Maybe I should’ve posted this earlier since a lot of people (including Shea and I) have already voted by mail or in the early polls.
But with the bulk of the votes still to come tomorrow and the polls showing a tightening race, I figured I’d do one last post about the current provincial election that might sway some people who are undecided.
10. Library Cuts
They got reversed after massive province-wide protests. But in a wider program of austerity and cuts that eliminated STC among many other important services in 2017, the attempt to cut libraries in a way that would’ve liked ended libraries got pushback from people across the province (and across the political spectrum.)
9. The Sask Party Added Three Unnecessary MLAs
The BC and Sask elections being so close together helped show how over-represented we are with MLAs here. BC has 87 MLAs for five million people, Sask has 61 for a million people (and the Sask Party actually *added* three more seats in 2015 while the NDP ran on reducing the number of MLAs during the last election – and in my most humble opinion, should’ve ran on this again this time since, rightly or wrongly, most voters would see the extra MLAs as useless and wasteful spending.)
8. Betrayal of Rural Sask
The Sask Party’s base is in rural Sask but for a variety of reasons – from the closure of STC to the failure to develop a made-in-Sask alternative to the Carbon Tax like Alberta did to the attack on libraries I already mentioned, the Sask Party has betrayed their rural base in numerous ways, big and small.
7. Actually You *Are* A Heartless Person
In that 2017 austerity budget, the cuts were everywhere but perhaps none more immoral than cutting funding for funerals for social service recipients. At the time, Minister Tina Beaudry-Mellor famously defended the move saying “I’m not a heartless person.” (Actually, attacking the most vulnerable among us is the *definition* of heartlessness in my books.)
6. Using (and Losing In) the Courts Instead of Just Doing The Right Thing
The Sask Party lost a court challenge to evict the camp of anti-suicide activist, Tristan Durocher instead of finding a way to work with him to address his legitimate concerns. The Sask Party lost a carbon tax challenge. The Sask Party lost an essential services case in front of the Supreme Court. I mean, there might be one but I honestly can’t think of any court challenges they’ve won.
5. Pick A Wasteful Mega-Project, Any Wasteful Mega-Project!
The Global Transportation Hub is losing money hand-over-fist and embroiled in scandals. The Bypass budget ballooned. Carbon Capture has cost a lot of money and returned very little.
4. The Sask Party Is Tired
One of the core truths of Canadian politics is that governments tend to wear out their welcome after about 10 years in power. There are a few notable exceptions (Tommy Douglas, MacKenzie King, any Conservative in Alberta in the last 30 years) Doesn’t matter the party though, generally parties have lost power after ~10 years. This happened to longstanding Liberal (Chretien/Martin), Conservative (Harper) and NDP (Romanow/Calvert). The Sask Party has been around for just over 10 years and I think many in Saskatchewan are simply tired of them.
3. Don McMorris’ DUI
I honestly debated putting this as the number one reason on this list. Again, I don’t condone Scott Moe’s multiple DUIs but those happened when he was young and, like many young rural men, stupid. In contrast, Don McMorris got a DUI. On a weekday. In the morning. In a construction zone. With a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. While serving as Minister of SGI who are responsible for promoting safe driving *and* Minister of SLGA who are responsible for promoting safe drinking. It’s just such an egregious and entitled act that yeah, he did his penalty and was demoted to the back benches for a bit. But this should’ve been enough to put him far far away from elected office completely (and maybe after tomorrow, he will be?)
2. Scott Moe Isn’t A Strong Leader
No matter how many times their campaign repeats the word “strong”, that’s the last word I think of when I think of Scott Moe. He’s not strong as a leader, a speaker, or as a businessperson. He’s not as charismatic as Brad Wall nor as likeable. He’s loaded down with more baggage and negative history than perhaps any politician in Canadian history. I’m not a Sask Party insider by any stretch but if whispers of dissatisfaction with his performance in this campaign and as leader are reaching my ears, you know there’s probably something to it!
1. Poor Economic Management
You don’t have to be a finance major to see that the Sask Party (and their parent party, the Grant Devine Progressive Conservatives) are incredibly bad financial managers.
I saw this point made in an online article recently and I agree completely:
Although prevalent in Canadian politics, running excessive deficits and unchecked public spending every year can squander the wealth of current and future generations.
It’s almost unbelievable that a government would come through the biggest resource boom in the province’s history, not only with nothing saved for a rainy day, but in fact, raising taxes and increasing costs for citizens in various ways while also overseeing a massively increasing debt.
(Okay, it’s hard to stop listing reasons but one more as a “bonus” – literally! The Sask Party receives a large amount of their donations from out-of-province corporations as we’re one of the few provinces left that allows the practice of so blatantly allowing outsiders to influence our polices and the people who run our government.)
