John Robson – Watch that Saskatchewan election, folks. We could have a national trend here.”
25 Replies to “Wee Province”
Canada’s prairie socialists generally delivered clean, frugal government.
Who is he trying to kid? Blakeney was forever going to New York to borrow money, while hiding debt in the Crown corporations. All the while closing rural hospitals that had been built by the community, and letting the roads go to hell so they could pay for their favorite socialist project.
The place looks like the USSR, good roads around the cities leading nowhere.
Saskatchewan has never been in the forefront, except to regress.
I thought the “clean” part might raise hackles… lol
” the NDP came back and cleaned up both).”
Utter nonsense! With their media friends they managed to look “clean”.
Oh oh Kate, looks like you started a landslide there with the “clean” thing.
I for one welcome our new Western overlords. ~:)
“The NDP is in danger of losing that status entirely, of becoming the party of alienated intellectuals and public sector unions.”
Huh? It has always been that, plus, envirotards, and any other reactionary, activist, “save the world” bleeding heart cause that comes to mind. Mind you, the membership lists overlap completely, making the numbers seem larger than they actually are.
Maybe some observers are just realizing that in Saskabush, but the Dippers have always made it easy to identify their comrades in arms in BC.
Saskatchewan is the coolest province because of its straight lines (I could insert watching-the-dog-run-away-for-days joke here, but I won’t – oh crap, I guess I just did).
Only Wyoming and Colorado can compete in the Z-axis category.
Some of my favourite engineers are Tooners, and then there’s the funny that ends withe the punchline, “I don’t know, apparently he doesn’t speak English” .
I remember meeting prairie dippers during my news days and they did seem a lot more rational than the ones I remembered back East. Not sure about present days, though, and the “clean” part seems to have been sacrificed. Still, the unions and academics just don’t seem to have the influence they do in Ontario.
The case in point is the “old” prairie populist collectivist NDP is dead – has been for years – replaced by a slick amoral urban private sector unionism and happy face socialism leadership – now that NDP is dead – replaced by the radical urban Marxism of public sector unionism. Smilin’ Jack was the last of the populist socialists. When you see his replacements you see the dour bloodless scheming amorality of the new public sector unionist guard. Not very marketable from a populist perspective and certainly bereft of intelligent policy options – essentially a unionist thug/street anarchist mentality. I think the Dips have hit their high water mark with Layton and will now share the long descent into political irrelevance the Liberals are experiencing.
What you see in Greece, soon Italy, Portugal, Spain et al is the Euro Zones NDP governments in action. Bankrupt your country in exchange for socialist utopia. Saskatchewan folks have seen thru the charade, Ontario missed the boat, Quebec can’t see the water yet. Since they are listed very high on the most indebted jurisdictions in the world, they have only the rest of Canada to thank for their continued good life. Too bad saying thank you isn’t in their vocabulary.
Saskatchewan folks have seen thru the charade,…
No they haven’t, they just exported the socialist nonsense to the rest of the country to make themselves look less backward in comparison.
I remember during the last leadership race federally, Jack and other new wave socialists were at the Centre of the Arts in front of an audience of Tommy Douglas NDP farmer types.
The disconnect was astonishing.
The only trend worth noting is former anti-statist parties emulating the policies they once opposed until the are blue-tinted carbon copies of parties like the NDP and still getting the idiot partisan conservative vote.
Libertarians aren’t smarter, just in a hurry, like communists.
Never underestimate your enemy, no matter how decimated they appear to be. If anything, NDP sentiment is dormant.
This mistake has been made in BC, a gross overestimation of the NDP’s trip to the wilderness. Gordo’s strategy was much like libertarian said. They steal and borrow so much NDP policy, they very much resemble them, and end up in the mushy middle
Trying to please everybody pleases no one!
I’ve spent the last 3 months working in SK, and I don’t get a good feeling about their politics. They want to call themselves conservative, free market folks, but they don’t really get it. They get most of their news from the CBC, they don’t like Americans. They think the Tea Party is part of the KKK (because they watch CBC). I find them to be very union oriented, and anti-oil. I think the NDP could be back in power, in a heartbeat.
