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the centenary plans
There's a lot of "irony"
on this page.
Future still Wide
Open
James Wood, The StarPhoenix,
December 17, 2004
REGINA -- Premier Lorne Calvert
says the government is still mulling what form its Wide Open
Future campaign will take, but he expects it to be tied in to
celebrations of Saskatchewan's 100th birthday.
The province's feel-good promotional
campaign was originally planned for three years, wrapping up
at the end of the 2004-05 fiscal year.
But Calvert has indicated recently
the program will continue.
"I think the future of
the Wide Open Future initiative will be aided much this year
by virtue of it being our centennial and there'll be a great
deal of attention on the province and within the province and
there will be a sense of homecoming for many and I want people
to come home and celebrate on it," said Calvert in a recent
interview.
"But I want them to leave
with a better understanding of the province to take where they
live and work. There will be some national focus. So the centennial
itself will lead to this and we want to be sure that all we're
doing here is dovetailing."
Industry Minister Eric Cline
said this week that Wide Open Future's future is part of deliberations
for the 2005-06 budget.
"We will be putting forward
a request through my department for a certain allocation from
the General Revenue Fund for various activities. We actually
haven't put that forward as of yet and even if we had, we wouldn't
be discussing it until the budget comes out," he said.
The government projects it
will have spent $7.8 million on the program in its three years,
including $1.4 million this fiscal year. Much of the campaign
has been focused on paid media advertising in Saskatchewan and
Canada but this year saw it expanded to include activities such
as attendance at trade and industry conferences outside the country.
Wide Open Future has at times
been controversial, especially when it was revealed the government
had set aside $12 million, including Crown corporation funding,
for the three years. At its launch in 2002, the cost of the program
was pegged at $2 million for the first year, with future costs
to be determined. © The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
2004
Gov't set aside $12 million for Wide Open campaign
Murray Mandryk, Saskatchewan
News Network; Regina Leader-Post December 9, 2003
REGINA -- Cabinet approved
$12 million in spending for "Our Future is Wide Open"
-- several million dollars more than the province indicated the
campaign would cost at the launch of the feel-good, three-year
advertising program a year ago, Premier Lorne Calvert confirmed
Monday.
But Calvert insisted the final
price tag for the Wide Open Future campaign -- which has already
cost Saskatchewan taxpayers $5.5 million in its first 13 months
-- will not be anything close to the maximum $12 million the
government is approved to spend.
And while the Saskatchewan
premier admits "I should have been clearer" with both
the actual costs of the campaign and the fact that half the money
to pay for it has been coming from the Crown corporations, he
denies that his government was deliberately trying to hide anything
when it unveiled the campaign in November 2002 as an initiative
of the Department of Industry and Economic Development. At that
time, the premier said Wide Open's first year would cost $2 million,
and would include radio, TV and print advertising in Saskatchewan
and across the country.
"There was no intention,
or even any reason, not to disclose the funding was coming from
both (government and Crown) sources," Calvert told reporters.
However, Opposition Saskatchewan
Party Leader Elwin Hermanson was not buying Calvert's explanation
that keeping the funding sources and the total campaign cost
from the public was simply a pre-election oversight.
"It really causes a lot
of concern that the government -- for all its rhetoric about
being more transparent and being accountable -- is no more accountable
from the days when Eldon Lautermilch was withholding the truth
about Spudco," Hermanson said.
"I think people will be
very skeptical of the premier's comments. The program was announced
with a lot of fanfare."
And the Canadian Taxpayers'
Federation offered even sharper criticism, calling Calvert's
explanation a lie.
"It's pretty clear to
the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation that these guys are lying,"
said CTF Saskatchewan spokesperson David MacLean, adding he now
doesn't believe the program will only cost $12 million. "Now
we know that they were lying about who knew what, when.
"This whole campaign needs
to be scrapped."
Calvert -- who said last week
he did not know until six months ago that the Crown corporations
were contributing to the program -- explained Monday he had simply
forgotten that the Crowns corporations had been scheduled to
pay for half the campaign all along.
