ICYMI: Mandryk: SaskPower problems best demonstrate how Ottawa doesn't get us
Premier Scott Moe would be so much more effective if he limited his anti-Trudeau RoundUp to a garden squirt bottle rather than a 170-foot field sprayer.
Notwithstanding that Saskatchewan will get $3.2 billion in federal transfers this year , Moe, other premiers and territorial leaders have a case to make with Ottawa that the bonds of national unity are found in things like a well-funded, effective public health system — especially post-COVID-19. Last year’s drought not only hammered farmers but also SaskPower, because low water less meant it generated 33-per-cent less hydro power compared with the year before .While it’s been easy for Ottawa to paint the Sask. Party government as fossil-fueled obsessed, SaskPower’s sagging bottom line screams that it does want cheaper, cleaner alternative fuels to generate electricity. The problem is, practically, it can’t find them.For those you reading this in Ottawa, Saskatchewan is pretty flat.
Is it fair we are being dinged twice — especially in years when we have no immediate choice to keep the lights but to burn more fossil fuels? Is it realistic to think we can replace 90 years of SaskPower infrastructure in 13 years as the feds keep moving the goalposts?