Christmas Cutbacks

In light of the stark nature of the province's finances and the puny $2 billion surplus in the bank, Premier Brad Wall, on advice from the Board of Enterprise Saskatchewan, will move to implement the following cost-cutting measures for the Twelve Days of Christmas:

1. The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree, which never produced the cash crop forecasted, will be replaced by a plastic hanging plant, providing considerable savings in maintenance;
2. Two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost effective. In addition, their romance during working hours could not be condoned. The positions are, therefore, eliminated;
3. The three French hens will remain intact. After all, everyone loves the French;
4. The four calling birds will be replaced by an automated voice mail system, with a call waiting option. An analysis is underway to determine who the birds have been calling, how often and how long they talked;
5. The five golden rings have been put on hold by recommendation of Enterprise Saskatchewan. Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could have negative implications for institutional investors. Diversification into other precious metals, as well as a mix of T-Bills and high technology stocks, appears to be in order;
6. The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer be afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one egg per goose per day was an example of the general decline in productivity. Three geese will be let go, and an upgrading in the selection procedure by the Ministry of Agriculture will assure government that, from now on, every goose it gets will be a good one;
7. The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in better times. The function is primarily decorative. Mechanical swans are on order. The current swans will be retrained to learn some new strokes, thereby enhancing their outplacement;
8. The eight maids-a-milking concept has been under heavy scrutiny by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. A male/female balance in the workforce is being sought. The more militant maids consider this a dead-end job with no upward mobility. Automation of the process may permit the maids to try a-mending, a-mentoring, or a-mulching;
9. Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number. This function will be phased out as these individuals grow older and can no longer do the steps;
10. Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill. The high cost of Lords, plus the expense of international air travel, prompted the Ministry of Finance to suggest replacing this group with ten out-of-work MLAs. While leaping ability may be somewhat sacrificed, the savings are significant as the Opposition has ten MLAs seeking employment as a result of the 2007 general election;
11. Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple case of the band getting too big. A substitution with a string quartet, a cutback on new music, and no uniforms, will produce savings which will drop right to the bottom line.

Overall there will be a substantial reduction in assorted people, fowl, animals, and related expenses. Though incomplete, studies indicate that stretching deliveries over twelve days is inefficient. Service levels will improve if materials can be drop shipped in one day.

Regarding the lawsuit filed by the Saskatchewan Bar Association seeking expansion to include the legal profession ("thirteen lawyers-a-suing"), a decision is pending. Premier Wall is expected to stick to his election promise of growing the civil service at a rate proportional to the province's population.

Deeper cuts may be necessary in the future for the province to remain competitive. Should that happen, Enterprise Saskatchewan will request the government to scrutinize Snow White to see if seven dwarfs is the right number.

(Stolen from kraftmstr.com and edited for more appropriate content. Merry Christmas!)

Wolfman Brad Gets Results!

One day after I replied to Lee Harding's comment about WAM on my blog, the CTF magically has a post on the excessive legislative staff salaries. My hard-hitting comments finally drove some sense into those hypocrites. Thanks for doing the right thing for a change.

The CTF is still a bunch of weasels, but at least now they're weasels who bend to my will! Dance, puppets!

We Are Many

Lee Harding, former pastor and current Executive Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has turned his pulpit of the toward the We Are Many festival.

“Why should our governments pay for free entertainment and activism?” asked Lee Harding, Saskatchewan Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Organizers should get money from private supporters and festival attendees instead of co-opting politicians who are all-too-eager to look green.”
...
“No government or crown should fund political activism,” says Harding. “If this event really attracted 50,000 people, then $6.25 is all each of them would need to pay to cover all expenses. Citizens should pay for whatever concerts, festivals, or activism they want, not governments.”
(CTF Press Release, December 17, 2007)

While Harding raises an interesting issue in the top paragraph, he certainly raises an ominous one in the bottom. Does he really mean governments should not fund public festivals like the Mid-Winter Blues Festival, the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, the Regina Fringe Festival, KonaFest, Moose Jaw's Prairie Arts Festival, the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, Queer City Cinema (that's probably a gimme, given his background), Swift Current's Windscape Kite Festival, Ness Creek, the Boreal Mixed Media Jam, the Connect Festival (probably another gimme), the SaskTel Jazz Festival, Mosaic, the Regina Folk Festival, Moose Jaw's Motif Cultural Festival, Saskatoon's FolkFest, or the John Arcand Fiddle Festival?

