As if infecting an entire province with the politics of envy (and the economic rot it produces) wasn't enough - Canada's best known eugenicist has crawled from the NDP mausoleum to claw another $600K from the taxpayers to celebrate the accomplishment.
Documents obtained by the CBC show the government was advised that the production might have been filmed in Manitoba, if Saskatchewan hadn't stepped in with the money.Ultimately, the province provided a $600,000 grant and filming is taking place in Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Party's Donna Harpauer is criticizing the government's role in saving the production. She believes Minds Eye Pictures was manipulating the government for more money.
Facts About Saskatchewan:
"I think it was a threat, quite frankly," she says. "This isn't the first time that Minds Eye has asked for money at the last minute, and we've given them money. So, you know, when do we say 'no more'? It sounds like a perfectly political decision, and nothing more."The internal documents, provided to the CBC under freedom of information rules, show Minds Eye first asked for a centennial grant in February 2004, months before the government's centennial office was fully functional. The original request did not say the production was in any trouble. However, when government officials initially recommended against approval, the prospect of failure was then raised.
According to the internal government documents, the movie's producer was having difficulty arranging financing for the project. Minds Eye needed another $500,000 to meet its $8 million budget for the mini-series.
The documents, prepared in August 2004, say if Saskatchewan didn't provide the money, Manitoba likely would. But the filming would be done in Manitoba.
Government officials warned filming a Saskatchewan story in Manitoba would generate a lot of negative publicity. But the documents say the government could justify saving the production by calling it a centennial project.
NDP MLA Glen Hagel, the Saskatchewan centennial chair, says it was important to shoot the Tommy Douglas Story at home because it tells a story that's important to many people with roots in Saskatchewan.
A million Albertans want a mini-series about Tommy Douglas? Who knew?
Changing the subject just a little.. and I don't mean to cause trouble... do you suppose that any of those intrepid CBC investigative reporters have ever scratched their heads to ask how dusty old Douglas managed to pull off the most votes in the CBC Greatest Canadian contest?
When I was 5 an election was taking place and I saw a sign that said "Vote NDP". I asked my much older and wiser cousin (who was 7 at the time) what NDP meant. He said Naturally Dumb People. At the time I laughed but as I get older I realize how wise he was.
Tommy Douglas?........Tommy Douglas? ... who the hell was he?... hmmmm ... now I remember... ah .. not that was Rock me Tommy Hunter..... ah... I give up.
Actually being truthful, I know nothing about him, I just know he's on the left, so it's not worth knowing. Memory seems to be blurred on anything before Trudeau, probably because he pissed me off so bad, I fried a few brain cells...
That CBC Greatest Canadian vote had to be rigged from the start. Don Cherry didn't even crack the top 5. What kind of bullshit is that? Then again, the only people that watch the CBC are left wing losers, so it stands to reason that Douglas one. I'm surprised Trudeau and Suzuki didn't come in second and third.
P.S. I've uncovered some rather shocking photos from Layton's and Martin's press conferences today when they announced their little deal. Click on my blog to have a look.
These are some of the reasons I left Sask in the first place. Damn NDP running that province into the ground. Retired people vote NDP like crazy still because of Tommy Douglas. All the young people moved away unless they are in the SGEU so the NDP get in because allm opposition has moved (mostly to AB). Sad story in what could be a wonderful province with an economy the size of Alberta.
Tummy is in a gopher-hole near MJaw,the one on the left, not far ddown/up the rid from where John G.is resting.
The site is on the short list for Heritage Site, as long as Saskbush votes Goodale back in Lily riding.
Tummy resurrects every ground-hog day; resurrects and then burrows deep into the fertile soil for another crop cycle. Tummy, RIP.
Have a question for all you SK people. As you know AB and SK are doing the 100 years of disaster thing this year. Rummer has it that in SK all the trinket and trash stuff(t-shirts, hats, etc.) is under total gov. control, thereby creating a monopoly holding the prices about 25-50% higher than they should be. Is this true?
In AB it�s wide open free market, and the prices of a lot of this stuff is highly competitive, holding the prices down with no licensing.
OK, I am finding it very hard to contain myself and remain rational. When I learned that TD had been named "Greatest Canadian" in the Colluding Broadcasting Corp's contest, I exclaimed to an old classmate, who was travelling with me at the time, that if that were true, Canada was surely doomed or the poll was rigged. Now I am surely not one to make slurs, but in this case, I derive some justification from the fact that TD and I are of the same ethnic extraction. So keeping this as mild as I can muster in my disgust, that is one "oatmeal savage" who should have stayed where he was and preached the politics of envy in his native land. Mea Cupla, I plead guilty of bias toward ultra left-wing expatriots heralding from north of Hadrian's Wall. My sincere apologies to my fellow non-ultra left-wing oatmeal savages. I should have been more vigilant in my choice of words.
The politics of envy, yes a distinctly unflattering, yet all-too-prevalent Canadian character trait I am sad to have to say.
