Kevin Yates

You know, because a reader's speculation is clearly the truth. I'm sure we will keep a rational discussion with only the known facts here, not just partisan theories...oh wait, not here.

This calls for an online poll (complete with security fence).

Haven't they heard? Lingenfelter moved to Alberta and became a Capitalist. I doubt they'd be able to rescue him from the Dark Side... ;)

Calvert's cabinet machinations are pretty much irrelevent, IMHO. He's shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, and everyone, including the NDP, know it.

But that's only this readers' speculation, of course...

Really? I seem to recall Lorne Calvert was willing to engage in a little open "speculation" before media when SaskParty's Brenda Bakken Lackey resigned her seat,

I've been informed by a confidential CBC insider that Lorne Clavert has an exit strategy, and has in fact already accepted an offer to be Kim Jong II's new executive assistanct.

Isn’t Saskatchewan way over governed? It only has about a million people; half are First Nations on the rez (whoops, I should be careful, Andrew Coyne says in today’s NP that Iggy mustn’t use the term “nations"). So really, doesn’t Saskatchewan just need a Mayor and a Chief instead of a legislature with Cabinet ministers?

Then maybe outsource your resources to Alberta to manage, they seem to be able to attract capital and get stuff out of the ground a lot better than all those Tommy Douglas Crown Corporations. Just a thought.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. and almost as interesting as a daytime soap opera.

The NDP ship has been sinking for years now, ever since Dwain and Janice jumped in a lifeboat and rowed ashore. They've been flopping around, bug-eyed, like a fish on a dock ever since. Time to take the boathook and put them out of their misery.

Sorry about the excess nautical similes... ;)

Yates and Lingenfelter always were close.

"nomdenet";

"Saskatchewan way over governed"
Exactly!

If the Legislature sunk into the Wascana gumbo tomorrow, the economy would start to boom before the bubbles stopped coming up.
It's frustrating to live in this province and be constantly reminded of the lost potential, wealth, and people due to socialist policy and foolishness.
It's always been "next year country", thanks to the socialists, and a lot more of us are getting really sick of it.

I think Yates just started the death watch for Leisure Suit Lorne and NDP here. Watching Calvert talk to the media yesterday was to watch a man in severe damage control mode. He was stuttering, had no topic and mumbling about the fall. This situation combined with the Oyate scandal making Belanger look like a fool in over his head is just what this province needs going into a 2007 election.

The NDP in disarray. Lorne Calvert stepping down.
But Christmas is sill a few months away.

Yes Virginia there is a God.

U.S. politicians again endorse studying fence on Canada border

Can we stick one on the Alberta border to keep the likes of Jack Layton and Lorne Calvert out. Jack should endorse a US border fence to keep the guns out and our terrorists and drug dealers at home for his voting base.He did say the latest shooting in kwewbeck was the fault of the Yanks.

Don't need a fence. Calvert's been busy building a trench around the province - one pothole at a time.

Kate, is that trench to keep people in, or to keep them out?

Keep at it with those thoughts, nomdenet. One of these days you just may have a good one.

We don't need to go to the expense of building a fence along the border. Alberta already has the rat patrol at the border keeping out Sasker rats and we could have them keep an eye out for NDPers. For example, instead of putting poison in all the bait stations, some of the traps could have poisoned covered welfare cheques to attract and kill off dippers.

You're only going to catch conservative voting farmers with that bait, AltaInd.

But that may be a good thing, now that I think about it. Then SK could afford to fix the highways.

maliscious maryjane wants to collectivize all the farms (famine will follow).

Maryjane had better reread the post about trolling before she finds her privilages revoked for good.

Ahhh....it warms my heart on a cold Alberta day to hear that "Leisure Suit" Lorne is gettin' the bums rush from his buddies....here's your hat, there's the door, don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out!! Thanks for comin' out!

The socialists busy fighting with each other can only make it easier for Brad Wall and the Wild Bunch. But they have an almost insurmountable job ahead of them to root out all those years of NDP thinking that prevades even the brightest corners of Saskatchewan. So many of my friends that have stayed are so beaten down and negative as to what the future holds...it's not that they don't want Saskatchewan to grow..it's just that they don't believe it can or will, no matter what.

If Brad Wall does win power he is going to have become one the the best damn motivational speakers in the world....I mean he's going to have to pump you up on a daily basis and get you to BELIEVE it can happen, it WILL happen, and YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!! He had better buy a copy of the book "The Magic Of Thinking Big"....cause that's what it's going to take to quickly turn it around...if not, than he better hope and pray they can hang on for 15-20 years. For without a quick demonstration that Saskatchewan is truly open for business, it will take the capital markets a long time to build back trust that the small minded, everyone is equal, state owned, kinder-gentler NDP philosophy has be buried with the socialist's and start investing to grow your province.

