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The major challenge
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| FTLComm - Tisdale - Sunday, August 8, 2004 |
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Warren McCall
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Lon Borgerson
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David Forbes
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Saturday morning the Tisdale Lion's Club sponsored a breakfast at the Tisdale
Mall and we took that opportunity to share the morning meal and have a chance
to spend a few minutes with the Premier and the other members on the tour.
In our conversation he expressed the enjoyment of being able to be on the tour and
the positive feelings it gives to be in direct contact with the people of the province.
Many people bring up things that though you can not act upon immediately, the information
and the level of importance of the issue becomes part of the whole picture and enables
he and his government to plot a course that serves the province. I noted that it
certainly kept him away from home for a long time and he explained that "even when I'm at home it seems like I am living out of a suitcase."
We often forget that the life of our politicians
involves a great deal of time away from home and on the road and this often explains
why some find the work intolerable and almost all feel relief when they leave the
work or are defeated.
The Premier told us that he had just returned from the Premier's meeting on medical
care and in a few weeks he would be at the Federally hosted meeting on that same
issue. I noted that the suggestion that the federal government take over the responsibility
of pharmacare was something that the minority government might agree to, noting that
the rise in medication costs has moved now above the cost of doctors. He said that
it was dramatic as he has seen the rise in the modest Saskatchewan support program,
the amount of money spent for medication is just zooming upward. He said that with
the Federal government responsible for governing the pharmaceutical industry it might
make excellent sense for that part of government to look after the whole range of
things related to drugs.
I noted that my wife and I had just spent a week in Regina and noticed how
much it had changed since only a few a years ago when we lived there and that the
Keepness story is not going to go away. Mr. Calvert's light and enthusiastic
mood about medicare made a dark turn as he said that it is hard for us all to deal
with, but he said he was convinced that the major challenge facing Saskatchewan is
coming to terms with the needs of Saskatchewan's aboriginal population. He noted
that it was not what we as a society can do for those in poverty, or feeling caught
in the web of urban and reserve problems, but we must find ways for the people themselves
to be able to find their own way, without impediments and able to be a full part
of Saskatchewan life. He said that the opening of the college in Regina and the gains
made in post secondary education are showing the way, but so much more must be done
and it is no longer something that we as a people can ignore.
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Timothy W. Shire
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| This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan
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Editor : Timothy W. Shire
Faster Than Light Communication
Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0
306 873 2004
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