After many false reports, it finally does appear as though the city of Winnipeg is getting back a National Hockey League franchise. The Globe and Mail's Stephen Brunt broke the news last Thursday evening and it was immediately denied by all of the other scribes who had, previously, filed erroneous reports. I almost felt sorry for the folks on TSN and the writers of the Winnipeg Free Press, who jumped the gun numerous times only to be scooped by a respected man who waited until there was actual news before issuing a report.
Brunt's major story should be given further credibility when you consider his employer is one of the main buyers of the Atlanta Thrashers. Furthermore, I can't imagine the National Hockey League is overly thrilled with its broadcast partner, TSN, sabotaging attempts to salvage the Phoenix Coyotes, regardless of whether or not you think a 'Save The Coyotes' campaign is worth while or not.
What we have now learned is that with the television deal now signed for ten years, the NHL doesn't care if it loses the 9th largest market in the United States (Atlanta). Furthermore, the NHL knew it had a municipal government (Glendale) willing to shoulder losses for another season and so it only made sense to put a band-aid on the Phoenix situation and let Atlanta go. After all, if Phoenix moved to Winnipeg there would be no place for Atlanta to move to. The fact that Winnipeg is the front runner to relocate an NHL team should tell you that there are, essentially, no more destinations for troubled franchises.
I can only speak for myself, but I can't imagine attending more than 1 NHL game a year now that Winnipeg is back in the mix. Ticket prices will be too expensive for me, as will fuel, parking, and meals. It's worth a treat, but not worth something I would do with any regularity. One friend of mine says he's likely going to cough up his Saskatchewan Roughriders' season tickets for an NHL Winnipeg bundle. I think he's crazy. But, more power to him. I wonder if there are more people than him considering such a thing.
Despite the fact my wife is a teacher, I'm going to weigh in on this dispute anyway. The one thing I don't like about what the STF is doing, is that they are not winning a lot of brownie points in the public eye with respect to grade twelve students who are looking to graduate. They are also not popular in households where childcare is an issue, resulting in a parent having to take a day off work in order to provide for a student who, otherwise, should be in school. I also don't like hearing about wages in Alberta and that teachers make far more to the west of us. To that, I say put your house up for sale and go to Alberta if you like it so much.
Here's what I don't like about the government's perspective: for years, we listened to the Sask Party harp on the fact that we had to keep people in Saskatchewan and prevent them from moving to Alberta. Now that they are the actual government, it's time to put money where there mouths are and pay these people what they, rightfully, deserve so that they don't put homes up for sale. Furthermore, teachers have long sat on the sidelines when it comes to raises in their pay and they simply cannot afford to any longer. Gas prices, mortgages, groceries, and other basic cost of living expenses have increased dramatically. For teachers to say they want 16% over three years when living expenses have gone up by double that amount makes for a request that, to me, is not unreasonable. I look at gas prices as a simple means to accomodate the increase in salary. Everytime fuel goes up, the government takes in more tax dollars. The money is there.
I wonder how many more days teachers need to strike in order for the government to realize that the money saved through lost wages will make up for the increase in salaries over the next three years.
If you are one of these unfortunate people who point to summers off, hours worked, and other apparent perks that teachers have and then say that teachers make more than enough money already; I dare you to put your child into the care of an ordinary labourer for eight hours a day and see how your child fares in the real world when he/she reaches the age of 19. We pay teachers to mould our youth into leaders of tomorrow. For that, they deserve an above average compensation. End of story.
One last comment when it comes to teachers. It used to be that a provincial MLA and a teacher were very close in yearly wages. That's not the case anymore.
Nice person mentions this week to Randy Steciuk, Mike Farquharson, Sean Frankfurt, and Kevin Shirtliffe.
