Where are You Buying Your Beer Saskatchewan?

When it comes to liquor privatization the "Nay" sayers do not tell you a lot and leave out a little.

The biggest thing they leave out is that they would lose their cushy incomes. It is a government job and a union job so privatizing liquor would take away their high income jobs. Plain and Simple.

They leave out that it would create more jobs. More liquor stores mean more jobs.

They leave out that in Alberta much of the profit still goes to the School system, child protection, roads, long term care. I dare you to compare these services here in Saskatchewan to Alberta at this time or at any time in the past. 

Privatization of alcohol would not affect, it might even help, these programs. When was the last time you heard about Senior abuse in Alberta? It happens, but there are many more complexes in Alberta that handle Seniors. Many seniors from Saskatchewan chose to retire in Alberta, many have retired in my home town of Medicine Hat. They live out their days in peace, not afraid like they are here.

Road conditions in Alberta are 100x better than in Saskatchewan.

The hospitals in most communities can handle delivering babies, not so here in Saskatchewan. Not one doctor in Kindersley is allowed to deliver a baby, women have to travel to Saskatoon to give birth. Are the doctors in Kindersley, or any small town, not qualified to help a woman give birth?

I won’t speak towards your school system, my daughter has only been in a rural school here in Saskatchewan and I adore the school she is in, but the school system in Alberta I had 4 children in at one time and have one graduating from this year has done everything it can to help my children accomplish their goals to the best of their abilities.

Any time I or my children have been a patient at a hospital we have come come first when we need the attention.

What people tend to forget is that there are those who are worse off then us sometimes. Sometimes when we are sitting in a waiting room of an Emergency room we are going to have to sit a little longer than most because our issue is not as severe as the person next to us. We need to decide whether our attention needs to be dealt with immediately, which is what an Emergency room is for, or whether we can wait until the next day.

The Profits that liquor sales bring in benefit all, but when I can purchase the same type of beer in Alberta $7.00 cheaper than here in Saskatchewan, do you really think that is fair to lose the income here?

I personally cannot drink because of my medications, but we know there are those who go to Alberta to shop on a regular basis, we know that they buy their alcohol there. How much money are they putting into Alberta's economy and you are losing because of your higher prices?

The only reason the prices of alcohol are so much higher here in Saskatchewan is to pay for the governmental union workers who sell the alcohol in the store.

Privatizing alcohol in Saskatchewan makes sense. The jobs it would create would be at lower incomes but there would be more of them. The price of alcohol would drop and people would not have to cross border shop for it, taking money AWAY from your schools, hospitals, child protection, roads and long term care.

Tell me, how much money the liquor stores in Lloydminister make on the Saskatchewan side compared to the liquor stores on the Alberta side?

While I keep being told not to compare Alberta to Saskatchewan because “Saskatchewan is not Alberta”, Saskatchewanites seem to do it on a regular basis on Alberta's ill side. The only problem is, they do not seem to have the facts to back it up.

Saskatchewan wants to be like Alberta, but they do not want to study and follow Alberta's example.

Saskatchewan refuses to learn from Alberta's accomplishments and mistakes.
One of those accomplishments was privatizing alcohol sales. Study how they did it, learn from the accomplishments they were successful at and learn from their mistakes.

That is how Saskatchewan can grow to be prosperous. By learning from those who have done it first and learn from the mistakes they have made. 

Alberta is not perfect, they are going through their difficult times as well, but they have some very good examples that Saskatchewan can learn from.

Lower Price at the Pump=Massive Layoffs

The Saskatchewan Government isn't being as honest as it should with its people when it comes to the oil and gas price drop.

In Brad Wall’s televised speech he, of course, did not go into the details of how this down time is going to affect the industry itself.

He talked about how HIS government kept its promise of job creation, which it did…through the oil and gas industry.

You see MOST of those jobs that his government may have been responsible for creating has been in conjunction with keeping up with the boom of oil and gas.

From seeing first hand what happens when that industry slows down, being Albertan, Saskatchewan is in for a big surprise.

