Ideas of a soccer guy!

Montgomery battle brews

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-06:00

This neighbourhood maybe right. or they maybe wrong but they should go after the property and buy it when it was up for sale me think?

2012-01-02T19:51:00.001-06:00

Dazed and confused he told me leader is. I am acting VP and
our leader is not doing his job.At our last exec meeting he cried the blues and was not gettting info to us. I have to file the end of the year stuff. He is only stay on until he finds a job. I want you be someone with signing authority. I am not sure what is going to happen.

Mayor says River Landing paying off

2011-12-31T09:33:00.000-06:00

Mayor says River Landing paying off

Here is another example of the Saskatoon is growing up. Once sleepy small city is be coming a new strong giant and major player in the world. I hope the civivc fathers and mothers see the mistakes made in other place and learn from them.

Henk Ruys was key to local soccer scene

2011-12-16T05:23:00.000-06:00

Henk Ruys was key to local soccer scene

There is people who come into one live help shapes who you are. I have been very lucky to have may people like that in my. Life Henk was one of them. Always had a smile and working for the good of soccer. And the love of the game, he told me once give back to the game and give back to society,. Thanks for the that lesson. A thanks for be a person in my life.

MP Justin Trudeau ignites Parliamentary potty-mouths in House

2011-12-15T05:26:00.000-06:00

MP Justin Trudeau ignites Parliamentary potty-mouths in House

Sometimes a spare as to be called a spare. Justin please come save us from this bunch of wing nuts and ding dongs, and ding bats. The present government only cares are about there view and no one else. 4 yrs of this government will be shape Canada in very bad way.

Council passes four per cent tax hike

2011-12-08T19:13:00.000-06:00

Council passes four per cent tax hike

The comments by Council Person :

Coun. Myles Heidt said the routes changes show transit can longer "be everything to everyone."

"If you want good bus service buy a house on a bus route," Heidt said. "You can't expect a bus to come. If you want to use your vehicle build wherever you want."

This very bad!

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Council+passes+four+cent+hike/5828191/story.html#ixzz1fzn9nMe2

Attawapiskat residents are 'dying slowly' as Tories question spending, chief says

2011-12-06T21:02:00.000-06:00

Attawapiskat residents are 'dying slowly' as Tories question spending, chief says

Help the people 1st then study the problem in how it happen here in Canada. OMG

Memos anticipate religious freedom office sensitivities - Politics - CBC News

2011-12-03T09:02:00.000-06:00

Memos anticipate religious freedom office sensitivities - Politics - CBC News

Another thing that does not strike as right?

The representation deficit

2011-12-03T08:57:00.000-06:00

The representation deficit

At one time liberals would go after these groups hard . Is time for the new libel government to reach out to these groups and leaders bring them into the liberal fold.

Strombo | Mick Foley Campaigns Against Sexual Violence | CBC Television

2011-12-01T05:34:00.001-06:00

Strombo | Mick Foley Campaigns Against Sexual Violence | CBC Television

There is those think wrestlers are pieces of meat and dollars. But there are some of them who get it . That they are part of the human race. So do not to fast to judge.

Saskatoon City News: Street Activity: Baseline Study 2011

2011-11-19T07:40:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon City News: Street Activity: Baseline Study 2011: The way the public views its safety downtown and in the major business areas of Saskatoon has been a concern. The issue drew attention follo...

It has been a while to blog but have been busy ! Doing home reno also also life with work and life. But this a good start.

Street activity study ! what the homeless and in the inner city those on the streets in the neighbourhoods. Tell what you think? Is there anyone out there??

Adding seats a cynical tactic

2011-10-30T09:27:00.000-06:00

Adding seats a cynical tactic

So much for Steven harper caring for western Canada.

U.S. mulls Canadian border fence - Politics - CBC News

2011-09-29T18:12:00.000-06:00

U.S. mulls Canadian border fence - Politics - CBC News

What a day

2011-09-28T20:33:00.002-06:00

My day in a nutshell one supervisor saying it is everyone else fault.Then said will quit the job. Angry woman talks about a rude behavior. The client trys to talk to this supervisor but does no good. Then a man dies after he asks about his truck with his son watches on. OMG what a day.

Being a liberal in Saskatchewan not easy.

2011-08-16T21:04:00.002-06:00

My response to the article above.

AWOL Liberals hurt NDP
By Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post August 16, 2011 For however badly Liberals have done in Saskatchewan election campaigns during the past 40 years, their mere presence as a third-party has been relevant to the provincial political scene.

Perhaps their role as a thirdparty spoiler that's always allowed the NDP to win has been a bit overblown. But there's little doubt they've played a role as the third party in preventing big majority governments from happening.

It's worth noting that in the seven times the NDP has formed government in the past 40 years (out of 10 general elections), it received about 45 per cent or more of the popular vote five times and twice received a 50-per-cent-plus majority of the votes cast (1971 and 1991).

Only in 1975 and 1999 did the NDP gain power with 40 per cent or less, so it's not been completely fair to cast the Liberals as nothing but the third-party spoilers who have always been the NDP's best friends.

That said, there have been only four times (1971, 1982, 1991 and 2007) in the past 40 years the winning party received more than 50 per cent of the popular vote. And the government and opposition in Saskatchewan have only twice in the past 40 years (1971 and 1982) combined for 90 per cent or more of the popular vote, although they've come close in both 1986 (89.6 per cent) and 2007 (88.1 per cent).

The 2007 Saskatchewan election results were typical, in that the Saskatchewan Party got 50 per cent of the popular vote, yet only won 38 of the 58 seats, with 10 seats determined by less than 500 votes. That's partly because the third-place Liberals - who did not win any seats - still managed to poll 9.4 per cent. By doing, so, the David Karwackiled Grits in 2007 likely prevented a Sask. Party landslide - the traditional role for the Liberals.

Notwithstanding its stronger showings after losing power in the early 1970s, and a brief blip in the mid-1990s when it managed to form official Opposition, the Liberals have historically become the thirdparty that takes away just enough votes to prevent big government majorities. And when they don't do that - as was the case in 1982, when the Grits only received 4.5 per cent of the provincewide popular vote - we are likely to see to see those landslides.

This takes us to the relevance of today's Liberals ... or, better put, how the party's lack of a provincewide presence might have a different, but equally historically profound impact on Saskatchewan politics, come the Nov. 7 vote. We're a mere seven weeks away from the likely start of the November campaign and not a single Liberal candidate - including leader Ryan Bater who will be running in The Battlefords - has been nominated.

Moreover, while Bater does seem to opt for new media communication via Twitter or YouTube presentations, his party's only news release this year was nearly five months ago on the budget. Given some of Bater's stands, like his positions last year supporting the BHP Billiton takeover of Potash-Corp, or his opposition to public money in a new football stadium, one can safely assume it's not because of any unwillingness to take a controversial stand.

This lack of presence might be why the Liberals are at 4.2 per cent in a recent Insightrix poll, behind the Green Party, which has already nominated 22 candidates. Add to the equation that the Insightrix and other pollsters have the Sask. Party at 58 per cent of the popular vote - a showing that, if maintained on Nov. 7, would not only exceed the Tommy Douglas wins, but even the largest popular vote totals of the Liberals in 1912 and 1917.

With the gap between the Sask. Party and Dwain Lingenfelter's NDP - and no clear third-party option - it could also translate into a Sask. Party landslide.

But, while acknowledging he'd dearly love a bigger role in the provincewide political debate (including the televised leader's debate), Bater said in a telephone interview Monday that he won't run a thin provincewide campaign."We're focused on winning a seat. Period," said Bater, adding that the Liberals might run as few as 15 candidates, but probably will have more.

It's a deliberate strategy that will clearly take the Liberals away from their traditional role.

That might great news for the Sask. Party, but not so great for the NDP.

Mandryk Is The Political Columnist For The Leader-Post.

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

This article hit some nerves
Being a liberal in Saskatchewan is not easy to say the least. I have seen the might liberal party of my youth. Have be coming nothing more a little footnote in the Saskatchewan voters mind. Why well it is my fault as may of us we in the provincial liberal have become very lazy. And forgot how to win. The liberal in Saskatchewan looked for saviours after the might Ross . But we have not giving the leader our support in many ways. We in the party have not got out there a sold the party we let others to do the work.
Those could not do it or got tried of doing it.
As my friend the Oz would say there are to many cocktail liberal in Saskatchewan. Now those cocktails liberal are got and all we got in the party are ideologists and those who of glory with the least amount of work. At the 1st time in my life I am worried that the SK liberals will be no more. I am worried where and who I am going to vote for.

Saskatoon is on the brink

2011-08-15T20:37:00.002-06:00

Some people say thatsaskatoon is Calgary 20yrs ago. I am no sure but saskatoon is where Calgary of the 1970's so look a some numbers tell me what you think.

Population in Western cities booming
Name [6] 2006 [6] 2001 [7] 1996 [8] 1991 Census division
Calgary CMA 1,079,310 951,395 821,628 754,033 Division No. 6

Montreal below national average; Saguenay, Trois Rivières oldest cities, StatsCan says in demographic report
By SHANNON PROUDFOOT, Postmedia News July 21, 2011 Western Canada is home to an increasingly youthful and fast-growing population, while the eastern provinces are older and growing more slowly, according to new demographic analysis from Statistics Canada.

Saskatoon is Canada's fastest-growing city, with a population growth rate of 27.7 per 1,000 people between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010. That added 7,200 residents to the city, for a total population of 265,300, the agency said Wednesday.

Saskatoon is followed by Vancouver, growing at a rate of 22.3 per 1,000, and Regina, which also swelled by 22.3 per 1,000 over that same one-year period.

"There are some differences happening in the Western provinces compared to the Eastern provinces, and what's happening in Saskatchewan is quite interesting," says Anne Milan, a senior analyst with Statistics Canada's demography division and co-author of the report released Wednesday.

International migration was the driving force behind Saskatchewan's booming population, the agency says, with nearly half the population growth fuelled by that factor. Saskatoon alone gained 3,300 people through net international migration in that year, outstripping the international draw of larger cities such as Hamilton, Ont., and Quebec City.

Toronto was Canada's fourth fastest-growing city, followed by Calgary, Moncton, N.B., Edmonton, Ottawa-Gatineau and Winnipeg.

In contrast, cities including Halifax, Montreal, Kelowna, B.C., Victoria and St. John's had growth rates below the national average.

Only two cities - Windsor, Ont., and Sudbury, Ont., - registered population declines, losing residents to other Canadian cities.

"In some ways, it's the opposite story (in Eastern Canada), where there's generally lower fertility, they don't receive a large share of immigrants and net interprovincial migration is frequently negative," Milan says.

Amid an aging Canadian population, Saskatoon is also the youngest city in the country, with a median age of 35.4 years, compared to the national median of 39.7.

Many of Canada's other youngest cities are concentrated in the west, with Saskatoon followed by Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Toronto and Winnipeg. Those cities are also aging more slowly, fuelled by far more births than deaths and net gains in migration.

In contrast, Saguenay, Que., and Trois Rivières, Que., are the oldest cities in Canada, with median ages of 45.0 years, while Quebec City, St. John's, Kelowna, Victoria and St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont., are also older than average.

"Everything kind of interrelates," says Milan. "Population growth and the components of interprovincial migration and immigration and fertility - they all have an impact not only on population growth but the age structure."

There were 377,900 babies born in Canada in 2008, up from 354,600 in 2006 and the highest recorded number since 1995.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Saskatoon sports hall announces class of 2011

2011-06-24T05:28:00.001-06:00

Saskatoon sports hall announces class of 2011

It is time for Saskatoon Soccer to put up a Hall or Wall Frame of our own. Both players and managers and coaches! In the new Soccer centre so we can have more people to come throught the soccer centre.

Saskatoon sports hall announces class of 2011

2011-06-24T05:28:00.000-06:00

gordon lightfoot early morning rain

2011-06-17T19:47:00.000-06:00

Will we\ do it?

2011-05-15T09:15:00.005-06:00

WELL the federal liberal got our ass handed to us on election night. We as liberal party got kicked. We lost touch with the voters of Canada, Not just a little bit but a lot. What was it reason was it Iggy or was it because the sponsorship sandal or GUN CONTROL OR the NATIONAL ENERGY PROGRAM or was it we be became fat lazy as a party. As my friend EVO would say there to many cocktail liberals in the party. Our party does not have too many people who want to work. They rather Just throw money at things. so the avg voters see us as the party of the rich .And of those you say I know what is problem and I will fix it if you listen to me.

As someone who has worked in every election in different ways over the yrs. It has become noticeable that there are to many liberals that forgot what it take to WIN an election. That is hard work and do the work. so the federal liberal party doomed . No but is going to take a while to figure it out that we must listen to the voters and make it look like to them that we are telling them what to do. We must re correct with Western Canada, Then we will back as a national party. Not a rump party based in TO. Are we going to do it. I am not sure the mind is willing but the body is weak. I am know I am going my damnist to bring it back. UP there has to people willing to help.And helping is not just sitting on your ass and crying the blues . The work begins Now get over the election. Set the rules and let uson get with. This rebulit starts now. Get in tough with avg peerson go a listen to them. Do not hide.

Questions

2011-04-15T20:21:00.002-06:00

Once again I have questions to ask?

1. Who will win the federal election and does anybody really care?
2. Will the Saskatchewan party win again?
3. Will Vancouver Win the Stanley Cup ?
4. Will Saskatoon Blades win a memorial Cup?
5. Does any really care?

Legislature Notebook: Sask. Party lets attack ad proposal die

2011-03-20T19:41:00.002-06:00

Legislature Notebook: Sask. Party lets attack ad proposal die so Does mean republican style politicals will be in play in the next provinical election. Me thinks Yes!

Things that make think

2011-03-13T19:43:00.002-06:00

Recent events locall and globally that make think. This shows how weare all globally conncted.
Why I am not worried about Japan’s nuclear reactors.
Posted on March 13, 2011 by morgsatlarge
**Update**

Thanks for your interest. 200 000 hits and counting, number 2 on Twitter as of 8pm EST.

Follow Josef on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/josefoehmen

Short link to this page: http://bit.ly/joehmen

There exists a copy of this post on Barry Brooks excellent blog, where you can still use the discussion function: http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

This article refers mainly to the events of the Daiichi-1 reactor. The developments at Daiichi-3 seem to take a parallel course today. The explanations in this document will help you understand what is going on there as well. Stay informed at http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Venting_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_3_1303111.html

It is also save. “Nuclear meltdown” sells papers. It is the same quality of agitative journalism that far right wing parties resort to when they try to tell you that all immigrants are lazy criminals.

**Update**

If you wish to share this information, please link to this article. This is the place where Josef will (if he does) post any updates or direct you to the latest version.

**Update**

I have to stop moderating the comments as my parents in law have come over to stay with us due to the fear of aftershocks, so I am sorry if that causes any inconvenience, or stifles any debate. I honestly didn’t expect this level of interest (its over 32,000 views as of 11:12pm Japan time)

Just a few comments. I do not work for the nuclear industry. I am an English teacher, from Australia, living in Kawasaki, Japan. My friend Dr J. Oehmen is a family member, and by far and away the most intelligent person I know. Feel free to believe/disbelieve whatever we have written. There are no conspiracies, however if you need to, feel free to make some up. They are quite entertaining.

Japanese readers, I hope your family and loved ones are safe, everyone else, no matter what you believe stay safe.

Morgsatlarge.

**original post below**

I know this is a fairly full on statement from someone posting his very first blog. It will also be far and away the most well written, intelligent post I ever make (I hope!) It also means I am not responsible for its content.

This post is by Dr Josef Oehmen, a research scientist at MIT, in Boston.

He is a PhD Scientist, whose father has extensive experience in Germany’s nuclear industry. I asked him to write this information to my family in Australia, who were being made sick with worry by the media reports coming from Japan. I am republishing it with his permission.

It is a few hours old, so if any information is out of date, blame me for the delay in getting it published.

This is his text in full and unedited. It is very long, so get comfy.

I am writing this text (Mar 12) to give you some peace of mind regarding some of the troubles in Japan, that is the safety of Japan’s nuclear reactors. Up front, the situation is serious, but under control. And this text is long! But you will know more about nuclear power plants after reading it than all journalists on this planet put together.

There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity.

By “significant” I mean a level of radiation of more than what you would receive on – say – a long distance flight, or drinking a glass of beer that comes from certain areas with high levels of natural background radiation.

I have been reading every news release on the incident since the earthquake. There has not been one single (!) report that was accurate and free of errors (and part of that problem is also a weakness in the Japanese crisis communication). By “not free of errors” I do not refer to tendentious anti-nuclear journalism – that is quite normal these days. By “not free of errors” I mean blatant errors regarding physics and natural law, as well as gross misinterpretation of facts, due to an obvious lack of fundamental and basic understanding of the way nuclear reactors are build and operated. I have read a 3 page report on CNN where every single paragraph contained an error.

We will have to cover some fundamentals, before we get into what is going on.

Construction of the Fukushima nuclear power plants

The plants at Fukushima are so called Boiling Water Reactors, or BWR for short. Boiling Water Reactors are similar to a pressure cooker. The nuclear fuel heats water, the water boils and creates steam, the steam then drives turbines that create the electricity, and the steam is then cooled and condensed back to water, and the water send back to be heated by the nuclear fuel. The pressure cooker operates at about 250 °C.

The nuclear fuel is uranium oxide. Uranium oxide is a ceramic with a very high melting point of about 3000 °C. The fuel is manufactured in pellets (think little cylinders the size of Lego bricks). Those pieces are then put into a long tube made of Zircaloy with a melting point of 2200 °C, and sealed tight. The assembly is called a fuel rod. These fuel rods are then put together to form larger packages, and a number of these packages are then put into the reactor. All these packages together are referred to as “the core”.

The Zircaloy casing is the first containment. It separates the radioactive fuel from the rest of the world.

The core is then placed in the “pressure vessels”. That is the pressure cooker we talked about before. The pressure vessels is the second containment. This is one sturdy piece of a pot, designed to safely contain the core for temperatures several hundred °C. That covers the scenarios where cooling can be restored at some point.

The entire “hardware” of the nuclear reactor – the pressure vessel and all pipes, pumps, coolant (water) reserves, are then encased in the third containment. The third containment is a hermetically (air tight) sealed, very thick bubble of the strongest steel and concrete. The third containment is designed, built and tested for one single purpose: To contain, indefinitely, a complete core meltdown. For that purpose, a large and thick concrete basin is cast under the pressure vessel (the second containment), all inside the third containment. This is the so-called “core catcher”. If the core melts and the pressure vessel bursts (and eventually melts), it will catch the molten fuel and everything else. It is typically built in such a way that the nuclear fuel will be spread out, so it can cool down.

This third containment is then surrounded by the reactor building. The reactor building is an outer shell that is supposed to keep the weather out, but nothing in. (this is the part that was damaged in the explosion, but more to that later).

Fundamentals of nuclear reactions

The uranium fuel generates heat by nuclear fission. Big uranium atoms are split into smaller atoms. That generates heat plus neutrons (one of the particles that forms an atom). When the neutron hits another uranium atom, that splits, generating more neutrons and so on. That is called the nuclear chain reaction.

Now, just packing a lot of fuel rods next to each other would quickly lead to overheating and after about 45 minutes to a melting of the fuel rods. It is worth mentioning at this point that the nuclear fuel in a reactor can *never* cause a nuclear explosion the type of a nuclear bomb. Building a nuclear bomb is actually quite difficult (ask Iran). In Chernobyl, the explosion was caused by excessive pressure buildup, hydrogen explosion and rupture of all containments, propelling molten core material into the environment (a “dirty bomb”). Why that did not and will not happen in Japan, further below.

In order to control the nuclear chain reaction, the reactor operators use so-called “control rods”. The control rods absorb the neutrons and kill the chain reaction instantaneously. A nuclear reactor is built in such a way, that when operating normally, you take out all the control rods. The coolant water then takes away the heat (and converts it into steam and electricity) at the same rate as the core produces it. And you have a lot of leeway around the standard operating point of 250°C.

The challenge is that after inserting the rods and stopping the chain reaction, the core still keeps producing heat. The uranium “stopped” the chain reaction. But a number of intermediate radioactive elements are created by the uranium during its fission process, most notably Cesium and Iodine isotopes, i.e. radioactive versions of these elements that will eventually split up into smaller atoms and not be radioactive anymore. Those elements keep decaying and producing heat. Because they are not regenerated any longer from the uranium (the uranium stopped decaying after the control rods were put in), they get less and less, and so the core cools down over a matter of days, until those intermediate radioactive elements are used up.

This residual heat is causing the headaches right now.

So the first “type” of radioactive material is the uranium in the fuel rods, plus the intermediate radioactive elements that the uranium splits into, also inside the fuel rod (Cesium and Iodine).

There is a second type of radioactive material created, outside the fuel rods. The big main difference up front: Those radioactive materials have a very short half-life, that means that they decay very fast and split into non-radioactive materials. By fast I mean seconds. So if these radioactive materials are released into the environment, yes, radioactivity was released, but no, it is not dangerous, at all. Why? By the time you spelled “R-A-D-I-O-N-U-C-L-I-D-E”, they will be harmless, because they will have split up into non radioactive elements. Those radioactive elements are N-16, the radioactive isotope (or version) of nitrogen (air). The others are noble gases such as Argon. But where do they come from? When the uranium splits, it generates a neutron (see above). Most of these neutrons will hit other uranium atoms and keep the nuclear chain reaction going. But some will leave the fuel rod and hit the water molecules, or the air that is in the water. Then, a non-radioactive element can “capture” the neutron. It becomes radioactive. As described above, it will quickly (seconds) get rid again of the neutron to return to its former beautiful self.

This second “type” of radiation is very important when we talk about the radioactivity being released into the environment later on.

What happened at Fukushima

I will try to summarize the main facts. The earthquake that hit Japan was 5 times more powerful than the worst earthquake the nuclear power plant was built for (the Richter scale works logarithmically; the difference between the 8.2 that the plants were built for and the 8.9 that happened is 5 times, not 0.7). So the first hooray for Japanese engineering, everything held up.

When the earthquake hit with 8.9, the nuclear reactors all went into automatic shutdown. Within seconds after the earthquake started, the control rods had been inserted into the core and nuclear chain reaction of the uranium stopped. Now, the cooling system has to carry away the residual heat. The residual heat load is about 3% of the heat load under normal operating conditions.

The earthquake destroyed the external power supply of the nuclear reactor. That is one of the most serious accidents for a nuclear power plant, and accordingly, a “plant black out” receives a lot of attention when designing backup systems. The power is needed to keep the coolant pumps working. Since the power plant had been shut down, it cannot produce any electricity by itself any more.

Things were going well for an hour. One set of multiple sets of emergency Diesel power generators kicked in and provided the electricity that was needed. Then the Tsunami came, much bigger than people had expected when building the power plant (see above, factor 7). The tsunami took out all multiple sets of backup Diesel generators.

When designing a nuclear power plant, engineers follow a philosophy called “Defense of Depth”. That means that you first build everything to withstand the worst catastrophe you can imagine, and then design the plant in such a way that it can still handle one system failure (that you thought could never happen) after the other. A tsunami taking out all backup power in one swift strike is such a scenario. The last line of defense is putting everything into the third containment (see above), that will keep everything, whatever the mess, control rods in our out, core molten or not, inside the reactor.

When the diesel generators were gone, the reactor operators switched to emergency battery power. The batteries were designed as one of the backups to the backups, to provide power for cooling the core for 8 hours. And they did.

Within the 8 hours, another power source had to be found and connected to the power plant. The power grid was down due to the earthquake. The diesel generators were destroyed by the tsunami. So mobile diesel generators were trucked in.

This is where things started to go seriously wrong. The external power generators could not be connected to the power plant (the plugs did not fit). So after the batteries ran out, the residual heat could not be carried away any more.

