"bad luck"?

"The royalty retreat is now complete", writes Don Braid in the Calgary Herald. Braid adds that "the whole royalty process has proved to be the most ill-timed public policy launch since the National Energy Program" because of "incredible bad luck".

Apparently the Tory govt is a victim of the fortunes of fate. No doubt the same logic will apply to running the province into deficit. Bad luck. Hugo Chavez is said to be having the same problem, with his brilliant policies at risk of being undone by the "bad luck" of declining oil prices!

Does the fact that the Wildrose Alliance opposed the royalty changes from day 1 that were to bring in an extra $1.4 billion a year and the fact the provincial govt has now pledged to REBATE more than $2 billion not raise questions about the Tory govt campaigning on a populist plank against Wildrose and then ending up coming around to adopting Wildrose policies anyway?

Sadly, this is the way public policy generally works. A government is elected on populist, anti-business rhetoric. It is then ultimately forced by the reality of what works and what doesn't to govern otherwise.