Trading Thoughts: Looking under the bed for Liberal conspirators in Saskatchewan

This summer a farmer in the Pense district spotted a black SUV on his property and went to find out who was on his land without permission.

It turned out to be federal government employees taking water samples from his dugout.

He called the province to complain and set off a political storm.

That weekend the Moe government passed an order-in-council adding federal government employees to the list of people needing permission to step onto private property.

The outrage by members of the Moe government that followed suggested this was another Liberal plot to meddle in Saskatchewan affairs.

One phone call or text could have settled the whole situation without all the political baloney.

Russel Wangersky, publisher of the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix, put the matter into perspective in his Sept. 1 column.

The provincial government has known about the federal water testing for years. Wangersky found a paper trail going back to 2018 on the file.

In fact, the province asked the feds to conduct the water tests as Saskatchewan didn’t have the resources.

Instead of solving the farmer complaint with one call, the Moe government pounced on the situation to demonize the feds’ interference with farmers.

Incidentally, it is hard to buy federal claims that water tests don’t include pesticide residues.

In another similar demonization of the federal government, politicians and rural spokesmen were immediately condemning federal Liberal policy to reduce fertilizer emissions by 30 per cent, claiming that great a reduction isn’t feasible, was pulled out of thin air, caught farmers off guard, didn’t involve consultation and so on.

An article in the Western Producer weekly newspaper put those claims into a different perspective.

University of Manitoba researcher Dr. Mario Tenuta was surprised at the commotion. He and his team have been working on the reduction of fertilizer emissions.

Tenuta says the 30 per cent emission reduction target matched his research and is totally achievable and realistic.

Doing similar research Rick Farrell of the University of Saskatchewan says yields and profits won’t be affected by the plan.

“I think 20 per cent reduction is going to be fairly easy to get to and the next 10 per cent is going to be a little more work.’’

One technique to reduce emissions considerably is already being used on some farms, he said.

Products called nitrification inhibitors are used to reduce fertilizer use and save farmers money.

The bacteria in these inhibitors converts ammonium into nitrates, thus improving effectiveness of fertilizer, reducing emissions and saving costs.

Once again the truth isn’t aligned with the Moe government response to the emissions reduction plan.

One recalls that McCarthy era in American politics when the anti[1]Communists were accused of seeing a Communist under every bed.

Does the Moe government see a Liberal conspirator under every bed? It seems so.

Given all the money the feds send our way, our government should co-operate with, not pick fights, with the feds.

Should we be constantly kicking this source of funds in the shin?

Ron Walter can be reached at [email protected].