2013 added up to be an interesting year

According to psychics, astrologers and other irreproachable sources on the Internet, 2013 was supposed to be the year we’d discover a hole in the Earth’s core, the Mississippi River would dry up, we’d be visited by aliens in square UFOs and “a famous person will get eaten by a grizzly.”

We leave 2013 with the Earth’s core intact, the Mississippi River rolling happily along, aliens continuing to hide from us in traditional flying saucers and starstruck grizzlies awaiting their celebrity snack.

In Alberta politics, 2013 was a busy year, but nothing much has changed. We have the same political party leaders, the same warnings about volatility in energy prices and the same protests over the construction of new oilsands pipelines.

But let’s take a peek at the past year, not in words, but in numbers, with the Alberta Index (with apologies to the inimitable Harper’s magazine index):

Number of people in Premier Alison Redford’s communication office who had submitted their resignations in the space of a month at the beginning of 2013: 5

Number of minutes Premier Redford spent delivering her first fireside chat to Albertans in January: 8

Amount of money Redford said the provincial government was losing to the so-called Bitumen Bubble: $6 billion

After January’s election in Ontario, the percentage of Canadians who have a woman as premier of their particular province: 87

On average, the percentage of elected officials in Canada who are women: 25

Number of women MLAs in Alberta’s 87-seat legislature: 23

Amount of the Alberta government’s “operational deficit” under its new method of reporting the provincial budget: $451 million

Amount of the actual consolidated deficit as calculated under the old method: $1.97 billion

Number of times Alberta’s auditor general said of the government’s new budget reporting method that “the best minds in this office have found it, um, challenging”: 1

The number of Alberta trade offices around the world at the start of the year: 10

The number of additional offices proposed in 2013 for places such as Brazil, California and India: 6

Annual cost of the offices: $10 million

Number of weekends the premier and government MLAs spent on a caucus camping trip in the summer: 3

Percentage that each weekend camp-out targeted a riding held by a Wildrose MLA: 100

Percentage approval Premier Redford received at the Progressive Conservative leadership review in November: 77

Percentage approval Ed Stelmach received when he was premier in November 2009: 77

Number of months before Stelmach announced he was quitting: 14

Percentage of approval Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith received at her party’s convention in October: 90

Number of times Smith told the convention that, “let’s show Albertans that we have learned the lessons we needed to learn; that we now have the experience we needed to grow and prepare. Let’s show them that we are ready to lead this great province”: 1

To demonstrate how she has changed, number of times Smith told reporters at the convention, “I accept that climate change is a reality, as do our members. I accept that there’s a human influence on it”: 1

Date on which Insurance Bureau of Canada president Don Forgeron gave a speech in Calgary warning of the dangers of extreme weather events and offered this suggestion, “A home by the river is nice, until the river flows through your living room”: May 29

Date on which Calgary was hit by the summer’s devastating flood: June 20

Estimated cost of the damage caused by flooding throughout southern Alberta: $6 billion

Ranking in terms of the costliest of Canada’s natural disasters: 1

Amount of the court fine levied against MLA Mike Allen after he pleaded guilty for trying to hire a prostitute in Minnesota last July: $500

Number of times I’m grateful to people for taking the time to read my columns: Countless

Chance I’m wishing you a Happy New Year, expressed as a percentage: 100