THRONE
SPEECH DEBATE
Mr.
Wall:
— Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I first want to take this opportunity
to congratulate you on your election to the Chair of this
Assembly. Sir, in addition to your new, important duties, you’re
also my mother-in-law’s MLA and so we have somewhat of a common
bond, Mr. Speaker. We will both bedealing with her from time to
time, and I think I’ll just leave it at that, Mr. Speaker. Also
through you to the member for Regina Sherwood, I’d also like to
offer my congratulations to him on his selection as our Deputy
Speaker. I think we have good reason to be optimistic regarding
the ability and the fairness of our new officers of this Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, this legislature deals with many wavy issues, matters
of provincial import. We discuss legislation and public policy
that affects the entire province. And even though this is only my
second session, it strikes me that one of the most important
struggles that individual MLAs face is to keep their perspective,
to be ever mindful of who sent us here, to whom we are
accountable, and who we represent. I was reminded of this during
last week’s emergency debate on the agriculture crisis, Mr.
Speaker, as I listened to my colleagues weigh in on that
particular debate. And I think in particular of the members for
Watrous, for Kindersley, and especially
for Last Mountain-Touchwood. Clearly we were debating a very
important issue that day.
The
agricultural crisis is an issue that affects not only rural
Saskatchewan but urban Saskatchewan. It affects every family; it
affects every business across the province. It was very evident
and clear, Mr. Speaker, that all of those three individuals were
interested in more than a front-page headline in the province’s
dailies. They were looking for more than the sought after
15-second clip on a national newscast. It was clear to me, Mr.
Speaker, as I listened to them speak, and as I have listened to
them in our caucus, that the agriculture issue is something very
near and dear to them. They were speaking
on behalf . . .
Mr.
Wall:
— Mr. Speaker, during last week’s agriculture crisis debate,
those members that I mentioned were speaking out on behalf of
their neighbours, their friends and families. They were speaking
out on behalf of small businesses and communities in the riding.
And they were talking about a way of life, Mr. Speaker. And it was
a very timely reminder for me as I began to consider what I wanted
to offer in the way of my participation in the Throne Speech
debate. And with those things in mind, Mr. Speaker,
I want to deal with my comments as regards to the Throne Speech
from the perspective of the constituents of Swift Current. Mr.
Speaker, we feel that any number of issues in the office,
obviously as other members do in their constituency offices, but
the number one issue that we hear about in Swift Current has to do
with health care in Swift Current. The number two issue is the
economy and taxes.
And
so with respect to the other issues that they raise, I would like
to deal in my Throne Speech . . . my address and reply to the
Throne Speech, with those two issues. Mr. Speaker, Swift Current
and area used to enjoy making headlines in health care. It is
after all the centre of health care region no. 1. It is the cradle
of medicare, Mr. Speaker. The place in Canada — much as the
revisionists across the way like to gloss over — the place in
Canada where the notion that health care must be made available
regardless of the availability to pay, first took root. It’s not
quite like what we have now. Granted, there were still some fees,
Mr. Speaker, and the relative costs of health care have
skyrocketed since that time. But those surely must have been heady
days in Swift Current and area as they pioneered a brand new
system that would one day come to the entire country. And decades
later, Mr. Speaker, we are still making health care news in Swift
Current and area. But the news has changed. Now we’re making
news in Swift Current because of 14 acute care bed closures in our
regional hospitals. Now we’re making news in Swift Current, Mr.
Speaker, because of six long-term care bed closures; now we hear
rumours of up to eight at the hospital. We make news in Swift
Current in health care now, Mr. Speaker, because of nursing
shortages. We make news now, Mr. Speaker, in Swift Current in
terms of health care as a result of a deteriorating hospital that
has not seen a capital improvement since 1971. We make news in
Swift Current in health care now, Mr. Speaker, because of the
chronic underfunding of that district and that regional hospital
by this government opposite, Mr. Speaker. Not long ago, maybe
three years ago, there was a town hall meeting in Swift Current,
and that made news too, Mr. Speaker. And it was all about the
doctor shortage that we face in Swift Current. Thankfully it has
been alleviated to some extent — not due to anything that this
government has done by the way, Mr. Speaker, but due to the
efforts of the community that came together after that town hall
meeting, struck a volunteer recruitment committee, and went out
and found doctors for our community.
