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But don’t expect any thought of frugality or a shade of fiscal embarrassment to cross the premier’s noggin during this daily promise to pile on even more debt. Quite the opposite: Rachel Notley’s in her element.

Every day there she is, beaming for the cameras in some fresh locale somewhere in Alberta, promising a new road here, a health clinic there, perhaps a new school to be built, or maybe $25-a-day child care, all atop a billion bucks to stop Calgary flooding again.

No one seems to ask: how do we afford this?

Maybe we’ve lost that ability to be skeptical. And you’ve got to hand it to Notley: she looks re-energized. Promising yet more stuff with oodles of borrowed bucks is like watching Dracula at an all-you-can-drink night at the local blood bank.

OK, don’t worry. The pain the NDP has caused Albertans won’t be so easily washed away, even with promises of billions more spending. They are going to lose. Nevertheless, it’s the premier who has the spring in her step as she opens yet another door and hands out all variety of tasty treats in this political Advent calendar.

It isn’t Jason Kenney’s fault his promises seem lame in comparison. Announcing he’d spend money the province doesn’t have probably comes a bit harder to the UCP leader.

He simply can’t win in this promise-them-two-chickens-in-every-borrowed-pot game, though he’s capable of his own daft stuff. Saying we won’t deal with banks not supporting oilsands financing is a weird one. (Hey, when owing about $65 billion, it isn’t time to start lecturing any potential lender.)