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It was announced last week that Saskatchewan's minimum wage is going to increase by 10 cents an hour for the coming year. Saskatchewan has been near the bottom as it relates to minimum wages across Canada. There are a lot of arguments around the minimum wage and whether it should be seen as a starter salary or as a wage that can sustain a family and a livelihood. It does have some affect on the viability of businesses in the service industry and other areas where costs cannot immediately be passed on to the consuming public. I know I would have a terrible time trying to live on a minimum wage job. Obviously, government policy and the health of our economy affects the ability of this wage to rise along with all other salaries in the province of Saskatchewan. One area that seems to be totally removed from this whole scenario is the one where political parties reward their faithful. The recent Sask Party leadership race which made Scott Moe the new Premier is a good example of this. The loser to Mr. Moe on the last ballot was Alanna Koch. It was announced this last week that she will receive a severance package of $346,000. You have to ask the question, "How can this possibly be?" This possibly can be because we, the voters and taxpayers, have allowed our political system to run amuck. Back in the day when the Sask Party was the Official Opposition, and Brad Wall took over its leadership, Ms Koch became one of his key insiders and organizers. She was a political hack as it is understood in political parlance. When Mr. Wall became Premier of Saskatchewan, her reward was to become Deputy Minister of Agriculture and the very big salary that goes along with it. Ms Koch is a very competent individual and well versed in agricultural issues albeit with some very strongly held views on certain issues like the dismantling of the CWB. A year and a half ago when Mr. Wall's mismanagement and bad decision making necessitated a very tough budget, the very political Ms Koch was brought directly into the Premier's operation as head of the civil service and Deputy Minister to the Premier. Once again, a very partisan person put into a position that should not have been in my view held by a political hack. Of course a nice pay raise came along with the new job. Make no question about it, Alanna Koch's job was to bend the public service to deliver Brad Wall's bad news and trying to salvage his political legacy. I believe it was also done to give one of Mr. Wall's key political insiders the best shot at being his potential successor. I have often heard the criticism around the province that Ms Koch was the first Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Minister to the Premier without a university degree and was only there because of her political connections. Whether that is a valid criticism or not - I don't know but according to the new Premier, he had offered Ms Koch other positions in government besides the one she took a leave of absence from in order to campaign for the Premier's job. She evidentially decided not to take any of those job opportunities and wished to go back to the private sector which begs the question, why are we taxpayers than paying $346,000 in severance? If there was another job in government offered and refused because Ms Koch did not wish to work for Mr. Moe then so be it. There should not be any severance. Ms Koch because of her long political past and very close association with Mr. Wall and his inner circle, she obviously knows where all the Sask Party bodies are buried and as a result, the taxpayer golden handshake is needed to keep all things harmonious in the Sask Party house that Moe built. So much for the pledge to begin "doing things differently in Saskatchewan" that we heard about in the recent Sask Party leadership contest. I believe this sets a precedence of a new low in political patronage in the province of Saskatchewan. It is time for all political parties to start setting the bar higher and clean up their acts. Your feedback is always welcome on anything you read in the Monday Morning Commentary. Please send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you know of anyone that would be interested in receiving this by email, please forward me their email address. Don’t forget to check out our website at pcsask.ca. These issues must be debated for “The Right Reasons”.

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 PC PARTY OF SASKATCHEWAN

MONDAY MORNING COMMENTARY BY LEADER RICK SWENSON

JUNE 11, 2018

I remember a cartoon in a Calgary newspaper back when I was Saskatchewan's Energy Minister and oil was trading for $15.00 a barrel.  It was a picture of a Calgary oilman down on his knees and obviously praying.  The caption read "Please God, let there be another oil boom and I promise and I won't screw this one up like I did the last one." 

My wording may be a little off because that was many years ago but I think you get the idea.  This seems to be the philosophy of our current Sask Party government.  Since the Legislative Assembly quits its daily sitting a little over a week ago, we have been inundated with bad news.  It's funny that's how it works out isn't it?

