(A Mercury Rx Re-Post) The Elimination of Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC): Regressive Transportation Policy Under the Mercury-Pluto Square

The planet that rules transportation, connection, and communication (Mercury) is currently retrograde and will move back into the sign of Taurus (agriculture, food, tradition, rural areas) on May 22. Mercury will station direct at 26 degrees Taurus in a loose conjunction to the North Node of the Moon on June 3. The Sun is shining on 26 degrees Taurus today, and in light of this, I'm re-posting an article I wrote in 2017 about the elimination of Saskatchewan's public transportation system. 

It's been five years since the Brad Wall Conservatives eliminated Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), the public bus system that connected the small towns and cities of Saskatchewan for over 70 years. This was a mean-spirited and devastating decision made by vehicle drivers in power.

Only a year later, in 2018, Greyhound bus pulled up stakes, eliminating bus service all across Canada.

I saw this at the time (and see it now) as part of the ongoing efforts by those in power to de-populate rural areas by starving these areas of needed services and resources. With Uranus now transiting Taurus (2018 - 2026), these rural depopulation efforts are in full swing worldwide.

Since STC was eliminated, we have seen a chaotic disaster for public transportation and for the transportation of goods in the province, including needed medical supplies. 

Anyone with a lick of sense could have told the Brad Wall government that this would be the result by eliminating an efficient and cost effective system of bus transport that had served the province for over 70 years. (And we did tell them...repeatedly.) The end result of the short-sighted actions of a handful of misguided politicians has been confusion; frustration; a massive waste of time, medical supplies, and taxpayers' dollars; the creation of dangerous and even potentially deadly conditions; shoddy, piecemeal service that serves only certain communities; and thousands of people in the province being left cut off and without transportation. The actions of this handful of misguided politicians has harmed a couple hundred thousand people in the province at least.

The ideology constantly promoted by neo-conservatives that private, corporate industry is so much more efficient and cost-effective than publicly-owned services has proven to be utterly false to a devastating degree in the case of STC. They are now paying almost as much per year to their cronies for one small part of the service STC provided, and it seems the cronies are doing a terrible job of it.

October 6, 2020: Saskatchewan Party Corporate Donor Received $60 Million Medical Contract After Crown Corporation Shut Down

 

What follows is an article I wrote on the subject that was originally published on March 24, 2017:

The Elimination of Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC): Regressive Transportation Policy Under the Mercury-Pluto Square

 

On March 22, 2017, as transportation planet Mercury in Aries formed a square to "illegitimate power and hierarchy" Pluto in Capricorn, the neo-conservative Brad Wall government in Saskatchewan, my home province, announced in its budget that it will be shutting down the province's bus system. 

Yes, that's right. No public debate, no public consultation, no transportation alternatives offered. It's just over because Brad Wall and his buddies say it is. 

This government, full of "one car per person" drivers, decided that it can unilaterally eliminate (Pluto) a mass transportation system (Mercury) that people throughout the province have relied on for over 70 years. ("'It's going to be quite a nightmare': Passengers outraged by STC closure" by Jason Warick of CBC News) 

The Pluto in Capricorn bulldozer strikes again, creating a nightmarish and potentially deadly (Pluto) transportation scenario (Mercury) for many... 

Mercury in Leo Square Jupiter in Scorpio: the Bombshell Announcement of the Elimination of Greyhound Bus and Freight Service Across All of Western Canada

Well, this is some huge (Jupiter) bad (Scorpio) news (Mercury). 

As transportation and communication planet Mercury in Leo formed an exact square to stationing Jupiter (big) in Scorpio (eliminations) on July 9, it was announced that Greyhound will be eliminating all bus routes and freight service across Western Canada. 

That's the vast provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Other than one route, which will remain in British Columbia, the entirety of Western Canada, where more than 11 million people live, will have no bus service other than local service in the cities.

I don't know whether to cry, puke, or laugh at this point.

Western Canada has one of the most regressive public transportation situations in the world right now. 

And who does it hurt most? The people who are already struggling hardest in this society: the poor, the elderly, the disabled, students, rural people, people who don't or can't drive.

People living in the insulated Middle-Class Bubble want to be snide and facetious about so-called "First World Problems?" 

I bet most third world countries have public transportation.

There are plenty of real and hardcore problems in Canada, many involving class stratification and the invisibility/constant screwing over of the "underclasses." 

But this doesn't affect one-vehicle-per-person car drivers, so who cares, right? 

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

And I don't know about one of Greyhound's stated reasons - that ridership is down so extensively. The last time I took the Greyhound from Saskatchewan to B.C., it was absolutely packed with people. This is going to negatively affect so many people, I couldn't even begin to put a number on it. I'm definitely one of them.

In a way, though, the shock of this announcement has been dulled.

The announcement of the elimination of Greyhound bus - a private corporation - in Western Canada comes soon after the elimination, amidst huge protest, of the entire government-run provincial bus system in Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC).

The announcement of the elimination of STC also occurred with transportation/communication planet Mercury in a square aspect with another body - in that case Pluto.

Mercury = transportation
Pluto/Scorpio = elimination

From a previous post:

"[I]n late March 2017, just as Mercury in Aries formed a square to Pluto in Capricorn, it was announced that the neo-conservative Brad Wall government in Saskatchewan was eliminating the public bus system for the entire province in order to save one tenth of one percent of the overall budget. This was a shocking and horrifying announcement for many, including me. I literally couldn't believe that a decision this ass-headed would be allowed to go forward and wrote an article about it at the time, "The Elimination of Saskatchewan Transportation Compnay (STC) Regressive Transportation Policy Under the Mercury-Pluto Square.""