Saskatchewan Liberal Leader
David Karwacki argued "a 13-month memory is quite a pregnant
pause," and repeated the Liberals' call to scrap the program.
The premier's explanation also
seems to contradict that of new Crown Corp. Management Board
Minister Pat Atkinson, who said last Wednesday that government
had gone to CIC for additional funding because the budget at
Economic Development was extremely tight.
But quoting from a cabinet
decision item from September 2002, Calvert told reporters Monday
that maximum approved spending was only $8 million, with CIC
paying half the costs.
However, Calvert would not
release copies of the cabinet document, sighting cabinet confidentiality.
Reporters challenged the premier on his interpretation of the
briefing note that he was reading. Later Monday morning, the
premier's staff released another briefing note saying funding
for the campaign amounted to "a total approval in principle
of $12 million over three years."
Calvert said the relatively
small contribution from the Crowns to the Wide Open Future campaign
shouldn't have an impact on the NDP election commitment to providing
the lowest utility rates in the country.
And while he acknowledged his
NDP Opposition also used to criticize the former Progressive
Conservative administration for using Crown money to fund department
spending, Calvert maintained "there is a difference in degree."
But Calvert did concede there
may be a problem if the annual dividend the Crown corporations
pay to the general revenue fund continues to exceed net Crown
corporations revenue.
"Systemically, we do have
a problem," Calvert admitted. "In the total funding
of the public enterprise of Saskatchewan -- Crown activity and
executive government -- we have been expending in the last several
years more than we have been bringing in revenue.
"We cannot run on the
savings account forever." © Copyright 2003 The
StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Atkinson insists NDP disclosed ad contract
James Parker, The
StarPhoenix, Murray Mandryk, Saskatchewan News Network, The StarPhoenix;
December 04, 2003
The provincial government will
provide more information to the media from now on when it launches
important initiatives such as the Wide Open Future publicity
campaign, says Crown Corporations Minister Pat Atkinson.
However, Atkinson stressed
Wednesday the Crown Investments Corp. (CIC) did disclose last
May that it paid $680,000 to Phoenix Advertising for work done
by the Regina-based firm on Wide Open Future.
Frank Hart, the CIC president,
provided the information during a Crown Corporations committee
meeting on May 27. He was responding to a question from Saskatchewan
Party MLA Brad Wall about CIC's contracts with consultants and
other third parties.
This week, the Canadian Taxpayers
Federation (CTF) revealed the government has spent more than
$5.5 million on Wide Open Future in just 13 months. The three-year
promotional initiative, unveiled with great fanfare in November
2002, is intended to boost Saskatchewan's image at home and throughout
Canada.
In an interview with The StarPhoenix
Tuesday, an Industry and Resources official revealed CIC was
a major contributor to the campaign, a fact the government had
failed to disclosed to the media or the public.
So far, CIC has kicked in $2.6
million. Industry and Resources Minister Eric Cline said Tuesday
it was always understood that the CIC would share the costs of
the campaign with executive government.
The budget for the third year
of the initiative -- the second year ends March 31, 2004 -- hasn't
been set.
"Each year, members of
the legislation, in proceedings that are taped and put on the
Internet, ask government and the Crowns detailed questions about
spending," Atkinson said in an interview.
"This is part of the accountability
and transparency of the legislature. Mr. Wall went through the
information provided the committee and asked a number of questions,
including what was this amount for."
Atkinson said the premier and
cabinet ministers don't always have the full details of an initiative
when they announce it.
Premier Lorne Calvert said
this week he found out CIC was contributing money to Wide Open
Future six months ago.
"This certainly raises
the larger questions that when we are making larger announcements,
we, obviously, have to provide much more detail than what we
have," said Atkinson.
"We have been dealing
with general policy initiatives. Obviously, the media and the
public want us to be very well briefed before we make more detailed
announcements."
Wall took the blame for missing
the reference to Wide Open Future during the committee meeting.
