What Me Worry

What does the Premier of Saskatchewan

have to worry about

The most important issue in the election campaign for Brad Wall yesterday was to help out the province’s tourism industry by moving the school year start to after the Labour Day weekend. The industry evidently lobbied Wall and, what business wants here in Saskatchewan, business gets.

Apparently, no consultation with teachers or school boards was necessary. If it is good for business, it must be good for Saskatchewan.

All the while, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reminds us that:

•  115,000 people are living below the poverty line here in Wall’s backyard. That is about 12% of the population. 
• Aboriginal people fare far worse, with 37% living in poverty. 
•  Saskatchewan also shares the dubious distinction with British Columbia of having the worst early childhood poverty rate in the country, with close to 20% of children under six years of age living in poverty. 
• It’s also no secret that the province has an acute affordable housing crisis, with low vacancy rates and lack of regulation allowing rents to sky rocket by as much as 75% percent in some regions.  
• Saskatchewan currently has the third greatest after-tax income inequality in the country. 

Don’t expect anything from Wall to address those pressing issues. The premier and his cronies figure, if those people would just get off their rear ends and find jobs they'd be all right.

Next thing, we’ll be talking about will probably be daylight saving time.