From Scheer to STC to B.C.: things sure aren’t dull
With summer finally upon us, I invite you to relax and enjoy the offerings of an attentionchallenged columnist: the buffet column, where there’s something for everyone.
Behind Saskatchewan legend John Diefenbaker 60 years ago, Regina Conservative MP Andrew Scheer becomes only the second Saskatchewan MP to lead the Conservative side in the House of Commons.
Clever and congenial, Mr. Scheer was effective and respected as the youngest House of Commons Speaker in history during the Harper years. He unapologetically projects himself as a conservative with charm and, while seven years younger than Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Scheer acts 15 years older.
Somehow he is also able to walk around without the compulsion to remove his shirt, photobomb and show off.
Andrew Scheer is purposeful and worth watching.
STC — the Saskatchewan Transportation Company
— is no longer running. A government owned bus and courier company, subsidized by millions because it hasn’t turned a profit since 1979, has been closed.
Odd political and social, cultural issues are at work here.
Instead of asking, like most places in the world do, what government can do if there are policy gaps or failings, Saskatchewan people have been trained to ask, “What will happen if the government doesn’t run a bus?”
From rural B.C., where a phone call brings a minivan to drive a senior into town, to the countryside of everywhere else, buses, shuttles, taxis and medi-transports abound. They operate because people provide them and other people pay for them — all without government. Human innovation will clear this hurdle of change.
The so-called Golden Thread of criminal law, the presumption of innocence, safeguards our liberty by ensuring that any of us accused of a crime must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
But it doesn’t do a thing for community reputation. Nor should it.
Justin Cox, a young and talented football player with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was acquitted of a domestic violence charge when the evidence didn’t hold up in court.
For the third time in three years, in two countries, he’s been arrested for alleged violence against a girlfriend. Cox was dumped by an NFL team after the first two incidents.
Now he’s persona non grata here. And while some fans argue that he deserves another chance, he got that chance when he was signed here last year and has squandered it.
Convicted or not, this taints not only Cox but any team that hires him.
If there is to be a serious culture change about rejecting violence against women, then teams must take a principled stand. Good on the Riders for doing just that.
Although many Chinese experts say there is no curse of “may you live in interesting times,” times are about to get a lot more interesting (and cursed) in B.C.
The 16-year-old Liberal government is about to be deposed by a joint effort of the NDP and Green Parties. While the Liberals won 43 seats — one short of a majority — the NDP/Greens won a combined 44.
Once the newly aligned left wing parties appoint a Speaker from their midst, to act as the referee of the House, each side will have 43 MLAs.
While it is not a written rule, the time-honoured custom and convention of Parliament is that the Speaker votes in a tie situation only to promote further debate but not to finally determine an issue.
For example, at a preliminary stage of a bill, the Speaker would vote “yes” to move the issue forward, but if the vote is still tied at final passage the Speaker would then vote “no,” to preserve the status quo.
Centuries of parliamentary practice dictate that the Speaker’s voice should not be the one vote to pass a bill. As a result, B.C. politics is about to get very interesting.