Premier Wall takes shots at NDP spending promises

Wall made his comments this morning from the campaign office of Regina Northeast candidate Kevin Doherty.This is the Premier's first major salvo of the election campaign against his New Democrat opponents. I guess the substance of his remarks will be judged according to one's political preferences. The thing is that since 1944, the Saskatchewan CCF/NDP have had a reputation for being sound fiscal managers when in government. That legacy is now being challenged by the Premier. If nothing else, it is good to see that this election campaign isn't going to be boring.

Is Wall offbase in going after NDP spending promises, or is he spot on? You tell us - have your say here.

NDP committee rooms vandalized in Swift Current

This is disgusting. Do we really have to add violence and hate to our political culture? Let's agree to disagree, and leave election violence to the Third World dictatorships.

Saskatchewan NDP want rent control

Housing issues are now on the radar screen in this provincial election campaign.The Sask NDP are making a bold move by being in favour of rent control for 2 reasons:

1. It was an NDP government that abolished rent control in our province just a few decades ago, and

2. Most economists would say that rent control is not the best way to combat rising rents, but it is popular political idea.

Protest planned over undemocratic Leader's Debate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Protest for More Debates on TV

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - October 13, 2011 - CBC and other broadcasters colluding to hold one televised election debate, are being anti-democratic, according to Regina citizen John Klein. Klein is a blogger, a Green Party of Saskatchewan member, and IT professional who has again organized a small, short, and sweet protest to be held in front of CBC Regina on Broad St. on Friday October 14, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

 

"I want there to be more debates, not fewer debaters," repeats Klein, "because that's how democracies thrive, by informing their citizens so intelligent choices can be made on good information." The CBC Ombudsman agreed earlier this year that CBC is not aligning its debate airings with its role as the public broadcaster, in a similar erroneous debate decision made nation-wide. http://www.cbc.ca/ombudsman/2011/03/the-consortium-decision-on-the-leaders-election-debates.html Despite the Broadcast Consortium's attempts to keep Elizabeth May off the air, she was subsequently elected, contradicting those who said Canadians didn’t want to hear from a party with no seats at the formation of the previous government.

 

Earlier this year, NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter wrote in the Leader-Post that he's in favour of "inclusive debates". Lingenfelter, and Klein both want more debates to be held, not exclusion of debaters for the broadcasters' convenience. Ryan Bater, Victor Lau, Rick Swenson, and even Dana Arnason deserve equal opportunity to defend their parties' ideas for voters to decide upon. "An invited politician should not have to threaten to boycott an unfairly scripted debate, for the people of Saskatchewan to get the hours of TV exposure they need with the party leaders, to make an informed choice on election day," says Klein

 

- 30 -

 

Contact:

John Klein

saskboy@hotmail.com

Regina, SK S4S 6P8

Phone (306)757-4139

No Bater or Lau in Leader's Debate

The fix is in. The media consortium has decided that neither Green Party leader Victor Lau nor Liberal Party leader Ryan Bater will be admitted to the October 25 debate. This is a sledgehammer over the head of our democracy. Everybody who opposes this move should email John Gormley by clicking on this link.

27th Saskatchewan provincial election campaign now underway

And they are off and running!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sask Politics 1 comes your way again on Monday, October 10, when the provincial election writ is dropped.

Photos: Lingenfelter launches campaign in Regina

Photos: Lingenfelter launches campaign in Regina Images courtesy of Regina Leader Post.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter kicks off his party's 2011 provincial election campaign today at Tommy Douglas House in Regina.

Makowsky mum on his future

You can read about it here. Big Gene has a big decision to make.

Provincial election writ to be dropped Monday

This is it. Enjoy your last sane week before we get plunged into the election on Monday!

Constituency Profile: Kelvington-Wadena

Kelvington-Wadena constituency outlined in red on the map.

For more information on the Kelvington-Wadena constituency, please click on this link.

