Civilization as we know it in Alberta has ended.

Ken Kowalski, 66, is stepping down. The Speaker of the Alberta Legislature and its longest-serving MLA -- "the dean of the Legislature," in Press Gallery-speak -- made the announcement yesterday morning in a news release that looked as if he'd typed it up himself late at night on his home computer.

Now that Alison Redford has been safely sworn in as Alberta's first woman premier, the fun can really begin.

The gloves can come off -- if they were ever on -- and the Wildrose Party can plumb the depths of neo-Con/neo-Lib attack advertising.

The rest of us will get to see if Premier Redford can sustain the toughness and focus, not to mention hang onto the good luck, that marked her leadership campaign.

Gary Mar's official announcement yesterday afternoon in Edmonton that he's a candidate for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party drew enough heavyweight Tory beef on the hoof, some of it cabinet grade, to make it pretty easy to draw the conclusion he's the choice of the natural governing party's establishment.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of the Raj Sherman saga, which surely lurched to a merciful end yesterday, is that it will tend to discredit anyone who comes forward with a legitimate criticism about the parlous state of Alberta's health care system.

Needless to say, it will suit some people in the system very nicely if this sad affair turns out to have a half-life longer than a Plutonium isotope.

It would be fair to say that Raj Sherman needs to back up his startling allegations of serious wrongdoing at the Capital Health Region very quickly if he wishes to retain any credibility.

The Independent MLA for Edmonton-Meadowlark, once the only physician in the now-doctorless Alberta Conservative caucus, told the Legislature Monday that 250 Albertans have died while awaiting lung surgery and that the province paid "millions" to silence doctors who complained about it.

Sherwood Park is the Charlie Brown of Alberta communities.

Sherwood Park is a hamlet with a population of more than 60,000 on Edmonton's eastern border. (Really! We’re not making this up!)

It’s a "hamlet" -- legally speaking -- because it's part of Strathcona County. People out there like it that way because its weird legal status keeps residential taxes low.