Less than a month to Mexico…
(And it’s like a time machine working through the versions of this song – from the original Hank Snow to the 80’s era Haggard-Willie duet to the more modern George Straight version with a video shot in Tulum – aka the only place that I have ever got really sick in all of our tropical vacations – not due to food or booze but instead, sun stroke!) 🙁
“Seashores of Old Mexico” – George Straight
In the current Sask NDP leadership race, you’ll see lots of endorsements from many of the high profile people you’d expect to hear from – current and former MPs and MLA’s, grassroots and labour activists, young leaders and lifetime members.
I’d like to talk to you from a different perspective – as a working librarian who truly believes that the library is the embodiment of democracy in our society and that improved literacy is a key factor in creating a healthy society.
That’s why the Sask Party’s cuts to libraries in the 2017 Budget were so shocking – they were unexpected, they were unnecessary, and they struck a blow at the heart of democracy, threatening to end library services and hurt readers in towns and cities across the entire province.
Luckily, there were many who rose up to oppose the cuts and play a role in seeing them overturned – everyone from the thousands who joined non-partisan online advocacy groups, citizens’ groups with petitions, the Sask Library Association, CUPE, and influential members of library boards across the province who met quietly with the government to help convince them to see the error of their ways.
All NDP MLA’s were strong defenders of libraries, some because of their roles within the party, some because of their innate love of libraries, and many because of a combination of both.
I was particularly impressed with Ryan Meili’s response, not because he was the Leader or a Critic with responsibility in this area but because he was someone who is clearly a lifelong fan of libraries who also understands the library’s role in creating a healthy society. During the crisis, he wrote a powerful post on his MLA Facebook page that spoke to his long connection to libraries from his earliest days as part of the Palliser Regional library system in rural Saskatchewan.
I have very fond memories of going to our post office box in Courval as a kid and opening up a package with 5 new library books to read. I can still recall the smell of the books and the excitement of a new set of stories. My ongoing love of learning and curiosity about the world was fostered by those regular shipments of books and occasional visits to the inspiring Moose Jaw Public Library facility. – Ryan Meili
That connection paid off when Ryan was able to set the behind-the-scenes process in motion to arrange for six Palliser employees, who had received their pink slips in the wake of the cuts to visit the Legislature, get introduced in the house, and be interviewed by the media. Giving a human face to how endangered libraries actually were was one of many turning points in the fight against the library cuts.
There are numerous reasons I think Ryan Meili is the right choice for this party.
His upbringing in rural Saskatchewan. The fact that he’s a doctor which is one of the most trusted professions in our society at a time when people’s trust of “typical” politicians is broken. His proven ability to fundraise, utilize social media, and inspire new members of the party. But the fact that he’s an author, a lover of language, and a long-time advocate for libraries are the reasons that are closest to my heart.
Libraries were already doing this but, in the wake of the Sask Party’s egregious cuts, the lesson became more urgent. Organizations need to evolve and change if they want to remain relevant to society.
My hope is that the Sask NDP has also learned the same lesson after a decade of not only failing to advance but actually falling further behind in the last two provincial elections in 2011 and 2016. We need to be bold, innovative, and to present a credible alternative by telling voters what we’re for (universal pharmacare!) instead of just saying what we’re against (gravy planes?!?) if we want to win in 2020.
There is no one better positioned to tell that story than a bestselling author, a trusted doctor and a small-town kid whose time spent in libraries growing up has led him to this point.
Together, let’s make Ryan the next Leader of the Saskatchewan NDP and write a new chapter for our province!
I first got seriously involved with the Sask NDP after Ryan Meili announced as a candidate in the party’s 2009 Leadership contest.
For that reason, I thought it might be useful for anyone reading this who is just getting involved with the Sask NDP now because of Ryan (or his opponent or simply because they’re fired up about some current issue in our province) to do a “Best of” list about some of my writing about Ryan Meili over the years.
That’s only a hint of the posts I’ve done over the years about Ryan Meili and various aspects other aspects of Saskatchewan politics so click either of those links if you’d like to read more.
Here’s a few random pics from our trip last year…
So Shea and I went to the Sask NDP Leader’s debate in Regina a week ago tonight and, having supported Ryan since he first ran for the party leadership in 2009, I’ve now been to quite a few of these things – debates but also conventions and numerous other NDP events – over the years.
But as someone who thinks of himself on the periphery of the party right now – I’ve served on my constituency association in the past but don’t currently; I’ve door knocked in -20 weather for a candidate I liked but have skipped door knocking opportunities in a race that turned out to be one of the tightest in the province when I wasn’t impressed with the party’s leader. Shea and I don’t go to every NDP function but try to make a point of going to the occasional one that is unique or interesting (or lines up with our babysitter’s availability!) 😉
So looking around the room last week seeing so many familiar faces from previous leadership races, NDP events, labour rallies, conventions, debates, etc. etc. etc., I had an interesting thought.
What is supporters of people who’d previously won the Sask NDP leadership but had then gone on to have no further success (either by losing their own seat or having negative or negligible gains in the seat count) weren’t allowed to vote in this leadership race?
