I Think They Have Lost Their Minds

Here in Saskatchewan it wasn't First Nations unemployment, the lack of adequate housing, sky rocketing rental costs, or the economic disparity many of us see in this new "boom economy" that was the hot button issue. The thing that captured the hearts and minds of delegates at the governing party's Convention was lowering the drinking age from 19 to 18.

I have to ask myself, what person, over the age of 19 or 20, think this is a good idea?

I figure two groups.

First the slightly older guys whose friends are not yet 19 think it would make it a lot easier to get them drunk if they could all go to the bar.

And secondly, bar owners who see lowering the drinking age to 18, as a cash grab. Great for business. Cooler sales shoot through the roof.

The Sask Party Government loves small business so will most likely back this initiative. We have heard the "What is good for business is good for Saskatchewan." mantra all too often

Tourism Saskatchewan will most likely jump on the bandwagon too selling this initiative as a way to increase tourism. Lets' attract under aged American drinkers to small Saskatchewan border town bars. Yet another  wayto stimulate the rural Saskatchewan economy.

The Difference Between a Bust and a Boom

Saskaboom

I have been known to argue that the Saskatchewan “boom” is all a figment of Saskatchewan Party’s Premier Brad Wall and his cronies at the Chamber of Commerce’s imagination. You don’t see it on the street, thousands of university student can’t find summer employment and much of small town Saskatchewan has a depression era look to it.

How the politicians and the media characterize boom or bust, the winners, losers or the also ran in our economy, for me at least always has had a bit of Alice and Wonderland to it.

For example, these days, if we are to pick the big loser in the Canadian economy, listening to the media at least, most of us would say Ontario. The manufacturing sector, the backbone of Ontario’s economy is having a tough time. The high Canadian dollar has put the boots to competitiveness in exports.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is being figuratively burned at the stakes in the Globe & Mail, western newspapers and on the CBC for his comments about “Dutch Disease”. He has had the temerity to ask why unchecked tar sands exploitation is so good for Canada when it forces the value of the Canadian dollar even higher, hurting those who produce goods for export, most of them situated in Ontario.

This we are told has turned Ontario into a “have not” province.

The other side of the coin, we are told is, Saskatchewan. Brad Wall’s favorite two words are innovation and of course, “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Potash is hot! 

National Post Graphic

• Mining is hot! 
• Gas is hot! 
• Oil is hotter! 

Newfoundlanders are commuting from “The Rock” to fill vacant jobs. Temporary foreign workers scattered all around the province are driving our trucks, welding in small manufacturing operations, building our homes and working in our fast food joints. What is not to like?

Not so fast. New Statistics Canada figures tell us a slightly different story.

If we take a look at the “percentage of the population claiming Employment Insurance benefits”:

• Our poor cousins in Ontario come in at 4.41% 
• Powerhouse Saskatchewan is only slightly less at 4.28% 

For those who are mathematically challenged, the figures are just a bit above one tenth of one percent apart.

Is this how we define the difference between a boom and a bust?

Isn't it time we started paying attention?

What did Unions Ever do for me?

With Brad and the boys getting ready to set labour policy direction by what Saskatchewan Party supporters told them in the doorstep during the last campaign I got thinking how things hard won, can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I noticed a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Unions – The people who brought you the weekend" It made me laugh but, it also got me thinking. What else aside from negotiating contracts, representing members, fighting grievances and keeping an eye out for health and safety, did the union do for you and me lately. 
So, I started to make a list of things we tend to, take for granted.

I thought let’s see;

• Vacations and vacation pay 
• Minimum wage laws 
• overtime pay
• a five day work week
• Unemployment insurance
• Old aged pension benefits
• Long term disability
• Stat holiday pay
• Human rights legislation
• Workers Compensation
• Maternity/paternity leave
• Health and safety rules 

If you ask me, that is pretty good, for a quick, short list. The Aussies did a very funny video about all this.