I always thought our Parliamentary system was for learned and dedicated citizens to meet, talk about and solve our problems.  Instead, our politicians seem to avoid doing exactly that.  We have learned that Saskatchewan's unemployment rate is up significantly.  Out-migration which is how the Sask Party government has always wanted to be judged on is up to the point where way more people are leaving than coming to our province.  The home buyers market has a way more housing available than the marketplace wants right now.  Our post-secondary educational institutions are cutting or eliminating their athletic programs because of budget cutbacks forced upon them by the provincial government. 

Now finally, it appears that the report by Manitoba's Justice Department on the financial mismanagement with the GTH land scandal has been back in the hands of Saskatchewan's RCMP since early April.  When is the public going to finally get the answers they need from this RCMP investigation of the people involved in the GTH debacle?  I would think there is enough material in the above two short paragraphs to keep our $100,000 a year elected politicians  working for at least another month to try and find out why Saskatchewan is having these issues and what we can do about remedies both short-term and long-term.

During the last provincial election, the PC Party put forward an idea of how to begin addressing some of the problems with shut in and abandon oil and gas wells in Saskatchewan.  The Provincial Auditor released her findings on this issue last week and pointed out that Saskatchewan has a multi-billion dollar problem in this regard and the provincial government has been showing no leadership while at the same time, taking as much revenue out of our oil resource as possible to satisfy their huge spending deficits.  9,000 potential abandon wells is a very bad news item for Saskatchewan.  It is a huge item for land holders to deal with.  It is also lost economic opportunity. 

The Auditor also pointed out that a lot of Saskatchewan's water problems particularly when it comes to illegal drainage have not been addressed for a very long time.  The Quill Lakes and the massive flooding there are a prime example of this policy of looking the other way. 

We will not solve our problems by not only talking about them and facing reality of what's there and we will not solve our problems if the only concern shown by our politicians is how they manage the four-year election cycle.  Many of these issues can be addressed by taking small concrete steps and doing them one at a time just like we do around our own homes, our businesses, our farms and our community organizations.  It just takes the will to organize yourself, your employees and your fellow volunteers.  That will get the job done over the long haul instead of being like the oilman on his knees praying for another oil boom.

Our government needs to get a different attitude or else we will never get off the boom and bust cycle and we won't stop wasting taxpayer's money on the political legacy projects of politicians with big ideas.

Your feedback is always welcome on anything you read in the Monday Morning

Commentary.  Please send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  If you know of anyone that would be interested in receiving this by email, please forward me their email address.  Don’t forget to check out our website at pcsask.ca.

             

These issues must be debated for “The Right Reasons”.

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This last week was a good news-bad news week for me personally and for the province politically. The good news on the Swenson farm is that we have had over 2 inches of rain in the last week.  It was so badly needed.  The bad news on the Swenson farm is that I'm not done seeding. 

Two break downs cost me a day and a half and that's what it would have taken to finish off the seeding. The good news is when I finally get the peas and the rest of the flax sown, they will jump out of the ground right away instead of laying in dry dirt.  I'm sure many other farmers are in the same boat.  I know there are many across Saskatchewan who are still looking for rain and they are really beginning to worry about pasture for their cattle and growing enough crop to pay the bills.  Let's keep hoping for rain in June because the summer forecast is hot and dry.

On the political front, last week's announcement by the Federal government to build the Kinder Morgan pipeline is good news. Having the taxpayers build it is the least preferred option.  I can tell you from my days as Energy Minister in Saskatchewan that having taxpayers invest in pipelines instead of shareholders is not a great option and should only be used as a last resort.

Unfortunately, Mr. Horgan and his Green Party allies in British Columbia have placed their political well-being ahead of Canada's interests so my congratulations to the Prime Minister for making this happen. It is time to demonstrate leadership on our energy resources and their value to Canadians. 

I attended the last sitting of the Legislature last Thursday and unfortunately, the rest of my commentary is bad news for Saskatchewan taxpayers. SaskPower has announced that the carbon capture plant at Boundary Dam is financially unsustainable.  Surprise!  Surprise!  Another one of Brad Wall's legacy projects at $1.4 billion and counting is not working.  It has not been working for years.  SaskPower just couldn't say so because of who sat in the Premier's chair. 

Premier Moe announced that he is going to Washington this coming week to help lobby against Trump's steel tariffs. I wonder if he is going to use the same PR firm that Mr. Wall used.  Remember the one we hired for over $400,000 a year when Mr. Wall and his Senator-friend Lindsey Graham were touting the virtues of Mr. Wall's carbon capture plans?  I wonder if this same firm contributes to the Senator's re-election efforts or was it just about Mr. Wall having big name friends from Washington, DC that he could parade around his plant at Estevan?  I don't think we have seen a lot of return on investment for our money other than some nice dinners for Mr. Wall and his friends.

I watched from the Gallery as the NDP Opposition asked Premier Moe if he would commit to investigating all of Bill Boyd's actions while he was in government. The Premier was evasive on the question.  I believe the Chinese government's involvement in the Yancoal potash venture should be added to the long list of Mr. Boyd's endeavours under investigation because it now appears senior public servants with ties to China were advising Mr. Boyd prior to his last visit as an individual selling his irrigation for citizenship scheme to wealthy Chinese citizens.

Let's hope next week is a good news week. Let's hope that the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan get under control.  Let's hope the G7 Summit in Quebec City convinces Mr. Trump to regain his economic sanity.  And let's hope the Petro Canada refinery in Edmonton finally comes back on stream so that we are not paying these outrageous prices for gasoline and diesel fuel.  Maybe those are all just hopeful wishes of an optimistic Progressive Conservative that knows we can do better. 

Your feedback is always welcome on anything you read in the Monday Morning

Commentary. Please send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  If you know of anyone that would be interested in receiving this by email, please forward me their email address.                  

These issues must be debated for “The Right Reasons”.

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MONDAY MORNING COMMENTARY BY LEADER RICK SWENSON

MAY 28, 2018

Good morning everyone!  After a three week absence and a whole lot of hours sitting on tractors and fixing old machinery, it's time to get my mind back to what is important for Saskatchewan.  Thanks to PC Party President Grant Schmidt for writing the commentary the last three weeks

I'm sure there are a thousand more like me who get tired of the monotony of long hours in the field and constantly worrying about what Mother Nature is up to.  It's been very dry in my part of Saskatchewan and for a couple of weeks - for the first time in my living memory - my RM had a total ban on burning.  That is the situation across much of our province.  A long and hot summer will keep all of us very vigilant and thinking about wild fires.

Since last Wednesday night, we received 6/10" of an inch of rain in a couple of thunderstorms and we are very thankful for it.  Some of those lentils that I put into dry dirt may now actually germinate.  Saskatchewan needs a three-day soaker in the worst way. 

Speaking of things Saskatchewan needs, leadership in one key area that seems to have gone by the wayside.  Canada has always been a nation of builders.  Our climate dictates that we need to build warm homes and good roads.  The size of our country means that we must build good transportation infrastructure to tie our country together and be commercially viable.  Nation building occurs when all of our citizens benefit from our rich resource base. 

All my life, I have always rejoiced when I heard the words to the song "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land" because it typifies Canada.  The song does not say from the Atlantic to Rogers Pass.  It says "From the Atlantic to the Pacific".  We have a lack of leadership in this country both federally and provincially.  Our Prime Minister is not acting like a Prime Minister and we have provincial Premiers who think they are running banana republics. 

When I read a story about how domesticated salmon in pens in coastal British Columbia maybe spreading disease to the wild pacific salmon, I pay attention.  Those salmon swimming up the rivers of British Columbia have been a huge asset to Canadians.  When drought ravaged Saskatchewan in the 1930's, many of our citizens would go to British Columbia to work in the mining and lumber camps, the canning factories and the fruit orchards in order to sustain themselves through those difficult times of drought and poverty. 

For the Premier of British Columbia to suggest that the Pacific Coast of British Columbia is only available to the whims of his Green Party allies is utter and complete nonsense.  It appears that being the Premier of British Columbia is the best job that John Horgan has ever had and he will do anything to hang onto it including screwing the rest of Canada if need be.

If we do not smarten up and start thinking like Canadians of old, we will simply turn in to a more civilized version of the old Yugoslavia which split into a whole bunch of entities that went to war with one another and became a disgrace to Europe and cost the lives of thousands. 

