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Mark Pitzel |
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| Tisdale - Friday, October 24, 2003 - by: Mark Pitzel | ||||||
I would like to take this opportunity today why I am running in this election. I believe that this election is about issues that are fundamental to the survival of rural Saskatchewan. |
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I hear people talking about the “loss of our young people” and the depopulation of rural Saskatchewan. I can tell you why young people are leaving Saskatchewan. Why? Because they can. |
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We in Saskatchewan have the best education system. Saskatchewan people put more work into an eight hour day. We stay at a job longer than other places in Canada. If you are from Saskatchewan and you go any where else in the world, you can get a job at the drop of a hat. |
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I can also tell you how we can keep our young people here. Make sure we give them a poor education, make them lazy and make sure they can’t hold down a job. They will stuck right here at home. We don’t need to find ways to put a leg-hold on our young people. What we need to do is make sure they have meaningful jobs to come home to after they have tested their skills in the world. |
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Mr. Hermanson crows that if we cut taxes, all things will be solved. People and industry will flood in. This is overly simplistic and shows a frightening lack of understanding of economics. Business is about selling your goods. It is about markets. |
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How does he plan to expand the cattle industry when our largest importer won’t buy Canadian beef? How does he plant to-expand agriculture when U.S. and the European Union cripple our markets with subsidies? How does he plan to expand the potash industry when recent droughts dry up the fertilizer markets? How does he plant to expand the mining industry when world uranium prices have fallen? How does he plan to grow the forest industry when the U.S. places unfair tariffs on our softwood lumber? If you can’t sell, you can’t grow. |
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The answer is not tax cuts. The answer is to add value to our products through processing and manufacturing and then grab new markets. |
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Mr. Hermanson touted B.C.’s recent approach to government as the answer. I urge you to call someone in B.C. Not Vancouver, but rural areas, like us. Ask them how it is going. He has also raved about the Irish model of economic recovery. What isn’t said is that the European Union guaranteed the Irish markets, unlike the U.S. I say to you call someone over there In a small town and ask them about their recent downturn and reduction of rural services. That is where we would be headed. |
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A little while back my teenage son was complaining about a trip to the dentist. I told him that when I went to school my teeth were looked after in school each year, so it wasn’t so bad. He asked why that isn’t done any more and I told him the equipment had been sold. He looked me in the eyes and asked me what I was doing while HIS dental care was being sold. |
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Mr. Hermanson has told us, in the newspaper, that he will be putting the crowns up for sale to pay for an economic gamble that is misguided and not very well thought out. I don’t want my grandchildren to look me in the eyes, as my son did and ask me what I was doing while THEIR assets were sold. |
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That is why I am running in this election. |
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Mark Pitzel |
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