The Canora hospital is closing emergency services tonight for lack of doctors.
More reaction: “Thud”.

Hoping to take advantage of my declared absence, Lorne “small dead animals doesn’t speak for the people of Saskatchewan” Calvert has scheduled his nomination meeting for Wednesday night.
And not a moment too soon – with no more pulp mills left to “invest in” or casino cash to toss around, the only thing left was a last minute university tuition cut announcement and we’re good to go.
Your Saskatchewan election venting/predictions here!
Update: We go to the polls on November 7. Elections Saskatchewan scoops the Premier. (via 650 CKOM)

Smith came, was pressured, folded. The Stamps truly sucked in the first half.

The Stamps put some fire into their Oline in the second half and allowed a
cold Sankey to throw for almost 250 yards in a losing effort. Most of
that in garbage time however, so really is moot.

The Riders came out driven. Eddie Davis showed why everyone thinks
he’s the leader on D. Fantuz had some challenges, but had a
respectable 5 for 66. DJ FLick dominated his coverage, 147 yards receiving.

Kerry Joesph had some throwing problems in the first half and in an
effort to confront those issues decided to run for a whole bunch
instead. Calgary had no answer.

Calgary’s secondary played a very good game, but their DLine
stunk. KJ had time to order coffee, drink it and then read the defence
and find his receivers in the second half.

All in all. I’m thinking that the Riders are one game away from a home play-off game.

For rookie head coach Austin and brand new GM Tillman . . . good show,
eh. We’re all expecting that you guys will now go beyond that. 🙂

Oh, and the Sens won . . . again. Darn. I just hate cheering for the winners. </sarc>

Go Riders,
lance

At Fort Qu’appelle. Population; 2000

On Sept.13, 2006 I noted that Sask Energy had announced they’d be seeking at 17% rate increase at a time when natural gas futures were at a 20 month low.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007: NYMEX Natural Gas Futures for October delivery.

But last year a provincial election wasn’t in the works…

A break on SaskEnergy bills this winter will likely be a little bigger than expected.
The utility is looking at cutting rates by nearly six per cent, meaning the average homeowner will save about $66 a year.

(Some computers are having trouble displaying this. Am hoping we can get you a fix – Kate)
Update
You will need Adobe Flash Player installed on your system to view. Here is the link;
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

More “premium price” news from the Canadian Wheat Board;

“The prices we are asking in certain world markets are the highest that our barley marketers can remember in U.S. dollar terms,” Weisensel said. “This is an ideal situation for single-desk marketing as there are no competing sellers to push down the price, while the CWB is able to successfully price discriminate between markets in order to extract the highest return that each buyer is capable of paying for our high-quality barley. These premiums will be directly returned to Prairie farmers.” Sales of two-row malting barley made by the CWB since August 1 have averaged $325 Cdn a tonne, or more than $7 Cdn per bushel, as a landed freight-on-board (FOB) value.

World-Grain.com;

In the past month, world barley prices have jumped $80 per tonne, which is a 25% increase, to a record $350[US] per tonne [$7.84 CDN per bushel] . The Ukraine previously accounted for 16% of world exports, but due to the poor crop this year export restrictions were imposed to ensure that there are sufficient domestic supplies to soften internal prices. In addition, Australia, which normally supplies one-third of world exports, is facing lower crop prospects and depleted old crop exportable supplies, according to USDA statistics.