Prime Minister Trudeau senior, who I had very little regard for, declared the War Measures Act and put the boots to the separatists in Quebec.  I believe he would tell Mr. Horgan to fuddle-duddle and get out of the way because Canada needs an oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast.  Dief the Chief would be pillaring poor Mr. Horgan from every podium across this country and would have told him to get out of the road because we are building a pipeline.  Sir John A. built a railroad across this country because Canada needed to be a nation from sea to shining sea.

Premier Notley refused last week to sit down at the Western Premier's conference with Mr. Horgan for good reason.  Our Premier Moe went and evidentially didn't say much because Mr. Horgan told the media after the conference ended that he felt no pressure from his fellow leaders on the pipeline issue at all.  I can tell you without a second thought that I would have made it so damn uncomfortable at that Premier's meeting that Mr. Horgan and his officials would have packed up their papers and gone home.

Leadership is about more than your own personal or political well-being.  As a Canadian, I care about BC salmon, I care about Ontario's auto workers and I care about the people in the Maritimes who rely on foreign oil because they can't get access to the Canadian product.  If we are going to even think about using Canadian taxpayer's dollars to buy out Kinder Morgan, then maybe it's time to go all in and also use the CN right of way to Prince Rupert which the Canadian government has owned for generations and finishing off the energy east project while we are at it to get enough pipeline capacity to make Canada work as it should.

Our Prime Minister - of whatever political stripe - needs to lead this country to energy independence and economic self sufficiency because others around the world will throw us under the bus doing the same thing for their country. 

Your feedback is always welcome on anything you read in the Monday Morning

Commentary.  Please send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  If you know of anyone that would be interested in receiving this by email, please forward me their email address.  Don’t forget to check out our website at pcsask.ca.

             

These issues must be debated for “The Right Reasons”.

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It is time to bring voting in Saskatchewan into the computer age.  We need a chipped voter’s card.

Two weeks ago, I called for a smart Health Card to replace our thirty year old now dumb health card.  Voter I.D. and our driver’s licence could also benefit from new information technology (IT).

As Minister of SGI, I introduced our first photo driver’s licence.  We still have an old tech driver’s licence and no voter’s I.D. card.

Saskatchewan should innovate to develop a universal Sask. I.D. card.  A new driver’s licence could be expanded to include a health card and voter’s all-in-one chip card with a photograph on it.

As a phase in, the driver’s licence could show if the card is for a citizen or a legal resident.  The driver’s licence with it’s address could be the first voter’s card.  Citizens with no driver’s licence would be issued a photo voter’s I.D. card.

Everyone could vote anywhere in Saskatchewan and Elections Saskatchewan would not need to prepare voters’ lists.  A card reader would print your ballot from electronic records.  After you mark your ballot, your vote would be sent to your constituency electronically after the count. 

AND no you could not vote with your phone.  If you are not prepared to make the effort to get to one of 2700 polls in Saskatchewan, you are not engaged enough to vote.  You will be recorded as don’t care.

Grant Schmidt

pcsask.ca President

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One role of Government is to solve problems. STC’s money loosing bus system was a long term problem. The Sask Party’s solution was to terminate STC without a plan.

In ten years, the Sask Party could not figure out how to run a bus company. The Sask Party caused a new problem: No bus service.

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A role of Government is to solve problems. This week pcsask.ca has a solution to highway intersection tragedies.

We do not yet know why the semi-trailer truck hit the Humboldt Broncs’ bus. Why did the truck driver not hear audio GPS warnings from a system in his truck?

Available GPS technology can send an audible warning to drivers that they are approaching an intersection, street light, or stop sign.

The Progressive Conservative Party (pcsask.ca) proposes mandatory GPS warning systems in all commercial trucks operating in Saskatchewan.

If a driver hears; warning stop sign 300 meters ahead; warning intersection with a through highway 250 meters; warning stop sign 200 meters ahead, the driver is likely to stop.

The solution will not cost the province any tax money and will cost the trucking companies one-half the price of a tire. The NDP and Sask. Party only understand to throw taxpayers’ money on the problem.

This is another progressive solution from pcsask.ca.

Grant Schmidt - President

PC Party of Saskatchewan

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