Danny Williams Doesn't Speak For Me

I've written on here before in support of Danny Williams. However, I cannot support his latest tirade. On Mike Duffy tonight, he sounded like a combination of an offensive loudmouth and a crying baby.

He stated that when Newfoundland and Labrador Conservative MP's voted for the budget last night, they voted against Newfoundland, Nova Scotia MPs voted against Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan MPs voted against Saskatchewan. As someone from Saskatchewan, I can say that I do not feel that way. I think that all three provinces got more than a fair deal in getting equalization payments. I don't agree with the whole concept of equalization and feel that if a province has resources at its disposal, why should those resources be excluded from equalization payments? Do they not generate wealth? Equalization discourages self-reliance and provides a disincentive for provinces to become "have provinces".

Mr. Williams, perhaps you should focus more on the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador so that the province can generate its own wealth instead of crying about the fact that Stephen Harper isn't giving you enough of someone else's.

Amazingly Boring Pre-Election Budget

If the people of Saskatchewan weren't sure that we need a change of government at the provincial level, they damn well should be after the release of today's budget.

In the time of an unprecedented economic boom (which they have still failed to fully capitalize on) Calvert's government has posted a DEFICIT BUDGET!! Despite what radicals such as Buckdog have to say about it actually being a surplus, the numbers don't lie. It's simple math: the revenues do not keep pace with the spending for this given year. That sounds like a deficit to me! This type of budgeting is not sustainable because that "rainy day fund" will not last much longer. My theory is that the NDP knows that it is bound to lose the next election and wants to get rid of that rainy day fund so that none of it is left when the power changes hands.

Other announcements, according to canada.com:

— A $15 cap on the cost of each drug prescription for every senior in the province.

Really? Because seniors add so much to our tax base that they obviously require more of the major spending (regardless of whether they are hard done by financially or ridiculously well off). Or could it be that Seniors in this province are most likely to vote for the NDP, many of whom still being hold-outs from the Douglas era?

— A $10,000 tax exemption for post-secondary school graduates for the first five years after graduation.

I'll give them this. I don't mind it. However, if a healthy business climate existed in Saskatchewan, young people might want to be here all on their own...

— Continuation of a tuition freeze that began in 2004.

Tuition freezes suck. This is bad public policy and doesn't help students. The money used to fund this would better be directed towards improving student financial assistance, then people really in need would benefit, instead of everyone who attends university. Thinking of it this way might require too much thought for Calvert to handle, hence the seniors drug plan... Yes, these two policies are excruciatingly similar in that they cost a lot of money but the assistance is really only needed by a few.

— Continuation of the eight per cent cut to the education portion of property tax for residential and commercial property. Cut will be deepened to 10 per cent if the federal budget passes and the province gets its equalization money.

Good move. It's about time. The best way that the Saskatchewan Government can offer tax relief to the people of Saskatchewan is through property tax reductions.

— Funding for 3,117 additional MRI scans and 5,455 bone mineral density scans to shorten waiting lists.

This is an announcement? Shouldn't it just be happening?

— Creating a dental sealant program for students in Grades 1 to 7 at community schools.

All students? Or those most in need? As it turns out, only for high risk students. So I guess Calvert's realized that young people with families aren't the people who would vote for the NDP unless they are high risk, unlike the senior drug program, which is just for everyone, because most seniors vote for the NDP.

— Social assistance increases of $10 a month for Saskatchewan Assistance Plan and Transitional Employment Allowance recipients and $5 a month increase in the personal living allowance.

Another continuation of the same old programs, just increasing funding. More evidence of a lack of forward thinking on the part of this tired government.

— Fully funding the provincial share of the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization program.

If it is the provincial share, why wasn't it fully funded before? That should be the question.

Now, what about what wasn't in the budget?
- Review of our increasingly expensive health care system
- Addressing the burgeoning bureaucracy
- Some sort of tax incentives for environmentally friendly consumers (isn't the environment the biggest issue on people's minds these days?)

What is surprising, however, is that this is a pre-election budget. Has there been a less inspiring budget? Shouldn't a pre-election budget be full of pizazz and big ticket items? Drugs for seniors and a tuition freeze for PSE students? Those are the big items?

I really can't wait until the next provincial budget when the Saskatchewan Party reintroduces financial prudence and releases some ideas that inspire the people of this fine province.

