Head Tale

In order…

SASK PROVINCIAL ELECTION (OCT 26)
1.  In my initial post-mortem, I chalked up at least one big factor in the NDP’s failure to do well up to people wanting the status quo during a pandemic.  (This was bolstered by the BC NDP actually growing their majority a few days earlier.)  But as detailed elsewhere in this list, the Democrats managed to beat the Republicans so there is a desire for change in some situations.  And Regina brought in a slate of progressive councilors and Saskatoon overwhelmingly re-elected a very progressive mayor so the NDP maybe could’ve done better?

2. It’s still weird to me how threatened the Sask Party is by the Buffalo Party but given how the Wild Rose split the right in Alberta, maybe that makes sense (especially when, if I’m being honest, a lot of the NDP’s historical success came because there was a strong third party leading to vote-splitting in their favour?)

3. A lot of talk about whether the NDP needs to re-brand like the Sask Party did when they merged the Conservative and Liberal parties.  As someone on FB said the day after the election, “after three election results like this, maybe you don’t look at the driver so much as the car you’re driving.”

4. I’m trying not to be too critical but since Ryan was chosen as leader, I’ve been really disappointed they didn’t own the fact that he’s a doctor.  I mean, literally the first lines of his TED talk about how doctors are one of the most trusted professions in society and politicians are as trusted as used car salesman (I don’t think he puts it that way exactly.)  And in the midst of a pandemic?  Wouldn’t most people see value in having a doctor in charge over a bankrupt farmer?

5. On that note, I really hate how the Sask Party gets such an advantage getting so much of their funding from corporate donors in AB (though again, not to be too critical, but why couldn’t the NDP make this stick as an attack on the Sask Party?)

6. Moe was a bit of a baby in his acceptance speech with his “elections aren’t won on Twitter” line but I took that exactly the opposite way – the fact that he mentioned Twitter at all when he didn’t have any reason to makes me think that he did notice that some of the attacks and coverage online were effective and wounding him.  But again, as someone who helped Ryan’s team quite a bit with social media in a previous leadership bid, I really wish his team could’ve done *a lot* more in this area.

7.  The Sask Party running on a home renovation tax credit during a pandemic when the cost of *any* home improvement materials are through the roof is the definition of insanity.  Could the NDP have run on some sort of credit for supporting *any* local business?  Restaurants and hotels?  I don’t know – just spitballing.  (Oh, and since the Sask Party still brings up hospitals the NDP closed 20+ years ago, could a home renovation be tied better to Grant Devine’s big 80s era plan to put a hot tub or fireplace in every Saskatchewan home?)

8.  Weird to see the NDP lose three seats and gain three different seats.  Very sad to lose the departing MLAs (Pedersen, Rancourt and Saskatoon-Riversdale though that was due to an MLA leaving politics though the NDP still failed to hold) but excited about the three new MLAs coming in.

9. In terms of strategy, as mentioned above, some people are talking about a total rebrand.  I’m not sure if that’s the answer but I do wonder if the NDP should just totally go “all urban” and try to run on policies that appeal most strongly to urban voters given that the Sask Party currently has such a lock on rural Saskatchewan?

10.  Man, it’s a small province when you see a distant cousin getting kudos from Scott Moe for his pro-Sask Party opinion piece in the U of S Sheaf newspaper. 😉

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (NOV 3)
1. I think many watchers wanted a complete and total blowout, along the lines of how Reagan beat Mondale in 1984 (I think Reagan got *every* state except Mondale’s home state of Minnesota?) and anything else was going to be disappointing. And to be fair, they didn’t win back the Senate handily (pending some runoff elections in Georgia) and they actually lost seats in the House which means this election was a repudiation of Trump but Republicans still supported their “team” down ballot instead of being swayed to vote for the centrist moderate.

2. Doubly so when the votes are all in (they are Donald, no matter what you say) and you realise Trump actually gained 10 million votes from last time.  Ten million people who looked at Trump’s misogyny, racism, ineptitude, rudeness, mishandling of Covid and thought “Yeah, I want four more years of that!”

3. Still, by Trump’s own words, Biden flipping the numbers from 2016 so the Biden victory is 306-253 (same margin as Trump over Clinton) that’s a massive landslide.

4. Part of the reason the race felt closer than it was is because so many states were very close and took days to call.  But there’s some justice in this considering that the whole reason Trump was able to beat Hillary was a total ~70,000 vote margin across three Rust Belt States.

5. On a related note, there’s something very fitting about it looking like Trump would again pull off an upset on Election Night then, as hours and days passed, the numbers slowly changed as Trump’s lead fell then was overturned.  I can’t be the only one who saw a parallel to Covid’s spread across the US which started looking good for Trump then slowly got worse and worse until the reality was overwhelming.  A very fitting away to go down.

6. The Four Seasons Landscaping Press Conference after the election was truly the cherry on top of Trump’s downfall – confusion, hubris, go forward no matter what, never saying you’re wrong and never apologising.

7. I haven’t even mentioned the historic nature of Kamala Harris becoming VP.  I first came across her in 2016 when Bernie was battling Hillary for the Dem nomination and I was trying to think of ways Bernie might subvert some of Hillary’s advantages.  I thought naming a female PoC would do more to reach Democratic voters.  I remember literally googling “female black politicians” and finding a list somewhere then deciding Kamala seemed the best fit based on her position at the time (but without knowing much else about her history or politics beyond being a Democrat.)  Here’s what I wrote at the time:

There are people who will vote for Clinton simply because she’s a woman/they want to see a female President.  I keep wondering if Sanders could offset this by taking the unprecedented step of announcing who he’d pick as his VP AND that he intends to only serve one term?  There are rumours that she might be appointed to the Supreme Court but I wonder if someone like Kamala Harris would fit the bill?  (via)

8.  The Democrats flipped Arizona and Georgia and did really well in Texas.  Will be interesting to see how that trend develops in the future as demographics continue to shift.

9.  Trump still has two months as a lame duck President so he’s going to flail madly – with useless lawsuits and insane tweets but hopefully he can’t do too much damage and Biden assumes the office on January 20, 2021.

10.  Fuck Trump.

REGINA MUNICIPAL ELECTION (NOV 9)
1. For as long as I’ve lived in Regina, it’s felt like we have one really progressive councillor (whoever represents the Cathedral ward which is our artsy/hippie/indy neighbourhood) and everyone else.

2. I haven’t done a deep dive on this to confirm its true but have always understood that this is at least partly because, at least in Regina, the renumeration for councillors is relatively low so you can’t make it a full-time job.  That’s meant we tended to have people on council who were retired or had flexible jobs (realtors) or perhaps spouses of someone who had a good income.  Rarely did you have people who also held down a regular full-time job.

3. This was a sea change election as I think a large number of councillors who were elected were endorsed by the Regina and District Labour Council and though that doesn’t automatically make them hardcore progressives in all areas, it’s a good sign that they’re at least friends of the working person – something Regina is usually lacking in its representation.

4. Our two-term Mayor was also defeated by a woman who becomes Regina’s first female Mayor and though she’s probably not what anyone would consider a progressive (she ran on cross-the-board 15% cuts at City Hall in the name of “efficiency” as if a public institution should be run like a private business), she does seem open to talking to people from all walks of life and also, just the nature of her being our first female Mayor is ground-breaking, historic and will inevitably bring a different perspective to the council chambers.

5. One of those progressive candidates happened to win in my ward.  I did a bit of volunteering for him but honestly felt like it would be the usual thing I find myself in where I support a candidate with my vote (and often my donations or volunteer time) for it all to be for naught.  But my candidate won and that’s a *very* weird feeling for me as a progressively-minded person in a city in what has overtaken Alberta as Canada’s most conservative province.  (Hell, counting the school board trustee, two of the three candidates who had lawn signs in our yard won which is unheard of!) 🙂

6. Saskatoon’s municipal election saw the proposal for a new downtown library as a hot button campaign issue (luckily, with the candidate who supported the library and,  is quite progressive generally, being the victor, with a resounding victory as his vote total was higher than the two main centre-right candidates.)  In Regina, we’re not as far along as Saskatoon so it wasn’t on the radar as much but our new Mayor did come up as supportive of a new downtown library in Regina as well.

Saskatoon’s municipal election can only be described as a crushing victory for the public library.  And Charlie Clark didn’t do too badly, either. (via)

7.  One of my favourite jokes about municipal elections is that everyone runs on not raising taxes and also offering more services.

8. I’ve seen lots of analysis of the presumed political persuasions of the candidates and also the increased gender diversity.  But also feels like a bit of a generational shift as well.

9.  Great to see all three (?) school board trustees who took a very anti-LGBTQ stance around Pride celebrations booted (including one who ran for council and lost) and all were replaced (I think) by people who are very pro-LGBTQ.

10. The Covid fallout is not going to be over immediately if/when a vaccine arrives and this council is going to possibly have one of the most challenging mandates in front of them in history.  I don’t envy them!