The Yorkton Chamber hosted an all-candidates forum last week and it was a full house with prospective aldermen and interested citizens on hand to hear what each of the 24 candidates, who are vying for 6 spots, had to say. The first thing that struck me was that none of the people running should be discarded as a protest or joke entry. I think any one of the 24 could get elected and I wouldn’t say that the choice is terrible. Of course you have 5 incumbents who bring experience and then you have 19 others who have their own visions. I have to say each one impressed me to some degree. Without divulging who I intend to support, I think any time a person attends each and every council meeting for the last year as a spectator, that individual needs to be taken extremely seriously. Furthermore, in a time where everyone seems to have questions about tendering and transparency, I want to have a representative in there who knows a thing or two about rules and regulations and has been part of start-up projects. I wonder if some of our frustration as citizens has been misdirected towards our elected officials who, maybe, have put too much trust in our unelected city officials. This is, something, I will be watching very close over the next four years.
Almost all of the candidates talked about the importance of supporting the Yorkton business community. I would encourage voters, when they get the chance, to ask their candidates where they purchased their signs. It’s been brought to my attention that, perhaps, some did not use a Yorkton supplier. This would indicate to me that a person’s mouth and money are in different places. It also wouldn’t hurt to check out the vehicles driven by these people and see the dealer sticker.
Sunday morning, the National Post had a story about a Canadan man who is on death row for committing a double murder thirty years ago in Montana. The criminal is hopeful that spacey Stephane Dion will come to his rescue by pleading a case for clemency. Dion, who hasn’t been known as the sharpest knife in the drawer, says Canada would lose credibility if it didn’t help this man. Ronald Smith says he’s, “Ready to come home.” Yes, I bet he is. What Dion fails to realize is that you don’t have credibility when you fight for every Tom, Dick, and Harry sentenced to death. You, in fact, lose credibility. Hard to believe the majority of Canadians support this, but the Liberal approval rating is sky high if you believe some of the main stream media. It should also be noted that Smith refused a plea deal that would have seen him get a life sentence instead of the death penalty. He’s downplaying the whole thing saying he was young, drunk, and stupid. It almost sounds like he walked into the house, slipped on the wet kitchen floor and, accidentally, killed two people. Let’s bring him home.
Maybe the Liberal approval rating isn’t that high since finding neutral media is an impossible task. In Canada, the CBC really made a noticeable switch to being pro Liberal once it was revealed Justin Trudeau would continue to keep them afloat with a hefty subsidy each year. In the US, news television has become unwatchable. Some affiliations line themselves up with Hillary Clinton and have no shame doing so; while others have done the same with Donald Trump. The icing on the cake came Sunday when CNN warned its viewers to not read through the WikiLeaks documents released that shed a negative light on Clinton, saying that doing so is breaking the law. They implied that you would have to rely on them for information. They aren’t wrong. It’s breaking the law. But, so too was dubbing a song off the radio on to your cassette recorder back in 1988 when that was the popular thing for kids to do.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have won four in a row and, all of a sudden, Chris Jones doesn’t have too much on his plate. Remember all the whining and loveseat managing and coaching that the fans were doing six weeks ago? Jones needed to relinquish some authority. He had too much on the go. He was too powerful. He had lost his eye for talent. He was cutting players too quick and not letting them gel. The armchair experts had all the answers. Yet, here we are in early October and, while the Riders aren’t going to make the playoffs, they have been one of the CFL’s top three teams over the last month. Their salary cap situation is enviable to other clubs and Jones looks every bit the successful coach he was in Edmonton just one short year ago. While it’s true he may not be well liked by folks in the CFL head office or by his peers, the reality is that he’s got the team back on track to respectability.
Nice person mentions this week to: Lorne Wilson, Danielle Mills, Jim Pollock, Marty Sveinbjornson, and Kent McMann.