Old Russian proverb..
The Russian equivalent of the "fairly god-person" (FGP) (returning to politically correct mode) pays a visit to a poor peasant and informs him that he will grant him any wish the poor man desires. The only condition being that whatever he grants this poor peasant he will provide in double measure to the peasants neighbor. "I will return tomorrow to hear your wish" says the FGP.
The poor peasant is distraught at the thought that his neighbor will receive twice what he himself will be granted and passes a sleepless night brooding over what choice he might make.
The FGP returns the following morning and asks the poor peasant to name his wish...
The peasant replies: "I wish that you would pluck out one of my eyes"....
QED...
Tommy,gophers,moosejaw,Wow am i having a flash back here or what,spending tax dollars on overpriced movies,I have a big old black book I keep around with some proverbs in it;...A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED.
anyhow my registration fee for saskatchewan centennial is $50.00
Ahhhh... so the rumers are false.... thanks Doug. I'll make the person spreading it see the light the next time I see him. I kinda figured it would be relatively the same.
What despairs me most, isn't so much the spending on celebrating socialist values, (I expect to see it daily in SK), but rather, the Saskatchewanians who, god forbid, watch this emasculating propaganda will be oblivious to the realization it will have been filmed with a minimum of contemporary set decoration; thus missing the obvious: Things haven't changed a whole lot in Mouseland since 1944.
You can knock the ideology of Tommy Douglas all you want, ( I guess you never needed healthcare, pensions, or u.i.c.) We still would be waiting till hell freezes over for this from any of the other political parties. Who ya gonna slag next- Stanley Knowles? Arnold Peters? Has it been that long, since there was someone in Ottawa who had compassion, honesty, integrity, self-respect?
(Perhaps like the USA, we get the politics we deserve?)
Hey he won an election. That's democracy. Get used to it. The Greatest Canadian is all our own. Nobody outside the country has heard of him in spite of the fact that the health service he set up is already
ranked 30th in the world
Shitstirrer...besides being ranked 30th...lets not forget the dubious honor of being the only place in the world that INCREASES spending on health care while our actual services DECREASE.Gotta love that Canadian math.The only reason flatbush is a have not province is totally at the feet of the NDP. In actual resources,they have more resources than Alberta.Only problem is,no NDP'er knows how to do an honest days work,just suck off the public teat.
Ahh yes, glorifying the individual who began the process that almost bankrupts Canada each and every day. Wonderful. How.... Canadian.
We can't afford roads, a military, or accountability in government, but by God we can go to emerg for every cut and bruise, and expect service for absolutely free (except in Alberta, where it isn't free) (as long as we don't mind waiting for hours and hours in a crowded hospital, even with bones poking out through skin)
Healthcare 3 years wait to get a plastic hip. And in Montreal the wait at ER's is 2 days.
A lot of countries can do better than leaving someone in pain for 3 years even the ones without Tommy Douglas.
If anyone I know gets seriously ill I always tell them to go to the USA. Hell they advertise daytrips on TV. avoid the one year wait.
pensions, our pensions suck and CPP is rumored to be broke in 2012 and Chretien fired the head of the fund for reporting that. My companies will do far better. Plus I plan for my own retirement by putting money a miracle I did it without Tommy's help and a bloated government burocracy.
EI Well when you have 1.3 million unemployed and bring in 1/4 million immigrants a year and give them preferential hiring sadly you need this. however it should be insurance not a subsidy for seasonal workforces.
I bet if you walked down the street 8 out of 10 Canadians would not have a clue as to who Tommy was.
fubar writes...
.lets not forget the dubious honor of being the only place in the world that INCREASES spending on health care while our actual services DECREASE.
Well that's because they keep adding more indexed pension administrators to regional health boards and hospital administrations to "grapple" with the "challenge" of "administering" the health-care system.
I am long enough in the tooth to have witnessed numerous interations of government management of the health care system. In no instance has there ever been a stitch (pardon the pun) of objective data validating that the revised approach du jour resulted in improved access, units of service or quality.
Its always the same, add more indexed pension bureaurcrats and reduce services.
And if you are a member of the medical profession and you speak out about the critical deficiences in patient care, they will fix your wagon.
Interestingly, often the person doing the fixing is a bought-off MD who has been added to the indexed pension roster in exchange for selling their Hippocratic soul.
Rocket Richard is the greatest Canadien.
Isn't it so....Canadian...that the greatest is a ...loser? LOL
What's the big deal? Aren't all socialist propaganda films usually paid for by the government?
I concur that the Rocket is the Greatest Canadian. As for Tommy Douglas, as probably the only non socialist left living in Saskatchewan, and probably the only right wing Treaty Indian alive if not ever born, I find it ironically disturbing that the Greatest Canadian would be the creator of an ideology (Medicare) that not only provides mediocre health care, but will likely bankrupt the country as well. While not exactly a great accomplishment, for one individual to accomplish this feat is nonetheless remarkable!