Once the victim of hasty prairie settlement, the PFRA Community Pastures became grassland jewels through belated foresight and science-based planning. The termination of this world-class program was embedded in omnibus bill C-38, with ownership of the land returned to the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government’s plan is to sell or lease the 62 individual pastures, privatizing these important public commons.
Katherine Arbuthnott and Josef K. Schmutz review the history of the PFRA and the multiple benefits of the community pastures, presenting an alternate strategy to management that is emerging among concerned Saskatchewan citizens.
Once the victim of hasty prairie settlement, the PFRA Community Pastures became grassland jewels through belated foresight and science-based planning. The termination of this world-class program was embedded in omnibus bill C-38, with ownership of the land returned to the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government’s plan is to sell or lease the 62 individual pastures, privatizing these important public commons. While the intention to sell only to farmer/rancher groups protects cattle production benefits, it risks important public benefits including carbon sequestration, air and water purification, drought prevention, and endangered species habitat. These public benefits are reliant on professional range management, which is absent from the current plan. The loss of knowledge about these fragile ecosystems held by PFRA managers is particularly significant as the prairies adapt to climate change. This article reviews the history of the PFRA and the multiple benefits of the community pastures, and presents an alternate strategy to management that is emerging among concerned Saskatchewan citizens.
About the Authors:
Katherine Arbuthnott is a conservation psychologist at Campion College, University of Regina.
Josef Schmutz is a conservation biologist atUniversity of Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan Office Director Simon Enoch evaluates the provincial budget and whether our province is in the grips of the same fiscal delusions as Alberta.
In the summer of 2012, the Saskatchewan government published its anti-poverty strategy, From Dependence to Independence, claiming that no previous administration in the province had approached the challenge of poverty “with a comparable commitment to holistic, cross-government solutions.”
Our new report assesses the claims of the government’s strategy, critically comparing Saskatchewan’s anti-poverty plan to that of other provincial programs to reduce poverty. Saskatchewan’s Anti-Poverty Plan, From Dependence to Independence: Does It Measure Up? by Brian Banks and Paul Gingrich demonstrates several serious shortcomings within the government's anti-poverty strategy arguing that the government has not committed to the development of a comprehensive and integrated plan even though it claims to have done so.
View the full report here.
"Mapping Corporate Power in Saskatchewan" traces the ties between the major corporate contributors to both the Saskatchewan Party and the New Democratic Party, and their links to other corporate interest and advocacy groups. The research demonstrates that Saskatchewan corporations have the networks, the committed leadership, the organization, and the access to government to play a large role in shaping public policy. As record amounts of corporate money flood our political system, Saskatchewan urgently needs a publicly accessible lobbyist registry to let citizens track corporate lobbying. As one of the few provinces that do not currently have a lobbyist registry, Saskatchewan is vulnerable to the perception that corporations have undue influence over both major political parties.
This summer, the CCPA's Saskatchewan Office held a unique citizens' conference on the future of medicare in Canada. Envisioning the Future of Medicare brought together some of the leading experts on public healthcare in the province, such as Dr. Ryan Meili, Dr. William Albritton and Dr. John Bury, among others. This video captures their thoughts on what is required to sustain and expand public healthcare for all Canadians.
The CCPA Monitor is the only place I know that one can go to for accurate and honest reporting on the state of the world. I would hate like hell to ever be without The CCPA Monitor; it would be like losing my sight and my hearing. I heartily recommend it to anybody who gives a damn about the condition of the world.
— Farley Mowat