Questions and Answers

This is music to my ears.

"Why is the federal Liberal leader giving more ringing endorsements about the importance of the Alberta oilsands than our prime minister from Calgary..." - Ed Stelmach

That said. I'll do my best to answer the question being asked by the Stelmach Conservatives.

Because the federal Conservatives don't actually care about Alberta. For years they've been able to count on 27/28 or 28/28 seats in Alberta. If I were Stephen Harper I wouldn't care either. If I were Stephen Harper I would take those 28 seats to the bank, and spend the rest of my days in Ontario and Quebec - where the voters actually change their minds - talking about those dirty oilsands and making sure those rich Albertans shared their wealth. The Conservatives don't care about Alberta because they don't need to.

The same could probably have been said of the Liberals. The Liberal Party didn't care about Alberta either, because Alberta's 28 seats were guaranteed to go Conservative (ok, with one or two exceptions). But the accepted wisdom in the party has changed, beginning with Gerrard Kennedy's 308 riding strategy and Dean's speech to the 06 convention, the party realizes it cannot be a truly national party without seats in Alberta.

The federal liberal leader gives more ringing endorsements of the Alberta Oilsands than the Prime Minister from Calgary (who, incidentally, claimed that the west was in) because the Prime Minister doesn't have to, and isn't concerned about creating a truly national party.