This month's Weaver is packed with wonderful information and messages from your Leader and SGP Executive. Stay up to date. Be informed.
Homelessness in Frigid Cold
The University Bridge is closed in Saskatoon today (Monday, January 20). A fire got out of control under the bridge and damaged a sewage pipe under the bridge's supports. Raw sewage is now leaking down into the river. Tuesday morning it was -37 in Saskatoon. Closer to -49 with the wind chill.
There has been a lot of talk about traffic flow and delays. However, human beings were trying to stay alive out there last night. It's painful to imagine the struggle and suffering these community members must be experiencing. Maybe the Saskatoon University Bridge should remain closed until the homelessness crisis in our province has been attended to.
The Saskatchewan government’s changes to income support programs are directly increasing the unhoused population. The average Saskatchewan Income Support Program recipient is forced to choose between food or utilities and rent. Every individual receives $300 less than the minimum cost of living every single month. The Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability Program has similar shortfalls. All of this is not to say that inflationary factors aren’t also partly to blame, but even accounting for that, Saskatchewan has not kept up with anywhere near a minimum standard of care.
URGENT - URGENT Seeking Treasurer/COA
We cannot exist as a political party without a Chief Official Agent and Nancy Carswell is sadly stepping down. Please step forward and learn from her before she retires. The duties are:
- Tracking finances and memberships
- Retaining our status as a registered political party (annual audit and party election/by-election returns)
- Issuing tax receipts
Comfort with spreadsheets and databases is required. Do you think you could help with this? To discuss this, please contact Nancy Carswell (306-747-3769) or [email protected] or Naomi Hunter (306-561-8880) or [email protected].
If we cannot secure a volunteer, we will face the serious prospect of having to hire a paid accountant to fill this critical role. This would strain our resources significantly and is an option we must avoid at all costs.
Nancy is very helpful and eager to work with someone and show them how to fill this very needed role. Could it be you?
It is Time to Renew your Sask Green Party Memberships
Many of our one-year memberships to the Saskatchewan Green Party expired on Dec 31, 2024. Renewing is easy and affordable at $5 per year.
You can renew right on our website. Use this link and make a donation of $5 on our donation page. Your membership will be valid for one year from the date of your registration. If you prefer, mail us a cheque or money order, or send an e-transfer for $5 or more to [email protected]
https://www.saskgreen.ca/become_a_member
Federal Green Party of Canada candidates for Saskatchewan 2025
There is likely to be a snap federal election as early as mid-March. Here in Saskatchewan, we have a good group of GPC candidates (many of whom just ran for The Saskatchewan Green Party provincially). They can all use help in their federal campaigns. Here is contact information for the candidate in your area.
Confirmed so far in Saskatchewan:
Valerie Brooks for Yorkton-Melville
[email protected]
Naomi Hunter for Saskatoon West
[email protected]
Remi Rheault for Souris-Moose Mountain
[email protected]
Mohammad Abushar for Saskatoon South
[email protected]
Phoenix Neault for The Battlefords-Lloydminster
[email protected]
Sean Muirhead for Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek
[email protected]
Isaiah Hunter for Saskatoon University
[email protected]
North Hunter for Swift Current-Grasslands-Kindersley
[email protected]
Michael Gardiner for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan
[email protected]
Nasser Dean Chalifoux for Desnethe-Churchill-Missinippi
[email protected]
Let’s all help if we can. Each of our candidates needs a massive number of signatures to get on the ballot – they have a very short time to get those signatures. It takes 100 signatures to get on, but Returning Officers reject some, so it’s recommended to get 150 to be sure. We have a little over a month to achieve that.
This is a good opportunity for voters to re-view our SGP candidates' names and photos. Plus federal elections are more likely to have debates and forums, in addition to media interviews, so they get to practice these skills.
-Naomi Hunter
Petitions - Take Action and Please Sign
You can make a difference.
Together we can create real change in this province. As people across the province mobilize and add their voices to petitions for change, we build strength and resilience together. Add your voice today.
End Homelessness in Saskatchewan
https://www.saskgreen.ca/end_homelessness_in_saskatchewan
Ending Poverty in Saskatchewan
https://www.saskgreen.ca/ending_poverty_in_saskatchewan
SK must act now to remove asbestos in our drinking water
https://www.saskgreen.ca/asbestos_in_our_drinking_water
SK needs a Wetlands Policy
https://www.saskgreen.ca/sk_needs_a_wetlands_policy
SK needs renewable energy - not nuclear waste.
https://www.saskgreen.ca/sk_needs_renewable_energy_not_nuclear_waste
SK demands a new approach to healthcare
https://www.saskgreen.ca/sk_demands_a_new_approach_to_healthcare
Modernity vs. Trump and the Extremists: “If We Want Peace, We Must All Work For Justice”
Guest Article from Alan Bishoff
Modernity refers to a set of beliefs, values and common scientific knowledge that characterize the modern era. These include a trust in the use of scientific methods and research to understand our natural world. Tradition and belief systems are relegated to last-place guides for any understanding or resulting behaviour. A part of this is an agreement that there is only one reality – with different aspects and perspectives on reality, but not two or more distinct realities. Not “alternate facts”. Modernity favours the more liberal and egalitarian interpretations of differences and social relations. For those who have studied and accepted the norms of modernity, as well as for the very young and those who just absorbed the foundations of modernity from the world around us, the “modern” ways of looking at the world are natural, and indisputably the correct way of interacting with the world.