So, if in the future someone says to you, “What did unions ever do for me?” You can answer, “A hell of a lot buddy. A hell of a lot.”

I know some readers will say “Don’t be nuts. The government gave us those things.”  Don’t be too quick.

You might have noticed lately. Governments don’t generally just hand stuff out to working people. Let me tell you. In each and every case, for each and every one of those benefits. There was a tough, tough fight.

Those benefits were won through collective action – lobbying politicians, in bargaining and on picket lines. Everything we have and now sometimes take for granted,was hard fought for.

The danger today, is that we forget how bloody hard those benefits were to get – and how easily they can be taken away.

Brad Wall is Warming up the Steamroller

I note that the Saskatchewan Government has turned down binding arbitration as a means of settling the outstanding issues in what has become protracted bargaining with the people who work at the Cancer Agency.

 Whatever could be wrong with binding arbitration. If you think the position you are taking in bargaining is fair? If you are confident your position is a fair one, wouldn't you think a reasonable arbitrator might think the same.

The natural conclusion to draw is that, the government of Saskatchewan knows they are being unreasonable, particularly in these booming times.

I also read in the paper this morning that the Saskatchewan Government is going to “review” our labour laws again in what will be a look at our “out of date” legislation.

My immediate reaction to all this was, “These guys just don’t get it.” People won’t put up with this. Stand by for yet another war between our business friendly government and labour.

The last time they did this, they looked kind of stupid. After all, one of the most right wing judges in the province ruled their essential services legislation went way too far and was put in to place without proper consultation with the stakeholders. Well no that is wrong, it was without consultation with one of... no, half of the stakeholders. Their process was to basically, just ignored organized labour.

They are about to do it again but, I think I was wrong about them being out of touch. They very much “Get it”

To the Saskatchewan Party, very much like the Harper Conservatives it isn’t about finding consensus, or building bridges, or fairness, or need.

Despite all the good old boy talk, Brad Wall’s government is all about us and them, about creating division, pitting one side against the other.

What is good for business is good for Brad. After all, could the Chamber of Commerce be wrong about anything?

Brad and the boys are sitting pretty with an electoral system that handed them 85% of the seats in the legislature with 64% of the popular vote. They can pretty much do what they want.

Will Saskatchewan the people who will be affected by what will no doubt be yet another gutting of Labour legislation stand up and speak out. I doubt it. Only 66% of us even bothered to vote. Speaking up, writing letters or - God forbid - going to a demo takes even more effort than casting a ballot.

Oh sure, the usual suspects will get up on their high horse but will the public actually listen? I sometimes thing the term Labour Communicators is an oxymoron. Think Bob Bymoen for example.

It isn’t a very good time for unionized workers in Saskatchewan. Standby, the government is just warming up the steamroller.

It Makes you Wonder

If Harper says it. It must be true.

It is amazing how quickly the threat of budget cuts can erode the CBC’s journalistic ethics.

Just as Canada’s Premiers were meeting in Victoria to decide how to deal with the shafting they just got from the Harper Conservatives, Smilin’ Stevie turns up on the National to answer a few slow pitched questions from Peter Mansbridge. Harper could say, even the most outrageous things, to Mansbridge without the risk of being challenged. Harper looked good and unruffled by the easy ride Peter gave him.

What a great way to take the risk of having a bunch of grumpy provincial leaders trash your agendaand Harper can guarantee that whatever he says will be featured on CBC newscasts as the “honest to God truth.” Harper may be rethinking his dislike for the public broadcaster. Who knew they were so easy to manipulate?

The premiers meanwhile are being characterized on the CBC as being a disorganized, unruly bunch as Harper deftly plays one off against the other.

Even Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is a bit embarrassed this week or at the very least he should be.

At the beginning of the Premiers’ Victoria meeting Wall was playing down the health care funding issues blathering on about the possibility of a new Health Care Innovation Fund. Wall loves the word innovation. It is tough to find any statement by him that doesn’t use the word although I am not sure he really knows what the word means.

