Alberta's Pols Try To Change the Rules Mid-Game

Tales of politicians making the dumb decision to raise taxes are legion, but typically the motivation for the decision is to balance a budget with large forecasted deficits generated by profligate government spending. The resistance to reigning in wasteful, unncessary, or unconstitutional spending, while regretable, is at least understandable. It is always harder to undo something that has been done than to not do something that has yet to be done. In Alberta however, an unlikely place to boot, politicians are parading the single most detestable motivation for raising taxes - jealousy. The oil sector in Alberta is booming, driving unemployment down to the stunningly low level of 3.6%, but the government there feels that it is not sufficiently in on the party. They don't think their grab is big enough. There is no talk about closing a budget gap; there are no urgent priorities the government is trying to fund. They just aren't getting their due and proper. There is a word for this - extortion.