He said he was focusing on other issues, mainly the decision
by CIC to hire an underwriter to assess the value of SaskEnergy.
However, Wall stressed there
is no reference to CIC's contribution in government documents
or CIC's annual report. In the 2002 report, the $680,000 is buried
in the expense category of "general, administrative and
other."
"If this government has
learned from Spudco (the failed potato investment) and all of
the problems of the SaskTel investments, and if it's truthful
when it says it wants to be more proactive in disclosing information,
it shouldn't come down to a one-liner at a Crown corps meeting."
Wall said it speaks volumes
that Calvert didn't know the program was being funded by CIC,
and says even more that the NDP thinks it can dip into the Crowns
every time funding for general programming gets tight.
"I think that's very troubling.
I think that's part of the NDP's legitimate concern with what
happened in the 1980s (under the Progressive Conservative government)."
Speaking to reporters at the
legislature, Atkinson conceded the government tapped the Crowns
to pay for Wide Open Future because money was tight.
Asked why the government didn't
make it clear CIC would contribute to the campaign, she said:
"I cannot answer your question because I was not there (in
cabinet)." © Copyright 2003 The
StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
'Open' future too secretive
The
StarPhoenix editorial, December 03, 2003
There's something deliciously
ironical about the Lorne Calvert government secretly siphoning
money from the Crown sector to pay for a campaign touting the
province as "wide open."
It only adds to the sense of
the absurd that, on the very day the premier announced consultations
with the people, two cabinet ministers were trying to justify
the government's failure to disclose fully the spending on the
ad campaign.
Why bother with the consultations,
when the government's actions show that its accountability applies
only to a portion of the public purse and when a Father Lorne
Knows Best attitude dictates spending of several millions held
within the family of Crowns?
Industry Minister Eric Cline
reacted to a StarPhoenix story that revealed that the Crown Investments
Corp. had been tapped for nearly $2.7 million to pay for the
"Our Future is Wide Open" campaign by saying that it
was the government's intention all along to have CIC carry half
of the cost burden.
Meanwhile, newly minted Crown
Management Board Minister Pat Atkinson stuck to a script that
had her repeatedly claiming that it's clear the government had
spent $5 million on the program, as if that somehow explained
why Calvert, in announcing the three-year Open Future program
in November 2002, failed fully to disclose its budget or funding
sources.
That the government has categorized
the ad campaign budget as a cabinet document and is using that
as a grounds to prevent it from being opened to public scrutiny
only underlines the crass politics and lack of accountability
involved in the project.
Even though it was in the run-up
to an election, many people gave the Calvert government the benefit
of the doubt 13 months ago when it announced a feel-good promotion,
touted to cost about $2 million in the first phase of its three-year
run.
After all, given the province's
poor national reputation, Calvert's idea of using local ads to
"create a million ambassadors" of Saskatchewan citizens
by imbuing them with a positive attitude made sense. So did plans
to use upbeat messages in a 30-second TV spot, along with print
ads, to "sell" Saskatchewan in selected nationalmarkets.
The trouble is, Saskatchewan
residents are finding out only now, well after the NDP won the
early November election, that the government spent twice what
it had said it would on a promotion that undoubtedly benefited
the party.
If, as Cline says, it was the
government's intention all along to have CIC share the cost,
why wasn't the fact publicly disclosed, along with the budget
for Open Future? A $681,000 contribution to the promotion isn't
a line item on CIC's 2002 budget but is rolled into general expenses.
So far this year, the Crown sector has anted up $2 million to
the campaign.
Perhaps, as Industry Department
spokesperson Debbie Wilkie says, Saskatchewan indeed will benefit
from significantly hiking its spending to polish its national
image to match the efforts of other provinces. However, politicians
who make that decision have a duty to be up-front with the public,
and not low-ball their estimates and then shovel money into the
program through the back door via the Crown sector.
Just as the Grant Devine Tories
were wrong to bamboozle the public with financial shell games
using the Crowns, the Calvert New Democrats are playing an odious
game by using CIC money to get around timely disclosure of government
spending.
