Waking up in Saskatchewan can be an adventure. Too often, we tuck ourselves in at night, thinking the political shenanigans that go on in this province could not possibly get worse. Then a new day dawns and we discover there is no end to our Premier’s foolishness. This time, Scotty took an ill-timed trip to Washington DC. Sadly, for the Saskatchewan taxpayer, these Washington DC meetings probably could have been an email.

Why was it ill timed? Simply because Washington DC and the American people are embroiled in a horrific domestic terror dispute. You see, the adults are busy litigating a botched coup attempt–like actually in real time on the exact day that Scotty is wandering around looking for someone, anyone, to hear his sales pitch on how easy it is for BIG OIL to extract resources in Saskatchewan. Spoiler: everyone in the O&G industry already knows.

That is only the half of it, however. Scotty made a fool of himself and Saskatchewan because he didn’t meet with anyone who matters when it comes to international trade. Did he meet with the Biden Administration, which logically, is the first stop on a junket to Washington DC? It doesn’t appear so. Instead, Moe is bragging about meeting with scandal ridden Trump apologists. In fact, the only drama free/scandal free person Moe did meet with doesn’t even support the oil and gas industry! Spoiler: yikes!

Let’s take a look at Scotty’s new friends:

Here is Scotty with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. After Trump’s election, Graham became one of Trump’s lead sycophants. It didn’t matter what racist or misogynistic filth emanated from Trump’s mouth, good ole Lindsey was there to to defend him. He also did everything he could to protect Trump during the impeachment and ultimately voted ‘not guilty’. Even when Trump lost the 2020 election, Graham kept proclaiming the BIG LIE that the election was stolen. Overall, hanging out with Lindsey Graham is a bad look. So why does Scotty want to be seen with him?

Can Lindsey Graham even provide any assistance in expanding Saskatchewan’s resource industries? Not really. He is not a member of the Biden Administration, and his first priority is to the people of South Carolina, who incidentally, have a love-hate relationship with nuclear energy.

Another Trump sycophant, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, might love energy subsidies and he apparently holds a grudge against the Environmental Protection Agency, but he has no clout in Washington when it comes to promoting Saskatchewan industries. Why would he? Just like Senator Graham, Grassley is not a member of the Biden Administration. Plus, his main job is to represent the people of Iowa.

The truly amazing thing about Moe meeting with Senator Grassley is that Iowa is a big producer of alternative energies. They make ethanol and are ranked first in the United States for the percentage of electricity they generate from wind (42%!). Iowa likely doesn’t want or need to buy energy from Saskatchewan. Perhaps Iowa has something they could teach Saskatchewan about sustainable energy production?

Then we come to Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. What a triumph for Moe to claim that he met with the man considered to be “Enemy Number One” to the environmentalism movement. Manchin has already proved himself to be an ally to Jason Kenney and the Alberta oil sands and perhaps he can put Saskatchewan on the map for every major environmentalist movement in the world. Will that be a good thing for Saskatchewan industry? Someone ask Moe.

When he is not blocking green energy bills or carbon tax schemes, Senator Manchin is busy representing the interests of the people of West Virginia. What kind of interests does Senator Manchin like to protect? The interests of coal miners and the coal industry. Sounds like some forward thinking.

U.S. Representative for South Carolina’s 6th congressional district Jim Clyburn is by all accounts a nice man and has had a long career in Washington where he currently serves as House Majority Whip. Although Moe might have sought Clyburn out due to his record as a long time proponent of nuclear energy, Clyburn has never been much of a friend to the oil and gas industry. South Carolina does have FOUR nuclear power plants that might be interested in some Saskatchewan uranium, however. Possibly? Is that the angle Moe is working on? The real question here is why Clyburn bothered to meet with Moe?

What is Moe even doing?

Premier Scott Moe claims he is telling Saskatchewan’s story on a global scale. What story is that? It is not entirely clear, but it is something about how Saskatchewan has magic resources in uranium, oil, gas, and rare earths that are sustainable and emission free. Moe’s definition of ‘sustainable’, however, seems to be quite a bit different than the one available in the dictionary, and his real message seems to be:

“come scoop up our resources for cheap. We will give you subsidies and tax breaks, look the other way when you get behind in your paperwork, and we will be sure to keep any environmental regulations easy for you to manage (wink), and when you are ready to pack up and go, just leave everything where it is and we will pay the clean up costs for you”.

Scott Moe–probably

How much did this trip cost? How much is Moe paying the consultant who is arranging meetings with American politicians? Will these meetings offer us anything in the way of measurable deliverables? Or were they mainly a chance to get photo-ops with high profile American conservatives? Saskatchewan tax payers want to know.