Saskatchewan will always be a province with its divisions.
That's just who we are. We are rural. We are urban. We are business. We are labour. We come from the co-operative social democrat belief. We come from the free enterprise, independent conservative view.
It has been ever thus in Saskatchewan, but we've survived because of one important thing: We respect that we all need each other if we are to make it through times of greatest need.
This is what's got us through harsh winters, vicious summer storms and droughts. We've learned that there are times when our beliefs and passions must be secondary to the need to pull together. And we have somehow figured out that taking advantage of situations or vilifying the other side in these times of need gets us nowhere.
Or at least, we've tried. We still occasionally forget the importance of respect for one another that got previous generations through the hard times. And this spring has reminded us that the age-old struggle is alive and well - even as we all know we should be setting aside our differences to deal with the flooding.
At the heart of this issue is the decision by the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU) to pull its crop insurance adjusters from work just as the farmers have become filling in flood-damage claims.
While most of the criticism has been rightly levelled at the union for its comments and actions, this is a classic situation where both sides have clearly forgotten the need to be co-operative, conciliatory and - most importantly - respectful.
The situation got out of hand quickly, because of one stupid comment from SGEU President Bob Bymoen that striking crop adjusters had a "window of opportunity here where they can put pressure on the employer and they're accessing that opportunity."
This comment was completely insensitive to farmers and others whose life and livelihood have been threatened by the flooding. Bymoen was rightfully hammered for being disrespectful. After all, it is the unions who always talk about how they are really working for Saskatchewan and the need for all Saskatchewan to pull together.
What should also be noted, however, is that was one stupid remark. SGEU negotiating chairman and spokesman Allan Evans was far more conciliatory and apologized for the disruption. After two years of negotiation in which the government hadn't moved off 5.5 per cent over three years, there was no progress being made, Evans said. And while the spring flooding was a bad time for crop adjusters to go on strike, so would summer hail season or after a fall frost.
Obviously, this doesn't absolve SGEU from Bymoen's remark. Nor does it change the reality that SGEU did pull its workers during the flooding in an attempt to apply a little leverage to government. This was disrespectful.
But let's add a little more perspective. Crop inspectors were in a legal strike position and the government offer after two years was hard generous or respectful.
And it seems a bit of an over reaction after one-day off the job to be legislating back to work a few employees whose main job is to help fill in insurance forms. A lot of people would agree with Premier Brad Wall that their actions were "unconscionable" and "deplorable." Bymoen's comment was certainly disrespectful.
But if the union and its leadership behaved disrespectfully, one could argue that so did Wall - especially in his eagerness to vilify them. After all, many crop adjusters are farmers, too - or at least rural people whose live in rural Saskatchewan and are well aware of the reality out there right now.
And the one thing all of in this province should know is things don't work here unless people have respect for one another.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
