Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill. Photo by Michelle Zinchuk
Way back in June, the Saskatchewan Party government announced the introduction of a new Oil and Gas 20 and 30 class to be offered this January through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre. Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill made the announcement, fittingly, at the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show.
Well, the reaction from the chattering class in Saskatchewan media was harsh, to say the least.
“You can surmise how little Saskatchewan’s government thinks of its education system, since it believes people are gullible enough to see merit in new oil and gas classes,” said Phil Tank of the StarPhoenix, on June 12.
Gullible. Really? Perhaps it is Tank who is gullible, thinking that oil and gas has no merit, especially since oil and gas is the No. 1 contributor to Saskatchewan’s gross domestic product. Not potash, not uranium. Not even agriculture – it’s oil and gas that’s No. 1.
But that’s okay, Tank says, “If the industry accounted for a major slice of Saskatchewan’s employment pie or a voluminous chunk of the province’s economy, you could understand this venture.”
“If?” “Voluminous?” What part of largest contributor to GDP does Tank not understand?
Tank continues, “But oil and gas extraction and related industries only employed 5,100 people in the province in 2021, or less than one per cent of the total workforce, according to Statistics Canada. The University of Saskatchewan employs more people, but how often does the government talk about that institution?”
Do you know who pays for the University of Saskatchewan? Oil and gas. And the U of R, too. And a huge chunk of our provincial revenue. Because economies need industries to pay for such things.
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But wait, Tank does acknowledge oil and gas’ contribution to GDP – he just doesn’t understand what it means. “When it comes to the economy, oil and gas amounted to about nine per cent of gross domestic product in 2022. That’s significant, but it fails to justify the industry frequently capturing 100 per cent of the government’s focus,” he writes.
I could go on, but the rest is just drek. Trash.
And then there’s Murray Mandryk from the Leader-Post. I will grant he was more charitable to the idea of trades training, even for oil and gas. But on June 10 he wrote:
“Notwithstanding Cockrill’s guarantee that the DLC is developing the curriculum, the government’s own release states ‘Teine Energy will collaborate with educators at Sask DLC to develop’ these courses. Shouldn’t educators be the ones educating?
“What about precedent here? Do other private businesses and corporations now get to dictate the terms of such skills training in schools? Might there be a conflict in handing over such training to a single oil company? What now happens when it comes to issues like abandoned wells?
“Even if we can set aside the Sask. Party government propaganda about the ‘importance of the Oil and Gas industry’ (ironically, the very next news release the government put out was headlined: Federal coalition government plans new gag law on Saskatchewan oil and gas companies) isn’t there at least a perception problem of corporate indoctrination of high school kids?”
So I guess the automotive classes could probably be accused of indoctrinating kids with the propaganda that driving might be preferable to walking?
During a related press conference, one of the reporters pointed out “oil and gas jobs may not be around for the long term considering the movement towards green energy.”
Oh, the irony. Do you know what industry is in decline? Journalism. This past March, Glacier Media put all of its buildings in Saskatchewan, including the one holding its printing plant, up for sale. That happened right when the sold their website, SaskToday.ca, to Harvard Media. What do you call a newspaper company without a printing press or website? “Gone.” Don’t be surprised when it happens.
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A few days after the oil show scrum, Global announced massive layoffs in its news division. That comes after round after round of layoffs at CBC, CTV, Postmedia and basically everyone else in the mainstream media space. It’s even possible the person who asked that question might have been laid off the following week.
I admittedly should have finished this column months ago. But the interceding nearly five months have also been revealing. In August, Sask DLC courses for tourism on Aug. 27 and automotive and autobody were announced on Sept. 19. And in the time since then, the braying columnists issued nary a peep about the horror of those sectors assisting with those classes. No columns about indoctrinating young people working in hotels, for instance.
And it’s not both Tank and Mandryk haven’t had ample opportunity to write about the perils of hoteliers influencing the minds of students since then, or auto body shops proclaiming the wonders and horrors of Bondo. Mandryk wrote about education promises on Sept 12, but no outrage against the evils of bodymen indoctrinating children.
Canada’s oil production has soared over the last two decades, and it continues to rise. The Saskatchewan Party made a goal of increasing oil production by a full third by 2030. And Sask Party Leader Scott Moe told Pipeline Online in October he’d like to see up to a million barrels per day of production. NDP Energy Critic Aleana young said, “I think 600,000 is a laudable goal.” Party leaders for the Buffalo Party and Saskatchewan United have similarly set goals of a million and 500,000 barrels per day, respectively, up from the current 454,000 barrels per day. Only the Greens want us to transition away from oil and gas.
I have been critical of the Sask Party government not making a lot of concrete steps in that regard until recently, but that’s all changed. The new multilateral well program, and now this school program, are major steps in this area. Because increasing our oil production by a third will pay for more hospitals, schools, and yes, universities. And we need the people to do that.
It wouldn’t hurt to have some classes to help kids get there. I look forward to my son taking Oil and Gas 20 this January. Hell, I even spent a good chunk of July working writing a draft curriculum for the course, with the assistance of two Estevan oilmen, and submitted it to the minister for consideration. Why? Because industries should have a direct say in what is being taught to the young men and women who will soon be their workforce.
They kinda know what they’re talking about.
Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@pipelineonline.ca
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https://pipelineonline.ca/election-2024-increase-oil-production-to-600000-bpd-saskatchewan-party/