By the end of the conference even Wall, who has a reputation as a Harper toadie, had come to the realization that the innovation fund was a ruse, there was no extra money and that he had been, once again, hung out to dry by his buddies in Ottawa.

The Real Brad Wall

I will begrudgingly admit that Brad Wall impressed me with his performance during his victory speech Monday night. Like him or not, you have to admit he knows what to say and how to say it. With an engaging mix of Republican style family values and prairie humility, he had the crowd, and the Province, eating out of his hand. He played his audience like a pro.

The next day however, we saw another side of Brad Wall when he took a rather petulant shot across the bow of the trade union movement.

Wall complained that the SGEU had imposed an extra 1% dues increase on their members. The sole goal, he claims, being to defeat the Saskatchewan Party in the election. He said he was considering legislative changes, which would make it easier for union members to to better scrutinize how their unions dues are spent. Any changes the government intends to force on unions he said would be meant to provide greater transparency. "We're not going to be looking for arguments but if there's opportunities to increase accountability and transparency for union members we're going to pursue those,"

I thought the comments were interesting as he had already said that the members were told what the increase was going to be used for. No lack of transparency there.

All trade unions I know of, are required are required by their own constitutions to generate annual audited financial statements, which are available to their membership. I will agree that they are not any easier for the average worker to sift through than the average corporation financial statement but that, is neither here nor there.

It makes me wonder what Wall is up to. The Saskatchewan Party people really don’t understand trade unions. Being mostly small business people they have no experience with organized labour and have very little understanding of how they function. That bunch only know, they don’t like unions. No ands, ifs or buts.

When the Saskatchewan Party was first elected one of the first things on their plate was to pick a fight with organized labour. There was no reason for it except for a deep-seated visceral dislike for unions, particularly the SGEU.

The view, even within the Labour community, is that the SEGU leadership are not very likeable, they are not the sharpest tools in the shed and they can’t even get along with their own staff. The fact that the government doesn't like the union that represents the majority of their employees was no reason to bring in the punishing anti labour legislation, when a few tweaks would have solved the “problems.”

So what is next?

Wall wants changes in Labour legislation but will he stop a minor adjustments? History suggests not and he has already given us hints about where his thinking lies when he mused during the campaign that he might look at changing legislation so that dues would remain mandatory but unions would become responsible for collecting their own money.

The small business were all over that like a tent, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business spokesperson Marilyn Braun-Pollon, made it clear she and her members would support that. It is something they are already lobbying for. She said if unions had to collect their own dues, it might make them more accountable to their members.

Accountability is a good thing particularly at election time. I think everyone should remember it wasn’t the lack of trade union accountability that triggered the Global economic crisis.

So, stand by, yesterday was just a glimpse of the real Brad Wall.

Saskatchewan Election

Now That is Depressing

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening working in a poll house trying to hustle up votes for Sandra Morin, making sure known NDP supporters got out to vote.

We all knew the New Democrats were going to take a drubbing but, we didn't think it was going to be as bad as it was.

Sandra lost her seat along with some other very good people. The challenge is to find the silver lining in all this.

The decision to elect Duane Lingenfelter to replace Lorne Calvert as party leader was a bad one. It was driven by the wrong headed dinosaurs  who still populate the NDP back rooms. They rejected the new blood who could rebuild the party and instead chose to remain with their feet firmly planted in the past. People who did nothing but bad mouth Lingenfelter as he left the party and moved to Alberta'a oil industry, supported his leadership just because he was a link to what they saw as, the good old days.

Now, the NDP will have to give the newer, brighter and younger MLAs, Trent Wotherspoon, Warren McCall, Cam Broten and Danielle Chartier a chance to lead and to rebuild. They have their work cut out for them but, I think they are up to the task at hand.

The Saskatchewan Party may have 49 seats but, most of them are lightweights who simply rode the green wave. Let's be honest, not many are Cabinet material.

It will be another interesting four years.