Here is some of examples of what voting NDP all those years had gotten you. A friend of mine from Lethbridge just bought a cabin At Clear Lake (near Kyle) for $35,000...just after they had signed the papers a fellow from Fort MacMurray offered him $100,000... hard as it was,he turned it down. He know's where there is a $100,000 there is $150,000! A relative of mine moved from Nova Scotia and bought a year round cabin/house on Lake Deifenbaker a couple of years ago for $14,000....fixed it up and it's now for sale at $200,000+. It's being advertised in Alberta. (do you really think anyone in Saskatchewan would pay that much?)I know of at least 5 farm families that have gone to Saskatchewan and purchased big (as in 7+ sections) blocks of land...I asked are you moving and they all said "Oh no, we are business people and we bought it as an investment. We know that it will go up in price" They are planning to run cattle on the land until they sell again. I checked on MLS last night, looking for houses in the smaller Saskatchewan centers for a friend of mine who is looking for investments....HOLY COW....a 1300 sg ft house in Seamans for $22,000...an 1800 sq ft home in Balcarres for $89,000 and on, and on, and on.....Man you guy's are sittin' on a gold mine and can't see the shaft cause you've been given the shaft for so long.

Wake up and help your NDP brothers get rid of Lorne and then throw the whole damn works of them in the trash and get on with life.

There is a whole bunch of us ex-pats that are planning to come back and buy up that cheap real estate when the bastards are finally gone!

Ron:

Hope to see lots of you folks come back soon!

Wonder who the 6 were that showed up?

What happened to Lorne Calverts scheme to bring the Chinese CNPC in to develop the Saskatchewan side of the tarsands? I havent heard in awhile.

Was the Alberta model of prosperity too hard to follow? Now if anyone even suggests it , they get the bums rush from the government.

So, Kate, no comment can be too derogatory (SK can be governed by a mayor and a chief) or too odious and despicable (comparing SK residents to rats) as long as one is singing from the small dead conservative songbook? Must have touched a nerve. Was it the Tommy Douglas thing?

Don't mistake my warning as an invitation for debate.

Relax maryjane, the point you missed is using Rats and NDP in the same sentence is redundancy at it's highest form

I generally try not to comment on Canadian politics. I've made a fool of myself thinking I understood your system on a number of occassions.

I can't help but think that Harper is right about voting for your senate, simly based on the idea that more Democracy is ultimately better than less.

I have a prejudice against Parliamentary Democracies because they seem inherently weak, corruptable, and less tolerant of dissent. Plus, more power seems to lie in the party "leadership" than with the people in their local districts. This could be my ignorance.

Could someone please educate me on how the Canadian senate is currently selected, and the powers they hold?

The NDP in this province have always been the virus that kept the people from true success, the sad part is Calvert has now realized this and now has to Preach it to himself every day for the rest of his life. It won't be easy, but I beleieve Calvert will not be using his two little fingers together any more because when he preaches to himself in the mirror he is liable to crush himself.

The NDP in this province have always been the virus that kept the people from true success, the sad part is Calvert has now realized this and now has to Preach it to himself every day for the rest of his life. It won't be easy, but I beleieve Calvert will not be using his two little fingers together any more because when he preaches to himself in the mirror he is liable to crush himself.

If anyone thinks Saskatchewan is “over-governed” in the legislature, consider the fact that the province has about 1000 municipalities in the form of RMs, towns, villages, hamlets, organized hamlets, and resort villages, each with its own little local government endowed with discretionary power over development within its tiny jurisdiction. Ultimately Billy-Bob and his cousin on the local council get to decide what any enterprise can do with land that the enterprise currently owns or intends to buy in Saskatchewan. The decisions a local government makes can be entirely based on interpersonal matters within their 18 by 18 mile domain, with absolutely no regard for the good of Saskatchewan. The NDP previously raised the prospect of amalgamation to modernize the municipal structure designed in 1912, and to bring it in line with the rest of Canada, (for example Ontario with ten times the population has half the number of municipal governments) but the Saskatchewan Party shot it down. So what is a (small-c) conservative voter to do?

Glasnost, methinks Sk could use a little perestroika. For that matter Canada could use it.

Glasnost:
No, I was involved at the local level with that, the Saskparty didn't shoot it down, the local municipalities didn't want to amalgamate. Ratepayers thought they were having something jammed down their throats by Regina (in my RM).
Nothing more complex than apathy and fear of change, IMHO.
This issue will appear again, and hopefully more people in those municipalities will support it.

Hopefully change will be less freightening if it isn't coming from the Calvertistas!

Mad Mike, you are technically correct in democratic terms; however the vociferous spokesman for those “local municipalities” was MLA Bob Bjornerud [http://www.bobbjornerud.ca/] at the time SaskParty critic for Government Relations [eg Hansard 11 Apr 2000 and 11 May 2000]. While I realize that it was his job to bring the concerns of his constituents to the legislature, as a member of the SaskParty shadow cabinet, he is also responsible to propone the position his party would take should they rise to power. If the SaskParty currently supports the notion that control of development in this province should remain in the hands of 1000 tiny jurisdictions, ruled by local governments whose interests often extend no further than 9 miles from the councilors’ homes, than I maintain my contention that the SaskParty offers no alternative to a conservative voter. Please let me know if the SaskParty have changed their stance.