Now, obviously your first reaction (and mine to be honest) is that this is a) completely undemocratic and b) there’d be no way to enforce this as you never ultimately know who someone votes for.
(One person who endorsed a different candidate in 2013 ended up voting for Ryan at the last moment. Or at least that’s what they drunkenly told me at the post-convention party. But maybe they were stringing me along? Again, you can never know for sure.)
Anyhew, let’s take an easy example to illustrate what I’m talking about – in this race, MLA Cathy Sproule is supporting Ryan and MLA Danielle Chartier is supporting Trent. I have no idea who either of them supported in 2009 but in 2013, both supported Cam Broten. So, in my thought experiment, suddenly neither would be allowed to vote in this race.
Another example – a person who I still remember as a *very* excited Dwain Lingenfelter voter in 2009 is now supporting Ryan. But if that person voted for Link in 2009, it doesn’t matter that it took him nearly a decade to see Ryan as the best choice – my magic anti-democracy machine won’t let him vote in 2013.
There are a number of party stalwarts – whether you call them the old boys’ club or the establishment or whatever – who picked Link in 2009 and that didn’t work out for them. So some of them went with Broten in 2013 and that didn’t work out for them either. Therefore, the magic anti-democracy machine actually prevents these people from voting in this leadership race…twice as hard as it blocks anyone else. 😉
Before I go any further, let’s talk about what’s the point of a thought experiment like this? Is it just a convoluted way to say that all people who voted for Dwain Lingenfelter or later, Cam Broten, were wrong?
Not exactly.
Everyone who voted for Link and Broten had good reasons for who they voted for and why they thought those candidates were the right choice at the time. I even saw a recent post by a high level member of Ryan’s 2009 team where he talked about all the good things Link brought to the party when he was elected leader – increased professionalism within the party, strong message discipline, a face that was well-known to Saskatchewan voters – among other things that I’m sure most people – again, including myself – would agree are good for the party.
But for whatever reason, despite Link having the support of 55% of the party’s membership, it didn’t work out. The party lost a number of seats including the leader’s and those 55% – many of whom were absolutely certain that Link was the best choice for the party and the province – ended up being…”wrong” isn’t the word I’m looking for but…mistaken?
Same thing in 2013 – although it was much tighter, Cam Broten still convinced 51% of the membership that he was the best choice for leader. And again, it didn’t work out. The party basically broke even on their seat count plus the leader once again lost his seat and those 51% who were certain that Cam Broten was the best choice for the party and the province ended up being mistaken.
(To be fair, there’s a totally separate discussion to be had about Ryan supporters – and I’d include myself in that group – who chose to pull back on their involvement after Cam won. If I was writing about hockey, I’d call that post “Do you support the logo on the front of the jersey or the player’s name on the back?” but anyhow, I’ll save those thoughts for another day.)
Which brings up to the current decision the membership has to make.
Although it’s only a two person race, you once again have people (who are supporting both candidates) who are absolutely *certain* that their candidate is the best choice for…reasons.
(Okay, there are also some who are undecided and struggling with the choice – like one guy who’s posted a few Facebook comments saying he’s 51% Meili – 49% Wotherspoon.)
But my point is that the only thing that anyone voting in this race know for sure – whether they’re a 80 year old lifetime member or some 14 year old kid who signed up for the first time because they’re pissed about cuts to education – is that nobody knows for certain what will work or what the party needs at this point in time.
People might think they know (and to repeat, I include myself in this group) but the reality is that *nobody* knows who is best for the party or whether it is Trent *or* Ryan who is going to give the NDP the best shot at winning in 2020.
A Trent supporter might cite Wotherspoon’s 10 years’ of experience as a great strength going into the next election whereas a Meili supporter might see 10 years of baggage that’s going to hurt us in 2020. A Ryan supporter might cite Meili’s commitment to environmental causes as a great plus for the future of our province (and our planet!) whereas a Wotherspoon supporter might wonder how that will be received in a conservative province where natural resources play a huge role in the economy.
Which brings me back to the thought experiment.
I honestly don’t know what the vote would look like if people who’d previously supported either of the last two Sask NDP leaders were somehow magically prevented from voting in the current race.
People like myself who’d been with Ryan since day one would get a vote and would (likely) still vote Ryan. People who’d been with Trent since he ran in 2013 would get a vote and would (likely) still vote Trent (although ironically, Trent might not be able to vote for himself since he supported Dwain Lingenfelter in 2009!)
So what’s the ultimate point?
The NDP I learned about in school and that my grandfather voted for was a party that had a bold vision for the province. My view is that the NDP has been playing it safe for 10 years and the results speak for themselves. The people who voted for Dwain Lingenfelter and Cam Broten weren’t wrong. But they *do* need to think deeply if they have any certainty about who they think is best for the party this time around, whether they’re supporting Ryan or Trent.
Because ultimately, I think all NDP members would agree that we’d prefer to once again be the party of Tommy Douglas and Roy Romanow instead of the party of Dwain Lingenfelter and Cam Broten.
