Political left hijacks hearings on bus service
Saskatchewan’s NDP activists and social justice warriors are tireless. Like all true believers, they are determined, propelled by a sense of mission and fuelled by a higher moral purpose and a strong shot of self-righteousness.
Having lain dormant for nearly a decade, the political left has awakened and, like a lean and grouchy bear after hibernation, they are hungry and can smell a political feast in the wind.
It’s all about the Saskatchewan Party government’s March budget. The first restraint budget of a government that has been popular for 10 years has become a fascinating study in politics.
No austerity budget is popular. But the ones that work are understandable and relatable to average voters, as most of the Sask. Party’s decisions in this budget are.
Others measures less so, especially when it looks like they were plucked from financial statements by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance who know as little about libraries as they do about putting a sales tax on insurance premiums.
Politically, the Sask. Party machine remains formidable. But its lack of outreach to its own supporters — from a dearth of talking points and reassurance to basic consultation — is stunning.
This disconnect is not yet fatal but will be if the Sask. Party continues to turn turtle or, in political parlance, circles the wagons.
Years ago in my political bestseller Left Out: Saskatchewan’s NDP and the Relentless Pursuit of Mediocrity, I observed that for 60 years NDP partisans, on the political hunt, were like Orcs in Lord of Rings — a relentless wave of foot soldiers who kept storming the battlements until defenders were completely overrun.
This came to mind this week as Highway Traffic Board (HTB) regulatory hearings began in Regina to determine whether certain companies can be allowed to operate commercial bus routes.
As the budget closed the little used and perennially money losing Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) — a government subsidized bus line — nearly a dozen companies have applied to offer bus routes throughout the province.
Generally, after an applicant’s detailed and lengthy submissions are approved by the HTB no one steps forward to object during a public notice period. But if interventions or complaints are received, the HTB must convene a hearing.
Every single applicant now before the HTB has been challenged by the same interveners.
There’s the self-described “former transportation consultant,” two social justice activist university professors from “Save STC” and “Stop the Cuts,” two union side labour lawyers — one acts for the unionized STC staff — a prominent left-wing law professor emeritus and others.
The witnesses demand the following: The entire hearing process be revised; all documents be disclosed much earlier — including applicants’ confidential business data which are not released; the proceedings be postponed until a public inquiry into STC is held; data be produced on a social well-being standard; the safety of small transit vans and their drivers be assessed; and on it goes.
There was even an incomprehensible argument invoking section 36, Canadian Constitution Acts 1867-1982, regarding funding of public services and regional disparities under the federal-provincial equalization program.
As this farce played out at the HTB hearings, to return to the Orcs analogy, it was a relentless wave of delay, posturing, confusion and obfuscation, all designed to prevent anyone except STC from providing bus service in this province.
An assortment of NDP activists — who now promise to buy STC if they can just score a federal government grant — continue to maintain that “people will die” because the government bus company is closing.
Many bus companies were approved and ready for June 1, the day after STC closed, and would have been ready to provide service.
The delay tactics clearly demonstrate one thing: this isn’t about passengers or compassion for citizens in need or even bus service. This is a far more political agenda.