The capital gains tax grab is actually your money, the federal government intends to take it from you and are claiming they are taking it to be “fair” to you. Could not be further from the truth.
What do I mean? The generations that currently hold the lion’s share of this capital have but one thing in mind, to pass it along to you (plus any accompanying gains), just as it was passed along to us from the generation that came before. This is but another misguided policy that will have the effect of dividing Canadians. This time, along generational lines, pitting boomers (1946-64) and gen x (born 1965-80) against millennials (1981-96) and gen z (1997-2012) in the name of “fairness”. For perspective I am a part of gen x (b. 1967) The truth of the matter is no generation of Canadian is being treated “fairly” by a government unable to curb their insatiable tax and spend appetite. Do not fall for this for one minute, this government has been asking “for just a little bit more” from 2015 onward. They are terrible stewards and left unchecked would literally take every last dollar any of us has to our name, they are ideologically possessed and are unable and unwilling to see the train wreck they have created. Each generation has historically passed along the wealth and assets they have been entrusted with from the previous generation along to the next generation. Indeed, no generation has ever been able to “take it with them” when they have passed into history. The current oldest generation is no different, the assets and wealth will inevitably be passed to the generation that comes after them. We have a responsibility to you, and we take it seriously. The only time this approach gets short circuited is when a government attempts to intervene and typically makes a horrendous mess of the whole thing. We face such a time today. When the government intervenes with yet another tax grab, as they are attempting to do so now, they are actually taking the money away from future generations. That is a far cry from the “fairness” that is currently being touted by this government. It is decidedly unfair and will ensure the next generations are poorer than the ones they will replace. This is not a hard thing to understand. Wealth can either be passed directly from one generation to the next in an efficient and sensible manner without any extra interventions from government or, it can be siphoned off by government and taken out of the hands of the generation it is meant to be passed on to. The current federal government is proposing that they are better stewards of privately earned capital than the people who earned it, and it is they, the federal government, not the generation that built it, that should take it and redistribute it as they see fit. Where have we heard this kind of thing before, and where will it lead us? Wealth redistribution schemes, left unchecked, have always literally destroyed the standard of living of the people unfortunate enough to be exposed to such schemes. It will further beggar the coming generation who will be poorer and more indebted as a result. This is not rocket science, a government that has doubled the federal debt in eight short years cannot be trusted with more of your money Cite one example where this government was better at anything than the private sector has been in execution, efficiency, and economy. They simply are not, they are not paid to care, it is not their money, they are not held accountable for either the success or failure of a government program. They have no skin in the game. So, my message to millennials and gen z from the boomers and gen x, we will try hard to preserve the capital that has been passed to us and that we have further earned on your behalf. By default, it has always been our destiny to pass this along to you, just as it was passed to us. We need to work together to achieve this, and we need to collectively tell a wasteful, out of control tax and spend government “No More.” To paraphrase a passage from the Good Book, “this government has been weighed and measured and it is found wanting.” It is long past time this troubled administration is brought to an end, and we can begin the challenges of rebuilding our country into the one we are proud to call our collective home.
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10/27/2023 0 Comments The Lies That We Are Told...The Lies That We Are Told….
We hear tell from our federal government the carbon tax will no longer apply on home heating oil for the next three years, purportedly to relieve the pressure on Atlantic Canada taxpayers who rely on home heating oil for 40% of their home heating needs. This is all good and well, the ruinous carbon tax should be eliminated entirely for all Canadians. But what of natural gas? Here in Saskatchewan, we use natural gas for 72% of their home heating needs. Well let’s compare the two heat sources relative to their carbon intensity. Home heating fuel generates 163 lbs of CO2 per Million Btu. Natural Gas generates 116 lbs of CO2 per Million Btu. For those keeping score, home heating fuel is much much worse for the environment than natural gas is, here is the proof; https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php. So, the world took a pause from the existential threat that we are told is climate change because the Liberals were getting worried that even Atlantic Canada won’t vote for them anymore? This conduct literally makes me sick to my stomach. We are better than this Atlantic Canada, we are better than this Central Canada, we are better than this Western Canada. The hypocrisy, the double standard, the crass attempt to buy votes is unworthy of Canada, it is unworthy of us. I recall, we used home heating fuel growing up on the farm in the 1970’s, the government of the day made an investment to bring natural gas to rural Saskatchewan via underground pipes. It was very progressive for the time, and we have enjoyed the benefit for more than 50 years. Are we to switch back to home heating oil tanks based on this latest government edict? It is beyond ridiculous, and I will point out we have always had a special relationship with our Atlantic cousins. It is because of this I would ask you folks in Atlantic Canada to stand up for what is right, what is fair and what is true. We don’t begrudge the carbon tax being eliminated from your home heating fuel, but the same thing should be done for natural gas. That means calling out this current federal government for what is an obvious double standard. Home heating oil gets a break, but natural gas does not? I will give you an example of the carbon tax costs we face on natural gas. It came into play here in Saskatchewan in May 2019. From then to now I have paid $4,730.27 (taken directly from my Sask Energy billing history), in federal carbon tax alone on my residential natural gas bill. This does not include the GST on both the overall bill and the GST on the carbon tax, an additional $982.71 for a total of $5,712.98 over the past 4 years 5 months for the privilege of heating and cooling my home using clean burning natural gas. These three federal charges now account for 28% of the total natural gas bill, which is now at $600 