Long ago I gave up putting any stock in the opinions of Toronto-centric newspapers and how they see things running in Alberta.

It's not up to the government to "diversify the economy", and when I hear that it's a sure fire sign of high school level analysis.  The government reaps benefits as it collects royalties from where the private investment went.. should they have been like Ontario and tried their best to stop all that investment?  No, the job of the government should be to manage public finances in a prudent manner to handle the variability of that income stream.  Why no one at the Globe can make this simple point isn't really surprising.