Homelessness narrative must change, says William, Prince of Wales
The Prince of Wales has called for the narrative around homelessness to change, and said the issues should be humanized to "lose the stigma". Prince William was speaking during a meeting in Newport with women who have experienced homelessness. He described one woman he met -- who spoke of her struggles as a homeless teenager after a childhood of neglect -- as a "force of nature".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRmw1RRJNBo
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v399dmjz9o
Raise Potash Royalties to Help Deal with Homelessness
Regina Leader-Post,m Jan. 4, 2025 - "Saskatchewan is the world’s largest potash producer. As Erin Weir indicates in his Dec. 24 letter, due to sanctions imposed on Russian and Belarusian potash because of the war in Ukraine, the price of potash has shot up in the last few years."
However, while the price increase has brought potash companies windfall profits, the people of Saskatchewan have benefited very little.
Breadbasket no more? The future of food could be grim | CCPA
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Jan 6, 2025—Simply stated, climate change could devastate Canadian agriculture and food production in the coming decades. A multi-decade drought could unfold and sear our food-producing areas, wither our crops, and parch and damage our soils. The Prairies, which host 84 percent of Canadian farmland, could be the hardest hit, potentially getting much hotter and drier.
Israel and Hamas Ceasefire?
While we as Greens, of course, celebrate news of the ceasefire announced in Gaza, I feel the need to remind everyone of history. Every inauguration of a U.S. President, Palestine miraculously gets a ceasefire from Israel. After the inauguration, Israel always breaks the ceasefire. The world is being gaslit.
-Naomi Hunter
Elizabeth May's Response to Justin Trudeau’s Resignation Statement on Electoral Reform
The preamble is by Fair Vote Canada. A few days ago, the Globe and Mail published an editorial expressing Justin Trudeau's regret about his broken promise. The editorial suggested that first-past-the-post has worked well and downplayed the importance of electoral reform.
Today they printed a letter in response from Elizabeth May:
Re: “Trudeau’s biggest regret? He didn’t do the wrong thing on electoral reform” (Editorial, Jan. 14): I was intrigued by your conclusion that the Liberals favour ranked ballots because it “would have conveniently made the Conservative Party, or any other right-of-centre party, a dark horse in every future election.”
Far from getting rid of first-past-the-post (FPTP) being a little-known promise in the 2015 campaign, Justin Trudeau repeated it many times. I believe it was a factor in the Liberals’ majority.
In 2016, the special all-party parliamentary committee, on which I served, heard from hundreds of thousands of Canadians, with hearings in every province and territory. Overwhelmingly, they called for fair voting. A questionnaire was mailed to every home with obscurely worded questions, but even that demonstrated overwhelming support for fair voting.
Our committee delivered a majority report recommending proportional representation. No committee member ever moved ranked ballots as an option.
We were not the first parliamentary committee to study our voting system. That was in 1921. It recommended getting rid of FPTP, finding it did not work in a multiparty democracy like Canada’s.
It still does not work for voters; it does work for big parties promoting divisive politics.
Elizabeth May OC; MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands; Leader, Green Party of Canada; Sidney, B.C.
Better Ways to Fight Climate Change
Star Phoenix Letters, Jan. 21, 2025—Fighting climate change with everything we have available is not an optional platform for the upcoming year and decades. The facts are clear: It is an existential threat to all life on this planet. What will our politicians' commitment be?
Read more (scroll down to the second letter)...
Nuclear Waste Buried or Stored
A Blog Post by Steve Lawrence, an SGP member and former candidate.
Nuclear waste, whether buried or stored, remains a ticking time bomb. Bentonite clay is meant to contain it, but its long-term reliability is uncertain. This is one of the hidden risks of nuclear waste management. If we can’t guarantee isolation for a million years, should we keep producing it?
Saskatchewan's $1.2B irrigation project fails any economic test
Star Phoenix Opinion, Jan. 8, 2025 - “Saskatchewan's plan to spend $1.15 billion on the Diefenbaker irrigation project to benefit a small group of farmers fails any cost-benefit analysis.” Ty Thiessen is a University of Saskatchewan student researching methods of government finance and debt reduction. This pinion piece appeared in The Star Phoenix on January 8, 2025.
The Role of Health Care in Mitigating the Climate Crisis
Saskatchewan Today Opinion, Dec 25, 2024 - Canada’s healthcare system accounts for 5% of national carbon emissions—more than aviation—but lacks a unified strategy to address this impact. Unlike nations such as the UK, which leads with ambitious climate goals for its health sector, Canada remains fragmented. Discover how targeted climate action in health care can protect both people and the planet.
A Reality Check on Our ‘Energy Transition’
By Tyee Contributing Editor Andrew Nikiforuk, Jan 2, 2025 - Jean-Baptiste Fressoz “refuses to endorse the term Green Energy Transition, calling the phrase a delusion and a 'delaying tactic that keeps attention away from issues like decreasing energy use.’” He shows that “Evolving high-energy societies incorporate their old energy addictions into new ones to solve more problems. As a result, they consume more energy of any kind.” The “energy transition” is a phrase that distracts us from decreasing our material consumption and energy use.
Sask signals radical shift by clinging to fading coal power
Regina Leader-Post Opinion, Jan. 24, 2025 - SaskPower is exploring keeping its coal-fired electricity plants running past 2030, apparently reneging on a commitment by Saskatchewan's government.
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The Weaver Team
The Weaver articles express the viewpoints of the authors. They may not always align with the policies of the Saskatchewan Green Party.
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