Letters: Saskatoon council needs to challenge city hall bureaucrats

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In the Nov. 28 StarPhoenix, an article reported that Cou. Bev Dubois asked Pamela Goulden-McLeod, the city’s director of emergency management, and Jeff Jorgenson, the city manager, for a “detailed cost breakdown” of the homelessness action plan.

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City council approved a $200,000 allocation towards a $1.2-million capital project. The answers that Dubois received from both were vague and even dismissive and, in my opinion, arrogant. Transparency of information is only as good as the information being provided.

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In this case, both the director and manager did their best to avoid providing details. It’s council that is the governing body of the administration and their responsibility to hold administration accountable, not the other way around.

Perhaps Bev Dubois’ actions to challenge the administration will continue and her colleagues will follow her example.

During the new budget review process, I’m hopeful that the new council will have the skillset to investigate details of priority needs for the city, such as a yearly adequate snow removal budget, an item that is continually being dismissed.

In the past, the city administration, including planning and development, have been allowed to fixate on their own agenda instead of the city’s priorities.

Kudos to Bev Dubois to challenge the administration and I hope that council, collectively, will continue to raise questions when accountability and transparency matters most.

Ron Niekamp, Saskatoon

Simple solution exists for scurvy in north

In response to Mr. Mandryk’s column about scurvy in Northern Saskatchewan, I’d disagree that Premier Moe or his party are responsible for this situation. Frankly, it’s a lapse in Saskatchewan values and traditions that are the problem.

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My two grandmothers used to use Occam’s razor (there’s another word for it in Ukrainian) and simple solutions to solve problems to feed their families.

Their simple solution for long winters and no fresh produce was simple. It was local and land based and fits all the trendy words people use these days to hype what they’re saying.

It consisted of cabbage, salt, vinegar, a crock and a large stone. Basically, sauerkraut is the solution for scurvy prevention anywhere in the world. Ukrainians and other groups have been depending on krauted or fermented food for centuries for nutrition and thrift.

Cabbage can be stored for a while after harvest and sauerkraut (or Korean kimchi) can last an extended period of time.

So this isn’t another time to blame Premier Moe or his party’s policies, it’s time to talk to some Hutterite colonies, contract them to grow more cabbage, and load one truck of cabbage, salt, vinegar and spices for taste.

One truckload per year should solve the problem on a person/tablespoon calculation.

This plan might create a lot of hot air, but probably less than the recent election has in regard to Premier Moe and possible policy mistakes.

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Mike Sluchinski, Saskatoon

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