Taxpayers trying to figure
out how government officials can claim they weren't trying to
hide anything might feel a bit as if they are trapped in the
mind of U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who told a NATO
press conference:
"There are things we know
that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there
are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also
unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know
... Each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
There you have it. As far as
the Calvert government is concerned, Saskatchewan taxpayers are
well served as long as they eventually get to know some of the
knowns known to government as long as they remain unknown unknowns
to the public until the least politically damaging time.
---
Steven Gibb, Gerry Klein,
Les MacPherson, Sarath Peiris and Lawrence Thoner collaborate
in writing SP editorials
---
"Democracy cannot be
maintained without its foundation: free public opinion and free
discussion throughout the nation of all matters affecting the
state within the limits set by the criminal code and the common
law."
-The Supreme Court of Canada,
1938 © Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix
(Saskatoon)
Calvert says he didn't
know Crowns financed ad campaign
James Wood, Saskatchewan
News Network; Regina Leader-Post December 3, 2003
REGINA -- Premier Lorne Calvert
said Tuesday he didn't know when he launched the Wide Open Future
campaign that Crown corporation money would be used to finance
the program, despite Industry Minister Eric Cline's contention
that Crown cash was intended for the project all along.
Calvert also acknowledged that
there is a "political" aspect to the campaign, which
is intended to improve Saskatchewan's image and promote investment
in the province, but has been characterized by critics as a component
of the NDP's re-election campaign.
The government is under fire
for going $600,000 over estimates and sinking $5.5 million into
the promotional campaign over just 13 months, including $2.6
million in Crown Investments Corp. cash that was not disclosed
until this week.
Calvert said there is no reason
why the use of Crown money should not have been disclosed earlier
and denied the government was trying to hide the allocation to
the Wide Open campaign.
But he could not say when he
actually learned that Crown money was used.
"The decisions were made
within government. Not all decisions come to the premier's attention
to decide where all funding choices will be made. We have a number
of initiatives that will be funded by a variety of sources in
government," he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Cline said
he had always known that the costs of the campaign would be shared
by executive government and the Crown corporations.
"I don't know if the question
was raised but certainly, if it had been raised, I certainly
would have explained where the money was coming from," he
said.
Brad Wall, the Crowns critic
for the Opposition Saskatchewan Party, said there was never any
indication that Crown money would be used and questioned Cline's
statements, especially in light of Calvert's comments.
"I think it makes Mr.
Cline's assertion even shakier. If the premier of the province
who very, very much took this campaign into his personal purview
. . . if he didn't know how it was being paid for, there's a
couple of questions there. One, why didn't somebody tell him,
why didn't Mr. Cline tell the premier and, in addition to that,
why didn't the premier ask the question?" he said.
Wall said he was also concerned
by some of Calvert's comments about the use of the Wide Open
Future campaign.
Calvert denied that the Wide
Open campaign's message was the same as the NDP's political message
but pointed to comments by Opposition MLAs and criticisms from
other organizations as negative messages the program counteracts.
"It is a political message,
small 'P.' It's not a large 'P' partisan political message but
it is a political message, a message that says we have a province
that has tremendous opportunity and we need to spread that political
message across Canada," he said. Wall said there is a major
problem with Calvert's comments.
"The premier has to pick
a reason for this program. Is it about growing Saskatchewan?
Is it about selling Saskatchewan to our province and the rest
of the country to increase investment or is it political to counteract
the Opposition and what we may be doing? If that's the case,
the NDP should have been paying for the ads and not the taxpayers
of the province," he said.
QUICK FACTS
- Wide Open Future campaign
went $600,000 over estimates.
- The government spent $5.5
million in about 13 months, including $2.6 million from the Crown
Investments Corp.
- Premier Lorne Calvert admits
there is a 'political' component to the campaign.