The decision by the Wall government to unceremoniously eliminate STC is particularly sickening, considering it destroyed the 70-year-old provincial bus system, which cost a measly $17 million per year to operate, while pumping $1.9 billion into a single bypass over a single Saskatchewan city - the government city of Regina where, coincidentally, the provincial legislature is located. 

The bypass was poorly designed - it was not made wide enough to transport farm machinery across it in a largely agricultural province - and the bypass has also now been found to be crumbling underneath as vehicles drive across.

Already four times the original estimate, this faulty bypass is certain to cost Saskatchewan taxpayers much more.

The elimination of Greyhound in Western Canada leaves 415 people unemployed, just as the elimination of STC left 224 people unemployed. 

I don't know how much worse it can get for non-drivers in Western Canada, but I won't tempt fate by saying it can't get any worse...

Concentrated Consolidation and a Moment of Anticipation Ahead of New Growth

The North Node of the Moon, newly in Leo, is currently forming beautiful trine aspects to Venus and Uranus in Aries (conjunct at 27 degrees on June 3) and to Saturn Rx in Sagittarius.

This forms an energetic Grand Fire Trine formation (energetic because the North Node is a calculated astrological point, not a physical celestial body), which is extra specially gorgeous because it propels us into an absolutely magnificent set of astrological aspects that carry us through the summer of 2017. These aspects will involve multiple Grand Fire Trines with some of those morphing into air-fire kite formations with the addition of Jupiter, soon to be direct in Libra (June 9 direct station at 13 degrees).

Grand Fire Trines indicate time periods characterized by intensified creativity, artistry, inspiration, passion, excitement, enthusiasm, exuberance, fun, and movement. These formations indicate a time of general encouragement and high spirits.

The involvement of Jupiter in Libra within kite formation indicates that we are building and developing the social fabric in highly beneficial ways this summer, particularly in August and September. There is an emphasis on teamwork, mutuality, common ground, and finding ways that work for all involved.

(More on the splashy and colourful summer of 2017 can be found in this patron article, "The North Node Enters Shiny, Happy Leo, and There's Almost Too Much Goodness to Contain in One Article!")

The energetic Grand Fire Trine involving the Leo North Node opens us into a new creative chapter that picks up speed as we move through the first part of June. Consider this the first activation at the heart in a series of activations at the heart. We're channeling some very powerful joy over the next few months...

At this point, we just want to have some fun with it all, and with the North Node transiting playful Leo for the next 18 months, we can do just that.

The Elimination of Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC): Regressive Transportation Policy Under the Mercury-Pluto Square

On March 22, as transportation planet Mercury in Aries formed a square to "illegitimate power and hierarchy" Pluto in Capricorn, the neo-conservative Brad Wall government in Saskatchewan, my home province, announced in its budget that it will be shutting down the province's bus system. 

Yes, that's right. No public debate, no public consultation, no transportation alternatives offered. It's just over because Brad Wall and his buddies say it is. 

This government, full of "one car per person" drivers, decided that it can unilaterally eliminate (Pluto) a mass transportation system (Mercury) that people throughout the province have relied on for over 70 years. ("'It's going to be quite a nightmare': Passengers outraged by STC closure" by Jason Warick of CBC News) 

The Pluto in Capricorn bulldozer strikes again, creating a nightmarish and potentially deadly (Pluto) transportation scenario (Mercury) for many...

The Wall government was much beloved by conservatives in the heavily oil-dependent province of Saskatchewan when oil was at $100 U.S. a barrel. And this government spent and spent and spent keeping itself in that golden position. No thought for the future.

Then, of course, the price of oil crashed. As it always does. Oil is a highly-manipulated, highly-volatile, boom-and-bust commodity. This really should have come as zero surprise. But there is a strange amnesia that sets in when people are riding an oil high. They somehow believe it's going to last forever and spend accordingly. The Wall government was no different. 

The price of oil has now been halved and sits around $50 U.S. a barrel. 

And now this government has decided - as so many governments do - to make up for its own spending sprees on the backs of the poor and sick and vulnerable in society. All to save $17 million a year, which in the scope of a provincial budget the size of Saskatchewan's is a drop in the bucket.

Saskatchewan is an agriculturally-based province, meaning it has many small communities and farms spread throughout its land mass as people go about producing food to feed the world (among other activities). It also has many remote northern communities.

Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) is the only bus service that goes to many of the smaller, rural communities. It connects the little places with each other, and it also connects the little places to the cities, where people can access essential services that can't be found in the smaller communities. Many people use the bus service for doctor's appointments and medical treatments, and this decision leaves them stranded. Around 300 people used STC to access cancer treatments alone in 2016. ("STC shutdown leaves cancer patients looking for a ride" by Adam Hunter of CBC News.)

STC is also often the only company that will deliver freight to the smaller communities. 

There is a Greyhound run in Saskatchewan, but it only goes along major routes, missing the more remote and rural communities in the province.

In short, this bus is an essential service for many seniors, disabled people, sick people, rural people, students, people living below the poverty line, and people who do not drive.