story272

Our NDP leadership has been molded by our Premier Roy Romanow to such an extent that they cannot get away from the linearity of their thinking. Their reasoning can be equated to the regressive equation of a line, a bit less here and a bit more there. Therefore, it is not a surprise that Honourable Van Mulligen, Minister of Social Services, has issued news releases under the heading "HISTORIC DECLINE IN WELFARE CASES(1)" for many Saskatchewan communities.

Just recently we have written articles identifying how our province is disenfranchising our children(2), how our labour force is leaving the province in an environment of economic and social gloom(3) and now we have Van Mulligan spinning the truth and showing a literate intelligence which can be summarized by the three words: cut, copy, paste. Yes, Van Mulligan has been using the word-processing features of cut, copy and paste to show the innovative mentality of his department. All of his news releases include exactly the same wording with the exception of the names of the related communities and few numbers. So, the bottom line is that Van Mulligen has decreased welfare on paper, and it has increased poverty in this province. The last sentence of Van Mulligan's releases reaffirms the spin-doctoring of his government "Our government is committed to policies and programs that insure everyone in the province can exercise their right to participate in society."

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

Quote by Donella Meadows "challenging a paradigm is not a part-time job. It is not sufficient to make your point once and then blame the world for not getting it. The world has a vested interest in, a commitment to, not getting it. The point has to be made patiently and repeatedly, day after day after day" ftp://sysdyn.mit.edu/ftp/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4143-1.pdf The Global Citizen, http://www.tidepool.org/gc/

1. HISTORIC DECLINE IN WELFARE CASES, Government of Saskatchewan, December 7, 2000 News Releases http://www.gov.sk.ca/newsrel/2000/12/

2. A message to Honourable Janice MacKinnon: Saskatchewan didn't reduce its child poverty rate between 1989 and 1997, by Mario deSantis, November 21, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis269/childpoverty.html

3. Honourable Janice MacKinnon says: Saskatchewan is the Star of the Nineties, by Mario deSantis, December 3, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis277/EcDevNovStats.html