Premier Roy Romanow's
Saskatchewan Way: |
|
Nipawin - August 16, 2000 - by: Mario deSantis | |
devolution |
Timothy Shire has pointed out that the abandonment of the railways system has |
contributed to higher transportation cost for grain, to the gradual degradation of | |
our rural highways, and as a consequence to the isolation of our rural communities(1). | |
Shire refers to this process of moving backward in economic and developmental | |
terms as devolution. I may add, that our government is especially efficient in this | |
new field of economic devolution; in fact, this government has been saving money | |
by externalizing the transportation cost to the farmers, and at the same it has been | |
covering its assets for any liability due to the disastrous up keep of our roads by the | |
implementation of no-fault insurance. | |
conversion |
Sinclair Harrison, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, |
has praised no-fault insurance by stating that it has saved money for the municipalities, | |
and we hardly agree with him when we see the poor conditions of our highways. | |
Earlier this year, our government stated that it is planning the conversion of many | |
rural paved highways to gravel. | |
Nokomis
appraisal |
Today, this same government is telling the farmers to haul grain in the winter so that |
the roads cannot be further deteriorated(2). In the meantime, the residents of Nokomis | |
will be complaining about the status of Highway 15 by sending to the highway | |
minister a collection of completed appraisal forms where most drivers state that | |
they will not travel the highway on their next visit to the area(3). | |
hazardous to your financial health |
I read today that five billboards will go up at entrances to the province and major |
cities(4). These billboards will include the message "The law and roads of our | |
province may be hazardous to your financial health and well-being." Well said, | |
it wraps up everything which is wrong with this governmental leadership: lack of | |
constitutional directions. | |
-------------Endnotes: | |
Raillessness, by Timothy Shire, August 3, 2000 | |
Government urges farmers to wait for winter to haul grain, CBC Saskatchewan http://www.sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Aug 15 2000 10:41 AM EDT | |
Town gets road complaints on paper CBC Saskatchewan http://www.sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Aug 15 2000 9:28 AM EDT | |
Group opposed to no-fault to take message to Sask. Streets, by Colleen Silverthorn, The StarPhoenix, August 15, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |