Caught on tape: a “Saddam’s links to terrorism” denier.
Via Drudge

The Saskatchewan NDP didn’t take long to yank the profile of their one-time Regina Rosemont nominee off the website. (Google cache).
Leader Post;

The provincial NDP will be seeking a new candidate in Regina Rosemont after the party announced Tuesday that Judy Kobsar has stepped down. The NDP said her decision was due to medical reasons.

Was it a bruise from a party boot to the backside? A reader tip;

Kobsar stepping down for ‘health reasons’. Kobsar won a hotly contested nomination, and I have been told by reliable sources that many people in the NDP Establishment were getting uncomfortable about Kobsar running in Regina Rosemont. In fact, the Sask. Liberals have been getting overtures from New Democrats in Rosemont because of Kobsar running.

From the now-defunct profile;

Judy is currently a provincial government employee serving as an immigration administrator with the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program Branch. In the past, she has also worked in the departments of Agriculture and Food and Learning and for the University of Regina.

We wish her the best on her journey back to health…

Citing “medical” reasons. He’s receiving medical treatment by medical professionals for this professionally documented medical condition.
This ends the investigation by the provincial court’s judicial council. Not mentioned: his name has been connected to testimony regarding the criminal case of another party. The nature of that testimony is currently under publication ban.
John Gormley: Public deserves more on judge’s case
Trivia: before appointed to the bench, Bekolay served as President of the Saskatchewan NDP. Let’s just say that Lorne might look at calling an election before rather than after potential disclosure of hearing testimony, if he has any hope of holding on to those older, socially conservative CCF’ers in the party.
Previous

I go out to play with my table saw for a couple hours and all hell breaks loose ;

Saskatchewan Culture, Youth and Recreation Minister Glenn Hagel has announced he’s stepping down from cabinet while police look into a case of alleged fraud at the New Democrat caucus.
Hagel hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, but said Wednesday afternoon that he takes the integrity of the legislature very seriously and so will leave NDP cabinet until police inquiries into the alleged case of fraud has been cleared up.
Earlier in the day, the Regina Police Service said it had asked the RCMP to investigate city police files related to the 15-year-old case.
The Opposition Saskatchewan Party has repeatedly raised questions about the investigation into the 1992 case of a former NDP caucus worker who admitted taking money — about $6,000 — that she said she wasn’t entitled to from caucus funds.
At the time, Hagel was the caucus chair and co-signed some cheques that the former staffer, Ann Lord, admitted she altered.

Hagel will remain as MLA for Mosse Jaw North. Reportedly, Lorne Calvert was noticably absent for the announcement.
So much for the “it was 15 years ago – enough already” crowd.
h/t Dean in Regina who notes;

This brings the total to 7 NDP MLA’s who won’t be running for re-election in the next provincial election.

Star Phoenix;

A suspended provincial court judge who faces an inquiry into his conduct had been investigated by Prince Albert police, Justice Minister Frank Quennell told The StarPhoenix Tuesday.
And he said it was Saskatchewan’s Justice Department that referred a conflict-of-interest complaint against Prince Albert Judge Terry Bekolay to the Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judicial Council, which announced last week a hearing committee had been appointed to hold an inquiry.
The actual allegations against Bekolay have not been made public, but Quennell said he wanted to provide more history about the case — and how it ended up before the judicial committee — after it was raised in the legislature Monday.

In fact, no information at all has been released on the nature of the complaint.

The minister said Bekolay had come up in a Prince Albert police criminal investigation into the actions of others.
“He was not the subject of the investigation but certainly his conduct and his role raised some questions,” said Quennell.
[…]
Bekolay, a former president of the provincial NDP before being appointed to the bench in 1992, was removed from hearing cases in December 2005 by then-chief justice Edward Bayda. His case was referred to the Alberta Justice Department on April 3, 2006, and its recommendation was returned to Saskatchewan’s public prosecutions office on May 31, 2006.

Meanwhile, the taxpayers continue to foot the bill for his salary.
Any rumblings out there on this? There’s some indication the media knows more than they’re telling us.

The post you are looking for is (on sexual content in high school reading material) here.

He’s sustained “serious head injuries” after being blindsided by a man swinging a bat outside a Saskatoon restaurant. Three others were also sent to hospital;

Saskatoon Police say it happened early Sunday morning outside a restaurant in Sutherland. One of the victims is 25 year old Graeme Bell. He’s a former University of Saskatchewan football player and current member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He has a serious head injury. There is a suspect, but there’s no information from police that an arrest has been made.

