A friend sent a few candid photos taken from the Legislature, of the preparation of the landau for the Queen’s visit in Regina yesterday, complete with a shot of the Royal visitor herself.


There are others here.

Shaken, Occasionally Stirred continues down the Oil-For-Food investigation trail re: Sask Wheat Pool.

“…and I’m not leaving Ottawa without a cheque in my hand, unless they say no!”
(In the meantime, may we interest you in spring merchandise?)

Sask Party News Release;

Saskatchewan Party MLA Ben Heppner has asked Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer to investigate $92,833 in anonymous donations that went from the Liberal Party of Canada to the provincial Karwacki Liberals.
Heppner said anonymous donations are a violation of The Election Act.
Click here to read a copy of the letter from Mr. Heppner to the Chief Electoral Officer. Click here for a copy of the page from the Saskatchewan Liberal’s annual fiscal return outlining the anonymous donation.
“The Act allows a federal party to donate to a provincial party, but the provincial party must disclose the names of the original donors,” Heppner said. “The Karwacki Liberals have failed to do so on nearly $93,000 in donations they received from the federal Liberals in 2004.”

The Saskatchewan Liberals just filed their 2004 return. It indicates the Liberal Party of Canada donated over $200,000 to the provincial party.

Heppner noted that the status of the provincial Liberal Party is already under review for missing the May 2 filing deadline for their annual fiscal return, according to a news release issued yesterday by the Chief Electoral Officer. Heppner said the Chief Electoral Officer told his office that he will be referring that violation to the Department of Justice to consider prosecution.

“Take that back right now!”

The Canadian Wheat Board is demanding a retraction from Saskatchewan MP David Anderson for comments he made in the House of Commons.
Last Friday, Conservative MP David Anderson stood in the House of Commons and accused the Wheat Board of illegal and corrupt practices in respect to a sale by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool into Iraq’s oil-for-food program.
“This directly affects Canadians because 30 per cent of the value of the contract disappeared through shipping delays and what are referred to as transfers to other buyers, whatever they are. That sounds like even more corruption,” Anderson said. “How did the Wheat Board and its exporters manage to lose $8 million out of a $23 million illegal deal with Iraq?”
Wheat Board spokeswoman Louise Waldman says there is no basis to the allegations, which Anderson has declined to repeat outside the House of Commons. By law, MPs cannot be sued for anything they say inside Parliament.
The Wheat Board has asked Anderson to retract the comments. Waldman says as a marketing agency, the board has two things going for it: its product and its reputation.
“We have an extremely high-quality product, and we also have an extremely good reputation,” she says. “We’re viewed as having a lot of integrity in the international grain business, and our salespeople are extremely well-respected. So we felt that Mr. Anderson’s comments threatened or damaged, could have damaged, this reputation.”
A spokesperson for Anderson says the MP has not seen the Wheat Board’s news release and will not be commenting on it. However, Waldman says Anderson is aware of the board’s concerns.
“Our CEO phoned him yesterday to speak to him personally on this and we will be following this up with a letter to him this week,” she says. Anderson has not indicated whether he will retract his comments. Waldman says if Anderson refuses to make a retraction, the Wheat Board will publish the letter it sent to him.

No mention of whether any letters have been sent to the US Congressional Committee investigating oil-for-food that flagged over $23 million in payments to the Wheat Pool channeled improperly through third parties or their banks.

What does the Liberal Party of Canada do when caught stealing from the taxpayer to reward those who help keep them in power?
They accelerate the process.

All things considered, maybe Canadian taxpayers should be asking what the cut is for the Liberal-friendly Saskatchewan New Democrats.

Brad at SaskDesk is curious about something in the NDP declaration of political contributions:

NDP
Total Donations = $1,530,020
Received from Individuals = $854,080
Received from Corporations = $171,560
Received from unions = $15,097
Received from Constituency Associations = $16,768
Event and Promotion Revenue = $472,513
Other Revenue(from selling call centre services to Jack Layton) = $293,661

What call center does the Sask NDP own?

SaskDesk has a report from the Regina Leader Post that the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan has failed to file a return reporting their political contributions, and may be deregistered.

