The Bumpkins And Hicks Who Run The Government Of Saskatchewan
Don't think for even one minute that Premier Brad Wall has any reasonable idea of what he is doing with his operation of the provincial government. Since they assumed government, the humorless, visionless Saskatchewan Party bumpkins have limped from one idiotic policy decision to the next.
Here's a couple of samples:
1). Coyote Bounty:
Brad Wall decided to pay farmers a cash bounty to shoot every single coyote that they see on the open prairie. This was a popular move by Mr. Wall because it allowed a bunch of gun happy yahoos to drive around in their half ton trucks and wage war against any wild coyote they could find. The program paid Saskatchewan farmers $20 bucks a head for each one that they eliminated. After a few months of the program, 23,000 coyotes had been shot or trapped.
However, having killed so many coyotes, it seems that the province's rodent 'gopher' population exploded. The Wall government found itself with a massive rural infestation of rodent vermin that the coyotes previously controlled.
So, in typical Brad Wall logic, his administration started paying rural municipalities to eradicate the rodents. It's too bad that the Wall government weren't able to make the connection between coyotes and gophers. Coyotes are nature's way of controlling gophers!
In their zeal to put whatever money they can into the hands of their rural voting base, the Saskatchewan Party compounded the problem. In hindsight, Brad Wall has now dropped the cash bounty paid on coyote eradication.
2). Film Tax Credit
Over the last many years, the Province of Saskatchewan contributed about $100 Million to the local film industry by means of a film tax credit. Every province except PEI, has a film tax credit in order to keep their local film industry competitive. This $100 Million investment brought a return of about $700 Million back to the Saskatchewan economy.
Mr. Wall has now decided to dip into the well of Reform Party ideology and has cut the Film Tax Credit.
Say goodbye to that industry. Finished. Done
Hillbillies live not only in the Ozark Mountains of the US South. No. A Canadian version resides in the halls of power in the Saskatchewan Legislature.
Tell me about it. My cousin's hubby is a born again bible thumper who practically creamed himself when the Sk Party was elected. That's the base right there.
Too bad about your film tax credit, but I hear that Manitoba is about to benefit from an influx of talent (and movies, no doubt), so that's good for us.
Posted by double nickel | 2:33 pm, March 26, 2012
your post assumes that the notion of ecological balance or even pest control crossed their minds when they made the decision
this is a good way for them to show they care about "the rural"
currying favour with their base and sending cash to "the rural", whether directly to farmers or to RMs is a political winner for them
Posted by jmburton | 2:56 pm, March 26, 2012