Brian Crossman is a partner in Estevan-based Independent Well Servicing. The opinions expressed in this column are the opinions of the author and not necessarily the opinions of Independent Well Servicing.
Brian Crossman, introducing Ryan Smith at the Independent Well Servicing Safety Stand Down. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
I know what you’re thinking. “Oh no!” “Not another article about politics!” “We are f-ing tired of politics Crossman!” Me too. Between the current dumpster fire south of the border, and our own hot mess in the great white north, it is beyond tiring. But before you flip whatever device you are using to read this and go to Tik-Tok or Facebook, give me a few minutes and bear with me.
The other morning, I went to listen to two fellas talk about why they deserved the nomination to run for our federal riding (Souris-Moose Mountain) to represent us in the election in fall of next year. (Sooner please!) Mike Strachan and Steven Bonk both gave excellent speeches that were compelling and agreeable to all the Conservative party members in the room. (Steve won, so congratulations! He is smart, capable and experienced.) They were preaching to the choir, but good job by both. It was nice to have the opportunity to chat with them briefly and talk to some good conservative friends in the room.
People are always complaining about the government. High taxes, poor services, too much government (I am one of the complainers) and we have every right to complain. After all, these are the men and women we donate to, elect, then they are paid a significant salary to look after the day-to-day operation of the business we call our country. So, I am pretty sure this gives us the right to bitch. It gets even more difficult when the people we “hired” increase the size of government by eighty-two percent. Has the efficiency of government improved by eighty-two percent? Nope, in fact it has decreased, so obviously the old saying “less is more” is true. If you follow my logic less government would mean more efficiency. Less bureaucrats equals less money spent, which means lower taxes and that means more money in taxpayers’ pockets. Simple math, really.
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
- 0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
And while we are on the subject of math, I will remind ya’ll that the average salary for a Canadian MP is $203,000 per year. This does not include benefits, staffers and expense accounts, or in Justin Trudeau’s case whatever insider trading increases his net worth from $10 million to nearly $100 million in nine short years. (Note; if you have a net worth of nearly $100 million, wouldn’t you donate your $379,000 salary to charity? Just sayin’.) It has been dreadful debt-full nine long years for Canadians though. But I digress.
What is considered to be suitable compensation for politicians? If you think like I do, they are overpaid. All politicians of any stripe will say they are proud to serve their country, and I have no doubt they are being honest. But if it is truly about service, do they need to earn nearly four times the average Canadian salary? I know we need the best people running the show, and they should be compensated properly. Having said that, most people that run for federal politics are financially successful to begin with. So again, I pose the question, is an MP worth $203,000 per year? My beef here is they continually give themselves raises, and none of the MPs stand up to say it is a bad decision. It doesn’t matter which party they represent; this always seems to be the one thing they can all agree on. Interesting. And before you say, Bbut Brian, don’t you want to attract the very best people to run our country, and pay them accordingly?” I agree, but just watch C-PAC for an hour (probably less) and you will realize, THESE ARE NOT THE BEST PEOPLE.
One more interesting statistic; according to the Fraiser Institute, Canada’s debt ranking fell from the top spot in the G-7 counties to twenty-fifth in the 32 developed countries on the list. Not an enviable position. But what can we do? For starters we can all get involved. Scratch that, we MUST get involved. You work in oil and gas? Would you like the industry to endure? (I sure do) Get involved. Are you a farmer or involved in agri-business? Again, get involved. Would you like health care, trucking, mining, forestry and all the other industries in Canada to continue properly? Get involved. You want your gun rights protected; your taxes brought back to a level we can all afford? Get involved. You want smaller, more efficient government with less waste? Get involved, dammit!
Brian Crossman is a partner at Independent Well Servicing in Estevan. Why did he write this article? There wasn’t near as many people voting at the nomination meetings for our riding as he should have seen. Again, y’all want change, but keep complaining when it doesn’t happen? Get involved. Unless you are voting Liberal or NDP. Then stay home, I’m sure there is something good on television.
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
- 0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001