Catprint In The Mash has the relevant exerpts of the new search and seizure authorities of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board. It’s nasty stuff.
Between this and the rising tensions due to inequal enforcement of smoking bans, (the NDP is afraid of the poltiical falllout of taking on First Nations – and they know it) one can’t help but worry that the day will come when someone’s going to get hurt. And it’s going to be the innocent Civil Service Joe just doing his job that finds himself facing a shotgun or baseball bat in the hands of someone who thinks there’s nothing left to lose. After all, it isn’t the health minister who has the dirty work of walking into a failing small town bar alone, searching for contraband ashtrays. It isn’t the deputy minister watching their life savings drip away with every lost customer.
In a real world, the NDP would look at their own dismal record in picking winners and losers – sod turnings for non-existant ethanol plants, the Spudco fiasco – and come to the logical conclusion that they’re not qualified to interfere in the economy. With a virtually uninterrupted history of abject business failure, it’s is the last place Lorne Calvert and Co. should insert their idiotic ideology driven “expertise” .
Latest case in point: another $53 million dollar for the welfare case known as the Meadow Lake pulp mill, located in the constituency of finance minister Maynard Sontag.
For once – just once – I’d like to see a cabinet minister relieved of his pension for failed government investments. While we’re at it, let’s include a few deputy ministers and senior beaurocrats. What the hell – if they want to play the game like bona fide business people, then why not play for real? Seize their homes and property to help pay creditors.
Perhaps then, when politicians decide to invest taxpayer’s dollars in propping up their own poltiical careers, whether it’s in the economy or in the business climate in general – we’ll actually see a little of that “accountability” they like to brag about before the cameras.

Hey, you leftie readers, always blathering about “right-wing” police states – get a load of this bone the Calvert NDP government is throwing their labour masters. To appease them for backing away from the promised part-time “hours of work” legislation (that would have, in effect, unionized non-union businesses) the Saskatchewan government plans changing the Trade Union Act to expand the authorities of the Labour Relations Board beyond that of law enforcement.
The NDP is planning to empower labour board officials with the right to enter a home or business and seize property without a warrant.
We call it “Calvert’s Cuba” for a reason.

Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco was on morning radio defending his support for the Buzz Hargrove-NDP-Liberal government, in order that they ensure budget passage. A caller had challenged him on the deeper ethics of supporting a corrupt government.
Fiacco was strenuous in his defence. Indeed – he took his support for Paul Martin far beyond the question of the budget, talking in detail about how desperately the cities required the funds, how the Conservatives had not unequivocally pledged to leave the agreement intact. (Fiacco, it should be noted, is a Liberal, so it should come as no surprise to learn he can be bought. It may however, come as a surprise that “cash strapped” Regina reportedly has 6 lawyers on the city payroll.)
The problem with phone in shows is that the callers are always at a disadvantage – especially with high profile guests that often have hosts ready to cover their backs before questioning becomes to aggressive.
It would have been enlightening to have someone explore his argument, by asking how much corruption Pat Fiacco accepts in his own civic government.
Pat Fiacco has clearly indicated that government corruption is tolerable, so long as the dividends continue to be shovelled towards his own city – enhancing by extension, his own political popularity. Does it not beg the question as to whether the Fiacco defence of “benevolent corruption” might extend to the governance of the City of Regina?
Surely, he cannot be holding himself to a higher standard than that of his federal counterparts! That would be so … counterintuitive. I’m not suggesting that anything untoward is occuring in his administration, but now that he’s opened the door, I wonder – would Pat Fiacco tolerate a civic employee who solicits bribes, so long as his interference in the bidding process brings the project in under budget?
How about a police chief who cuts the crime rate by 5% while shaking down small business for “protection” services?
Would Fiacco pull strings with the province for grants to benefit inner-city businesses, in exchange for their “donations” to his re-election fund?
When he gave the thumbs up on federal Liberal corruption, he should have been asked to elaborate – is his level of tolerance for theft and graft based on “greater good”? On “whats in it for me”? Or, is it simply a matter of scale – ie: if $100 million of corruption at the federal level is an acceptable budget line item, does the City of Regina take their cue from that, and budget for $60,000?
I think these are legitimate questions.
So, don’t keep us waiting – tell me Mayor Fiacco – is it “yes”? Is it “no”? Is it “depending on the circumstances?”
After this morning’s interview, we learned you do have some tolerance for corruption in government. That having been established, we’re just trying to find out how much?

In a statement Thursday, Saskatchewan NDP premier Lorne Calvert acknowledged that the criminal prosecution of former members of the government of Grant Devine was politically motivated. He said his government is going to issue a full pardon, and an apology to the members of the now defunct Progressive Conservative party who were prosecuted, some of whom served jail time.
(The massive scandal of the 1990’s centered on abuse of members communications allowances and involved thousands of dollars – the misappropriation of funds included such outrages as the purchase of computer software and speakers podiums for constituency offices.)

“It was never about the money they stole,” Calvert acknowledged. “We really don’t have any problems at all with corruption in government. None at all, actually. It’s just the cost of doing business, as far as the New Democratic Party is concerned.”
Calvert added, “it’s about what’s good for the party. In our case, it was good for the NDP to prosecute the Progressive Conservatives, good for our political fortunes in the province. As the years have passed, we’ve turned that old dead horse into a political drum skin.”
“Bottom line – corruption and misuse of public funds isn’t really an issue with our government. A hundred thousand, a hundred million – the figures really don’t mean much. What matters is the optics and how the corruption can be leveraged to the advantage of the party. In the case of the Martin Liberals, we may be able to wrangle a better deal on equalization, so obviously, we’ve given our full support to Jack Layton’s deal to prop up the Martin government.”

