聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Maybe it鈥檚 not fair to single out Saskatchewan鈥檚 New Democratic Party (NDP) opposition for sowing the seeds of division in our world through partisanship.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There are plenty of examples in today鈥檚 world that would be far better examples of unnecessary division, this month鈥檚 U.S. presidential election being the first to come to mind.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What happened south of the border demonstrates how easily overblown rhetoric can get out of control.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Moreover, let us understand the role oppositions play because it may help us understand that some of the things they do aren鈥檛 so divisive, after all.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The issues for any opposition or government are seldom a matter of left or right.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Usually, they are a matter of right and wrong.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For example, the issues related to Regina鈥檚 Global Transportation Hub (GTH) $103,000-an-acre payment for 204 acres of land have nothing to do with political philosophy.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Rather, it鈥檚 about holding the Wall government to account.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But that doesn鈥檛 mean that any opposition here or anyone in politics needs to oppose everything.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In fact, in this day and age when so many us live in their own bubbles 鈥� we talk to the same people on coffee row and we go to the same blogs, websites or talk radio shows for our information 鈥� it may be more important to see our politicians take a more reasonable approach in legislative assemblies.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Information moves at the speed of light and often without any context or nuance.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Politicians need to wary of this, both for their own sake and ours.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And because of this, an entire reasonable argument can fly out the window rather quickly.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That might have been exactly what happened to the NDP during a recent legislative debate calling on all members to support Wall鈥檚 call from last February for the federal government to spend $156 million on cleaning up orphaned and abandoned oil wells.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It should have been a no-brainer, right?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The policy would put more than 1,000 Saskatchewan oilpatch workers back to work at least temporarily, noted Cypress Hills MLA Doug Steele, who moved the motion.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Steele further noted that Saskatchewan produced 178 million barrels of oil valued at $8.3 billion in 2015, accounting for 33,000 direct and indirect jobs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Moreover, cleaning up environmentally hazardous oil wells would be something one might think even the NDP would support.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Well, the NDP did support this notion, but they also headed down a partisan rabbit hole where they need not have gone.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What quickly became an issue for the NDP was the notion that oil companies are large political donors to聽the Saskatchewan Party and might benefit from this federal taxpayers鈥� money.聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he (oil cleanup) idea was the brainchild of Dan Cugnet,聽chairman of Valleyview Petroleums Ltd., an independent exploration and production company from Weyburn,鈥� said NDP MLA Cathy Sproule in Thursday鈥檚 debate. 鈥淢r.聽Speaker, we know that Mr. Cugnet is a big supporter of (Sask) Party and has continually helped out this party with corporate聽donations.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎nd we have to wonder why an exploration and聽production company who is responsible legally for the decommissioning of these well sites鈥� why was it his brainchild,聽and what is it he鈥檚 looking for? He is looking for help because聽he can鈥檛 pay for his own responsibilities, Mr. Speaker. I think聽that鈥檚 too clever by far.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Really, is the biggest reason why Wall and the Sask Party government want to do this to line pockets of a few friends who own oil companies?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Would there be no way to ensure that federal money aimed at cleaning up wells couldn鈥檛 be confined to that purpose?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It was one of all too many examples of unnecessary partisanship in our legislature.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And it sure isn鈥檛 the kind of leadership we need these days.聽
