IMO, it is sky palace bad. This will do lasting damage to the UCP, perhaps more than the party’s performance on real issues that matter. Because it affects the perception of the UCP.

1/

It used to be a gotcha question to ask politicians how much they spent on milk. The point of the question was to finger those politicians who didn’t do their own shopping or otherwise were rich enough to not have to worry about how much it cost to feed their families.

2/

Today, people rail against the ‘Laurentian Elites’ who are out of touch with people. The complaint is that these politicians aren’t affected by their policies the same way ‘severely normal’ people are, and hence come up with ideas that are bad for the non-elite.

3/

The sky palace wasn’t necessarily a bad idea — the premier does need accommodations in Edmonton — but it created the image of an entitled premier, freed from the ordinary day-to-day struggles by virtue of the tax dollars from hardworking Albertans. The rhetoric writes itself.

4/

Bill Morneau’s ultimate sin was to not notice that he hadn’t paid for tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses. That he could just write a cheque to fix that problem didn’t help. It showed he lived in a world completely different than ours.

5/