In the 2009 and 2013 Sask NDP leadership races, I was *very* opinionated and that often left me at cross-purposes, as an active member of Ryan’s team but also as a blogger/Facebooker/Tweeter with my own thoughts, opinions and ego who didn’t mind getting into discussions and sharing my observations – respectful, heated or otherwise – with others online whether they were Sask NDP supporters, Sask Party supporters or just random folks chiming in.
But now, for a variety of reasons, I’m less directly involved in Ryan’s campaign but also way more conscious of not posting anything that might be taken as an attack (compare with my personal mantra during the 2013 race: “Facts are not attacks!”) either on my blog or on Facebook or Twitter.
Why?
* I really want to win this race and I still remember, after one of my Twitter fights near the end of the last race in 2013, a top Meili campaign person admonished me: “What are you doing? What if we lose the race at this late point because of that kind of stuff?” I retorted that if we lost at that point in the race, me having a Twitter fight with some random dude is the least of our problems and there’ll be a zillion other reasons we lost. But in the end, it turns out there were 44 reasons we lost but I always felt guilty that “Jason gets into needless Twitter fights” was possibly #45. 🙁
* With rare exceptions, I think it happens with all of us as we get older and mellower when “rawr!” is less likely to be our first reaction to something we don’t agree with. So I see stuff I don’t like and I just go “Oh well” in my head and move on with my day. Maybe if I’m *really* worked up about it, I’ll go and sell a membership or solicit some donations too!
* I’ve discovered the beauty of having a “cut board” file on my computer. Now, as well as a wealth of unpublished blog posts which aren’t even really aggressive but being held back just in case something I say might make someone a smidgen less likely to vote for Ryan, I’ve come up with a very creative outlet for my anger – I still type the Facebook comment/Twitter reply but instead of hitting “Post”, I just copy it into my “cut board” file. Sure, it’s 872 pages long and my computer’s actually noticeably slowed down but still better than putting it out there! (And if I feel I absolutely must share something, I just send it in a private message to the Meili campaign person who admonished me for public attacks in 2013!) 😉
* That’s actually another point I haven’t considered much about my lack of participation but after being a big true believer of social media in the past (and I still am in many ways) I’ve also soured when I see how easy it is to attack another person from behind a keyboard (and conversely, how many people assume the worst when someone has a different opinion or tries to clarify a misunderstanding) and how polarized we’ve become generally, even with people we’re supposed to be on the same team with. (I have an example of how my thinking on the role of social media comments has shifted but since it involves some behind-the-scenes approaches of the Meili social media team, I’m not even going to share that right now!)
* I’ve realised that most of the attacking/petty/frustrated comments are most likely to come out when a candidate’s supporters feel they’re losing or have had some bad news about a poll or fundraising totals or whatever.
* There’s always a chance you’ll meet (and might even like) the people you’ve argued with online in person. That happened at the Sask NDP convention in 2013. I ended up briefly sitting at a table with Erin Weir and he introduced me to another gentleman at the table – who turned out to be someone I’d had a heated argument with online! 🙂
* There was a day when I would’ve even made sure to tag the subject line of this post with #skpoli and #skndpldr to get some extra views even though this post is really nothing more than my own personal navel-gazing. But I don’t sell ads on this blog and part of the reason for that is that I’ve realised I don’t really care about the eyeballs I get or don’t get. During the library cuts, I wrote multiple posts that got thousands of hits and although I’d never actively tried to reach a massive audience with my blog, I’d previously only had one post hit that level of virality. So I guess the library cuts had one important takeaway on a personal level – when I’m focused enough and passionate enough, I can write things that thousands of people all across Canada will want to read and if I need the dopamine rush of seeing my stats tick up, I don’t have to try every little trick to boost my stats. Instead, I just have to write something compelling, timely and shareable.
This isn’t that post but anyhow, here’s some more kittens…
A poll released today showed Ryan Meili has 63% support among decided voters compared to 38% support for Trent Wotherspoon.
That means Meili might well be on his way to facing off against Ken Cheveldayoff in a battle of newly elected leaders of Saskatchewan’s two major political parties?
(Did you catch the subtle face-off reference?)
Of course, in a world where Donald Trump is President of the United States, I’m not going to trust any poll very much. But still much preferable than having those numbers reversed!
Anyhow, here’s another classic Meili montage – “Here is where I feel it” indeed!
“Canadian Skye” – Spirit of the West
As a massive believer in free speech, I love this XKCD comic!
You absolutely have the right to say whatever you want (short of the illegal types of speech – hate speech and obscenity or shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre.)
But you also have to accept that whatever you say might be criticized, questioned or even corrected and that doesn’t necessarily mean that your rights are being violated or your opinion is under attack.
(Contrary to this comic, I’d say it also doesn’t mean that you’re an asshole for what you said – it just means someone else disagrees with you and that could be because of anything from a simple misunderstanding to a genuine difference of opinion.)
I hope the angle of the button makes it clear that Sasha put this button on herself, not that her parents forced her to do it!
(In fact, the sidelong glance is her eyeing up another one we had lying on our kitchen counter!) 🙂