At this point the plant operators begin to follow emergency procedures that are in place for a “loss of cooling event”. It is again a step along the “Depth of Defense” lines. The power to the cooling systems should never have failed completely, but it did, so they “retreat” to the next line of defense. All of this, however shocking it seems to us, is part of the day-to-day training you go through as an operator, right through to managing a core meltdown.

It was at this stage that people started to talk about core meltdown. Because at the end of the day, if cooling cannot be restored, the core will eventually melt (after hours or days), and the last line of defense, the core catcher and third containment, would come into play.

But the goal at this stage was to manage the core while it was heating up, and ensure that the first containment (the Zircaloy tubes that contains the nuclear fuel), as well as the second containment (our pressure cooker) remain intact and operational for as long as possible, to give the engineers time to fix the cooling systems.

Because cooling the core is such a big deal, the reactor has a number of cooling systems, each in multiple versions (the reactor water cleanup system, the decay heat removal, the reactor core isolating cooling, the standby liquid cooling system, and the emergency core cooling system). Which one failed when or did not fail is not clear at this point in time.

So imagine our pressure cooker on the stove, heat on low, but on. The operators use whatever cooling system capacity they have to get rid of as much heat as possible, but the pressure starts building up. The priority now is to maintain integrity of the first containment (keep temperature of the fuel rods below 2200°C), as well as the second containment, the pressure cooker. In order to maintain integrity of the pressure cooker (the second containment), the pressure has to be released from time to time. Because the ability to do that in an emergency is so important, the reactor has 11 pressure release valves. The operators now started venting steam from time to time to control the pressure. The temperature at this stage was about 550°C.

This is when the reports about “radiation leakage” starting coming in. I believe I explained above why venting the steam is theoretically the same as releasing radiation into the environment, but why it was and is not dangerous. The radioactive nitrogen as well as the noble gases do not pose a threat to human health.

At some stage during this venting, the explosion occurred. The explosion took place outside of the third containment (our “last line of defense”), and the reactor building. Remember that the reactor building has no function in keeping the radioactivity contained. It is not entirely clear yet what has happened, but this is the likely scenario: The operators decided to vent the steam from the pressure vessel not directly into the environment, but into the space between the third containment and the reactor building (to give the radioactivity in the steam more time to subside). The problem is that at the high temperatures that the core had reached at this stage, water molecules can “disassociate” into oxygen and hydrogen – an explosive mixture. And it did explode, outside the third containment, damaging the reactor building around. It was that sort of explosion, but inside the pressure vessel (because it was badly designed and not managed properly by the operators) that lead to the explosion of Chernobyl. This was never a risk at Fukushima. The problem of hydrogen-oxygen formation is one of the biggies when you design a power plant (if you are not Soviet, that is), so the reactor is build and operated in a way it cannot happen inside the containment. It happened outside, which was not intended but a possible scenario and OK, because it did not pose a risk for the containment.

So the pressure was under control, as steam was vented. Now, if you keep boiling your pot, the problem is that the water level will keep falling and falling. The core is covered by several meters of water in order to allow for some time to pass (hours, days) before it gets exposed. Once the rods start to be exposed at the top, the exposed parts will reach the critical temperature of 2200 °C after about 45 minutes. This is when the first containment, the Zircaloy tube, would fail.

And this started to happen. The cooling could not be restored before there was some (very limited, but still) damage to the casing of some of the fuel. The nuclear material itself was still intact, but the surrounding Zircaloy shell had started melting. What happened now is that some of the byproducts of the uranium decay – radioactive Cesium and Iodine – started to mix with the steam. The big problem, uranium, was still under control, because the uranium oxide rods were good until 3000 °C. It is confirmed that a very small amount of Cesium and Iodine was measured in the steam that was released into the atmosphere.

It seems this was the “go signal” for a major plan B. The small amounts of Cesium that were measured told the operators that the first containment on one of the rods somewhere was about to give. The Plan A had been to restore one of the regular cooling systems to the core. Why that failed is unclear. One plausible explanation is that the tsunami also took away / polluted all the clean water needed for the regular cooling systems.

The water used in the cooling system is very clean, demineralized (like distilled) water. The reason to use pure water is the above mentioned activation by the neutrons from the Uranium: Pure water does not get activated much, so stays practically radioactive-free. Dirt or salt in the water will absorb the neutrons quicker, becoming more radioactive. This has no effect whatsoever on the core – it does not care what it is cooled by. But it makes life more difficult for the operators and mechanics when they have to deal with activated (i.e. slightly radioactive) water.

But Plan A had failed – cooling systems down or additional clean water unavailable – so Plan B came into effect. This is what it looks like happened:

In order to prevent a core meltdown, the operators started to use sea water to cool the core. I am not quite sure if they flooded our pressure cooker with it (the second containment), or if they flooded the third containment, immersing the pressure cooker. But that is not relevant for us.

The point is that the nuclear fuel has now been cooled down. Because the chain reaction has been stopped a long time ago, there is only very little residual heat being produced now. The large amount of cooling water that has been used is sufficient to take up that heat. Because it is a lot of water, the core does not produce sufficient heat any more to produce any significant pressure. Also, boric acid has been added to the seawater. Boric acid is “liquid control rod”. Whatever decay is still going on, the Boron will capture the neutrons and further speed up the cooling down of the core.

The plant came close to a core meltdown. Here is the worst-case scenario that was avoided: If the seawater could not have been used for treatment, the operators would have continued to vent the water steam to avoid pressure buildup. The third containment would then have been completely sealed to allow the core meltdown to happen without releasing radioactive material. After the meltdown, there would have been a waiting period for the intermediate radioactive materials to decay inside the reactor, and all radioactive particles to settle on a surface inside the containment. The cooling system would have been restored eventually, and the molten core cooled to a manageable temperature. The containment would have been cleaned up on the inside. Then a messy job of removing the molten core from the containment would have begun, packing the (now solid again) fuel bit by bit into transportation containers to be shipped to processing plants. Depending on the damage, the block of the plant would then either be repaired or dismantled.

Now, where does that leave us? My assessment:

■The plant is safe now and will stay safe.
■Japan is looking at an INES Level 4 Accident: Nuclear accident with local consequences. That is bad for the company that owns the plant, but not for anyone else.
■Some radiation was released when the pressure vessel was vented. All radioactive isotopes from the activated steam have gone (decayed). A very small amount of Cesium was released, as well as Iodine. If you were sitting on top of the plants’ chimney when they were venting, you should probably give up smoking to return to your former life expectancy. The Cesium and Iodine isotopes were carried out to the sea and will never be seen again.
■There was some limited damage to the first containment. That means that some amounts of radioactive Cesium and Iodine will also be released into the cooling water, but no Uranium or other nasty stuff (the Uranium oxide does not “dissolve” in the water). There are facilities for treating the cooling water inside the third containment. The radioactive Cesium and Iodine will be removed there and eventually stored as radioactive waste in terminal storage.
■The seawater used as cooling water will be activated to some degree. Because the control rods are fully inserted, the Uranium chain reaction is not happening. That means the “main” nuclear reaction is not happening, thus not contributing to the activation. The intermediate radioactive materials (Cesium and Iodine) are also almost gone at this stage, because the Uranium decay was stopped a long time ago. This further reduces the activation. The bottom line is that there will be some low level of activation of the seawater, which will also be removed by the treatment facilities.
■The seawater will then be replaced over time with the “normal” cooling water
■The reactor core will then be dismantled and transported to a processing facility, just like during a regular fuel change.
■Fuel rods and the entire plant will be checked for potential damage. This will take about 4-5 years.
■The safety systems on all Japanese plants will be upgraded to withstand a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami (or worse)
■(Updated) I believe the most significant problem will be a prolonged power shortage. 11 of Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors in different plants were shut down and will have to be inspected, directly reducing the nation’s nuclear power generating capacity by 20%, with nuclear power accounting for about 30% of the national total power generation capacity. I have not looked into possible consequences for other nuclear plants not directly affected. This will probably be covered by running gas power plants that are usually only used for peak loads to cover some of the base load as well. I am not familiar with Japan’s energy supply chain for oil, gas and coal, and what damage the harbors, refinery, storage and transportation networks have suffered, as well as damage to the national distribution grid. All of that will increase your electricity bill, as well as lead to power shortages during peak demand and reconstruction efforts, in Japan.
■This all is only part of a much bigger picture. Emergency response has to deal with shelter, drinking water, food and medical care, transportation and communication infrastructure, as well as electricity supply. In a world of lean supply chains, we are looking at some major challenges in all of these areas.
If you want to stay informed, please forget the usual media outlets and consult the following websites:

■http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html
■http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Venting_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_3_1303111.html
■http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/12/japan-nuclear-earthquake/
■http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2011/03/11/media-updates-on-nuclear-power-stations-in-japan/
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About morgsatlarge
English teacher, F1/ UFC enthusiast. Japan resident, quake survivor, and most importantly a husband to an amazing woman, and father to a beautiful baby girl.
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Tamara's House shutting down
By Sean Trembath, The StarPhoenix March 12, 2011 A local community-based organization dedicated to helping women who experienced childhood sexual abuse will close its doors next month.

The board of directors for Tamara's House made the decision this week to shut down the organization after two formal assessments found it had significant funding deficits, said board member Cheryl Carver. The closure date is tentatively set for April 30.

"(The decision) is one we haven't taken lightly," said Carver.

Tamara's House was founded in 1991. Its facility has an eight-bed residence facility and also provides programming and education for victims of abuse and their families.

According to its 2010 annual report, Tamara's House had 1,105 visits to its group programs in 2009 and 230 calls to its phone support line.

"We have lost significant funding over the last year and a half," said Carver, citing government programs that have dried up.

The board plans to transfer the facility and as much of its programming as possible to another community-based organization in Saskatoon that deals with women's issues, Carver said. They have not decided which organization will receive the transfer.

"We want to try and honour the intent of the people who established the place," said Carver.

The board will spend the next six to eight weeks winding down programming.

Since 2008, United Way Saskatoon has partially funded Tamara's House. United Way was expecting to do so again, said executive director Sheri Benson. She said the closure is a significant loss for Saskatoon.

"They've played an important role in providing service for women in our community," said Benson.

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Tamara+House+shutting+down/4428834/story.html#ixzz1GXBbBRBB

Response to the Value Village outrage in Stonebridge

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Emily Baron Cadloff, CTV Saskatoon

Date: Saturday Mar. 12, 2011 7:16 PM CST

After a new Value Village location was proposed in Stonebridge, the community and its leaders were concerned. Stonebridge Community Association president Blair Pisio wondered about the location and layout of the building. After collecting feedback from some residents, he spoke with Councilor Mairin Loewen about the proposed store.

At a city council meeting earlier this week, Councilor Loewen raised some questions about the aesthetics of the new building. Second-hand stores can invite mess into neighbourhoods with donation bins overflowing, she argued. But after hearing from the builders and seeing the zoning plans, both Loewen and Pisio were assured that the building would be a perfect fit in Stonebridge.

"I thought it was done and put to bed," said Pisio.

He was wrong.

Within a day, the Stonebridge Community Association web forum began collecting comments from users worried about the store - but not about the look.

Commenters wondered whether or not the store would invite the "wrong type of clientele" into their neighbourhood.

"I also think this is a terrible idea," posted user ChubbCove. "Value Village will reduce the image of the community and I'm not sure the clientele of Stonebridge are the same people that shop at Value Village type stores. Horrible idea."

Commenter Kucher posted "Do I need to fear for my children's safety and my property with the types of people this store is going to bring into our neighbourhoods?"

This comment was extreme, but the sentiment was echoed in other responses on the website. Pisio was disturbed.

"There's a need to apologize," said Pisio. "It's not a sentiment held by the whole community, it's a store we are going to welcome, and help to prosper in Stonebridge."

In a report Friday on CTV News at Six, we asked our viewers to respond, telling us how they felt about welcoming a second-hand store into their own neighbourhoods. The response we got was overwhelming.

An email from TwinsMama supported the idea of a Value Village in the neighbourhood, and said that the "cost of kid's clothes today is outrageous and I have no troubles buying gently used clothing."

A viewer who signed her email "A proud member of those types of people," wrote to say that with all the "devastation that is occurring in Japan, a second-hand store should be the least of their worries."

With more comments pouring into the SCA website, Pisio is overwhelmed by the arguments residents had not brought up before.

"They're just hiding behind this forum," said Pisio. "I invite them to come out to the meetings, they are regularly scheduled and any resident of Stonebridge can attend. It's better for people to come out and speak to me face to face."

Despite what some in the community may think, Pisio says the decision is made. The shopping centre is not owned by the community, he adds, and their fears have already been addressed.

"Once people see what is coming up, I think then the waters will clear up," said Pisio. "People will see it's a great fit in our community."

CTV Saskatoon would love to see how you feel about this issue. Have the commenters on the SCA website overreacted? Would you welcome a second-hand store in your neighbourhood? You can answer our web poll on the issue, or email us with your comments.

Questions

2011-03-06T17:11:00.002-06:00

I have a serious of questions in my mind please answer them ?

Is anybody reading this thing?
Is the Harper government will be the government of the Majority of Canadian or contin be the government of a loud mouth minority.
Will there be a liberal government in Canada again and who will be the leader of that liberal government.
Is the Sask liberal party working it self to death?
When will Saskatoon City Council understand that making money is OK.
Will there ever be a time that we as society get it that we are all in this and there is no us and them there is only we.

Ethnic voter plan is 'offensive': Liberals - Politics - CBC News

2011-03-04T19:21:00.000-06:00

Ethnic voter plan is 'offensive': Liberals - Politics - CBC News

these guys getting cocky and stupid Is it enough for them to fall. Tell me

Tory party, 2 senators face election charges - Politics - CBC News

2011-02-28T05:45:00.000-06:00

Tory party, 2 senators face election charges - Politics - CBC News

Why is this not being stoned to death on the news like the sponsorship in Quebec??

liberty

2011-02-27T08:32:00.003-06:00

This a
good article change.. does not happen over night .You have to work at it. Also change needs to grow and like a flower garden. It needs to be watered and harvested. It does not happen just because. Many of our political leaders to day must understand that theyhave to work at changing things it does not just happen It all deals with mind sets. At least that is what I think . You have go after the mind set of the public and shape it. Then sell them your product. Your self or concept of whatever you want. But today to many of thosein politics just sitting and there and crying the blues on how things are so bad but donot come up with a vision of what they want to do. There message is clear and correct but they areto lazy to go and do it. That is why this article so that change happens over time andpeople have to go out and do it. Not just sit there and cry about.

Liberty Calls.Joe O'Connor, National Post · Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011

No matter how complex a revolution is, at the heart of each is a universal noti on: A belief shared by great masses of people that life, for the average citizen, can be better than what it is.

That change is possible, and that what was previously thought of as unimaginable is within reach, if enough people are prepared to go out and grab it.

Beyond a shared belief in human possibility, revolutions are a hodgepodge, an extended family with lots of second cousins and third cousins twice removed, that come in different shapes and sizes, and take on different forms.

The biggies, the legends of the game of societal upheaval and the rarest, are social revolutions characterized by tossing something rotten (a French king, a Russian czar, a U.S. puppet in Havana) overboard and sowing something new.

More common are political revolutions, where a tin-pot tyrant like Hosni Mubarak gets knocked from his perch. Some revolutions end happily. Sadly, most do not.

And that's the rub with regime change: The new reality seldom lives up to the revolutionary hype.

"It is hard to point to too many success stories," said Jeff Goodwin, a sociologist at New York University.

"Countries generally have revolutions because they are in a bad situation, and revolutions don't always get you out of that hole.

"Revolutions happening in poor authoritarian countries, well, those countries usually end up remaining poor and authoritarian."

Even in "enlightened" countries, revolution is not always what it is cracked up to be. France ditched a king, lopped off a bunch of noble heads, bloodied itself in European wars and wound up with an emperor named Napoleon Bonaparte.

Mao Zedong starved China, and shunned (and shot) its intellectuals. Joseph Stalin built gulags and presided over kangaroo courts.

And Cuba just keeps on keeping on under the Castro brothers' watchful gaze, while Africa did away with colonialism and wound up with despot cronyism.

But it is not all doom and gloom for the aspiring revolutionary. There are sunnier examples of what is possible, on down the regime-changing road.

Take the United States. The shining city on the hill: a brilliantly hued example of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, born out of bloodshed, and who is all grown up now, a wealthy superpower, the likes of which the world has never seen.

Of course, scratch away at the façade and one finds the beacon of liberty often has a dimmer over it.

Betting on bad guys, like Mr. Mubarak in Egypt, Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, and more, was the American way of doing business in the 20th century, just as the American Revolution itself was largely a rich man's fight for political and economic liberty.

After the final shot was fired and the U.S. Constitution signed, the right to vote, in the republic's infancy, was limited and linked to property ownership. Slaves stayed property. Women simply did not count.

It would be years before they did. "The American revolution was a true revolution," said Jack Goldstone, a professor of public policy at George Mason University.

"But the privileged elites made the revolution and they stayed in control afterwards. However, the principles and institutions of government became much more egalitarian."

So what, exactly, are we witnessing in the Middle East now? Have we seen this movie before, or is it a new release?

It started, remember, with a single match struck in Tunisia.

Mohamed Bouazizi, unemployed and humiliated by government officials for trying to earn a living selling vegetables on the street, set himself ablaze on Dec. 17.

Twenty-eight days later the regime of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was in flames, toppled after 23 years. Mr. Mubarak, in Egypt, was next to go after 32 years.

"We have been seeing people doing almost unimaginable things here," said John Foran, a sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"These revolutions are being made non-violently, in terms of the protesters, and the governments vary in how violent the response is, but the means are non-violent."

Twentieth-century revolution was about picking up arms, hiding out in the hills, gradually building support among the people before blasting the dictatorship out from behind the palace walls.

Today's repressive regimes turn to sand in a matter of weeks, with limited resistance. (Granted, Muammar Gaddafi is a different kettle of crazy).

No matter: A golden age of revolution appears to be at hand, where non-violent protest is the weapon of choice. Before flowering in the Middle East, people power washed away authoritarian ghouls in Georgia (Rose Revolution, 2003), Ukraine (Orange Revolution, 2004) and Kyrgyzstan (Tulip Revolution, 2005).

"Gaddafi can kill people until he realizes he has got to go, whereas almost everywhere else we are seeing less push-back, in terms of government violence, because these governments actually know they are illegitimate," Prof. Foran said.

"Once people are no longer afraid -and that's what Tunisia taught Egypt, and Tunisia and Egypt are teaching others -then it can happen anywhere, couldn't it?"

Cascading dominoes are a characteristic of a revolutionary age. Europe went crazy for liberal democracy in 1848, in a tide of mostly fruitless revolutions.

And when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it took communism with it, a mass combustion of authoritarian governments often miscast as a spontaneous event.

"That's just a myth," said Prof. Goldstone.

"It's a nice story. But if you start at 1989, it actually started with the Solidarity movement in Poland, which had been active for almost decade. There were dissident groups in Czechoslovakia, and for that matter, there were underground networks in the Soviet Union, trying to seek support for a post-communist future.

"In Egypt, youth and labour movements have been organizing for the last couple of years."

Revolutions happen, they just don't happen overnight.

What there often is, in the midst of events -however well-planned and drawn-out they may be -is a triggering moment.

A point where the revolutionaries realize it is game on and there is no turning back.

In France, the moment was the storming of the Bastille in 1789, when an artillery battery turned its guns against the fortress walls instead of the Parisians trying to breach it. The United States had its shot heard round the world at Lexington/Concord, and in Russia, the Bolsheviks seized their moment by seizing control of Petrograd, while the city slept in October 1917.

In Egypt, it was a demonstration, planned to coincide with Police Day, a national holiday.

"What you see there is a meaningless flare, basically a signal to the broader public that we think the time has come -and we, meaning an organized, underground, leading-edge group -but we think the time has come to challenge the regime and we may get beaten down this time, but maybe not," Prof. Goldstone said.

"How the government responds becomes crucial.. It might be that troops are undisciplined and fire into crowds. It might be that the army or the police show signs of solidarity or restraint, and this provides encouragement and the crowds then come back stronger.

"And the turning point could be tanks turning their turrets away from the crowds, or the creation of martyr, like in Tunisia, but what it indicates is that there may be a chance, and masses of people will take risks if they think there is a payoff."

And that's the revolutionary reckoning: the payoff -true freedom, and a better life -often disappear in a puff of rifle smoke or of a Cuban cigar -when a new bully takes the place of the bad guy that came before.

Revolutions come in different shapes and sizes. They assume different forms. Some are born in the countryside, others in the cities. Some are peaceful. Some are violent. And some are something in between, but no two are exactly the same, and defining a revolution's precise nature can be as elusive as capturing the deposed dictator before he slips away in the dead of night.

"They are a complex genus with different species," Prof. Goldstone said.

The Middle East is in the Petri dish now. Academics, governments, despots and budding revolutionaries are hovering, with an eye on the microscope, waiting to see what happens next.

"It is a lot easier to know when revolutions start than when they end, and I have already noticed people talk about the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt as if they are over, because the dictators fled and a new government is in place," said Prof. Goodwin.

"But a revolution isn't really over until a new regime is fully institutional. And it is very much in question as to what kind of regime is going to come out of all this, and what kind of reforms we might actually have in the Middle East."

Yes, the revolution is now, and yet, it has only just begun. The hardest part, for the people living through it, is finding a happy ending.

joconnor@nationalpost.com

Milky Way home to 50 billion planets: NASA - Health - CBC News

2011-02-26T19:13:00.000-06:00

Milky Way home to 50 billion planets: NASA - Health - CBC News

a brief history lesson

2011-02-24T20:44:00.002-06:00

Hereis a brief
Sask liberalparty lesson, what will the future hold I am no sure is it death or life support?Saskatchewan Liberal Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Saskatchewan Liberal Party

Active Provincial Party
Leader Ryan Bater
President Sharice Billett Niedermeyer
Founded 1905
Headquarters 845A McDonald Street
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4N 2X5
Ideology Liberalism
International affiliation None
Official colours Red
Seats in the House of Commons 0
Website
http://saskliberals.ca/
Politics of Canada
Political parties
Elections

The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

[edit] Early history (to 1944)
The party dominated Saskatchewan politics for the province's first forty years providing six of the first seven premiers, and being in power for all but five of the years between the province's creation in 1905 and World War II. Located on the middle of the political spectrum, it assiduously courted "ethnic" (i.e., non-British) voters, as well as the organized farm movement, and refused to pander to "nativist" sentiment that culminated in the short, spectacular existence of the Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan in 1927-28.

[edit] Varying fortunes (1944-1978)
In the 1944 election, however, Saskatchewan experienced a dramatic change when it elected the first socialist government in North America under Tommy Douglas and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. The Liberals moved to the political right and remained out of power for twenty years until Ross Thatcher's victory in 1964 election. Thatcher led the Liberals to re-election in 1967.

After the defeat of the Liberals in the 1971 election at the hands of the CCF's successor, the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, the party remained the principal opposition party in the province until the 1978 election, when the party was wiped out and replaced by the Progressive Conservatives.

[edit] Recent history
The Liberals came under the leadership of future Lieutenant Governor Lynda Haverstock in 1989. The Liberals were only able to take limited advantage of the collapse of Grant Devine's scandal and deficit-ridden Conservative government in the 1991 election, but Haverstock was able to win her Saskatoon seat.

In the 1995 election, the Liberals displaced the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan to become the Official Opposition to the re-elected New Democrat government of Roy Romanow. Dissatisfaction within the Liberal caucus saw the resignation of Lynda Haverstock as party leader.