This is far from an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. All of these events receive some sort of funding through municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Festivals provide people with entertainment, artists with publicity, communities with tourism, and cultures with exposure. It's one thing to say government shouldn't support political activism -- although the argument that WAM is political activism is tenuous -- but it's something else entirely to say they should pull out of funding festivals altogether. But given that these festivals are all filled with drug users, fornicators, and godless homos, I'm not surprised he has that opinion.

This is Lee's second news release attacking Saskatchewan's arts industry -- you may remember his tirade against the film industry two weeks ago. By the way, Lee, I'm still waiting for a piece on the new salaries for the Sask Party's legislative staff. Why don't you get your non-partisan ass on that?

PA Mill Addendum

I can't back this up with any news items, so let me apologize off the top. But if SDA can make post after post of unsubstantiated claims, so can I.

Further to my previous post, I've been told by a reliable source close to the Leader of the Opposition that Prince Albert Mayor Jim Scarrow found out through the media that the Sask Party would not be honouring the Domtar MOU. When Calvert phoned Domtar CEO Raymond Royer to talk about the current mill situation, he was told that Royer also learned of the Sask Party's actions through the media.

Neither Wall, nor Boyd, nor Hicke felt it was necessary to talk to the Mayor of the city or the CEO of the company on the other end of the agreement before taking action. We're already seeing that this style of "consultation" will be a common theme for this government.

The Prince Albert Mill

QP the last couple of days has been dominated by talk of the mill -- specifically Darryl Hicke's bungling on the doorstep and Brad Wall's shredding of the MOU with Domtar.

Hicke is on the record saying the NDP gave the residents of PA false hope over the mill deal:

"I'm disappointed the NDP gave false hope to the workers at the mill," said Hickie.

He said the memorandum of understanding signed between the NDP government and Domtar was never legally binding and never promised anyone their job back. But that's what the NDP led people to believe, said Hickie.

"It was an election ploy," said Hickie.
(PA Herald, Dec. 4/07)

When paired with the current scandal Hicke's involved in, this becomes the stuff of high comedy:

But even more problematic for Wall is justifying how scrapping the MOU squares with those little cards Prince Albert Carlton Saskatchewan Party MLA Darryl Hickie was handing out on election doorsteps proclaiming: "A vote for Darryl is a vote for the mill open (sic) & people working."

On Tuesday, Wall was eventually forced to acknowledge to reporters outsider the chamber that, if the mill isn't reopened, P.A. voters will be well within their rights to decide that Hickie misled them on this commitment. This isn't good news in a seat that the Saskatchewan Party won by a mere 61 votes.
(Regina Leader-Post, Dec. 12/07)

From what I understand, even though the MOU was riddled with wiggle words, Domtar was serious about opening the mill and was approaching the project in good faith. I don't know if Wall, Hicke, Boyd, and the rest of the Sask Party realize this, but according to the Forest Sector Task Force, the mill is the lynchpin to the forest industry in Saskatchewan -- an industry valued at 1% of the provinces GDP, or $500 million a year. We lost half a percent when the mill closed, so we could very well lose the other half a percent if the industry collapses.

Of course, all of this is lost on Wall, who is only interested in pursuing his three objectives: lower taxes, sell the crowns, and bust the unions. Any issue not tied to those three objectives will be on the periphery. Consider Wall's pre-election statement:

However, Wall said that if he becomes the next premier, work would continue to reopen the mill.

"We want to see a resolution for this. The asset there could be an asset in the forestry industry and there is a role for the government in facilitating that," he said."

We would very much want to sit down with Domtar," he said, and "try to find a way to open that pulp mill. What we will not do is risk - in either grant money or equity - taxpayers' money."

The work that's been done is not lost," he said, if an election is called.
(PA Herald, Oct. 9/07)

And here's a press release from Domtar dated Nov. 30/07:

Montreal, November 30, 2007 – Domtar was informed today that the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan is not prepared to participate in the financing of the redevelopment of the Prince Albert pulp mill as set forth in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on September 12, 2007.