It
had precious little to do with this government and everything to
do with the people of Swift Current — the same people who
created health care region no. 1 and medicare, are those asked in
Swift Current now to fix the medicare mess left by the NDP
government. We make news in Swift Current in health care, Mr.
Speaker, now, because of cancelled surgery, cancelled elective
surgeries.
And,
Mr. Speaker, sadly we made news not long ago in Swift Current in
terms of health care because of the blazing heat inside the
air-conditioner-deprived, long-term care facilities in my
community. And as we have tried to bring these issues to the
attention of the NDP government, two different NDP ministers of
Health have also made health care news, and they’ve made a lot
of heads shake in Swift Current, frankly, Mr. Speaker. We raised
concerns over bed closures with the former minister of Health in
January, and her response was that it was a nursing shortage
problem. They asked the district what the root of the problem was
and the district said it was underfunding. They asked the nurses
what the problem was; the nurses said it was underfunding. I know,
Mr. Speaker, of two nurses on a personal level who came to see me,
that actually wanted and applied for full-time work in the
district. But due to a lack of resources in that district provided
by this government, they had to go down the road. One is working
in Regina; I don’t know where the other one
went. So how could it be a shortage of nurses, Mr. Speaker?
Clearly that wasn’t the problem. Well last month, Mr. Speaker,
constituents, patients, and doctors themselves spoke out. They
were concerned by the second response that we got from a minister
of this government to the crisis that we raised with them about
health care in Swift Current. We raised a very similar concern
about the bed closures
after doctors reported in our local media that surgeries had been
cancelled. And the response we got from the Minister of Health,
Mr. Speaker, was detailed in the February 23 edition of The
Leader Post. This
is the new minister, Mr. Speaker, the most recent Minister of
Health, the member for Regina Lakeview — his quote, and I’m
quoting from the newspaper. First of all the headline, Mr.
Speaker, and it is a headline, says: “Nilson denies health
crisis,” and I’m quoting. Then he goes on in the article and
he says: “I am very disappointed by my colleague from the
Saskatchewan Party who continues to use examples like this (the
bed closures and the attendant issues with those) as a method of
raising the fear of the public. “What we know in that health
district is that over . . . three or four years the occupancy rate
in the hospital . . . there is about (60) . . . per cent. So
basically everything is fine; that’s the upshot of this article.
The minister said that in the Swift Current district —
everything is
fine. Well, Mr. Speaker . . . (inaudible interjection) . . . Well
the hon. member for Regina Qu’Appelle says it’s reading
between the line. The headline speaks for itself — he denies the
crisis, he denies the crisis in Swift Current. And what was the
response, what was the response of the doctors? Mr. Speaker, in
our constituency in Swift Current, who in the very next edition of
The Southwest Booster,
our weekly, basically the doctor in particular, the doctor that
heads up the General Practitioners’ Association in Swift Current
said in no uncertain terms that what the minister was denying was
this: he was denying the fact that bed closures at the Swift
Current hospital have resulted in a couple of things in addition
to the cancelled surgeries. It’s resulted in maternity patients,
new mothers, getting the bum’s rush out of their ward because
maternity beds are needed for acute care. It’s meant that babies
are going home before the nursing staff would like them to go
home, Mr. Speaker, because they
need the beds for acute care. It means that people who need acute
care medical beds in Swift Current
are being shuffled out of the system before they should be because
long-term care patients are also taking up medical beds in the
hospital. And why is that? Because this government’s actions
caused the closure of long-term care beds in my community, Mr.
