saskatchewan

The drive from Moose Jaw to Edmonton takes you through Saskatoon, which is yet another hilarious place name, and then through Lloydminster, which has the Saskatchewan–Alberta border running right down the major north-south street. Edmonton also has a depressingly large shopping mall—North America’s largest and fourth-largest in the world; larger than the Mall of America in Minnesota, which is just…no.

We did see bison by the side of the road just outside of Edmonton, but other than that, the ride was pretty flat and uninteresting. The real exciting things are beyond Edmonton in the terrific national parks of Alberta and British Columbia. But you’ve got to do the boring before you can do the interesting. (Also, you have to walk around sketchy downtown Edmonton for a while before you decide to go to a different restaurant on the other side of town.)

Remember, full photo gallery available as usual. Next stop: the Canadian Rockies!

Before I left Winnipeg, I saw the Royal Canadian Mint—unfortunately, it was on a Saturday, so they weren’t actually running much of the machinery. But I did learn that the mint accepts commissions from other countries to mint their coinage, and they actually turn something of a profit on it—probably the only government department that is actually doing this. Currently they were producing coinage for Ghana, as well as Canadian money. I also learned that there is no adhesive in a toonie; the only thing that keeps the inner part of the coin tight in the centre is pressure. Regrettably but understandably, they won’t let you take photos of any of the machinery, so I’ve got nothing from there.

But then I went on to Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, and one of those cities whose names definitely belong on that list of words that sound dirty but aren’t. The building of the Saskatchewan Legislature is actually quite impressive; there were no fewer than four wedding parties taking photos in the gardens on the grounds and inside the building. On the other hand, there were only two people besides me on the tour, so we kind of felt like we had the whole building to ourselves, except we really didn’t.

From Regina, it was on to Moose Jaw, which is definitely up amongst the cities with the silliest names on the planet. Disappointingly, there is no moose jaw in Moose Jaw. However, there are plenty of really nice locals and surprisingly delicious restaurants. But other than that…there’s not really that much.

Remember to check out the full photo gallery. Next stop, Edmonton!

Four seats, all previously held by Liberals, were being contested in today’s Federal by-elections. The news media are reporting that the Liberal Party has won three out of four: two in Toronto and one in Vancouver. All three of these seats were considered fairly safe Liberal territory. The fourth riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, elected the Conservative candidate Rob Clarke. There was a significant Nader effect in the Saskatchewan and Vancouver races: exact numbers are not yet available, but the latest data from Elections Canada seems to indicate that the results could have come out differently if the NDP and Green totals could have been added to the Liberal total. (One of these days, I’ll shut up about the single transferable vote system. But not today.)

Basically, these election results allow all sides to claim (read: spin) victory. The Liberals can claim that three out of four is a good hold, they held on to traditionally Liberal territory, this election sends a clear message to Harper’s government that people are fed up with its lack of transparency and distance from the common people, and is a good recovery from the Liberals’ failure during the by-elections in Québec last year. The Conservatives can claim that the Saskatchewan pickup is a vindication of their policies and their government, the Liberals should have run the table because the candidate there was hand-picked by Stéphane Dion, and if the people were really so fed up with the Conservatives, the Liberals should have picked up the seat. The NDP and Greens can claim, especially with the very high numbers they received in Vancouver Quadra and Toronto Centre, that both major parties are flawed and incompetent. For my part, I think Stéphane Dion really needs to take a long, hard look at himself and his leadership of the party.

More on this later. Analysis and actual numbers when Elections Canada finishes counting the votes, and I (and the rest of the country) have had a chance to sleep on it all.