On November 24, 1996, the Saskatchewan Liberal party elected Jim Melenchuk on the third ballot as party leader. In 1997, four Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) joined forces with four MLAs from the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan to form the Saskatchewan Party.[1]

The 1999 election reduced the Liberals, then led by Jim Melenchuk, to only four seats and third party status in the legislature. The fourth seat, Wood River later had its election results overturned and a by-election was held and won by Yogi Huyghebaert the Saskatchewan Party candidate. The New Democrats, however, had only won a minority of seats and persuaded three Liberals to form a coalition government with the New Democrats. Two Liberals, Jim Melenchuk and Jack Hillson were then appointed to positions in the Cabinet and the third Ron Osika was elected Speaker of the Legislature. Rank-and-file members of the Liberal party were against the coalition government and called for a leadership convention. On October 27, 2001 Saskatchewan Liberals elected businessman David Karwacki as the new leader after defeating MLA Jack Hillson who had initially joined the coalition, but later withdrew. Karwacki soon ordered the other two Liberal MLAs, Melenchuk and Ron Osika to leave the coalition. They refused and sat as independent Members of the Legislative Assembly and continued in the coalition.

The internal party feud hurt Liberal fortunes, as did a polarized electorate, and a poorly run election campaign which saw the party shut out of the legislature in the 2003 election. It was the first time in over 20 years in which the Liberal Party was unable to win a single seat. In the 2007 election the Saskatchewan Liberal Party was once again shut out of the Legislature.[2] Karawacki resigned as Liberal leader one month later.

Ryan Bater was ratified as the Liberal leader at the Saskatchewan Liberal Party Convention on February 21, 2009. At the same convention, the party passed a declaration of principles, which sought to reposition the Liberals as the party of "Personal Liberty, Free Enterprise, and Responsible Government".[3] As well, a vote was held that same day on separating the federal and provincial Liberal parties in Saskatchewan into two independent organizations.

[edit] Party leaders
Walter Scott (August 16, 1905 - October 1916)
William M. Martin (October 20, 1916 - April 5, 1922)
Charles A. Dunning (April 5, 1922 - February 26, 1926)
James G. Gardiner (February 26, 1926 - October 31, 1935)
William John Patterson (October 31, 1935 - August 6, 1946)
Walter Tucker (August 6, 1946–1954)
Alexander H. McDonald (November 26, 1954 - September 24, 1959)
Ross Thatcher (September 24, 1959–1971)
David Steuart (December 11, 1971–1976)
Ted Malone (December 11, 1976–1981)
Ralph Goodale (June 13, 1981–1988)
Lynda Haverstock (April 2, 1989 - November 12, 1995)
Ron Osika (1996, interim)

Jim Melenchuk (November 24, 1996–2001)
David Karwacki (October 27, 2001 - December 21, 2007)
Frank Proto (December 21, 2007 - February 21, 2009, interim)
Ryan Bater (February 21, 2009–present)

Harper Up in Wake of Ad Campaign

2011-02-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

When you put ads out they do work. Come on Canadians Are you that dumb to believe that if this bunch gets a majority government . They remain not doing anything they will will come out a in their true colors.

Harper Up in Wake of Ad Campaign: Nanos National Poll (Completed February 14th)

Nik on the Numbers
The wake of the Conservative attack ads has resulted in a 13 point national advantage for the Tories over the Grits. Of note, Conservative support significantly increased in the Prairies (AB, SK, MB) which suggests that the ads served to ramp up Conservative support in areas where the Tories were already strong.

Impressions of Harper as the federal leader who would make the best Prime Minister have also noticeably moved up six points since the fourth quarter of 2010. The percentage of Canadians who said "none of them (the party leaders)" would make the best Prime Minister has hit a four year high at 14%, with a particular increase in disaffection with the party leaders in the province of Ontario.

Leadership Index scores (based on trust, competence and vision) for Harper have significantly moved up in this wave of tracking, while scores for Michael Ignatieff have dropped behind Jack Layton.

The Conservative ad campaign has had an impact - increasing positive impressions of the Prime Minister, driving down impressions of Ignatieff and turning off some voters. What is interesting is that the national ballot suggests the Tories are moving into majority territory, but the regional distribution indicates that the ads have more likely consolidated support in core Conservative areas. Although the Liberals did have ads to respond to the Conservatives, the Liberal earned media strategy was not enough to counteract the bought media of the Tories. Of note, the results of the Tories do not necessarily translate into a permanent shift in their favour: Rather, these results are more likely a temporary advantage in part gained by the absence of opposition ad campaigns to counter attacks from the Tories.

To chat about this poll, join the national political online chat at Nik on the Numbers.The detailed tables and methodology are posted on our website where you can also register to receive automatic polling updates.

Methodology
To follow is a review of the latest Nanos national random telephone survey of 1,016 Canadians 18 years of age and older. It was completed between February 11th and February 14th, 2011. The statistics of a random sample of 1,016 respondents are accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. For 826 committed voters, it is accurate to within 3.4 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

Ballot Question:For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences? (Committed voters only - First Preference)

Canada (n=826 decided voters)
Conservative 39.7%
Liberal 26.6%
NDP 18.9%
Bloc Quebecois 9.9%
Green 5%
Undecided 18.8%

Best Prime Minister Question: Of the following individuals, who do you think would make the best Prime Minister?

The numbers in parentheses denote the one year change from the Nanos National Omnibus survey completed between November 1st and November 5th, 2010 (n=1,017).

Stephen Harper 34.5% (+6.1)
Jack Layton 14.3% (-2.1)
Michael Ignatieff 13.6% (-1.9)
Gilles Duceppe 6.0% (-2.8)
Elizabeth May 4.5% (-1.6)
None of them 13.9% (+2.7)
Unsure 13.3% (-0.4)

Leadership Index Questions: As you may know, [Rotate] Michael Ignatieff is the leader of the federal Liberal Party, Stephen Harper is the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Jack Layton is the leader of the federal NDP, Gilles Duceppe is leader of the Bloc Quebecois and Elizabeth May is the leader of the federal Green Party. Which of the federal leaders would you best describe as:

The numbers in parentheses denote the change from the Nanos National Omnibus survey completed between November 1st and and November 5th, 2010 (n=1,017).

Leadership Index Score:
Stephen Harper: 98.9 (+14)
Jack Layton: 43.6 (-2.5)
Michael Ignatieff: 36.9 (-8.2)
Gilles Duceppe: 17.7 (-7.6)
Elizabeth May: 12.7 (-2.1)

The Most Trustworthy Leader:
Stephen Harper: 29.1% (+4.8)
Jack Layton: 16.7% (-0.2)
Michael Ignatieff: 10.9% (-3.4)
Gilles Duceppe: 7.7 % (-2.0)
Elizabeth May: 5.8% (-0.8)
None of them/Undecided: 29.8% (+1.7)

The Most Competent Leader:
Stephen Harper: 36.9% (+4.2)
Michael Ignatieff: 12.7% (-2.0)
Jack Layton: 12.1% (-1.7)
Gilles Duceppe: 6.9% (-1.4)
Elizabeth May: 2.6% (-0.9)
None of them/Undecided: 28.9% (+1.8)

The Leader with the Best Vision for Canada's Future:
Stephen Harper: 32.9% (+5)
Jack Layton: 14.8% (-0.6)
Michael Ignatieff: 13.3% (-2.8)
Elizabeth May: 4.3% (-0.4)
Gilles Duceppe: 3.1% (-4.2)
None of them/Undecided: 31.8% (+3.3)

Feel free to forward this e-mail. Any use of the poll should identify the source as the latest "Nanos Poll."

Cheers,

Nik Nanos, CMRP FMRIA
President & CEO

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saskatchewan media give Premier Wall free ride | Saskatchewan Liberty Train

2011-02-20T09:21:00.000-06:00

Saskatchewan media give Premier Wall free ride | Saskatchewan Liberty Train

John you hit the nail on the head with this one and hard.

What is a blowout? Computer destroys humans at Jeopardy!

2011-02-18T05:37:00.000-06:00

What is a blowout? Computer destroys humans at Jeopardy!

I think this show has been on too long when they are pulling things like this?

CBC News - Politics - Tory crime bill passes with Bloc support

2011-02-16T20:20:00.000-06:00

CBC News - Politics - Tory crime bill passes with Bloc support

One many reasons we need to have a election. Tory crime bill passes with Bloc support Comments323|Recommend15
The Bloc Québécois has helped the Conservatives pass a contentious crime bill that would eliminate early parole eligibility for non-violent offenders.
Calls for Oda's dismissal grow in House Comments1236|Recommend59
Opposition parties ramp up calls for the prime minister to fire International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda over her role in an altered document denying funding to a church-backed aid group.

An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government from China has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information, and forced at least two key departments off the internet, CBC News has learned.
Moore says 'wait for budget' on CBC funding Comments11|Recommend2

Heritage Minister James Moore refuses to give details about CBC's funding allocation for coming years in an appearance before the Commons heritage committee.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/bloc-quebecois-supports-conservative-crime-bill-cp.html#ixzz1EB8j1Fww

But are we ready for one as a liberal party? you tell me

Immanuel Kant Quotes - WorldofQuotes

2011-02-15T20:24:00.000-06:00

Immanuel Kant Quotes - WorldofQuotes

So if you speak does anybody really cares or hears your postion Mr. Leader

2011-02-15T17:56:00.002-06:00

So if you speak does anybody really cares or hears your postion Mr. Leader. This is a million dollar question. I glad he is the leader and not me Tell what you think of this folks?

Sask Party and NDP say “Saskatchewan Closed for Business”
October 22, 2010
COMMENTARY - The Government and Opposition Parties are both hypocritical and short sighted in their united decision to interfere in the potential sale of PotashCorp.

Brad Wall is clearly playing favourites in direct contrast to his own mantra that government should not pick winners and losers. This sale is not about Saskatchewan control - it is about the sale of an American-based company to an Australian-based company. Wall has no right to undermine the rights of private individuals to sell their shares to the highest bidder.

No private company owns the potash and to suggest that we would lose control of our resource through a possible sale is false. The people of Saskatchewan own the potash, and we are a key part of the business equation as a supplier. The way to ensure control is to assert ourselves through stronger resource policy that maximizes the benefit to Saskatchewan people.

Furthermore, both the Sask Party and the NDP are suddenly demanding that PotashCorp move its Head Office from Chicago to Saskatoon. If this was so important to them they why did they allow the Head Office to move in the first place? Where have they been for the past twenty years?

Wall’s real motivation to block this sale is his need for immediate cash in order to run his government. Both the Sask Party and the NDP have been far too dependent on resource revenues in order to fund their bloated budgets. While citing a possibility of deferred revenue of $2billion over ten years they ignore the possibility of long term prosperity through added investment and new jobs.

Of course, Brad Wall and Dwain Lingenfelter do not think long term. They only think in four year election cycles. Career politicians do that.

Even worse, they have just told the world that Saskatchewan is closed for business.

- Ryan Bater, Saskatchewan Liberal Leader

Ideas of a soccer guy!: Revitalizing older neighbourhoods

2011-02-10T05:44:00.000-06:00

Ideas of a soccer guy!: Revitalizing older neighbourhoods: "Revitalizing older neighbourhoods As someone who see their neighbourhood going on a change ! With new projects going up. Alot old houses we..."

Revitalizing older neighbourhoods

2011-02-10T05:43:00.000-06:00

Revitalizing older neighbourhoods

As someone who see their neighbourhood going on a change ! With new projects going up. Alot old houses were ripped down and replaced with row houses. Is this a good thing or bad you tell me?

Saskatoon City News: Introducing the Equity Building Program

2011-02-08T20:10:00.002-06:00

Saskatoon City News: Introducing the Equity Building Program: "His Worship Mayor Donald Atchison, and Mark Lane, Chief Operating Officer of Affinity Credit Union celebrated the launch of an innovative ne..."

I tried to bring something like this up a the last liberal convention. Some laughed at my idea I know my idea was not as refined, but I guess the liberal party is not that forward? what do think? I am wrong ?? Tell what you think ifyou dare.

Liberty Express | Saskatchewan Liberty Train

2011-02-05T13:06:00.000-06:00

Liberty Express | Saskatchewan Liberty Train

readthis is this true?about the sask liberal office

Group lobbies name for new bridge

2011-02-05T13:00:00.000-06:00

Group lobbies name for new bridge
e
I am total agree with this or they should call the new bridge after the 1st doctor of the sanannium.

Saskatoon City News: Statistics Canada puts Saskatoon CMA Population at...

2011-02-04T22:27:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon City News: Statistics Canada puts Saskatoon CMA Population at...: "Yesterday, Statistics Canada released its annual estimates for subprovincial areas for 2005-2010. This release provides the City ..."

Canadians don't want another election: survey

2011-01-31T18:11:00.000-06:00

Canadians don't want another election: survey

The present government is laughing or are they going to cause a election??

Canadian government buys $650,000 vase

2011-01-29T11:04:00.000-06:00

Canadian government buys $650,000 vase

Then They call the liberals Spenders? You got to wonder tell me what you think folks. Or Do care.

hitting michael ignatieff way below the belt

2011-01-28T05:45:00.000-06:00

hitting michael ignatieff way below the belt

What do you think Of this folks have a Nice Friday!

Say what? Schwarzenegger, Ignatieff, MacKay trip over tongues

2011-01-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

Say what? Schwarzenegger, Ignatieff, MacKay trip over tongues

I see a Tv ad for the liberals or NDP Peter Mackay can you say oops!

Clips: Ignatieff's speech to Candidates + Caucus / Discours prononcé dev...

2011-01-26T20:25:00.000-06:00

Legislature Notebook: Prominent Liberal donated to Wyant

2011-01-23T10:05:00.000-06:00

Legislature Notebook: Prominent Liberal donated to Wyant

Everybody loves a winner. I was brought up to stick with your team in the good times and also in the bad no matter what. this is why I cheer for the riders, the habs, the Yankees,the cowboys, lakers, and other former winners, because all teams go through rebuilding and clearing house. that is why when the good times come they are so sweet and fools jump on and off band wagons. but it seems those with money can do this time after time then get praise when they come back. Maybe how it works but it does not mean I have to like.Furthermore those of us who are soldiers that do the work on the front lines get get little or no praise and get pushed to back ground as these band wagons jumpers come back get the glory. Go example my good friend ML who runs when every the party calls him. Like I said that that is the way it is but i don't have to like it. What do think ?

Things that make me go huh

2011-01-22T17:39:00.001-06:00

Prominent Liberal donated to Wyant
By James Wood, The StarPhoenix January 22, 2011 The financial documents of the candidates in last fall's Saskatoon Northwest byelection are now in and one item in particular sheds some light on the current dynamics of provincial politics.

Among the individual donors to victorious Saskatchewan Party candidate Gordon Wyant is Saskatoon lawyer Evatt Merchant, who gave $600.

That name may sound familiar because Merchant is currently president of the federal Liberal party in the province and the scion of one of the most prominent Liberal families in Saskatchewan.

Merchant said he's been close friends with Wyant for more than a decade, making such a donation only natural.

And with the federal and provincial Liberals split into two separate political parties by mutual agreement in 2009, he said there isn't any particular issue around the donation.

However Merchant, who briefly pondered running for the provincial Liberal leadership after David Karwacki's resignation in 2007, had some strong words of praise not only for Wyant but also for the Sask. Party government.

"There are other MLAs in government that I think the same way of. They've got some terrific people," he said, singling out MLAs Don Morgan, a federal Conservative, and former provincial Liberals Ken Krawetz and Rod Gantefoer.

Merchant noted the Sask. Party was founded by both Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAs in 1997. (The PC party went into a decade-long hibernation while the provincial Liberals soldiered on.)

And while the Sask. Party is often viewed as closely aligned with Stephen Harper's Conservatives (there are at least 12 card-carrying Tories in the Sask. Party caucus among many other connections), Merchant said there are government MLAs in-line with the federal Liberals.

Wyant himself is a former federal Liberal. He hasn't renewed his membership for a few years but noted his wife is active in the federal party.

He said the Sask. Party "does embody a lot of the things I believe in as a Liberal, as a former Liberal."

- - -

The Saskatoon Northwest documents filed with Elections Saskatchewan show, unsurprisingly, that the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP were the big spenders in the byelection campaign.

Wyant, who won with 3,066 votes, took in $51,351 in contributions and spent $51,366. His donor tally included $14,026 from individuals, $25,700 in corporate donations and $10,000 from the constituency. He also took in $1,425 from "passing the hat" at Premier Brad Wall's Saskatoon golf tournament last fall.

NDP candidate Jan Dyky, who finished second with 1,717 votes, had contributions of $50,744 and expenses of $47,961.

In a close race for third, The Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and Greens each took less than 160 votes.

For Liberal Eric Steiner, who took third, contributions were $3,602 while his expenditures were $2,470.

PC candidate Manny Sonnenschein took in $8,744 in contributions and spent $6,216.

Green party candidate Larissa Shasko, who finished fifth, had $3,290 in contributions and $3,286 in expenses.

The documents don't, however, paint the full financial picture of the campaign. Party financial forms for the campaign are still to be filed with Elections Saskatchewan.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Prominent+Liberal+donated+Wyant/4148187/story.html#ixzz1BoJQNXV0

What do you think??

Saskatoon needs new 'state of mind,' says mayor

2011-01-18T19:02:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon needs new 'state of mind,' says mayor

Sorry Dear but the mayor is right on in this speech..

2011-01-16T14:50:00.002-06:00

Saskatoonhomepage.ca

Google Transit Could Be Coming to Saskatoon
Sunday, 16 January 2011

Saskatoon Transit is hoping to partner with Google Maps.

The program, called Google Transit, is available in other cities.

Mitch Riabko, Saskatoon Transit Manager says subject to City Council's approval the department could move into a testing phase and launch the service before the end of March.

The changes mean passengers could enter their starting point and then their destination into Google Transit and the system would tell them what routes to take and how far they'll have to walk between bus stops.

Riabko says, from the City's end, there's no charge to sign on to Google Transit but there would be a maintenance cost when route changes are made and staff have to work with Google to ensure correct information is available.

I am thinking the money should be spent on lessons in the following area.These are things I see everyday i ride the bus not all the drivers do it but a enough do it for me to take notice.

1. Buses maintence crews : how to clean a buses and wash the floors

2. Lessons for saskatoon bus drivers in the customer service if it was for the those who ride the bus you would not have a job bucko

3. Teach some buse drivers that red light does not mean Go !

4. When stopping a bus at a stop please make sure you are near the cur. And your back is not front of a poll.

5. And another thing be on time at stop is a good time not 10 mins early . So you can be the 1st downtown for the bathroom or coffee and a smoke, being a little late is OK.

This is my wish list. Is going to happen not sure my next wish list is going to be on Cab drivers. stayed tuned what do think of my list what did I miss. what is the story in town when it comes to public Transit?

Tell now. And then Call City Hall.

Planet S Mag - Three And Beyond by by John F. Conway

2011-01-13T19:03:00.001-06:00

Planet S Mag - Three And Beyond by by John F. Conway

This very interesting article by Conway. Do you think Brad Wall is a political genesis of a new way of doing politicalsin saskatchewan or a lucky guy you tell me?

What do you think of this

2011-01-11T20:23:00.000-06:00

MP blasts Sask. court for gay marriage decision

By ALTHIA RAJ, Parliamentary Bureau

OTTAWA — A Conservative MP is lashing out at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal after it ruled the province's marriage commissioners have to perform gay marriages regardless of their personal or religious convictions.

The Court of Appeal said Monday that the commissioners’ religious freedom was not affected because they were still free to hold their beliefs.

"The Court has hereby belittled religious faith by writing it off as something 'you do in your head or on weekends' without it impacting all of a person’s life," Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott wrote to the province’s Justice Minister Don Morgan Tuesday.

"It’s a serious misunderstanding of Christian faith or any faith for that matter," Vellacott told QMI Agency in an interview.

"The inference here (is) you can hold these beliefs and freedom to worship just long as it doesn't affect your life or how you live out your life. And that obviously is a serious problem," he said. "It sets up a hierarchy of rights saying these same-sex rights are more important than freedom of conscience and religion."

The Saskatoon MP, a Christian who opposes same-sex marriages, urged Morgan to set up a system similar to Ontario's, which allows commissioners to excuse themselves on religious grounds while ensuring that no same-sex couple is denied services.

Vellacott said he believes the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the federal Civil Marriage Act, which includes a provision stating no one should be subject to any obligation or sanction because of their belief that marriage is the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others.

Commissioners who hold a "traditional or heterosexual" definition of marriage should not be forced to find another career or be subjected to fines and punishment, Vellacott said.

"We talk about people being in the closet, well now they are saying somebody of a faith perspective is supposed to keep it in the closet," he said.

althia.raj@sunmedia.ca

Saskatchewan considers Ontario system for marriage commissioners | News Talk 650 CKOM

2011-01-11T20:19:00.000-06:00

Saskatchewan considers Ontario system for marriage commissioners News Talk 650 CKOM

This will be a good thing in my view. Keep religion out of the bedrooms of the nation .

Ok what did you say this for?

2011-01-11T18:10:00.000-06:00

Pope rails against rise of un-Christian names
By Nick Squires and Steven Swinford, The Daily Telegraph January 10, 2011 Comments (53)
•Story•Photos ( 1 )
Pope Benedict XVI leaves St. Peter's Basilica. He has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.
Photograph by: Christophe Simon, AFP-Getty Images, ReutersThe Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.

While names such as Sienna and Scarlett have become fashionable in recent years, Pope Benedict XVI called for a return to tradition.

During Mass at the Sistine Chapel, he said: "Every baptised child acquires the character of the son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church." He added that a name was an "indelible seal" that set children off on a lifelong "journey of religious faith".

According to the Office for National Statistics, celebrity names such as Ashton - after the actor Ashton Kutcher - and Lily - after the singer Lily Allen - are among the most popular in England and Wales. The names celebrities give their own children can be even more exotic.

Sir Bob Geldof has daughters named Pixie and Peaches, while Victoria and David Beckham called their first son Brooklyn, after the district of New York. Katie Price, the glamour model, named her daughter Princess Tiaamii.

In Italy, the name of a child has particular significance. Children's are often named after saints, who are considered a guiding force in their life.

The tradition, however, is increasingly under threat. Francesco Totti, the footballer, recently decided to call his daughter Chanel, while Flavio Briatore, the Formula One boss, named his newborn son Falso Nathan.

Cristina Odone, a former editor of The Catholic Herald who grew up in Italy, said: "There are so many of the church's traditions which we have come to ignore and which are actually meaningful and have a big spiritual significance. To deprive our children of that sense of having a protecting saint is to rob them of something very significant. Many of today's names are not just un-Christian but they are also crass and consumerist."

According to official statistics, the most popular name for newborns in Britain is Mohammed, after the Islamic prophet. A total of 7,549 newborns were given variations of the name last year. It overtook Jack, which topped the list for 14 years.

Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: "The name is not just a label but it moves us into a deeper significance of what it means to be human as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

"Naming children after perfumes, bicycles and countries is putting a limit on their potential. They are not merchandise or commodities.

"When I was a parish priest, if I didn't agree with the name I'd suggest they should give the second name of a saint."

In 2008, Italy's highest court banned a couple from naming their son Venerdi - Friday - saying it was "ridiculous" and would expose him to mockery from his classmates.

Judges from the Cassation Court in Rome ordered that the boy instead be christened Gregorio, after the saint's day on which he was born. The parents, from Genoa, had drawn inspiration from Robinson Crusoe's manservant.

© Copyright (c) The Daily Telegraph

Inside Job (Documentary) trailer HD 8-10-2010

2011-01-09T09:16:00.000-06:00

I glad we live in Canada with our check and balance in place, but the public has to be ready to watch those who do the watching. what do you think?

Now what!

2011-01-08T18:24:00.000-06:00

I am watching hockey getting ready to a movie with my wife and her sister and my step kid. I family outting, but this new family is a very smart group. It is good for me it makes me think. Which is good for me to reuse my brain again. For so many years my brain took a holiday.Not any more this group of people make me look at in different way. In a different waywhich is good. So may times we get in view of the world that we get comfortable with and that make us stop growing. Which is not good. As people we should never stop growing . So in this blog I am will try to raise questions and make people debate. So please doso give me your opinions. Good Bad left and right I believe that a leader makes people think. Iwill give you my view and then give me yours. Ok Ok.
Stay tuned! This is going to one heck of a ride.

Ave Maria - Rossandra

2010-12-23T18:58:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas And And very Happy New year My friends

question

2010-12-07T19:16:00.002-06:00

can someone please help me find the liberal party saskatchewan . Why is the media not carrying anything that we are saying.? Is it because we are not saying anything? Or the media are to tried up in the 2 party system.And That is only thing they can handle?

please tell me someone or anyone?

One year before election, big lead for Premier Wall and Sask. PartyANGELA HALL, Leader-Post: Friday, November 5, 2010

With a general election just 12 months away, Premier Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party government are riding a wave of popularity, according to the results of a Sigma Analytics poll conducted for the Regina Leader-Post.
Photo Credit: Bryan Schlosser, Saskatchewan News NetworkRELATEDDaylight time referendum still under considerationREGINA — With a general election just 12 months away, Premier Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party government are riding a wave of popularity, according to the results of a Sigma Analytics poll conducted for the Regina Leader-Post.

Wall and his party would dominate if an election were held now, with the support of 57.3 per cent of decided voters, compared with 29.4-per-cent of support for Dwain Lingenfelter's New Democrats.

While the Sask. Party numbers have slipped slightly from 59.5 per cent a year ago and the NDP's number have increased from 26.4 per cent in 2009, the governing party remains well above its 51-per-cent showing in the 2007 general election that ended 16 consecutive years of New Democratic dominance.

"If you look at the Opposition's story it's not many rays of sunshine," said Cam Cooper with Sigma Analytics.

Cooper noted the "massive approval" of Wall, with 73.3 per cent of respondents seeing him as the party leader who is the best choice for premier — a marked contrast from Lingenfelter who is seen as premier material by only 16.7 per cent of the 802 respondents surveyed between Oct. 22 and Nov. 2.

Lingenfelter, chosen NDP leader in 2009, was also selected by 60 per cent of respondents as the leader they would not want as premier. Wall was rejected by 19.9 per cent.

The NDP is "led by a person whose negatives are growing, not going the other way, so it's very positive for the government and not strong for the main opposition," Cooper said.

The premier's positive poll results were undoubtedly aided by potash, the pollster added.

Conducted just as Wall was turning up the heat on Ottawa, but before Wednesday's decision by federal Industry Minister Tony Clement to reject BHP Billiton's hostile takeover of PotashCorp, a large majority of voters polled say they supported the province's stance against the bid.

"(Wall) was the national champion of something that was massively popular here so it had to have been a lift," Cooper said. "It's very uncommon for a government that's well into its term of office to get a higher percentage of popular support than it actually got in the election when it took office. So you've got to think that's a large factor."

Cooper said the results indicate the government's position was a success on the home political front, even if there is some confusion about what PotashCorp is — three in 10 respondents identified the publicly traded company as a government owned Crown corporation.

Almost 82 per cent said they believe that Wall and the Sask. Party are better able to secure the best result for the province versus the NDP, which also opposed the takeover bid.

If an election were held today, Ryan Bater and the Liberal Party would have the support of 8.2 per cent of decided voters, followed by 4.8 per cent for Larissa Shasko and the Green Party, the poll found.

Just under 18 per cent of respondents were undecided.

* The sample size would yield a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 per cent, 19 times out of 20

So true

2010-12-06T05:45:00.001-06:00

great article
Hébert: The 24/7 information beast favours bite-size news
Published On Mon Dec 6 2010Email Print Share6Rss Article

By Chantal Hébert
National Columnist
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The only parliamentary debate on the latest extension of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan was held during regular office hours on a November Thursday, a time in the week and in the parliamentary season when the Hill is a hive of media activity.

None of the party leaders spoke. But, for the first time since the government announced it would devote hundreds of soldiers to the training of the Afghan army, diverging visions of Canada’s post-2011 role were extensively laid out by proponents of the deployment and the development options.

Arguing from different corners, the Liberals’ Bob Rae and the NDP’s Jack Harris each gave a comprehensive rendition of the reasons why their respective parties sit on opposite sides of the fence on this issue.

With the notable exception of the news junkies who spend their days riveted to CPAC’s live parliamentary feed, most Canadians are unlikely to have been aware that a House debate took place, let alone to have been apprised of its highlights.

It might as well have been held in a remote cave in the dead of the night.

In the days leading up to the presentation by the Bloc Québécois of an Afghan-related motion, the politics of the government decision were dissected in various media quarters, including this one.

The subsequent vote on motion was also covered — mostly from the angle that it was a test of Liberal unity.

But the substance of the policy argument, as debated by the elected politicians who have a say in the decision to commit Canadian men and women to a war theatre, was ultimately not deemed to be all that newsworthy.

It is hardly the first time that this Parliament drops off the media radar as it airs out a high-profile policy.

Last spring, an NDP bill designed to ensure that future Supreme Court nominees are bilingual enough to hear arguments in either official language went almost completely unnoticed until after it passed final reading in the Commons.

Those are just two of many examples and there would be more if the current government had a majority.

In a majority Parliament, for instance, the recent Liberal decision to oppose the government’s anti-smuggling bill might have elicited only a media shrug, as it would have no impact on the fate of the legislation.

Even in an arguably more unpredictable minority setting, the fundamental business of Parliament is increasingly marginalized, not only by the daily theatre of question period, but also by the changing nature of the media in general and the parliamentary press in particular.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, a 24/7 news environment offers less rather than more space and time for the extensive parliamentary reporting of the past.

The demands of feeding a round-the-clock information beast usually favour bite-size news to the detriment of meaty debates that need more time-consuming media ministrations to be properly digested.

The advent of new technologies has also greatly expanded the Canadian political stage.

Premier Danny Williams happened to resign just as the Afghan debate was getting underway in Parliament. The news took everyone by surprise. But it was only a matter of minutes before the media armada was turned around and had set its virtual course for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Parliament used to be the centre stage of the political beat in Canada; now it is on the way to becoming a mere backdrop for the coverage of national politics.

Pierre Trudeau once famously said that MPs were nobodies once they were 50 feet off the Hill. But given Parliament’s ongoing slide into relative obscurity, it should come as no surprise that some of the members of Parliament who are about to leave the federal arena have come to feel that they are also nobodies in the House of Commons.

Chantal Hébert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Thanks

2010-10-31T13:59:00.002-06:00

In these 10% they are blaming the liberal party of Canada for the ecomonys problems..How many years have they been in power now? Enough playing the blame game.OK
http://owlsandroosters.blogspot.com/
Saskatchewan Conservative MP’s wasted $607,608.94 on flyers in 2009-10; Randy Hoback, Kelly Block and Tom Lukiwski biggest spenders

Sask. Conservative MP’s Randy Hoback, Kelly Block and Tom Lukiwski

Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s annual fall update – delivered in a speech to the Mississauga Chinese Business Association on October 12, 2010 – reveals the depth of the Harper government’s financial mess:

▪ a record $55.6 billion budget deficit in the 2009-10 fiscal year
▪ a projected $45.4 billion deficit in the current fiscal year (2010-11)
▪ a combined, two-year deficit of $101 billion
▪ no surplus until at least 2015-16

To get the books balanced, Flaherty told the business crowd the government will continue to follow a three point plan laid out in Budget 2010 that involves ending the temporary stimulus measures contained in the Economic Action Plan; targeted measures to limit growth of direct program spending; and, undertaking a review of administrative operations, aimed at reducing overhead costs and improving service delivery.

Flaherty said the government will “exercise fiscal restraint.”

Chapter 4.1 of this year’s federal budget notes that, “The Government will lead by example, introducing legislation to freeze the salaries of the Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament and Senators for 2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13. It will also freeze the overall budget of Ministers’ offices and calls on Members of both Houses of Parliament to do the same. It will also maintain the freeze at 2008–09 levels on departmental spending on travel, conferences and hospitality.”

The restraint, however, does not appear to extend to MP’s printing expenses where spending is out of control.

Each year the Speaker of the House of Commons, on behalf of the Board of Internal Economy (BOIE), tables the consolidated Individual Member’s Expenditures report pursuant to BOIE By-laws. The 2009-10 report was tabled October 28, 2010.

Thanks to http://owlsandroosters.blogspot.com/ in bringing this forward.

The document details member spending on staff, office rent, supplies, travel and printing — which includes costs incurred for producing two types of flyers: householders and ten percenters.

Householders are oversized, often two-colour newsletters sent by MP’s to inform their constituents about parliamentary activities and issues. MP’s are allowed to print and mail up to four householders per calendar year per household in their constituency, which on average represents 45,000 households per householder.

Ten percenters are single page photocopied black and white flyers reproduced in quantities not exceeding 10% of the total number of households in a MP’s constituency. MP’s may print and mail an unlimited number of ten percenters per year however each ten percenter must have a 50% difference in textual content from other ten percenters produced that year and can only be distributed within the MP’s own constituency, which on average represents 4,500 copies per ten percenter. Ten percenters are usually nasty and highly partisan. They’re also taxpayer funded.

Records indicate that since the Harper Conservatives took office in January 2006, the cost of printing has increased a whopping 148.68 per cent going from $5.94-million in 2005-06 to $14.77-million last year. The five-year totals are as follows:

2005-06: $5,940,826
2006-07: $7,852,378
2007-08: $9,408,531
2008-09: $10,062,553
2009-10: $14,774,107

At the provincial level, Saskatchewan’s 13 Conservative MP’s blew an astounding $607,608.94 on flyers in 2009-10, an increase of 32.14 per cent over the previous year.

Since 2006-07, spending on householders and ten percenters by Saskatchewan Conservative MP’s has risen 125.75 per cent.

The biggest culprits last year were Randy Hoback (Prince Albert) $73,116.60, Kelly Block (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar) $67,358.15, and Tom Lukiwski (Regina-Lumsden Lake) $59,888.64.

Hoback and Block were newly elected October 14, 2008. In less than 18 eighteen months they have managed to top the list as the biggest wasters of taxpayer money on flyers among Saskatchewan MP’s.

In Block’s case, since the summer of 2009, she has mailed out at least 30 ten percenters, most of which are partisan and say nothing about Block’s activities as an MP. They serve little purpose other than to praise and promote Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada.

Block sends out so many flyers that sometimes constituents receive two different ones on the same day. The most recent examples of this were September 13 and 23, 2010.

The subject matter of Block’s ten percenters ranges from scaring people into thinking that crime is so rampant that people aren’t safe in their own homes, to heralding cuts to the GST (which are costing $76 billion in forgone taxes between 2008 and 2013) that most economists worth their salt say is reckless, to the creepy ongoing obsession with the long-gun registry, or talking up the Harper government’s pathetic response to calls for improved Unemployment Insurance (EI) benefits in Budget 2009, which the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called the “biggest single failure of the budget.”

One area that Block’s ten percenters don’t address is the obscene corporate tax cuts that the Harper government has implemented. According to Les Whittington, a reporter in the Toronto Star’s Ottawa Bureau, between 2008 and 2013, these cuts alone will reduce the cash-strapped federal government’s tax take by a cumulative $60 billion. [Analysis: Jim Flaherty’s sacred cows — corporate tax cuts (Toronto Star, February 24, 2010)]

The Harper government intends to continue with its planned corporate tax cuts no matter how damaging they are to the federal treasury.

“We are staying on course to having the lowest corporate income tax rate in the G7 by 2012,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in his budget speech March 4, 2010.

“Some argue that we should cancel these tax reductions. Our government will follow through on our commitment. Reducing the tax burden on businesses is a key part of Canada’s advantage in the global economy.” [Budget leaves corporate tax cuts intact (CBC News, March 4, 2010)]

The truth is, Canada is already competitive.

A KPMG study released May 12, 2010, assessing the general tax competitiveness of 95 cities in 10 countries found that Canada, at 12.2 per cent, has the lowest effective corporate income tax rate. Other G7 countries like the United Kingdom (20.2%), United States (28.3%), Germany (29.8%), Italy (33.4%), and Japan (36.3%) aren’t even close. Only France at 15.4 per cent is within striking distance.

The report also shows that Canada ranks second in both statutory labour costs and total effective tax rate, and is sixth on ‘other corporate taxes,’ which include capital taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and miscellaneous business taxes.

Tax rates used in the study were in effect as at January 1, 2010, three months before Flaherty’s remarks.

Interestingly, Block’s website has a page titled ‘What Kelly has sent out’. There you’ll find a downloadable calendar, householders, and tax guide but no ten percenters. Why is that? Could it be that Block is embarrassed to show constituents just how much taxpayer money she has wasted on them over the past two years?

Ten percenter spreading fear over crime

Ten percenter promoting reckless GST cuts

Anti-NDP ten percenter

Sask Party and NDP say “Saskatchewan Closed for Business” | Saskatchewan Liberals

2010-10-26T19:26:00.000-06:00

Sask Party and NDP say “Saskatchewan Closed for Business” | Saskatchewan Liberals

Is this right turn for the liberal party of Saskatchewan. ? what do you think?

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Goodale, Baird spar over PotashCorp

2010-10-24T09:06:00.001-06:00

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Goodale, Baird spar over PotashCorp

What do you think should potash corp go or stay / Tell me what you think.

Time to look at this mess

2010-10-19T05:35:00.002-06:00

As a liberal I am not happy today with the results in Northwest. Our provincial party need to some major redoing. Why are not people not coming to the provincial party? is our message wrong? Is it because of our history? or is our leadership or lack of us in the party getting the message out. I will be the first to say that I was no help in this by election for various reasons. It time we all look at things and talk about the future of our party. because about 3% of the votes is terrible in a riding that we once held.

Tell me what you think? If you even care??

Gord Wyant wins Saskatoon Northwest byelection for Sask. Party
The StarPhoenix October 19, 2010 •Story•Photos ( 1 )
The Saskatchewan Party celebrated holding onto Saskatoon Northwest, as Gordon Wyant
By unofficial count, the lawyer and Ward 5 city councillor took the seat with 3,051 votes, defeating second-place finisher Jan Dyky of the NDP by a margin of over 1,300 votes.

Wyant’s 59 per cent of the vote marked an increase from the 54 per cent won by Sask. Party candidate Serge LeClerc in the 2007 general election.

Speaking to supporters at a celebration at the Ramada Golf Dome, both Wyant and Premier Brad Wall claimed a strong endorsement for the Sask. Party government and a rejection of the Opposition NDP.

“We had a significant percentage of the vote and I think what that says is that the people of this constituency, particularly, they’re saying no to the politics of envy, they’re saying no to the politics of loathing, they’re saying no to the politics of character assassination and we saw that coming up in this election,” said Wyant.

The win buoys the government just ahead of the new legislative session that begins next week.

Wall said byelections are often difficult for parties in power because voters want to send a message.

“The people of Saskatoon did send a message tonight,” he told the crowd.

“They want to see Saskatchewan continuing to move forward . . . they chose the future over the past.”

The byelection became necessary because of the resignation of LeClerc at the end of August. He had left the government caucus in the spring after the airing of drug allegations, which he has consistently denied.

Wyant had served as business manager for LeClerc in the last election, a fact that was pointed out in an NDP brochure which also slammed him for his work as a lawyer.

However, most candidates suggested that LeClerc’s situation otherwise played little role in the campaign.

The NDP had not won the seat since 1995 but Dyky, a health-care facilities manager, and party officials said a simmering undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the government over issues such as health care and cost of living had made Saskatoon Northwest winnable.

Both parties poured resources into the seat, each saying they would hit the Elections Saskatchewan spending limits for both party and candidate.

But NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter said Monday the party always knew Saskatoon Northwest — “one of our toughest urban seats” — would be a longshot.

“The strength of the campaign, if they had a strength, was their candidate Gord Wyant. He’s a very popular civic leader, he’s well-known, he’s been around for many years. Jan Dyky is new in the game,” said Lingenfelter, who rejected the notion the byelection win was a vote of confidence in the government and Wall.

“In a way, I suppose I hope he continues to believe that because the fact of the matter is that a lot of the people in the province aren’t happy with Premier Wall.”

Lingenfelter also scoffed at the Sask. Party claiming the high ground, noting the televised ad campaigns that have been targeting him specifically for most of the year.

Dyky said she was happy with the progress made during the 28-day campaign and said she intended to stand again in the 2011 general election.

This was the fourth byelection since the Sask. Party took office in 2007 but the first where the NDP had a chance to take a seat back from the government. The party did improve its vote to 33 per cent.

The three other parties contesting the race ended up being non-factors, with third-place Liberal Eric Steiner, fourth-place Progressive Conservative Manny Sonnenschein and fifth-place Green Party Leader Larissa Shasko each taking well under five per cent of the vote.

Voter turnout was 55 per cent.

Wall wouldn’t comment about what specific role Wyant would play in government beyond serving as MLA. He has said he does not intend to shuffle his cabinet before the next election.

Wyant’s victory will force a byelection to fill his city council seat.

After years of non-partisan civic politics, Wyant will enter one of the most partisan and hard-edged legislatures in years.

“I’m a very easygoing guy so we’ll have to wait and see how the partisan piece plays. But I’m confident I can adjust to it,” he told reporters.

jwood@thestarphoenix.com

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Sask. Party agrees to pull 'little thief' ad

2010-09-25T19:16:00.000-06:00

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Sask. Party agrees to pull 'little thief' ad

Something tolook at folks ! arethe liberal afactor in this one ?

OLD TRICKS

2010-09-25T17:48:00.002-06:00

As some who is loves poltics it strange that we as province keeps to vote in same way and in the same pattern over and over. Why do these partys do the sameold tricks ~ does anyone out there hav an answer for me? Read this for me and tell me what you think.

Video of Sask. legislature off-limits in byelection: Speaker

Last Updated: Friday, September 24, 2010 |
CBC News
The Speaker of the Saskatchewan legislative assembly is asking the governing Saskatchewan Party to stop running a political commercial using video from the legislature because a byelection campaign is underway.

In a letter to Saskatchewan Party president Gary Meschishnick dated Sept. 23, Don Toth says the rules of the assembly do not allow the use of legislature video during an election or byelection period.

Residents of Saskatoon Northwest will be voting in a byelection Oct. 18.

"Out of respect for and in recognizing the dignity of the legislative assembly as an institution, as well as the democratic process, it is my hope that you will act quickly to refrain from running the ... commercial," Toth, who is also Saskatchewan Party MLA for Moosomin.

Toth's letter, which was released Friday, made reference specifically to an ad the party has used to attack the opposition NDP. The ad includes a five-second video clip of NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter referring to Premier Brad Wall as, "the little thief from Swift Current" during debate in the legislature earlier this year.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2010/09/24/sk-sask-party-ndp-ads-legislature-speaker.html#ixzz10aX8iThg

Bulit it they will come?

2010-09-11T09:02:00.001-06:00

Should this be anyissue? If Quebec was not in the mix would this be an issues.

Bernier blogs against QC arena project

A man wears a Nordique hat as he visits Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
MONTREAL - Former cabinet minister Maxime Bernier said Friday he is categorically opposed to sinking federal dollars into a Quebec City arena project he calls a risky financial venture.

In a blog on his website, the Conservative MP takes a firm stance against spending public money on the project, clearly setting himself apart from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of the Quebec Tory caucus.

"I too share the dream of again seeing a professional hockey team come back to play in our region and I sincerely hope that a way will be found to make this dream come true," Bernier writes.

Video: Tiger Woods, wife divorced
"But dreaming does not make the hard financial reality go away. It’s nice to have dreams, but when you use borrowed money to achieve them and act as if money grows on trees, you may have a brutal awakening. For all these reasons, I cannot in good conscience support this project."

The blog item comes a day after he was coy and careful during a radio interview and two days after he was conspicuous by his absence at a photo op in which most of his fellow Quebec Tories wore vintage Nordiques jerseys.

The proposed $400-million facility to replace Le Colisee is considered a prerequisite for the potential return of NHL hockey following the departure of the Nordiques in 1995.

Many Conservatives have quietly expressed displeasure about funding professional sports facilities, but on his website, Bernier makes his thoughts clear and says the deal makes little financial sense.

Bernier takes direct aim at a feasibility study by Ernst & Young that stated the project would be profitable only if the government footed the bill for renovations and upkeep for the next 40 years.

"The conclusion should rather be that the project is simply not profitable and will constitute a financial burden for taxpayers for decades to come, even in the best scenario," said Bernier, who represents the riding of Beauce southeast of Quebec City.

"That’s why not a single private player has been found to invest in it."

Bernier staunchly opposes public handouts for private enterprise and said he couldn't in good conscience support a project that goes against those ideals.

"I can't travel the country and make speeches about individuals and governments being responsible, about living within our means and reducing government intervention, while refusing to take a clear stand on an issue where these principles squarely come into play," Bernier writes.

He has refused to do interviews or make any more public comments but invited the public to leave their comments on his website.

On Thursday, he told COOL FM 103.5 that no firm decision has been taken by Ottawa and more time is needed to study the project.

He noted the country has a $56-billion deficit and that the Tories need to slash spending. He repeated that on the blog posting.

"We cannot continue in this way to pass on to our children the bills for all the projects that we cannot afford to pay ourselves," Bernier wrote.

"We cannot continue to distribute ever larger amounts of money to please everyone and buy social peace, while refusing to face the consequences.

"We cannot ask governments to manage our money in a responsible manner while at the same time demanding that they devote some more money to an irresponsible venture that will benefit us."

Bernier said during the radio interview that if Quebec City gets funding, then other cities will be lining up for their cash and that the handouts could cost up to $1 billion.

The Tories have 11 seats in Quebec and holding on to them is key to achieving their coveted majority in a future election. Most of those seats are in and around Quebec City.

The provincial and municipal governments have already committed to funding half of the $400 million for the new arena.

Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume said he's looking for investment from Ottawa similar to the province's commitment — about 45 per cent of the total cost, or roughly $175 million.

Harper has said funding facilities to house professional sports franchises is a possibility.

"In terms of financing these things going forward, we're going to have to respect the precedents we have had in the past and be sure any treatment we're prepared to make to one city we're prepared to make to all," Harper said in Saskatchewan on Thursday.

Saskatoon Speaks

2010-09-10T07:03:00.000-06:00

More evidence tat we are turing right in Canada

2010-08-19T09:31:00.001-06:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Liberal Media / Medias libéraux
Sender: Liberal Media / Médias libéraux
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:15:43 -0400
To: Nikki
ReplyTo: Liberal Media / Médias libéraux
Subject: NEWS RELEASE: Stephen Harper's ‘enemies list’ - COMMUNIQUÉ: La “liste des ennemis” de Stephen Harper

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[LE FRANÇAIS SUIT L'ANGLAIS]

For Immediate Release
August 19, 2010

Conservatives unfairly target Canadians who speak truth to power

OTTAWA – With the sidelining of RCMP gun registry Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak and Veterans Ombudsman Col. Pat Stogran, the Harper Conservatives have shown a pattern of ousting distinguished Canadians who speak truths that go against their ideological agenda, Liberal Public Works and Government Services Critic Martha Hall Findlay said today.

“The Conservatives want puppets, not professionals,” said Ms. Hall Findlay. “Time and time again, the Harper Conservatives show contempt for watchdogs and distinguished public servants who’ve had the courage to speak truth to power.”

Today, a media report emerged that CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and vice-chair Michel Arpin may be next – raising the spectre that the Harper Conservatives intend to politically influence Canadian media.

“The Conservatives steamroll anyone who dares to put police safety, veterans issues or accurate facts in the way of their political agenda. They’re accountable to no one but themselves, and if they don’t like what their senior officials have to say, they shoot the messenger and replace them with someone more compliant.”

The Liberal Party today released a slideshow featuring a dozen high-ranking watchdogs and officials who have been fired, forced out, harassed or publicly maligned by this government for refusing to put Conservative ideology before the public interest. The list includes:

• Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, Director General of the Canada Firearms Program
• Col. Pat Stogran, Veterans Ombudsman
• Linda Keen, chair of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
• Peter Tinsley, head of the Military Police Complaints Commission
• Paul Kennedy, chair of the RCMP Police Complaints Commission
• Adrian Measner, President and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board
• Yves Cote, Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces
• Munir Sheikh, head of Statistics Canada
• Steve Sullivan, Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
• Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer
• Richard Colvin, Canadian diplomat
• Remy Beauregard, chair of Rights & Democracy

“The ordeal faced by each of these distinguished Canadians shows just how intolerant the Conservatives are of dissent based on factual information,” said Ms. Hall Findlay.

“Stephen Harper must stop adding names to his ‘enemies list’ and start accepting constructive criticism for what it is – helpful advice that can make the Government of Canada better and more responsive to its citizens,” she concluded.

-30-

Contact:

Office of Martha Hall Findlay, MP: 613-992-4964

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pour diffusion immédiate
Le 19 août 2010

Les conservateurs ciblent injustement les Canadiens qui osent leur dire la vérité

OTTAWA – En congédiant le directeur du registre des armes à feu de la GRC, le surintendant principal M. Marty Cheliak, et l’ombudsman des anciens combattants, le colonel Pat Stogran, les conservateurs de Stephen Harper prouvent qu’ils évincent systématiquement d’éminents Canadiens qui disent des vérités allant à l’encontre de leur agenda idéologique, a déclaré aujourd’hui la porte-parole libérale responsable de Travaux publics et de Services gouvernementaux, Mme Martha Hall Findlay.

« Les conservateurs de M. Harper veulent des marionnettes, et non des experts, a ajouté Mme Hall Findlay. Ils ne cessent d’afficher un mépris pour des observateurs critiques et des fonctionnaires réputés qui ont eu le courage de dire la vérité au gouvernement. »

Aujourd’hui, les médias ont fait part que le président du CRTC, Konrad von Finklestein, et son vice-président, Michel Arpin, pourrait être les prochains – soulevant l’idée que les conservateur de Harper ont l’intention d’influencer les médias canadiens.

« Les conservateurs passent sous le rouleau compresseur tous ceux qui osent parler de la sécurité des policiers, des questions relatives aux anciens combattants ou qui osent relater des faits exacts risquant de nuire au programme politique du gouvernement. Ils ne rendent de comptes qu’à eux-mêmes et, s’ils n’aiment pas ce que leurs hauts fonctionnaires ont à dire, ils le congédient et le remplacent par quelqu’un de plus docile. »

Le Parti libéral a rendu public aujourd’hui un diaporama mettant en vedette une douzaine de bureaucrates ou fonctionnaires de haut rang qui ont été congédiés, forcés de démissionner, harcelés ou calomniés par ce gouvernement pour avoir refusé de faire passer l’idéologie conservatrice avant l’intérêt public. En voici la liste :

• Le surintendant principal Marty Cheliak, directeur général du Programme canadien des armes à feu;
• Le colonel Pat Stogran, ombudsman des anciens combattants;
• Mme Linda Keen, présidente de la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire;
• M. Peter Tinsley, président de la Commission d’examen des plaintes concernant la police militaire;
• M. Paul Kennedy, président de la Commission des plaintes du public contre la GRC;
• M. Adrian Measner, président-directeur général de la Commission canadienne du blé;
• M. Yves Côté, ombudsman du ministère de la Défense nationale et des Forces canadiennes;
• M. Munir Sheikh, chef de Statistique Canada;
• M. Steve Sullivan, ombudsman des victimes d’actes criminels;
• M. Kevin Page, directeur parlementaire du budget;
• M. Richard Colvin, diplomate canadien;
• M. Rémy Beauregard, président de Droits et Démocratie.

« L’épreuve vécue par chacun de ces éminents Canadiens montre jusqu’à quel point les conservateurs sont intolérants de tous ceux et celles qui, en se basant sur de l’information vérifiée, vont à l’encontre de ce gouvernement, a poursuivi Mme Hall Findlay. »

« Stephen Harper doit cesser d’ajouter des noms à sa “liste des ennemis” et doit commencer à accepter les critiques constructives pour ce qu’elles sont vraiment : des conseils utiles qui aideront le gouvernement du Canada à mieux répondre aux besoins des citoyens », a conclu Mme Hall Findlay.

-30-

Renseignements :

Bureau de Martha Hall Findlay, députée : 613-992-4964

Things I need answer to

2010-08-13T08:49:00.002-06:00

There alot things that I need to answer too. Can anybogy answer me these questions.

1. How good is this ?

100-year-old Scotch pulled from frozen crateVideo
Century-old scotch found in Antarctic .Advertisement | ad info
. AP
FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2010 file photo released by Antarctic Heritage Trust on Feb. 8, 2010, one of crates of Scotch whisky and brandy is pictured after they have been recovered by a team restoring an Antarctic hut used more than 100 years ago by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. One of the crates of the Scotch whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 but the heritage dram won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historic significance. (AP Photo/Antarctic Heritage Trust) ** MANDATORY CREDIT, EDITORIAL USE ONLY **
updated 1 hour 42 minutes ago
Share Print Font: +-WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A crate of Scotch whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened Friday — but the heritage dram won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historical significance.

The crate, recovered from the Antarctic hut of renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton after it was found there in 2006, has been thawed very slowly in recent weeks at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island.

The crate was painstakingly opened to reveal 11 bottles of Mackinlay's Scotch whisky, wrapped in paper and straw to protect them from the rigors of a rough trip to Antarctica for Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod expedition.

Though the crate was frozen solid when it was retrieved earlier this year, the whisky inside could be heard sloshing around in the bottles. Antarctica's minus 22 Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius) temperature was not enough to freeze the liquor, dating from 1896 or 1897 and described as being in remarkably good condition.

This Scotch is unlikely ever to be tasted, but master blenders will examine samples of it to see if they can replicate the brew. The original recipe for the Scotch no longer exists.

Once samples have been extracted and sent to Scottish distiller Whyte and Mackay, which took over Mackinlay's distillery many years ago, the 11 bottles will be returned to their home — under the floorboards of Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds on Ross Island, near Antarctica's McMurdo Sound.

Whisky lover Michael Milne, a Scot who runs the Whisky Galore liquor outlet in Christchurch, described the rare event as a great experience

Planet S Mag - Drill This In by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola

2010-07-07T08:45:00.000-06:00

Planet S Mag - Drill This In by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola

RANT , Rant, Rant,

2010-07-07T08:21:00.002-06:00

Here are two things that caught my eye Conrad "Just do your time a shut up ", If you cannot to the time then donot do the crime. And how come the new is not covering this story in Saskatchewan.

CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: July 7, 2010 9:29 AM
Conrad Black applies for bail

Conrad Black has applied for bail with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

In a filing late Tuesday, lawyers for the Montreal-born media baron argued that he should be released immediately in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in late June that set aside his fraud convictions.

Black's conviction for obstruction of justice remains in place. The appeal court will now decide whether to have a hearing on his bail request while it decides whether to overturn his fraud convictions in light of the Supreme Court's decision. It is not yet known when that might happen.

The 7th Circuit Court is the same one that first denied Black's request for bail after he was convicted, along with three other Hollinger executives in 2007, of defrauding $6.1 million US from the company.

He was originally accused of pilfering more than $60 million US.

Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was the prosecutor on the original case. His office has thus far declined comment.

Minister to face ethics probe over Jaffer link

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 |CBC News

Minister of Natural Resources Christian Paradis responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on June 7.
(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The federal ethics commissioner is looking into Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis's alleged dealings with former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer.

In a letter to Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson confirmed she is commencing an examination of Jennings's allegations that Paradis may have breached portions of the Conflict of Interest Act.

The government operations committee has been investigating allegations that Jaffer, a former Conservative caucus chair and husband of MP Helena Guergis, lobbied his former government colleagues for access to a green infrastructure fund.

Documents show some staff and parliamentary secretaries of cabinet ministers, including Paradis and Transport Minister John Baird, treated Jaffer's inquiries about the fund on a priority basis.

The documents include an email from a Paradis staff member explaining to Jaffer's company, Green Power Generations, that her department was being "hard-headed" over Jaffer's solar-panel project proposal.

Jaffer, who is not registered as a lobbyist, has denied conducting unregistered lobbying or receiving a penny of federal funds.

"I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with my obligations," Paradis said in a statement

No Talent !

2010-06-30T07:38:00.003-06:00

I saw this was thinking that our preimer was playing 52 card pick up with out any cards. The lack of talent Brad Wall has is very scarey. If was not for Rob Norris and Ken Krawetrz to former liberals.Talent pool is very small. Read this and tell me what you think?

Sask. gets new finance minister
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 |

There are two newcomers to the cabinet table after Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall shuffled his cabinet. (CBC)

Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz is Saskatchewan's new finance minister following a major cabinet shuffle on Tuesday.

Among the biggest changes announced by Premier Brad Wall: Environment Minister Nancy Heppner and Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer are now out of cabinet.

Wall also sent Regina MLA Christine Tell to the back benches on Tuesday.

Newcomers to cabinet include Regina's Laura Ross and Lloydminster's Tim McMillan.

And former cabinet minister Darryl Hickie is back after a spell away from the cabinet table.

Krawetz, formerly the education minister as well as Wall's deputy, replaces Gantefoer in the finance portfolio. Gantefoer announced earlier this month he wasn't going to run in the 2011 provincial election. As a result, some pundits and legislature watchers were expecting him to be out of cabinet Tuesday.

Perhaps more of a surprise was Wall dropping high-profile Martensville MLA Heppner. As environment minister, Heppner was under fire from the NDP Opposition for both her government's climate change policies and a controversial bill that could allow environmentally sensitive Crown land to be sold.

McMillan, who made a name for himself in the past year as a champion of endangered wild ponies, will be the minister responsible for the Crown Investments Corporation, while Ross is government services minister.

Hickie, who left cabinet a year ago following a sometimes rocky stint as corrections, public safety and policing minister when there were several high-profile escapes and accidental releases from jails, becomes municipal affairs minister.

Donna Harpauer becomes education minister, handing her social services portfolio to longtime colleague June Draude.

The First Nations and Métis relations portfolio goes to Ken Cheveldayoff. Bill Hutchinson moves from there to tourism, while Tourism Minister Dustin Duncan is promoted to environment.

Wall says with these changes, 24 of his 37 government colleagues will have served in cabinet. He said earlier this month it's expected this will be the final cabinet shuffle before the election on Nov. 7, 2011.

Something to think about

2010-06-29T07:25:00.002-06:00

June 29
Talking about Chernobyl still 'urgent' threat on anniversary: Ukraine
Something that caught my eye as I think about the home land of my father and mother. Ukraine problems make me think how lucky we are in Canada. Also we can learn from these problems as Saskatchewan looks at different ways to get engery as we grow in Saskatchewan.

Chernobyl still 'urgent' threat on anniversary: Ukraine

The plant's fourth nuclear reactor still presents an active danger after work to replace an aging sarcophagus around the facility was delayed due to a shortage of funds last year, Yanukovych said according to a statement.

The problem "is urgent not only for Ukraine but also for our neighbours," he said.

"We must of course unite our partners, donors and all our neighbours around the question because it is highly dangerous."

The atomic fallout from the 1986 accident at Chernobyl, when one of the reactors exploded, spread to neighbouring European states, leaving some two million people still suffering from contamination, Yanukovych said.

"There are still more than two million people suffering from harmful effects of radiation exposure, of whom 498,000 are children," he said.

The death toll from the Chernobyl disaster is bitterly disputed, with a United Nations toll from 2005 setting it at just 4,000, but non-governmental groups suggesting the true toll could reach tens or even hundreds of thousands.

According to Ukrainian official figures, more than 25,000 people known as "liquidators" from then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have died since taking part in the bid to limit radioactive fallout after the catastrophe.

Many children and adolescents touched by the nuclear fallout have suffered from thyroid cancer — the most common illness from the radiation.

While the Chernobyl power plant was finally closed in 2000, the dead reactor is still a threat because the concrete cover hastily laid over some 200 tonnes of spilled radioactive material is cracking.

© Copyright (c) CW Media Inc.

Think big saskatchewan

2010-06-28T07:25:00.000-06:00

I saw this , I thought I would comment. it time we in Saskatchewan start thinking that we are a have provinice and deal with issues as the big guys would. Stop the negative and start thinking postive. We are are going up here is some facts for you.

Canada's population has gone past the 34-million mark.
Stats Canada estimates the population was 34,019,000 on April 1.
That's an increase of just over 88 thousand, from Jan. 1.
As of April 1st, Saskatchewan's population was estimated at 1,041,700. That's a 0.36% gain and the second highest growth rate among the provinces. This was our largest first quarter population increase since 1972. The growth is attributed mostly to interprovincial in-migration and international migration.

couple things that caught my eye

2010-06-25T09:53:00.003-06:00

Both of thiese articles from small local newspapers, which our major newspaper didnot mention. Why is that?

One-Way Trip
Stephen LaRose
Published Thursday June 17, 09:38 am

Saskatchewan migratory birds face a deadly winter in Gulf Of Mexico

Spewing from 40,000 to 100,000 barrels of unrefined crude oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, the wellhead has resisted several efforts by the wellsite owner, British Petroleum, to cap its flow. As of June 14 (press time), 39 million gallons of oil have spewed unchecked into the Gulf of Mexico.

Some in the oil drilling industry now say that the wellhead could still be discharging into the open sea by Christmas.

The blowout has been partly contained by a steel cap and riser pipe that’s diverting some of the oil to an oil tanker ship on the surface. From June 10 to 14, the amount of oil captured this way has gone from about 6,000 barrels a day up to almost 15,000 barrels a day.

The oil slick stretches nearly 3,500 kilometers, and has or will wash ashore in four states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Many shoreline areas contain nesting areas for migratory birds which spend their summers in Saskatchewan.

What kind of winter home will they find when they return?

Disgust and sadness permeates the conversation, even through the telephone lines. It’s understandable. Trevor Herriot has made a career and a life’s work examining the delicate balance between nature and man in the Saskatchewan grasslands, and now someone wants to talk to him about one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history.

Oil and wildlife mixes about as well as oil and water. Birds are birds, not experts in determining oil-contaminated areas. From hundreds of feet in the air, birds can’t tell the difference between the normal ocean and the area contaminated by the spill. So, when they dive into the water for their food, they come up coated in oil.

They can’t fly. Their feathers lose the ability to regulate their body heat. And if they try to peck or lick the oil from their bodies, they ingest the stuff, get sick and die.

The oil will also kill plants and animals that are part of their food chain.

This isn’t a local problem for American states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill’s effect will reach throughout North America.

…includingSaskatchewan. The Gulf Coast is the winter home for many migratory birds that spend their summers in Saskatchewan — some of whom are on the endangered species list.

The biggest name to stand out — though it’s far from the biggest bird on the list — is the piping plover, a shorebird. Climate change and human development may already be doing a number on the plover, says Bird Studies Canada, because its natural habitat in western Canada — riverbanks and lakeshore marshes — are either drying up or being made unsuitable for the birds by conversion into public beaches or watering holes for cattle. Damming and draining doesn’t help, either.

Other birds who spend their summers in Saskatchewan and their winters in the Gulf of Mexico coast include the common loon, the Western Grebe, Horned Grebe, the American White Pelican, the Double-crested Cormorant, some gulls and terns and the Long-billed Curlew.

There’s also the Short-billed Dowitcher, the greater and lesser Yellowlegs, the Red-breasted Merganser and the Blue-winged Teal.

This fall, these birds will find their habitats destroyed when they return on the annual pilgrimage Mother Nature has programmed into them.

Tens of thousands will die, entire species will face extinction, and in Herriot’s words, “a biological ecosystem that took hundreds of millions of years to create will be destroyed in a month.”

Even worse, hurricane season starts in late August. Storm surges and tidal waves created by hurricanes and tropical storms that pass through the Gulf of Mexico could push the oil further inland, destroying the habitats of species that live inland.

One of the few pieces of good news in the oil spill disaster, Herriot notes, is that the leaking oil will probably not affect the nesting areas of the whooping crane. Placed on the endangered species list in 1967, the whooping cranes’ winter nesting areas are along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas — west of the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The Gulf of Mexico’s current will send the oil east, away from their nesting areas.

The whooping crane’s survival is remarkable not for how many are left — estimates put the number of such birds alive at about 250 — but from how far back the bird has come. At one time there were fewer than 60.

So, good for whooping cranes. Nice that one bird population won’t be devastated. Harriet is still concerned for Saskatchewan’s migratory birds.

I don’t need to tell Planet S readers that birds such as the piping plover can’t vote. They have to rely on environmentalists, naturalists, and people like Herriot to speak for them.

Good thing that someone does. Too bad they’re not listened to.

When the Saskatchewan government overhauled the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act two months ago, environmental concerns took a back seat to “getting government out of the marketplace.” In right-wing political parlance, this is called “business as usual.”

For Herriot — author of three books (River in a Dry Land,Jacob’s Wound: A Search for the Spirit of Wildness and Grass Song Sky) about the relationship between man and nature — it’s just another step in exactly the wrong direction.

“In Saskatchewan, as well as federally, there’s an increasing demand by government to streamline the environmental review process,” he says. “We should be going in the other direction. We should be taking steps to preserve what wildlife and wild lands that we have left.

“What they call ‘paperwork,’ we call stewardship,” he says.

Apparently, there wasn’t much ’stewardship’ on board Deepwater Horizonbefore the April 20thexplosion. In a May 20 report to the White House, University of California, Berkeley environmental engineering professor Robert Bea said “this disaster was preventable, had existing progressive guidelines and practices been followed.

“Other existing U.S. guidelines that were simply waived by the responsible regulatory authority could have prevented this incident,” said Bea, who heads the Centre for Catastrophic Risk Management at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering.

“You know, I think that many people still believe, despite all the evidence about pollution, global warming, and the interconnectedness between man and nature, that the world ecosystem can take all the kinds of abuse modern industry can throw at it,” says Herriot.

“I hope we can learn from this that nature has only a finite capability to handle such abuse — certainly less than our capabilities to abuse nature.”

WGST department becomes program
Women’s and gender studies folded into new interdisciplinary initiative

VICTORIA MARTINEZ
Associate News Editor

After 18 years as a department, women’s and gender studies is transforming into a program this year.

Students will still be able to take honours, four and three year degrees in WGST, but the courses offered have changed. The focus of the program will be separated into gender, sexuality and cultural studies and transnational feminisms.

To reduce overlap with courses offered by other programs, eight courses were replaced with more current topics. Popular courses will still be offered as humanities and social science electives to arts and science students.

“The new women’s and gender studies program will continue to explore topics that span a full spectrum of issues from the intimate to the international,” department head Joan Borsa explains. The traditional focus on examining human behaviour and culture will not be affected by the change to program status.

Otherwise, undergraduate programming will not see too many changes.

“A gender-based lens is relevant to all disciplines,” said Borsa.

The WGST department has existed since 1992, and has offered a major since 1996.

The program will be the first program offered by the newly formed Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity, which will be devoted to cross disciplinary study.

The transition will expand the pool of resources WGST can draw from in terms of faculty and research collaborations by sharing information across all the disciplines included in the ICCC. The centre will work with outside groups with more leverage than one department might be able to.

A large portion of WGST students already take minors in other fields, so the new designation will simplify that process. The program now contains seven specializations including English, economics and philosophy.

The ICCC move will also enable the program to offer a master’s degree taking advantage of other disciplines, which is scheduled to be offered by 2011. Research should benefit immediately, since the program will work more closely with other programs than the department could.

The main role of the ICCC is to encourage cooperation between fields of study, and will recruit on behalf of all the programs it contains. The defining quality of projects in the centre is social responsibility combined with cultural and creative work.

The next program to be added to the ICCC will be an MFA in writing, with reading French and courses specifically for first year Greystone scholars already included.

If one of your one say this then maybe it is true?

2010-06-21T07:22:00.003-06:00

I think that that shine of the Haper government has coming off the armour. But if we can get out crap together and give a true opposition , The Liberal party can form government. What do you think? read this tell me?

Don Martin, National Post · Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010

Rarely heard Conservative MP stood in the Commons yesterday to admonish MPs on their low productivity this spring.

"Not one new government bill has passed Parliament to become law," scolded Cheryl Gallant. "It is time for the opposition to stop interfering, get serious and start working."

Better late than never, a solution is unfolding on Parliament Hill. MPs are ending 63 days of all-out war over fake lakes and parliamentary supremacy with an outbreak of peace on two fronts while readying a rush of legislation forward for final votes today.

Clearly all Ottawa needs to supercharge MPs into action is to keep them on constant countdown just 72 hours from a long vacation break.

That seems to have goaded the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois into holding their noses yesterday to support a last-minute government deal on Afghan detainee documents.

Just over an hour later, all the parties did a group hug with Auditor-General Sheila Fraser and bowed to the "public interest" (which means the screech of angry voters) in allowing her to peek at a "sampling" of MP spending that they had tried for weeks to keep under a blanket of secrecy.

Neither deal should be confused with a new sense of parliamentary co-operation. This is simply what happens when the MP mind focuses on fleeing for a break that outlasts the average Canadian high school student's summer holiday by almost a month.

The detainee document deal finds a reasonable middle ground between the government's desire for all-out secrecy and the oppositions' demand for all-out disclosure. Only the NDP wouldn't go along.

Declaring Cabinet documents off-limits to MP eyes seems to go against the Speaker's ruling on the MPs' right to see all detainee documents uncensored, but they will be viewed by independent arbiters chosen by all parties, so it signals give and take on both sides. The nagging question will be timing. With documents scattered around the Kandahar Airfield or reportedly lining the bottom of shipping containers at sea, the collection, sorting, editing, legal examination and re-censoring could outlast our combat mission in Kandahar.

The partial disclosure of MP expenses was also achieved under last-minute pressure to do something before MPs head for home to face voters.

The great misperception was always that Sheila Fraser wanted a look at every purchase of coffee and a muffin, when all she actually sought was a performance audit of spending programs and budget envelopes. She did not get her way with Senators, who are still ignoring her request for a probe of their budgets. Shame on them.

But MPs can rejoice, knowing they've struck a deal at minimal risk of having any of their own personal spending irregularities exposed. Ms. Fraser will only peruse a sample of their expense claims and won't name names if she finds hard-to-swallow spending. That's like telling employees that the company bean counters will scan only a "representative sample" of self-approved expense accounts.

Even better news for MPs was learning it will be late 2011 -- just as Ms. Fraser's 10-year appointment expires and safely after the next election--before she reports on the expenses.

In both cases, the last-minute summer scramble has produced reasonable solutions to sharp political divisions. RelievedMPs have put their trash out on the curb. Now they're clear to head off the Hill.

dmartin@nationalpost.com
.

About time !

2010-06-18T07:31:00.002-06:00

All I am saying is that it is about time it takes a help from the government to do this. Where was the NDP for 25 yrs. As this neighbourhood was dying. But Now th community assiocation has to get all the people who live in this community. Not those who have kids going to school. Also all people of all poltical strips.

Pleasant Hill plan takes initial step
Incentives play key role in community revitalization
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix June 18, 2010 The homes on the corner of Avenue O South and 19th Street West in Pleasant Hill four years ago were, by all accounts, dying.

The dilapidated rental units beside St. Mary School contributed to the image of the neighbourhood as somewhere to be feared by those unfamiliar with it, a perception the community is dead set on changing.

"The housing was not suitable and nobody should have to live the way the homes were," said Pleasant Hill resident Ilsa Arnesen-Kun.

"For something this drastic you had to have that government intervention."

On Thursday, in their place, the first homes in the largest inner-city revitalization project attempted in the province went on the market amid hopes of a turnaround.

"It's going to be a completely different area," Arnesen-Kun said. "People are going to have different thoughts."

The stacked, energy-efficient townhouses, a unique design in Canada, include two buildings, each with 12 two-to-three bedroom units built by River Ridge and Ehrenburg Homes. The hope is low-income families will take advantage of programs to move from rental to home ownership.

"This is like we're harvesting that first tomato," said Keith Hanson, executive director of the Affordable New Home Development Foundation, who spearheaded the townhouse development. "A lot of time and effort has gone in to make the garden grow."

To get to the opening of the first home has not been without risk and heavy costs.

Not including the new St. Mary School, governments will spend $6.3 million in total on the 13-acre Pleasant Hill Village project, including $3.7 million of city money that has been spent to acquire land, then demolish the 33 single-family homes that once made up the distressed neighbourhood off 20th Street.

On the private investment side, a $14-million seniors' housing complex is being readied for 20th Street by the Knights of Columbus and more than $15 million in new housing is planned to be completed by the end of 2012.

Despite the promise of urban renewal, there was little uptake when the city offered to sell the land for $1 to developers willing to build quality homes that could be offered at the low end of the market.

As a result, the city offered to buy back any units that aren't sold at prices now between $190,000 and $240,000, described by some as a lucrative incentive that officials argue was necessary to jump-start the area.

If any of the units don't sell by November, the city must buy them and market them. Twelve of the 24 units have been sold to affordable housing corporations, which will at first rent them out.

"This is a big test," Hanson said. "When you have a whole new project and all sorts of new housing coming in, how do you know (what will happen)? What will people pay?"

The city is faced with the decision of whether to continue its incentive program on the remaining lots in the development and much hinges on how sales of these first units go, said senior planner Alan Wallace.

"We hear there's a lot of demand," Wallace said. "This will test the ability of people to visualize what this is going to be and buy into it."

Many urban renewal projects across North America have fallen back into states of disrepair after such major interventions, but all involved are betting good urban design and quality homes will not only fight off decay but that the renewal effort will spark development elsewhere in Pleasant Hill.

"This is a neighbourhood that's on the move," said Coun. Pat Lorje.

"It's changing and you can see improvement every month."

dhutton@sp.canwest.com

BEFORE AND AFTER

Land use 2006 Upon completion

Single family homes 33 0

Multi-unit homes 0 96

Seniors housing 0 75

Park space 1.76 acres 466 acres

School 3,300 sq metres 4,400 sq metres

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Pleasant+Hill+plan+takes+initial+step/3169517/story.html#ixzz0rD9VLdw2

Oh Brother !

2010-06-14T09:00:00.001-06:00

What is this all about Spearding the Consevative message to a level.

Fox News: Would you watch a similar channel in Canada?
June 10, 2010 9:55 AM |

Kory Teneycke, former Communications director to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Is a new Fox News-like channel making its way to Canada?

Quebecor Media Inc. has filed an application for an English-language TV news network with the CRTC. Rumours have been circulating in Ottawa that the application will introduce a right-wing news channel modelled on the success of Fox News in the U.S. Reports also suggest it will be headed up by the prime minister's former communications director, Kory Teneycke.

Read more.

Would you watch a Fox News-like channel? Take our poll.

Government and private sector working together.

2010-06-06T09:40:00.004-06:00

This is the start of bring a neighbour back to it once greatest this time Government got it right.
So why is the provicial fighting so hard against the idea of putting a food story near by ?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#6 - 315 N AVENUE S Saskatoon, SK S7M 2N2
0.8 km0.8 km© 2010 Microsoft Corporation © 2010 NAVTEQ © AND © 2010 Microsoft Corporation © 2010 NAVTEQ © AND
RoadAerialBird's eyeLabelsSee this location in bird's eye view Bing Maps 3D has finished updating

General Description
Pleasant Hill Revitalization program offers a fabulous new development by Cenith Developments. Eco-friendly, Energy Star Home, Solar panelled for optimum energy efficiency! One of kind, first to hit Saskatoon! Be excited to join the green movement and own a 2-3 bedroom townhome directly across from the new St. Mary's School in Pleasant Hill. This Brand new home features 810 square feet plus a finished basement. Units either face or back the park. Open floor plan. 2 of the 12 units are Wheel Chair accessible.
Location Description
Saskatoon

Property
Features : Treed, Corner Site, Rectangular Maintenance Fees : $0 Monthly

Building
Building Type : Unknown Built in : 2010
Floor Space : 810.0000 sqft

Rooms
Type Level Dimensions

Master bedroom Second level 12 ft ,5 in x 9 ft ,4 in

4pc Bathroom Second level 5 ft ,8 in x 7 ft ,8 in

Bedroom 2 Second level 12 ft ,2 in x 9 ft ,4 in

Family room Basement 13 ft ,10 in x 13 ft ,11 in

2pc Bathroom Basement 3 ft x 7 ft ,5 in

Laundry room Basement 8 ft ,3 in x 7 ft ,4 in

Storage Basement n/a

Dining room Main level 11 ft ,3 in x 7 ft ,6 in

Living room Main level 14 ft x 9 ft ,7 in

Kitchen Main level 6 ft ,11 in x 9 ft

Not sure What to make of the This?

2010-06-04T06:39:00.002-06:00

As riding president I am not really sure of what to make of this news Story is true or bull shit? I gues I am Have to go the membership and Ask them?

NDP coalition talk highlights clash between Ignatieff and Rae

Chris Wattie/Reuters
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill on June 1. The Liberal leader is suffering in the polls.

By John Ivison June 1, 2010 – 9:22 pm

It’s no wonder some supporters of Michael Ignatieff are wary of Bob Rae. Mr. Rae may not always have the Liberal leader’s best interests at heart, say Ignatieff supporters, such as the advice he is said to have given last fall, to bring down the government because “you can’t be half pregnant.”

Now, trouble is brewing once more, as Liberal support continues to slide and some of Mr. Rae’s advocates openly agitate for a debate about a coalition with the NDP. One influential supporter said that if the Liberals don’t take the idea seriously, they have no chance of governing the country in the foreseeable future.

However, supporters loyal to Mr. Ignatieff are hitting back, arguing that a deal with the NDP would sacrifice the Liberal party’s history and identity.

Last week, Mr. Rae reminisced on his website about the NDP-Liberal deal he helped broker in Ontario 25 years ago. He is on the record as saying that the Conservatives are only in power because “the forces of the centre-left allowed themselves to be divided and we can’t allow that to happen again.”

Jean Chrétien added to the momentum for collaboration when he said of a coalition with the NDP: “If it’s doable, let’s do it.” Yesterday, it was the turn of the president of the Young Liberals of Canada, Samuel Lavoie, who called for federalist progressives to unite under a new banner.

On the other side of the debate is Mr. Ignatieff, who last fall dismissed any prospective resurrection of the 2008 coalition deal signed by the entire Liberal caucus. “We do not support a coalition today or tomorrow,” he said.

On Tuesday, a senior Liberal in Mr. Ignatieff’s office said the party plans on running a campaign to form a Liberal government with candidates in every riding.

Divisions have been hardened further by the addition to the Ignatieff ranks of old Paul Martin aides, like former director of communications Scott Reid. He was forthright in his opinion that it should be the Liberal party’s ambition to beat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, “not surrender to Jack Layton’s NDP.”

“This is a merger by any other name… A slippery slope to sacrificing our political identity. It would amount to a total betrayal of the Liberal party’s history, identity and success,” he said.

Mr. Reid rightly raised some prickly questions for those hankering after some vague accommodation among the “progressive majority.”

“Would we run 100 fewer candidates? Would we abandon Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the NDP and ask Ralph [Goodale] to step down? I think the notion is absurd. The only person who advocated it was Jean Chrétien on CBC but I have a hard time believing Jean Chrétien thinks the Liberal party shouldn’t run 308 candidates at the next election.”

The battle lines are not entirely set. While many supporters of Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Rae have coalesced around the banner of uniting the left, and most of Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Martin’s boosters oppose such a move, the narrative is not quite that neat. For example, Peter Donolo was Mr. Chrétien’s director of communications but is now heavily invested in the Ignatieff camp as chief of staff.

What’s more, it is unlikely that many of those who would favour a progressive accommodation are in favour of a pre-election pact. One of Mr. Rae’s supporters said he would rather not rule out a post-election governing arrangement, as Mr. Ignatieff seems to have done. Both Liberals and New Democrats say discussions about a coalition remain hypothetical at this point.

But as Mr. Ignatieff’s support continues to slip, nervous caucus members add the support of the two left of centre parties together and dream of government. That may be wishful thinking – not all Liberals would join a united left. As one Toronto Grit said: “Rae is fundamentally a lefty who paid $10 to become a Liberal. But he hasn’t changed his substance, only his perfume. My opinion is that it is a bad idea for the Liberals but a good opportunity for the NDP.”

Meanwhile, the NDP are happy to fuel the fires within the Liberal party. Nothing bad can come from internal Grit strife and, at the same time, the party remains in the news. “We’re front and centre. If the political discourse of this week is that Jack Layton is the only one who can unseat Stephen Harper and the separatists, then why in the world would any New Democrat want it to stop,” said a cheerful Brad Lavigne, the party’s national director.

We Need a new Zoo keeper.

2010-06-01T07:19:00.003-06:00

In my opinion we need a Thrid to Ref this Zoo. You wonder why everyone thinks all political party are the Same.

Spending by Sask. government and Opposition caucuses lacks transparency
By James Wood, The StarPhoenix May 26, 2010 Be the first to post a comment
•Story•Photos ( 1 )
Every year the provincial government and the Opposition caucuses recieve $2 million but it's an area of spending that remains opaque to the public.Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Leader-Post filesREGINA — While a major controversy brews in Ottawa over oversight of MP expenses, provincial politicians in Saskatchewan have been under a system to publicly account for their individual spending of taxpayers' dollars for years.

However, one major area of spending remains opaque to the public — the nearly $2 million allocated to the government and Opposition caucuses annually.

New rules for individual members were introduced in the mid-1990s following the misuse of MLA communications allowances that ended in the conviction of 16 Progressive Conservative MLAs and caucus workers and one NDP MLA.

Members are allowed to charge for expenses in four areas: telephone and related expenses; MLA travel and living; constituency service and constituency assistants.

They must file a report annually with the legislative assembly outlining their expenditures. That report is available for perusal by the public at the legislature clerk's office and at the offices of MLAs.

"At the time these would have been the state of the art rules in the country and still are. When other jurisdictions are looking to change their rules, they come here," said NDP MLA Kevin Yates, the Opposition's ranking member on the legislature's board of internal economy.

Yates said MLAs are restricted in their discretionary spending compared to politicians in other jurisdictions and the legislative assembly staff assigned to vet expenditures are not reluctant to flag questionable costs and withhold reimbursement.

MLAs have a limit of $42,366 annually for constituency service expenditures, which include communications, advertising, offices and furniture. Constituency assistant expenditures are topped out at $52,054. Travel allowances vary based on the location of a member's constituency, with northern members allowed the most - $83,000. The average amount is $39,300.

Saskatchewan Party board member Don Morgan said the current system allowed members to check ahead of time whether an expense is allowable and ensured disclosure took place.

"There was a strong desire for the rules to be quite strict and that people should be able to look at them at the end of the year and say 'we got good value for our tax dollars,'" said Morgan.

But while the individual MLAs must provide listings of such things as individual purchases and suppliers and all other aspects of government expenditure such as salaries and payments to suppliers over $50,000 are released in public accounts, the use of funding provided to the caucuses remains obscured.

An annual report breaks overall down areas of expenditure such as salaries and research but not details of how the money is spent.

Morgan, the government's justice minister, struggled to explain why that data has remained hidden over the years even while transparency has increased on other aspects of provincial spending.

He suggested details of caucus spending would provide information to political opponents and raise questions about "motives."

"I think by its nature, caucus is . . . very reluctant to release information that they feel could effect their ability to deal with issues in the house when they want to bring things up," said Morgan.

But Yates said he could not think of any aspect of caucus spending that would be problematic to release publicly.

He said it was probably time for the board of internal economy to review all rules around expenditure and disclosure.

Caucus funding is allocated based on the number of MLAs not in cabinet. In 2008-2009, the Opposition NDP received $1,115,835 and the Sask. Party government received $838,245.

jwood@sp.canwest.com

Union Run a Muck

2010-05-26T08:33:00.002-06:00

This a story of how unions can go to far. Also why is this person not fired? That is the million dollar question ? Who

Privacy breach feared
Private information released by SGI, FedEx worker says
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix May 23, 2010
•
A Saskatoon FedEx worker is concerned about a privacy breach where the addresses of around 25 local employees were leaked from Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) to the union trying to organize the global courier servicePhotograph by: ,, ,A Saskatoon FedEx worker is concerned about a privacy breach where the addresses of around 25 local employees were leaked from Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) to the union trying to organize the global courier service.

"It's concerning," said Tracy Gibson, a FedEx employee for 12 years. "If it's that easy to get the information, it makes you wonder who else can access it."

Last year, the Teamsters Union, a labour group that represents blue-collar and professional workers, launched a full-scale campaign to organize Canadian FedEx employees.

Local FedEx employees were soon being approached by union representatives about joining, but many weren't interested, Gibson said.

Soon after, employees noticed union representatives writing down employee licence plate numbers in the parking lot, Gibson said. They then began receiving mail at home from the union addressed to the owner of the vehicle, which in many cases wasn't the FedEx employee, Gibson said.

Gibson, 37, and five other employees asked SGI to investigate what they suspected was a privacy breach. They were contacted last month by SGI's chief privacy officer with a letter confirming suspicions their personal information was given out inappropriately.

SGI spokesperson Kim Hambleton said the privacy breach was traced to the Ministry of Justice, where it was discovered an employee had given the information to the union.

Privacy breaches are "very infrequent," Hambleton said.

Third-party agencies such as other government ministries or law enforcement have limited access to information in SGI's database, she said. SGI's extensive database includes customer contact information, driver and vehicle information, and driving history. The majority of agencies only have access to customer names and addresses, Hambleton said.

"We're very clear on what that information should only be used for and can only be used for," she said. "Obviously, if someone chooses to abuse it that is, you know, (unfortunate), but we make it extremely clear on what it is to be used for."

Ken Acton, assistant deputy minister with the ministry of Justice, said Friday the employee, who worked in a clerical data-entry position, was suspended without pay and upon return was reassigned to a job with no access to the SGI database.

The information was provided inappropriately to a friend at the union, he said.

"We take this very, very seriously," he said. "It's really unfortunate."

"In this case there was a mistake made," Acton said. "Do I think our system is flawed? No."

The privacy breach "opens up a can of worms," Gibson said, and suggests personal information may not be as secure as people believe. The mechanisms in place in government for keeping information private need to be examined, she said.

"People have to know about this," she said.

While Gibson said her problem was not with the union but the ease of which the information was given out, she does not support efforts to unionize.

"I don't want to be part of a group that is so aggressive," Gibson said. "That just goes beyond pushy."

A local Teamsters representative declined comment and a national spokesperson did not return a Friday interview request.

dhutton@sp.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Question on My Mind. Do you have any answers for me.

2010-05-19T07:29:00.003-06:00

1. Why is the Sask Party opening up this kettle of fish now. Hey dudes keeping working with 1st nations do not just do things and just act like you do not care. Read this tell me what you think.

Protest Day At The Legislature
Those angry at government speaking out

Story Tools
ShareThisReported By Sarah Mills
Posted May 18, 2010 - 1:56pm
It is a day of protest at the Legislative has the spring session begins to wrap up. In the final few days those angry at government are intent on making their voices heard.

Front and centre on the grounds here at the Legislature is the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. They are angered at the potential sale of protected environmental lands.

"Talk to us first, show us a map, where are these lands, maybe our Chiefs are interested in these lands", vice-Chief Lyle Whitefish maintains the government isn't doing enough to consult on issues he says are vitally important to them, "start talking to us, strt a dialogue and of course, the duty to consult."

Alongside them are hundreds of people fighting contruction union changes in bill 80 and healthcare workers without a contract.

2. The second question I have is this ? Read this and tell what you think ? What are you pushing now Stephen Yikes!

PET Trudeau said it best !“The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.”

May 15, 2010
Stephen Harper and religion
There's been a lot of talk this week about the influence of the Christian right on Stephen Harper's government. Primarily, this is the result of Marci McDonald's newly released book, The Armageddon Factor. Exquisitely timed, as Antonia Zerbisias pointed out in the Star this week, this comes on the heels of Harper's decision to ban support for abortion in overseas aids projects and at the same time as the National Prayer Breakfast and the huge March for Life Rally on Parliament Hill.

Paul Wells, in Macleans, has weighed in with some skepticism about McDonald's arguments, saying more or less that she's overstating the whole thing.

Here's what I know. Back before he became prime minister, Harper and I used to talk quite a bit. No surprise. We're contemporaries on the Hill; the same age and (believe it or not) we were of similar views on things like Meech Lake, democratic reform and political cynicism in general. He helped me a lot with my book on the Charlottetown accord and gave me a lot of good advice/insights through the years. I think he's changed, but that's a topic for another day.

In all my conversations with Harper, the subject of religion never came up. Except once. I asked him why he was inserting the God-bless stuff into his speeches when he became the leader of the Canadian Alliance. He said, cryptically: "You'd understand if you had children." Fair enough. We left it at that.

The only other insight I had into Harper and his religion was shortly after he won the 2006 election and a then-new book, the Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper, by Lloyd Mackey, implied that Harper and his wife, Laureen, were deeply religious. She was keen to correct that record and got in touch with me to help do that among the media. She wanted folks to know that Harper was only an occasional church-goer (maybe a half-dozen times a year?) and that she and her alleged Christian-temperance family celebrated the election win with cases of beer. I duly passed the word around.

Does this mean that all this talk of Christian influence is wrong-headed? As mentioned above, I don't claim to have any special understanding of the Harper I see as prime minister and have a hard time connecting the dots from the guy I used to know with the one I see in power. That's not unusual, though. Many folks change when they come to office; some for the worse, some for the better.

What is clear is that he now sees no downside in giving some air time to the Christian right among his supporters. As I noted in the story of the pro-life rally this week, no one is telling these folks to shut the f--- up. They're not being punished, as Diane Ablonczy was last year, for being overly visible with controversial folks. Is that a tactical or theological development? I'd lean toward this being a political calculation by Harper and his advisers; political calculating being the the closest thing I've seen to a religious crusade in this regime. McDonald, as far as I've seen in interviews, seems to be making the same point: whether or not Stephen Harper agrees with the organized Christian right, he's sending some important signals to them in recent weeks. They seem to be happy about that, and so they should be.

Is me or this wrong

Go bye West

2010-04-21T08:25:00.002-06:00

OK These comments are not needed. The best thing to do with gun Control is to blow it up and start from begining a simple plan. Which is you buy a gun from this date it gets on a list. Will it stop the crazy gun guys no. But it will make people happier and then charge people a fees of one time for each gun 10.00 bucks or so. Quick and Simple Will it work No because the polticians are to busy doing shit like this.

By Joan Bryden, THE CANADIAN PRESS,

Updated: April 20, 2010 10:38 PM

Tory MP apologizes for suggesting Ignatieff should be beaten 'black and blue' over gun registry

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP is apologizing for issuing a news release that compared Canadian police chiefs to a cult and urged Liberals to beat their leader, Michael Ignatieff, "black and blue."

Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz said late Tuesday that he did not write the release, issued under his name earlier in the day. "I want to apologize for the language in the news release. It was over the top," he said in a phone interview from his office.

"I don't know how that got out of here."

The release angrily denounced Ignatieff's decision to require all Liberal MPs to vote against a private member's bill that would scrap the controversial long-gun registry.

The Tories have launched an orchestrated campaign to ridicule Ignatieff's decision and to pressure eight Liberal MPs, who supported the bill at second reading, to stick to their guns when it comes up for a final vote next month.

But the missive from Breitkreuz's office went well beyond the official party line. Indeed, P.E.I. MP Wayne Easter, one of the eight Liberals the Tories are trying to court, called it "a tirade that's unbecoming of a member of Parliament."

In the release, Breitkreuz, a passionate, longtime gun registry foe, is quoted as saying Ignatieff is "a bully who may well be committing political suicide."

"With tactics like this, I doubt he'll be missed on either side of the House," the release said.

Breitkreuz was quoted calling Ignatieff's attempt to head off elimination of the registry "an act of desperation that insults the intellect of Canadians."

"His true colours are showing and, if his caucus has any integrity, those colours should be black and blue."

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police also wound up in the news release's cross-hairs as it mocked opposition MPs' claims that the registry helps save lives.

"It's like a cult that is led by organizations of police chiefs who pretend the registry helps them do their jobs. They should be ashamed."

The police chiefs association supports retention of the gun registry. But Breitkreuz was quoted as calling both the chiefs and the Coalition for Gun Control "politically motivated lobby groups that derive financial support from pro-registry sources."

"Their positions are tainted and suspect in my view because their endorsement can be bought."

In the later interview, Breitkreuz said he would never use words like cult to describe police chiefs or call on Liberals to beat their leader.

"This language is not me. I have kept this (gun registry) debate civil for 15 years and I want to keep it civil."

Before Breitkreuz's apology, Easter, who voted last November to scrap the registry, said the missive is "off the wall" and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to disassociate himself from his backbencher's views.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the news release was "in poor taste and inappropriate."

"Mr. Breitkreuz has apologized. What Mr. Breitkreuz should have said is that Michael Ignatieff once again turned his back on rural Canadians by clearly stating he still supports the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry," Soudas said.

Easter questioned whether Breitkreuz might have inhaled too much air on the Hill on Tuesday, which was redolent with the smell of pot during a protest against marijuana laws.

"Was he out there talking to the wacky tobacco groups or something? I think he must've got too much of that smoke up his nose and it affected his brain."

Grits move to modify gun registry
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News ServiceApril 20, 2010 StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Monday.
Photograph by: Chris Wattie, Reuters, Canwest News ServiceLiberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made a pitch on Monday to save the federal gun registry by proposing changes aimed to unify the party's fractured stand and satisfy opponents on the Liberal benches who voted to scrap the contentious databank.

Ignatieff said he would like to make it easier for firearms owners to register their long guns by streamlining the paperwork, removing renewal fees, and making it a ticketing offence, rather than a criminal one, for first-timers who fail to participate.

"It would be wrong to ignore the frustration and legitimate criticisms we have heard about the gun registry in rural Canada, in northern Canada, in remote Canada," Ignatieff told a gathering of the Canadian Police Association.

The Liberal party created the registry as a key element of an expansive gun-control package and the Harper Conservatives have repeatedly promised to scrap it.

Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner introduced a private member's bill last year to eliminate the registry and it passed by a 164-137 margin, with the help of Liberals and New Democrats, in a preliminary vote in the House of Commons in November.

The proposed bill now moves to the all-party public safety committee for hearings before returning to the Commons for a final vote. The committee holds its first meeting on the registry on Tuesday.

Ignatieff, who permitted a free vote among his MPs the last time around, said he will whip the vote next time so that his caucus is unanimous in its opposition.

It is unclear whether the forced unified stance would defeat the bill since only eight Liberals sided with Hoeppner last time, joined by 12 New Democrats and one independent.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will also propose amendments to Hoeppner's bill, but he would not comment on whether he will whip his MPs to vote against the bill otherwise.

Hoeppner appealed to Liberals who supported the bill last year -- mainly from rural areas -- to vote with their constituents in mind, not their leader.

"I think if they personally oppose the long-gun registry and their constituents oppose the long-gun registry, they certainly should vote against it," she said. "I would think it only makes sense that they should follow through."

The bill would eliminate the need to register rifles and shotguns. The requirement to register handguns would remain in place. The registry is separate from gun licensing, which permits owners to have firearms, but does not require them to list their possessions.

The registry was introduced more than 14 years ago as part of a wider gun-control package, largely after lobbying efforts by the families of victims of the 1989 Montreal massacre, when Marc Lepine used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Saskatchewan budget

2010-03-26T07:24:00.000-06:00

Budget 2010: Promises Deferred, Future Ignored
March 24, 2010
REGINA - Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater called the 2010 Saskatchewan Party budget damage control at its worst. “The Saskatchewan Party is clearly floundering in this budget,” said Bater, “and while in crisis mode this government has mortgaged our future and targeted First Peoples as the victims of their repeated fiscal mismanagement.”

“For starters, the budget is not balanced and debt is on the rise. There is an operating deficit of $175 million and they are using the Financial Growth and Security Fund to hide it. Even worse, public debt is forecast to rise over the next three years. Debt elimination should be a priority for any government that truly believes in our economic freedom in the future, but this government is content to rest on their laurels from the token debt payments they’ve made in recent years.”

“Second, there is very little belt tightening. They have only reduced spending by 1% from last year- which means this government has still increased spending by a whopping 20% since taking office. This is still unsustainable and after last year’s fiscal disaster they have made last minute desperate cuts to the civil service. These cuts were made haphazardly without the Sask Party government having done a value-for-money audit first. The use of attrition as the means to make these cuts has robbed Saskatchewan of the next generation of talent in our professional civil service.”

“Saskatchewan has no greater priority than to ensure the full participation of First Nations and Métis people in our economy. We urgently need a real push for aboriginal economic development with the start up and expansion of small businesses and entrepreneurship. Instead, the Sask Party eliminated the critical Aboriginal Employment Development Program and has allowed the First Nations and Metis Business Development Program to fade away.”

“Worst of all, their targeting of tobacco on reserve land is a further depletion of Treaty Rights that the government has no jurisdiction over. This is nothing more than a tax grab by a government that is desperately trying to hide its own fiscal mismanagement and incompetence.”

CBC News - Saskatchewan - SaskPower seeks rate increase

2010-02-21T09:43:00.000-06:00

CBC News - Saskatchewan - SaskPower seeks rate increase

Okay one reason that this goverenment has to go, What is my party point view on this ? We need to start make statements on this stuff and we are but the media. Does not cover our point of view. Ask them Why?

Happy New year

2009-12-31T08:19:00.001-06:00

Here are My Wishes for You...
H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!
Author Unknown

Do think your MP should push for a certain life style choices?

2009-11-26T08:52:00.003-06:00

In my opinion MP should not cry wolf too much, or give there opinion on things when their information is wrong. And very much pushing a certain way of life on others to live their lifes a certain direction. In my opinion an MP job is to be someone who looks at and some who needs to reflex and help build bridges for all opinions. Not just push a certain view point of right and wrong. The MP's in city are not builders they are people who try to divide and conquer and are very closed minded. In my opinion they are wrong here some newspaper articles from both sides. But when there are certain issues we need to use common sense. And show both sides of the story.

Here are the articles from both sides tell me what you think?

Local Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott is applauding Saskatoon doctors for restricting access to abortion services.

"Saskatoon's doctors should be commended for the leadership they are showing by reducing the availability of abortion in our city and for supporting real alternatives for women in need," he said in a Friday news release.

Vellacott, who was not available for further comment Monday, said in the release "a growing body of research reveals significant health problems caused by abortion," including breast cancer, cervical injury, uterine perforations, hemorrhaging and infections. The release does not include statistics from research studies.

Vellacott was responding to a Nov. 13 StarPhoenix story in which Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon, said many women who need abortions in Saskatoon are travelling out of the city because of difficulties receiving the procedure here.

The operation is generally not performed in Saskatoon after the 12th week of pregnancy, a cut-off date that is one of the earliest in Canada. The date is decided by doctors who perform the procedure.

Reisner said Monday it is hard to find scientific research on the subject that is not biased. Reisner points to a 2000 study from the World Health Organization that did not find a link between abortions and increased breast cancer risk.

"The risks (of abortion) are the same for any surgery -- hemorrhaging and infection," she said.

Reisner adds the surgery in question, called a therapeutic D and C, is performed for a variety of reasons, including excessive bleeding and miscarriage. She says for Vellacott to single it out as a separate procedure is "medically inaccurate."

According to Vellacott, women are discussing the "devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects" abortions have on their lives. The number of post-abortive women who were consulted is not given.

Vellacott's release also says the current abortion process in Saskatoon is "conducive to abuse," and says "aborted women tell stories of being badgered, harassed and coerced into getting their abortion by boyfriends, partners, parents and employers."

He says pro-life feminists view abortion as "part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available," and adds abortion has been used to cover up the sexual abuse of young girls.

Vellacott says in the release women need to be better informed so "they don't feel trapped into killing their unborn child." He says compassionate and caring support is needed for women to have a "real choice" and be able to "choose life."

Reisner said her staff ensures women are fully informed, saying "we don't refer a women for an abortion unless she is aware of, and has considered all her options, and is certain that she wants to terminate the pregnancy.

"We do not have a right to assume what is best for other women," said Reisner. The centre is "there to support the informed choices women make; we discuss all options with women, including abortion, parenting and adoption."

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Here is more information for you to look at ;

Liberal accuses federal Conservatives of demonizing abortion
By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free PressNovember 26, 2009 7:02 AM

OTTAWA — Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville accused the federal Conservatives Wednesday of vilifying women after a Saskatchewan MP linked abortions to breast cancer.

Neville was one of several opposition MPs denouncing the comments made by Conservative Maurice Vellacott in a news release last week.

Vellacott, MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, was responding to a news story in Saskatoon about women travelling out of the city because of difficulties getting an abortion there. He said the “current abortion regime is conducive to abuse” and said women who have had an abortion have a greater risk of breast cancer.

He also said abortion is part of a “male agenda to have women more sexually available” and that because abortion is widely available, men think they can blame a woman for not having an abortion.

Neville said the comments were “vile” and “completely degrading to women” and demanded the Harper Conservatives reject them.

“His comments show an odious attitude toward women,” she said, comparing him to a “Reform party extremist.”

Conservative MP Helena Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women, said Vellacott, like any MP, is entitled to his opinion.

“It does not mean it represents the government,” she said.

Vellacott was also under fire this week after he sent a flyer into the riding of Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer accusing him of being in favour of the national gun registry. Stoffer has always voted against it.

Vellacott issued an apology for the flyer.

Tory critics link abortion and jobless comments, call government out of touch

November 24, 2009 8:08 p.m.
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Text size OTTAWA - Opposition critics are taking aim at what they say are out-of-touch, ideologically driven Conservative MPs, citing recent comments on the unemployed and abortion emerging from government ranks.

Tory MP Gerald Keddy's crack about the jobless on Halifax streets being "no-good bastards" raised opposition ire in the House of Commons on Tuesday. But it was a news release on abortion services from Saskatchewan Conservative Maurice Vellacott that had other government opponents fuming.

Vellacott, a former evangelical pastor, recently praised the shortage of doctors performing abortions in Saskatoon. And in the release, he asserted that "pro-life feminists have come to see abortion as part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available."

Liberal MP Anita Neville called Vellacott's argument "atrocious" and deeply disrespectful of both women and men.

She accused Vellacott of having a "very right-wing, somewhat Neanderthal agenda" and said Keddy's comment on the unemployed and Vellacott's anti-abortion arguments are "all a part of a disrespect for people."

"There's no greys, there's no sense of compassion, there's no sense of openness and a generosity of spirit."

Liberal MP Scott Brison, a former Progressive Conservative, said the famously tight messaging of the Harper Conservatives appears to be slipping and what's emerging is a government agenda "that is mean, that is narrow, and is not reflective of broad-based progressive Canadian values."

Quipped Brison: "I think the problem with Conservatives is that 90 per cent of them give the other 10 per cent a bad name."

New Democrat Megan Leslie agreed that with no immediate election in the offing and the Conservative government riding relatively high in public opinion polls above the struggling Liberals, "their true colours are coming out."

Leslie suggested Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current busy international travel schedule is cutting Conservative MPs some slack.

"They aren't being silenced, and they've been very silenced by this prime minister," said Leslie.

"Maybe it's because he's out of town."

Keddy apologized Tuesday for his comment on the unemployed.

Vellacott weighs in on abortion
Saskatoon MP commends system for restricting access
By Jenn Sharp, Special to The StarPhoenixNovember 24, 2009Comments (69)
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Saskatoon-Wanuskewin MP Maurice VellacottPhotograph by: Gord Waldner, The StarPhoenixLocal Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott is applauding Saskatoon doctors for restricting access to abortion services.

"Saskatoon's doctors should be commended for the leadership they are showing by reducing the availability of abortion in our city and for supporting real alternatives for women in need," he said in a Friday news release.

Vellacott, who was not available for further comment Monday, said in the release "a growing body of research reveals significant health problems caused by abortion," including breast cancer, cervical injury, uterine perforations, hemorrhaging and infections. The release does not include statistics from research studies.

Vellacott was responding to a Nov. 13 StarPhoenix story in which Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon, said many women who need abortions in Saskatoon are travelling out of the city because of difficulties receiving the procedure here.

The operation is generally not performed in Saskatoon after the 12th week of pregnancy, a cut-off date that is one of the earliest in Canada. The date is decided by doctors who perform the procedure.

Reisner said Monday it is hard to find scientific research on the subject that is not biased. Reisner points to a 2000 study from the World Health Organization that did not find a link between abortions and increased breast cancer risk.

"The risks (of abortion) are the same for any surgery -- hemorrhaging and infection," she said.

Reisner adds the surgery in question, called a therapeutic D and C, is performed for a variety of reasons, including excessive bleeding and miscarriage. She says for Vellacott to single it out as a separate procedure is "medically inaccurate."

According to Vellacott, women are discussing the "devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects" abortions have on their lives. The number of post-abortive women who were consulted is not given.

Vellacott's release also says the current abortion process in Saskatoon is "conducive to abuse," and says "aborted women tell stories of being badgered, harassed and coerced into getting their abortion by boyfriends, partners, parents and employers."

He says pro-life feminists view abortion as "part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available," and adds abortion has been used to cover up the sexual abuse of young girls.

Vellacott says in the release women need to be better informed so "they don't feel trapped into killing their unborn child." He says compassionate and caring support is needed for women to have a "real choice" and be able to "choose life."

Reisner said her staff ensures women are fully informed, saying "we don't refer a women for an abortion unless she is aware of, and has considered all her options, and is certain that she wants to terminate the pregnancy.

"We do not have a right to assume what is best for other women," said Reisner. The centre is "there to support the informed choices women make; we discuss all options with women, including abortion, parenting and adoption."

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Man disguised as mummy robs Saskatoon business

2009-11-15T12:09:00.000-06:00

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Man disguised as mummy robs Saskatoon business

This a strange ,strange, strange, story.

Ok shouldnot all schools be doing this ?

2009-11-13T08:29:00.002-06:00

I my opinion kids are not just born in the core neighbourhoods. They are born in all area of the city, Read this and tell me what you think. Also this a strange story too.

SHR focuses sex education on schools in core area

By Jenn Sharp, For The StarPhoenixNovember 13, 2009 8:03 AMBe the first to post a comment
Sexual health education will no longer be taught by Saskatoon's public health nurses in most schools next year, as they will be concentrating their efforts in schools in Saskatoon's core neighbourhoods.

Beginning in the fall 2010 semester, Saskatoon public health nurses will be teaching sexual health education in two public schools and one Catholic school in the city.

Linda Walker, a corporate and public affairs adviser with Saskatoon Health Region, says the decision was made after the 2008 health status report was released in May.

"(The report showed) clear disparity rates. Chlamydia is three times higher in the core neighbourhoods. . . . We need to target our resources where there's a greater need," Walker said. "If that's where we're needed, that's where we'll be."

Starting in 2010, public health nurses will assist teachers at Bedford Road Collegiate, Mount Royal Collegiate and E.D. Feehan High School. Bedford Road and Mount Royal already have a program called Healthy Mother, Healthy Baby, because "their pre-natal needs are greater," Walker said.

Authored by the Saskatoon Health Region's chief medical health officer, Dr. Cory Neudorf, the report examined the health status of residents in the city's neighbourhoods. Saskatoon's core neighbourhoods are Meadowgreen, King George, Pleasant Hill, Riversdale, Westmount and Confederation Suburban Centre.

Along with the high rates of chlamydia in Saskatoon's core, the report found that cases of gonorrhea and hepatitis C are respectively six and seven times higher in these neighbourhoods.

Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon, feels that if services are reduced, students will not receive the information they need to make informed decisions.

"If students are lucky, they will have a progressive teacher with the appropriate knowledge and comfort level to teach (sexual education)."

Reisner said the health centre operates a sexual health education program, which discusses "healthy relationships, condom use, self-esteem, birth control and basic issues about sexuality and health." She said the centre was hoping to move into the schools where the health region has reduced services, but "we've applied to six different funders to try and get funding for (our teacher), but have been denied."

Paul Janzen, an educational consultant with Saskatoon Public Schools, said the public health nurses have compiled binders containing resources and lesson plans for teachers.

"The nurses will be acting in a mentorship role with teachers in the non-core schools. They will work with the teachers, until the teachers feel comfortable with the material and are able to teach it themselves."

He said the sexual health curriculum begins in Grade 8. In Grade 9, students learn about substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection prevention. The required curriculum for students in Saskatoon's public schools ends in Grade 10, with a focus on HIV/AIDS education.

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Random rants on great fall day !

2009-11-04T08:30:00.002-06:00

Saskatchewan is growing up look at this news ?

Fortune Minerals announces agreement to purchase lands near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for NICO refinery
Due-diligence in progress to close transaction

LONDON, ON, Nov. 3 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT) ("Fortune Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to purchase lands near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on which the Company proposes to construct its Southern Hydrometallurgical Facility ("SHMF" or "refinery") for the NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project. NICO is a planned vertically integrated project to mine and concentrate ores from the Company's deposit in the Northwest Territories. Bulk concentrates will be transported by truck and rail to the Saskatoon area for processing to high-value metal products, including gold doré, cobalt, copper and bismuth cathodes, and a nickel precipitate by-product. Earlier this year, Fortune Minerals announced that it was evaluating a number of sites in southern Canada to construct this facility (see Fortune Minerals News release, dated July 28, 2009). The relocation of the metal refining part of the project from the mine site to the Saskatoon area is being done to reduce capital and operating costs for the project, mitigate exposure to increasing energy costs, accelerate the construction schedule, reduce environmental impacts at the mine site, and speed the permitting process already in progress. Fortune Minerals believes that the selection of this site is an important step forward in its planned development of the NICO project and reduces project risk.

The purchase of lands in the Saskatoon area is subject to certain conditions, including completion of satisfactory due-diligence of the site and appropriate rezoning. Enterprise Saskatchewan and the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority have been working with Fortune Minerals personnel over the last several months to identify a Saskatchewan location for this state of the art metallurgical processing plant in the province. Enterprise Saskatchewan Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said, "We are very pleased that Fortune Minerals has chosen Saskatchewan over other potential locations for this new and exciting project that means jobs and investment in the Saskatoon area."

The proposed Saskatoon refinery site includes access to the main line of the Canadian National Railway, which can accommodate a spur for delivery of concentrates from the mine, reagents and other supplies, and ship metal products to industrial centres in North America or points of export. The property is in close proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway and other services including power, natural gas, and water supply. Saskatoon is the fastest growing city in Canada and the commercial centre for the province of Saskatchewan. "With a diversified economy, a highly skilled work force and respected post-secondary institutions, Saskatoon can accommodate everything that is required to construct and operate this refinery" said Fortune Minerals President, Robin Goad.

Based on the Company's current mine plan, the Saskatoon refinery will process approximately 80,000 tonnes of NICO sulphide concentrates each year, producing average annual production of approximately 4 million pounds of 99.8% cobalt cathode, 4.2 million pounds of 99.5% bismuth cathode, as well as 81,000 ounces of gold in each of the first two years of the mine life, followed by 27,000 ounces of annual gold production in subsequent years. Approximately 760,000 pounds of 99.9% copper cathode and a nickel precipitate will also be produced as by-products of the cobalt refining process. Notably, the process flow sheet, production of high value metal products and metal recoveries have all been proved by pilot plant testing.

When it enters production, NICO is expected to be a significant global producer of cobalt to service increasing demand in high performance rechargeable batteries used in portable electronic devices and electric- and hybrid-electric cars. Cobalt is also used in superalloys, magnets, high strength steels, catalysts, pigments and food additives (Vitamin B12). NICO is also expected to be the largest independent producer of bismuth in the world to service growth in the demand for traditional products (medicines, flame retardants, fusible alloys, castings, cosmetics, lubricants, dimensionally stable compounds / alloys, and chemicals). Due to concerns about lead-toxicity, the market is also growing for a variety of new products that have been developed because bismuth is an environmentally safe replacement for lead. The gold contained in the NICO deposit is an attractive counter cyclical hedge, which is primarily recovered during early years of the mine life.

Fortune Minerals has determined that relocating its refinery to Saskatoon produces positive net impacts for the entire NICO development for the benefit of all stakeholders. It may also provide the Company with an opportunity to source materials from other projects for custom processing and also to participate in the metals recycling business. Undertaking such business activities would provide for a sustainable project extending beyond the anticipated life of the NICO mine. The Saskatoon refinery is expected to employ 85 people over a 15 to 20 year period based on the anticipated life of the NICO deposit alone. Investment in the refinery is estimated at $150 million and construction is anticipated to commence upon receipt of the NICO mine permits and project financing. NICO is in the second phase of environmental assessment for mine permitting and is under review for senior project financing by BNP Paribas, a world class bank and highly ranked market leader in global mine finance.

About Fortune Minerals

Fortune Minerals is a diversified natural resource company with several mineral deposits and a number of exploration projects, all located in Canada. They include the Mount Klappan anthracite coal deposits in British Columbia, and the NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit, the Sue-Dianne copper-silver deposit and other base and precious metals exploration projects in the Northwest Territories. Fortune Minerals owns the buildings and equipment from the Golden Giant Mine at Hemlo, Ontario, which have been dismantled for relocation to NICO. Fortune Minerals is focused on outstanding performance and growth of shareholder value through assembly and development of high quality mineral resource projects.

This press release contains forward-looking information. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the completion of the purchase of the SHMF and production from the NICO project and the SHMF. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in the receipt of necessary permits and approvals, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geologic data, fluctuating metal prices, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties related to metal recoveries and other factors. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

For further information: Fortune Minerals Limited:

Potash payday for Rocanville
Community prepares for pros, cons of mini-boom
With a population nearing 1,000 people, the town of Rocanville is preparing for an influx of new faces as the nearby Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan mine pushes forward with a $2.8-billion capacity expansion project. A year from now, 1,200 contract workers are expected to live and work at the potash mine, more than doubling the immediate population of the area.

- - -

As the mid-afternoon sun shines in through the half-dressed windows of Rocanville's bakery, Cherie Dukart takes a moment to eat a quick lunch of deli meat on a slice of homemade bread.

Since 7 a.m., the owner of the Oven Door Bakery & Cafe has been busy baking buns, breads and sweet treats for the community of nearly 1,000 people. During the lunch hour, she and her staff barely had a moment to gather their thoughts while they made and served sandwiches to hungry workers, sliced large pieces of hot pizza for high school students and poured bowls of homemade minestrone and cream of potato soup to local women who had gathered to talk about the news of the day.

It's a pace Dukart, who bought the shop five months ago, expects will quicken as the weeks roll on. The population in the cozy, southeast Saskatchewan town continues to rise as more people move to the region looking to benefit from a $2.8-billion capacity expansion project at Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.'s Rocanville potash mine, located a short drive from the community.

"Business has increased and that's because there's a lot of contractors and that sort of thing out there," said Dukart, who resides 30 minutes away in the town of Fleming. "Apparently (there's) a lot of unfamiliar faces to a lot of people, which is good. They're all shopping; they're eating; they're lodging. They're all doing things that generate the economy."

The global demand for the pink plant nutrient, which is a key ingredient in fertilizer, is changing the town, located about 230 kilometres east of Regina. Surrounded by golden fields but a few kilometres from the deep and winding Qu'Appelle Valley, Rocanville is boasting neon red No Vacancy signs on its motels and beige wood frames for new buildings and homes in the area.

In addition to more bakery business, Dukart hopes the influx of people the region is preparing for -- 1,200 contractors are expected to be working at the mine site a year from now -- brings new retail shops, specifically clothing stores, to the area.

"It's just a win-win situation, I think, for the area, and not just for Rocanville. There's spinoffs into Moosomin and maybe north into Esterhazy," she said.

MANY NEW FACES IN TOWN

Indeed, Mayor Daryl Fingas has seen first-hand the changes an increasing demand for potash has brought to the area. A resident of Rocanville for the past 28 years, and mayor for the past nine, Fingas once knew everyone in the community by name. With so many new faces in town, that reality no longer exists.

"It's a nice small community where you still almost know everybody," Fingas said on a chilly October evening.

The general consensus around town is that the impact of the multibillion-dollar expansion at PotashCorp's Rocanville operation on the community is, and will continue to be, a good thing, said the mayor.

Fingas, who works in the potash industry at Mosaic Co.'s Esterhazy mine, said PotashCorp is footing the bill for a new lagoon -- a project that would have cost the town about $2.5 million -- in exchange for providing water to the site. Plans for a new residential subdivision with close to 20 lots are well underway and a new medical centre has attracted a regional doctor for at least three days a week.

"I never thought it would ever be like this," he said. "Main Street is always full, you drive down Main Street and there's no place to park. It was a concern years ago that Main Street was empty, but not no more."

On the other side of the coin, residents are raising concerns about the mine expansion and its effect on the town. Their worries, which Fingas shares, aren't unlike the problems cities face as they deal with rapid growth: Lack of affordable housing, insufficient infrastructure and increased crime rates.

"More people lock their homes now. In this community you never locked your home, you never took your keys out of your vehicle," he said, adding figures from the RCMP show crime rates haven't yet risen.

Still, the Moosomin-based detachment has increased patrols in the Rocanville area, Fingas explained, and awareness programs have been held at the school in an effort to prevent youngsters -- especially girls -- from being lured into any threatening situations.

With PotashCorp planning to hire 270 more workers for the mine when the expansion project ends in 2013, and the average house price in Rocanville jumping from $75,000 to $175,000 since news of the project hit the community two years ago, Fingas said the town is working to attract condominium and apartment developers to the area.

NOTHING WITHOUT POTASH

Out at the mine, Steve Fortney, general manager of PotashCorp's Rocanville operation, said the company will do all it can to prevent trouble in the surrounding areas. The majority of the contract workers are being housed in temporary accommodations located on PotashCorp's Rocanville site, he explained, and a drug-testing policy is in place for contract workers operating on company property. Security guards are also posted to the temporary housing zone.

"There will be a lot of transient people coming into the area. We intentionally picked the camp location to keep it away from the town and we talked to the RCMP and they've added staff to provide better security in the area," Fortney said.

"The camp wasn't built to keep the construction workers from living in the communities, but when we did have to build a camp and you have 900 people, we picked a spot two miles down the road."

The Shaunavon-raised mine manager, who has worked at the Rocanville operation for the past 25 years, says the expansion project at the sprawling site comes with responsibility to both the company and the community.