Even Socialist Sweden Gets It: "Governing and Running Businesses Don't Mix"

I came across an interesting article in the Financial Post. It is available here.

It seems that even Sweden, renowned for its socialism, is getting out of the business of running government corporations.

It really is a shame that the people of Saskatchewan are such cowards when it comes to change. It is actually incredible that the Saskatchewan Party was defeated in 2003 because the pusillanimous people of this province feared that they would sell off the crowns. This should have been something that the people embraced. Because of that, the Saskatchewan Party has no intention of selling off our crowns, even though it makes the best sense to do so.

As the article states: "A World Bank study found privatized firms increase profit by 45%, output by 27%, efficiency by 11%, capital spending by 44%, and jobs by 6%." How would this not benefit our province?

It also states: "Meanwhile, back in booming, resource-rich Saskatchewan, Finance Minister Andrew Thomson has said he will have to dip into a rainy day fund to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to balance the budget. He should instead sell many of the province's businesses, which account for about 12% of GDP, twice the national rate."

I wholeheartedly agree. Why, in the time of an economic boom, is the Calvert government dipping into a slush fund? If the province really needs the money, it should be selling off some of the many crown corporations that it runs.

Sadly, Saskatchewan is plagued by a people who fear change and despise progress. We are so crippled by socialism that we can't even fathom the idea of private companies providing our utilities, despite the fact that competition would improve service and economic output for the province as whole. And, with even the most right-leaning party in the province committing to leave the crowns alone, what is best for the economy of the province may never come to fruition. We can only hope that they do get elected in the next election. For if they don't, we may be sentenced to another generation of NDP rule and the further "publicization" of corporation and services in this socialist republic.

News Flash: Dion Can't Speak English!

John Murney had a link up to this article from Larry Zolf about Dion's poor English language skills. In it, Zolf makes a good point about Dion: "a unilingual francophone who in over 10 years in federal office did not save the environment nor bother to learn the English language."

I, as someone who can speak very little French, understand that it is likely quite difficult for someone of Dion's age to pick up English when he became a cabinet minister. However, he was just that: a cabinet minister in the federal government. Was there not opportunity during this time for Dion to learn English? I think that all of our federal cabinet ministers should be taking language training in whichever offical language they are not fluent. In fact, that should probably apply to any MP. The story in Zolf's article about Jean Chretien is one that current MPs should take to heart.

Perhaps people were reluctant to criticize Dion at first about his language skills, fearing that it would be politically incorrect or something to do so. I do not think that it is inappropriate at all. Anyone who wishes to lead the country should be able to speak both official languages fluently. They should also be comfortable in both languages so that they can demonstrate charm, wit and charisma. Not only that, but from a politically advantageous angle, if there is one language that one should be able to grasp at a higher level, it should be English. After all, a heck of a lot more people in Canada speak English, amounting to more anglophone seats that francophone seats to be won.

I predict that come this Spring, or fall or next Spring, that Dion's polling numbers will continue to fall as the campaign progresses and people see him in the limelight struggling to communicate his ideas. But honestly, how many Canadians are really going to vote for someone that they can't understand?

Landslide in Martensville

Nancy Heppner won a stunning landslide victory in Martensville last night! The margin by which she won far surpassed my prediction of 58%, as she won with nearly 77% of the vote while Tzupa took 10% and the Liberals 8%.

I think everyone knew that this would be a very comfortable victory for the Saskatchewan Party. However, I don't know how many people expected a landslide of this proportion. This definitely bodes well for the Sask Party going into a provincial election. The same cannot be said for the Calvert government.

Unfortunately, this might mean that a Spring vote is out of the question now if Calvert uses the results as any sort of gauge of how the provincial vote might go.

Looks like we'll be going to the polls this fall with a scared government that will no doubt be campaigning via spending announcements for the next six months or so.

Martensville By-Election Today

The Martensville By-Election is today. This will be a good guage to see how the provincial parties will fare in the next provincial election expected sometime this year. No, the Sask Party can't expect the landslide that they'll see today. However, it will be interesting to see if the NDP ends up in third place. If they do, it could spell trouble for them in the next provincial election. It might be that left-leaning voters opt for the Liberals rather than the NDP in the next election and in that case, Calvert and Co. could suffer a defeat in the provincial election far worse than the one that even they are anticipating right now.

My prediction:

Saskatchewan Party: 58%
Liberals: 22%
NDP: 20%