Looks like the honeymoon isn’t over just yet.

So say some poll numbers.

Then again, for a honeymoon to end you have to really mess things up and a recent taking of the political temperature finds Premier Notley’s numbers are not going cold after all the early moves made by her government.

And, on Wednesday, the Notley NDP government rolls out another feel-good story.

This time they give the thumbs-up to a cancer centre on the Foothills Medical Centre site in Calgary with exact location, date when it will be finished and detailed budget math to follow in the fall.

A full-service cancer centre at the Foothills is what former premier Redford promised. Then it was kiboshed by the Prentice PCs.

Now with the NDP it’s a go.

Meanwhile, as we said, more polling surfaces.

It came out of the field about a week ago, the end of June to be exact.

It’s from the well-regarded ThinkHQ Public Affairs.

The counting was done about the same time as a recent nosecount from another polling firm.

In this ThinkHQ testing of the wind, 59% provincially still approve of the premier’s performance.

In Calgary it’s 56% and in Edmonton it’s a whopping 74%.

In Alberta as a whole, 26% disapprove of Notley’s performance.

In Calgary it’s 29% disapproval and in Edmonton just 14% disapprove.

Provincially, 15% don’t know or aren’t saying what they think of how Notley is doing.

Wildrose leader Brian Jean gets an overall Alberta thumbs-up of 46% with 32% disapproval.

The PC’s Ric McIver is for now the standard bearer of a disgraced brand. Overall in the province he’s at 24% approval and 46% disapproval.

In Calgary he’s at 32% approval and in Edmonton McIver is at 15%.

Yikes. 15%. There are junkyard dogs with a higher approval rating.

Then there’s the question of whether Notley’s NDP are on the right track or the wrong track.

Plenty of folks remain firmly planted — on the sidelines.

In Alberta, a little more than one in four don’t know or aren’t saying where they stand when it comes to the NDP’s direction.

Almost half — 47% — say the provincial government is doing the right things while 26% figure they’re going in the wrong direction.

In Calgary those saying the NDP are flying right is 44% and in Edmonton 63%.

And so it goes. It’s a poll, take it or leave it.

Here’s the part we have to include.

The total number interviewed was a representative sample of 1,442 Albertans.

A probability sample of 1,442 would yield a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6%, 19 times out of 20.

You probably noticed there is no question on who people would vote for in an election.

That’s because there’s no horse race until spring 2019.

Back at the Foothills, we’re still talking about a pricetag around $1.3 billion and an opening by 2020.

‘Taxpayers and citizens told us very clearly they don’t think it’s right for health and education to suffer,” says Sarah Hoffman, the new health minister who doesn’t mince her words.

Hoffman gets a question about the current economy in Alberta.

She doesn’t take long to answer.

“Of course, the financial situation is a reality but ensuring we have the right care in the right place by the right professionals is also a reality.”

Some sorts still fear a delay. That’s what happens when promises are made and then broken.

“All of those times the project was delayed there were other people running the government,” says Hoffman.

Ouch.

Yes, the fight for the new cancer centre is the kind of struggle you don’t hear about often in these parts.

But people fought. They believed the former PC government was doing wrong by not following through on the cancer centre at the Foothills.

They asked for an audience with the authorities and got nowhere.

They protested in the cold of a January day.

“I felt we had no choice but to engage them in the streets and make them understand cancer is a big deal,” says John Osler, who was a leader of the charge.

The PCs lost. The NDP won.

Osler, a big-time corporate lawyer, says the NDP government listened and Hoffman, the health minister, is “a breath of fresh air.”

‘This is a very different government,” says Osler.

“This is a very different feel.”

Sure sounds like a honeymoon.

rick.bell@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: @SUNRickBell