Quickly, now; before reading any further in this column and wondering whether or not I was perfectly “serious” about what I’m about to write (I am), I want you to write down the TOP TEN ECONOMIC ISSUES that plague your family at the moment.
Seriously! I’ll wait…
Now, if you’re living in a Saskatchewan city, I want you to call a friend that lives in a rural area where Scott Moe actually has voters foolishly believing that the Saskatchewan Party IS “truly the voice of rural voters”, and compare your list with theirs…
Now tell me: Do EITHER of these lists by any chance reference “erectile dysfunction” as being a serious economic issue to which Saskatchewan voters should be paying attention?
No? Then why is it that the media is making a big deal out of the Sask Party is trying to pretend that the Legislature should be prioritizing a story involving assault rifles, and Attorney General Tim McLeod claiming that “gun owners could soon be able to store their own federally-banned firearms”?
Yeah, I “get it”: the agricultural community often has the need for a rifle to rid its operations from the occasional threat to their levels of food production – but an automated assault rifle is the ONLY weapon that will do the job for this group of individuals, and thus “reason” for ALL of these like-minded individuals to oppose the buy-back program now in place that the federal government hopes will remove most of them from our living environment?
Look, anyone who takes the political temperature in this province knows full well that the ONLY reason that the Sask Party is making this “a big deal” is because their next budget will AGAIN produce a deficit, which in case any voter has happened to forget the official “number” in that economic cesspool, is about to hit $42 billion, a number that makes former Premier Grant Devine look like a penny pincher.
I am so sick and tired of constantly reading the MLA Reports, and especially the ones from Carlton Riding MLA Kevin Kasun always starting off with just how much this province’s economy is “growing”, ignoring the reality of so much of our current tax burden goes towards the servicing of our debt, then sprinkles fairy dust on his offerings, featuring the Prince Albert Union Hospital, where “when finished, the new multi-story tower will feature a rooftop heliport, an expanded emergency department, larger operating rooms, a maternity unit with a new NICU, and updated medical imaging services…”
Am I “picking on” Mr. Kasun? Of course I am, because, there’s nothing new even in yesterday’s offering. Why aren’t voters in this city asking themselves why we’ve never had anyone in Cabinet other than Joe Hargrave, who was temporarily given a prominent role in directing the economic direction for northern Saskatchewan, then turned into “toast” once he dismantled the Saskatchewan Transportation Company, all while “saving” the province peanuts in the process.
So, Mr. Kasun, when are we getting our second bridge?
If Mr. Kasun feels maligned by my comments, then perhaps we should be debating this some night at the high school. Pick a night, book the auditorium, charge $2 for entry which we’ll eventually donate to the Food Bank.
I’ll even let you choose the topic to debate…
Let’s face reality here; almost ALL of the political aspersions cast about by our “conservative” parties are nothing more than illusions filled with chronic disinformation. IF Premier Moe were “serious” about the perceived “need” to have the period for collection of these now banned firearms while providing their former owners with “fair compensation” (the feds are already offering an above market price for turning these weapons in; it’s the total amount that they’ve budgeted for the confiscation that’s the issue here, NOT the buy-back price), then he’d stop listening to the fifty or so people who support his party and sleep with these weapons. Have Mr. McLeod place a personal call to Buckley Belanger and have him plead with the PM to up the ante a tad, while extending the final date of confiscation for another twelve months. But, no, our premier would rather believe that he can retain his political base by fixing on an issue that carries emotional baggage to which so many rural Saskatchewanians relate instead of talking about our very sick economy.
I’m fairly certain that our rural male voters aren’t busily searching Walmart pharmacy locales for “natural” medication instead preferring to show some empathy with Canadians increasingly concerned about the increasing number of firearms smuggled into Canada from the U.S., while trying to relate to the victims of the mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge and Nova Scotia, not to mention the families of the four RCMP officers who in March of 2005 were executed in Mayerthorpe, AB by James Roszko.
Unfortunately, this constant utilization of disinformation techniques should be a concern to our federal MP, Randy Hoback, whose recent “Hoback Herald” ridiculed the gun collection buy-back efforts undertaken by the feds in Nova Scotia, as though Maritimers were in sympathy with the feelings of Premier Moe on this matter. For myself, his article was highly embarrassing, as not only do I conduct occasional business with Mr. Hoback, but having lived in Nova Scotia while attending university, I understand the trauma its people are still going through following Gabriel Wortman’s April 2020 shooting rampage.
Canadians do NOT need any “right to bear arms”, but should instead be prepared to share their concerns and arrive at a consensus as to how best to implement laws that protect the privileges of Canadian gun owners while simultaneously protecting Canadians from violent harm.
Unfortunately, you’re not going to get that approach being undertaken by Scott Moe, especially at a time when he’s about to add another billion or so dollars to our provincial deficit…