Saskaboom

Ten ways to recognize a booming economy, the Saskatchewan way

1. Unless you are on a four-lane highway if there is any pavement at all, it is crumbling. 
2. The Provincial Recreation Areas offer almost nothing in services and are maintained, if that is the word, in an appalling state.
3. Small towns are getting more and more run down, and smaller every year. Abandoned houses prevail.
4. The infrastructure is breaking down everywhere.
5. The government’s twisted logic boasts about the fact that it raised the minimum income at which its citizens had to pay taxes thus taking 114,000 people off the tax rolls altogether.
6. With rents increasing as much as 75% Low-income workers and students can’t afford housing and first time home buyers can afford to get into the market.
7. A significant number of students take six and seven years to get a four-year degree because they can’t afford to go to university full time even thought they live at home. 
8. Thirty Seven percent of your First Nations people live below the poverty line and 20% percent of children under six, live below the poverty line, the worst level in the country. 
9. People can’t afford to travel so with no comparator, they actually think Saskatchewan is booming.
10. Still too small for Ikea to even consider coming here

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. 

If Craven is King. We Have to Ask Why

Get drunk, fall down, miss the music

I can’t figure out why the Craven Country Jamboree is King here in Saskatchewan, but it is. We went once after someone gave us a couple of free tickets but, we never went back. I’m no prude, public nudity doesn’t bother me and I am always up for a party but...Craven just isn’t my scene and to be completely honest, I’m not a big country music fan anyway.

Craven sure is popular with the political crowd though.

First let’s get one thing straight. The Craven Country Jamboree is a business, no ands, ifs or buts. It is also a business with lots of political friends.

This year like much of Saskatchewan, the Craven campsite was well under water. Dispite other businesses, homes and farms that are still under water the three day festival was first in line for a handout.

Much to many people’s surprise, they were given a over $1.5 million by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority to build berms to prevent future flooding of the site. Evidentially the business met the criteria for the emergency flood damage reduction program, and since it qualified, they got the cash. Not bad for a business that actually only provides service, if we could call it that, three days a year.

Then, festival organizers were pumping water out the area when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) grew concerned with the number of fish trapped within the site. They ordered the pumps turned off.

Then the area MP, Tom Lukiwski who you generally never hear from, saw an opportunity for a little media face time and stepped in. What is more important after all, spawning fish, or a three day piss-up.

Before you know it the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Keith Ashfield ordered the pumps turned back on. There was no way he was going to let those pesky fish get in the way of a private business’s ability of operate. The Minister reversed his own department’s decision. He obviously knew better what the Blue Meanies are all about when he said “ For such an important economic and cultural event to be affected in this way is contrary to the principles this government stands for."  Even we bloggers couldn't have wrapped up the Conservative agenda better than that.

Now as the festival gears up we are gleefully told that taxpayers will provide the services of 36 RCMP officers for crowd control and that last year at 160 people were arrested and put into cells at least overnight for a variety of charges, including being intoxicated in a public place, public mischief, impaired driving, assault, theft and one sexual assault.

Some cultural event.

Don’t get me wrong, most festivals couldn’t survive without financial help from government. Festivals help to weave what is a part of our cultural fabric but there are community oriented festivals and there are business festivals. There is a difference and I for one am feeling ripped off.

This year, if you love good music in an outdoor setting and you don’t particularly like getting shit faced or taking your clothes off, come down to the more family friendly Folk Festival. Probably no one will get arrested, the music is great and you will have a wonderful time.

Reduce the Risks of Working Alone

Early this summer, on the night of June 30th to be exact a Yorkton gas station attendant, working alone was murdered, for what was most likely, no more than a couple of hundred dollars. The victim, Jim Weibe was working alone. Not long after, police arrested 20 year old Kyle Furness and have charged him with first degree murder.

Weibe joins a growing list of people who met their ends while working alone, overnight for shitty pay, in gas stations and convenience stores across North America. They are basically sitting ducks waiting for the next lowlife to crawl out from under some rock.

