Page 14 - DeCemBer 15 , 2016 - martensville messenger
Provincial Politics with Murray Mandryk
Perrins is no threat to rural schools
Rural Saskatchewan might be unnerved to know that the bureaucrat who once had a key role in the closure of 52 rural hospitals is now providing recommendations on the future of rural schools . However , there is less reason to worry here than one may think . Retired Saskatchewan deputy minister , Dan Perrins , is the kind of man that has always done a good job of fairly assessing situations . He ’ s certainly not the kind of man who simply supplies his masters with what they want to hear . Some of you will assume that to be a rarity for a bureaucrat and even an impossibility . Like politicians that go against the grain , bureaucrats that don ’ t provide exactly what their masters want do not tend to go as far in their careers as Dan Perrins has .
As it now applies to the current review , it ’ s actually rather hard to figure out what Education Minister Don Morgan wants . Morgan did serve notice last month that everything was on the table . If so , that could not only include an end to the duly elected school boards replaced by government appointed boards but also a downsizing of rural schools . Apparently that is something that wouldn ’ t seem to be in the interests of the Saskatchewan Party government . Even if it truly saw savings in eliminating local control of school boards or cutting back rural education , one would doubt that it would be eager to impose such a drastic move like that on its strong rural base . For various reasons , it doesn ’ t necessarily seem like the thing that Perrins would be eager to recommend either .
For starters , Morgan has already made it known that he has no interest combining the public and separate school systems . Moreover , Saskatchewan in the past quarter century has already reduced the number of school boards from 111 in 1992 to the current 28 boards : 18 public , eight Roman Catholic , one Protestant and one Francophone . Are there really any more administration savings to be had ? One guesses that Perrins has also come to this conclusion . Perrins would recognize that Saskatchewan ’ s 28 school boards is less than in provinces like Ontario , B . C . and even Manitoba that is of comparable size . The experience of the long-serving bureaucrats who has presided over some of the most raucous issues in recent provincial history ( including the 1989 shutdown of Bosco Homes , the 1993 hospital closures , the 2004 Spudco report and the 2009 report on the future of Saskatchewan ’ s uranium and nuclear development ) has a rare ability to nimbly deal with a wide variety of problems . For example , rural Saskatchewan people might not have accepted there was any rhyme or reason to the closure of those hospitals back in 1993 . However , let us be clear that back in 1993 , there were 134 hospitals in Saskatchewan-virtually the same number of hospitals as there were in 1983 and in 1973 . Unfortunately , that robbed the province of other health care amenities like specialists , of which we had less per capita than most other
mla report From nancy Heppner
saskatchewan attracting energy investment
According to an annual global survey of energy-sector executives , Saskatchewan is increasingly becoming an attractive place for energy investment .
Saskatchewan ranks as the 4th best jurisdiction in the world to invest in petroleum exploration and production – behind only Oklahoma , Texas and Kansas .
Saskatchewan ’ s position is thanks in large part to a stable taxation and regulatory environment .
Due to resource taxation and an efficient regulatory environment , Saskatchewan leads Canadian oil rig activity , a trend that is expected to continue in 2017 .
Calgary-based Crescent Point Energy is boosting their 2017 capital budget to $ 1.45 billion . Nearly 80 %, or $ 1.1 billion , will be invested in Saskatchewan .
They also plan to drill 600 new wells in Saskatchewan .
We thank Crescent Point Energy for a strong vote of confidence in our province that will create jobs in our energy sector and support economic growth .
A forced federal carbon tax would significantly harm our competitiveness in this sector and export our jobs to the U . S ., our closest competitor in the industry .
200 saskatchewan Companies now Part of P3 Builds
Our government is using innovative public-private partnerships ( P3s ) to build 18 new schools , The Regina Bypass and a new mental health hospital in North Battleford . Our first P3 , an award-winning long-term care home in Swift Current , finished ontime and on-budget this spring .
200 Saskatchewan companies represent more than 70 % of businesses on the projects . The majority are located in Regina or Saskatoon with others coming from Estevan , Martensville , Moose Jaw , North Battleford , Prince Albert , Swift Current , seven small towns and three First Nations .
Job creation was a top priority when our government launched P3 projects in Saskatchewan . Together these projects are responsible for supporting 12,500 construction jobs in the province .
For more information on the projects , visit www . saskbuilds . ca .
slow Down , stay Back and stay safe in the snow Zone
The return of winter weather brings reminders to slow down , stay back and stay safe when approaching snowplows . Snowplows create mini blizzards when plowing , called the Snow Zone , which can impact visibility .
Drivers are asked to be patient and remember that snowplows pull over every 10 kms or so , providing an opportunity to pass . It is illegal to pass snow removal equipment at more than
60 km / hr when its lights a r e flashing .
A new blue and a m b e r lighting ABOVE : MLA Nancy Hepner s e q u e n c e was introduced last winter to distinguish snow removal equipment in operation from other vehicles also using amber lights .
The latest available road condition information can be found online at www . saskatchewan . ca / highwayhotline with links to interactive maps for desktop computers and mobile devices . provinces . Some will argue that this was the bureaucrat ’ s argument of the time . However it was bureaucrats like Perrins that recognized that the best deployment of health dollars was not in having under-utilized beds in rural hospitals . It would be nice for rural Saskatchewan people to have their local hospitals , but it ’ s even nicer that surgical wait times are down and accesses to specialists are up .
However , one should entrust that a veteran bureaucrat like Perrins would further recognize the difference in education where every student , rural or urban , requires the same basic level of education . This does not mean that Perrins won ’ t be recommending changes , some of which may not be all that popular .
It would seem that rural people should not necessarily fear what this long-serving bureaucrat recommends .
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