Saskatchewan Survivor's Guide

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Been a busy summer for both Paul and I. In this episode we covered: * Regina City Council’s new budget process. * How media coverage distorts municipal budgeting. * Everyday challenges facing Saskatoon and Regina, from overdoses to late-night empty buses to the shifting Cathedral neighbourhood. * The controversy behind the province’s $187-million water bomber purchase, conflict of interest allegat...

In this episode, Tammy and Paul dive into the latest buzz around pop star Chappell Roan’s hit song “The Subway,” which unexpectedly put Saskatchewan on the pop culture map. We critically examine the disconnect between Roan’s celebratory tone and the province’s social realities, including human rights concerns. We talk Saskatchewan politics, wildfire management, economic impacts, and Saskatchewan P...

We had an in-depth discussion on the leadership of Mark Carney: promises versus reality, federal austerity plans, and skepticism over dramatic cuts to CBC and Via Rail. We also took an inside look at turmoil within the Saskatchewan Party following the abrupt exit of executive director Patrick Bundrock, including his rumoured tension with Premier Scott Moe and implications for Moe’s upcoming confid...

In this episode Paul and I try to clear our summer brain fog, nostalgic for a time when a relentless stream of wildfires and smoke didn’t define our glorious but brief reprieve from the snow in Saskatchewan. But this is the new normal: earlier, longer wildfire seasons and the persistent haze of smoke blanketing yards, outdoor pools and playgrounds. Meanwhile, as per normal in any kind of crisis, S...

Can’t actually believe it’s been six weeks since we released a podcast. Apologies. There’s been a lot going on. In this extended episode we discuss the Saskatchewan government’s handling of wildfires as well as their “decision” to continue burning coal. After spending time in Regina for the first time in years, Tammy rants about the state of Regina’s downtown, road construction and its overall inf...

In this episode… * Regina’s Fluoridation Debate : Councillor Bezo’s anti-fluoride push pushed back when his expert was discredited right in front of him. * Costco-GTH Controversy : Costco’s plan to build inside Regina city limits (and conveniently, on property owned by mega-Sask Party supporter Paul Hill) was threatened by a cheaper GTH deal, prompting Regina to pay $6.7M to keep them inside. * Re...

Paul and Tammy go over the federal election results and what they might mean for Saskatchewan, the Sask Party and Saskatchewan NDP. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tammyrobert.substack.com/subscribe

This was supposed to be an episode dedicated entirely to the REAL debacle, but we ended up working in a bit more federal election chat with the release of Rubicon Strategies, doing a bit deep dive on Saskatoon and Regina. Then we get into REAL which to me is so representative of the expensive, publicly-funded chaos and dysfunction in Saskatchewan government circles right now. It’s just got everyth...

We recorded this episode on Friday evening, but my weekend got away from me. In it we talk federal election politics in Saskatchewan, as well as this gong show involving Dollarama Donna Harpauer here, Sask Party MLA for Humboldt, Racquel Hilbert. This is just an excerpt of her performance in the Leg that day, which I said I’d include in the show notes: Enjoy, T This is a public episode. If you'd l...

Here’s your show notes: Okay it’s not that bad, but we are kind of all over the place, from the City of Regina’s budget shitshow to the Scott Moe shitshow. Perhaps more entertainingly(?), in this episode we address my relationship with the male species of Saskatchewan. “She hates men!” Heard it time and again. Nothing could be further from the truth. I adore men. Real men. The kind who’ve wrestled...

Produced by Paul Dechene. In this episode we dive back into the controversial Diefenbaker Irrigation Expansion Project, a multi-billion-dollar initiative and a high-stakes gamble for Saskatchewan taxypayers, with shaky economics, outdated planning, and significant environmental risks. Ty and I are joined by Al Burchard, a seasoned advocate with the National Farmers Union (NFU) and Wetlands for Tom...

Pretty sure we talked about Trump, Saskatchewan and tariffs. My take, for better or worse, on Telemiracle. Good news: after a brief hiatus thanks to February break and the subsequent emergence of Flumaggedon 2025 (who has not been sick, raise your hand you should be studied), Ty and I just recorded the third chapter of Pipe to Pivot, so that should be coming to you soon too. In the meantime you ca...