per month on an equalized basis. As an additional exercise I looked back over the last four tax years to see how this carbon tax rebate was working out for myself and my family. See, we were told we would get back more than we paid, true story, the federal government said so. Turns out I have been sent $3398 in the form of a rebate over the past four years, (to the end of December 2023) since the start of the carbon tax. So, on my natural gas bill alone I am in the red by over $2300! ($5712-$3398=-$2314). My simple math says that is not more than I paid in, in fact, it is far far less. Never mind already being in the hole by over $2300 alone on just my natural gas bill, lets have a look at my electricity bill and transportation fuel bill as well, while we are at it. Looking over electricity bills the carbon tax is averaging $20 per month plus GST and for gasoline I am running about $60 per month in carbon tax per month plus GST on average. These numbers are all verified on my billing usage statements. The carbon tax has been in place here for 54 months so multiply that by $80/month = $4320. Add this amount to how far I am in the red from the natural gas bill; $2300 + $4320 = $6620 since 2019 in excess carbon tax! That number again, I am $6620 in the hole, net of any carbon tax rebate thrown my way. This amount is just on the direct costs to heat and power my home and drive around. I haven’t even bought food, clothes, insurance (home, vehicle, life) mortgage, property taxes and all the rest yet, where the tax is hidden. There is no reasonable way to even measure the personal cost of this ruinous tax that is having zero impact on consumer behaviour. So back to the crass attempt at vote buying in Atlantic Canada. I saw one little clip on CBC that gave me hope. A dear little old lady from PEI that the CBC must have thought was a safe interview when asking her about the impact of cancelling the carbon tax on home heating fuel in Atlantic Canada She said it would help her, at the very end, before CBC could cut her off, she said, it doesn’t really matter though, we are going to vote em out anyway. To her and all other Canadians who have finally sufficiently tired of the insanity that is this current government I say thank you. Let’s work together on repairing the damage that this government has brought about, lets make Canada something we, and the rest of the world can be proud of to call home and proud of to call ally. 2/7/2022 0 Comments Parental Responsibility Recently I submitted the following to the Star Phoenix for consideration for publication as a “Letter to the Editor”. Knowing it was longer than the usual 250 word limit I suggested in an email exchange with the editor that I would prefer the letter not be truncated on my behalf to fit their word limit, lest it lose all meaning and context in the exchange. If that was to be the case, it was my preference it not be published at all. As an avid reader of the Star Phoenix over the decades I have seen many occasions where exceptions have been made to this 250-word limit policy in the interest of enabling a good and fulsome discussion.
Rather than any accommodation offered I received a simple “OK” in response. Of course, my letter was never printed. In fact, this was the very reason I began this blog some time ago, it is the reason I call it “Unpublished Letters”. Some may recall I used to submit letters occasionally to the Star Phoenix on topics I felt were worthy of discussion. The censorship that was once conducted in secret will soon be in the open and given recent federal govt legislation, I can be certain even blogs such as this will be deemed “wrongthink” by the current powers that be. It has indeed become a bit of a sad world recently with the sociopaths (thankfully a tiny minority but with outsized influence), among us bullying, shamming, and attempting to cancel anyone who disagrees with them. To these people who have lost their way, I say chin up, hang in there, your own conscience will ultimately and inevitably guide you away from the self-hatred that has gripped you, if it doesn’t, I fear far worse outcomes for you. It will be intensely painful to bear truth in your life, it often is, but it will also be redemptive. In the meantime, the brave and courageous will continue to speak truth for as long as it is necessary. My letter follows. The opportunity to parent a child is one of life’s richest blessings. It is also one of life’s greatest responsibilities. Those who have been parents for any length of time know this to be a universal truth. We celebrate the growth and accomplishments of our children, and we agonize over getting things wrong in the raising of our children. Recently we have been made aware there are a few among us who seem to believe they are better at assuming some of those responsibilities than parents are. In these times it can seem easier to keep our head down on such topics lest we run the risk of ridicule and being cancelled. This is not one of those times. With the newly introduced policy of government regarding informed consent and sexual education in schools for those under 16, parents are being reminded we can and must take up our responsibilities. It is such a serious responsibility it should only appropriately be taken up by those who truly care for and love the children. This does not include activists, politicians, and union leaders, it is only the parents, no one else. Those who would oppose us in our responsibilities are not the allies of parents by any stretch. They have their own agendas and do no favors to the children involved either, despite their pleadings otherwise. In fact, they remind me of the first woman in one of the stories describing the wisdom of Solomon. You know the one where King Solomon was asked to rule between two women who each claimed to be the mother of a child. Solomon was in a pickle here and declared his solution to be that the child would be cut in two, each woman to receive half if they could not resolve their claim in any other way. The first woman did not contest the ruling, declaring that if she could not have the baby whole then neither of them could. The second woman begged Solomon to give the baby to the first woman, for she would rather give up claim to her own child than see it lose its life. Solomon, seeing the truth, quickly declared the second woman as the real mother. In this story we find what the love and responsibility of a parent for their child looks like. It is that love and responsibility that others have no business interfering with. We would do well to recall this story and embrace our responsibilities as parents, lest others who do not love our children try to usurp them. Hi all, this is overdue, I have been meaning to write this for some time, perhaps the leadership my siblings are showing on our Signal page is spurring me to action, so for that, I thank you. I want to take a little time to talk about covid and vaccines and life and relationships for a bit so please bear with me. I have been remiss in doing this and for that I apologize in advance. I believe I have a point of view, given my current role, that allows me to share a view on the world some might find useful.
