Bronwyn Eyre is a former Saskatchewan Minister of Energy and Resources for four years. She has also held the portfolios of Justice & Attorney General, Education, Advanced Education, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskWater and Status of Women. She resides in Saskatoon.
Bronwyn Eyre. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
How could any news editor determine it was not in Saskatchewan people’s interest to hear the province’s perspective—and that this supposed federal largesse is actually a re-gift?
Crime of omission, indeed.
Anyone watching CTV Regina’s Wayne Mantyka last Thursday, Dec. 5, (“Ottawa providing more than $265M to help Sask. upgrade electrical grid, build renewable projects”) would have been left with the clear impression that the federal government was gifting Saskatchewan this money—presumably out of the ‘Green Slush Fund’.
At the tail-end of his report, Mantyka said that no one from SaskPower was available for comment, and the province had “welcomed” the money.
As usual, he didn’t feel it necessary to actually quote anyone from the province—or, in this case, include the following statement from Minister Jeremy Harrison, regularly referred to in the media these days as a “government spokesperson.”
“Today’s announcement from the Future Electricity Fund is simply the return of Carbon Tax dollars collected from SaskPower customers by the Liberal/NDP federal government, which is required under The [Carbon Tax] Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The federal government has needlessly increased the cost of power for Saskatchewan people, and we continue to call on the federal government to eliminate the Carbon Tax and return the $483 million of [additional] Saskatchewan Carbon Tax dollars they continue to hold in the Future Electricity Fund.”
How can omitting this be anything but blatant bias? Federal energy minister Jonathan Wilkinson was interviewed at length by CTV. How could any news editor determine it was not in Saskatchewan people’s interest to hear the province’s perspective—and that this supposed federal largesse is actually a re-gift?
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Clearly, someone ultimately said something. Because within 24 hours, the web story had been updated to include the above statement. But that’s the usual pattern. I remember it well: complain, and the media will “update” the web story after 24 or 48 hours, after everyone has already read or seen the original story.
As for the $265 million, the majority of the ‘funding’ is for wind and solar projects. All are fully in line, of course, with the federal Clean Electricity Regulations (net zero by 2035)—which the province has formally signalled it will not be adhering to because it considers the CER to be unconstitutional and unsafe from a stable power-grid perspective.
That, of course, was not deemed worthy of mention by the CTV crack team, either—let alone whether we need, or want, more wind or solar.
Buried in the federal news release was this ludicrous ‘quick fact’: “Besides significant cost-savings, studies have found that clean electricity can enable lower and more stable electricity bills…Manitoba, Quebec, B.C. and Ontario largely operate cleaner electricity grids…” Of course, that has nothing to do with wind and solar—these provinces have large-scale hydro.
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There was also this doublespeak: “Findings from the Canadian Climate Institute demonstrate that a model of the federal Clean Electricity Regulations…is achievable in Saskatchewan and provides a lower-cost pathway than SaskPower’s 2050 net-zero plans. These findings…were reviewed by Tim Eckel and John Wright, former president and CEO of SaskPower.”
By “reviewed,” are the feds implying that Eckel and Wright approved or were in agreement with the findings? I hope not. Provincial ministries and Crowns have been far too happy to comply with and accommodate the federal government’s demands. This despite the province’s clear SaskFirst position and formal line-in-the-sand that it would not be adopting or following any policies we consider to be unconstitutional or economically harmful.
As for the media, federal Liberals are currently advocating for a “code of practice” on media disinformation (Blacklock’s), defined as “false or misleading information that is spread with the intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain…”
A Liberal code of media practice! That’s like Al Capone calling for a more law-abiding public. What we need is a freer, less federally-subsidized media.
Bronwyn Eyre is the former Saskatchewan Minister of Justice and Attorney General and of Energy and Resources. Eyre and Pipeline Online editor Brian Zinchuk will be hosting the Pipeline Online Grimes Sales & Service Podcast, starting in mid-January. Watch for it on Pipeline Online and on your podcast apps.
Pipeline Online provides the in-depth coverage on energy issues in this province that no other media comes close to. It does NOT receive federal journalism subsidies (unlike most other media), and it will NOT allow the federal government to limit its freedom of speech, as it is now moving to regulate podcasts. With recent action from Facebook to block news links, it’s important to follow Pipeline Online in other manners. The easiest is to check each morning at PipelineOnline.ca, with the top story posted at 7 a.m. Monday to Friday, and additional coverage throughout the day and weekend. But you can also follow on LinkedIn and Twitter. You can follow editor Brian Zinchuk online at LinkedIn as well (you’ll see more stories that way). You can subscribe to a weekly newsletter. And if you wish to advertise and support this journalism, call 306-461-5599.
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