The NDP IS in power, just under a rebranded name.
It came in incrementally, it will go out incrementally. At least, with man’s efforts.
But, I’ve seen these short breaks from socialist policy in SK before. Didn’t last. I think SK is destined to remain what it is, as a living example to the rest of us of what to avoid.
Coach & fiddle 100% correct-
The politics kind of changed, but the Sask Party is hardly conservative. The NDP continue to exist culturally. It’s in the air. It’s in the attitudes.
Saskatchewan is ecomically on a hot streak, but it’s apolitical.
We’ll see…..
I think that the majority of people in Saskatchewan detest elitism and people who think that they are better and know more because they went to such and such a school or came from a certain city. That attitude completely grates on rural nerve fibres. We have some of the most entrepreneurial and forward thinking in the world but elites never give credit to anyone but those in their own club.
I think that Saskatchewan is reacting to elitism because we do not have the large cities yet. For some reason, people in large cities tend to think that they are part of the elites – which I don’t get. I think that’s why there’s a wave of change. The union execs are becoming more and more elitist and everyone knows that the unions control the NDP in this province (and probably everywhere else).
Just an opinion. Also, the hardcore socialist in SK is very vocal (and is usually a public sector employee) and the rest of us are not which is I think why one of the posters thinks that we could fall back to NDP. There is a lot of anti-American sentiment too and that is just bizarre. But anyone with a foot in reality knows that oil and gas (and the rest of our resources) are our lifeblood and our ticket into prosperity.
A common billboard in SE Sask, which appears to be a public sector union ad, mentions royalty rates. The very first thing an NDP government would do, is jack up royalty rates. Unlike the AB conservatives, they would not be detered by threats of cancelled projects. The boom could end as quickly as it started.
“becoming the party of alienated intellectuals and public sector unions”
Quite true. And as DanBC rightly points out, “envirotards” and “bleeding hearts” although the radical enviromentalist is more apt to waste his/her vote with the Green Party just for the feel good factor.
Another demographic that leans toward the NDP is made up of those that have lived in a constant state of fear and confusion since the election of 2007. In their minds, only the NDP is qualified to govern the province. Brad Wall has a hidden agenda and it’s only a matter of time before the crown corporations are sold off, hospitals and schools are closed, nursing homes are privatized
and liquor is readily available at the neighbourhood 7 – 11. They are perplexed by the increase in population and angered over the loss of equalization payments. The Saskatchewan that they have grown comfortable with is changing rapidly and any change, even positive, is bad.
Thankfully, this group is made up mainly of the elderly who would do anything to turn the clock back to the days of Tommy Douglas, Woodrow Lloyd and, of course, Allan Blakeney. The NDP support base is shrinking and will continue to shrink thus ensuring prosperity and good government in Sask for a long, long time.
coach @ 3:57- You’re obviously hanging around with the wrong crowd.
That’s the exact position of the union rabble, academia (and their zombie subjects), msm devotees who’ve never had a coherent, critical thought of their own, or the Occupiers. Travel in different circles, you’ll get a different picture.
Check back Monday evening and tell us if you’ve found a tasty recipe for crow.
“Thankfully, this group is made up mainly of the elderly who would do anything to turn the clock back”
set in their ways…most humans do change poorly
“most humans do change poorly”
Especially when fed a steady diet of “hidden agenda” and “save our crowns” propaganda courtesy of the public service unions. Speaking of which … I wonder how SGEU’s pension problems are coming along. Apparently there’s tons of money available to slag the Sask Party but as for members’ pensions … not so much.
snagglepuss-I’ve been hanging around with the wrong crowd for most of my life, but that’s the only way to get ahead in my business. I’m not making any predictions, nor do I care about SK politics. I’m just pointing out that SK is still unstable politically. If the boom ends there, my clients will simply stop investing there, and I won’t get stuck in f**king Estevan for weeks at a time.