Speaker. The minister denies that there’s a problem with that.
He denies that there’s a problem with that in Swift Current and
across the province. I’d submit, with respect to the hon. member
through you, that there is a problem with that. There’s a
problem when the basic tenets of the Canada Health Act are being
violated in Swift Current and across the province day in and day
out as a result of this government’s underfunding, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the health care crisis in Swift Current is real. They
say that we are fearmongering and their tired, old refrain is that
we are purveyors of doom and gloom. And so we look at the Throne
Speech for some hope, Mr. Speaker. But we don’t find it there.
And we ask, through you, we ask them the question. Is it
fearmongering to raise the plight of an 80-year-old blind woman
who’s about to be moved . . . who was about to be moved from her
long-term care bed until we were able to intervene? That is
closing, that bed is closing, and they wanted her to move either
back to the hospital to a much-needed medical bed or to a facility
30 miles west of Swift Current. You know, Mr. Speaker, I can’t
describe how shocking it was to hear the family of that lady
describe her situation to me. And it didn’t take long for me to
recognize who this lady was. I recollect door knocking during the
1999 campaign, and I came to her home and she invited me in. It
was a hot night and she asked if I wanted a drink of water and I
was very grateful for that. And we sat down and we had a long chat
about issues. She was living very independently at the time, Mr.
Speaker. So much so that she had to tell me, 10 minutes into our
conversation, she had to tell me that she was actually blind, that
she couldn’t see. And so imagine my shock when I put two and two
together when her family was in my office all these months later,
that it was this very same lady. Some medical catastrophe had
befell her, and so she had to now be admitted to a long-term care
bed. And they told me that it was very difficult for her because
she had basically lived so independently all those years in her
house. And
so here’s this wonderful lady — this 80-year-old lady, pioneer
of our province — trying to make the very difficult adjustment
of moving from her independent home on 13th Avenue in
Swift Current to a long-term care bed. And the next news she gets
— thanks to this government — the next news that she gets is
that they’re going to close that bed or they need her long-term
care bed, and that she should be moved back to the hospital or
maybe 30 miles down the road. Mr. Speaker, is it fear mongering to
raise her plight, to try to get some justice for her? Or what
about the story in . . . last summer, Mr. Speaker, at the Swift
Current Care Centre. I remember it was a Sunday afternoon last —
I think it was last July — and we received a call, Mr. Speaker,
to our home.
Mr.
Wall:
— We received a call at our home, Mr. Speaker, from the nursing
staff at the Swift Current Care Centre. It was in the middle of a
heat wave in Swift Current, and they asked if we could just come
down and check it out. They didn’t know where to turn. They knew
we couldn’t fix it immediately or do something about it, but
would we come down and check out the situation?
And
so my wife, Tami, and I, we drove down to the care centre and we
were met at the door by nurses who were just absolutely perspiring
from the work that they had done all day. And they brought us over
to the eating area where most of the residents of the long-term
care facility were. They were . . . while they were supposed to be
eating, but none really were because of the heat. Mr. Speaker,
I’m sure it had zapped their appetite. And then they asked me to
come over and take a look at the digital thermostat on the wall at
this care centre, understanding that the eating area was the
coolest room in the facility, and it was 33.9 degrees in that
eating area for these long-term care residents. There were fans
going everywhere. As we toured the facility we noticed there
weren’t even proper blinds on the windows. There were basically
bed . . . you know, thin, cotton bedsheet-like curtains that
basically were heat conductors as opposed to deflectors. And so in
that case, Mr. Speaker, we simply asked the government
of the day, we wrote a letter saying, is it too much to consider
portable air conditioners? They have that technology now.
