This was the week I wrote I had no hoar frost rain marked. I think it has rained every day. I know guys are going to give me a hard time, but that's fair! If you stick your neck out and make a prediction, maybe sometimes you are wrong. I have no problem being wrong if it means we are getting rain. After 2002 I will never begrudge getting rain.
The winter of 2002 had hoar frost almost every day. That summer was almost no rain. I had 60 acres of wheat on summer fallow on the Hewson land that I rented from Little Pine. I took the combine and a truck down to harvest it. The rest of the crop was a write off. It is 25 miles from my yard. I got 237 bushels. That is all. I have been hesitant to mark down a hoar frost ever since unless it is a real good one. No, I will never say stop to rain again even if it comes on the grand opening of the Maidstone Airport.
The grand opening of Maidstone Airport had a good turnout of people with a 150 to 170 people coming for the free breakfast. The tent we rented was handy as it was drizzling at the time. Unfortunately because of the low cloud cover no airplanes were able to land. The ribbon got cut, short speeches were made, the opening is over, the airport is officially open, planes or no planes.
On the home front, we are attempting to spray. Unsuccessfully I would say. The sprayer is full of spray, it's in the field plus the water truck with 2,500 gallons of water. We are ready. We have sprayed about 60 acres before a breakdown and rain stopped us. I must remember the words of my departed best friend Lorne Topley. He used to say if you are started you are half done. I think that is a real truism.
On the political front, Jason Kenny has announced sweeping changes to the Foreign Worker Program. Kenny has caved into the media hype and Canadian unions making it impossible in some cases to even hire foreign workers.
He has barred hiring foreign workers where the unemployment rate is above six per cent.The Saskatchewan region unemployment is 6.4 per cent. Does this means no one in Saskatchewan will be eligible to apply?
A cap of foreign workers of 10 per cent per work site by 2016 is in place. I have only one foreign worker. How is this going to work?
An increase in application fee from $275 to $1,000 per worker requested is effective immediately.
Inspectors are increased from 40 to 60.
An increase in the number of inspection with one in four businesses to be inspected is also on the list. Fines up to $100,000 for non-compliance start in the fall.
The amount of time a foreign worker can stay in Canada is reduced from four to two years.
This was a good program. It allowed employers to hire people where there was no one else available. I have gone through the program two times. I have done the advertising in three newspapers and filled out pages of forms and waited and waited. I have had people from Ontario phone and send me their resumes. I even offered one fellow from Ontario $200 for gas to come for an interview. He was on unemployment and he turned me down. Is Jason Kenny going to go hardball on abuse of the unemployment system? Will he force those guys on unemployment to take my job? That's all I need is an unhappy worker who doesn't want to work. The last time I advertised I had over 50 resumes from all over the world, people who would like to come to Canada and work. They were from the Ukraine, India, Pakistan, South Africa, the Philippines and Singapore. Less than half a dozen were from Canada and they were just trying to use me to keep their unemployment running and prove they were seeking work.
Through his actions Kenny has hurt every business in Western Canada either directly or indirectly. He has not had the personal strength to stand up to the media hype and the unions. He has knuckled under. I am disappointed.
I have known Kenny since the early days of the Reform Party. In those days we in Western Canada were dismayed because when we elected someone to represent us in Ottawa first thing you knew they were representing Ottawa back to us. Have we come full circle, Jason Kenny? Who do you represent? Do you speak for your voters who elected you back in Calgary or are you the latest voice of unions, civil servants and media from Ottawa?
Joke of the week: A busload of politicians from Ottawa was out on the campaign trail driving through the Canadian country side. The bus driver was so enthralled with the scenery he lost control of the bus and crashed into the ditch. On hearing the horrific crash an old farmer rushed over and discovered the busload of politicians. He promptly buried all of them. Later that day a Mountie came by and said "So you buried all the politicians. Were they all dead? " Well" the old farmer said, "Some said they weren't but you know how politicians lie.
