Saskatchewan voters are four weeks and a few days from the next provincial election, believe it or not.
The electricity of an election, the campaigning, is almost non-existent. One has to wonder why there is no election excitement, no greater attempt to create interest.
The pandemic and months of lockdown, no doubt, are a major factor, but wouldn’t you expect election interest to take minds off the pandemic stress?
Lack of interest can be attributed to lack of substantial issues that would attract voters’ attention. Our attention has been focused on the pandemic and getting through it without becoming infected.
The New Democratic Party and leadership bears some responsibility for lack of interest in the election. Not only has the NDP been unable to whip up interest in the election, this party appears woefully unprepared for a vote, let alone for becoming government after Oct. 26.
The NDP, like all other parties, has known for years that a provincial election would be held in late October 2020. Yet, by Sept. 8 the NDP didn’t have a candidate in 24 of the 61 ridings.
The Saskatchewan Party had candidates in 60 ridings with 12 for the Progressive Conservatives and 11 for the Green Party.
Most of the ridings without NDP candidates are rural-based where the party hasn’t had much support since the 1990s when an NDP government closed 40 rural hospitals.
Winning elections, particularly upsetting established members, requires local candidates to campaign for months before the vote. When there is no candidate there is no opportunity to win.
The low number of nominations reflects on the organization of the NDP and the leader’s choices.
By not finding enough candidates to realistically win a majority, the NDP is conceding the election to the Saskatchewan Party for a fourth term.
The Saskatchewan Party has a 32 per cent edge in the polls over the NDP, partly because the premier has been able to eat up most of the media exposure with daily reports on the pandemic. His approach to the pandemic has seemed acceptable.
NDP leader Ryan Meili’s media attention by contrast has been limited to short clips criticizing the Saskatchewan Party pandemic policy.
The NDP has ready-made issues that should resonate with rural and urban voters — the state of provincial finances, the ballooning deficit and the burgeoning debt.
But it’s difficult to criticize Saskatchewan Party spending when the NDP spending plans would only increase the deficit and debt.
A further albatross around the NDP’s neck comes from being perceived as a party opposed to business and making a profit. Perhaps the stories of internal strife in the party reflect that, or they reflect disenchantment with the disorganized approach to the election.
Our democratic system is threatened when no party has a hope to unseat the government. A healthy democracy needs the stimulation of a strong and healthy opposition.
In the words of British historian Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
That’s what we can expect in the future.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
