While I’m not born and raised in Yorkton, this community has done a lot for me in the 16-½ years I’ve lived here. I do take a sense of pride and ownership in it. I make my living selling to groups and businesses in this city and the people who live here have been unbelievable to me. This is my home. If I was to die tomorrow, I would want to be buried here. I’ve been involved in a number of community events and organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, presently, and I’ve also worked in various capacities with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, and continue to do so. I love the city and would defend it staunchly.
The Yorkton Terriers help put our city on the map. I’m not sure what their yearly budget would be as I don’t attend Annual General Meetings, but it wouldn’t shock me to learn it approaches $1-million. It’s a significant small business. Yet, I fear that the Terriers won’t survive too many more crowds like the one I witnessed Friday night against Flin Flon. It’s important for us to recognize their footprint here. Yet, it’s also a two-way street and the Terriers have to do more to earn our support. Four years of low placement in the standings isn’t going to cut it. The time is now for the Terriers and the community to come together and work towards making this the model franchise of Junior ‘A’ hockey in Saskatchewan. In fact, there’s no reason why it can’t be one of the top organizations in Canada year after year after year. In fact, I’ve told a few people the Terriers should be the Yankees of the SJHL.
The population base and the number of businesses here should ensure healthy stability for a very long time and it should be a model to which other teams strive to copy. Yet, here we are with a bad club on the ice, dwindling support from its citizens, and also from its sponsors. This is my open call to anyone who wants to talk to me and help come up with solutions on how to get this team back on track. If I am going to complain about it, I have to be willing to pitch in and help. I’m not allowing this to happen to the flagship sports team in our city. I feel they can be in the playoffs, a dangerous team to face on the ice, with crowds back around the 1,000 per game mark, and a corporate sponsor base that is the envy of most teams in the league within one year. I believe in our city, but we do need to be more proactive and seek some changes. Lets come together and make it happen so that we can restore the pride that was here four years ago.
Scott Moe is the new Premier of Saskatchewan. I met Scott last summer when he made a trip to Yorkton to meet with a number of us on the Chamber Executive to discuss the carbon tax situation and the dispute with the federal government. Personally, I was impressed with him and the way he handled things that day. If he can communicate with Saskatchewan people the way he communicated with our small group that day, he will do fine restoring some popularity to the SaskParty. None of us like to see service cuts or higher taxes. But, before you go running to the opposition party, find out what their platform is first. Just saying, ‘We’d bring back STC’ isn’t a platform. There has to be a concrete plan behind how you’d do it, and how you wouldn’t be bleeding money from taxpayers in order to fund it. So far, I’ve heard zero from the other side.
The one issue I do have with our government is that we’ve boasted about 65,000 more jobs and a population that has grown by 160,000. My question is this - how are the other 95,000 people making ends meet? Because I don’t wish to pay for them out of my pocket. If we can’t afford more people, then we shouldn’t be focused on growing the population.
Police in Cambodia have charged ten people (tourists) with ‘dancing pornographically’, including a couple of Canadians. Now, while these charges, on the surface, appear to be silly and complete nonsense; the fact remains Cambodia has specific laws regarding personal behaviour. This is difficult for us in Canada to understand because, here, we have laws that don’t really mean a whole lot. Especially over the last number of years where we’ve just decided people can do whatever they please because it’s their ‘right’. Not making people follow rules in Canada makes it hard when traveling abroad for Canadians to understand that when you go to another country, be prepared to be arrested should you break the law. Telling an authority figure in Cambodia that a charge is stupid isn’t going to save you. Countries have rules for a reason. If we don’t like them, don’t go. It’s very simple.
Nice person mentions this week: Rob Hart, Mike Reagan, Deborah Harris, Lynda Parsons, and Darwin Kells.