They’re relatively inexpensive. Is it too much to consider that
as an option, as an alternative? And there was no answer that came
back. So when the heat wave hits again next summer, the situation
will have changed . . . will not have changed at all. Senior
citizens, people who built our province, will be forced to endure
33 degree heat in their long-term care facility that their taxes
and the taxes of their family members have paid for. That’s the
kind of service that seniors will be able to expect because of
this government, Mr. Speaker, and the chronic underfunding of
health care in the Swift Current area. Mr. Speaker, the NDP
government has broken the promise of health care region no. 1.
They have betrayed the very authors of the medicare system that
they falsely claim as their exclusive heritage. Their broken
promises, their excuses, their ridiculous chants from the
backbench meant to marginalize these serious concerns are
absolutely unacceptable. And so, Mr. Speaker, I looked to the
Throne Speech for some indication in the Throne Speech, that while
we await Fyke, interim measures will be taken to deal with
emergent issues, not just in Swift Current but across
the province. But, Mr. Speaker, the Throne Speech is completely
silent on any such measure. For those in Swift Current waiting for
some relief from this health care crisis — that the Minister of
Health denies
— there is nothing in the Throne Speech that would give them
hope. Next to health care, Mr. Speaker, my constituency office
deals with the deep and abiding concerns about taxes in the
overall economy. And make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, the people in
Swift Current and area have put the two together. They understand
that in order to have a strong and a growing economy, you need to
do it on the foundation of sustained lowering of taxes. You need
the lowest taxes possible, in order to compete with the
jurisdictions across this country. Not just with Alberta, but
other provinces as well. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Swift Current
has always felt that the competitive pressures . . . (inaudible
interjection) . . . Well, Mr. Speaker, the hon. members . . . the
hon. members are yelling from the . . .
Mr.
Wall:
— Mr. Speaker, the hon. members are yelling from their seat.
Underscoring again for anyone that can hear and for those that
can’t, I’ll repeat what I was saying. Underscoring once again,
for everybody, that they simply don’t understand how it is you
can have sustained health care and social services in our province
or any other jurisdiction. You need people to pay taxes, you need
businesses to pay taxes, families with the money in their pocket
to pay taxes. It’s the only way. It doesn’t come out of
mid-air. The hon. member for Regina South doesn’t understand
that these things don’t appear out of mid-air. It’s all based
on small-business men and women, large businesses too, and
families with the ability to pay taxes; lower taxes, mind you,
than what we pay now, but taxes nonetheless,
Mr. Speaker. We’ll continue to explain it. I doubt that
they’ll understand it, Mr. Speaker, and it’s why we’ll soon
be trading places, Mr. Speaker, because they don’t understand
that basic issue.
Mr.
Speaker, Swift Current has always felt the competitive pressures
of living so close to not just Alberta, but we live close to the
lowest-cost community within Alberta in terms of paying taxes
and utility fees. In fact, Mr. Speaker, in fact, Mr. Speaker, the
member for CIC (Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan),
when we’re asking about issues that relate to the energy crisis
that we’re having right now, often cites Alberta and
deregulation in terms of a reason to not go down that road, and he
may be right. But what the minister fails to recognize is that two
hours down the road from Swift Current is the city of Medicine
Hat. Their gas prices are half the price of ours, even with
deregulation. Their electrical costs are much lower than ours.
Their property taxes are very much lower than ours. But the energy
bills that they are paying, Mr. Speaker, in Medicine Hat are half
the costs that we’re paying here, in a deregulated environment.
That is what Swift Current has to compete with, Mr. Speaker. So we
understand, we understand the need to be able to compete with
Alberta.
