Does anybody remember the brouhaha in 2009 that was semi-officially designated The Trouble in Strathmore?

The trouble actually started a year earlier, in February 2008, when then premier Ed Stelmach and his Progressive Conservatives were running for election. The premier got up on his hind legs at a campaign meeting in the town half an hour east of Calgary and promised residents the government of Alberta would build 600 long-term care beds, 100 of them right there in Strathmore. There were 23 long-term care beds in the town at the time.

"We don't need any more meetings," Stelmach vowed. "It is a go."

If Stelmach had kept that election promise, he might still be premier today.

Those who attended last night's Wildrose Alliance fundraiser in Edmonton got to hear Leader Danielle Smith passionately dismiss "'sinister-sounding' and 'meaningless' warnings that her party is full of right-wing extremists masquerading as moderates."

The near-universal dissemination yesterday of a harshly critical, typo-filled and weirdly emotional email from Dr. Raj Sherman, Alberta's Parliamentary Assistant for health and the only physician in the Conservative caucus, is another sign of how deeply troubled the moribund party has become under Premier Ed Stelmach's leadership.

Alberta's governing Conservatives may be going nowhere, but the right-wing Wildrose Alliance seems to be heading to the same place.

Throughout the summer doldrums, as the Conservatives under Premier Ed Stelmach have muddled along, Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith has been preaching to her far-right choir.

As a result, neither of the two parties most likely to form the next government of Alberta seems poised to make a breakthrough with voters.

That means the Wildrose Alliance desperately needs more defections from the ranks of Stelmach's caucus if it is going to hold onto its credibility as a serious challenger and maintain its momentum. And it needs them soon.

Heeeee's baaaaaack! Guy Boutilier is in the news again. This does not bode particularly well for Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.