Verna Thompson

I have become aware in recent days that, when I am talking to someone for the purpose of gaining information, I am conducting a key information interview. Some people really do talk like that. I know; I recently spent the better part of two days in a room full of them, ‘them’ being doctors and […] Read more

There was a bit of a fuss last week when it appeared there would be no farm women on the government-farm organization trek to Ottawa to seek income assistance for prairie grain farmers. Leading the fray was Noreen Johns of the Saskatchewan Women’s Agricultural Network, a SWAN founding member and advocate for farm women and […] Read more

In 1993, 52 rural hospitals were closed. If a recent study is to be believed, the “funding cuts did not adversely affect rural residents’ health status or their access to health services.” The report has been the subject of many a coffee-time conversation in rural Saskatchewan. Two things have been highlighted in the press: much […] Read more

On election night last week in Saskatchewan last week, Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson emerged with a solid hold on the opposition benches of the legislature. Not bad for a party which, on election night, was one day short of being two years old. When premier Romanow declined to call the expected June election because […] Read more

September 1975. I was in Ottawa, working as an assistant to the then-minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board when I took a phone call from an irate Saskatchewan farm woman. Her husband had gone to the elevator that morning to take out a much-needed cash advance. The forms weren’t in yet. She was crying […] Read more

A recent survey shows that more than 20 percent of Canadians are swingers. Club swingers, that is. Golfers. According to the survey by the Royal Canadian Golf Association, in 1998 52 million Canadians, 20.5 percent of us, played golf, up eight percent from 1966. Canadians play more golf than any other people in the world, […] Read more

Economic development has been much on my agenda lately. Finding a use for our former hospital building is at the top of the list. It still sits empty, a symbol of loss. It needs to be used again, for the good of the building and for the town’s morale. Whenever I think of economic development, […] Read more

THE long-awaited, once-postponed Saskatchewan election is finally on. Premier Roy Romanow’s announcement came last week as many farmers across the province were rolling out their combines, and opposition politicians made much of the fact that the premier has called the election at harvest time. The sad fact is that, once a June election was ruled […] Read more

Grain prices are like the weather. Everybody talks about them but nobody does anything about them. Wheat is now at its lowest level since the Depression days of 1933. Farmers are demonstrating. Federal politicians are saying there is help in place. Wait. Flawed though it may be, give it a chance. Saskatchewan’s provincial politicians, notably […] Read more

Last week, a human rights board of inquiry, in a case involving the use of The Lord’s Prayer in Saskatoon schools, said the Lord’s Prayer discriminates against non-Christians. Non-Christian parents had complained about the use of the prayer. In striking down the board’s policy encouraging The Lord’s Prayer, the board of inquiry said the school […] Read more