It is becoming increasingly evident that Canada and most of the world will not come anywhere close to meeting the Paris climate targets meant to avoid the danger of global warming of more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial period. More urgently, the recent IPCC report warns that we have a…
Read more
With Greyhound Canada’s announcement that it will suspend all bus service in Western Canada, the Saskatchewan government’s insistence that the private sector can effectively provide inter-city transportation is looking more and more like wishful thinking. In the wake of the Saskatchewan government’s decision to wind down the Saskatchewan Transportation Company…
Read more
Premier Scott Moe tweeted this graphic on equalization yesterday. The tweet continues the Saskatchewan government’s long record of misrepresenting how equalization works in the hopes of ginning up anti-Quebec and anti-Ottawa sentiment among the Saskatchewan electorate. However, this time the misrepresentation goes one further, as it implies the graph is…
Read more
It’s no secret that there is probably no bigger booster of the oil industry than the Saskatchewan government. Former Premier Brad Wall took any and every opportunity to champion the industry while publicly opposing virtually any policy—higher royalties, increased regulation, carbon pricing—that might threaten the industry’s profitability. Mr. Wall was…
Read more
For those that feared that the Saskatchewan government would continue the punishing austerity they laid out in 2017, this year’s budget came as a mild relief. While the 2018 budget doesn’t restore the cuts made last year, the government appears to have opted for holding the line – offering no…
Read more
Despite the provincial government’s insistence that its budget cuts would “strike a balance” among those affected, Wednesday’s budget sure seemed to favour some over others. While the government’s budget cuts and tax increases landed disproportionately on the shoulders of the poor, it simultaneously lavished multiple tax breaks on corporations. That…
Read more
Brad Wall has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea for Saskatchewan; privatizing SaskTel. While the suggestion of privatizing Sasktel has been floated by the government for the past year, the idea took on new life yesterday with the Premier once again musing about the possibility of a referendum…
Read more
The Saskatchewan government’s recent legislative efforts to define what is – and what is not – “privatization,” has left us all floundering in a game of useless semantics. Does the sale of a 49% stake in a provincial Crown corporation constitute “privatization?” Or is it merely “partial privatization?” Can something…
Read more
Speaking in a 2013 year-end interview with CTV News, Premier Brad Wall had this to say about his government’s approach to the economy and the private sector: “We’ve said, as a government, that we’re not going to try to pick winners and losers. In the past, governments of all stripes have…
Read more
It’s always nice to be recognized. So it was a pleasant surprise to see both Minister Don McMorris and the Saskatchewan Party address our latest study on the government’s liquor privatization plan. Unfortunately, both the Minister and the Saskatchewan Party appear to be struggling with some of the math involved…
Read more