Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Provincial Election Fears Realized

Letter to the Editor, The Estevan Mercury: Feb. 20, 2008

In the recent provincial election, Brad Wall ran his campaign on slogans. One being that he was going to make Saskatchewan better for business, and the other one being "fear and hope".

While he was saying these things, my fear was that the Saskatchewan Party was going to go down the same road as the Devine government did in the 1980s. My hope was the right wing had learned from Devine's mistakes, and wouldn't go there again.

Well, I now know my fears were correct. One of the first things Brad Wall and the Sask. Party have done is to introduce legislation stripping away workers rights in this province.

That is exactly what Devine did in his first few months of office. If Brad Wall is going to stay true to the "Devine" politics then I fear one of his next moves will be to reduce the number of occupational health and safety offices in this province, which I fear will create another Shand Power Plant accident. Three people lost their lives and many were injured, some impaired for the rest of their lives.

I find it ironic that the Sask. Party is attacking labour at a time in our history when business is crying that they can't find workers.

It seems to me Saskatchewan should be a leader in Canada, as we've done so many times in our history, and make our province one attractive place to earn a living, not just for business, but all people.

It's been proven in history that the rich are never satisfied while right wing parties, like the Saskatchewan Party, believe they can appease the wealthy by pushing the working person down.

I'm sure people wouldn't be flocking to places such as Fort McMurray, Alberta, if it weren't for the opportunity to make a good living. Business always cries every time there is one increase in the minimum wage, saying they won't be able to make a go of things. But, I have yet to hear of any employers going out of business because they were to nice to their employees, and you sure don't hear or see anything about how big business makes millions and pays no tax.

Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish caught, will the rich people in this world realize we cannot eat money.

Lorne Wagner
Bienfait, SK

Carbon tax is a good first step for B.C.

Bruce Johnstone, The Leader-PostPublished: Saturday, February 23, 2008

They said it couldn't be done, but B.C. went ahead and did it anyway.

Those Canadians who despaired that no government would have the courage to introduce a carbon tax to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions must be encouraged by B.C.'s example.

Read more HERE

Oilsands may impact Sask.

James Wood, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, February 21, 2008

The environmental impact of Alberta oilsands projects on northern Saskatchewan is causing significant concern, says the mayor of a northwestern community.

Last week, the Environmental Defence Fund released a report characterizing Alberta oilsands as "the most destructive project on earth" and a major producer of acid rain that's discharged into Saskatchewan.

read more HERE

NATURAL GAS PROJECT WILL HELP POWER A GROWING ECONOMY

To meet Saskatchewan's growing need for electricity, SaskPower plans to add about 100 megawatts of natural gas-fired generation to the provincial grid by 2010 at an estimated cost of $150 million.

"The Saskatchewan Party government is dedicated to turning our province's current economic boom into long-term prosperity and growth for all Saskatchewan people," Crown Corporations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said. "This project will help us ensure a safe, reliable supply of electricity is available to meet our province's growing needs and manage greenhouse gas emissions at the same time."

Natural gas produces up to 50 per cent less carbon dioxide (CO2) per megawatt hour than conventional coal-fired generation.

GE Energy will supply the required generating units - simple cycle gas turbines. SaskPower plans to install the units at its Ermine Switching Station, which is about 8.5 km southeast of Kerrobert.

Ermine is the preferred location for these units, as this area of the province is experiencing an increasing demand for electricity - mostly due to growth in the oilfield sector - and is close to an existing switching station, which will reduce the need for new power lines and lower project costs.

"In addition to the simple cycle gas turbines, we'll need other materials and labour for this project," SaskPower president and CEO, Pat Youzwa said. "We are working with Saskatchewan contractors and vendors to find ways to maximize Saskatchewan content for the remainder of the project."

SaskPower is now seeking environmental approval for the project. If approval is obtained construction will begin in the fall of 2008 and the turbines will be supplying power to the grid by the end of 2009.