Today I find myself as the CEO of Genome Prairie. I have worked in the broad ag industry in a variety of roles for over 30 years before someone trusted me to lead an organization like this and I am humbled by their trust. I am closer to the action of covid, vaccine research and understanding genomics than some might appreciate. What is Genome Prairie you ask? We lead very advanced genomics-based research in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as part of a national network cofounded by the federal govt and the private sector. Over the past 20 years this has amounted to over $360 Million in ag, environmental and animal and human health research in our space. I do not share this to brag but rather to let you know I am in the thick of things, even as it relates to covid research. My company leads a project called CanCOGeN; https://www.genomecanada.ca/en/cancogen as part of the national effort to continue to monitor covid variants of concern, currently the Delta variant. Prior to covid MB and SK did not have the capacity to monitor human health through genomic sequencing. We had neither the equipment, the training or the capacity to do any of that here. We helped purchase and place equipment in Regina and Winnipeg that now allows us to do that. The two provincial health labs sequence about 100 samples a day each day to monitor whether the virus is mutating further from delta so we can stay on top of things and respond accordingly if we do detect mutation as part of a global effort. So far, we have not detected further mutation here. I appreciate using science and data is not really the best path to build trust, it can be hard to make sense of, especially when people feel they have a reason to mistrust based on past misinformation. We have been learning that for over 30 years now with GMO’s, there is all kinds of information online spreading falsehood that GMO canola and glyphosate is somehow unsafe for consumption or the environment. The truth of the matter is this, literally Billions of meals have been consumed around the world over the past decades without a single incidence of sickness or death, nutritionally the food is identical. I have always been proud GMO canola was partially invented by my old boss at Ag West Bio, Wilf Keller, he grew up on the farm in Yorkton and also just happened to be a genius with a passion. Anyone who met Wilf knows quickly, he can be trusted, and he is ethical. Now we must apply that same kind of thinking to the covid vaccines. It has always been about trust and it will always be about trust at the core. So, onto covid vaccines, the original mRNA covid vaccine (Pfizer and Moderna) was co-invented by a woman named Kati Kariko, she grew up poor in Hungary and eventually immigrated to the US where she works at the University of Pennsylvania. She too is a genius, and she has focused on messenger RNA, or mRNA — the genetic script that carries DNA instructions to each cell’s protein-making machinery. She was convinced mRNA could be used to instruct cells to make their own medicines, including vaccines. She worked at this for more than 40 years before perfecting it. I make this distinction because it is critical for even lay people to understand messenger RNA is incapable of changing DNA, it is perfectly safe in that respect. I believe I can trust Kati Kariko. I have had people ask me, why should we trust you, you are not a scientist, and yes that is true, I am not. Those who know me though, know that I am a bit of a geek. My family can attest they called me little professor growing up because I liked to read so much, even over playing scrub sometimes. That part of me has never changed but I have found it important to stay away from focusing too much on online social media type reading where I can’t confirm the source or the accuracy of the information and stick with scientific journals and published papers to get to the facts of things. They can be very hard to understand and often I don’t fully understand but I can usually get to the gist of what they are getting at. So, this brings me to this place, I would ask the hesitant to trust me when I say two things, the vaccines are safe, and they do good in protecting us from the worst symptoms of covid infection. Just like pneumonia, it is not the virus that can kill you, it is the symptoms that happen as a result of catching the virus. This brings me to some final comments. The vaccines will soon be launched for the 5-11 year olds. While this group of people have largely been safe from the worst symptoms of covid when they catch the virus they can spread the virus just the same. It has been largely 75 plus year olds and those with other comorbidities that have been among the some 28,000 who have died from covid in Canada through this pandemic. It has also been largely understood that we will need to get to a minimum of 85% plus fully vaccinated to fully stop this pandemic from moving through the population in wave after wave. Today we sit at 72.766%; https://covid19tracker.ca/vaccinationtracker.html. I believe at this point we will not curb these waves until we exceed 85% fully vaccinated. This means the elderly and the immune compromised will continue to remain at risk indefinitely. What about natural immunity, some will ask, well for comparison purposes, the Spanish flu of 1918-19 killed about 5,000 in Saskatchewan over 18 months, to date Covid has killed just under 800. They had no vaccine in 1918, in 2021 we do. Do not be afraid to have your children vaccinated. So, we have the safe tool to make our world as safe as we know how. It has taken all the accumulated knowledge through all of human history and advancement to get us to this place we are at today. Do we know absolutely everything? No, we never have and most certainly we never will, but we know enough to keep moving forward and that is what we have to do now. No one promised us a life entirely free of risk, from our first breath to our very last. As I have pondered where we find ourselves today in this time, I think often of those who have the wisdom of years and experience ahead of me and I listen to their words closely. Many of my siblings will relate to the stories and advice we heard from our Mom and Dad. Today I think of one piece of advice our Dad would share, often when talking about either fitting in or sticking out in a crowd. All who know him, also know he has never been afraid to stick out in a crowd, but even he would remind us, there are times and places where one must conform, for the good of those around you and for your own self. I believe this is one such time, where for the good of those around us, we must conform. Finally, I will say this, we, together are all stronger, better and more resilient than we could ever possibly imagine. We find ourselves in a time when it is very easy to become divided, we must never allow this tendency to stand divided get a foothold in our most important relationships, that being amongst family, friends and those we care most deeply about. There has never been a more important time to stand together and remember who are real foes are, a pesky virus and those who would seek to divide us through the deliberate and malevolent dissemination of misinformation. So, after the outcome of the recent federal election, I was looking for some solace out west, mostly in Alberta and Saskatchewan as we seemed to somehow end up as the whipping boys of the federal government in one of the most useless elections in Canadian history. We live in a region where less than 10% of the voter eligible population cast a vote for the national governing party that set a new low bar for national support at 32%. It seems we have no voice as it relates to influencing national policy, and by extension protecting our own interests, and little prospect of finding it any time in the near future.
