Transportation Not Meeting Demand

Posted on by John Klein

It’s been kind of a bad year for transportation in Saskatchewan. Aside from the potential Supercharger for Swift Current, there haven’t been many tangible bright spots for Saskatchewan.

  • Premier Wall rejects the carbon tax plan to reduce emissions
  • SGI says they’re not considering a rebate on Zero Emission Vehicles, as they once had 5 years ago until Minister McMillian of SGI (now President McMillian of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Procurers) cancelled the rebate. Gee, no bad optics there, right? Just an oil industry lobbyist directly encouraging people to buy trucks over EV or hybrid vehicles.
  • The SaskParty closed and sold off the STC Crown, with no replacement for bus service apparently in mind. As a result, there’s no bus service between Saskatoon and Regina! I emailed a company reported in the news as seeking to offer service, and they replied:

    We have not been approved for scheduled passenger service yet

    Sincerely
    Mitch Blyth
    General Manager
    Carpe Diem Group featuring our new Land Jet mobile office division.
    Regina, Saskatoon & Yorkton Sk.
    []531-9626

  • Cumberland House still doesn’t have sufficient transportation to/from it.
  • Via Rail offered unlimited $150 passes and travel in July to youth under 25, then only to 1867 youth, then several thousand, but stopped before demand was satisfied, and failed to offer the pass for additional months, or add additional train service to meet the obvious demand. Saskatchewan only has Via service to 2 cities, Saskatoon and Melville. Regina, Moose Jaw, and Swift Current are left out even though they are on the Trans-Canada as is Calgary in Alberta.

Considering I was hoping a passenger rail line between Saskatoon and Regina could one day be built, it’s especially appalling that the government has ended bus service between the major cities this year.

So what can one person do? I attended the large rally at STC headquarters in March. I’ve pushed on City Council several times encouraging them to have Regina Transit buy STC resources and operate it on profitable routes as a money maker for the City, while providing a valuable service the province has abdicated itself from.

STC Bus Shut Down By Callous SaskParty

Posted on by John Klein

Today is a terrible day in Saskatchewan history. The Brad Wall government has ended public transportation to most Saskatchewan communities. There is tomorrow no bus service between Saskatoon and Regina, a sort of event you’d expect after a major natural disaster, not an incompetent government decision poised to directly harm thousands of people, and inconvenience tens of thousands more.

Cody, who served as the minister overseeing STC back in 1978, argues the decision to shut the bus service down was philosophical, not economical.

“There’s no such thing as a profitable transportation system,” he said. “It simply isn’t there. They tell us you can’t afford $15 million or so over the next five years. If that’s the case, then why would you sell SaskTel, which makes $130 million? There’s a philosophy here and I don’t think it really has anything to do with the money.”

Greyhound and RCMP Bring #StarlightTours To Manitoba

Posted on by John Klein

Do you remember the Starlight Tours? Now you don’t have to be drunk to experience this police mistreatment, only be a First Nations person who is unwell.

A shameful story of racism out of Manitoba today. This is one of the companies the SaskParty is looking toward to offer replacement bus service due to the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) closure and sell-off happening in 2 days!

Spence said he pleaded with the police for help, asking if there was a way to get a ride or find some place to get away from the cold.

“They said there was nothing around here. I said, ‘What should I do?’ They said, ‘Your best bet is to start walking,’” Spence recalls.

Greyhound said in its defence:
“After further investigation, it appears the customer may not have been intoxicated and may have been experiencing a non-alcohol related issue.”

What the hell do they mean by “a non-alcohol related issue.”?

“Spence says at one point he was being followed by a pack of dogs.

“I just kept calm, and kept walking and eventually the dogs left me alone,” he said.”

““They should compensate me. I was scared for my life,” he said.”

This man was thrown off the bus, literally to wild dogs. Greyhound should be giving this man free bus rides for life, for this horrible mistreatment.

NDP Brings Greens Most Pinecones

Posted on by John Klein

Title in honour of a Beaverton joke.

I’m excited that this is the first time the Green Party has been directly involved in governing a province anywhere in North America. I expect great things from the NDP/Green coalition, majority government there. Clark should resign soon.

Nathan Cullen’s Electoral Reform tour stop in Regina

Posted on by John Klein

Why all the Bodyslam Jokes on Twitter?

Posted on by John Klein

You may have heard people talking about Montanan Gianforte. He attacked a journalist.

Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey witnessed the incident at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Montana, according to an account published on the Fox News website. After Jacobs asked Gianforte his question, Acuna wrote: “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.

Ritz: More Dense Than A Gas

Posted on by John Klein

Saskatchewan has a lot of ignoble MPs, but Ritz took the cake this past week. He’s helping to spread nonsense that is solidly a line from anti-science climate change deniers.

“Janice Green: Grow up and read something other than propaganda.
That is called weather not climate change. There is something called evaporation. Which happens when it warms up. Then rain falls the – ocean doesn’t rise. As the north melts the south freezes. The world has managed without your help for a long time. Get over yourself you are just another animal on this planet.”

Could this be the source of Gerry and Janice’s fanciful, and delusional thinking on this subject:

“Revisiting IPCC Official’s “North Pole Melts after 50 million-year Freeze”

blog.heartland.[]org/…/revisiting-ipcc-officials-north-pole-melts-after-50-million-year-f…

Oct 30, 2013 – And one of his friends said, “I think you should check out this Fred Singer guy who’s telling you that climate change isn’t such a big problem…”