Painfully steep learning curve

Murray Mandryk, The Leader-PostPublished: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Under different circumstances, provincial Health Minister Don McMorris might have been crucified for his handling of last week's Saskatchewan Party government announcement on prescription drugs.

But the fact that he and his government emerged last Thursday only mildly chagrined says a lot about the honeymoon the Saskatchewan Party continues to enjoy in the wake of replacing a 16-year-old NDP government.

McMorris announced last week the expansion of the Saskatchewan Prescription Drug program to include all children under 14 years and to further impose a cap for seniors who earn more than $64,000 a year. The health minister also announced that two new arthritis drugs -- Embrel and Humira -- would be added to the formulary.

Read more HERE

SUN negotiations a big test for gov't

James Woods, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

But Levy said the biggest potential complication may be the government's essential services bill, introduced in the fall sitting of the legislature and expected to be passed sometime in the spring sitting that begins March 10.

Nurses' union vice-president Marlene Brown said Friday the union isn't happy about the legislation that will give employers the ability to designate some workers as essential services who cannot strike.

"The legislation itself certainly has an impact on bargaining for now and for the future. Absolutely. For us, our interpretation of what we read is that we would literally not be allowed any effective strike action ... basically it's through the government that you get the funding, so you're pretty much at the mercy of the government to determine what they want to provide," she said in an interview Friday.

Brown said SUN's goal is always to get a new collective agreement before the old one expires, but the prospect of essential services legislation will be a factor in SUN's course of action if the contract expires before a new one is in place.

Levy believes the essential services legislation --which government house leader Rod Gantefoer said Thursday will likely be unchanged heading into the spring session -- could makes job action more likely.

The last strike by SUN was in 1999.

Read more HERE

Clean-coal project fuels Wall's enthusiasm

James Wood, Saskatchewan News NetworkPublished: Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The prospect of a coal-burning plant with minimal greenhouse gas emissions through the capture and storage of carbon dioxide has been particularly appealing for Saskatchewan governments of all stripes given the province's large coal reserves and massive per capita greenhouse gas emissions.
For Wall, clean coal also moves the debate away from direct federal investment and benchmarks compared to equalization.


"If the demonstration project is successful -- and I understand there's an if there but there's obviously a lot of very credible research that we can have some success ... Saskatchewan will be leading internationally in clean-coal technology. There are coal plants being built in India and Asia at a breakneck pace and we have here in this investment a chance for transformative change for the province of Saskatchewan to lead internationally in clean coal technology. I'd argue that's worth more than any particular equalization number."

Read More HERE

Sask. announces $1.4B clean coal power plant

The Canadian Press

REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government has revived the idea of building a clean-coal power plant.

The announcement comes one day after the federal government gave the province nearly $250 million to put toward carbon capture. The province says it will rebuild and re-power a coal-fired power generator near Estevan, Sask., over the next seven years at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The government says the demonstration project will produce 100 megawatts for SaskPower, while reducing the publicly owned power utility's emissions by one million tonnes annually.

The carbon dioxide captured by the project will be pumped into the ground to recover oil.
SaskPower will put up $758 million for the project.

An earlier plan to build a 300-megawatt clean coal facility was shelved by the previous provincial government because of it's $3.8-billion price tag.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Plan makes B.C. a climate-change leader

'We're not just going to be talking about climate action. We are acting' - province sets carbon tax, takes aim at cutting emissions

MARK HUME
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail


Finance Minister Carole Taylor said the budget - which has a new, sweeping carbon tax as its centrepiece - is a historic turning point for the province, although critics pointed out it also contains incentives for oil and gas development and funding for new highways.

"It has been a dramatic turn, I think, for this province with this budget to say we're not just going to be talking about climate action. We are acting. We are putting in place the financial foundation that will make it possible," Ms. Taylor said in a budget briefing session as she focused on the carbon-tax initiative.