Brad Wall and his government are very proud of the fact that they have the “lowest” unemployment rate in the country. That will not be the case if the oil does not rebound immediately.

You will have massive layoffs, not just from the oil and gas companies like Cal-

Frac, Iron Horse, Haliburton, Element and Baker Hughes…these companies rely on other businesses to do the work they do.

Many of these companies sub-contract to other companies who then have their welders and class 1 drivers do the work for the bigger companies.

Companies like Vanko Oilfield Services in Kindersley, SK probably won’t need all their people to do repairs to pump jacks and maintenance to picker equipment, layoffs will happen. While REV Energy Services ltd out of Kerrobert, SK will need to keep some people on, not everyone will be keeping their jobs there either. Welding companies like Gremur Industries Ltd out of Maidstone, SK could have some tough times ahead as they deal with oilfield construction, people there will probably see their time shortened with the barrel of oil dropping to less than $53 as of January 4^th, 2015.

These massive and wealthy companies get their safety equipment and supplies from companies like Kost Fire Safety Ltd in Medicine Hat, AB that have trained personnel to care for this safety gear who make sure this gear works properly so no one will get hurt, they have other work for these people to do, but the money they make off the safety equipment will take a hit if the companies stop drilling.

These are just small companies who will lose jobs and income directly from the drop in the oil price that the Saskatchewan government is not being up front with you about, it isn’t just about their “budget”. There are the other industries that are going to take a massive hit.

Oil and gas companies like Baker Hughes and Cal-Frac spend millions of dollars on hotel rooms, restaurants and fuel themselves for their own workers who travel. 

Those new hotels and motels that are built and/or renovated in Kindersley,SK and elsewhere are going to lose money when road bans are put into place in Saskatchewan and these multi-million dollar companies start handing out pink slips. The restaurants and living accommodations are going to take a huge hit when the road bans are put in place. Rental accommodations are going to lose their renters who move back to where ever they came from because landlords here got greedy, charging exorbitant amounts of money for holes in the ground.

Gas stations are not going to have the company trucks pulling in to fuel up so the workers can head home to see their loved ones, they are already at home living off of unemployment.

Which brings me to my last point Saskatchewan; this has been a boost in your livelihoods. You have never seen this kind of money flowing through the coffers before. Many of your people have gone from making substandard wages to having wealth beyond knowledge. I hope they were smart enough to save and not blow it on huge houses and expensive cars/trucks/SUVs.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/as-crude-prices-plummet-oilsands-workers-find-themselves-jobless-1.2176208

One of the biggest problems people face, especially people who have no experience with money, are that when they get money they want to spend that money. Alberta saw it in the 1980’s.

People lose their houses and vehicles because they do not budget for the price of oil dropping this low. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on building a dream home for their family with a mortgage payment that is outrageous, along with car payments for both adults (sometimes even the kids) and then the layoff happens.

Remember, you only receive 55% of your insurable earnings on Unemployment…BUT, there are stipulations, the Canadian government website http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/regular.shtml#much…says, “As of January 1, 2014, the maximum insurable earnings amount is $48,600. This means that you can receive a maximum amount of$514 per week.”  

I hope your mortgage and car payments are not more than $2000 and that you have another income coming in to cover the cost of incidentals like food and utilities…or you are going to be flooding the market with brand new houses and that vehicle is not worth what you paid for it anymore, you now have to take what you can get for it.

So people of Saskatchewan, this is the first down time in the oil and gas for you. Those Albertans who moved here and have gone through this should be fine, if they used their heads. I hope that the Saskatchewan governments’ positive spin on bringing in the industry did not take away the sensibilities of the people.

The one good thing about oil and gas prices is that it can rebound whenever the United States government decides. So when they decide to stop policing the world you may get your jobs and livelihood back, hopefully this will happen before anyone loses their shirts.

Ministry of Social Services Needs overhaul in Saskatchewan

There are some departments in the Government of Saskatchewan that just need to be privatized from liquor to highways to insurance, but then there are those who need huge over hauls in Saskatchewan like the Ministry of Social Services.

