Environics released a new poll yesterday, similar to their numbers from October:

PC – 34% (nc)
WRA – 30% (+2%)
ALP – 23% (+3%)
NDP – 10% (+1%)
Green – 2% (-6%)

So no real changes – my suspicion is the now-deregistered Greens were prompted as an option on the October survey but weren’t in this one.

This is, of course, less cataclysmic for the PCs than the Angus Reid poll from December that had the Wildrosers up by 14 points. When deciding which numbers to go by, a good rule of thumb is to go with what feels right, and these new numbers do feel right. Danielle Smith is in the game, but to form government she’s going to have to do more than smile and say “aww shucks” when someone asks her about climate change and what services she’d cut.

And what does a competitive political landscape mean? Well, it means we’ll see a lot more moves like yesterday’s decision to slash royalty rates. One week, Stelmach and Ted Morton are lecturing Albertans about getting a runaway deficit under control. The next, they’re giving away 800 million dollars in annual revenue.

Sure, they’ll say it’s all about jobs and economic growth. But the reality is, political donations have been flowing straight from the oil patch to the Wildrosers over the past year. The next election will be a bloody one, and Stelmach needs to get the PC war chest filled – this was the easiest way to do just that.