On Wednesday, the Leader-Post published an article by Dan Yates about a decision by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Corrections, Public Safety and Policing, in response to a complaint from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, to stop purchasing video games for use by Saskatchewan youth that are in custody.
If you read the article, you’ll learn that the amount spent since 2007 was a paltry $1,616.97; that none of the games were of a violent or criminal nature ie. most were sports games and Rock Band; and that the youth played the games on their own time, and that they were generally used as a reward for participating in education, employment and treatment programs.
Here’s links to subsequent editorials in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix and Calgary Herald (as re-printed in the Leader-Post) ripping the CTF for being parsimonious assholes completely out of touch with the realities of modern childhood (I particularly liked the snakes & ladders and Yahtze shot in the Star-Phoenix editorial) and questioning how it was that the CTF was able to gain the ear of government bureaucrats with such a petty and vindictive concern.
The provincial government has reversed itself on ill-thought out policy decisions before and this is another case where they need to re-think things. As for the CTF, what a bunch of dicks.