"Isn't it ironic that all the so-called mavericks who started the
Saskatchewan Party or who moved over from the old Reform Party -- yeah,
the same ones who believed in "recalls" for politicians who don't keep
their promises -- can't muster the courage needed to criticize Harper
for breaking his promise to remove nonrenewable resources from the
equalization formula?"
- Regina Leader Post: September 16, 2008
"The election promise was clear; a Conservative government would exclude non-renewable resource revenues like oil and gas from a new equalization formula. A deal that would deliver about $800-million a year to Saskatchewan."
-- Editorial in Regina Leader Post, January 2007
"Three years ago, Saskatchewan-born economist Thomas Courchene identified deficiencies in the federal-provincial equalization formula. In particular, Saskatchewan's oil, gas and resource revenues were actually clawed back by making us pay more than a dollar to Canada for every dollar we earned. When the federal Liberals in 2005 promised Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador a complete exclusion of their oil and gas revenues from the equalization formula, the issue heated up. Why them and not us? Nearly non-stop since then, the Calvert mission has been to get a fair equalization deal for Saskatchewan. Last year, in the federal election campaign, the Harper Conservatives promised Calvert what he wanted: A national average 10 province standard for calculating equalization and 100 per cent of Saskatchewan's non-renewable resource revenue being excluded from the equalization formula."
-- John Gormley column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, January 2007
"The NDP provincial government has demanded Prime Minister Stephen Harper keep the Conservative election promise to exclude non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization program, which would mean an estimated $800-million to $1-billion in annual federal funding for the province."
-- Front page story in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on the federal budget, March 2007
"Premier Lorne Calvert has reason to be peeved by Saskatchewan's 12 Conservative MPs and their lack of backbone in fighting for the equalization deal they promised the province."
-- Murray Mandryk column in the Regina Leader Post, May 2007
"Despite the Conservatives best efforts at historical revisionism, there's absolutely no doubt that their promise to Saskatchewan voters was to drop non-renewable resource revenues from calculating equalization payments to the province under the constitutionally mandated program."
-- Editorial in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, May 2007
"Putrid Stench of Tory Betrayal"
-- Headline of Randy Burton Column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, June 2007
-- Headline of Randy Burton Column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, June 2007
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper's caucus members in Saskatchewan have a problem that just won't go away. There is a big dead albatraoss hanging from their necks, and it's stinking to high heaven. Yet whenever someone mentions the rotting carcass, they gaze wide-eyed around the room and say, 'Albatross? What albatross?' This would be the infamous campaign promise guaranteed to Saskatchewan that its non-renewable resources would be exempt from equalization calculations. The promise was made repeatedly in many different places by all Conservative candidates. It was promised to premier Lorne Calvert in writing by Harper, who rode it to 12 Saskatchewan seats. Now that the promise has been broken by inclusion of a cap in the formula, Tory MPs are trying to deflect attention from that fact in any way they can."
-- Excerpt from above column.
"So the prime minister comes to Saskatchewan to give us 36 million dollars out of a one billion dollar fund to help communities hurt by economic downturns. Does it sound ungrateful to say... big deal? Hey thanks, but you know what would really help? Keeping your promise on equalization, so Saskatchewan gets to keep its oil revenue. That would really help fund training programs and infrastructure."
-- The Wood File, Rawlco Radio, January 2008
"Fences have to be mended with voters in Saskatchewan following the broken Tory promise from the 2006 election to exclude non-renewable resources from the equalization formula - a pledge worth $800-million a year."
-- Editorial in the Regina Leader Post, February 2008
"No one should be surprised when the next federal election arrives in a few weeks and the Conservatives begin campaigning on how they kept their promise to Saskatchewan on equalization. As has been described in this space repeatedly, this is simply not the case. The promise was to exclude Saskatchewan's non-renewable resource revenues when it came to calculating equalization payments. This was stated in writing as a federal campaign promise by Stephen Harper when he was Opposition leader. There no qualifications, and no mention of a cap, just a straight forward promise. The promise was broken, and yet Saskatchewan Conservative MPs insist on declaring it was not."
-- Randy Burton column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, February 2008
"But while it would be nice to think that the Wall government is being every bit as magnanimous as Saskatchewan voters by withdrawing the equalization lawsuit against the Harper government, this is not the case. Simply put, Wall and his government have allowed themselves to be bullied by Harper. The big brother has taken the little brother's allowance, threatening him bodily harm if he dares tell mom. And Wall's determination to keep big brother happy instead of looking out for Saskatchewan people's interests is deplorable on several counts."
-- Murray Mandryk column in the Regina Leader Post, July 2008What the NDP Did | What the Sask Party Said | What the Sask Party Did | What the Media Said
When the Sask Party hiked the price for camping in Provincial Parks, it claimed that Saskatchewan families weren't appreciating their parks enough.
"In Opposition, I could say just about anything I wanted; and I did on a lot of occasions for 12 years... When you're the Minister, you're responsible and you have to do it right"
- Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud
Minister of Environment ignores concerns of environmental groups, forges ahead with plans to sell wildlife habitat protected lands...
May 14, 2010
Rather than truly consider the arguments from groups like Nature Saskatchewan or the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation which vehemently oppose the new act in its current status, Nancy Heppner's Environment Ministry has taken to soliciting support letters from "non-partisan" groups like CFIB, the Saskatchewan Cattleman's Association, the Saskatchewan Stockgrowers' Association, etc. No vested interests here, right? -Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post
