From the March 18th sitting of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly:
Mr. (Darcy) Furber: — “It’s important not only to the people of Prince Albert and the North, but to all of Saskatchewan. My question to the Minister of Energy and Resources: with their government’s embarrassment of riches, what has he done, and more importantly, what has the member from Prince Albert Carlton done to ensure that there’s any money in tomorrow’s budget to make sure that pulp mill reopens?”
Darcy Furber is the NDP Opposition Forestry Critic…
The question was scripted by the same NDP brain trust that brought you the Premier’s driving scandal.
Only in Saskatchewan can this kind of remark from the NDP go virtually unnoticed. I suppose it’s understandable from a lunatic left NDP supporter, but from an actual 21st century Opposition critic in the leg?
Who ever said the old style 1930’s NDP/CCF rhetoric “money is evil” was dead?
that’s a big stretch there Mike…..nice try though.
Sean,
While I appreciate the note, I think it’s important that you do identify yourself as a member of NDP Frank Quenell’s campaign team in the last election, so your dismissal of the comment is understandable…
Fail to see any stretch.
The NDPs pledge to a failed socialist philosophy continues.
Despite throwing money at failed ventures when they were in power, they expect the Sask Party to do the same thing.
1930’s style “money is evil” rhetoric never went away. Like all NDPers, they are communist at the core and believe they know how to spend your money better.
They are just useless guilt trip people along for the ride. Back seat drivers that occasionally steal the car and run it into a financial ditch.
Stretch – isn’t it an even bigger stretch to assume it’s a GOOD THING that the gov’t is required to re-assure that the mill will open.
Does the mill not have to compete with say, another mill somewhere else? Why should taxpayers subsidise the least efficient of the two?
Isn’t it more environmentally friendly to just keep the most efficient (and hence not the NDP one) mill going?
Socialism is a disease . . what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine also.
Under whose watch did the mil close. Funny how govts in power do nothing for years (libs-kyoto) and then expect a new govt to solve all problems they left within six months.
That should tell voters that the opposition has great faith the new guys can/will get things done, that they couldn’t do. They are telling the voters they made a good choice throwing them out.
“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
JESUS
Matthew 19:24
leftdog quoting scripture… Now that’s rich!
From the article: “…ensure that there’s any money in tomorrow’s budget to make sure that pulp mill reopens?”
LOL No profitable markets for the product, no mill required. I am not surprised that the NDP does not understand this basic concept of the free market economy. No amount of money thrown into that pit will change the current pulp/paper market reality.
“leftdog quoting scripture… Now that’s rich!”
When you see a leftie with a bible in one hand, it’s because he’s reaching for your pocket with the other…
Saskatchewan’s embarrassment of riches is going to be given to have-not provinces like Ontario and Quebec, no need for the provincial NDP to worry their little heads over it, it will be spent by people who didn’t earn it…
kate … you can hate me for reminding you what JESUS said … look past your hatred for one minute and think about what it was that he was talking about in that quote. I will repeat it one more time, since you tried to deflect your readers from the quote by making me the issue:
“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
JESUS
Matthew 19:24
Ah, the old smug notion of ‘noble poor’ which has kept Saskatchewan down until the glorious day of the NDP’s defeat rears its ugly head once again.
Hey leftdog. Her’e some unsolicited advice. Go to your boss and ask to have your salary cut in half.
I’m sure your self-righteousness will go right off the dial and you’ll feel soooo good about yourself.
God helps those who help themselves.
That particular passage you quote is not a license for the state to expropriate and redistribute wealth, to build the New Jerusalem in the Gospel according to Tommy Douglas’s religious left Fabian socialists.
Rather, it tells us that individuals, who are responsible for their own salvation, cannot buy their way into the kingdom of God, since the kingdom of God is not of this world.
Render onto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, render onto God what is God’s clarifies this misrepresentation quite clearly.
Careful before you start quoting scripture out of context, particularly to defend a bankrupt political system. But, then bankruptcy is good, isn’t it?
leftdog, Jesus was not condemming the rich for having riches. He was making an observation that rich people can not get their eyes off this world long enough to grasp on to something greater. The same I might add applies to almost every leftist I ever met. Unlike socialists everywhere Jesus was not trying to bring about a utopia here on earth. His Kingdom was not of this earth.
Chill, leftdog.
Who said anything (except you) about “hate”?
I doubt anyone here “hates” you; especially not Kate. Don’t flatter yourself.
If anything, I imagine the most emotion you would raise here would be a rather wry and fleeting amusement. 🙂
Doesn’t it say “the Devil quotes scripture” somewhere?
Case in point here, I’d say. Ok maybe not the whole Devil, maybe just an imp’s toenail scrapings or something. Leftdog doesn’t add up to that much on the grand scale.
