Have things really changed all that much for Alberta since then-energy minister Ron Liepert predicted in early 2012 that the province was on the verge of a “Bitumen Gusher” of unprecedented magnitude?

One just hates to endorse the financial predictions of any Alberta Tory cabinet minister, but it is said here they likely haven’t.

If Mr. Liepert got it basically right in February 2012, understanding that fact helpfully illuminates the re-election strategy of Premier Alison Redford and her Progressive Conservative government for 2016.

What a perfect way to throw a little red meat to your gun-nut money machine!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's so-called Conservatives -- of whom it cannot be said too many times are radicals bent on remaking Canada in the image of the worst aspects of the United States -- managed to hit on a moment of worldwide horror at the slaughter of 20 small children and six grownups in the United States to further weaken our country's gun laws, which are already crumbling thanks to this government's avarice and cynicism, by allowing more chaos to reign at Canadian "gun shows."

The decision was published Wednesday in the Canada Gazette, just five days after the massacre in Connecticut that left decent people everywhere reeling.

Six years after Federal Accountability Act became law, dishonesty, conflicts of interest, excessive secrecy, unlimited donations and patronage all still legal

Another, stronger Accountability Act needed to close 100 remaining loopholes and flaws

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch marked the sixth anniversary of the passage of the federal Conservatives’ so-called “Federal Accountability Act” (FAA), and the recent annual International Anti-Corruption Day, by issuing its Sixth Good Government Report Card on the FAA and the Conservatives’ overall accountability and democratic reform record.

Oh, how very depressing.

Progressive voters outnumbered Conservatives, Big-P Progressive and otherwise, by a largish margin in Calgary Centre -- and split their vote in last night’s by-election so tidily between the Liberals and the Greens, with a smattering to the NDP, that Joan Crockatt, one of the weakest Conservative candidates in a generation, managed a comfortable victory.

Just over a quarter of the eligible electors voted.

So after all the Calgary Centre hype, here in a nutshell is the Harper Conservative election strategy for 2015. It seems to have worked just fine in Calgary last night.

Indeed, if I were a true-blue Tory, I'd be thinking of opening up my wallet right now with a generous donation to the Greens!