Although Domtar recognizes that the Saskatchewan Government remains committed to ensuring the future of northern Saskatchewan’s forest resource, the Government’s decision to withdraw its support narrows down Domtar’s options regarding the Prince Albert facilities.

Consequently, Domtar will terminate all work being done on this project.

At least Wall's being consistent about the MOU.

What Wall and Boyd are not mentioning is that the province is still on the hook for the costs of the environmental clean-up -- which, in fairness, can be tied back to the NDP. But there's also the looming possibility of legal action from Domtar over the cancellation of the agreement, the settlement of which could make Spudco look like -- well, small potatoes.

Dad Be Not Proud

In Friday's Moose Jaw Times Herald, Ron Walter did a piece on Moose Jaw's newest MLA, Warren Michelson. The article is a shoddy piece of crap that degenerates rapidly into something about Brad Wall, but I'd stopped reading by the time Michelson started talking about how impressed he was with Wall's frankness. Well sir, if Wall was as frank with Saskatchewan voters as he was with you, we'd see him sidelined as Leader of the Opposition for another four years.

Be that as it may, the important thing to twig on to in this article is how Michelson credits his dad with telling him that if it’s important enough to do, it's important enough to do it right.

Really, Warren? What exactly were you trying to do in the election: provide honest and fair representation to the people of Moose Jaw, or fleece the voters? Because if it was the latter, you certainly did a good job. Tell me how the avoidance of two scheduled public debates without justification -- the latter a mere 30 minutes before being scheduled to speak -- counts as anything but a public fleecing.

Let's be straight for a minute here, Warren: you won by 31 votes. This is not a mandate to govern. This is a fluke. This is an aberration. You can be awed by the Legislature as much as you like, but don't think you belong there, even as a lowly government backbencher. You got lucky.

I want to believe you can make your dad proud, Warren, I really do. But the way to do it is not by ducking debates or hiding behind party rhetoric; it's by being honest with the public, being approachable, and treating people with respect. Unfortunately for you, your party's off to a pretty rocky start, and I'll be surprised if you do anything but get swept up in the wash.

Essential Services

I've said it before, but it's a point I think bears repeating: the Sask Party is an unholy alliance of hard-line Conservatives with a bunch of blue Liberals. Wall is trying very hard to keep the soft and chewy Liberal face on his party for the public's benefit, but after being sidelined for 16 years, the hard, crunchy Conservatives are spoiling for a fight; they want action, dammit, and they want it now.

So, to keep his party from breaking apart before reaching the ultimate goal of kicking the NDP out of power, Wall has had to make some assurances to his hard-line supporters: we'll privatize industry, we'll cut social services, we'll bust those unions. Just give us your vote and relax. And knowing they couldn't win government on that platform, they've had to tuck those hard, crunchy parts away, fooling the public into thinking the Sask Party was soft and chewy all the way through.

Unfortunately, some of those nuts he's hidden are starting to show through.

In a media scrum earlier this week, Rob Norris politely give the answer "I'll have to get back to you on that" to the question, "What groups have you consulted with over this proposed essential services legislation?" Of course we found out later that the answer was none, because, as Norris again so nicely explained, the legislation has been in the works for over a year -- without any kind of stakeholder

I'm sure SUN is going to be pretty happy about this.

So how about another round of applause for Rob Norris, who's too stupid to brief himself on his portfolio and too stupid not to release more of the Sask Party's hidden agenda to the media.

There's a long list of people talking about Wall's and McMorris's backpedaling on this issue, in addition to articles in the Leader-Post, CBC, and the Canadian Press -- hell, even Mandryk chimed in with something negative -- so I don't think I can break any new ground. But communication is clearly lacking in the Sask Party caucus right now -- partly because of inexperience, partly because of incompetence, and partly because there are simply too many secrets they need to keep.

Hey Yogi, Where's Your Pic-a-nic Basket?

Poor old Yogi Huyghebaert. It appears he's pretty put-off by being left out of cabinet. He was gruffer than usual on Tuesday, by all accounts, and at the swearing in he was very quiet and sat by himself with his arms crossed, frowning.

