Starting a new chapter in my life

When my grampa passed away this month four years ago, I inherited his book collection – an assortment of historical and political works,  including Allan Blakeney and Eric Cline’s autobiographies, Peter C. Newman’s The Mulroney Tapes, Jeffrey Simpson’s The Friendly Dictatorship and even John Gormley’s Left Out. The extent of his collection isn’t surprising given his avid interest in Canadian and Saskatchewan history and his zest for a good political debate (of which we had many growing up). My grandfather was a great orator with a keen understanding of the concept of citizenship – he rallied for many a cause and no civic issue was too petty to mount a good letter-writing campaign.

I wrote my first letter to the Premier when I was 12 years old from his influence.  It was a wordy and exaggerated piece of prose beseeching (because I used words like “beseech” back then) Lorne Calvert to do something about the steady western migration of young Saskatchewan workers to Alberta. I was whole-heartedly disappointed with the reply:  a courteous, but generic response that didn’t address any of my questions.

“So I wrote him back,” I told my grampa one night around the dinner table. I still remember his hearty laugh. “You’ll make a good lawyer one day, kid,” he would say. Nope, it should have been evident I was destined to be a journalist.

It goes without saying he’d be proud to see me host Focus Saskatchewan, but I think he’d be even prouder of the province Focus Saskatchewan is about. He drank Great Western beer and the story of the 16 employees who rescued it from closure is something he’d have brought to coffee row. I know he’d have a few questions of his own for the Minister and he would have nodded in staunch agreement with some of the streeter comments you gave us about what you thought of Saskatchewan’s liquor laws.

I think it’s because of him, that I too, am proud of Saskatchewan and its people that I now get to feature every week.

Share with me your stories and story ideas by emailing me at Raquel.Fletcher@globalnews.ca or sending me a tweet at @RaquelGlobal and see you Saturdays!