Ran with fact box "Quick
Facts" which has been appended to the story. © Copyright 2003 The
StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
"Wide Open"
campaign has wide open budget
SASK.CBC.CA Dec. 2, 2003
REGINA -A government publicity
campaign is generating some controversy over its budget. The
"Wide Open Future" program was supposed to cost $2
million per year; however, one year later, the government says
it has spent $5.5 million on the plan.
David Mclean, from the Canadian
Taxpayers' Federation, says the program was launched to improve
the political fortunes of the NDP and never had a clear budget.
He says the government has
not been forthcoming about how much the campaign would cost.
But Premier Lorne Calvert says
the government has been open about the plan and the cost.
"The fact is we've talked
about this as being a government-wide initiative," says
Calvert. "There's no sense of wanting to hide something
from journalists or the public. We've talked about this campaign.
We've had some good debate about whether we need this campaign.
I remain firmly committed to the need for this kind of work."
Saskatchewan's Crown Investments
minister is defending that agency's spending on the program-a
contribution of $2.6 million dollars.
Industry Minister Eric Cline
says the plan is over-budget, in part, because the government
spent more on marketing at CFL games, in the lead-up to Grey
Cup.
Copyright © 2003 Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Wide Open taps Crown
cash CIC spending angers critics
James Parker, The StarPhoenix,
December 02, 2003
The provincial government's
Wide Open Future campaign has spent more than $5.5 million in
just 13 months, about $600,000 more than the Department of Industry
and Resources had anticipated.
But thanks to the Crown Investments
Corp. (CIC), the advertising effort characterized by the Opposition
as NDP pre-election propaganda won't blow the department's budget.
CIC, the holding company for
the government's Crown utilities, has quietly kicked in $2.6
million to help offset the costs of the program, government officials
confirmed Monday.
The New Democrats, who won
a fourth consecutive term in government in a close election last
month, have never disclosed the fact CIC has underwritten the
campaign to such an extent. Premier Lorne Calvert did not mention
CIC's participation when he kicked off the initial phase of print,
radio and television ads back in October 2002, even though the
corporation had already made a financial commitment to the campaign.
In CIC's annual report for
2002, there is no mention of the $681,000 the corporation contributed
to Wide Open Future during the year. The expenditure is accounted
for in general expenses. So far this year, CIC has spent $2 million
on the campaign.
According to officials at CIC
and Industry and Resources, the government hasn't hidden anything.
"It's never been a secret,"
said CIC spokesperson Karen Schmidt, who stressed it's in the
interests of the Crown-owned utilities to promote Saskatchewan
and improve the province's investment climate. "I don't
think anyone has asked for a (spending) breakdown. But we certainly
have been well prepared to talk about what we've contributed.
As far as I know, it's always been talked about as a government
campaign."
Debbie Wilkie, a spokesperson
for Industry and Resources, added: "I don't know that we
ever said specifically that it was only coming out of Industry
and Resources budget. We always talked about it being government
spending. And we never hid the total amount of dollars."
The revelation of CIC's involvement
opens a new chapter in the controversy surrounding Wide Open
Future.
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
(CTF) provincial director David MacLean, who obtained the spending
total on Wide Open Future after a long battle with the government,
accused the government of playing a "shell game" with
taxpayers by not fully disclosing its funding sources.
"There's definitely a
transparency issue here. The more complicated the funding arrangement
becomes, the harder it is for people like us to track the spending.
It all comes down to accountability. When it comes to accountability
and transparency, CIC is probably the worst offender in government."
Opposition parties were similarly
outraged.
Saskatchewan Party MLA June
Draude said the NDP should have been more forthcoming about who
was paying for what. She said it's inappropriate for CIC to be
kicking in money to the campaign.
"What's going to happen?
Instead of raising taxes for this, are they going to raise utility
rates instead? This is absolutely ludicrous. I can't believe
they thought they could get away with this. CIC is not supposed
to be spending money on this. I think taxpayers should be furious."
Liberal Leader David Karwacki
said CIC's involvement symbolizes the government's problem with
transparency and underscores the province's deteriorating financial
position.
