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Now that the "swagger" is gone out of Alberta, as the news reports say, and Albertans are getting on pogey as the oil economy has collapsed, you'd think we'd at least be spared the lectures about how economically virtuous Albertans are as compared to us bedraggled Maritimers.

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We in the media, who report and comment on the world, are not so good at reporting and commenting on ourselves. But here goes.

The media world, the newspaper business in particular, are in something resembling a full-bore meltdown.

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Have we given up on Senate reform? The debate seems to have drifted down into a muddle about how to fill 22 vacant seats.

This is not good enough. Let us remind ourselves of what the real scandal is. It's the fact that the damn thing costs nearly $100 million a year to run -- or nearly $1 million per senator -- something largely lost amid the expenses scandals of this or that senator.

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I must admit, it did look a little bit surreal -- that teachers and the bulk of civil servants would quietly accept a long-term contract with hardly any increases in pay, even if it was duly negotiated by their unions.

The teachers have thrown the whole thing into a cocked hat by massively turning down the agreement. Civil servants are due to vote in January on theirs.