Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Brad Wall is spitting in the face of infrastructure planning. Right on the heels of publicly seeking advice of an architect of the Alberta oil boom, Minister Boyd has indicated that Sask. won’t adjust our take of oil royalties for at least 12 years. This is terrificly poor planning. I know they are trying to create stability, but it will only make the pending and required adjustments worse for the oil industry in the next decade.

We know one thing - we don’t know what the next 12 years will bring, aside from oil shortages. I’ve asked before: where’s the fire? Why are we rushing to set up the oil economy when the resource is only getting more valuable as the years wear on?

You know, I rarely agree (never before) with Pat Atkinson, but when she’s the voice of reason, the Sask Party must really be way out to lunch. Why are they telling the supposedly non-political Enterprise Saskatchewan how to manage oil industry growth. It’s especially stupid if it’s not coupled with a planned housing boom.

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UPDATE: It’s worth noting that if the NDP are labour controlled, that the Sask Party is business controlled. The sword cuts both ways. We need a government who can act fairly, in the interests of both sides.

After all, if labour money can buy off the NDP, why wouldn’t we assume that the Saskatchewan Party’s $668,016 in corporate donations has influenced its policies? Wouldn’t we also assume that the tens of thousands of dollars the Saskatchewan Party has received over the years from implement manufacturers (who demanded changes to the union certification laws) or from former media baron Conrad Black (who loved to crush unions) [Saskboy notes: and who operated the Leader-Post for a time] is the driving force behind Bills 5 and 6?

Wouldn’t the millions Wall has raised in Alberta make him a puppet to the oil patch? Is that the only reason this government is refusing to raise oil royalties?

If so, don’t we need to fix this by banning all union or corporate donations?

Or should the Saskatchewan Party simply refrain from cheap hypocrisy and cheesy sanctimony that’s bad for everybody?

- Mandryk is the political columnist for the Leader-Post.