Canada’s prairie socialists generally delivered clean, frugal government.
Who is he trying to kid? Blakeney was forever going to New York to borrow money, while hiding debt in the Crown corporations. All the while closing rural hospitals that had been built by the community, and letting the roads go to hell so they could pay for their favorite socialist project.
The place looks like the USSR, good roads around the cities leading nowhere.
Saskatchewan has never been in the forefront, except to regress.
I thought the “clean” part might raise hackles… lol
” the NDP came back and cleaned up both).”
Utter nonsense! With their media friends they managed to look “clean”.
Oh oh Kate, looks like you started a landslide there with the “clean” thing.
I for one welcome our new Western overlords. ~:)
“The NDP is in danger of losing that status entirely, of becoming the party of alienated intellectuals and public sector unions.”
Huh? It has always been that, plus, envirotards, and any other reactionary, activist, “save the world” bleeding heart cause that comes to mind. Mind you, the membership lists overlap completely, making the numbers seem larger than they actually are.
Maybe some observers are just realizing that in Saskabush, but the Dippers have always made it easy to identify their comrades in arms in BC.
Saskatchewan is the coolest province because of its straight lines (I could insert watching-the-dog-run-away-for-days joke here, but I won’t – oh crap, I guess I just did).
Only Wyoming and Colorado can compete in the Z-axis category.
Some of my favourite engineers are Tooners, and then there’s the funny that ends withe the punchline, “I don’t know, apparently he doesn’t speak English” .
I remember meeting prairie dippers during my news days and they did seem a lot more rational than the ones I remembered back East. Not sure about present days, though, and the “clean” part seems to have been sacrificed. Still, the unions and academics just don’t seem to have the influence they do in Ontario.
The case in point is the “old” prairie populist collectivist NDP is dead – has been for years – replaced by a slick amoral urban private sector unionism and happy face socialism leadership – now that NDP is dead – replaced by the radical urban Marxism of public sector unionism. Smilin’ Jack was the last of the populist socialists. When you see his replacements you see the dour bloodless scheming amorality of the new public sector unionist guard. Not very marketable from a populist perspective and certainly bereft of intelligent policy options – essentially a unionist thug/street anarchist mentality. I think the Dips have hit their high water mark with Layton and will now share the long descent into political irrelevance the Liberals are experiencing.
What you see in Greece, soon Italy, Portugal, Spain et al is the Euro Zones NDP governments in action. Bankrupt your country in exchange for socialist utopia. Saskatchewan folks have seen thru the charade, Ontario missed the boat, Quebec can’t see the water yet. Since they are listed very high on the most indebted jurisdictions in the world, they have only the rest of Canada to thank for their continued good life. Too bad saying thank you isn’t in their vocabulary.
Saskatchewan folks have seen thru the charade,…
No they haven’t, they just exported the socialist nonsense to the rest of the country to make themselves look less backward in comparison.
I remember during the last leadership race federally, Jack and other new wave socialists were at the Centre of the Arts in front of an audience of Tommy Douglas NDP farmer types.
The disconnect was astonishing.
The only trend worth noting is former anti-statist parties emulating the policies they once opposed until the are blue-tinted carbon copies of parties like the NDP and still getting the idiot partisan conservative vote.
Libertarians aren’t smarter, just in a hurry, like communists.
Never underestimate your enemy, no matter how decimated they appear to be. If anything, NDP sentiment is dormant.
This mistake has been made in BC, a gross overestimation of the NDP’s trip to the wilderness. Gordo’s strategy was much like libertarian said. They steal and borrow so much NDP policy, they very much resemble them, and end up in the mushy middle
Trying to please everybody pleases no one!
I’ve spent the last 3 months working in SK, and I don’t get a good feeling about their politics. They want to call themselves conservative, free market folks, but they don’t really get it. They get most of their news from the CBC, they don’t like Americans. They think the Tea Party is part of the KKK (because they watch CBC). I find them to be very union oriented, and anti-oil. I think the NDP could be back in power, in a heartbeat.
