Engage
Last night I was having several parallel conversations online, all pertaining to civic engagement (or the lack of it, more precisely). What comes first, the politicians willing to interact with…
Saskatchewan
Electoral Boundaries Commission Submission
For those interested, here’s the text of my submission to the Saskatchewan Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission. I’ve added to and tweaked the analysis from my earlier column on the subject,…
Saskatchewan has much bigger problems than ghosts
Saskatchewan’s environment minister is fuming about a report from the David Suzuki Foundation that says the province isn’t taking climate change seriously. (CP) From The Huffington Post. “REGINA – Saskatchewan’s…
Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Lawrence Martin comments on the growing resonance of inequality as an issue for Canadian voters. But the most telling sign may be…
New column day
Here, on the distinction between healthy optimism and dangerous boosterism – and how both the Harper and Wall governments are dragging Saskatchewan toward the latter.
SK Budget: Where’s the Inter-governmental Love?
A hallmark of Brad Wall’s premiership has been cosy relations with municipal governments and the two westernmost provincial governments. Since taking office, the Sask. Party has been throwing money at…
The cost of Conservative Government Getting Out of Healthcare: An Election
The Quebec Minister of Finance today warned that the Conservative government would lose an election if they didn’t recommit to their fair share of healthcare costs, citing Prime Minister Pearson’s…
Girl in Saskatoon
Cash was truly great. I hadn’t heard this song until Tuesday, but it even has caragana bush mentioned in it. Not sure why someone would bed down in it though,…
RoboCop speaks out about RoboCon
Don’t worry everyone, MP RoboCop is on the job! Fantino, the former Toronto police chief who is Tory MP for Vaughan, said he, too, is trying to get answers after…
Saskboy’s Hairy Fun-Razor for Telemiracle
I ended up with some facial hair in the aftermath of the Movember fundraising blitz that swept the nation. It then turned into Decembeard, then Januhairy, now Februhairy is over…
McGuinty’s Business Tax Breaks
An interesting nugget in last week’s Drummond report is Table 11.1, an updated version of Table 2 from “Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth” (2009). It provides a sectoral…
Don’t get CASTRATED or PCA
I’m really shocked this other Saskatchewan video (from TV a few years ago) hasn’t gone viral yet. I guess all of the couch potatoes don’t have a sense of humour?…
Why Offbeat?
Why would CBC post a story about a major census mistake, likely indicative of a widespread counting problem, as “offbeat” news? This is potentially big news, with no fewer than…
Alberta and Saskatchewan vie for pollution title
Alberta is generally considered to be Canada’s pollution champion. And it deserves the honour. With 11 per cent of the country’s population it contributes 34 per cent of the country’s…
For Two Saskatchewan Fetus Fetishist MPs
For Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott, two MPs who are disgrace to Saskatchewan, Politics’n’Poetry gives you this:
Letter to SaskPower President Regarding Solar Power
Here’s a letter going to the SaskPower President soon. If anyone has any suggestions for it, you have short time to make them. rwatson at ]saskpower.com
Job Vacancies vs. Unemployment
Progressive economists have advocated expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to boost demand and create jobs, given the high rate of unemployment. By contrast, employers and conservative commentators complain of unfilled…
Wall Strikes Out on Fiscal Federalism
Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall recently issued a statement exhorting his fellow Premiers to blaze largely unspecified new trails on healthcare, Employment Insurance and Equalization. Unfortunately, he misses the ball on all…
Get Mad At SaskPower
I don’t know why I’m mad today at SaskPower. It’s not like they’ve gone out of their way to piss me off lately. I simply started thinking about how unjust…
Wall of Silence on Canpotex
Saskatchewan’s newspapers reported today that BHP Billiton intends to sell the province’s potash outside of Canpotex, the marketing board that helps to maximize the price for which Saskatchewan potash is…