Weibe’s friend Aaron Nagy is trying to do something about that. He has started an on-line petition and a Facebook site in an effort to convince the government to bring in legislation which would protect people in Weibe’s situation. He says, no one should be working alone. I agree with him, no one should be working alone, particularly in the middle of the night.

Nagy is on the right track but, I can tell you, he has an uphill battle. I would be amazed if this business friendly Saskatchewan Party Government gives the issue much more than lip service.

The issue of people working alone extends far beyond gas station attendants.

In 2001 after SaskTel employee John Davies was shot and died while trying to restore telephone service to the Star Blanket Reserve I looked very closely at the issue and wrote a Health and Safety report entitled Reducing the Risks of Working Alone.

I gave a few seminars on the subject trying to raise awareness of the risks and we talked to the government of the day, but from my perspective, not a great deal has changed in the last 11 years.

Information available to employees who are concerned about working alone in Saskatchewan are grossly inadequate and guidelines for employers lack strong legislation to back them up. Surprisingly even the Alberta guide on the issue does a better job.

It is time to fix this issue. Let’s get at it.

Brad Should Think About the Kids

Sorry Brad. Wrong again

I am getting a little fed up at the Regina Leader Post's editorial view of the teachers job action. This "Teachers should be thinking about the kids" attitude is puzzling. What ever happened to "The Government should be thinking of the kids"?

The Wall government has themselves in a bit of a jam these days. They have only themselves to blame.

First, Wall thought he was pretty smart when he had his people sidle up to the nurses in 2008 and slip them a 35% increase in wages. The move by Brad and the nurses threw a wrench into the works and undermined any efforts to build real collective action against the Government's hold the line bargaining. He out smarted most of the union side negotiators who thought they could wrestle something close to the same money for their members. They couldn't but, by the time they realized that, all the wind went out of the common front's sails.

Labour might not have won that round but, to their credit they have long memories.

The second thing that undermined Wall's bargaining position was his own love of the spotlight and his unchecked boosterism.

Wall is a born salesman. He should be selling vinyl siding. He even convinced the Globe & Mail that he was Prime Ministerial material.

Brad Wall has spent the last year telling all of us here in flat city and beyond, that now that the evil, job killing, small business hating, socialist leaning NDP have been dispatched, Saskatchewan is booming.

• Things have never been better. 
• People are flocking back from Alberta. 
• We are encouraging immigrants from Ontario
• Jobs, Jobs Jobs
• Saskatchewan is the place to be

The Sask Party is running the show so, Sis Saskaboom bitta bah, let the good times roll.

Not so fast Brad.

During the tough times Saskatchewan workers, particularly Saskatchewan government workers were pressed to take less. The government, a generally labour friendly government, convinced workers to take less that they deserved because "the money just isn't there." Labour grudgingly took one for the team to try and keep things on an even keel.

The assumption was always, "Ok, we'll take the hit when times are tough on the expectation that employers will be fair when times are good."

Sorry folks. Duped again.

So now the consummate showman is in a jam. How can he continue to say;

• You are asking for too much 
• We can't afford it.
• That teachers and health care workers don't deserve even half of what his government gave to nurses.

after he and his cronies have made so much out of the Saskaboom?

I for one am happy to sit this one out and watch Brad squirm.

Brad Wades in

Brad Wall puts on an Angry Face

To no one's surprise, Brad Wall, the consummate right-wing pitchman has jumped into the election fray after promising everyone to steer clear of the Federal race. Brad, who is about as intellectuality deep and complex as your average AM radio, morning show host, told everyone that he was deeply troubled by Ignatieff's musing about what options were open if Harper didn't change his ways bullying ways. Wall suggested that the Liberal leader was planning to "...overturn of democratic results of the federal election." It is obvious from Wall's comments that he doesn't even begin to understand the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy he works under as Premier.

