Hey, Alberta, quit stealing our thunder. sa国际传媒 is supposed to have a monopoly on crazy politics, but our neighbours over the Rockies are carrying on as if they just dipped into the medical marijuana.
Not too long ago, they kicked out their premier, Alison Redford, for carrying on like one of the Bourbons and replaced her with a former federal Conservative cabinet minister.
Now their Official Opposition, the Wildrose Party, has exploded spectacularly. On Wednesday, Wildrose leader Danielle Smith and eight colleagues jumped ship to the governing Conservatives, possibly the first time in Canadian history that an opposition party has done that.
British Columbians might recall that Smith was one of those politicians who were touted by pollsters as a sure bet to unseat the governing party in recent elections. Like our own Adrian Dix, she proved the pundits wrong and went down to unexpected defeat.
However, there is more than one way to get into government. Smith and her colleagues, including former CHEK TV personality Bruce McAllister, took the second route: Betray your own party and cross the floor.
What government could pass up the chance to gut the Opposition in one stroke? But Albertans who voted for the Wildrose must be feeling as if they got slapped in the face with a large, wet fish.
Smith will likely get a cabinet post as a reward for her treachery, but she might find her new seatmates less than welcoming.
It鈥檚 all so uncharacteristically exciting for a province that changes governments once every couple of generations.
Albertans should go back to being boring and leave the crazy stuff to us professionals.
