聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Whether the Saskatchewan legislature was ever a great place for debates is鈥� well鈥� debatable.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We love to talk about the good ol鈥� days when those we elected were all brilliant orators and when every word uttered merited our undivided attention.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 My recollection may not go quite back to the heyday of the Tommy Douglas-Ross and Thatcher Mossbank debate on Crown ownership.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I do, however, recall some great barnburners from the likes of Grant Devine, Roy Romanow and Allan Blakeney on public-versus-private ownership.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Also, it鈥檚 easy to recall any number of brilliant speeches from Saskatchewan Party Premier Brad Wall, whose speaking skills are considered a throwback to those bygone days.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But they were few and far between. Most are time-wasting nonsense that produce a lot of heat, but very little light, even on critical issues like the privatization of the Saskatchewan Potash Corporation when the rules of the day allowed long-winded filibusters.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So whether speeches are any better or worse today than they used to be may largely be a matter of debate. Less debatable is the fact that rule changes limiting hours of debate do cause more succinct conversations.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 As such, one might have thought last week鈥檚 debate motion calling for the legislature to support Wall鈥檚 climate change white paper and oppose the federal government鈥檚 national carbon tax might have been an issue where our politicians of today really rose to the occasion.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sadly, they didn鈥檛.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But that might have less to do with the lack of orator skills among today鈥檚 MLAs聽than it has to do with the fact that legislature has always been filled with debates less about passion or solution and more about the politics of the place.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This is not to say that Wall is not sincerely passionate about this issue 鈥� or even that his arguments against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's $10- to $50-a-tonne (by 2022) are not valid.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A per-tonne tax on oil, gas, mining聽and agriculture has the potential to severely hurt those primary industries.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Wall is likely right that Trudeau simply has not done his homework on how his tax may impact Saskatchewan... or, really, how it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But that happens to be one area where Wall鈥檚 Saskatchewan Party, the NDP and everyone in the province agree.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And given Wall鈥檚 motion in the legislature stated 鈥渢his assembly opposes the federal government鈥檚 plan to impose a national carbon tax,鈥� there seems precious little for politicians to debate.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What also seems of less debate is that something has to be done to address GHG emissions.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This may not be something all that easily accepted on coffee row, but even the Wall government鈥檚 climate change white paper is rather unequivocal in its position that the globe is experiencing its warmest days in the past 11,000 years due to GHG emissions.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But if you look at what Wall and the Saskatchewan Party have been proposing on the environment for the past decade now, this should come as no surprise.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 As noted by the NDP during the legislative debate, the聽Saskatchewan Party鈥檚 2007 election platform promised to "stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2010; reduce GHG emissions by 32 per cent by 2020 and reduce GHG gases by 80 per cent by 2050."
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The NDP also noted Wall's 2010 Management and Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Act that former environment minister Nancy Heppner described as a "carbon compliance price."
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That these issues weren鈥檛 noted in Wall鈥檚 white paper was more than a little strange.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It demonstrates how what gets debated in the legislature isn鈥檛 the best ideas, but either new ones or ideas that have already been proposed.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What we instead see at the legislature is a lot of bluster, but very little exploration of facts.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But if it鈥檚 any consolation, it鈥檚 mostly always been that way.