Just another random act of no meaningful consequences (July, 2000) …

A young man from Saskatoon convicted of killing another man with a cricket bat has been granted full parole.
19 year-old Chris Smishek was sentenced last summer to three and a half years in jail. Smishek admitted to ambushing 23 year-old Scott Asher, then hitting him in the head with a wooden cricket paddle. Asher suffered massive head injuries and died.
The national parole board says Smishek has no prior criminal record, and is at a low risk of re-offending.
Smishek’s friend, 23 year-old Jeremy Gardner, was also involved in the killing. He was sentenced to four and a half years.

Emphasis mine.

A bit of storm damage in town, funnel cloud sightings and a small touch down about 2 blocks from my house. I wasn’t going to bother with the photos, but as the story is all over local news, (along with a host of weather warnings in the area) what the heck.


(Don’t know why, but the comments were malfunctioning on this thread. I’ve rebuilt the post, and they seem to be working now.)

From a source sympathetic to the NDP, so take it for what it is… “Sask Finance Minister Andrew Thompson is going to resign tomorrow.”
Related to this? I have no idea.

An investigation into who leaked details of this year’s provincial budget to the media has failed to come up with answers, so the government is going to try again.
The March 22 budget introduced a $15 cap on seniors’ prescriptions, a post-secondary tuition freeze and a tax holiday for recent grads — details that the Regina Leader-Post reported days earlier.
The government launched an internal investigation to try to find out who leaked the information, but the result, according to Finance Minister Andrew Thomson, was “inconclusive.”

CTV reported that the investigation will now centre on party insiders – the Finance MInister seemed genuinely concerned in the news clip. Whether or not this rumoured resignation comes to pass, keep an eye on this story.
UPDATE – via radio, confirming this morning that Thompson won’t be seeking re-election.

How to resign and still collect severance.

The NDP government has confirmed former caucus chief of staff Jim Fodey will get severance following his resignation, yet offered no details Monday on the amount or how he’s eligible for such a package.
But the Saskatchewan Party questioned how Fodey can get severance under guidelines set out by the legislature’s board of internal economy.
“The NDP said Jim Fodey resigned. The severance policy says severance is only payable to employees who are terminated without cause,” Opposition deputy leader Ken Krawetz said.
Fodey resigned April 28 after providing “incomplete” information to the public and NDP House Leader Glenn Hagel on how an alleged fraud was handled 15 years ago. Former caucus employee Ann Lord wrote a confession letter to Fodey and Hagel in 1992 before disappearing from her job, admitting she had altered cheques by about $6,000.
When the Sask. Party recently brought the leaked letter to light at the legislature, Fodey told reporters he recalled sharing the letter and other relevant information with police in 1992.
However, at a press conference April 27, Regina’s chief of police said records indicate neither the letter nor notes from the caucus auditor were given to police until 1994.
Caucus chair Kim Trew told reporters Monday that Fodey did indeed resign April 28. But he offered few details on the issue of severance, suggesting reporters pose further questions to a labour lawyer or the payroll branch of the legislative assembly office. A call to that office was not immediately returned.

Deja vu all over again.

“SGEU serves workers with lockout notice”.

The full pdf. Other documents here. (Scroll down for May 1 update., The 1992 police report makes for entertaining reading, as well.)
(Background here)

CBC – Fodey said he immediately reported the matter to Regina police.”
Chief Cal Johnston disagrees,

stressing that the records show neither the confession letter nor the altered cheques were disclosed until nearly two years later, in September of 1994.
In fact, Johnston reveals that police first got involved not because the NDP contacted them, but because Davy’s car caught fire outside the legislature. Police then became aware she was wanted for fraud in the U.S., leading them to question Fodey about her employment. A couple of weeks later, Johnston says Fodey assured them the NDP’s auditor, “wasn’t concerned and that everything was in order.”
Johnston says that’s the reason police decided not to lay charges: because the NDP assured them there was no wrongdoing. He adds he isn’t sure if a new investigation will be initiated, saying there are still some documents to review.

Previous.

Leader Post;

Nearly 55 per cent of decided respondents said they would cast a ballot for the Saskatchewan Party — an almost 25 point lead over Premier Lorne Calvert’s New Democrats at 29 per cent, the Sigma Analytics poll found.

The city of Regina is the only NDP supporting holdout – if you can call a statistical tie a “holdout”.

More here on the NDP caucus fraud.

