Salutations!

Here is how my year as finance went:

1) Acquire several cubic feet of financial mayhem. Believe it or not, there is a lot of stuff that comes along with being finance which includes, but is not limited to: cash boxes, records of SYPs financial years for the past FOREVER years (or so it seems), and SYPs stapler and beloved hole punch. After I had hauled all of this stuff outside my room, (because there is no way that would fit IN my room) I counted the cash boxes from Session and printed out deposit slips that I felt comfortable with in tracking and documenting the money. I deposited the money, along with the registration fees and merchandise and set about finding the perfect binder for my term.

2) Create masterpiece of artwork on my very own finance binder Every finance minister has a super cool binder which holds all of their records and receipts in, and I definitely had fun creating mine. In it, I put all of my receipts from Session, my deposit slips and cabinet reports, as well as keeping a list of what I wanted to discuss at the January Cabinet meeting. I brought up the idea of SYP having its own Co-op number, because with all of the driving we do, and groceries we buy, there might have been an opportunity to get some of that money back. The Premier took this initiative on. I also mentioned how I wanted to look at changing some of SYPs GIC accounts as I believe that they could be working for us and making more money than they are currently. In the finance committee, we talked about some of the Premiers proposals about how to make SYP acquire a way to have a balanced budget. We liked his ideas of eliminating the cost of the photos, which will now be taken by one of SYPs members family, in a way to have the copyright to the picture, and eliminate some of the costs. We also decided to raise the Session fees to $250 in the hopes of boosting our revenue rather than trying to eliminate too many necessary costs in the budget.

3) Latch onto the 'VPJs' idea. In the finance committee at the January Cabinet meeting, one of the ideas put forward was the idea of Vesper PJ pants. As part of the lore of SYP and how awesome Vespers is, this was a fantastic idea and finance decided to make it one of the items we hoped to acquire for this year. We also discussed replenishing our inventory and having a contest for the design of a new logo. Unfortunately, due to work, I had to leave the January cabinet meeting by a couple of hours.

4) Paparazzi wanting my autograph. This task was especially difficult for me because Im not generally the type of person who endorses making judgments about people based on their looks, thus encouraging paparazzi and wanting autographs. However, as finance, I had to get the signatures changed on our accounts, so I could actually write some cheques! I received the statement from the past Min o Fin with the signers from last year, and went with the DLO, now current DP, and the Premier to change over the accounts. That proved to be a little more hectic than usual because of the way the bank had it set up and where they had documented last years signers. Nonetheless, we walked out of the bank with signing authority.

5) In between running around. In the period between the Cabinet meeting and the March mini, I was helping the MSA with informing her what needed to be done for Session, answering any questions she had, looking up possible suppliers for merchandise and trying to find costs, and setting up an appointment with the bank to discuss GICs and our options.

6) Worshipping the MCA. Now, I am not saying I started a trend [of worshipping the MCA], but as the March mini started rolling around, and even before March, the MCA was almost feeding me money, as well as feeding everyone else his excitement for the mini. As finance, I love money, so to receive cheque after cheque for seemingly copious amounts of money, the MCA started to become my friend. As those of you know, the Biggar mini was a hit, and the food was fantastic. I whole-heartedly participated in the kitchen dance sessions and had my fair share of Twister losses. Remembering the cash box keys as well as all of the people in my carpool I think was an accomplished feat.

7) Surviving through April Now, as finals started to come around, I sent out an e-mail to Cabinet about the GIC options that I presented at the meeting and requested their vote as to what should be done with the accounts. Status quo or change? I also started dwelling on the charity return and started glaring at its never-ending boxes.

8) Having mild panic attacks With finals ending and my sanity come back to (what little I had in the first place) I now looked at how the VPJs did not happen for the March mini, and how the previous DP had not done much about them , so I made a mad rush to the stores to find out different types of pyjama pants. Unfortunately, it is VERY difficult to find any pyjama pants at all! With limited styles, varieties and colours, I admitted defeat for the May mini with my head hung in shame. Due to the DPs resignation before the May mini, I took on selling merchandise and confectionary so that the new Deputy Premier could focus on his transition.

9) Sleeping on the floor while the MCA slept on MY mattress Clearly self-explanatory, but I would like to drive this point home with I was the one giving him money for the May mini, which, much to my dismay (but really, I am just being sarcastic here), was a rockin success yet again. We baked a cake for the pages, I learned how to treat mosquito bites with no after-bite, and was the champion of a fantastic game of sardines. At the cabinet meeting, I gave everyone the update on the GIC change over which was smooth and smashing!

10) More autographs for my fans Due to a page misplacement of a cheque, we wrote him a new one and went to the bank to stop the old cheque. I also was in contact with the old Min o Fin about the notice to reader and when it would be completed so I could actually do my charity return in time for May 30th, SYPs deadline. Unfortunately, with some discrepancies with cash flow, the notice to reader wasnt sent to me in time to complete for the May 30th deadline.

11) Did the deed, albeit a little late With the Canada Post system being what it was, and my little to no knowledge of what was going on, I eventually sent in the Charity Return. I also sent in a GST return, to which the reply was 'Um, no. You dont get any money. Call if you have any questions!' So, I made a date to call the CRA. Generally, one would associate this acronym with the fearful 'Creeps Running Associations' however, its the much worse 'Canadian Revenue Agency.' Just so everyone understands, it takes a Herculean effort to get through to just talk to someone about ANYTHING. Nonetheless, this Min o Fin was hungry, hungry for MOOLA.

12) Thoroughly won the 'cool sunglasses' competition Well, of course we had an awesome summer camp, with me making everyone really awesome welcome gifts with warm fuzzies and cool ice breaker questions that came from bathroom readers (those things are THE BEST for random knowledge BTdubs) and tucking everyone into bed at night, okay, that didnt happen. But it was a huge success and I got to wear the sunglasses that were on my dresser for a good year and were slightly bent and crooked when you put them on, but mine were way cooler than the MCAs. (You know when you hit a home run out of the park? Compare that hit to a measly swing- the measly swing would be to what the MCAs shades were compared.) So maybe I am having a tangent. ANYWAYS. We had the best waterfight SYP has ever seen and everyone went home super-duper happy! Oh, I also attended this event.

13) Played good ole hopscotch I would like to say I actually played hopscotch, being such a fine game, however, I merely meant this to be taken by its connotation 'went to two cabinet meetings during the summer, at which I presented my report and chaired the finance committee, let everyone know just how awesome we are, etc etc.' Which is basically the same thing, right? Regardless, cabinet bonded, and went shopping together! What an awesome bonding moment.

14) Learned restraint? From talking all the time, I guess. When we had problems finding a school in November, cabinet was asked to contribute options in Saskatoon. I, however, only have connections on Planet X, whatever the starship is called in Star Trek, and the place they go in Avatar. So, you could see my predicament with helping out. I think I made the right decision by not providing my options, as transportation would have been a little difficult for everybody. (Its better when you go solo.)

Tava Burton
Minister of Finance
75th Session
Saskatchewan Youth Parliament