THE TRADER EXPRESS, FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2011
Sask Cancer Agency holds strike vote Provincial A look at waiting lists by province for people with intellectual disabilities who need residential and other care services: Saskatchewan: The Ministry of Social Services says 124 people are waiting for placement in day or residential programs. Alberta: The province’s program for persons with disabilities says it has 61 people waiting for services. British Columbia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island: All acknowledge there are people waiting for services but they don’t provide a figure. *** REGINA - A Yorkton radiologist whose work prompted a review of nearly 70,000 exams is suing for defamation. Dr. Darius Tsatsi (SAHT’-see) has filed a statement of claim against Health Minister Don McMorris, the Sunrise Health Region and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. The claim alleges the defendants made distorted statements to the media that imply that Tsatsi was grossly negligent. The allegations — which have not been proven in court — say the defendant’s words were spoken with malice and destroyed Tsatsi’s reputation. National OTTAWA - Canada has been singled out as the only country in the G7 that’s failing to enforce anti-bribery rules against its businesses operating abroad. For the seventh year
in a row, Transparency International has ranked Canada as having “little or no enforcement,” despite Canada’s signature on an OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Canada is by far the largest exporter among the 21 countries listed by Transparency International as failing to live up to their convention promises. The watchdog group ranks Canada with other laggards such as Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Slovenia, but also Australia, New Zealand and Israel. *** OTTAWA - The union representing urban postal workers says it’s waiting for word today on a new contract proposal and hasn’t given the 72-hour notice needed for its members to take job action. National union president Denis Lemelin says depending on the response, the union is still ready to negotiate. The union has said the proposal covers all
unresolved issues at the bargaining table, which include wages and benefits, staffing levels and working conditions. The union had threatened job action if a deal wasn’t reached by this week. The lack of a 72-hour notice effectively means there wouldn’t be a strike or lockout before Friday. International MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday that his company will save $300 million in interest a year when it repays $7.5 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans on Tuesday. Chrysler plans to announce the repayment at a Detroit-area auto assembly plant. Marchionne has said that Chrysler is eager to pay back its loans in part because of the governments’ high interest rates of around 12 per cent, which cost the company $1.2 billion last year. Chrysler took $10.5
Please Recycle This Newspaper!
billion from the U.S. government to survive two years ago. It has repaid some of the money and plans to give the U.S. $5.9 billion on Tuesday. *** KABUL - The Afghan police say a deputy intelligence chief has survived an attempted suicide bombing. The attack was claimed by the Taliban. A Kabul police statement says Ahmad Ziad’s bodyguards opened fire on a suspicious sport utility vehicle coming at the convoy carrying the deputy chief of the National Directorate for Security on Tuesday morning. It says the gunfire wounded the driver and stopped the SUV, which was laden with explosives. The driver was arrested and hospitalized under guard, pending an investigation. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in a message to The Associated Press.
Page 7
Report from the Legislature The spring session of the legislature allowed our government to continue taking action to move Saskatchewan forward. Our fourth consecutive balanced budget played an important role in helping us meet that goal. Highlights of the 2011-2012 “Saskatchewan Advantage” budget include measures to further reduce income taxes. A Saskatchewan family with dependent children will now earn more tax-free income than anywhere else in Canada. We also further reduced education property taxes on farmland by $55.6 million. Since 2007, our government has reduced the amount you pay in property taxes by $103-million. This is the largest property tax cut in Saskatchewan history. Lower taxes make life more affordable, put more money back in the economy and create jobs. We committed a further $352-million to debt reduction. Because of that, the provincial debt is now at its lowest level since 1988. Debt reduction means lower interest costs and more money to pay for infrastructure and important government services such as health care and education. In the budget, we also kept our promise to increase municipal revenue sharing to one full point of the PST, providing municipalities with a long-term, stable source of provincial funding. Our growing economy and population has put more demand on our roads and highways, which is why our government also invested another $556.2 million into highways. This funding brings our total commitment to improving Saskatchewan’s transportation system since 2007 to $2.2 billion – keeping and exceeding our promise to invest $1.8 billion during our Àrst term. Our budget also recognized the signiÀcant contributions our farmers and ranchers make to Saskatchewan’s economy through record Crop Insurance coverage and by fully-funding the province’s share of important farm programs such as AgriStability and AgriInvest. During the spring session, our government announced that the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society, or STARS, was coming to Saskatchewan. STARS will be operational by 2012, Àrst in southern Saskatchewan, then in the north. The new helicopter EMS service will support our existing air and ground ambulance programs, resulting in faster, more responsive service, especially in remote and rural areas, when precious minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Anticipating signiÀcant Áooding due to last winter’s record snowfall, we announced a $22 million Emergency Flood Damage Reduction program. To date there have more than 700 requests for assistance under the program. An affordable housing summit was held in April. As a result, our government committed $252 million over Àve years to build more than 4,600 new housing units as part of a Àvepoint action plan to help lower income families realize their dream of having a home to call their own. We also made amendments to The Automobile Accident Insurance Act to prevent criminals from the same beneÀts through SGI’s injury coverage as law-abiding citizens who actually pay insurance premiums. The amendments to the act ensure that criminals who steal cars cannot collect injury beneÀts. This is the last legislative session before this fall’s election. On November 7, voters have a clear choice - to move backwards with Dwain Lingenfelter and the NDP or move forward with Brad Wall and your Saskatchewan Party MLAs. I would like to wish my constituents a wonderful summer. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact either myself or Rosalie at the ofÀce at 634-7311.
For more information call
ESTEVAN CONSTITUENCY OFFICE
READY-TO-MOVE HOMES FOR SALE
Doreen Eagles, MLA
#1-1104 5th Street, Estevan Phone: 1-306-634-7311 Toll Free: 1-866-284-7496 Fax: 1-306-634-7332
11054CC00
1-877-854-5724
We’re on the web: www.estevanmercury.ca
www.pioneerhomes.net
11054SS02