Ah, such times we live in. A federal budget on Feb. 28, provincial premiers screaming for more health-care money, common people calling for tax relief, farmers hoping for federal aid.
Six more weeks of winter because the groundhog saw its shadow last week.
In Saskatchewan, threats against the life of the premier applauded. And still more talk of amalgamation. Will we see urban municipalities drop from 1,006 to less than 100, school boards from 117 to 20 or less, rural municipalities from 297 to less than 20?
The reason often given for amalgamation is more efficient government, an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
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We all know how efficient big government is. Just ask Jane Stewart, the federal human resources minister who’s in the midst of a brouhaha over her department’s ‘efficient’ file handling.
With all that going on, it was a pleasure last week to play hookey from home and office and spend a day in Rosetown communing with people I don’t see often and hearing some uplifting messages.
The occasion was the third annual February get-together put on by Entrepreneurs 2000 REDA.
Monica Coney of Gravelbourg led off, telling us to live our dreams in this “entrepreneurial heaven” she calls Saskatchewan.
People who say it can’t be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it, she said. “Paint is good” was her mantra throughout, a hint that small towns and empty buildings need not be eyesores. They can be spruced up for little money and in the sprucing up, everyone feels better about themselves and about the town.
Change is good, competition is healthy, she told her audience. We have too many people saying you should do this, they should do that. “Nobody likes being ‘should’ on,” she said.
Consulting agrologist John Spencer of Clavet had a similar message. He urged people to act rather than be acted upon. In life and in farming, he said, there are no quick fixes.
“You can’t quick fix yourself out of a situation you behaved yourself into.”
He advised setting goals and developing a mission statement that will drive goal setting. Write them down, he said.
“If it isn’t written down, it’s a wish. If you write down your goals, they are promises to yourself.”
When things are going badly, he said, get away for a couple of days. “The place to plan the future is from the top of a hill, not down in a valley.”
Good advice to live by, especially in these times when the only certainty is not just change but rapid change.
