TILMA back on the table in Saskatchewan

So Saskatchewan has become a member of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region, or PNWER. Which has among its other plans, the expansion of TILMA.

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Boyd added that the government could take look at TILMA again in the future, if Alberta and B.C. showed there was room for movement in the agreement.

"But at this point in time our relationship is with PNWER here and we're very excited about that," Boyd said.

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Let the election-promise breaking begin!

TILMA Round-Up

With the TILMA hearings starting in Saskatchewan - here is a roundup of some of the bloggers and their thoughts on TILMA

First of all, mine

The Jurists

The Saskatchewan Citizen's Federation

Larry Hubich

Swift Current NDP

Politics and Poetry

Relentlessly Progressive Economics

Word Press

Owls and Roosters

The Saskatchewan Government and TILMA

This is a good article:

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At the end of March, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) announced that it had several concerns about the interprovincial trade agreement, and wanted either its concerns addressed before the Saskatchewan government signed on, or opting-out provisions for municipal governments.

To that, most of TILMA’s supporters in Saskatchewan’s business and political communities respond with two words: “Trust Us.”

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Yeah, Like I am going to "trust" the business community and Brad Wall.

There is some good background information on TILMA here

Apperently the National Post knows something we don't

In this article on TILMA there is a very interesting paragraph:

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In reality, TILMA exempts non-profit corporations (such as the Riders), regulations governing water, taxation, standards for health and social services, agriculture and Crown Corporations. What it will do, says Mr. Gartner, is turn the West into Canada's second-largest economy, next to Ontario (where politicians have also mused about possibly signing on to TILMA). For Saskatchewan's NDP, boosting business against the wishes of the party's big union backers is risky -- especially with an election in October

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Never mind that they are wrong about TILMA - the only mention of Crown Corporations is in the transitional period section (section 6) and not in the exemption section (section 5) - they are not otherwise protected.

But how is it that the National Post knows the date of the next election?

TILMA in Saskatchewan

The provincial government has finally gotten of its collective behinds and released the TILMA assessment done for Saskatchewan by the Conference Board of Canada.

For the flaws in these types of studies, read these different assesments of the same analysis done for the original BA/Alberta agreement.

However, a quote from page 6 should make people think twice:

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As with any comprehensive agreement, the TILMA presents not only opportunities for Saskatchewan Economy [sic] but also contains potential risks. Reduced legislative independence of the provincial and municipal governing bodies, a potential loss of local procurement contracts and short-term increased provincial out-migration would lower the potential positive economic impact on the province

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And this is from the PRO-TILMA side! Yikes!