We didn’t forget about you. February break and kids got in the way of recording last week. The stats on that episode exploded, however, so maybe we should slow down output? I don’t know. Anyway, this one is more of a catchup between Dechene and I than anything hard-hitting. Needless to say neither of us are particularly enjoying the state of the world, near and far, at the moment. But we still lau...

In this episode we go back to the beginning - the very beginning. From Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s vision for the project to Tommy Douglas’s enthusiastic cheerleading to Ralph Goodale refusing to let it go, this is one mega project that has been quite the multi-partisan affair over the last 70 years or so. Because everything old is new again, in this episode we reference a few old newspaper...

We recorded this one just on Monday so it’s pretty fresh. After a quick recap of Sunday’s brilliant (in my opinion, not so much Dechene’s) Superbowl halftime performance, we get into the GOP lobbyist who Saskatchewan residents have been paying $33,000 USD per month for an eye-watering 16 years. In the episode I reference a few documents that I’ll link to here. Click here for a copy of Nelson Mulli...

In which Dechene torments me with clips of Scott Moe in a news event earlier today, and I tell stories about what I learned when I spent a year living in the middle of a drug-running corridor from South America to Mexico. Spoiler alert: I didn’t learn that the Sinaloa cartel is hot for the Saskatchewan to North Dakota opioid trade. There are no leaders in Saskatchewan right now. We need them, desp...

A Saskatchewan Survivor’s Guide podcast. Whew! That’s a whole bunch of words to tell you we’re doing a spinoff devoted to Ty Thiessen’s extraordinary knowledge of the Sask Party government’s Westside Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (WIRP) . Specifically, why this project is a smoking dumpster fire of red flags. Slated to cost the Saskatchewan taxpayer, conservatively, $1.15bil, the WIRP is only...

We recorded this episode on Jan 20th so I think we talked about the world ending. You know, this whole Trump thing - it’s not great. I’m in a rush this morning but wanted to get this posted. Enjoy!! T This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tammyrobert.substack.com/subscribe

We talked the Westside Diefenbaker Irrigation project with special guest and agriculture economist wunderkind Ty Thiessen. Throughout the episode we reference a KPMG report, which can be found here. This monolithic boondoggle is worthy of its own show, as is the extraordinary detail to which Ty has researched this project to date. So, we’re going to do one. Watch for a spinoff of this podcast comi...

Dechene and I get into my experience living both ends of the conservative rage hoe, then I rage some more about the fact the Sask NDP caucus has been muzzled from speaking out on the massive issues impacting our world right now. What was the point of growing the Saskatchewan NDP Opposition caucus they’re just going to be marginalized and suppressed by their own party? Oh, I also tell a story about...

We decided to record this last minute Monday night, at which point Scott Moe had not yet commented. He has now, apparently. I haven’t looked. My expectations are non-existent. Talk soon, T This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tammyrobert.substack.com/subscribe

We looked at both Scott Moe and Carla Beck’s year-end interviews with Saskatchewan reporters and surprise! We roast both of them. In respect to Carla Beck, we discussed the bombshell she dropped that she and Scott Moe made some kind of pre-election pact ? While Beck made it sound par for the course, I can assure you that it is not. That kind of pre-election meeting, supposedly to define boundaries...

We talk to former senior aide to United States congressman Seth Moulton, Saskatoon's Matt Chilliak, on his front row experience of the US election campaign & its aftermath on the US Dems . Chilliak played an unexpected role in a political reckoning that began almost the day after Trump won, again. You might have read about it in the NY Times , or what he wrote aboutit in a piece for The Hill . Chi...

Technically the last episode was 122, but I labeled it 123. This is 123 - or the 23rd episode of this super fun little project we’ve been working on for the past 4 months. Recorded it on Sunday and I can’t remember what happened five minutes ago, especially this week, but I know we talked about Saskatchewan politics 😉. We chatted about the Sask Party and India for sure - I don’t know exactly what...