Debating Hoback on Resource Royalties
Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback began last week’s inquisition by objecting to my recent op-ed in The Saskatoon StarPheonix on the “Dutch disease” debate between Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and…
Saskatchewan
Labour Market Stalls
Canada’s job market stalled in May. Employment edged up by 7,700, almost all of it part-time. In fact, the number of employees paid by Canadian employers fell by 15,600. Total…
Chocolate Almonds Gone Bad
The context of the “joke” might change my opinion slightly. It’s sort of sad that some kids are so isolated as to not recognize scat, and its inedible quality. Were…
Energy McCarthyism 2: Hoback Attack
Saskatchewan conservatives are getting cranky. At last night’s Finance Committee meeting on the omnibus bill, MP Randy Hoback exposed me as being a New Democrat who writes “garbage” (as this…
Debating Boyd on Resource Royalties
Saskatchewan’s Minister of Energy and Resources replied to my op-ed and letter on Dutch disease and resource royalties. On Friday, he was promoted to Minister of Everything. Columnist Murray Mandryk…
Duel of the Saskatchewan Expatriates
Last week, I had the following letter in The Globe and Mail: Oil sands royalties The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ most recent Statistical Handbook indicates that, in 2010, this…
Annular Solar Eclipse from Regina, Saskatchewan
I showed some of my neighbours the eclipse as I took photos, and here it is for those who missed it, or wanted to see it the easier/safer way (second…
Saskatchewan Manufacturing Hits the Wall
Premier Brad Wall was Tweeting about today’s Statistics Canada report of an uptick in national manufacturing sales in March. It is an odd report for him to trumpet, given that…
Small Time Video
Gormley was critical of the bad language in Gunderson’s videos. I don’t care for foul language in most music either, but at least Gormley has a valid excuse for acting…
Plenty of Jobs in Alberta (Alberta!!!) says Emperor Steve’s Puppet, Flaherty
Here’s good ol’ boy Flaherty warning Canadians that EI will be changed to reflect Alberta and Saskatchewan’s need for labour…as if the government was financing EI in the first place..…
Regina City Council meeting – Deadblog
(Liveblog notes, but no wifi to upload in real time so this is a deadblogging instead.) First attempt at council being paperless. When we entered the chamber we were all…
Andrew (Andy) Suknaski of Wood Mountain and Moose Jaw
Andy Suknaski, award winning poet and visual artist, has passed away at age 69. Andy was from my home town of Wood Mountain, and I have some memories of him…
Going To The Wall In Defense Of Mulcair
Great post by Erin Weir – The Progressive Economics Forum: “Mulcair has articulated a balanced approach to resource development that would generate more public revenue, a more competitive exchange rate,…
Going to the Wall in Defence of Mulcair
I have the following op-ed in today’s Saskatoon Star Phoenix: Royalty hike cure for Dutch disease Premier Brad Wall calls federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair “very, very divisive” for expressing…
Opting Out of Union Dues
Murray Mandryk’s excellent column today saves me the trouble of writing a lengthy blog post on the Saskatchewan government’s recent musings about labour legislation. From an economic perspective, it’s worth…
Meilinomics II: Income from Within
The following is another excerpt from Dr. Ryan Meili’s new book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy, which fellow blogger Greg Fingas has been…
No Reply from SaskPower
SaskPower’s VP May failed to respond to my followup points, so I’ve included her entire initial reply at my earlier post. I wrote a letter months ago to ask why…
“Differentiation:” The à-la-carte Way to Hire More Course Instructors
I’ve written before about attempts in Canada to create more separation between university teaching, on the one hand, and university research, on the other. In 2009, I wrote this opinion…
Good Thing It’s ^Not Pollution, Eh?
– Research and Innovation Centre at UofRegina; site of “clean energy” investment by Shell and other fine fossil fuel financiers. One of the more ridiculous logical fallacies that climate change…
Green Party of Sask AGM ; Hot Wind
I helped out at the Green Party of Saskatchewan’s AGM this year. It’s the first Green anything AGM I’ve been to. I’ve previously been to a Sask Liberal leadership convention…