Publicizing the 22% salary increase and covering up the $40 million overrun

Premier Romanow: Playing the Number Game

Publicizing the 22% salary increase and covering up the $40 million overrun

By Mario deSantis, April 19, 1999, 10:00 AM (published April 20, 1999)

This morning at about 8:00 AM, as I was coming back home after having dropped my wife

full page newspaper advertising...
these costs were trivial
Sharon at her place of work, I happened to listen to the radio and caught few words of Premier

Romanow defending the governmental cost of the full page newspaper advertising against the

nurses⁽¹⁾. Premier Romanow defended the cost of such advertisements, which ran for the

last ten days across the province, stating that these costs were trivial with respect to the 22%

salary increase over three years tabled by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurse (SUN) at the

bargaining session with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO).

This Premier is such a misleading leader that only after so many years of being in power we

This Premier is such a misleading leader
can understand his political mission and his vision⁽²⁾. Premier Romanow should not interfere

with the collective bargaining processes, and he mixes up apples with oranges when he says

that the cost of the full page newspaper advertising campaign is trivial when compared with

the 22% salary increase tabled by the nurses. It is one thing to negotiate in good faith a

collective agreement between SUN and SAHO and something else for the Premier to

provide an economic direction for Saskatchewan.

detrimental policy direction to play with big numbers, big projects
Economic changes occur little by little, in smaller steps, and making sure that such smaller

steps effect beneficially all the people, and not only the few privileged. The Provincial Auditor

has recently stated that he is going to investigate the $40 million dollar overrun caused

by the closure of the Plains Health Centre in Regina. This overrun is not an accidental mistake,

it is the result of a detrimental policy direction to play with big numbers, big projects and big

times. The 22% was not a big number, it was a reasonable expression of a collective bargaining

process. The $40 million overrun is a big number, yet this Government wanted to cover it up⁽³⁾.

---------Endnotes:

1.
Nurses Strike, Premier Romanow and the 22%, by Mario deSantis, April 11, 1999.

2.
-
The Political Mission of Premier Romanow: Divide and Conquer, by Mario deSantis, April 18, 1999.

3.
-
Auditor seeks answers on hospital renovations, by LeaderStar News, The StarPhoenix, April 17, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Premier Romanow: Playing the Number Game
Publicizing the 22% salary increase and covering up the $40 million overrun
*By Mario deSantis, April 19, 1999, 10:00 AM (published April 20, 1999)*

	This morning at about 8:00 AM, as I was coming back home after having dropped my wife
full page newspaper advertising... these costs were trivial	Sharon at her place of work, I happened to listen to the radio and caught few words of Premier
	Romanow defending the governmental cost of the full page newspaper advertising against the
	nurses⁽¹⁾. Premier Romanow defended the cost of such advertisements, which ran for the
	last ten days across the province, stating that these costs were trivial with respect to the 22%
	salary increase over three years tabled by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurse (SUN) at the
	bargaining session with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO).

	This Premier is such a misleading leader that only after so many years of being in power we
This Premier is such a misleading leader	can understand his political mission and his vision⁽²⁾. Premier Romanow should not interfere
	with the collective bargaining processes, and he mixes up apples with oranges when he says
	that the cost of the full page newspaper advertising campaign is trivial when compared with
	the 22% salary increase tabled by the nurses. It is one thing to negotiate in good faith a
	collective agreement between SUN and SAHO and something else for the Premier to
	provide an economic direction for Saskatchewan.

detrimental policy direction to play with big numbers, big projects	Economic changes occur little by little, in smaller steps, and making sure that such smaller
	steps effect beneficially all the people, and not only the few privileged. The Provincial Auditor
	has recently stated that he is going to investigate the $40 million dollar overrun caused
	by the closure of the Plains Health Centre in Regina. This overrun is not an accidental mistake,
	it is the result of a detrimental policy direction to play with big numbers, big projects and big
	times. The 22% was not a big number, it was a reasonable expression of a collective bargaining
	process. The $40 million overrun is a big number, yet this Government wanted to cover it up⁽³⁾.

---------Endnotes:

1.	Nurses Strike, Premier Romanow and the 22%, by Mario deSantis, April 11, 1999.

2. -	The Political Mission of Premier Romanow: Divide and Conquer, by Mario deSantis, April 18, 1999.

3. -	Auditor seeks answers on hospital renovations, by LeaderStar News, The StarPhoenix, April 17, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan