Abbreviated Stelmach Budget Analysis:

Last week, Lyle Oberg delivered the first budget in Alberta under Ed Stelmach's premiership.

Much like my criticism of Ralph - both during his rabid "cut it all, damn the torpedoes" years and more recent budgets, I find myself asking:

So where's da plan?!?

There's a tacit admission in a $30+ billion dollar spending spree that Ralph spent the last 15 years screwing Albertans over.

"But we have no debt!" F.O.R.K.s (Friends of Ralph Klein) will claim. And they are correct in a very limited way. Instead, we have a debt of infrastructure and services. In his blind rush to pay off Alberta's fiscal debt, Ralph forgot that things like schools and roads need to be repaired from time to time. Now, some are so badly damaged that they must be replaced outright at many times the cost of incremental repairs, and much greater disruption. Calgary is arguably 2 hospitals short of what it needs, especially given the growth we've experienced; and our school systems are starving for cash just to pay decent salaries.

We have a debt people, make no mistake about it. And the people who created it are sitting in the Legislature on the government benches - fat, dumb and happy.