Calgary Herald veteran columnist Don Braid has a key graf in the middle of his column today:
[Premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives] were supposed to run on the budget they passed, remember? It was promoted as a model of prudent management, the prelude to results-based budgeting that would calculate the need for every dime the government spends.
Now, that budget is virtually out the window.
The PCs have announced almost $3.75 billion in new spending: $2.4 billion for 50 schools and renovations; about $700 million for 140 family care clinics; and $650 million for post-secondary capital projects.
They’ve also promised tax breaks and other smaller spending measures. The total is getting dangerously close to $4 billion; almost a 10 per cent hike in the budget.
via Braid: Undecided voters’ heads must be spinning from campaign pitches.