“The Jaffa Gate in the wall of Jerusalem, showing the “Needle’s Eye.” Small doors such as this were common features of the gates of ancient cities; humans could pass through fairly easily, but large animals, such as camels, had to be unloaded and then had to kneel to get through, even then with difficulty.”
“We need to understand a few facts about this night gate. To start with this gate (the tunnel like gate) was 2 1/2 cubits high and 1 1/2 cubits wide, or the modern equivalent of about 3 feet in width and about 4 feet in height. The normal size person could get through this gate but they would have to bend over and they would not be able to carry very much of a load. This allowed the gate to be guarded from the inside by just one or two sentries as only one person at a time could pass through this gate in either direction. This was also true for the doorway. It was large enough for only one individual at a time to pass through. A camel could also get through this gate, or doorway, but it was more difficult. For the camel to get through, the camel master would have to remove all the possessions from the camel. The master would remove its load from the camel’s back. Once this was accomplished, the camel master would make the camel kneel and lead that camel through the gate/doorway as the camel crawled on its knees. Once \\ the camel was inside, the master would have to bring that camels load through on his own.”
“In order to enter the kingdom one must discard their earthly possessions, humble themselves, and follow the master
go ahead leftdog, do it before you cant take it with you.
“Socialism is a disease?” Please. God forbid any of you greedy right-wingers contribute to the province in any productive way. Socialists look after the good of all people, unlike the right who serves to make their rich friends even more rich while the people who need the most help continue to suffer.
Lest we forget the dark scandalous days of the Divine era where people like Brad and other tory cronies nearly bankrupt the province.
anon:
You’re welcome, parasite.
When the NDP were in power until last Nov 7, they continually ran deficit budgets, despite a booming resource and housing economy.
Now, Furber, sitting in Opposition, says the Sask. Party has an “embarrassment of riches”.
Today is budget day in Sask. I hope Brad Wall reveals exactly into whose pocket this “embarrassment of riches” went during the last 16 years of NDP governance.
Proof that Calvert and Co. were totally inept and outright liars. Double shame on Calvert, a United Church Minister, for putting political gain before honesty.
Lest we learn to spell correctly…
The term greedy does not accurately reflect people retaining the fruits of our own labor. Covet my possessions do you? Go get your own stuff, I am sick of subsidizing the lazy, the drug and drink addled and the ones too stupid to think for themselves.
Nice to see another drive-by troll, anon. Get your sticky fingers off my stuff.
BTW, you need look no farther than Alberta to see the results of your pet policies. Oil companies in the Patch are increasingly looking at the royalty regime in Alberta and thinking Saskatchewan is looking pretty good.
They’re going to up-stakes and MOVE someplace where they keep the results of their work. Alberta’s oil is going to stay in the ground. 9% of nothin’ is nothin’. Good thinking!
This conversation goes to show why an education is important. When Jesus was talking about the eye of the needle, it was not showing disdain towards the rich. And while the gate idea is a nice analogy, there is no proof there was any such gate and the context shows that Jesus was not using such an analogy.
Jesus made that statement because the culture of the time considered rich people to be blessed by God (almost as much as the NDP consider them cursed ). By Jesus saying that a rich person getting into heaven is as impossible as squeezing a camel through a needle’s eye he was saying that no matter how blessed someone was on earth they were.
So basically, Jesus was saying that everyone was equal before God. And that everyone needs God equally to enter heaven.
Using this a anti-money statement is to take Jesus words way out of context.
It looks like that mill was a losing proposition from day 1,1968. Why else would the Sask. government have had to invest in a 30% ownership position?
If the mill was viable, private industry would never have closed it in the first place, or would have re-opened it in the two years it’s been closed.
Do NDP’ers have NO idea how industry operates within the marketplace,with all their vaunted college degrees? Or are they so desperate they’d keep a losing proposition going for the sake of a couple of seats in the legislature?
I see Calvert had a M.O.U. last September to try to patch together an agreement to re-open the white elephant, but something must have happened along the way. 😉
I buy the story about the gate, it makes way more sense than the other sheer speculation.
dmorris
The NDP in Saskatchewan don’t have college degrees.
Two of the Cabinet Ministers were former Safeway cashiers and shop stewards.
Most of the MLA’s were union crones of one sort or another.
That’s the simplest reason why they screwed things up so badly in spite of all the money….they were totally clueless about the way institutions of any kind should be run.
How about we just conclude by saying that it is purely infantile when a grown man bleats out about “an embarrassment of riches.” That should be clear enough.
Thank-you for the background information about the eye of the needle Cal 2. The words from the scripture make a lot more sense to me in that context.