Not surprisingly, Wall along with his best friend and deep blue Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, sees nothing whatsoever wrong with Harper assuming power when 63% or 64% of Canadians voted for a party, other that the one Harper leads. It is the king of pretzel logic we should be used to from this lot by now.

Wall can't seem to grasp that his "close relationship" with Stephen Harper only works one way. The more Brad bows and scrapes and demeans himself - the more Harper ignores him.

Some advice Brad. Stay out of the big boy's sandbox.

Conservative Budgets out this Week

We are right in the middle of budget season. Both the Feds and the Saskatchewan government tabled their budgets this week.

I am quite taken by the fact that the media, particularly the CBC, is spending so much time and energy slicing and dicing the Harper Government's new offering, talking about what kind of impact it will have considering the fact that it hasn't a hope of going forward. The government will fall this week. No question.

If Harper wins another minority or, perish the thought a majority it will present a much different budget, you can depend on it.

What analysis I have heard sees the Federal offering as a kind of stay the course budget anyway. Pretty dull stuff. Not much to run on which will capture the hearts of Canadians except for a $75.00 rebate if you send your kids to music lessons. Pretty thin, I'd say.

I am always amazed at how the pundits continue to ignore the growing infrastructure crisis in Canada while praising corporate tax cuts.  It is a simple math economists don't seem to get. Pay less and promise more, Conservative economic policies don't work.

Here in Saskatchewan it is pretty much the same. The Saskatchewan party got elected at precisely the right time and the province is said to be booming so, these guys had a pretty good four years. Frankly I think it would have taken an idiot to fail in this economic climate. Brad has a few of those and still managed to come out smelling like a rose.

There really isn't too much worth commenting on but, I did like the following quote in the Leader Post obviously taken word for word from the press release "The provincial Budget released on Wednesday stated it will give beer off-sales retailers an extra $5.1 million to help remain strong contributors to the community"


I can't figure out how that works but it will certainly keep their small business supporters happy.

Saskatchewan Business Can't Think Their way into the Boom Box

Would You Hire This Man?

OK its official the whole Regina new stadium idea is dead. Oh sorry, The new Multi Purpose Entertainment Centre is dead. Or as Mayor Pat in his new persona as a caring municipal leader might say "The opportunity for North Central Regina urban renewal is dead."

No matter how you cut it, no new stadium.

Now those of you who read this blog probably already know that I won't be shedding a tear as the final nail is driven into the stadium coffin. I always wondered why since neither Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg have domed stadiums, Regina thought that we were entitled to one. Those cities are much bigger and just as cold yet, they seem to cope.

Blame the feds. Blame the Feds. They didn't come through with the needed $100 million needed to jump start the idea. People are so pissed that my MP Tom Lukiwski will probably lose his seat next election over his lack of support for local projects. Boy, now there is a silver lining if I ever saw one.

What I do find interesting through all this is the fact that with no Federal funding and no NHL team promise Quebec City is going ahead with their new big $400 million arena. In that city the private sector ponyed up.

Here in Saskatchewan with the arguably the most financially successful team in the Canadian Football League and a fan base that can be depended on win or lose, there was no sign of that private sector cash.

In my opinion that can mean one of two things;

1. Either there is no economic boom here in Saskatchewan despite what Premier Brad Wall would like people here  to think. 
2. Or, The private sector in province is so stuck in the "have not" mentality, they can't think their way through to the "boom" box.

What do you think Brad.

Saskatchewan Media Asleep at the Switch

The Brad and Bill Show

I don't know what it is for sure but, either the Saskatchewan media is inept, their budgets don't allow for any investigative reporting or they just take everything Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall tells them, at face value.

Wall went to bat to save the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan's (PCS) corporate ass after BHP Billiton tried a hostile take over late last year. Wall worked hard to convince Saskatchewan citizens that BHP was a foreign takeover of a Saskatchewan corporation despite the fact that the PCS headquarters along with CEO Bill Doyle was in Chicago. The provincial government pulled out all the stops to pressure the Harper government to scotch the deal and in the end Industry Minister,Tony Clement caved to pressure and did just that.