"We need the town, we need the communities, we rely on them for providing educated, well-trained employees to come in. They provide a lot of services; our employees enjoy a good, comfortable lifestyle in the communities that they live in. A lot of people don't want the rat-race of the city," he said.

Rural Municipality of Rocanville Reeve Murray Reid said the expansion gives the area the opportunity to show it is the most progressive RM in the province. In addition to potash, there's also oil, agriculture, manufacturing and trucking in the area but, in Reid's words, PotashCorp is the biggest employer and biggest ratepayer in the 600-person strong RM.

"Well, we'd be nothing (without potash)," said Reid, who raises livestock in the area. "Look at all the RMs around Saskatchewan, they're boarded up and your kids have to go 50 miles on the school bus every day. If there was no potash mine our kids would be going to school in Moosomin or Langenburg or Esterhazy, or you'd have to go to Moosomin for a quart of milk."

A house on every section of land and an influx of young families to the area would make Reid, a lifelong resident of the RM, a very happy reeve. But that's not to say the present situation doesn't put a smile on his face already.

"Any RM would kill for this . . . there are municipalities that can't even get a council, there aren't enough people left," he said.

As the mid-afternoon lull creates time for Dukart to prepare for the oncoming dinner rush, she says she's taking the busy days as they come. If she needs more staff, she'll hire. If she needs to extend her hours, she will.

"We just kind of watch and adjust as needed," she said.

So will the rest of the town.

ckyle@sp.canwest.com

BY THE NUMBERS

1,000: Rocanville's estimated population

1,200: Number of contract workers expected at PotashCorp's Rocanville mine a year from now

460: Number of contractors already on-site

900: Temporary worker housing spaces available in 2010

450: Temporary worker housing spaces in use today

80: Contract workers currently housed in a second, smaller camp

400: Staff members at PotashCorp Rocanville

$2.8 billion: Cost of the mine expansion

3.04 million: Mine's annual capacity in tonnes

5.7 million: Mine's annual capacity in tonnes post-expansion

3,100: Feet below surface where mining takes place

1,000: Kilometres of underground tunnels at the mine

270: Positions to be filled at the mine post-expansion

$1 million: Dollars a day being spent on the expansion project

POTASHCORP'S OTHER PROJECTS

PotashCorp isn't just working to increase capacity at its Rocanville mine. The company is spending $5 billion to expand and upgrade all of its mines in Saskatchewan to produce an annual total of 18 million tonnes of potash, including tonnage from its New Brunswick operations, by 2014.

The Saskatoon-based company, which spends between $3 million and $4 million a day in Saskatchewan, says all of its expansion projects are on schedule.

Here's a look at the company's other expansion projects:

Mine: Cory

Location: Six kilometres west of Saskatoon

Project: Expanding annual capacity to 3 million tonnes

Budget: $1.1 billion

2009 Spending: $500 million

Contractors: 1,100 on-site, peaked at 1,200 earlier this year

Status: Underway, expected to be complete in 2012

Mine: Allan

Location: 60 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon

Project: Expanding annual capacity to 3 million tonnes

Budget: $550 million

2009 Spending: $80 million

Contractors: 100 currently on-site, peaked at 200 earlier this year

Status: Underway, expected to be complete in 2012

Mine: Lanigan

Location: 100 kilometres east of Saskatoon

Project: Debottlenecking and expansion to increase annual production to 3.8 million tonnes

Budget: $410 million

Status: Completed in 2008

Mine: Patience Lake

Location: 30 kilometres east of Saskatoon

Project: Bringing back 360,000 tonnes of idled capacity

Budget: $111 million

Status: Completed in 2009

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Is this the job of the MP i say No f*** way
Sask. MP Trost launches petition against funding of planned parenthood group
By Jenn Sharp, The StarPhoenixNovember 4, 2009 8:00 AMBe the first to post a comment
A petition calling for a stop to federal funding of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has been launched by Saskatoon-Humboldt MP Brad Trost.

Trost presented the petition to the House of Commons Monday. IPPF is funded through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and, according to Trost's petition, "promotes the establishment of abortion as an international human right and lobbies aggressively to impose permissive abortion laws on developing nations."

The petition says that the government pledged $18 million to the IPPF over four years and that "the IPPF does not support physician's freedom to practice according to their conscience and/or religious beliefs regarding abortion referral."

According to IPPF's website, the federation promotes sexual and reproductive health rights and provides health services for people in six world regions. Its work is focused in five priority areas: Access to services for marginalized groups, education services for adolescents, advocacy campaigns, HIV-AIDS and abortion services.

Trost, a Conservative, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre in Saskatoon (formerly Saskatoon Planned Parenthood), says while its services are not directly funded by the federal government, if government funding is cut off to IPPF, it will have a negative effect on women in Saskatoon.

"Philosophically, this will have a huge impact," she said, adding a "trickle-down effect" would happen quickly.

"It starts in the federal level and moves to the grassroots level where we work with the community directly. That momentum will have a huge impact directly on the work we do in Saskatoon."

Reisner added a strong conservative community in the city often makes it hard for her program to receive support and funding.

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

What the hell happen Mike?

2009-10-26T08:28:00.002-06:00

POLITICS
The latest Nanos poll shows that support for the Conservatives continues to increase while Liberal support is on the decline.

These numbers speak for them seleves ...WOW

Conservative 40% +2
Liberal 30% -3
NDP 17% +2
BQ 9% -1
Green 5% NC -
(Change between
Sept 2/09 - Oct 18/09)

Sask. to limit needle exchange

2009-10-23T09:46:00.003-06:00

The new Saskatchewan. Is not friendly place to all. It is time we have a reality check. Is this good or bad. I am really not sure but. I know one thing have they looked at all the side in this. There has toThe new Saskatchewan. Is not friendly place to all. It is time we have a reality check. Is this good or bad. I am really not sure but. I know one thing have they looked at all the side in this. There has to be a answer to having needles be throw away in parks and and street maybe safe houses.

Sask. to limit needle exchange
AIDS group calls change 'recipe for disaster'
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 | 9:32 PM ET The Saskatchewan government wants to put a limit on how many needles are used in various needle exchange programs in the province.

The change was announced in the legislature Wednesday as part of the speech from the throne.

"This program cannot be allowed to function as a source of unlimited needles," the official text of the speech said of the current needle exchange policy. [The government] will tighten controls around both the numbers of needles exchanged and distributed."

The government said the objective is to create more frequent contact between health professionals and drug users. The change is prompted, in part, by concerns about needles littering parks and streets in Saskatchewan communities.

Premier Brad Wall said he is concerned about the health hazards posed by discarded needles. Reducing the supply of needles might reduce the spread of disease, he said.

However, a government study examining needle exchange programs found they contribute to a reduction in the spread of blood-borne diseases, such as AIDS.

That study suggested the program may save the health-care system $4 million a year.

AIDS group slams move
AIDS Saskatoon issued a news release late Wednesday, expressing disappointment with the government plan. Restricting access to new, clean needles is "a recipe for disaster" that will increase exposure to the hepatitis C virus and HIV, the agency said.

Nicole White, the executive director, said Wall does not fully understand how the needle exchange program works.

"I wish he could spend a day in our shoes," she said in the release. "AIDS Saskatoon is already struggling to meet the growing needs of the community: why would the Wall government restrict access to new needles, thus increasing chances of exposure to HIV?HCV?"

Stephen PR is good.. Iggy bad

2009-10-04T08:47:00.000-06:00

Sunday, October 4, 2009 10:02 AM

A political master stroke
Bruce Anderson

By all accounts, Stephen Harper puts a lot of effort into his job as Prime Minister. And over time, it’s pretty easy to see areas where his diligence is paying off. For all of the hard work of policy and management, though, last night may have been one of the best nights the Prime Minister has had since entering politics - and it had nothing to do with taxes, crime, terrorism, the machinery of government or accountability.

While some people are always looking for a reason to hate politicians, most people would rather find a reason to like them, at least a little bit. Last night, the Prime Minister gave those who are still on the fence about him a bit of a glimpse into his soul, and a pretty good one at that.

At a crowded NAC gala co-hosted by his wife Laureen, the kind of event Harper has rarely if ever been spotted at before, the Prime Minister played piano and sang the Beatles With A Little Help From My Friends, accompanied by Yo Yo Ma. This was a remarkably good decision by the PM, and a strikingly good performance. The lyrics were, in this context, ironic and fun, and he looked to be enjoying himself greatly. A spontaneous standing ovation ensued.

Politically, this was a master stroke. The video clip of the PM, singing in tune, having a laugh and enjoying a great piece of music is now launched on the Internet, and the viral impact will likely be extensive. Not a moment of it looked false, even though it could hardly have been more carefully planned.

With this revealing moment, the PM also threw down the gauntlet in the general direction of Michael Ignatieff. For months, the Conservatives have been painting the Liberal Leader as diffident, elitist, not really one of us. Liberals could be excused for wondering if Harper would really be able to win a contest around personal likeability.

Today, they have something more to be worried about than they had yesterday, and they already had plenty.

The work is on going.

2009-09-23T08:43:00.004-06:00

As liberal in Saskatchewan at times I feel very lonely but I am hopeful that we can rise up. The ideas of the provinical liberals are needed because we need a balance between the left and right, no matter how much of a shift to the middle these guys claim to be doing.

Both the leaders of the SK party and NDP are talking about the past, the 80's . We need to see their plan for the future and neither Wall nor Lingenfelter seem to have any plan.

As liberals we are working to find out what the people want, so it is going to be a long road. As a party we have got a lot of new people involved in the process. That is good. The change of direction and getting new ideas will take a long time. It is like growing a plant, you need to water it and nurture to make it grow into something you are proud of. So look at this story and ask youself this question. It is time to have our voices heard . I want to be part of something new. It is a great time to become a liberal in saskatchewan . So this why I am liberal: I like the idea of helping to rebuild the party and for my voice be heard and the leadership of a new leader who is not afraid to try new things, even if these things turn out to be the wrong direction. We can learn from these mistake. The old boys are gone and new people with new ideas and ways of doing things. The process will take time. This by-election is one small play in the big football game and there is a lot of game to be played yet. As one of my heros said Winston Churchill.
" The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Liberals at low ebb in byelection wake
Party candidate managed just 2.6% of Riversdale vote
By James Wood, The StarPhoenixSeptember 23, 2009 8:24 AMBe the first to post a comment
No one was quite prepared to bury the Saskatchewan Liberal party Tuesday after a dismal byelection showing, but pundits and politicians from other parties said the Liberals are at an historic low ebb.

And the Liberals' decline as a strong third party is expected to be a long-term factor in a provincial political scene dominated by the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP.

Liberal Eileen Gelowitz, a high-profile nominee as a former Saskatchewan Party candidate, received 107 votes -- or 2.6 per cent of the vote -- in Monday's Saskatoon Riversdale byelection. In the other byelection, in Regina Douglas Park, the Liberal party fielded no candidate, just as it did in the Cumberland byelection last year.

Those results followed two general elections in a row where the party failed to win a seat and which saw its popular vote share drop from 14 to nine per cent.

But Liberal Leader Ryan Bater, who won the job by acclamation in 2008, said the byelection results, while disappointing, aren't a signal to give up.

Instead, they show the need to develop party organization and policy.

"I knew what I was getting into. I knew we were at a low spot when I became leader. We're still there. I'm 31 years old and I committed to the long-term rebuilding because that's what it's going to take. You don't just turn a party around in six months," he said in a telephone interview.

"We have to do the work to be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when we're on the up-cycle."

Bater also dismissed any concern about being displaced as a third party by the Greens. The Liberals edged out the Greens in Riversdale while the Green candidate captured seven per cent in Douglas Park in one of the party's best showings ever.

Voter turnout was relatively strong by the standard of byelections -- with 56 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots in Saskatoon and 62 per cent in Regina. In contrast, the Cumberland byelection had 37 per cent turnout, the 2007 Martensville byelection saw 45 per cent and the 2006 Weyburn-Big Muddy vote saw 69 per cent. The 2001 byelection that elected then-premier Lorne Calvert in Riversdale also had 56 per cent turnout.

The NDP retained both seats on Monday at vote levels similar to the results in the 2007 general election, but the Sask. Party vote shot upwards. Bater believes that is more a reflection of Liberals not coming out to vote than defecting, but the Sask. Party has been quick to claim it won over former Liberal supporters.

"There's certainly a lot of merit in this notion that the Liberal vote that existed . . . came to us," said Premier Brad Wall on Tuesday.

"The Liberal vote is falling and in those areas we saw a surge in support for our party."

Wall said it's very dangerous for any political party to write an obituary for a rival but he's hopeful the vote results were the culmination of a trend started by the 1997 founding of the Sask. Party by Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAs.

He said voters are not sure what the Liberals stand for, noting Bater's message of "free enterprise" and "personal liberty" is a significant change from the party's 2007 efforts under then-leader David Karwacki to supplant the NDP as the centre-left alternative to the Sask. Party.

NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter said after Bater's decision to focus on Riversdale, the byelection result "doesn't bode well" for the Liberals and may bring about a new strategy from the party.

"The Liberals are a big brand name, they've been around a long time and I don't expect they'll go away. So I would expect some soul-searching from the Liberal party over the next weeks and months. Maybe you'll see something different coming forward from them," he said.

David Smith, the University of Saskatchewan professor emeritus who has studied the Liberals extensively, said there has never been much room for third parties in Saskatchewan.

The current climate is particularly inhospitable for the Liberals as the NDP and Sask. Party have converged toward the political centre.

"Parties do revive, or resurrect," he said.

"I would never say never about the Liberal party in Saskatchewan. That being said, at the current time, as far as being a competitive force in provincial elections . . . it's really caught between these two very strong political parties."

2009-09-09T08:15:00.002-06:00

OK ,these number do not make sense to me. The liberals are down We going to try to force a election? I know that the present government is evil But if you are going to win,. Why go to an election?

Election speculation fuels Tories: Nanos Poll (Completed September 2nd)

Nik on the Numbers

The latest Nanos poll shows, with election speculation on the rise, a noticeable increase in support for the Harper Conservatives while Liberal support has remained relatively stable.

The Conservatives have picked up support in Quebec and Atlantic Canada while the New Democrats have lost support in those regions.

Also of note, the level of undecided is above average in this wave of Nanos tracking. This is likely a natural result of the country entering a pre-election phase as an increasing number of Canadians park with the undecided before they render judgment on the parties and the party leaders.

To chat about this poll join the national political online chat at Nik on the Numbers. The detailed tables and methodology are posted on our website. You can also register to receive automatic polling updates.

Methodology
Nanos conducted a random telephone survey of 1,003 Canadians, 18 years of age and older, between August 28th and September 2nd. A survey of 1,003 Canadians is accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20, for 756 committed voters, it is accurate to within 3.6 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. Margins may be larger for smaller samples.

Ballot Question: For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences? (Committed voters only - First Preference)

The numbers in parenthesis denote the change from the last Nanos Omnibus Survey completed between July 30th and August 2nd, 2009.

National (n=756)
Conservative 37.5% (+6.2)
Liberal 33.4% (-0.4)
NDP 14.8% (-3.9)
BQ 9.7% (+0.5)
Green 4.6% (-2.4)
Undecided 24.6% (+8.9)

Feel free to forward this e-mail. Any use of the poll should identify the source as the latest "Nanos Poll."

Jungle jack you need more than a name change.

2009-08-16T12:22:00.001-06:00

Well sometimes a good idea stops quick. Here is one of these so called good Ideas Stopped. maybe some of the spin doctors should have been more awake. what do you think?

NDP Leader Jack Layton questions the government on CPP management during question period in Ottawa, Thursday, May 28, 2009.

NDP name change could prove embarrassing in Quebec
Updated Fri. Aug. 14 2009 6:07 PM ET

The Canadian Press

HALIFAX -- Jack Layton has remained coy on the topic, but talk of a possible name change for the federal NDP generated growing buzz -- and in some cases outright bewilderment -- as the party opened its convention Friday in Halifax.

Layton has played down the significance of a movement afoot to drop the word "New" from the NDP, but if approved, the new moniker could be embarrassing for the party, particularly in Quebec.

Now abbreviated as the NPD in the province, the party faces the prospect of becoming known as the PD -- initials that sound like "pede," a derogatory term for a homosexual derived from the French word "pederaste."

Several delegates expressed concerns that the proposed name change could prove an awkward sell in a seat-rich province.

"I think it's a downside," said 26-year-old Ethan Cox of Montreal.

"If I'm going to be going out and trying to solicit votes, it's got to not have negative connotations in French."

Lisa Jackson said the party needs to consider the implications of dropping the word "New" from its 48-year-old name.

"If it's a derogatory term, then you'd have to widen debates within the party," the 28-year-old Toronto woman said.

"Definitely if there's a negative connotation to the French spelling of it, it's important to consider that."

Branding expert Glenda Rissman said the party needs to consider how a different name would translate -- and its potential to offend.

"Pede is not a great word," said Rissman, one of the founders of Q30 Design Inc., a Toronto-based design and branding firm.

"It's just going to create some negative press ... in this case, the acronym is essentially the name, so there's lots of things to consider."

The party also needs to determine whether the new name works well as an acronym and whether it can buy a website that matches its new identity, said Rissman.

"It's a pretty serious thing to do and there are serious implications," she said.

"In this case, there's more equity in the acronym than the fully spelled out name. People know the NDP."

Jim Bickerton, a political science professor in Antigonish, N.S., said Democratic success south of the border might be the driving force behind the idea to change the party's name.

"(With) the favourable impression of the Democratic Party in the United States now under (Barack) Obama's leadership, maybe things are coming together at this juncture for the Democratic Party as an alternative to the New Democratic Party," Bickerton said.

"They feel ... the name is no longer apt and somewhat misleading and also might be holding the party back, in the sense that if the party is perennially the new party, then they never get to be perceived as one of the established alternatives."

Toronto delegate Julian Benson said he opposed the idea because he felt it took the party away from the issues they should be grappling with, such as union rights and the economy.

"It's a distraction," said Benson, 23.

"The party is about ideas and policy rather than image and marketing."

The NDP's roots can be traced back to Calgary in 1932, when the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was founded. At the time, the party was a collection of socialist and labour supporters eager to bring about economic reforms after the Great Depression.

But the party became known as the New Democratic Party in 1961 after supporters agreed to drop the cumbersome moniker.

More recently, the federal Tories dropped the word, "Progressive," from their name and emerged as the Conservatives in December 2003. The name change came about after the Progressive Conservatives and Canadian Alliance, the successor to the Reform Party, agreed to merge.

In 2000, supporters of the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party found themselves the butt of jokes when it was pointed out to them that their acronym would be CCRAP. The party later became known simply as the Canadian Alliance.

NDP delegates are expected to vote on the name change proposal Sunday.

Bone Heads

2009-08-11T09:47:00.000-06:00

Please stop enough all ready with these guys.

Duck shoot video brings 3 arrests in Sask.
Last Updated: Saturday, August 8, 2009 | 9:05 PM CT
CBC News
A video posted on YouTube shows men firing a rifle at ducks swimming in a pond. Some of the shooting took place from a car window. (YouTube)Three Saskatchewan men have been arrested over a video recently posted on YouTube that shows men using rifles to shoot ducks on a pond illegally, sometimes from a car window.

Saskatchewan's Environment Ministry said the three will appear in court in Saskatoon on Monday on charges laid under federal and provincial wildlife protection laws. The men, who were released until their court appearance, are from a community in the Saskatoon area.

The ministry said the video was shot in rural Saskatchewan. The internet posting led to widespread public outrage over the shootings, which the ministry said resulted in a significant number of calls to the Turn in Poachers hotline.

The ministry said it was information from those calls that led to the arrests, which were carried out by provincial conservation officers, federal wildlife enforcement officers and RCMP.

According to Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, the video indicates the men on it broke several hunting and firearms laws, including a prohibition on shooting out of a vehicle.

Gary Harrison, manager of the ministry's special investigations unit, said officers were able to pin down the location where the video was shot.

"It's close to the community that the arrests were made in," he said.

Harrison said more investigation is needed of the area where the video was shot.

Number not known
"Anybody who has watched the video knows that some birds have been killed and we really don't know how many that was," he said.

The video prompted the Toronto-based Humane Society of Canada to post a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of those shown in the internet posting.

Society executive director Michael O'Sullivan said the organization also got calls from people who wanted to help and they were directed to tip lines in both western provinces. O'Sullivan said he is pleased to hear of the arrests.

"I would like to commend all the members of the public who provided information. Canadians take cruelty to animals very seriously and they want to help out as best as they can," he said.

2009-07-23T18:51:00.000-06:00

This bater guy gets media!

Bater raises questionJuly 21, 2009 I'm glad to see in new Liberal leader Ryan Bater's letter, Tolerance just first
step (SP, July 15), that there's nothing liberal about the Saskatchewan Party. ... Tolerance just first stepJuly 15, 2009 ... What we do know, however, is that there is absolutely nothing liberal about
the Saskatchewan Party. Ryan Bater. Leader, Sask. Liberals. Sask. Party's loss is Liberal's gainJuly 03, 2009 ... Liberal Leader Ryan Bater said Gelowitz's defection shows the party, which has no
seats in the legislature, is on the right track as he emphasizes themes of ... Grits pick Riversdale candidateJuly 02, 2009 ... Liberal Leader Ryan Bater was also on hand to sign the party's declaration
regarding aboriginal issues. If elected, the Liberals ... Liberals name Riversdale byelection candidateJuly 01, 2009 ... Liberal leader Ryan Bater was also on hand to sign the party’s declaration
regarding aboriginal issues. If elected, the Liberals ... Liberal leader Bater hits the road in rented RVJune 27, 2009 ... the legislature. Ryan Bater is getting all Kerouac-like this month, or
as Kerouac-like as you can be in a motorhome. The rookie ... Cabinet ministers nervous as shuffle loomsMay 23, 2009 ... Rookie Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater is using some intellectual big guns
as he tries to reposition -- or maybe re-reposition -- his party as the ...

Small steps are being taken

2009-07-01T07:05:00.002-06:00

We are in this all together and now it is time to grow this party.

Here is an example of how. Happy Brithday Canada

Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater Makes Commitment to First Nations & Métis People
June 30, 2009
Former Saskatchewan Party Candidate to Run for Liberals in Riversdale By-Election

Saskatoon – Today Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater welcomed the selection of Eileen Gelowitz as the candidate for the Saskatchewan Liberals in the upcoming Saskatoon-Riversdale by-election. Mrs. Gelowitz, a long-time resident of Riversdale and activist for her community, was the Saskatchewan Party’s candidate in Saskatoon-Fairview during the 2007 provincial election.

“In recent months I have become increasingly disillusioned with the Saskatchewan Party and the lack of leadership by Premier Brad Wall and his government in tackling the core issues facing First Nations and Métis people – creating sustainable communities and individuals which ensures that everyone participates in supporting Saskatchewan.” said Gelowitz. “I have been truly impressed by the leadership and new direction for the Saskatchewan Liberals that Ryan Bater has put in place and this has convinced me to return home to the Liberals as I continue to work to improve my community”.

Ryan Bater also expressed his support for a new approach in partnering with First Nations and Métis people. “From my years of experience working with the First Nations and Métis community when I was the manager of the Battlefords Regional Economic Development Authority, I have seen far too often that our Aboriginal people are viewed as a ‘solution’ to labour and economic problems in the province instead of as individuals who should be empowered to pursue their own dreams,” said Bater. “It is time for the paternalistic approach of provincial governments of all political stripes to end”.

At the nomination meeting, Bater signed a commitment to the First Nations and Métis people of Saskatchewan that included the following three points:

1) Using the Treaties as a blueprint for future partnerships with First Nations and Métis people of Saskatchewan

2) Implementing a representative workforce strategy at all levels of government

3) Creating a Secretariat within the Premier’s Office to directly address First Nations and Métis issues from a whole-of-government perspective