As for Dippers who get run off from their power positions; here in the Yukon they use their former contacts while in power to invest and become capitalists! Dipperism is a means to an end, these people want what other people earn for themselves; they have no compassion or respect for the peons that they use to get themselves to power. Once they become owners, the old Bolshevik ‘friends’ that they used as mouthpieces to rile up the minions and boost them to power, are not on the guest list at their Capitalist sponsered dinners. The former Dipper is, from my personal experience, a nasty cheap employer.
In the YT dishwashers who work for any level of gument start out at $23.60 sm hour (is that comparable in Sask?) plus perks – all paid for by the people in the rest of Canada because the Yukon produces next to nothing. We have gold, silver, gas and Tungsten but the only people allowed access to these resources are the Chinese and the Chinese are importing their own slave labour to work in the mines. See ‘Business in Vancouver’ Oct 16-22, 2007 Issue 938 http://www.biv.com Headline: Chinese bankrolling Vancouver Gold venture – “Yukon Nevada to tap cash and human resources from Asian mining giant (China)”.
Tibet is ‘inconvenient’ – Mo strong and his henchpeople will try to keep all Canadians on the Puffin/Dipper fence (sitting on their hands). I have always been horrified that the magical land of Tibet was over run by the Chinese. I am also a big supporter of the Dali Lama – I say we should do whatever we can do to help the Tibetan people. I, for one, will stop buying Chinese goods and I would certainly be in favour of boycotting the Olympics. I think that the air and the food over there will make most people who go there sick – so why go in the first place? Why did the Olympic people choose such a smog hole for the Olympic Games? They can’t be too bright.
“Socialists look after the good of all people”
Ah, memories. Once upon a time it all seemed so simple.
P.J.O’Rourke has discovered that God does not like socialism:
“The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament of the Bible are very clear about this.
Now the Bible might seem to be a strange place to do economic research–particularly for a person who is not very religious and here in a country that is not predominately Jewish or Christian.
However, I have been thinking–from a political economy point of view–about the Tenth Commandment.
The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: thou shalt not commit adultery, steal, kill, etc. All religions contain such rules. But then there’s the tenth commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covert thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
Here are God’s basic rules about how the Tribes of Israel should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, “Don’t envy your friend’s cow.”
What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the things the man next door has? And yet think about how important to the well-being of a community this commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a meal, if you want an employee, don’t complain about what other people have, go get your own. The tenth commandment sends a message to collectivists, to people who believe wealth is best obtained by redistribution. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell.
Collectivism is silly, deceitful, a sin. It’s also cowardly. We fear the power others have over us. And wealth is power. So we fear the rich.
But how rational is this fear? Take a midnight stroll through a rich neighborhood then take a midnight stroll through the U.S. Capital. Yes, you can get in a lot of trouble in Monte Carlo. You can lose at roulette. But you’re more likely to get robbed in the slums of Washington.”
http://www.cato.org/speeches/sp-pjo061897.html
The Phantom: They’re going to up-stakes and MOVE someplace where they keep the results of their work. Alberta’s oil is going to stay in the ground.
HAHAHAHA! Brilliant armchair analysis, and from a guy who picks a superhero nickname, no less. How about this, Phantom: the oil companies are going to STAY in Alberta, and ALSO expand into Saskatchewan!
JW:
That sounds about right.
about the camel, the needle and the rich fella
jeezus was trying to tell the cheap arse to feed his starving camel as it was so thin it could go through the eye of a needle, wilst his pockets were so full of the money he was saving that he would not fit through the gates of heaven, tho the door to hell was a little wider!!!!
What about the tenth commandment??
“Thou shall not covet they neighbor’s wife. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
I mean, here are God’s basic rules for how we should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is: “Don’t envy your buddy his cow.” What is that doing there? Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, choose jealousy about the stuff the guy next door has? Well, think about how important to the well-being of a community that commandment actually is. What that commandment says is that if you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t bitch about it, go get your own!
The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to collectivists, to people who believe that wealth is best obtained by redistribution, and that message is clear and concise: Go to hell! It’s as simple as that. — P.J. O’Rourke
If the fricken mill is such a good deal to the NDP then they should shell out their own money and buy it.
BTW if there is an “embarrassment of riches” then that means taxes and royalties are too high, nice of the NDP to admit that.
Why are people’s memeory so short?
Domtar had a treated wood plant in P.A. once. And when they left they left a legacy that lives to this day. A nice big enviromental mess that the people of P.A. are still paying to clean up!
Why would anyone want them back? And why would anyone listen to the NDP?
I see a Leftie side-tracked most of you from the real story here: NDP Furber, was the sitting MLA in PA when the PA Pulp Mill deal when sour. The NDP was sitting on this “embarrassment of riches” but chose to spend it elsewhere….like on foolish election advertising and on 19% MLA pension increases.
Furber is stating that it is embarrassing for the province to be wealthy, even though the NDP was sitting on this same wealth.
It’s the pot calling the kettle black. Nothing to do with religion, and all to do with extreme Socialism.