"Limits to growth on horizon," proclaimed the main headline on yesterday's print edition of the Edmonton Journal. "Greater role for regional government seen as city runs out of room to develop in 35 years," added a deck head.

But the real story starts down in Paragraph 3 of the article: "An industry group warns that a strong regional government needs to be considered to balance interests when Edmonton runs out of land."

Word that Gary Mar is about to be sent into a comfortable voluntary exile in Asia by Premier Alison Redford prompted an instant and harsh reaction among many members of the Alberta public.

"It's just a jump to the left….

"…And then a step to the right!"

We're in a time warp, people! And Ron Liepert, Tory Riff-Raff personified, is back, bigger and uglier than ever!

Progressively minded Albertans of the naïve sort who, full of hope, bought Progressive Conservative Party memberships so they could vote for the most liberally minded candidate were wailing and gnashing their teeth yesterday. A few of them may even have been, as they say in the media, choking back tears.

Back during the PC leadership race, these nice folks pinned their hopes on candidate Alison Redford, a one-term MLA and former human rights lawyer and who served as Justice Minister in departed premier Ed Stelmach's cabinet.

Now that the Alberta Progressive Conservatives have chosen a new leader, and that new leader's been sworn in as premier -- Alison Redford, for those of you who've slept through the past few days -- an important file from the days of the party's leadership contest remains open and needs to signed off before we all scurry away to cover cabinet shuffles, the creation of massive human services ministries and the like.

To wit: Who took the party's membership list and gave it to the Calgary Herald? This question is one of those not-so-ancient mysteries that deserve to be solved, in the name of openness, transparency, the right to privacy and the other core values we all agree on here in our Albertan democracy.