Premier's Pointless TV Address

Not that the amount would do much for Alberta's enormous deficit, but it's pretty clear that the Redford government wasted $55.000 Thursday night.
That was the price tag for buying the airtime on CTV to air the Premier's eight-minute address to Albertans. But the speech contained really nothing Albertans didn't already know, and offered no real solution for fixing the financial mess the government now has on its hands.
Redford confirmed that the province is facing a $6-billion shortfall in revenue this year, and that will mean some "very difficult choices". But the Premier and other ministers have been talking for weeks about "tough choices", but so far - and that includes the Premier's TV address - there have been no specifics.
Rather than chart out a strategy for dealing with the situation, Redford instead offered spin, excuses, and vague assurances.
She ruled out across the board spending cuts and ruled out taxes increases, for now. She claimed the government would still deliver on Albertans priorities, but didn't specify what those were on how the govenment would pay for them. She talked about the importance of being able to transport bitumen to new markets, but there's not much the government can do about that in the short term.
There was nothing in this speech that Redford couldn't have said in a news conference or in the Legislature. Unfortunately there wasn't much in this speech worth saying in any venue.
Albertans are just as in the dark after this speech as they were before it. The only difference is that we're out $55,000.
Watch the speech for yourself:

If you'd rather not watch the 8-minute video, you can read the transcript here. Here's the reaction from the Wildrose Party, the Liberal Party, and the NDP.