While it may be of little consolation right now, it is perhaps good to take stock, consider the long game and see if you can’t find some promise in a future considered differently. While it is always dangerous to compare apples and oranges an idea came to me while on one of the never-ending Zoom calls where someone from the country of Norway was defining a future path for themselves. They spoke of the transition from oil and how they were using their riches to move in new ways to chart a bright future for themselves. I thought, geez, lucky them, they actually have the power to chart their own future. When I noticed their population, a surprisingly low 5.4 Million souls, I thought why not pick 10 random parameters and see how the two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta stack up against one of the most admired countries on the planet, economically, socially and by just about every measure one can conceive of. I have to say the exercise itself gave me a boost. We are perhaps too hard on ourselves and feeling helpless all the time in our geography, worrying about the big bad east with all their “vote richness” and population and clout. I think we need to remind ourselves as provinces, we are only about 115 years old, mere children on virtually any scale. We are blessed with people and resources that most other jurisdictions on the planet can only dream about. If we really want to chart a different course, we only have to have the courage to put our hand on the wheel and begin moving our boat in a different direction. I think we might find the wind is much more to our back than in our faces. So, in no particular order lets take a dive into comparing Norway to SK/AB and see what we see. I think you will see we are better, bigger, and stronger than we give ourselves credit for. Of course, the first and simplest comparison is population, I found this surprising, our two provinces have about 100,000 more citizens than Norway or 2% bigger at 5.5 Million. Now we don’t win on every measure, who ever does, so this will go back and forth a bit. Norway does have a larger GDP than SK/AB, but they are a whole country, and we are 15% of the Canadian population. Norway’s 2020 GDP was $500 Billion in CDN $ and we are about 415 Billion or 17% smaller, I think we could make that up pretty quick freed of the constraints of the federal government. We both rely heavily on oil production and here again I was surprised given all we hear about Norway’s vaunted oil producing capacity and their giant fund. They produce about 2.1 Million barrels of oil per day compared to our 3.5 Million barrels, we are producing 40% more oil than they are. Further there is no comparison in reserves, we have about 170 Billion barrels in reserve, compared to Norway’s 5 Billion, a 97% larger pool! Well, so many will say, that’s yesterday’s news, sorry but we will be pumping oil over the next 5 decades and every drop can be used to enrich and prepare ourselves for whatever comes next. Again, we only need to be freed of the political constraints of a federal government in the grips of an ideological frenzy. What about debt levels then? They are closer than you might think. Norway carries a national debt of about $217 Billion (CDN) and here we are more indebted when the share of Canadian national debt is included in SK/AB at $284 Billion, remove the national share and our current debt falls to $75 Billion. Nonetheless we would have to carry forward our share of the national debt so we might as well plan on having that milestone around our neck. I don’t personally find that too alarming if we move to a position where we are in control of both revenues and spending. So how does average annual income stack up, a pretty big measure for all of us personally. Again, closer than I would have thought. Norway is at about $104,000, we come in at $99,000 about a 5% difference. I mentioned the dramatic difference in oil reserves, there is another advantage we have that makes all the difference. Norway has 1 Million hectares of arable land, combined SK and AB have 26 Million hectares, a 96% advantage. In a hungry world we are literally in the catbirds seat, and as they say, you can't move land and they ain't making any more of it. But we are not smart enough or healthy enough you say to move out of our parent’s basement. Think again. We actually have a larger percentage of the population with a university degree than Norway does, at over 25%, our life expectancy is almost identical at 81 and 82 years respectively. We outrank our Norwegian cousins in another key measure though, besides being generally better educated, we are younger as well, a full two years on average. This all adds up to a life satisfaction index that scores higher in Canada than Norway, 8.1/10 versus 7.6/10 across the pond. Imagine how that might shot up were we to get our own place, so to speak. We shouldn’t hang our heads, we have much to be proud of and the brightest of bright futures. We are a hard working, fun loving, ethical, moral and happy people. We perhaps lack courage and confidence to take the reigns, but again there is no shame in this. People who find themselves in a dysfunctional relationship often find they have to first convince themselves of their own worth and build the esteem necessary to take the bold first steps. When that happens, everything else comes so much easier. So lets tell ourselves, the time for acrimony, anger and resentment has now passed. The time for confidence, boldness and forward thinking is upon us. We will never be beaten, we cannot lose, and if we look closely at the cards we have been dealt we hold the winning hand in whatever game we choose to play! Below are the numbers I gathered in a chart format. If you don’t believe me go look them up yourself, that’s what I did. It is fair to say we may never have experienced a time in the past 100 years with more division, suspicion, and anger in North America than we have in 2020. Polarization and politicization seem to be the watchwords of those who seek to gain by exposing and exploiting rifts, be they real or imagined. An unwillingness to listen to those we may disagree with has lowered public discourse to the point of being barely perceptible. Social norms, kindness and compassion are considered old fashioned and quaint. We reject and cancel all who oppose us. In short, the descent into tribalism has been swift and merciless. Gone seem to be the courageous scribes and scholars, the resolute preachers and the dreamers, who once could encourage us to strive for an existence on a higher plane. Perhaps we must reach back into history, to the words of Abraham Lincoln, who on the eve of the American Civil War spoke the words we so sorely need to hear again today:
