It Appears to be Petulant Week in Calgary

Perhaps Ralph Klein and Stephen Harper, like me, are just upset that the Flames bombed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs and the hated Oilers are one win away from the finals.

To be clear about this, neither Klein nor Harper is entirely to blame for their respective spats. It does require serious chutzpah to go to the province footing more or less all of the equalization bill and demand even more money, as the have-not premiers are apparently proposing to do. This is especially true if you're either a Nova Scotian or a Newfoundlander. And the national media is being equally silly in its spat with Harper-by and large, no one cares about the journalistic process except journalists.

That said, both of these guys have declared that they're going to take their ball and go home, which is decidedly childish, as well as impossible in Klein's case. As for Harper, I can't say that he's made a great first impression-he strikes me as paranoid, control-freakish and thin-skinned, none of which are good characteristics for a Prime Minister.