Verna Thompson

The University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Agricultural Medicine recently released a report on farm injuries in the province, the first of its kind using Saskatchewan statistics. It was based on 147 deaths from farm injuries and 2,293 farm injuries requiring hospitalization in Saskatchewan from April 1990 to December 1996. Examples: The groups at highest risk […] Read more

Today there are five new red dots on the map of Saskatchewan hanging in my office. They represent five more stops in my progress as president of the Saskat-chewan Weekly Newspapers Association. Last week, in two days, I visited the papers at Gull Lake, Shaunavon, Assiniboia, Gravelbourg and Herbert. The visits are informative. Traveling the […] Read more

Sunday afternoon, when I should have been out in the garden, I was sitting with my feet up, nose in a good book, listening to Rex Murphy’s Cross- Country Checkup on CBC Radio. Sunday’s phone-in was special, one of a couple he has every year when he invites listeners to tell what books they have […] Read more

Two studies of particular interest to rural Saskatchewan were released late last week. They may have had municipal officials across the province burning midnight oil. The studies are linked to two others released this spring, the interim report of the Task Force on Municipal Legislative Renewal, led by Joe Garcea, and another on the same […] Read more

There have been complaints in some quarters in Saskatchewan lately about a lack of democracy. The complaints centre around health minister Pat Atkinson putting a gag order on the province’s health boards, telling them not to reveal details of their health plans or budgets until they have been approved by the government. In Atkinson’s view, […] Read more

The world that I grew up in was much simpler than the one in which I raised my children. I’m not saying that it was better. Just simpler. You knew where you stood. In school your teacher was most likely a woman and the principal a man. We were brought up on the Dick and […] Read more

I was brought up in an Ontario home of largely British background where a strong allegiance to the British monarchy was an unquestioned fact of life. Age and experience, not to mention the foibles and exploits of almost every member of the family save the Queen and Queen Mother, have brought not a little cynicism […] Read more

Life is good. The sun is shining, tulips are up and the premier and municipal politicians appear to have reached an understanding about how they will talk about amalgamation. Rural Saskatchewan can breathe again. For some, life has been on hold since the Garcea and Stabler reports recommending drastic forced amalgamation and the government, via […] Read more

Pity poor Greg Gallagher. Last week, the president of the Saskatchewan Liberal Association, not for the first time, had to issue a statement explaining where the provincial party stands on a question of public policy, in this case forced amalgamation. Normally, expressions of public policy would be the job of the leader. In this case, […] Read more

I woke up to snow this morning. I could have predicted this would happen, had anyone bothered to ask. My husband and I are just back from Vancouver where we basked in the sunshine and enjoyed green grass and flowers for five days. It was too much to expect that sunshine would follow us home, […] Read more