Scratch one up for Wiley Coyote

I was encouraged to see that Saskatchewan Agricultural Minister, Bob Bjornerud has canceled the coyote bounty program, even he did it a bit begrudgingly. When announcing the cancellation Bjornerud had to admit that the Saskatchewan Party had received a great deal of criticism about their plan.

Well, chalk one up for the bloggers, the activists, the naturalists and the wild life experts.

The program, which stipulated that in order to collect the bounty the hunters had to cut off, and submit all for paws, before being paid. That struck me as a more than a bit barbaric and it also raised the speculation that those out shooting coyotes for beer money probably can't tell their left from their right so the government had to make it all four paws..

The announcement also make me think that books like little Red Riding Hood and Peter and the Wolf kept the Agriculture Minister up nights when he was younger. Obviously those books left some permanent scars. Bjornerud is afraid of coyotes. Suggesting that canceling the program might put children at risk he said, “I have grandchildren” and it would be tragic if someone’s children or grandchildren were mauled or killed by coyotes.

Of course other than grandchildren, the coyotes eat quite a few gophers and other pests. The way I see it the more coyotes eat, the fewer gophers and the less poison the farmers put into the soil.

The next time you see Bob. Give him a hug and tell him everything will be all right.

Another Step Backward

The Government of Saskatchewan, not the most enlightened group, has just put a bounty on coyotes. Yup, now farm kids can earn Christmas shopping money killing coyotes and cutting off their paws. All four paws have to be presented before the bounty will be paid. I assume the government must think that cutting off just one paw, like the right front paw, or something like that was just too complicated for these rural folk.

This new initiative was recently announced by Agricultural Minister Bob Bjornerud. He calls it the Saskatchewan Coyote Control Program. The program will pay $20.00 per coyote and some Rural Municipalities are adding another $10.00 or so to the bounty.

This all raises the image of guys driving around in their pickups, with a rifle, a case of beer and a bag of coyote paws in the back, looking for more Christmas money.

As one would expect wildlife and environmental groups are up in arms but, in the eyes of these farmers and ranchers, environmentalists are mostly pinko city folk, so nothing for this Saskatchewan Party Government to worry about. That same bunch who wanted to keep the long gun registry in place.

So Merry Christmas rural Saskatchewan.

Government Ethics. An Oxymoron?

For years most of us have marveled at how business leaders learned that they can can seemingly divest themselves of responsibility when it comes to losses, lawsuits, union contracts, or monies owed to creditors by simply splitting their company into small subsidiaries. That way the small entity is wholy responsible for the problem and the parent company is insulated from any fallout which may occur during tough times. It is a kind of shell game business loves. The average person knows it is a scam but, ya know, we don't write the law.

In the last day or so an interesting story has hit the news in Saskatchewan. Big Sky, a hog producer, has filed for court protection from its creditors. Big Sky apparently owes several thousand dollars to farmers who provided the company with pig feed and it is reported, to other small companies doing work around the plant.

The farmers, quite justifiably are incensed. One guy is owed $47,000 for nine semi trailers full of barley he delivered and Big Sky won't pay up.

Here is the hook. The Saskatchewan Government owns 64% of Big Sky. So the Saskatchewan Government is shirking its responsibility in this matter and is stiffing its own citizans. Good work.

Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud apparently told the media that the government has no obligation what so ever in this matter. Give your head a shake Bob, I think perhaps a course in ethics 101 is in order.

Brad Wall, a true believer in the old, bread and circuses principle, is on the front page of the Leader Post this morning, posing with the Saskatchewan Roughrider flag and a couple of Riders football players in front of the legislature and the Big Sky story doesn't appear until page B7. So, it is working.

Now if the Riders lose the Western Final this Sunday, Brad may have to pay up. If they win, the Farmers might have to wait a while for their money.