The One Party State known as Alberta has struck again, and consumed its own opposition. Floor-crossings to the government, the same government that has been in power for four decades, is a long-held tradition in that process, but never before has it been to this extent, in the history of confederation. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith resigned her position and took eight of her MLAs over the floor to join Premier Jim Prentice, and his revitalised Progressive Conservatives. The five remaining Wildrose MLAs will likely remain the official opposition (though there are rumours of another resignation on the way for health reasons), leaving five Liberal and four NDP MLAs to have some semblance of opposition, as shambolic as it is likely to be. Oh, and of those five Liberal MLAs, two of them will soon be jumping ship to run federally. So yeah – opposition? Who needs it? It’s amazing to witness this all-encompasing amorphous political culture in Alberta consume itself and its own best interests, and it’s galling to see Smith justify her decision as essentially declaring victory, that with Prentice in place there is a principled conservative at the helm that she can support, papering over some of the other inherent problems that were in her party, being the split between those who were able to be socially progressive as opposed to the regressive “Lake of Fire” crowd. Jen Gerson writes about Prentice setting himself up to be a generational premier, while Colby Cosh explores what it all means in the broader political culture of the province, and how the threat of falling oil prices may have pushed things forward.

Good reads:

• In his year-ender interview with Peter Mansbridge, Stephen Harper speaks favourably of Alberta’s carbon levy, his RCMP training kicking in on October 22^nd, and the role Canada played in facilitating US talks with Cuba.
• As the backlog at the Social Security Tribunal grows, we find that the government was fully aware that they were signing up for a 15-month training period for adjudicators.
• The Mowat Centre explains the new federal fiscal transfers, and how Ontario continues to be short-changed by them despite increases.
• The Quebec-New Brunswick battle over the Energy East pipeline, with Justin Trudeau at the centre of it, kicked up another notch as the premier of New Brunswick tried to insist that no, Trudeau does support it.
• Paul Wells notes the politics behind the declaration of Pope John Paul II Day.
• We can’t buy ships or fighter jets without long and mangled procurement processes, but buying an additional C-17 Globemaster cargo jet is apparently a breeze.
• Apparently new Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Côté waged a years-long battle with Quebec’s tax department over deductions for work clothes.
• Kady O’Malley recaps the legislative accomplishments of the fall sitting.

Odds and ends:

Nigel Wright has sold his Ottawa condo.

Alheli Picazo writes about the choice American Republicans face about being the party of Cheney or McCain.

The Conservative caucus, led by the Prime Minister, demonstrate their ability to recite scripts – in this case, Twas the Night Before Christmas.