There are few feelings more exciting than that of winning a new car.
I remember when I was a kid, and had free time during the summer months. One of my go-to activities during the day was watching game shows, most notably The Price is Right. (I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 the only one who would make that regrettable confession).
And the greatest excitement for the late Rod Roddy came when a contestant had the chance to win 鈥渁 new car!鈥� It wasn鈥檛 quite the feeling of winning the lottery or a dream home, but you could see the excitement when the contestant was victorious, and their disappointment when they lost.
(It鈥檚 much cooler than a new bedroom set).
The staff at Estevan Mercury Publications and Power Dodge were pretty stoked on Wednesday night, when we gave away a new car 鈥� a shiny Fiat Pop 鈥� to one lucky person.
And there were top-notch secondary prizes, too, thanks to the generosity of local businesses.聽聽
I love my job at the Mercury, most of the time, anyways. But I would have loved to have the opportunity to enter the Pop in to Win contest, and take home that car. (Or one of the other prizes. Especially the barbecue).
Pop in to Win will be Estevan鈥檚 top giveaway this summer.
But this contest was about so much more than just giving away a new car and other prizes; it was about more than having a barbecue to benefit a worthy cause in the Estevan Humane Society, and it was about more than giving a group of young musicians the chance to play in front of a large crowd.
It was about providing a showcase for local businesses. We believe in shopping locally. We believe that Estevan has a great business community that is well worth our support.
When you have an initiative like this, it鈥檚 a win-win situation for everybody. It鈥檚 great for the customers and the thousands of people who entered. It鈥檚 great for the businesses, because they get more people in the door.
And it was a promotion that was a lot of fun, too. The car made appearances throughout the community during the summer months. Videos from local businesses were well-watched. And people were excited to find out they were among the finalists, even if their odds of winning were around one-in-275.
The more you shop locally, the better off we all are. I鈥檝e never seen Amazon sponsor a local youth baseball team or donate to the St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital Foundation. They鈥檝e never spent a dime on property taxes in Estevan, and they鈥檝e never hired someone to work in Estevan.
I鈥檝e never spent a dime through Amazon; I doubt I ever will.聽
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The provincial government says it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the carbon tax that the federal government is trying to force-feed on this province.
I say keep fighting.
Sometimes you鈥檙e better off fighting a good fight, even if defeat is inevitable. I鈥檓 a big advocate for pragmatism; continuing to fight the feds on this file is far from pragmatic, since Saskatchewan (and the other provinces) will lose every appeal they have. The feds are right when they say emissions don鈥檛 have boundaries.
Perhaps the only surprising part about this court challenge so far is that some of the appeals court justices have sided with the provinces.
A couple of years ago, the federal government capitulated and awarded Omar Khadr a $10 million settlement. It was a case that the feds were going to lose. But people would have likely been happier if the feds would have taken the fight all the way, lost, and been forced to pay Khadr the $27 million he was looking for.
Of all the things that Premier Scott Moe has done right in his 18 months as Saskatchewan鈥檚 premier, the best move has been continuing to fight the Liberals on this particular file.
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I鈥檓 not one of those to say 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen that before.鈥� I have a keen memory. I鈥檝e seen lots of crazy things, and I鈥檓 usually quick to point it out when someone talks about a situation they view as unprecedented.
But I saw a first the other night in the Pittsburgh Pirates-Cincinnati Reds Major League Baseball game. A Cincinnati player charged the Pittsburgh dugout. On his own. Sure, his teammates quickly joined him, but you had to wonder what the Pirates were thinking when one player ran towards them.
Here鈥檚 the kicker: Yasiel Puig of the Reds had just been traded to the Cleveland Indians during the game. He remained in the contest, and was ejected in the brawl. He might be suspended.
Not sure if that has happened before.
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If you鈥檙e expecting much of a comment from me on the B.C. Lions鈥� loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last weekend in B.C., keep dreaming. You鈥檙e not getting one.
Other than this: less than 100 of net offence in a home game?
The lineup for the bar at the Rafferty Rumble street dance was more entertaining.
