First you blow a hole through the official opposition.

Then you float the sales tax trial balloon.

My, my, my. Lookee here.

Right here in the document cooked up a month ago between the Prentice Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose turncoats.

A commitment to not implementing a sales tax.

Now on Tuesday there’s talk of a sales tax. Suckers.

And where are the turncoats? Listen for it .... shhh ... the sound of silence.

They’re stuck somewhere in the bowels of Toryland firmly duct taping their own mouths and hoping they can ride in on Prentice’s coattails in the upcoming ballot battle without any of the locals recalling their recent deceit.

Now the premier says he doesn’t think most Albertans want a sales tax and he does not embrace the idea.

But he does not pop the provincial sales tax trial balloon as he’s done every single time before anyone asked of the possibility of a PST, the up-to-now Political Suicide Tax.

In fact, Prentice says he is now “prepared to be educated” about a sales tax.

He wants a discussion about the sales tax and other measures since oil prices have tanked and the provincial treasury will be short many billions starting this coming financial year.

He even says former budget boss Ted Morton’s scribblings in support of a sales tax are “worth a read.”

“Everything, everything, is on the table,” says the premier.

“It has to be because we need to be frank and honest with Albertans and we need to get to the bottom of how we approach this.”

Ah, the days where the politicians in power said the province didn’t have a revenue problem but had a spending problem seem confined to the books of fast fading history.

Deep thinkers in the Prentice PC tent are no doubt banking on the province’s politics having changed in the past generation, many more newcomers arriving here who might not share the trademark made-in-Alberta distaste for higher taxes and more taxes.

You can hear their voices. Taxes aren’t as high here as in our

beloved Toronto.

Go ahead, Jim.

Here’s my wallet.

And if it’s not a sales tax an income tax hike is also up for a most serious look-see.

Prentice does say Tuesday “we have an Alberta Advantage on every single element of public taxation, the lowest taxes in the country, in some cases by a vast, vast margin.”

Read between those lines. Taxes are low in Alberta and therefore ...

You fill in the blanks.

Prentice says he only has three ways to find dough and taxes is one of them.

Yes, oil prices go up and oil prices go down and in 44 years Toryland hasn’t figured out how to handle the roller coaster from drunken sailor spending to horrible hangovers.

Prentice does serve up some red meat with talk of the need for “belt tightening” and “fiscal discipline.”

He admits the provincial government has “not done a good job with our public finances” and was “living beyond its means.”

That’s the Progressive Conservative provincial government.

Health care spending grows far, far faster than the population and Prentice says it couldn’t go on like that at $100 oil and surely can’t go on like that now.

Then there’s public sector workers paid vastly more than the rest of the country. So says the premier.

He pledges to ratchet costs down.

We shall see if that pair of big scissors ever comes out of the drawer.

Across the way, the remaining Wildrose opposition stands up against a sales tax or tax hikes.

They still talk about the province needing to tackle spending in a big way.

They say the sales tax musing isn’t coming from severely normal Albertans.

It comes from “elitists” and “ivory tower individuals.”

Highly paid ones at that.

They say they’d be happy to go to the polls against Prentice on a sales tax.

That fight could come sooner rather than later and many PC types believe they will win in a walk.

“It’s time for people to speak up,” says the premier, of all this budget yakking getting grimmer by the week.

Well, didn’t you hear the man?

Go for it. Speak up.