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Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

That was back in June of 2015 when Premier Rachel Notley and Wildrose leader Brian Jean were on a postelection high, having both defeated the Progressive Conservatives.

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The two of them jointly called for the creation of a special all-party legislative committee to review, among other things, political contributions and elections spending.

Thus was born the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee.

A total of 17 members were appointed: eight from the NDP government and eight from the opposition (four Wildrose, two PCs, one Liberal and one Alberta Party representative). And one chairperson: also from the NDP.

This was refreshingly unusual. Normally, all-party committees are stacked with government members but here we had a 50-50 split with a chair who would only cast a vote in the event of a tie.

It was something of an experiment. The NDP and Wildrose wanted to show Albertans they could work together when need be, especially on a topic they both held dear: overhauling election finance laws that for years benefitted the PCs.