The NDP IS in power, just under a rebranded name.
It came in incrementally, it will go out incrementally. At least, with man’s efforts.
But, I’ve seen these short breaks from socialist policy in SK before. Didn’t last. I think SK is destined to remain what it is, as a living example to the rest of us of what to avoid.
Coach & fiddle 100% correct-
The politics kind of changed, but the Sask Party is hardly conservative. The NDP continue to exist culturally. It’s in the air. It’s in the attitudes.
Saskatchewan is ecomically on a hot streak, but it’s apolitical.
We’ll see…..
I think that the majority of people in Saskatchewan detest elitism and people who think that they are better and know more because they went to such and such a school or came from a certain city. That attitude completely grates on rural nerve fibres. We have some of the most entrepreneurial and forward thinking in the world but elites never give credit to anyone but those in their own club.
I think that Saskatchewan is reacting to elitism because we do not have the large cities yet. For some reason, people in large cities tend to think that they are part of the elites – which I don’t get. I think that’s why there’s a wave of change. The union execs are becoming more and more elitist and everyone knows that the unions control the NDP in this province (and probably everywhere else).
Just an opinion. Also, the hardcore socialist in SK is very vocal (and is usually a public sector employee) and the rest of us are not which is I think why one of the posters thinks that we could fall back to NDP. There is a lot of anti-American sentiment too and that is just bizarre. But anyone with a foot in reality knows that oil and gas (and the rest of our resources) are our lifeblood and our ticket into prosperity.
A common billboard in SE Sask, which appears to be a public sector union ad, mentions royalty rates. The very first thing an NDP government would do, is jack up royalty rates. Unlike the AB conservatives, they would not be detered by threats of cancelled projects. The boom could end as quickly as it started.
“becoming the party of alienated intellectuals and public sector unions”
Quite true. And as DanBC rightly points out, “envirotards” and “bleeding hearts” although the radical enviromentalist is more apt to waste his/her vote with the Green Party just for the feel good factor.
Another demographic that leans toward the NDP is made up of those that have lived in a constant state of fear and confusion since the election of 2007. In their minds, only the NDP is qualified to govern the province. Brad Wall has a hidden agenda and it’s only a matter of time before the crown corporations are sold off, hospitals and schools are closed, nursing homes are privatized
and liquor is readily available at the neighbourhood 7 – 11. They are perplexed by the increase in population and angered over the loss of equalization payments. The Saskatchewan that they have grown comfortable with is changing rapidly and any change, even positive, is bad.
Thankfully, this group is made up mainly of the elderly who would do anything to turn the clock back to the days of Tommy Douglas, Woodrow Lloyd and, of course, Allan Blakeney. The NDP support base is shrinking and will continue to shrink thus ensuring prosperity and good government in Sask for a long, long time.
coach @ 3:57- You’re obviously hanging around with the wrong crowd.
That’s the exact position of the union rabble, academia (and their zombie subjects), msm devotees who’ve never had a coherent, critical thought of their own, or the Occupiers. Travel in different circles, you’ll get a different picture.
Check back Monday evening and tell us if you’ve found a tasty recipe for crow.
“Thankfully, this group is made up mainly of the elderly who would do anything to turn the clock back”
set in their ways…most humans do change poorly
“most humans do change poorly”
Especially when fed a steady diet of “hidden agenda” and “save our crowns” propaganda courtesy of the public service unions. Speaking of which … I wonder how SGEU’s pension problems are coming along. Apparently there’s tons of money available to slag the Sask Party but as for members’ pensions … not so much.
snagglepuss-I’ve been hanging around with the wrong crowd for most of my life, but that’s the only way to get ahead in my business. I’m not making any predictions, nor do I care about SK politics. I’m just pointing out that SK is still unstable politically. If the boom ends there, my clients will simply stop investing there, and I won’t get stuck in f**king Estevan for weeks at a time.