Thursday, 24 January 2008

Open Letter to Hon. Lyle Stewart respecting Enterprise Saskatchewan

On January 22, 2008 I sent the following open letter to Honourable Lyle Stewart, Minister of Enterprise and Innovation respecting "Enterprise Saskatchewan":

The full letter is available for download in Adobe PDF format here: Open Letter to Minister Stewart.

Honourable Lyle Stewart
Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
Government of Saskatchewan


Re: Enterprise Saskatchewan

Dear Minister Stewart:

By now you will have received correspondence from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) dated January 10th, 2008, responding to your invitation to put forward nominees for the Board of Enterprise Saskatchewan. In it, we ask a number of questions, including:

• Are we correct in assuming that the SFL will be a prescribed organization as contemplated in Bill 2?

• Can all other labour organizations who have been asked for nominees assume they are considered prescribed organizations?

• Why did some unions receive an invitation to put forward nominees and not others? (read more....)

9 comments:

dv said...

I was starting to develop a respect for SFl, viewing them as somewhat of the opposition to the Gov't, keeping them in check, and then you go and ask a question like: "Why do we need Enterprise Saskatchewan?" Just because SK is booming now like you mention doesn't mean that we couldn't and shouldn't be taking steps to secure this prosperity going forward, and hopefully allow the province to see smaller downs.

That question epitomizes what is wrong with the labour in this province, they want whats good now, with very little foresite.

David said...

Why don't you appoint one of those geniuses from Prince Alberta or World Wide Pork?

Larry Hubich said...

dv,

Thank you for participating in this blog.

Actually, I've now had two very productive meetings with government representatives from Enterprise Saskatchewan.

One with Minister Stewart, and the other with Deputy Minister Botting.

They see (all of) the questions as very relevant and have undertaken to provide responses.

And David, as for our nominees to the Board - they will be very competent and highly respected citizens of this province. Always remember - our membership comes from people who have been hired by the employer.

Who would you have us nominate from either P. A. or W.W.P.? One of the management people who was/is responsible for the closure or someone else?

HankR said...

Is that why you've toned down the inflammatory rhetoric, Larry?

You think you might be able to actually work with these guys?

Larry Hubich said...

Mr. Insider,

Which "inflammatory rhetoric" are you referring to?

And to set the record straight - I've been "working with" "these guys" for decades.

Don't believe everything you read or hear in the media. Or what you hear from people who have never spent 2 minutes actually talking to me.

HankR said...

Mr. Hubich,

Your actions speak louder than your words...

Larry Hubich said...

Specifics, Mr. Insider? Name them.

HankR said...

All you need to do is look at your posts, including your photoshopped "Worst Labour Legislation in the Country" post.

You don't think everyone of those things is being archived along with your comments for future reference?

Give it a break...

Larry Hubich said...

Mr. Insider,

Again, which posts specifically are you referring to? Sweeping generalizations and broad unsupported statements just don't cut it.

Of course everything is being archived for future reference.

Perhaps your view of how people who do what I do for living should approach defending workers' rights is to cower, shrink, and tremble in the face of opposition and 'so-called' authority. But that's not what the people who elected me expect.

My years of experience in dealing with powerful individuals on the other of an issue is that they have little respect for people they can easily push around.

Let me leave you with a quote from the legendary champion of freedom, democracy, human rights and justice; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Thank you for your comments.