Just a short comment to the last posting before moving on to the main thought in this segment. The idea of forcing rm's to amalgamate is mistaken and faulty. It has been clearly demonstrated by the consolidation of the health care system, as to what happens when gov't is run from the top down. Instead of being run by Billy-Bob, to who you can get in his face walking down the street in the local town, or at the equipment dealership, or at the coffee shop, or at a school function, or at the rink, etc, etc, it will be run by 'some' gov't hack 60 miles away, who won't take your call or return it. The percentage of administrative staff in the health department is higher now than before the NDP brought in their first HMO (Louise Simard) and the costs of paying their saleries has risen by even a higher percentage. Ask yourself honestly, is life better for your family regarding health care, emergency care, and the waiting lists for surgical care. If the majority of ratepayers disagree with Billy-Bob he gets turfed, does ANY ONE REMEMBER THE NDP PROMISE TO HAVE ELECTIONS FOR DISTRICT HEALTH BOARDS !!! No one is geting turfed for mismanagement or for having all those frivolous meetings paying $500 pp, you don't have that with Billy-Bob or he's gone !
As for LS Lorne, i'd really wish that some here at this site would 'hold up' on some of their optimism and anticipation, because not only do we have to change the minds of the urban electorate, we have to change the minds of the urban media. We all know what happens each election, the NDP go into the back of their closets and bring out a spade, dig up the old rotting corpse of tc, hold it high above their heads and parade through the streets shouting look at our leader, look how marvelous he is, and yes, the MSM in this province will report how beautiful the emperor's clothes are ! The Sk party really needs to be better prepared and, ready for anything, the NDP will be desperate to hold power ( and most importantly to them )to keep all their minions in place within all the nooks and crannies of gov't. If the SK party mishandles this election again, the population will be down to 800,000 as people blow this popsicle stand !

Carl, you say “The idea of forcing rm's to amalgamate is mistaken and faulty.” partly supported by your argument that “If the majority of ratepayers disagree with Billy-Bob he gets turfed”. Please keep in mind that if the majority of taxpayers disagree with Lorne, he also gets turfed. I completely understand a rural citizen’s desire to be able to reach out and touch his councilor, but does this overrule a need for a broader view in the area of economic development? Please offer a good alternative to the NDP that includes a vision for dragging Saskatchewan from its retrograde state. I’m a rural resident and I probably dislike NDP tenets as much as you do, however I doubt that you could, as you say, “change the minds of the urban electorate” to agree with supporting 3000 rural politicians, with a stranglehold on development, just so that you can get in your councilors face at the coffee shop.

Glasnost; Well then, let's just get at it, why then have a provincal gov't representing less than a million people, ( particularly when 200,000 already are governed by chiefs and/or the feds ). For plus or minus 800,000 people, lets just divvy it up between AB and MB, or some sort of amalgamation. Sure, we'ed still have the politicians and their offices, with some travel expenses, but we could eliminate all the gov't departments and bureaucrats. The savings would be astounding. I'm not being facetious.

Communist Press, aka CP, knows all, sees all, tells all. ...-

Saskatchewan looking for workers

CALGARY (CP) - Big money and a superheated economy continue to draw tradespeople to Alberta from across Canada, but some workers have had enough of the boom and are heading back home. ...-
cnews

Carl, you know full well that would never work; we could never agree on which time zone to use.

lol, Yes, Glasnost, that is so true .

Carl....I feel you're pain. I left Saskatchewan in 1993 when I could just no longer stomach the deafestist NDP philosophy. I just had to get my kids the hell away from there. I think you are right in saying that if the Sask Party mishandles the next chance they get to boot the bastards out, the population will continue to decline. The only problem with that is then you are left with a larger pool of pure socialists. The people with the dreams, ambition and drive have left or soon will and there goes your chance to ever change anything. That's part of the problem now, to many socialists, not enough free thinkers. That makes winning an election for the free enterprizers just that more difficult. The only suggestion I have is that every right winger thats left in that province has to make sure they work hard from now till election time to ensure the bastard NDP are destroyed. Cause if you don't do it, who will??

Dittos Ron, dittos, I'm just so afraid we've already entered the 'whorl pool', I suppose the next election will tell the tale, it may just hinge on whether the Libs will split votes, what seats, and which way the division shakes out. I think the rural is solid, but in the Weyburn by, the Libs took second. What might they split in the cities ?

The best government we have is the RM's.They are accountable and cheaper to run than big gov. Where elsecan you hire a politician for about $1200 a year.
Just look at the increased cost of health care units since amalgamation. The forced school amalgamations will be soon proven to be more costly and less accontable.
Manitoba learned the extra costs whe they centralized school units but the NPD pushed ahead anyway. They think everything should be in Regina and union run

You can only hope. It will be so much better when your kooks are running the province. Heaven help us all.