While more on site social workers are desperately needed there is a bloating going on at the higher levels, I know my worker could probably use another in her area as she travels to surrounding areas, but the bloating happening at the higher levels where the offices are inflated with people doing the same jobs as the on site social workers who are working their butts off. The on site workers are essential.

When a person has to report their income twice to same Ministry there is a problem. Some of the programs the Ministry of Social Services in Saskatchewan are responsible for are Saskatchewan Assured Income for the Disabled, SAID. (It could take some lessons from AISH in Alberta.) Saskatchewan Assistance Program, SAP. Saskatchewan Employment Supplement, SES. Saskatchewan Rental Housing Supplement, SRHS and there are others but I won’t go on as you can see there are options for help, however the paperwork is enormous and not just at first…but constant especially when you qualify for more than one program, which no one will not tell you if you do or not, so you will live without for months or years living on less than the poverty line only to find out later from a stranger that you would qualify for another program as well.

I am on disability. I receive SAID and if you do not know, you have to qualify for this. My common-law works at a very low paying job as many employers in the area will not hire him because he has broken disks in his back which caused a degenerative disease from his previous job here in Saskatchewan and his union did nothing to help him, so we also qualify for another program run under the Ministry called Saskatchewan Employment Supplement, SES.

I originally moved to Saskatchewan to help him after he was hurt. I love the country, it helps me with my mental disease and I care about my friends enough to help when I can, something has grown between us and we have been honest about this with my worker.

Because of my disability, I receive just over $500/month from CPPD. I was receiving just over $300 from the SAID program before we changed our status. Now I receive $0 to $60/month depending on his wages which are less than $630 every two weeks (aprox. $1260/m take home)…Definitely no where near the average weekly wage of $800 that drew him to Saskatchewan in the first place 8 years ago and no, he was absolutely no where near making that at his last job either before he was hurt…With the SES program we will receive another $190-$250/month…which is basically what I lost from SAID.

We have to sign documents allowing these programs access of information to the other programs we are on, so it confuses me to the extent of paperwork we have to do to please this ministry.

Every month my partner drops off his pay stubs to be photocopied at my SAID workers office so they can decide how much I will receive from them and every month I have to call SES with the GROSS amount he made that month, plus every 3 months SES audits everything.  

This is extravagant governmental waste at its worst. Why make things difficult by making people screw around with departments within one ministry?

Is this just another ploy for the Saskatchewan Government to make things so difficult for the poor and disabled that they just give up and leave the province and find an easier province to live in?

I have it no where near as bad as some people in Saskatchewan but personally, I think it is time someone started speaking up and demanding answers as to why the waste of taxes to pay for so many people punching the same numbers into the Ministry of Social Services files. My family should have 1 file and be under 2 programs in that file. My income and my common-laws income should be entered into that file once a month by one worker. My audits should be done once a year or when my income changes to a great degree. If any income that is not taxable is not be included as income, like Child Tax Credit, then ALL income that is not taxable should not be included as income. What I receive from Canada Pension for my daughter is not taxable, but is still deducted from my SAID checks each month.

It makes it a more positive place to be when you can say there is low unemployment and high paying jobs in the province of Saskatchewan.

Not having unemployed people in your province happens when 1) you refuse to put in low income housing** where there is dire need of workers, like in Kindersley, Saskatchewan for example…and 2) the people on unemployment (whether it be from regular benefits which are A LOT longer than sick/disability benefits…which never really made sense to me), are kicked off but have not found another job yet.

**Low income housing is not $300,000 homes for the new guy in the oil patch; Low income housing is AFFORDABLE to those working those minimum paying jobs you refuse to fill with Canadian workers.

Saskpower Start Doing Your Jobs!

We all know Saskatchewan does not want people who cannot afford to replace appliances that break down, BUT we are here and I am tired of listening to Brad Wall tell the people of Saskatchewan AND the World that this province is prosperous when people are literally breaking their backs trying to replace things like refrigerators, freezers, stoves, dryers, washers and microwaves by going to the dumps to pick parts out of garbaged ones.

