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Welcome to the New Year, much like the Old Year.

If you want to see what’s ahead in Alberta politics for 2017, just take a look in the rear-view mirror to the big issues of 2016: a lingering economic recession; Jason Kenney’s bid to merge the Progressive Conservative party with the Wildrose; protests against the provincial carbon tax.

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It’s as if the movie Groundhog Day had become Groundhog Year.

And another repeating issue that has already popped up its head in 2017: the Wildrose opposition trying to make up its mind about man-made climate change.

On Monday, after Environment Minister Shannon Phillips held a news conference to promote and defend the government’s new carbon levy, the Wildrose responded with a news conference by MLA Don MacIntyre to attack the tax.

That’s perfectly understandable.

The levy is an easy political target to hit.

Among other things, it’s a tax on heating fuels in the middle of winter in Alberta, a province gripped by an economic downturn.