In the latest of a series of forays into unrelated business schemes, the government-owned and operated telephone company now wants to be a TV company. Sasktel has embarked on an ambitious $60 million plan to provide television signals to Saskatchewan homes.

Sasktel is offering a web-based interactive television service that enables viewers to surf the net and watch TV on their television sets. The technology is clunky and hasn't worked in any other markets, despite some serious capital thrown at it by major players in Atlantic Canada.

Next to taxpayers, the biggest victim of this misguided attempt at diversification are privately run concerns like the cooperative, non-profit Access Communications. Competition with private sector suppliers is tough enough. Imagine facing off against taxpayer-backed Sasktel, who has set out to take 20 per cent of your business.

Sasktel's foray into television broadcasting comes amidst constant criticism that the company is simply incapable of making sound business decisions. Opposition Members at the legislature love to list off Sasktel's most famous failures including: $2.5 million on Navagata Inc, $1.3 million on SecurTek, $2.1 million on Soft Tracks Enterprises Ltd, and a whopping $40 million dollar loss on Austar Communications stock.

In addition to being a phone company, Sasktel is also a home security company, a TV company in Saskatchewan (and a failed one in Australia), an internet service provider, and a really bad investor. Stay tuned for more wacky adventures.

Sasktel recently applied to the CRTC for permission to raise rates by $5 million after spending $4 million through SecurTek to acquire a customer prospect list from an Ontario company. In typical government fashion, this questionable investment was quietly announced on Christmas Eve, knowing full well media outlets wouldn't report it.

Sasktel is now suffering from severe mission creep. Why has Sasktel squirmed its way into every moist crevice of the Saskatchewan economy We have to ask ourselves what public policy objectives Sasktel is serving by investing in dicey schemes like home security and webTV.

Our government claims Saskatchewan is open for business, but with Sasktel's fingers in every high-tech pie in the province, it's not a very inviting place for those much sought-after knowledge companies.

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Kyoto update - Ontario auto industry exempt from Kyoto

In yet another slap in the face to Western Canadians, Ottawa has quietly confirmed that Ontario car manufacturers are exempt from the disastrous implications of the Kyoto Protocol.

While Ontario-based auto makers get a pass on Kyoto-related factory-emission curbs, the Western-based oil and gas industry will be one of the hardest-hit under Ottawa's plan. The catch is that Canada's emission target remains unchanged, meaning other sectors like farming and energy will have to pick up an even greater share of the emission reduction.

It would appear that Jean Chretien's idealistic saber rattling only applies to business not based in Ontario. Yet another reason why a referendum on the deal is such a great idea, as 25,000 Canadians who signed a Canadian Taxpayers Federation petition agree.