I recieved an email yesterday in response to this post about $600,000 being shovelled into Minds Eye Pictures to ensure filming of a Tommy Douglas mini-series is done in Saskatchewan. I’ve recieved permission to share it.

I worked in “the media” in Regina… oh… over a decade ago now. There was this bizzare cult of not saying anything bad about Mind’s Eye ever – and it was essentially forbidden to perform an act of actual journalism and question the public money they were ciphoning from anywhere they could get.
There was this mantra that because they were local they were entitled to my tax money. WTF is that about??
It was ridiculous… especially since they’ve never produced anything you could sit down and watch without wanting to gouge your eyes out…if it ever got to production… they’d do these big-deal “shoots” and whomp around doing all the publicity… and we would go like sheep and cover it… and then they’d never get the film into actual production. Endless activity with no product. All my buddies in film think the point is to get the thing seen. By people. Not Mind’s eye!!
They should be burned to the ground.

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:

Brad, at SaskDesk is one nosy sonnaofabitch …

Sitting on the apron at the Shell Aerocentre of the Regina International Airport today were the following planes:
Dassault Falcon 2000 – Registration N898CT (Click for FAA ownership search)
Gulfstream G-IV – Registration N1620
The FAA registration shows that the Gulfstream belongs to Cox Enterprises Inc., based in Atlanta, Georgia. According to their website, they are big – Cox Enterprises is one of the nation’s leading media companies and providers of automotive services. We are a Top 10 national player, based on revenues, in every major business category where we compete. The company’s core businesses are Cox Communications, Manheim, Cox Newspapers, Cox Television, Cox Radio and AutoTrader.com…..

The other plane is owned by Nortom Inc.

What could they be doing in Regina? Surely they didn’t fly all the way here to check on their Regina Val-Pak operation. Something to think about.

Well, it isn’t duck season.

Ouch. With a cruising speed of 135 mph, someone inserted their horseshoe right side up that morning.

8.3% of Saskatchewan residents check to make sure their campfire is out with what method?
[x] Check coals for heat with bare hands.
This is what happens when parks employees survey themselves.

About 48 per cent of Canadian adults are overweight – and Saskatoon is fat city, according to Statistics Canada figures from 2003.
The Saskatchewan city had the country’s highest percentage of obese residents at 18.2 per cent, with 50.3 per cent considered overweight. No. 2 on the chubby chart was Halifax, where 17.9 per cent were classed as obese and 51.6 as overweight. At the other end of the scale, 6.1 per cent of Vancouver citizens were obese and 30.1 per cent were overweight. The West Coast centre not coincidentally also had the distinction of being the city with the most fit and active residents in the country.

They also have the distinction of being relatively young, with higher incomes compared to Saskatchewan residents.
Not mentioned is that there are vastly different age, income and racial distributions in regions across the country.
In addition to the weighty consequences of an aging population, Saskatoon has a higher percentage of First Nations people than any other “major” city in Canada. (First Nations make up over 17% of the total population of the province) Genetic predisposition among aboriginal peoples places them at high risk of diabetes/obesity. (The same patterns occur, for the same reasons, in African-Americans in the US). As indelicate as it is to say so, North America is the only continent on the planet where poor people are fat. With chronic poverty and unemployment, the problem of rising obesity rates in this province is unlikely to be solved by providing tax deductions for gym memberships.

If your daily driver delivers 375 pounds-per-foot of torque ….

You might be in Saskatchewan.

And if your plane is loaded and ready to go, but can’t get off the ground until the runway traffic is clear….

You might be in Saskatchewan.
Previous moments here.

An ex-girlfriend who was with him at the time, testified today that David Milgaard raped her. Then came tape of a hypnosis[1] session in which she recalled witnessing an extremely disturbing violent incident – though she can’t remember who committed it.
At the rate things are going, they’re probably going to reconvict him.
Damn the torpedos. I’ll be perfectly honest about my feelings on this.
By their own admission, Milgaard and his crew were driving around Saskatoon the night Gail Miller was murdered in 1969, looking for someone to rob. It is not by coincidence that in wrongful conviction cases, the accused nearly always has a criminal record, or criminal associates. Being arrested and convicted for a crime you didn’t yet get the chance to commit is one of the occupational risks of the industry.
That’s one of the findings that should come out of this inquiry. But it won’t.
Yes, I feel badly that it took 23 years to get Milgaard out of jail – that’s too long a sentence for a petty criminal. Nor should anyone dismiss the possibility that members of the justice system went out of their way to keep him there, even as doubts surfaced – that’s a broader issue that affects us all. So I feel sorry for him in the usual sense? About as much as I do someone who jumps head first from a bridge and ends up in a wheelchair.
Footnote:
[1] Yes, I know recovering memery through hypnosis is crap. It’s astonishing that the inquiry even allowed it.