You used to be kind of a big deal, didn't you Yogi? And now you're nothing but a Conservative back-bencher. I don't understand it. They put a crooked cop into cabinet but they can't put you in? Weren't you a Snowbird?

Still Waiting for the Pictures, Kate

Kate over at the Conservative echo chamber Small Dead Animals posted that pictures were coming for her story about the outgoing NDP government trashing offices in the legislature.

Well it's been a week, Kate, and as predicted, not a single picture has shown up. What a surprise. I would never, ever expect you to post a bunch of crap on your shitty little site and try to pass it off as news. Could it be -- and I'm just going out on a limb, here -- that your story is a total fabrication? That there in fact was no damage to the offices, and the Sask Party is using this tired excuse to do some renovations? Or that, I don't know, painting offices and cleaning carpets are standard procedure when there's a change in government?

The truth is there was no vandalism in the legislature by either party. There was no mention of this in the media. And Kate will have no pictures forthcoming. You owe us an apology, babe. Not that we'll get one, but you do.

Here's the story that goes along with the picture you posted, too. You'll note there's nothing mentioning the sinister coyote -- not wolf -- left in Wall's office. He seems pretty pleased with the thing anyway. Must have been a slow day at the spin machine. (Leader-Post, Nov. 23)

Of course, having no brain of her own, Kate can hardly be blamed for spreading this gross falsehood: she's only allowed to say what the Sask Party tells her to. I wouldn't be surprised to find out she's nothing more than a paper mache mask with a walkie-talkie inside.

Labour is on the Agenda

Session starts again on Dec. 10, and Wall has already said Labour is on the agenda. His need to get this out of the way so soon means something is in the works. So much for Larry Hubich's request for compromise:

Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Larry Hubich said he'll be looking to the government to consult broadly before any changes are made, adding the labour movement is prepared to be respectful and "engage in compromises."

"If that's the approach that the new government wants to take then I think they'll see a favourable response from the labour movement," Hubich said, who has written the premier to request a meeting between labour leaders and cabinet.

"If they're not interested in that approach, then they shouldn't be surprised at the kind of response that might ensue."
(Leader-Post, Nov. 23)

No Larry, they're clearly not interested in that approach. Barely a month after the election and they're already going into session? Who could they have possibly consulted?

What's more concerning than their clear agenda to change the labour laws is the hidden agenda Rob Norris lets out of the bag:

When asked about the planned changes to labour legislation, Norris said there is a need to "rebalance relationships."

But the minister said he couldn't detail which relationships or the changes that need to occur until he was more fully briefed about his new portfolio.
(Leader-Post, Nov. 23)

Rob is clear that there's a need to rebalance the relationship between labour and management, but he apparently doesn't know where or what that imbalance is. If he's saying this just to toe the party line on labour, then he's an idiot. If he shed some more light on the Sask Party's hidden agenda, which is more likely, then he's an idiot and a liar.

Brad Can't Add

Mandrake came out hitting pretty hard with his piece Friday about how the province's finances are probably better than Brad Wall would care to admit (Leader-Post, Nov. 23).

He starts by saying $2 billion in the bank would cover the Sask Party's election promises, then asks if Lorne Calvert is lying about the money in the bank. We know from the bumblings of Dan D'Autremont that the Sask Party says one thing when they mean another, so it's not surprising to have Wall forced into a corner so quickly.

Mandrake is uneven in his column when he should be hard-hitting. Although he does point out that this is an old political tactic to lower voter expectations, and is also likely a way for Wall to criticize the spending of the outgoing government, he stops just short of Wall's promise to curb the growth of the civil service and his promise of no deficit budgeting. And in spite of Wall's insistence in the following quote, I think we'll be seeing both of those promises go out the window very shortly:

"We're going through a transition program right now. I can tell you this, there's no directive today in that (cabinet) room ... to say 'Here, we're going to find a bunch of savings through fewer public service jobs.' We have said we think government ought not to grow faster than the population it serves. We will be looking for efficiencies and savings in government and I think that's reasonable given what we will report," he said.
(Leader-Post, Nov. 23)

Another thing we can expect is the privatization of SPM. There are certainly some budgetary efficiencies to make up there.