The books of the province are balanced, while the huge liability towards our children(3) is being written off by incarcerating our children and dumping them away from the cities in the winter when they become adults(4). This dire situation of our children is being pictured by the recent release by Statistics Canada of the number of young offenders into custody(5). For the fiscal year 1998-99, Saskatchewan convicted 6,683 children, that is 50% more than Manitoba, and only 25% less than Quebec, a province with seven times the population of Saskatchewan.

Commenting on the problem of our children, Sanjeeve Anand, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, has stated "The problem is Saskatchewan tends to incarcerate people who shouldn't be incarcerated. Kids vandalized stuff, they steal stuff. They do these sorts of things and grow out of it. We tend to criminalize the adolescent who blows off steam."

With the release of the last budget, our government has been boasting the 6th consecutive year of economic growth at the expense of the weakest and most important segment of our society: our children. This is certainly not the way to 'keep building' Mr. Premier Romanow!

Endnotes

1. Saskatchewan Troubled Children: 40% of our school children, by Mario deSantis, January 14, 2000

2. The system is not more worth than one person's rights, by Mario deSantis, July 27, 2000

3. Honourable Eric Cline has not balanced the budget yet, he forgot our school-children, by Mario deSantis, April 2, 2000

4. Mayor Dayday's GNP Accounting: writing off our children, dumping people outside city limits, and building the Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis, March 1, 2000

5. Sask. takes tough love approach to youth crime: more young criminals dragged into court than in any other province, by Leslie Perreaux, The StarPhoenix, August 2, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

This morning's picture "the future" was taken at 5:50 AM this morning and shows the fog obscuring what is to be.