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It is telling, perhaps, of the UCP’s confidence in its climate-change strategy that the party held no formal news conference, but instead decided to bury it on two pages of an 111-page platform book released over the weekend.

After years of condemning the NDP’s Climate Leadership Plan and telling Albertans to stay tuned for a better alternative — then delaying until nearly the halfway point in the election campaign — it’s fair to say expectations had started to wane.

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And indeed the policy that was finally released was analogous to an April Fool’s joke.

Believable at first glance, but less impressive when held up to scrutiny.

While the strategy offers a handful of positive steps, the drawbacks are more substantial and serious: fewer emissions reductions, reduced incentives for innovation, bigger rewards to the least efficient operators, and excessive faith in dodgy technology.

Not to mention giving the rest of Canada and the world reason to question whether Alberta is treating the climate crisis with the seriousness it deserves.