Martensville Messenger November 24, 2016 | Page 14

Page 14 - nOvemBer 24, 2016 - martensville messenger

Politicians
need to
be Fairminded

Provincial
Politics
with

Murray Mandryk

Maybe it is unfair to single out Saskatchewan’s
NDP opposition for sowing the seeds of division in our
world through partisanship. There are plenty of examples
in today’s world that would be far better examples of
unnecessary division - this month’s U.S. presidential
election being the first to come to mind. What happened
south of the border demonstrated how easily over-blown
rhetoric can get out of control. Moreover, let us understand
the role the oppositions played because it may help us to
understand that some of the things that they do are not
so divisive after all. The issues for any opposition or
government are seldom a matter of left or right. Usually,
they are a matter of right and wrong.
For example, the issues related to Regina’s
Global Transportation Hub (GTH) $103,000-an-acre
payment for 204 acres of land have nothing to do with
political philosophy. Rather, it is all about holding the Wall
government to account. However, that does not mean that
any opposition here or anyone in politics needs to oppose
everything. In fact, in this day and age where so many of
us live in our own bubbles - we talk to the same people
on coffee row, we go to the same blogs, websites or talk
radio shows for our information. It may be more important
to see our politicians take a more reasoned approach in
legislative assemblies. Information moves at the speed
of light and frequently without any context or nuance.
Politicians need to wary of this, both for their own sake as
well as ours. For this reason, an entire reasoned argument
can fly out the window rather quickly. That might have
been exactly what happened to the NDP during a recent

legislative debate calling
on all members to support
Wall’s call from last February
for the federal government
to spend $156 million on
cleaning up orphaned and
abandoned oil wells. It should
have been a no-brainer, right?
The policy would put more
than 1,000 Saskatchewan
oil patch workers back to
work - at least temporarily,
noted Cypress Hills MLA
Doug Steele, who moved the
motion. Steele further noted
that Saskatchewan produced 178 million barrels of oil
valued at $8.3 billion in 2015, accounting for 33,000 direct
and indirect jobs. Moreover, cleaning up environmentally
hazardous oil wells would be something one might think
even the NDP would support. Well, the NDP did support
this notion, but they also headed down a biased rabbit hole
where they need not have gone. What quickly became an
issue for the NDP was the notion that oil companies are
large political donors to the Sask. Party and might benefit
from this federal taxpayers’ money. “The (oil cleanup) idea
was the brainchild of Dan Cugnet, chairman of Valleyview
Petroleums Ltd., an independent exploration and production
company from Weyburn,” said NDP MLA Cathy Sproule in
Thursday’s debate. “Mr. Speaker, we know that Mr. Cugnet
is a big supporter of this (Sask.) party and has continually

mla report From
nancy Heppner

Province announces Plans For income assistance Programs

Carbon tax reality
in saskatchewan

From agriculture,
to mining, to oil & gas,
thousands of people make
their living in industries that
are especially vulnerable to
the federal government’s
carbon tax.
Farmers
who ABOVE: MLA Nancy Hepner
are opposed to the Prime
Minister’s plan to hike their costs and make them less
competitive decided to send a message to Ottawa this
week.
Saskatchewan people shouldn’t have to sacrifice
their livelihood for a carbon tax that will export businesses,
jobs and emissions to jurisdictions without one.
We need to focus on technology in order to tackle
climate change, not a national carbon tax that will drive
up costs and hav