This past Wednesday my wife and I drove down to Saskatoon for the evening just to take in the sights – of a national politician who was actually coming to Saskatchewan to talk to our provincial voters – and no, it wasn’t Mark Carney I came down to see, but rather Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal NDP.
Now, just in case you don’t know this, he is the leader of the FEDERAL wing of a party that, with the HELP and inspiration of our RURAL communities, somehow managed to get the folks in Upper and Lower Canada to say to themselves, “Hey, this Medicare ‘thing’ that Saskatchewan politicians are pushing us to have adopted at the federal level; I think this is a GREAT idea…” – and Tommy Douglas “brought it home”, just so that ALL of Canada could benefit from our rural voters knowing a good thing when they see or hear of one.
Please note: NOWHERE in that acceptance did I EVER hear someone claiming that this legislation was created by some “Saskatchewan hick” or “Saskatchewan redneck” or “Saskatchewan hillbilly” for that matter – and yet somehow, way out there hanging onto the extreme right of political philosophical belief there’s this party that claims that only “they…truly represent the people of rural Saskatchewan”, only then do the asinine comments that are perpetually uttered by the ignorance get attached to the individuals that created the Medicare dream.
There are a lot of these people that suddenly crawl out from under a wood pile to besmirch the intellect of most Saskatchewanians. My once favourite example of such conduct was none other than former premier Brad Wall, whose usage of “taxpayer” cued the foam gathering on the corners of every redneck’s mouth to be spat upon the efforts of our Indigenous citizens instead of the budgetary failures of Devine, Moe and Wall himself.
There are others, of course; take, for instance, Sask Party MLA for Humboldt – Watrous Racquel Hilbert, calling Jagmeet a “terrorist” on March 25th, and in the Marble Palace, no less. Why – because Mr. Singh is a Sikh, and some Sikh separatist blew up Air India Flight 182 in 1985, killing 329 people in the process, most of whom were Canadians tied to relatives living on the Indian sub-continent of Asia? I don’t suppose that this bomber was motivated by revenge over the realization that thousands of Sikhs have been slaughtered by Indian troops in FOUR attacks on the Punjab’s Golden Temple, but when you’ve got lentils to sell, I guess your political conscience goes off in the direction of the currency blowing away from the sale.
But look on the bright side of things. Ms. Hilbert is STILL in caucus representing the best interests of rural Saskatchewanians, so poor Premier Moe is able to utilize his time worrying about canola sales to China being thwarted by 100 per cent tariffs imposed upon their shipment, and his best buddy and source of speechmaking content Danielle Smith not dragging him along to Florida to hobnob with the Trump gang at Mar-a-Logo. That’s ALL while wondering just when his federal friend, Pierre Poilievre, is going to come to town to tell his rural acolytes that Canada is dangerously coming close to electing another Liberal blemish (he means “pimple”, but – whatever…) is again about to ravage Saskatchewan’s dormant and technologically handicapped economic system by pouring more “green energy” onto the current bonfire that will eventually describe the coming summer’s fire season.
Come to think of it, why is it that only Singh and Carney have been here, and Poilievre hasn’t even offered a date to visit? That’s actually funny, because Jagmeet liked the way that the floor of Rachel Loewen Walker’s campaign office bounced when the 280 or more Dippers started dancing, that he even stuck around until Thursday. What’s more, in his brief 20 minute presentation to the people on hand, Singh stuck to the issues that Canadians have been telling him were of most importance to them – an insufficient number of family doctors and health care workers, a lack of affordable homes to buy, the cost of living already inflated due to Covid and supply chain manipulation, and now Trump’s tariffs making them worry about whether they’d even have jobs come next week when the tariffs are supposed to go into effect.
Where Mr. Singh gleaned the most applause, however, was for his statement maintaining that Canada would NEVER become “the 51st state” so fervently bellowed as he adjusts his plans for American expansion into other lands such as Greenland – and with NATO’s “assistance”, if you believe the news respecting Trump’s meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
The irony here is that now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump are busily dismantling the American health care system, health professionals are looking northward to the land of Medicare and thinking, “Hey, a job where I don’t require supplemental training and insurance companies won’t be driving me nuts with needless paperwork” – and ALL thanks to the in-depth thinking of Saskatchewan’s rural thinkers creating Medicare…
And you must start to wonder why so many of their rural brethren are STILL considering voting Conservative, when that party hasn’t even come out with a policy position that would help them to work through future problems such as land pollution through excessive usage of chemicals, ignoring fiscal concerns of so-called “small” farms, and ongoing talks as to what to expect from future climate change concerns?
While you’re at it, try to remember Poilievre’s closing words to most of his speeches of late, highlighting the belief that if one is “willing to work hard”, they may be “rewarded” by a “comfortable home” located “on a safe street” under “a great flag”…etc.
What do these phrases eerily remind you of, other than plagiarizing “the American dream” myth?
That’s not me; my life must include having some social value after it die; I’m not just interested in “getting by” – because I’m a Canadian, and that’s the way we think…
