taxes actually go to things that actually do make Canadian business internationally competitive: advanced education, efficient infrastructure, abundant energy supply, Medicare (and the healthy workers it maintains), a stable society.

It's not every day an Alberta politician gets to attend a three-hour business dinner with one of the most powerful women in the world.

In such circumstances, of course, even a mere photo opportunity might have been helpful to a beleaguered politician like Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.

It has been axiomatic since the days of Noah that if you want to survive in politics, and the waters are rising anywhere in your jurisdiction, you get your ass to the riverside and start filling sandbags. Politicians who ignore this universal law of politics do so at their own peril.

Of course, it doesn't hurt if you make sure there's a photographer in the vicinity when you wade in to the top of your hip-waders. But the important thing is that you're there, and that you're seen to be there.