I have severely had enough with Saskpower not doing anything about the power surges in our area...and as far as I know across the province, anywhere oil and gas wells are going and more people are building new housing and businesses while older infrastructure is in dire need of replacement.

With the new infrastructure Saskpower is not taking into account the damage it is causing on the older infrastructure and because they are so big and a publicly owned company NO ONE will speak out about the damage that it is causing.

It took them a YEAR to replace the lightening arrestor coming to our house, even then it took them several days to get someone out here to do the work and it took us complaining it was sparking in a severe rain storm.

The times I have been told of refrigerators, deep freezers, ovens, microwaves, radios…the list goes on…going on the fritz and need replacing or a repairman to come work on them because of the power flickering constantly is too often to count.

We personally cannot afford to replace the appliances that have broken down on numerous occasions, but have gone to the Salvation Army to beg for discounted dryers, who have been generous enough to replace two in the last 2 years, it is degrading.

Our refrigerator has been pieced back together by parts from the dumps by fridges that others have gotten rid of because they too have had to replace caused by the constant flickering of power. The Sally Anne doesn't carry fridges. 

In July I bought a cheaper microwave with my GST/HST check as we had been going without for about a month, it crashed and burned after the power flickered on and off several times within a few minutes time, not a serious inconvenience but it was an inconvenience all the same.

I treated us to a newer under the counter radio that cost me around $30 on sale last year and have been waiting for the old one to die. The old one was on its last leg because of the power surging that keeps happening. I put the new one up on Thursday night, last night it was working wonderfully, this morning (Sunday) the power surged once and it is now dead; what a waste. Power bars with surge protectors cost money that those of us who live on limited incomes cannot afford and do not always work for major appliances.

As I said, we are not the only one that has had issues. Extra Foods in Kindersley has had constant issues with their coolers and freezers going on the fritz. The grocery store close to us in Plenty, Saskatchewan has had many issues with their freezers and coolers breaking down and many people have had to replace their appliances in the area…check the dumps across the province and you can see for yourself how many...at least until the government cleans the appliances out of all the dumps to prove a lowly pee-on like me wrong.

These issues constantly happen after the power surging. The power surges and flickering are happening because Saskatchewan is NOT updating the older infrastructure as they build the new or allow more and more wells for oil and gas to be put in all over the area.

You don’t want the poor and disabled in your province. We cannot give you anything, only take, right?

We cannot afford thousands of dollars like oil and gas workers or government workers to replace our older homes or the old appliances they came with and the piddly rebates you offer are just that...dinky rebates that do not help those of us that cannot afford to buy new furnaces, hot water tanks or appliances in the first place. 

We cannot afford to live on the minimum wages and your Saskatchewan Employment Supplement when we have to keep putting out exorbitant amounts of money out for appliances that are needed to keep our food from spoiling or to cook it or to clean our cloths so our children are not teased at school for being filthy. 

When your province is doing so well like you say it is it should be replacing the old infrastructure as it builds new, especially when that new infrastructure is supposed to be bringing in a lot of money…those oil and gas wells along with the people that build and take care of them should be bringing in the big bucks to pay for improving the old and bringing in the new.

You want me to leave like the rest of the disabled, but I think what needs to be done Mr. Wall is someone needs to start speaking out on how the disabled and poor of your province are being treated. 

I am sick of hearing you tell the world how great your province is when there are those in your province suffering worse then myself.

This is not my only issue with your province, I have blogged about your roads and the damage my car has received because of them, from cracks and chips in the windshield that I cannot afford to fix to a dent in the radiator pan from the ruts. How about the exorbitant prices of the internet here in Saskatchewan because Sasktel is publicly owned and decides who is also allowed to offer services to rural customers...who then are also allowed to gouge customers...

But I digress...

My point is Brad Wall and his government need to start making SaskPower update the old infrastructure so these power surges and power flickers STOP happening so people stop having to replace appliances, hot water tanks and furnaces that they cannot afford to replace.