(emphasis mine)
Update

CJME/CKOM NewsTalk Radio Afternoon Program with host Alec Docking
Sept. 14th, 2007
***begin transcript***
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): We are still talking about the Prince Albert Pulp Mill….
Yesterday we got a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding which lays out the plan to reopen the mill. A lot of people have looked at that and say it’s pretty tenuous stuff at this point. There are certainly no guarantees that anything will happen because there are a lot of ifs, ands and buts. But if everything did fall into place we would then be in a position where we would see the mill reopening. So let’s just say that everything does get done. They do all the due diligence.
Let’s go back to the announcement. Here is the Premier and what he said will happen in terms of getting the people back on the job at the pulp mill.
PREMIER LORNE CALVERT: Our main focus will be to get the pulp mill up and running as early as late summer, early fall 2008.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): Alright. So that is the Premier’s word.
And then reporters being what reporters are, they go back to Domtar to say let’s just go through this. What about the optimism that is being expressed by the Premier? Well, maybe not so quite so optimistic. According to Domtar’s Vice-President Michel Rathier who we spoke to just a few hours ago. Here’s what he said:
MICHEL RATHIER (Domtar): We feel that it is premature at this time to give people false hope and say to them by next summer you’re going to start working again. It’s not possible and Domtar does not work that way.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): From Domtar at the highest level: We don’t want to give false hope. It’s not possible. We don’t work that way.
So he’s dashing any possibility then — according to this executive with Domtar — the company that is to reopen and run the pulp mill. He says it can’t be done.
Then just in the last half hour or thereabouts, a news release comes from the government saying woo, wait a minute. Domtar is clarifying their statements. They made a mistake. They’re not really meaning what you just heard.
So let’s listen carefully as we talk again to Michel Rathier a few moments ago.
This is what you said earlier this afternoon, now the government is saying you are saying something different. Can you tell you what you’re really saying?
MICHEL RATHIER (Domtar): What I said this morning I was not misquoted. But I’m the one who just slightly shifted comments here and all my understanding, this is an error on my part. And the discrepancies is not that huge once you hear the information. My understanding was that after a year’s work we would be in a position to say, to firm up an opening date. In fact, it is within that year’s work and after that year’s work that we expect and we are all expecting to align all the stars, if you want, and all the planets are well aligned and then yes after that year’s work there is potential for reopening the facility.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): Alright. Did you get all that? So his clarification is: No I was not misquoted. But I had to clarify because maybe I didn’t have anything lined up right. He said earlier it’s going to take a year’s work before we can make those decisions. Now he says it’s going to take a year’s work and (chuckles) then we’ll make the decision.
Okay, I guess the clarification would be now if everything is falling into place and absolutely every star aligned itself, then after the year you could be then in a position to be reopening the pulp mill.
Which would put it in the context in which the Premier spoke earlier or would it? Because once you’ve done all the work, do you then turn on a switch, everybody is back at work or does it take several months anyway which puts it well past the timeframe the Premier spoke of.
The other question one has to ask, why would there be a sudden clarification when his clarification doesn’t sound a heck of a lot different than he said this morning? Do you smell any sign whatsoever of any government pressure being placed upon Domtar?
Hmmm, just a speculation on my part.
It’s 4:19.
***end transcript***
More commentary –

Weyerhaeuser’s Fine Paper business merged into Domtar. Domtar bought everything in Saskatchewan that Weyerhaeuser owned. That included the rights to the PA Forestry Management Area (FMA), the paper mill, the pulp mill and the Big River saw mill.
Domtar is currently responsible for the environmental clean-up of those sites, yet we’ll be picking it up. Domtar will strip Big River of anything of value, yet we’ll be buying it. Domtar will double the output of Wapawekka Saw Mill, yet we’ll be paying for it.
The environmental clean-up must have been the lynch-pin for Domtar (not that the money is bad). Weyerhaeuser has been in the sights of the Rainforest Action Network and the Saskatchewan Environmental Society for years. I can only imagine the costs to the Province that will be necessary to clean up Weyerhaeuser’s mess.

Canada’s fastest-growing cities:

HOT
Saskatoon 4.7%
Calgary 4.4%
Winnipeg 3.7%
Edmonton 3.6%
Regina 3.5%
NOT
Vancouver 2.9%
Toronto 2.7%
Quebec City 2.6%
Halifax 2.5%
Ottawa-Gatineau 2.3%
Montreal 2.1%
Hamilton 1.3%

Read the Calvert-Domtar Memorandum Of Understanding for yourself – you can download the files (pdf) at this directory.
There are details Calvert didn’t mention – including “environmental matters” under which Saskatchewan taxpayers are on the hook for 72.5% of site cleanup costs.
Previous.

KaCHING!
Scroll down for update.
Over a backdrop of taxpayer-funded happy, shiny people government advertising, we find out today Calvert’s opening bid for 3 NDP seats in Prince Albert;

Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert is set to make an announcement about forestry in Prince Albert Wednesday and there’s speculation it could be about reopening part of the city’s closed pulp and paper operation.
More than 300 former millworkers packed into the city’s union centre for a closed door meeting Tuesday night.
Before the mills closed, Weyerhaeuser was Prince Albert’s largest private sector employer. Before the mills closed, Weyerhaeuser was Prince Albert’s largest private sector employer.
While they were saying little afterward, it’s believed they were mulling over a plan by forestry company Domtar and the province to reopen at least part of the mill.

Do I hear 10% government ownership share and a $22 million donation? Going.. going…
A reader writes privately about something that struck me as well. There is no actual announcement of a plant reopening…
and then there’s that sense of deja vu…

If this sounds kind of familiar, maybe everyone should remember the
Broe ethanol announcement before the last election. Big sod-turning ceremony near Belle Plaine with Calvert, busloads of children, etc. And then it never happened.