“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” While these words were uttered by an American President in the context of an American War, they sound no less applicable to the citizens of my country in the year 2020. I believe therein lies the rub. The citizens of 1861 could rely on a great leader to motivate people with great oratory, we have no such luxury in 2020, on either the north or south side of the 49th Parallel. What passes for leadership today in Trudeau or Trump would have been run out of town on a rail in 1861, the people of the day simply would not have abided by it, so why do we? And what then are we to do? We have no such competent leadership at the helm today, and none are appearing on the horizon of any party contending for power on either side of the border. I would submit we all try the following, throughout all human history it is the recipe below that has helped carry the day, and it can once again, if only we let it. So here is a simple 5-point plan to find your own meaning and happiness in a world intent on robbing you of both. 1. Stop watching and listening to the news. Repeat, stop watching and listening to the news. The bias the hard left and the hard right has injected into what was initially meant to be quite literally, a review of “Notable Events”, “Weather” and “Sports”, hence the acronym “NEWS”, has become something dark and always looking to influence. Apart from hearing information from Medical Officers with advice on Covid, the rest is of little consequence, it can only bring us down in its current form. 2. Get off Social Media. Repeat, get off social media. For the rationale please see above. Other than some good recipes and YouTube videos on how to change your oil properly, the rest is garbage. Try life without it for a few days and see if you might still be able to breath, I betcha you can. 3. Get Outside. For all the beautiful indoor spaces we have created, including our own homes, nothing ever has or ever will compete with the great outdoors…and leave your phone in the house, it does not need to get outside as much as you do, it will be okay on its own for a while, trust me! 4. Listen to Music. It matters not what floats your boat for genre. Personally, I like Christian Rock, Classical and Soul, but whatever works for you. Music is also really good for sharing; it does not always have to be enjoyed with Airpods or headphones or played at jet plane decibels. It is hard for the bad stuff to get into your ears when nothing but good stuff is floating in. Finally; 5. Let Nature Back into your Life We are a part of Nature and Nature is a part of us. When we are disconnected from nature, we are disconnected from ourselves too. This includes plants, animals, and the environment around us. None of those things will ever try to politicize the time you spend with it; it is not in its nature. Nature will heal you when nothing else can, it will not judge you, chastise you or offend you. Just let it touch you and reach out and touch it yourself whenever you can. Nature is neither good nor bad, it has no values, ethics, or morals, it just is, that is the core beauty of nature, it just is. Trust me on this, just be with nature and you will heal, it can be no other way. So, try these things, maybe not all at once, and maybe not all the time in the beginning, but strive to take some baby steps in these directions. Your self with thank you and so will the people around you. You will grow in patience and empathy and the divisions other seek to sow will lose all their meaning and power in your life. You will find meaning where only meaning can be found, in your own heart, in your own soul and in your own life. In the words of the immortal Abraham Lincoln, “may we yet find the better angels of our nature!” 10/22/2019 28 Comments On The Cusp of BuffaloOn March 11, 1905. Frederick Haultain, the Territorial Premier of the Northwest Territories, (what is now the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan), sent an open letter to Sir Wilfred Laurier objecting in the strongest possible terms the introduction in federal parliament of the Alberta and Saskatchewan bills, created to carve the Northwest territories in two, creating two weaker, inferior provinces out of the one territory. Haultain, a well-respected leader out west, had long championed the idea of Buffalo, a super province to balance the power of the east with the emergence of the west. To quote Haultain, among the many objections raised by the territorial government, he stated the following;
“I therefore wish to express my most emphatic objection to the legislation in regard to this subject. I recognize no power in parliament to make laws for the new provinces in contravention of the letter and spirit of the British North America Act. Further, I recognize neither right nor justice in the attempt to dictate to the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan the manner in which they will conduct their own business.” Here is a link to the complete letter Haultain sent to Laurier, sadly a letter that went unanswered and ignored; https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-7105-e.html. Haultain’s point was the Territory was already working fine since its original admission to the union on July 15, 1870 and the British North America Act of the time did not even have the legislative power to retroactively create two provinces, particularly against the will of the people who inhabited the territories. It was obvious to all who could read and think that Laurier arbitrarily drew a straight line down the 4th meridian, smack through the middle of Lloydminster out of fear and a desire for eastern Canada to retain dominion power over the west. For those who believe the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan was met with anything but scorn by the citizens affected, one only has to turn to the front page of the Saskatoon Phoenix, dated August 25, 1905 for a taste of the sentiment of the day; https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-7106-e.html Hardly a ringing endorsement for the creation of Saskatchewan and Alberta as quoted below; "God Bless our New Provinces" has been decided upon as one of the chief mottoes to be used at the celebration of the introduction of one-legged autonomy to Alberta and Saskatchewan. What could be more appropriate? It sounds like the motto above the door of the orphan's home. Alberta and Saskatchewan, robbed of their birthright, brought into the world of this great Confederation, crippled, shackled, stamped with inferiority and doomed to eternal discord and strife, adopt the motto only too frequently associated with domestic infelicity, and hang on their cities' walls: "God Bless our New Provinces!" The new Provinces can be blessed only by their citizens regaining the liberty of men, of which they have been deprived, not by Providence, but by faithless politicians. Mottoes and icons will not restore those rights of manhood, but a man's earnest fight for a man's sacred liberty can -- and, if prosecuted, will. So, the good men and women of 1905 era knew even back then, we will never really be a free people until we exert our will and control over our own destinies. We have endured the barbs and slings of eastern Canadian domination for the past 114 years; ignored, slandered and abused. Schemes like the grossly unfair equalization program and the hated carbon tax are a sad testament to the tone-deaf approach to governance we have suffered at the hands of eastern elitists who have had over 100 years to develop an approach to Canadian confederation worthy of support. They have failed miserably, and we have failed miserably, but this failure is only a permanent stain on our collective souls if we chose to do nothing about it. There is no