It was during the BHP dust-up that PCS made its famous "Pledge to Saskatchewan ." Doyle said that perhaps they had been remiss, he'd move back to Saskatoon and that a majority of the Board would live in the province, and that they would become better corporate citizens, more involved in the community, blah, blah blah...

A few weeks ago Brad and Bill had a cozy media event where they patted each other on the back, praised each others work and reaffirmed that PCS was a true green Saskatchewan company.

Things however are not quite what they seem. When Doyle was first appointed to be the  corporation's CEO he did move to Saskatoon. He built a large six bedroom house, with seven bathrooms  and a wine cellar and multi-level terraces leading down to the South Saskatchewan River. A few years later he decamped to where the real PCS head office is located, Chicago. Better night life I'm told.

Now he has "moved back" to a 1000 square foot condo in a building attached to the Saskatoon Radission Hotel. PCS pays the taxes on the place and Doyle pays the rest which I guess means the condo fees, from the almost $10 million he get paid each year.

Apparently everyone is happy now. Brad Wall got some much needed political points.  PCS got to keep on with its sweet royalty deal and the Saskatchewan people can go back to sleep.

I don't expect much more. I guess we'll see how the rest of the "pledge" all works over the next few months but I pretty much think, what we see is what we get.

The thing is, it took Toronto's Globe & Mail to tell me that.

Just Few Things I Noticed

IBB

I notice that Tony Clement was hinting yesterday that he might review the CRTC’s decision on Usage Based Billing. Then today it was reported that the Prime Minister Stephen Harper, remember him, never one to let a minister take positive credit if he can take it himself,  may be announcing that his cabinet may review the regulator’s decision.

I view this, along with all the renewed stadium talk to be a sign the PMO thinks an election is probably around the corner

The Budget

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is trying to cozy up to the NDP in an effort to win support for his new budget. He is offering targeted help for low income seniors in his upcoming budget.  The New Democrats have been asking for increases to the Guaranteed Income Supplement  for seniors and Flaherty just might deliver.

I have always argued to my friends who are starting to feel that the New Democrats are like some toothless tiger, that a strong voice on the left helps to shift government decisions in a more humane direction.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are demanding that the government roll back $6 billion in scheduled corporate tax cuts this year and the Bloc wants an extra $5 billion spent on various things or else they won’t support the budget.

This one must create a quandary for Jack Layton and his buddies.  He probably holds the balance of power.  You have to ask. Is tossing a few crumbs to seniors worth supporting tax cuts to corporate fat cats? 

I don’t think so.

I say take the buggers down but, perhaps that is just me.

In the end they all may blink and allow this sorry excuse for a government continue.

Saskatchewan Crown Bargaining

A group of unions representing employees at Saskatchewan Crown Corporation  say that they are banding together in a “Common Front” so get more power at the bargaining table. This group of unions wonder why, in the mist of that “boom” Premier Brad Wall is always boasting about, they are supposed to be satisfied with wage increases which would be inadequate even during tough economic times?  

One has to ask, “How can this government expect the employees who took a real hit when times were tough, to continue to get battered at the bargaining table during times when the economy is supposed to be booming.

 

It is because a Saskaboom isn’t like a boom in other provinces. It’s  a phony kind of boom. Mostly hype, little substance. Remember Saskatchewan still so small, that Ikea won't even consider building a store here. Some boom.

A Saskaboom is when a few high profile corporations and industry get rich and the rest of us try to make ends meet with what we have.

Either that of the Sask Party are just mean spirited.

Oh, I guess that must be it.

Saskaboom not Quite What Some Claim

Living here in Saskatchewan I am getting more than a bit tired of all the talk about the economic boom we are living through. I lived in Calgary during the booming early 80's and believe me, the Saskaboom is quite different. 

By anyone’s terms, Saskatchewan is still small potatoes compared to the big boys.