But lately, Mr. Speaker, our economic situation has become much
more urgent. What has been very alarming for me and other people
in my hometown and the surrounding area is the number of long-term
Swift Current residents, many of them entrepreneurs and job
creators, who have chosen to leave our city. Too many men and
women who have the investment ability and the skill and the proven
track record of creating jobs and economic development have left;
and many others are sitting at their kitchen tables or at their
office desks — where they used to plan business strategies,
sadly, Mr. Speaker — they’re planning exit strategies today. I
have talked to so many accountants in my hometown, Mr. Speaker,
who feel bad for having done their fiduciary duty to their
clients. They tell me they have clients considering selling out
and getting out of business. And they tell me that they regret
having to perform their fiduciary duty to those clients when they
tell them, you know, before you sell out, you should get a mailing
address, you should maybe move to Medicine Hat, because the taxes
here are so punitive. And many of those people, Mr. Speaker, are
the kinds of people who after selling out of their current
business would like to invest it in a new business, would like to
create more jobs, and now they will be doing that in Medicine Hat.
It is lost to the city of Swift Current, Mr. Speaker, because
they’ve decided to do that in Medicine Hat. And I have much more
to say, Mr. Speaker
. . .
The
Speaker:
— Order. It now being past the hour of 5 o’clock,
this House will recess until 7 p.m. tonight
The
Assembly recessed until 19:00.
Mr.
Wall:
— Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before we recessed for a bit of a
break, I was talking about the perspective that Swift Current
people are looking at this Throne Speech on the issues of taxes
and the economy. I was pointing out that people in Swift Current
have made the link long ago between the two, that if we can
achieve the lowest possible tax rate in various areas, we’re
going to be better able to compete for more taxpayers and thereby
providing the resources that we need to fund the things that have
become so important to us here in Saskatchewan. And, Mr. Speaker,
I was talking about the fact that many accountants in my home town
have lamented the fact that they have to counsel their clients,
when they’re considering selling out of an existing business,
either to retire or maybe to invest it in another business, that
they counsel them to get a Medicine Hat address first, to move to
Alberta first because of the punitive nature of our taxes. Mr.
Speaker, the accountants said they don’t want to advise their
clients that. They want to give them good reason to stay here in
the province, but the tax structure under this regime, Mr.
Speaker, is not that good reason. It’s not good enough for them
to be able to advise their clients to stay.
And you know, sometimes it isn’t just the business people
and the job creators . . . although we need every one that we can
who are making a decision to vote with their feet. Right now, as
we speak, Mr. Speaker, my cousins are planning to relocate to
Medicine Hat from Swift Current. They will take their young family
— two small children and a husband and wife — to Medicine Hat.
And in that case they actually have a job currently in Swift
Current at a local business. The job that my cousin-in-law is
moving to in fact doesn’t afford him more pay. It’s a more
interesting job that he’s interested in, but it’s about the
same pay. But when you net it all out, when you take a look at the
energy costs in Medicine Hat and the property taxes and the income
taxes, it was easy for him to make the decision — too easy, Mr.
Speaker, for him to make that decision. We have to do everything
that we can to make that decision almost impossible for families
in Swift Current and families in other Saskatchewan communities to
make, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we look at this Throne Speech,
don’t get me wrong. People in Swift Current understand that we
cannot beat Alberta at the tax game. They simply have had too long
of a head start, about a 50-year head start on keeping their taxes
low while still providing services to their citizens. But we have
to try to pick our spots where we can win, Mr. Speaker, where we
can beat Alberta and where we can compete against other
jurisdictions like Manitoba. And sometimes it doesn’t cost a lot
of money. Sometimes it doesn’t take too much of a tax cut to
achieve that, and some businesses who wish to stay here but are
faced with difficult decisions aren’t even looking for a tax cut
at all. Some of them, and we met one earlier today, is simply
looking for a road, a highway, Mr. Speaker. The manufacturer that
was here today representing about 100 employees is looking for a
better highway as a reason to stay here, to invest here, to grow
here, and to employ people here. And it’s not too much to ask at
all, Mr. Speaker. And he is joined by several other businesses in
the Vanguard area. You know, Mr. Speaker, this government has gone
to the extent of creating a Department of Rural Revitalization and
there was a little bit about that in the Throne Speech as well.
But, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you it doesn’t take a Department of
Rural Revitalization to convince people like Mr. Brown and other
businesses in that area to stay. It simply takes some action.
That’s what it takes from this government. That’s what we’re
asking for from this government. In this case they’re not asking
for tax concessions. They’re even willing to live, at least
until the next election, with the restrictive labour laws that we
have in our province. But they need a highway. There are other
businesses there. I think of Bickner Trucking in Vanguard, that
have just made a huge investment in a brand new shop, just a huge
shop in that town, Mr. Speaker, and they employ about 24 to 25
truckers in the community of Vanguard. Under this government’s
restrictions on Highway 43, they will not even be able to run
their empty trucks down the highway, Mr. Speaker. That’s the
issue we were raising with the minister today in question period
— my colleague, the member for Cypress Hills and the member for
Thunder Creek. It’s in the member for Thunder Creek’s
constituency. And so we asked earnest and serious questions on
behalf of these businesses and, more importantly, on behalf of the
families that they employ, the people they employ. And the answer
they got back today in question period was . . . well it was a
non-answer. They will continue to be ignored. I think we will
continue to make the case and I hope the government will respond
appropriately in the future. Because there’s Bickner Trucking
and there’s Trailtech manufacturing. There’s another
entrepreneur down there who’s set up a welding operation. He has
contracts with short-line agriculture manufacturers, and he’s
very worried because his clients don’t really want to be running
their brand-new equipment down to his welding and his
manufacturing outlet on grid roads, Mr. Speaker. It just makes
perfect sense that they wouldn’t want that to happen. So
there’s three businesses, existing businesses, that are simply
looking for a highway, a road, as a reason to stay here in the
province of Saskatchewan, and in that rural area that desperately
needs those jobs. And there’s one other business there, Mr.
Speaker, it’s called Notekieu Processing. They’re just under
way; they’re going to be, I think, they’re going to be
processing pulse crops. And I just saw the advertisement in the Booster. They’re going to be looking for a manager
for their operation. And they’re worried, too. They’re
wondering if they located in the right place when they located in
that rural portion of southwest Saskatchewan. Mr. Speaker, you
know the opposition hates talking about Alberta. And you know, I
wish we weren’t next to them either, frankly. As someone who is
in the economic development area in the city of Swift Current for
about five years, I’d rather they weren’t our neighbours
either. I’d rather be next to Newfoundland, although in most
economic areas they’re also now outperforming us here in the
province of Saskatchewan. But the fact is, that’s who we’re
next to. That’s who we must compete with. In Swift Current, when
they look at things from the government like a Throne Speech or
the budget that’ll be coming up Friday, that’s the test they
use. Will this help us compete? Will this help us retain our young
people and our businesses and the people that create jobs and
wealth in our area? And the answer to the question, Mr. Speaker,
is no. There’s absolutely nothing in the Throne Speech, nothing
that has come from this government certainly since the last
election that would give those people hope. We simply have to try,
Mr. Speaker. We understand the difficulty of trying to catch up
with a province that’s had a 50-year head start. But we have to
give these people in our communities, and in Swift Current
especially, we have to give them the hope that there’s a plan in
place, that there’s a long-term vision, that there’s a
government that understands that only by lowering taxes and being
as competitive as we possibly can afford will we be able to grow
our province, will we be able to create an environment for those
businesses to want to stay, to stop planning their exit strategy,
Mr. Speaker. You know, you never . . . Mr. Speaker, the NDP (New
Democratic Party) just doesn’t seem to talk much about creating
jobs. Certainly there’s nothing in the Throne Speech. I think
there’s a reference to a summer jobs program where they
completely exclude the small-business sector despite all their lip
service that small businesses are the engine of the economy that
create the most jobs, certainly no evidence of their belief of
that in the Throne Speech by the job-creation measure that they
outlined there. Mr. Speaker, I just really wonder, when I look at
the Throne Speech or when I look at previous documents, when I
looked at the labour legislation that came forward from this NDP
government last session, I wonder if they really understand the
magic that happens when just one single job is created. Mr.
