Haven't they heard? The America that always recovers is not in anymore. Any assumption of a recovery fails to consider the idea that we now have a government run by people who ignore American history and who are hell bent on changing America's future.

Obama has done more than apologize for America's greatness and generosity while abroad. He is wreaking havoc on the economy that paid for that greatness and generosity at home. Don't you remember? He is "the one" we've been waiting for to finally do something right around here.

Thus the conviction that Americans always bounce back and bring their economy with them is not necessarily relevant anymore. The rules for business have changed and continue to do so daily. Incentive has been devastated. The reliable motivations of the past do not matter, because most of those dynamics have been targeted as what is wrong with this country and they are systematically being removed at a stunning pace.

In reaction, Atlas is shrugging. And who can blame him (and her).

We cannot be on the verge of any meaningful recovery because we are in a downward swirl of liberal policy consequences -- and we have a government determined to correct this by getting more and more liberal.

As of July 1, gang members will be hit where it hurts with a new law that removes their illegally armoured vehicles from Alberta roads.

An armoured vehicle is a motor vehicle constructed or adapted to protect its occupants from weapon assault such as gunfire, explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades. After-market modifications generally add significant weight to a vehicle and if the weight is not offset by an enhanced engine, suspension, steering and brakes, the vehicle is unsafe and poses a risk to public safety.…

The amendment to the Vehicle Equipment Regulation under the Traffic Safety Act allows peace officers to require an armoured vehicle to undergo a safety inspection. If the vehicle does not pass the inspection, the vehicle can be removed from the road and the driver(s) can be charged. Charges require a mandatory court appearance and the individual could face a penalty of up to $2,000 and six months in jail.…

Legitimate uses for compliant armoured vehicles such as military, policing, and transportation of valuable goods are not impacted by this legislation.

On the morning of June 15th, at the subcommittee on Private Members' Business, the Liberals, Bloc and NDP revealed that they have a strategy to jointly and secretly kill efforts to repeal the firearms registry. Their strategy is to declare Bill C-391, the PMB that repeals the long-gun registry, non-votable.

The three parties were well aware that all government MPs support this bill, and that enough opposition members do as well, to allow it to pass the House of Commons.

So their solution was to kill the bill, behind closed doors, at an in camera meeting of the subcommittee, making it non-votable.

But, the committee met in open session. The Liberal, Bloc and NDP members did not read the notice of meeting and assumed that the meeting was in camera, and therefore, stated openly that they have no basis, under the Standing Orders, to deem the bill non-votable.

When it was revealed that the vote was taking place publicly, they halted in mid-vote to force the meeting to close its doors to the public.

Their goal? To kill the bill in secret, thereby getting their backbenchers—who have promised to vote against Bill C-391—off the hook.

"It is shameful that the Opposition would attempt such underhanded tactics to circumvent the will of the majority of Members of Parliament," said Scott Reid, MP.

Please Lord, Give us 1 more chance and we promise we won’t vote Stelmach again!

This title is a variant of the famous bumper sticker of the 1980’s that asked for one more boom so we wouldn’t screw it up again. It appears that our Stelmach PC’s have. This time, Albertans do have a choice and that is the Wildrose Alliance!

A have not Province is what Alberta now is. Our Finance Minister has gone cap in hand to the Federal government begging for “$220 million more, sir”.

This is an embarrassment for a Province with the gusher of resource wealth that has been frittered away with wasteful spending on items such as new logos, studies on license plates, and secret MLA pay raises.

If spending had been kept in check at the rate of population growth and inflation the Province would have a multi-billion surplus allowing the Province to capitalize on lower costs at low points in the economic cycle rather than spending the most at high points.

Economic sensitivities for the Province are in the extreme and show the Stelmach PC’s for what they are: kids with a credit card they don’t think they ever have to pay off. Their projected deficit for the current fiscal year left them with a slight operating surplus but a significant deficit when factoring in capital projects such as roads, schools, and hospitals. With the poor economic environment, and factoring in current energy prices of $67/bbl for oil, $3.30/mcf for gas, and a $.91 C$, this works out to a budget deficit of $7.3 billion. Given that the Stelmach PC’s were figuring it would be $4.7 billion, this is cause for concern! With gas inventories expect to reach record levels in November this year, it does not appear that gas prices will come to save the day.

It is also important to note that while oil and gas prices were hitting new highs in 2008, economic growth was falling off sharply in Alberta. Thus, the global economic collapse happened after the decline was well under way and can only be attributed to government policy. This has led to the loss of 51,000 jobs since December in Alberta and the highest level of unemployment in 7 years.

Paul Hinman said, “Today we see the government admitting they bungled their budgeting and are leading us into debt. The former sustainability fund they used to crow about will be burned up in one year. If they keep this up, the Heritage Fund will be gone in the next couple years. This government needs to be sent a message that Albertas don’t want a big spending government!”

The Wildrose Alliance believes Alberta has all the resources to put Albertans to work. It simply is a matter of reinstating the Alberta Advantage of low taxes, stable contracts, innovative thinking and entrepreneurial sprit. On that note, the Wildrose Alliance would support capital cost allowances for the construction of upgraders and refineries, the matching grant to the City of Calgary for the airport tunnel, and the restoration of the former Royalty Framework and Royalty Tax Credit for small producers. These simple measures will get business investing in Alberta and Albertans working good jobs.