Sure we have lots of oil and gas, our own, yet to be developed, tar sands, potash, uranium and of course diamonds. And, if agriculture was as bad as the farmers would like us to think, no one would be still in the game. So, according to the government and the newspapers things are really cooking but, truth be known, it is bubbling away  in a pretty small pot.

Things may be percolating over at WalMart but I still can't get an Ikea Stornas/Henriksdal dining room set without driving to Calgary. Boom or not, Saskatchewan is too small for Ikea to even think about opening up an outlet.  

This week, in the midst of our so called boom,  Standard & Poors downgraded their outlook on the City of Regina from stable to negative. I don't know a hell of a lot about the language used by financial ratings organizations but even "stable" doesn't sound very good to me. To me "stable is not all that many steps away from "on life support", but what do I know.

Regina’s Mayor, Pat Fiacio got elected on a cut spending/no new taxes campaign and true to form he tried to beat up the city's workers and held the line on taxes. He and his pro-development council have approved ugly and sprawling new housing developments and shopping centres but have done very little to maintain what we already have. Roads are so badly made it is like riding a roller coaster just driving to work, we  still don't have curbside recycling, residents complain that street lights take months to be replaces after they burn our and the snow removal is so spotty residents living off bus routes have to hire contractors to clear snow from their street. 

Now the city faces a deficit of $238,000,000 to the Civic Employees Superannuation and Benefit Plan and there is a infrastructure debt of almost $1.5 billion in the 10 year capital plan.

Lets bring back a much needed small dose of reality to all this. I heart Regina too Pat but, in my books, you are all booster, no boom.

Something Wrong with this Picture?

Patty Cake Fiacco

Just in case you wondered from time to time who pays most of the freight in Regina, here are a coupe of hints.
According to the Premier, Brad Wall Saskatchewan is booming economically. I don't really see it frankly but Brad insists.
So, in a boom, do you really have to offer incentives to corporations to lure them into your city/province?
Apparently you do.
Mosaic, that other American based Potash corporation is moving its "head office" to Regina when ever they get the new McCallum Hill Tower built in downtown Regina. The building, by the way, is the first new office tower  build in boomtown in 18 years..
They announced the move about a year ago but, development friendly city hall just agreed to give  the multi billion dollar corporation a five year tax break worth $1,500,000. I guess that decision was made to encourage a move that had already been decided upon tax break or not.
This in a year that, for those who actually pay city taxes, they will go up almost 5% and water tax will increase over 27% over the next  three years.
I wonder how a guy gets in line for the trough.

Here is an Idea For You Brad

To be honest I don’t know who is right in this BHP/PCS/Brad Wall war of words over potash. But Brad says "No" and it seems that every day, the rhetoric gets a bit more strident and the stakes are cranked up one more notch.

 The Saskatchewan Government has dispatched a  gaggle of ministers to Ottawa so they can work the back rooms and the corridors of power,  Brad Wall is travelling to Toronto to try and get Canadian business leaders on side and what a windfall in advertizing revenue it much be for the newspaper industry. Each day we are bombarded with new and increasingly strident, full page ads.

Not much seems to be working.  There are no signals out of Ottawa suggesting that anyone in Investment Canada is listening and despite Wall’s special relationship with the Conservatives it doesn’t look like they give much of a damn about what Brad wants.

The only Federal MP who has spoken out about the takeover is Ralph Goodale.

 Let’s face it, this Stephen Harper government hasn’t ever given much thought to the needs of Saskatchewan’s government or its people, ever.  Why change now? Harper feels his 13 Saskatchewan MPs are on pretty solid ground.

So, I have a suggestion for the Premier. The next time you have the opportunity, make it very clear that if the Federal government approves the BHP deal, come the next Federal election, you will run Saskatchewan Party candidates in every Conservative riding in the province.

I assure you Mr. Premier , that will get Harper’s attention.  Saddled with 13 lightweight Saskatchewan MPs whose only selling point is the political parties they don’t belong to, Harper would have real difficulty holding on the any one of those seats.