Barley up 13.3%, according to the March producers survey by Stats Can.
Meanwhile, back at the CWB;

The CWB has dropped its 06/07 Pool Return Outlook for barley, claiming that customers are “reluctant to make purchases as they are anticipating their ability to access supplies from multiple sellers at values lower than a single-desk seller”.
Say again? The CWB will not lose its monopoly on barley marketing until the end of this crop year. So barley sales made in the 07/08 crop year will affect returns in the 06/07 pool? How does that work?
If customers are holding off on purchases until the next crop year, that has no affect on the PRO for this year. Unless, of course, the CWB royally messed up by underselling the market earlier in the year, hoping to make up for their poor performance in the 11th hour.
What exactly was the CWB doing during the last three months of excellent barley prices? Sitting on their hands? Why else, with only 3 months left in the crop year would they need to drop the PRO by 8 dollars per tonne?

h/t Catprint

First, arrange ballots in a circle. Second, begin counting…
*

In the latest from Lorne “Better Government Through Advertising” Calvert, plans are afoot to redecorate 100 railcars. Those fighting rural school closures are sure to be pleased;

Work on the $1 million dollar project will be complete by July 31, 2007. The tender for painting the hopper cars has been awarded to GE Railcar Repair Service Company of Regina and the contract for the decals has been awarded to Arco Graphics Inc. of Saskatoon.
“GE was very pleased to be awarded work under this tender and to perform the work here in Saskatchewan,” Plant Manager for GE Railcar Repair Services Regina Rick Campbell said. “The new design of the hopper cars was a challenging and exciting job and we are proud to be part of the overall revitalization of the SGCC hopper car fleet.”

I guess they live near different tracks than I do.
*

Via the Agriville forum;

…. [Farmer Direct (FD) Co-operative in Regina, Saskatchewan] holds an annual spring marketing meeting for shareholders, and this year, they again invited some of their US buyers to be present to meet with farmers to promote potential contracting and farmer-buyer relationships.
One of the chronic problems both FD and growers face, is the Canadian Wheat Board’s buyback, (now dubbed PDS). Farmers need a resolution to this ever re-occurring problem, and I believe it was probably for this reason that FD invited the Canadian Wheat Board to speak with their shareholders, and consequently, both CWB elected Directors Mr. Rod Flaman and Mr. Kyle Korneychuck attended.
With three Americans present, Mr. Flaman on a power-point presentation, referenced some Bilateral Trade Agreement countries that the USA had entered into in specific yrears, including: Peru in 2005, Columbia in 2006, Ecuador in process, and Mexico in 2006. Mr. Flaman described these US agreements as side deals, and obviously, was not happy with them. He referred to the tariff disadvantage resulting from these American “side deals”.
He was definitely displeased with the USA.. He continued to tell FD shareholders that, “We (the CWB) used to have 100% of the Moroccan markets. We’re going to be shut out of that now.” Everyone got the message….. Americans are rotters.
Considering that FD had invited the Americans to contract with their farmer members, and the Americans had already been introduced, and considering it was a time for cordiality and good will, the CWB’s message was not only inappropriate, but mean spirited. The CWB quickly became a source of embarassment. To say Mr. Korneychuck and Mr. Flaman were not well received, would be an inderstatement, particulary a little later, when Mr. Korneychuck referred to the USA as bullies.
I arose and made a motion that aknowledged Americans as organic’s best buyers because
a) Americans are good to deal with,
b) Americans speak the same language,
c) Americans pay their bills, and
d) Americans pay top prices.
The President of Farmer Direct, Gene Davis, spontaneoulsy seconded the motion and it was overwhelmingly passed by the shareholders.
The Americans present, then stated that the most problems they had doing business in Canada was with the Canadian Wheat Board. It was embarassing.
We never want this kind of fiasco to happen to any other producers ever again. Producers worked hard to develop this market and we do not need a Government institution to come and insult any valued buyers. Was the CWB trying to sour the existing relationships because the CWB wants to now take over marketing organics?
This snapshot should provide you with the very reason why so many organic producers want NO association with the Canadian Wheat Board and do not want the CWB to become our business partner. We cannot afford a business partner like this.
You should be aware that later on in the meeting, another motion was passed.
“The Canadian Wheat Board issues no-buyback export licenses to organic farmers in Ontario. Be it resoved that the Canadian Wheat Board issue no buyback licenses to organic farmers in Western Canada the same as they do for farmers in Ontario.”
32 farmer-shareholders voted for the motion . There was 0 producers voted against the motion.
Mr. Flaman and Mr. Korneychuck both seemed unprepared to vote to support this motion at a CWB Board of Directors’ meeting.

(slightly reformatted from original)
More – they’re an equal opportunity insulter!

Stephane Dion, speaking in Saskatoon;

“It gets worse. Stephen Harper used numbered the ballots for this plebiscite. That means the Conservatives can trace who voted, and how they voted. Why would they want to know how you voted? Traceability is for livestock, not ballots. This is a government that wants to know who its opponents are. Partly as a result of those heavy-handed tactics, just one third of ballots were returned – further undermining the meaningfulness of the results.”

Good question. Now that Stephane Dion & Co. have taken the accusation that the barley vote was “tainted” outside the protective walls of the House, how much longer before the powers that be at KPMG put a call in to the legal department?