"I don't think it's appropriate
at all. That's the frustration people feel with this government.
They are cagey with the details and never tell the entire truth
until they are caught."
Karwacki said the fact Wide
Open Future is over budget and had to rely on CIC for financing
is a symptom of how the government operates across the piece.
"They don't seem to have
controls or discipline in place."
Eric Cline, minister of industry
and resources, could not be reached for comment.
Wilkie said the government
planned to spend $2 million on Wide Open Future in the fiscal
year ending last March. In the current fiscal year, it forecast
expenditures of $2.9 million. Spending was higher because the
department decided to shoot another television ad this summer,
a decision that will save money over time, said Wilkie.
As for next year -- it's a
three-year campaign -- she said it's impossible to say how much
will be spent because the government is in the midst of the budget
process. So far, $2.5 million of the $5.5 million has been spent
inside the province.
Wilkie said other provincial
governments commit far more money for promotional campaigns.
She said Wide Open Future is necessary because the province has
an image problem.
"I see Saskatchewan's
image (problem) outside and inside the province to be more severe
than what Toronto faced with SARS. Ours is long-standing. We
have almost no image outside the province that's positive. Unless
you spend significant money addressing that, it's not going to
change."
Draude said it would improve
the province's image immensely if the government was interested
in creating an environment that welcomes business. © Copyright
2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Legislative Building
- Regina, Canada S4S 0B3 - (306) 787-6281
News Release
November 6, 2002
Industry and Resources - 859
PREMIER TAKES ATTITUDE
CAMPAIGN TO ONTARIO
Premier Lorne Calvert is meeting
with business groups in Ontario for the next two days to promote
Saskatchewan as a solid investment choice.
The Premier will address business
people in the investment banking, marketing and communication
industries at a luncheon in Toronto today to encourage them to
take a new look at Saskatchewan's image. The luncheon is being
held in partnership with Rawlco Radio Ltd. and sponsored by Elmer
Hildebrand Communications, Golden West Broadcasting and Canadian
Broadcast Sales.
Tonight the Premier will host
a reception for tourism media where the province's tourism attractions
will be on display. In Ottawa on Thursday, he will promote Saskatchewan's
success in hosting major events and conventions to an audience
of convention and meeting planners. Later he will host a reception
for Saskatchewan university alumni and expatriates.
"The best way of convincing
people to invest and do business in Saskatchewan is to speak
to them directly and show them Saskatchewan's economic and cultural
strength, as well as the natural beauty of our province,"
Calvert said. "I am looking forward to sharing the successes
Saskatchewan has seen in the past several years and our innovative
firsts in business and technology."
The Premier's tour is part
of the Government of Saskatchewan's three-year marketing campaign,
Our Future is Wide Open, aimed at improving Saskatchewan's image
both inside the province and across Canada. The initiative is
part of the government's ongoing commitment to improving attitudes
about the province and promoting business and investment in Saskatchewan.
"Saskatchewan business
leaders told us loud and clear during Partnership for Prosperity
consultations held in 2000 that we need to raise awareness about
the province's competitive strengths," Calvert said. The
current campaign addresses these concerns and builds on in-province
campaigns conducted in the past two years, including The Saskatchewan
Dream and Only in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan is gaining economic
momentum with increased development in the oil and gas industry,
technological advancements like the Synchrotron project, and
development of an ethanol industry. Last month, the province
reached record employment levels for September.
"As we prepare to celebrate
Saskatchewan's centennial in 2005, this province is heading into
its second century with exciting prospects. Through our Investment
Attraction Council, we are pursuing new investment partnerships,
actively seeking out new businesses for the province, and spreading
the message that Saskatchewan is a place of opportunity."
"Saskatchewan has great
businesses, great people, and a future that's wide open. Now
we need to spread the word," Calvert concluded.
Go to www.wideopenfuture.ca
for more information on Saskatchewan's competitive strengths.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Debbie Wilkie Industry and
Resources Regina Phone: (306) 787-1691
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