Read more HERE

Carbon tax focus of British Columbia budget

Campbell government introduces carrot-and-stock enviro-document in effort to curb greenhouse gases

JUSTINE HUNTER - February 20, 2008

VICTORIA -- The B.C. government introduced North America's first full-fledged carbon tax yesterday, an attempt to engineer a social movement aimed at getting British Columbians to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions.

The new tax will be tempered with matching income-tax cuts plus what is likely the province's largest-ever dividend to taxpayers.

Read the Full Story HERE

Monday, February 18, 2008

'Who will foot the bill' for another stat holiday?

Firms Fear Losses

Alia McMullen, Financial Post Published: Monday, February 18, 2008

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour said while he sympathized with the position of business, workers deserved a new public holiday because people now worked harder than ever before.

"We're working hundreds of hours more than we did 10 years ago," he said, adding that workers spend about 45 minutes less with their families a day, compared with two decades ago.

"At the end of the day, we have to have a balance in society between our lives and our families and our work."

Read More Here

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Gov't alters new boards

I guess relationship building has been totally thrown out the window.

It has become quite clear that this new Gov't has no interest in sharing power with it's workers who are associated with organized labour.

This annocement is a total slap in the face of every unionized worker in every crown sector in the province.

But Cheveldayoff said the government made the decision because it is committed to running the Crown corporations as businesses and "most businesses don't have a labour representative on the board."

James Wood, Saskatchewan News NetworkPublished: Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Saskatchewan Party government has appointed new boards to bring in potentially significant changes to how the province's Crown corporations operate.

The government, itself, also made a major change to the boards' structure, with cabinet dropping the former NDP government's practice of having a representative of unionized employees on each board.

Read more HERE

Wall looks again at advantages

James Wood, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, February 14, 2008

For Wall, the biggest selling point of clean coal is its promise of making a big dent in Saskatchewan's greenhouse gas emissions -- the highest per capita in Canada -- and allowing his government to hit the emission targets it adopted from the previous NDP administration, which include a 32-per-cent reduction by 2020.

SaskPower is instead looking at pilot projects where one or more of the four types of clean-coal technology would be used in a retrofit of one of its existing coal-burning plants

Read the full story HERE

Monday, February 11, 2008

Labour Has Always had To Fight an Uphill battle for Public Opinion

The Saturday February 9, 2008 issues of the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix both ran a column written by Leader-Post political columnist Murray Mandryk.

In the Leader-Post the column has the headline: Labour blind to its image problem.In the StarPhoenix it's title is: Method behind seeming madness.

Read Larry Hubicks response to these articles HERE

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Courts should decide if legislation is legally sound: SFL

Angela Hall, Leader-PostPublished: Friday, February 08, 2008

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour wants the government to let the courts determine whether proposed labour legislation is constitutionally sound.

"We believe that these pieces of legislation were put together hastily, and that they're badly written and that they violate workers' rights," federation president Larry Hubich told a news conference Thursday.

Read More HERE

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Enbridge leads push to trap, store carbon dioxide emissions in Alta.

Jon Harding, Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, February 05, 2008

CALGARY -- Enbridge Inc., the country's largest pipeliner of oilsands crude, is leading a group of 19 energy companies in hopes of accelerating the development of a system to transport and store Alberta's carbon dioxide emissions.

The group, called the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP), first plans to identify suitable locations in Alberta for long-term storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers.

Read more HERE

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Alberta's oilsands errors a fine lesson

Bruce Johnstone, The Leader-PostPublished: Saturday, February 02, 2008

Oilsands development -- and the billions of barrels of oil and the billions of dollars of investment that go along with it -- would be a tempting prospect for any politician, and Premier Brad Wall is no exception.

Read the full article HERE

Sask. Party may support carbon deals

James Wood, Canwest News ServicePublished: Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Saskatchewan Party government appears somewhat receptive to putting some big money towards carbon capture and storage and capture after a panel appointed by the federal and Alberta governments called for $2 billion in government investment in the technology.

Read More HERE