Rob Vanstone: Saskatchewan Roughriders hung out to dry by provincial government
The Government of Saskatchewan passed the buck — and it was intercepted.
Author of the article: Rob Vanstone
Publishing date: Aug 26, 2021 • 
The Saskatchewan Roughriders welcomed nearly 3,000 fans for a controlled scrimmage July 24 at Mosaic Stadium.
PHOTO BY BRANDON HARDER /Regina Leader-Post
The Government of Saskatchewan passed the buck — and it was intercepted.
The entire process, which is likely to culminate with the right decision being made outside of the Legislative Building, was handled in such slapstick fashion by six-figure earners who are elected to make tough calls and enact such policies that an ordinarily apolitical scribe could only wonder whether Moe was being advised by Larry and Curly.
Mind you, Premier Scott Moe was not front and centre Wednesday when Paul Merriman — the Minister of Health and someone who is ostensibly in a position of considerable power — was hardly a merry man as he met the media and, on behalf of the provincial government, abdicated and offloaded all responsibility with regard to a controversial public-health issue.
Merriman did not emerge from the shaky session with pie in the face, but eggshells — upon which the government and the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been walking in recent days — were everywhere
The Government of Saskatchewan passed the buck — and it was intercepted.
The entire process, which is likely to culminate with the right decision being made outside of the Legislative Building, was handled in such slapstick fashion by six-figure earners who are elected to make tough calls and enact such policies that an ordinarily apolitical scribe could only wonder whether Moe was being advised by Larry and Curly.
Mind you, Premier Scott Moe was not front and centre Wednesday when Paul Merriman — the Minister of Health and someone who is ostensibly in a position of considerable power — was hardly a merry man as he met the media and, on behalf of the provincial government, abdicated and offloaded all responsibility with regard to a controversial public-health issue.
Merriman did not emerge from the shaky session with pie in the face, but eggshells — upon which the government and the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been walking in recent days — were everywhere
.
Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman, shown in this file photo, said Wednesday that it is up to the Saskatchewan Roughriders to decide whether fans must be doubly vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
PHOTO BY BRANDON HARDER /Regina Leader-Post
It has been left to the Roughriders to decide whether fans must be doubly vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend a CFL game at Mosaic Stadium.
The community-owned Roughriders had consistently and respectfully deferred to the provincial government while determining whether a Winnipeg Blue Bombers-style vaccine mandate would be required.
“We’ll follow the public-health guidelines,” Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds told the Regina Leader-Post earlier this month, “so the only way we would do that is if we got guidance from the ministry or from public health.”
But when the going got tough, to the point where seven of the nine CFL teams were bound by a policy mirroring that which was introduced in Manitoba, principal figures within the Saskatchewan Party didn’t have a position on the issue — except to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“If (the Roughriders) want to make a choice, that’s up to them,” Merriman told reporters on Wednesday. “I know some other CFL teams have made their choice and we hope that the Riders will make a choice in the near future.”
The Roughriders DID make a choice.
They chose to honour the wishes of the mandate-averse provincial government, which sets public health policy, as opposed to going one step further and showing up Moe, et al.
But when the situation became more urgent due to ascending COVID numbers and the surging Delta variant, the government figuratively threw the Roughriders under the very same bus that some members of the team may find to be the only feasible mode of transportation to road games if unvaccinated players are not allowed on charter flights.
One is left to wish that every Roughrider was as sensible and socially conscious as Cody Fajardo, who was highly receptive to being vaccinated.
The Roughriders’ marquee quarterback, one should note, is typically unflappable in front of the media mob. He is cordial, honest and eminently likeable, on good days and bad. There are lessons to be learned here, and in other instances.
In the midst of a play that has been carefully choreographed, only to suddenly go awry, Fajardo has been known to nimbly change course and generate an outcome that is widely deemed to be applaudable.
If only our elected officials could pivot so effectively.
rvanstone@postmedia.com
twitter.com/robvanstone
It has been left to the Roughriders to decide whether fans must be doubly vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend a CFL game at Mosaic Stadium.
The community-owned Roughriders had consistently and respectfully deferred to the provincial government while determining whether a Winnipeg Blue Bombers-style vaccine mandate would be required.
“We’ll follow the public-health guidelines,” Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds told the Regina Leader-Post earlier this month, “so the only way we would do that is if we got guidance from the ministry or from public health.”
But when the going got tough, to the point where seven of the nine CFL teams were bound by a policy mirroring that which was introduced in Manitoba, principal figures within the Saskatchewan Party didn’t have a position on the issue — except to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“If (the Roughriders) want to make a choice, that’s up to them,” Merriman told reporters on Wednesday. “I know some other CFL teams have made their choice and we hope that the Riders will make a choice in the near future.”
The Roughriders DID make a choice.
They chose to honour the wishes of the mandate-averse provincial government, which sets public health policy, as opposed to going one step further and showing up Moe, et al.
But when the situation became more urgent due to ascending COVID numbers and the surging Delta variant, the government figuratively threw the Roughriders under the very same bus that some members of the team may find to be the only feasible mode of transportation to road games if unvaccinated players are not allowed on charter flights.
One is left to wish that every Roughrider was as sensible and socially conscious as Cody Fajardo, who was highly receptive to being vaccinated.
The Roughriders’ marquee quarterback, one should note, is typically unflappable in front of the media mob. He is cordial, honest and eminently likeable, on good days and bad. There are lessons to be learned here, and in other instances.
In the midst of a play that has been carefully choreographed, only to suddenly go awry, Fajardo has been known to nimbly change course and generate an outcome that is widely deemed to be applaudable.
If only our elected officials could pivot so effectively.
rvanstone@postmedia.com
twitter.com/robvanstone
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