Update: local media was invited to a signing ceremony between Calvert and Domtar for “a memorandum of understanding”… after an announcement that listed a number of “subject to'”s (including building a “world class” facility, whatever that means, and the value of the Canadian dollar remaining at par, and approval by regulatory bodies, etc. etc.), the parties left without holding any formal question and answer with reporters. I’m sure someone will have a total of the crapload of cash they’re (promising) to throw at this, including $32 million in grant money…. plus “equity investments” in the Big River and Wakaweekna (sp?) plants and 10% in Domtar’s pulp mill.
Montreal Lake Cree claim they haven’t been consulted, and until they are, nobody’s getting on their land. Translation: “open that wallet, boys”.
A list of the “subject to’s” ;

At first glance, this appears to be a new pre-campaign ad by the NDP. (Video at link)
But something’s a little odd. What’s that in Mr. Calvert’s hand?

It appears reminiscent of an NDP brochure used in the November 2003 campaign.
And while we’ve just recorded the second coolest August ever, I don’t recall streets full of people clad in fall jackets.

So, why the old footage? Was Lorne unavailable for filming? The official line is that he’s still Premier, still in complete charge of the province’s business. Yet, this latest ad feels less like a political message than it does a “proof of life” event. Next installment: Lorne in an Adidas tracksuit, Gary Doer at his side.
And what’s this?

Now, there’s an image I’ve seen before. I think, though I stand to be corrected, that it was part of a Sasktel ad – a crown corporation.
Does anyone else out there recognize it, or recall the source?

My, what big teeth he has.

It’s a bit late for this, but if you’re looking for a spot to exploit the pain of Bomber fans, you can use this thread. (As an aside – did anyone think to check inside the gopher suit after the game? From radio accounts, Gainer may have been abducted and replaced with an enemy infiltrator…)

Sat. Afternoon Update – Now is the time at SDA when we DANCE!
his suggested edit.)

“…to reach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”*

(Heh – Sask Gov’t proposes changes to liquor act… “if your organization is caught serving minors under 19 years of age, it may face fines as high as $10,000 compared with the old maximum fine of $2,500, according to the new rules.”)

One thing you could always say about the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool – nobody else wanted the name;

I’ve already found an energy services company, a semi-conductor distributor, a window and shutter supplier and a pet food company with the same name. Yet another great moment in corporate rebranding.

In retrospect, I should have counted. Last night I watched 2 hours of CTV on the local affiliate (from 8 pm – 10 pm). Fully half of the advertising consisted of happy, shiny people spots bought and paid for by various departments of the Saskatchewan Government – your tax dollars.
These included health worker “recruitment” ads. That’s right – a department that claims to be short of funds and even shorter of workers, thinks their recruiting budget is best spent within the province.
Sure, they do.
As I said, I should have counted. But considering the number of commercial breaks over two hours of prime time, and that there were two – three in each break, there had to be at least twenty of these ads.
And that’s not all – here’s what’s going on behind the scenes;

My husband is a physician in Saskatoon. He received a packet from the
government today. The cover letter was signed by Lorne Calvert and details
what he calls “my government” has used our taxpayer dollars to fund. The
letter was accompanied by a poster about “Building Futures” and approximately 20 copies of a brochure printed on nice, heavy stock. The brochure is at
[this link].
And I would be happy to fax the letter.
Yet another example of the NDP using tax dollars to buy votes and campaign.
And this time they are surreptitiously asking physicians to aid in their campaign.

The letter is on the Premier’s letterhead;

The Government of Saskatchewan has made significant enhancements to programs and services that support young families. We want to ensure Saskatchewan is the best place for young people to live, work and build strong futures.
We all want our children to get the best start in life, and one factor in the success of young families is access to quality early learning and child care. This is why my Government has made improvements such as increased licensed child care spaces by 2000 in the past five years, increasing child care subsidies for parents, and improving wages and training opportunities for child care providers. We have expanded the number of prekindergartens, and we will soon be opening parent resource centres across the province.

The rest of the letter goes on in this vein, with a one paragraph reference to “ensuring Saskatchewan families have access to high quality health care in a timely manner” being a “priority” for the Government, before going on to cover their efforts in family poverty, housing, the Graduate Tax Exemption, the Building Communities Program, sport, culture, recreation, lotteries, etc. The last sentence reads;

Thank you for working with us to build better futures.
Lorne Calvert
Premier

And speaking of manifestos – on his show yesterday, John Gormley publicly commended the NDP for finally retiring the infamous Regina Manifesto. Not so fast. It was bouncing around the party website all day.
One would think that a media interested in exploring the historical allegations of Ku Klux Klan support for a Conservative party of 80 years ago would be at least as interested in the current governing party’s interest in clinging to a document that proclaims – “We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine democratic self-government, based upon economic equality will be possible.”
One would think.