There has been a lot of attention lately on public opinion polls surrounding the royalty hike issue and the popularity of the various political parties in Alberta.

A recent Leger Marketing poll for CanWest newspapers asked Albertans if they thought the royalty changes would "have a positive effect on me or my family through improved government spending on programs." A mere 37 per cent agreed it would.

The Alberta government is claiming they will get an additional $1.4-billion in royalty revenues (whether it will actually materialize is a whole different debate), yet barely over a third of Albertans feel this will benefit them. At first blush, this is a puzzling result, especially considering the results of a Leger Marketing poll from a month earlier indicating 88 per cent of Albertans believe they are not getting their "fair share" from oil and gas royalties. 88 per cent felt royalties need to be hiked, yet only 37 per cent feel the result of hiking royalties will be positive for them or their family. How can this be the case

Perhaps this is an indication the rest (63 per cent) of Albertans realize just how shoddy a record the Alberta government has when it comes to putting your tax dollars to use.

The Alberta government will spend $9,526 per Albertan this year, the highest amount in Canada. In fact, it's 14 per cent higher than BC, 26 per cent higher than Manitoba and 37 per cent higher than Quebec. Perhaps the Stelmach government should poll Albertans as to whether they think their top-dollar spending gets them the best government services in Canada

To be sure, this is an unfair question, as most Albertans will not have travelled from province to province measuring public health and education outcomes.

Well then, how about comparing Alberta to Alberta Why not compare Alberta circa 1995-96 (when Alberta was in the depths of its budget chopping) to today If you buy into the argument more government spending equals better outcomes, you then should agree less government spending should mean worse outcomes. Presumably, the "worst" health and education system the province has ever had would have been in 1995-96 when spending was at its lowest, and the "best" would be today when spending is at its highest.

Just looking at the raw numbers, Alberta spent $3.8-billion on health care in 1995-96, and it's going to spend $12.2-billion this year - a 224 per cent increase in just over a decade. Even if one adjusts for population and inflation growth, Alberta is spending 83 per cent more today than it did in 1995 on health care. For education, the inflation and population adjusted figure shows a 33 per cent increase in spending.

How about polling Albertans to see if they believe Alberta's health care system is 83 per cent better today than it was in 1995-96 Similarly, poll Albertans if Alberta's education system is one-third better today than it was in 1995-96

Likely, professionals in health and education fields would be able to point to some slight improvements in wait-lists or class sizes, but anyone who has used either system over the past decade can tell you there hasn't been the revolutionary change the numbers would suggest should be the case.

This lack of significant change is precisely why it should not be that shocking a mere 37 per cent of Albertans believe they will see some positive effect from "improved" government spending.

If the Stelmach government continues to ramp-up spending - with or without royalty changes - deficits or tax increases will follow as sure as day turns to night. In that event, the Stelmach government can be assured its own poll numbers will be anything but "improved."