Tonight, Ed Stelmach makes his much anticipated TV address to Albertans. Oil companies have been anticipating this for weeks, fearing a raise in royalties. The media have been anticipating this for months, since it finally allows them to break out the “Ed TV” pun they’ve been itching to use since Stelmach was elected Premier last December. Insomniacs have been anticipating it for reasons anyone who has heard Mr. Ed speak will understand.

On Tuesday, Kevin Taft announced that the Alberta Liberals are standing behind the royalty review recommendations and the Auditor General’s report. While this might seem like an obvious course of action, this was actually a very courageous stand. The ALP is still in debt and has been doing quite well with corporate donations recently – this effectively means that they’ve kissed away any oil company donations from now until election day. You can watch Taft’s explanation here:

Now we just wait and see if Stelmach is willing to do likewise or if he’ll cave and resort to half measures and grandfathering changes. Unfortunately, I won’t have a chance to watch Ed TV tonight, but I have obtained a leaked copy of Stelmach’s team prepping him for how to answer the big question: