The provincial Liberals seem to be taking a page from the New Democrat government's pre-election playbook. On Monday, Premier Gordon Campbell announced the Province and its community partners would be spending $4.2 million on what's being billed as the Spirit of 2010 Trail Initiative. The initiative, which promises to increase tourism by building and improving trails across the province, is mysteriously similar to the New Democrat's old Trans Canada Trail Project.

The project, which was launched in 1998 with the support of cabinet minister Andrew Petter (the patron saint of bicycles) and his ministerial assistant David Cubberley, also promised to increase tourism by building and improving many of those same trails - a worthy cause to be sure. But there were some spinoff political benefits. After all, opening a trail is a golden photo-opportunity for MLAs. And one wonders whether the Liberals, who will be trying to get all the publicity they can between now and the next election, are thinking the exact same thing?

Full disclosure: Public Eye's previous career as a government communications advisor for both the New Democrats and Liberals included a stint with the Trans Canada Trail Project office.