Speaker, it’s the economic equivalent of conception. When just
one job is created, there’s an energy that’s released. And
that
energy does many things. It provides for families. It saves for
university. It invests potentially in another business. It
supports charity. It brings ties. And yes, it pays taxes, Mr.
Speaker. That amazing act of job creation is what our entire
system is dependent on, and when I speak of that I’m talking
about health care and social services and the things that we have
come to prize here in the province. And if you talk to these
people who are considering an exit strategy, or even some who have
already left,
they cite, I think, as the reason for their decision as the
complete lack of ideas or hope coming from this government that
things will change. They simply don’t understand, this
government simply doesn’t understand, that the only lasting and
most effective way to create jobs is to lower taxes: income taxes,
property taxes, royalties, sales taxes, small-business taxes. We
simply must provide a long-term vision of achieving affordable tax
relief, affordable tax relief in absolutely every area . . .
(inaudible interjection) . . . Well the member from Regina
Qu’Appelle says that there is absolutely no proof that lower
taxes create jobs. That’s what he just said from his seat, Mr.
Speaker. If you can believe it, if you can believe it, in every
single jurisdiction where it has been tried in earnest, it has
worked. It has worked in Canada. It has worked in the United
States, and believe it or not — he’s shaking his head — but
believe it or not, Mr. Speaker, it will work in Saskatchewan but
only when the government changes, Mr. Speaker.
Some
Hon. Members:
Hear, hear!
Mr.
Wall:
— Only when the government changes. The Throne Speech is
completely silent on this most important issue. It rehashes last
year’s budget when it comes to taxes. On the sum and the total
of its announcement on job creation, Mr. Speaker, is that student
employment program I mentioned earlier which completely excludes
the engine of the economy that, by their own admission, if you
look in their campaign brochures, is the single greatest job
creator in the province of Saskatchewan. Apparently it is good
enough for their election brochures, Mr. Speaker. It’s good
enough for their election-time hype, their credit to small
business that they’ll give it as the job creator, but it’s not
good enough for their Throne Speech. It’s not good enough for
their budget. It’s not good enough for their action, Mr.
Speaker, and that’s the problem. That’s exactly the problem
with this government. For the people in my constituency, they
desperately are seeking some sign of a vision for our economy,
some clear plan to meet the challenge of competitive tax
structures. And there is nothing in this Throne Speech and nothing
coming from the government on that count, Mr. Speaker. This Throne
Speech frankly has more to say about blooming crocus flowers than
it does about job creation or a long-term plan for the future.
There is nothing in the Throne Speech also, Mr. Speaker, about the
burgeoning . . . well, the energy industry in the province of
Saskatchewan. This government will benefit to the tune of hundreds
of millions of dollars from the energy sector, but many of them
will be surprised to know that in southwest Saskatchewan, there
hasn’t been a drilling rig there for some time, for months
really. It’s shocking when you consider the price of west Texas
crude is where it’s at. The fact of the matter is . . . and this
is what the oil companies have told us. They have said yes there
is oil in the Southwest, and yes the price is right. But as long
as Saskatchewan is the highest cost jurisdiction in which to
explore for oil, we will go elsewhere, Mr. Speaker. That is what
they have told us. That’s what they’ve said. It’s a matter
of public record. And save for a few areas of strategic importance
to the major drillers here in the province, in the Southwest the
wheels are not turning in the oil service sector. They’re simply
not turning. They need the government to be still more competitive
with their royalty structures than they are. They need the
government . . . if they’re not prepared to move on that, then,
Mr. Speaker, they need some sign in the Throne Speech or some
document from government that they’re at least willing to
enforce the same laws that our own service companies live by on
service companies from out of province. They need to have some
surety that the PST (provincial sales tax) that our companies have
to deal with in our province is also being levied against
out-of-province firms. It’s not happening. We’ve asked the
government that question. They say, well we don’t have enough
people to enforce it. Well they better get it, Mr. Speaker,
because they’re killing the goose that’s laying their golden
egg, that’s single-handedly putting them in a surplus position,
Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve highlighted some major concerns
as regards to the Throne Speech. But I do want to say this. As
someone who has sat on the board, as a former board member of the
TransCanada West Association, that the announcement in the Throne
Speech about the expedition of the plan to twin the No. 1 Highway
is very, very positive indeed for my community and for the entire
Southwest and for the entire province. And for that . . . I’m
sure the people are grateful for that. I know they were grateful
when the member for Cypress Hills and our Highways critic raised
this very plan to shorten that time frame in the last session
during an emergency debate. And it’s certainly a positive aspect
of a Throne Speech that otherwise is a
major disappointment. Mr.
Speaker, it’s a disappointment because fundamentally it’s a
tired rehash of Romanow initiatives that have either already been
announced with the possible exception of one program which is a
federal program funded fully by the federal government. Mr.
Speaker, this past winter we watched . . . I’m sure everybody
interested in politics in Saskatchewan watched the NDP leadership
unfold. And I have to admit, Mr. Speaker, that on the day that
they chose the member for Riversdale as their new leader, I
watched the proceedings on television, further giving my wife
concern that indeed I need to go out and get a life. But I pretty
much watched the entire thing unfold. And I noted when that . . .
(inaudible interjection) . . . Yes, apparently my colleagues are
wondering if I might perhaps get a life as well, Mr. Speaker. But
I was very interested to see during the coverage of that
convention that the television commentators would take some time
to describe some background of the candidates vying for this
position of Leader of the NDP. And I noted with interest, Mr.
Speaker, that among the hobbies listed of the leadership
candidates, the one that stuck out to me was the proclivity that
our now Premier has with the renovation of buses, with the
acquiring of old buses and the renovation of the buses, and I
don’t know maybe selling them, who knows, maybe at a profit even
after he’s renovated . . . I don’t know. I can’t hardly
imagine that that would be the case, but perhaps.
And
so, Mr. Speaker, the Premier of all people should know that you
can’t fool people for even a little while by simply putting a
new coat of paint on a rundown, tired, old bus. Right up until the
time that you need that bus to take you somewhere, maybe somewhere
important, that’s when it will dawn on you, Mr. Speaker. When
you go to start up that bus, that old, rundown bus that you simply
put a new coat of paint on, it will become abundantly clear that
without doing something major to the mechanics of the bus, maybe a
major engine overhaul, it’s just going to sadly let you down.
It’s not going to be able to take you where you need to go. And
sadly, Mr. Speaker, this Throne Speech is nothing more than a new
paint of coat on that . . . a new coat of paint on that tired,
old, rundown bus that is the
NDP government, Mr. Speaker. The good news is that there are a
whole number of members on this side of the House that are pretty
handy with a wrench as it turns out, and I think we’ll be able
to fix the bus up given the next chance . . . given a chance in
the next election. Mr. Speaker, this Throne Speech that we’re
debating here today, and the coming debates that we’re going to
have in this
House
that will lead us to the next election, are absolutely crucial to
the people of my constituency, to the people of Swift Current that
I have the great honour of representing here. And they’re
important of course to everybody in the province. There is
precious little time to lose. We need a long-term plan from a
party that understands how to get the economy going, that
understands the importance of job creation in a regime with the
lowest taxes possible, Mr. Speaker. And I can think of no better
way to start down that road than to indicate to you tonight, and
to my colleagues, that I will be supporting the amendment put
forward by the Leader of the Opposition and seconded by the member
from Melfort-Tisdale, and I will be voting against this woeful,
inadequate Throne Speech, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
Some
Hon. Members:
Hear, hear!
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