evidence of a collective will to change our approach to improve the current state of affairs. If it is our desire to continue to exist in the shackles of eastern Canadian domination then we simply have to do nothing, for then, nothing will change. Rather, if we have come to a point in time where we can finally stand with one voice and say “Enough!”, then there is much we can do. Let’s begin with the following; A. Saskatchewan and Alberta indicate to the federal government the desire to immediately enter into negotiations to take over responsibility for the collection of all taxes, both provincial and federal. This is the same deal Quebec has long had and is the first step to taking both responsibility and accountability for our own affairs. This way we begin to more closely control the level of taxes that are submitted to the federal treasury from our two provinces. It will indicate the seriousness of our will and encourage proper negotiation on the theory and practice of equalization. This will be followed by negotiation on health care, policing, control over infrastructure development, indigenous affairs, immigration and public pensions. It is of critical importance we prepare ourselves well in advance of exploring the larger questions of our future path. B. Saskatchewan and Alberta form an expert council to immediately develop terms of reference to enter into joint discussions on a suitable path forward as equals. No options will go unexplored and will include but not be limited to; 1. The merger of the two provinces as equals as was the original intent in the formation of Buffalo. 2. Exploration of admission into the United States of America as the 51st State. 3. The formation of a new sovereign nation, independent of either Canada or the USA. 4. The exploration of a joining together with British Columbia, Manitoba and the 3 Canadian Territories to form an independent nation. 5. A new deal presented to the rest of Canada that allows the confederation of Canada to remain intact geographically while enhancing our own power and control over our own affairs to our own satisfaction. This would imply significant changes to equalization, resource extraction and mobility and a much greater share in control over the judiciary and policy of Canada. The public within Alberta and Saskatchewan will be invited to provide input and we will conduct ourselves in a collegial and collaborative manner that will assist us in mapping out our own future. To quote our forefathers from the front page of the Saskatoon Phoenix in August 1905, we can only be considered Blessed when we regain the liberty we lost at the hands of faithless politicians who in 1905 did not have and through to today do not have our interests at heart. The path will not be easy nor straight nor simple nor fast. It will require hard work and sacrifice on our part, there will be times when we will want to give up and give in and go back to being treated poorly at the hands of others, as we are today. Nation building has never been easy and throughout all human history the worth of the effort has *been justified by the energy it takes to advance. I believe each one of us is worth the effort. We owe it to those who came before us and especially to those who will come after us to make the try. I for one am willing to make the effort, are you? May 2019 be the year we begin to chart our new path, one of hope and a belief in a better way, one where we challenge the status quo for both the rights and responsibilities that all free women and men the world over have aspired to for all time. May we desire above all the right and responsibility to our own path. God Bless Us All. 2/6/2019 1 Comment Why We Should Love The Cold!-45 with a wind chill! The snow doesn’t just crunch underfoot, its more like a high-pitched squeak! You know what I’m talking about, we all do. More than 5 minutes outside has ice crystals forming on lashes and brows. You can’t even take a full breath outside, your lungs rebel, your thoughts get fuzzy.
Every single one of us has pondered the question with no answer at least once in the dead of winter. “What were our parents or grandparents or great grandparents thinking when they came to make this place home?” Were they that desperate or that dumb or just a bit of both? I think they were dumb alright, dumb like a fox. Firstly, the cold brings us together against a common enemy, like nothing else ever has or ever will. We live in an era that seeks to divide. We are all treated the same by the cold, it doesn’t care about our height or weight or gender or ethnicity. Secondly the cold keeps us healthy. No pest or bug or disease survives this brutality. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and if the cold kills our enemies, then it is our friend right? The cold also brings out the sun, even the clouds fly away in minus 40 temperatures and we are treated to brilliant Vitamin D enriching sunlight, no soft bones for our tough crew! Thirdly, the cold helps us grow and market the highest quality food the world has to offer. Think about this. Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted. It amounts to about $1 Trillion dollars. Food grown and stored in the cold of Canada is not typically part of that wastage. Fourthly, the cold cuts down on impulse shopping and increases quality family time. When its so cold Tim Horton’s starts serving coffee on a stick the last thing you want to do is go out, even to the mall. No you stay in, you get cabin fever together, like any good family does! If you get really bored you can take that steaming coffee, go outside for 10 seconds, fling it up and take that beauty frozen fan pic and send it to your friends. Now if that’s not worth the price of admission, then nothing is. Fifthly the cold makes you sleep better. When you are as snug as a bug in a rug and cuddling with someone you love you have the best sleeps ever. You also get to wear fashionable sweaters and scarves and wool socks. The Aussies should be so lucky. Speaking of the Aussies, did you notice how frizzy their hair is with all that humidity? No such problem here when the cold makes it drier than a popcorn fart. We save tons on hair products when its so beautifully cold and dry. Finally, the cold makes you appreciate the warm. No people play harder for the 57 days of summer they get than we do. We embrace the other 3 seasons like a drowning person tossed a life ring. We love the green trees, the smell of fresh cut grass and the long lazy sunsets that give us the guts we need to face the cold again, next year. Now why do we love the cold? It brings us together, it keeps us healthy, it keeps our food fresh, it saves us money, it helps us sleep better, it makes the sun shine upon us and it makes us appreciate life more. You might say the cold deserves a better rap from of all us, it might just deserve our love. 4/17/2018 1 Comment HONORING HOCKEY & FAMILY Today I as I pulled on my team jersey to honour the lives of those injured and lost in the Humboldt bus tragedy I was remined of what the jersey meant to me and especially what the Team Cey crest on the front means to me as we grieve together. I want to share with you the story of this jersey, what it means to me and the brotherhood and sisterhood that is hockey.
