Despite the tongue-lashings he’s been giving to all those who rub him the wrong way, Wall has to admit he has come up short, failed to stimulate the economy, and he has let Saskatchewan jobs dry up. The same old boasting and finger wagging just isn’t satisfying the people of Saskatchewan anymore.
The Alberta government took initiative on carbon pricing and got a made-in-Alberta solution; the Sask. Party refused to act and is getting a made-in-Ottawa scheme. Alberta got two pipeline expansions and, in nearly a decade, Brad Wall has not been unable to lay pipe to tidewater.
As a start, the Sask. Party should show off their own plan to put a price on carbon. The Green Tech Fund would make the biggest polluters pay for the pollution they cause and invest in greener technologies. Even though it passed through the legislature seven years ago, Brad Wall has refused to stand firm and implement it.
Even though a Conference Board of Canada report estimated that, in the first four years alone, the Green Tech Fund would have put over $1 billion into the economy and created approximately 8,500 jobs, Wall said the timing was wrong when the economy was good and oil was at $150 per barrel, and he’s saying the timing is wrong now.
“Instead of just causing a scene in Ottawa, Brad Wall needs to get down to helping people get back to work here at home.”