As some may know, I come from a large family, 7 girls, 11 boys, 18 in all. We grew up on the farm and sports always formed a big part of our life. The boys have always played hockey and while my sisters were all extraordinary athletes, alas they grew up in a time and place were female hockey was not as popular as it is today. For the boys, we have all played to varying levels from minor to junior hockey and beyond. In fact, in my extended family, 5 brothers and brothers in law have pulled on the green and gold of the Humboldt Broncos at different points in their hockey career. These are indeed sad and emotional times, but also a time for reflection as to who we are and what we are as a people. This brings me to the jersey I proudly pulled over my dress shirt on this day. Team Cey was formed in 1989, at the point most of the 11 boys had finished with competitive hockey. One of my brothers, Joe, had seen a short clip on the news regarding the World Family Hockey Championships that had been contested in Chandler, Quebec for several years. The tournament had one stipulation, every player on a team had to be directly related as brother/sister/mother/father. My brother Joe began to float the idea amongst my family….what if? Starting with only an idea we began to form plans, but how would we pay for a trip to Chandler for a week-long tournament over the Christmas holidays. No team had ever ventured out from Western Canada to play in this tournament and scouting indicated many of the teams were very competitive….think Sutter brother competitive. I was 22, just finishing university, all but one of my brothers is older than I and furthermore, none of us had ever played goal. We had about four months to pull the whole thing together. First off, sponsorship, fundraising and practice. Local companies and organizations got behind the idea, with a generous sponsorship secured for each player, we began to travel the province playing local senior teams and had been faring well, beating all comers. As word of our quest grew we were contacted by a prominent CBC program at the time called “On the Road Again” that ran for 20 years until 2007, hosted by Wayne Rogstad….kind of a pre cursor to Rick Mercer. Wayne Rogstad brought his Toronto production crew out to Wilkie in early fall 1989 and followed many of us for several days as excitement grew with the plan made to connect with us again in December in Quebec at the tournament. Now fast forward a few months; the practices, games and fundraising in Saskatchewan came to a successful finish and the 11 brothers and several of the rest of the family began the journey to Chandler, QC. We are almost 40 in number, and for many this was their first air flight. The journey was long with several connections and a lengthy bus journey to the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula in QC. This is a French speaking part of Canada with little English spoken and not one amongst us flat landers were remotely fluent in French. No matter, hockey was to be our language of choice this week. The CBC film crew meet up with us again and the games began in earnest. We rolled through the round robin with little difficulty and scouting reports showed another team from New Brunswick, the Plourdes from Pigeon Hill, advancing with equal ease. A showdown was in the making, they were 7, we were 11, but word came to us, each one of the Plourdes had played Major Junior hockey in QC, including their goalie, and they were about 10 years younger than us! Our goalie, my older brother Jamie, had been reluctantly drafted to the position only 4 months previous. Finally, after a long week of round robin play the championship game was set, Ceys from the west vs Plourdes from the east. Of course, we had been treated like gold all week as special guests but with the puck drop it was all hockey. The rink was packed, and CBC had the tape rolling, hoping to cap a Cinderella story they had been working on for the past 6 months. We battled hard but the Plourdes were extraordinary, for the first time since we had formed our team we found ourselves trailing. With only 4 minutes left in the third period we were down by a score of 4-1. My eldest brother Gerry called a time out to try and change the momentum. On the next faceoff my new goalie brother Jamie made a stellar save on what looked to be a sure goal. We stormed back and popped a quick goal. It was desperation time and off the next shift we scored another and then another. With just minutes left we were all tied up and a sold-out crowd was going wild. Though we were the “come from away” team we had become the fan favorites in the tournament. Finally, with 48 seconds left in the game my brother Les slammed home the game winner, we had come all the way back and were World Family Hockey Champions! Wayne Rogstad would later say on the broadcast of the program…” Brothers don’t want to let Brothers Down”. This was the first thought I had on the Humboldt tragedy, “Brothers Don’t want to let Brothers Down”, to that I would add “Families Don’t Want to let Families Down”. We were always a close family, but our experience as Team Cey formed an extraordinary unbreakable bond among us all. That same bond surely existed within the Humboldt Broncos of today, this is at the core of what makes this so hard, we know what we lost, and it breaks our hearts. For all the sadness and grief we are feeling, on this day and in the coming days I say to you, We are all Family and Families don’t want to let Families Down. We cannot and will not let each other down, we will heal, and we will go on. God Bless You All. 3/12/2018 0 Comments A SOLUTION FOR RURAL SASKATCHEWANIt should be of no surprise for you to hear we have significant division between and amongst the farming community and Indigenous peoples who reside side by side throughout rural Saskatchewan. The farming community say they live in fear for both property and person and cannot rely on law enforcement to respond in a timely fashion when called upon. Statistics Canada reported in 2013 that Saskatchewan leads the country with over 13,000 criminal convictions per 100,000 residents. This is not to say all rural crime is committed by Indigenous people, but it should be noted that while Indigenous people represent 10% of the population Saskatchewan they also represent 81% of criminal convictions. I will share two more statistics to help set the stage. The poverty rate on Saskatchewan reserves is over 80% and the unemployment rate is over 25%. There is an overwhelming correlation between socio-economic disadvantage and involvement in the criminal justice system. Clearly, we have huge problems that we cannot rely on the federal government to solve for us, we need to tackle this together with a clear understanding of the problems we face with clear solutions in mind.
I want to share another set of trends with you and I hope it will soon become clear where the opportunity lies. The average age of farmers in Saskatchewan is today just shy of 55 years old, we lead the nation in this category too. You might also be interested to learn about 25% of farm operators are women. According to Stats Can the growing farm labor shortage is expected to reach over 115,000 by 2025. It is clear the trend is moving towards one of more current older workers retiring at a time when more labour is needed. The irony should be not lost on us that these trends are occurring adjacent to the largest available and growing labor pool of young people in Canada, that found within the Indigenous on reserve population. We are faced with two obvious trends; an exceedingly high unemployment rate amongst youth on reserves and an exceedingly high shortage of on farm labor in Saskatchewan, the very farms, I might add, that are reporting an exceedingly high level of property crime. We hear much these days of the need for reconciliation, I can think of no better way to reconcile than to come together to begin solving two problems with the same solution. Many will be quick to say, “this will never work, there is no trust amongst the parties, they do not like one another, the divisions are too great”. To that, I say two things, necessity has always been the motherhood of invention and never, ever underestimate the power of the human spirit to surprise! Naysayers will also point out, “farm labour is hard, backbreaking work, with little reward, that’s why no one wants to do it. To believe this is to not have been on a modern farm in the last 10 years. The equipment is state of the art, hard physical labor is largely a thing of the past. To work together as one with nature to produce food for the world is a reward in itself that only those that have actually done it can testify to just how life enriching the experience actually is. Today I propose the coming together of the available labour pool in rural Saskatchewan in need of meaningful work with unmet labor demand at the farmgate of Saskatchewan. Now this will not come to be with best wishes and heartfelt desire. That being said, all great accomplishments do begin with a vision and a desire for change. From this desire a meaningful plan can be formed, one we can all get behind, one we can share, support, build upon and celebrate. Why do I believe this will work? For starters, lets consider the value of work. The Royal College of Psychiatric Medicine tells us the data overwhelmingly supports the contention that work is beneficial to both health and well being and the lack of work, in turn, is detrimental to health and well being. Secondly, lets consider the pride of ownership, specifically the pride found in the ownership of work well done and properly compensated for. Consider that our human nature dictates that it’s much easier to commit a crime against someone you don’t know very well, but it is much harder to commit a crime against someone with whom you have a relationship with and especially upon someone you rely upon for your own continued employment and advantage. By the same token, it is much easier to build trust and respect for someone who brings you real value, in this case the value and support great employees bring to their employer. The development of a mutually beneficial relationship, built on trust is our very best opportunity to improve the situation in rural Saskatchewan. Of course, there is risk in this idea, in the beginning it will require an extension of a certain amount of trust that is not currently apparent. It will require a desire for change by all parties and will require the support of politicians in both the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities alike. Saskatchewan recently developed and piloted an on-farm labor training program that was discontinued after only one year due to lack of uptake. The problem, it was not targeted at the available labour pool and had no clear objectives. If we described the opportunity well and target the training to on reserve Indigenous youth we would begin to see remarkable results. Farmers would be quick to take advantage of a new source of on farm labour, employees they know to be trained and that come with an authentic desire to do well. Trust will grow, and lasting relationship will form. Employment rates will grow amongst the on-reserve population and rural property crime will go down. Labor shortages will be reduced, on farm losses that currently occur due to a lack of qualified labour will fall and the economy will grow. The pressure on the legal system will ease and a relationship built on harmony will begin to flourish. I would propose a completely voluntary program be developed together by Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people alike. Farmers would place their employment needs into the program, Indigenous people currently living on reserve, especially unemployed youth, would indicate their desire to become trained and employed within the local farm community. The provincial and federal government would jointly make available funds to provide training, and at least initially, subsidize the wage costs associated with the program to get it up and running. These early inducements would encourage participation in the program as trust and relationship is allowed to build. I have outlined the challenges we face in rural Saskatchewan. High property crime rates, an erosion of trust amongst communities, high unemployment rates and extreme poverty on reserves and an aging and shrinking labor pool on farms that will only grow in the coming decades. The solution has been staring us in the face for just as long. Our path forward can be found in bringing people together who each bring a need that the other party can help meet. Where we are faced with bold challenges bold solutions are called for. The bold solution I have proposed to you today only needs a collective will and a sincere desire for change to become the successful reality of tomorrow. |
I grew up as part of a big family on a big mixed farm on the Prairies of Canada. All my opinions are my own. I have an Ag degree from Saskatoon and an MBA from New Brunswick. I am happily married with four children. I love my work, my family and my community and will guard them all ferociously. I try to bring critical thought to all I do and all I say. Leadership through example is the best way forward. |