The recent history of the Kelvington-Wadena constituency begins in the pivotal 1975 provincial election. Kelvington-Wadena was fused together out of the old Kelvington and Wadena constituencies, both which were CCF/NDP strongholds. The first MLA for Kelvington-Wadena was Neil Byers. Byers was first elected as the NDP MLA for the old Kelvington constituency in 1969 over Liberal Bryan Bjarnason. The by-election was ordered by the courts because the 1967 results were so close; Anyhow, Byers won with about 50 percent of the vote in 1975, and 51 percent in 1978. But in 1982, this seat fell to the Progressive Conservatives as part of the 'Monday Night Massacre'. The victorious MLA was Sherwin Petersen, whose margin of victory was about 600 votes or 6 percentage points. Petersen was Minister of Highways in the Devine Government. Petersen was also convicted in the Tory Fraud Scandal and received a conditional discharge and three years of probation. Anyhow, Petersen won with 52 and 50 percent of the vote in his 1982 and 1986 victories. In 1991, Ken Kluz of the NDP defeated Petersen in the "Monday Night Massacre Part 2", or the NDP sweep. Kluz won 54 to 36 percent over Petersen.

In 1995 new boundaries came into play for Kelvington-Wadena, and NDP Natural Resources Minister Darrel Cunningham moved into this riding from the old Canora constituency. Most pundits figured Cunningham would be re-elected, but in fadt Cunningham lost a close race to Liberal candidate June Draude of Watson. Draude received 3,294 votes to 3,177 for Cunningham; Draude got 43.2 percent of the vote compared to 41.7 percent for Cunningham. It was a stunning upset that has had a profound impact on Saskatchewan politics. Draude was among the new Liberal MLAs were were part of the 1995 caucus coup that overthrew Liberal Leader Lynda Haverstock. In 1997 Draude joined 3 other Liberal MLAs and 4 Progressive Conservative MLAs to form the Saskatchewan Party. In 1999 Draude was easily re-elected with the Sask Party, winning over 65 percent of the vote compared to just 28 percent for Doug Still, the NDP candidate and Mayor of Humboldt. In 2003 Draude was re-elected again with 58 percent compared to 31 percent for the NDP. In 2007 Draude secured a fourth term with over 70 percent of the vote, compared to 23 percent for the NDP.

Since the election of the Wall Government in 2007, Draude has held several portfolios in cabinet including First Nations and Metis Relations, Northern Affairs, Crown Corporations, SGI, the Information Technology Office, and the Public Service Commission. Draude's current portfolios include Social Services and Status of Women.

In lead up to the 2011 election, it appears Draude will be safely re-elected in Kelvington-Wadena. The New Democrats have been slow to pick a candidate in this seat. There will be no Liberal candidate in the riding this time, and while the same Green candidate has been nominated who ran in 2007, that individual only got 1.8 percent of the vote. In the past 2 elections there has also been a Western Independence Party candidate on the ballot in Kelvington-Wadena, but again, their support was negligible, with the WIP winning just 1.0 percent in 2007. It is thus not beyond the pale that Draude could win this time with upward of 75 to 80 percent of the vote in this constituency.

Saskatchewan Greens nominated a full slate of candidates for November 7

The Green Party of Saskatchewan is going to run a full slate of candidates for the first time in its 13 year history.Almost half of the candidates are women. While 20 of the 58 candidates are parachute candidates, this is still a huge achievement for the Greens, who are also Saskatchewan's new third party. It looks like the Greens are already rebounding from the loss of their previous leader Larissa Shasko. Larissa quit as Green Leader on September 6 to join the NDP.

Constituency Profile: Cutknife-Turtleford

The Cut Knife-Turtleford constituency is outline on the map in red.

For more information on the Cutknife-Turtleford constituency, please click here.

The constituency of Cut Knife-Turtleford took on its present boundaries for the 2003 election and is a merger of the former Battleford-Cut Knife and Turtleford constituencies. This riding entirely surrounds the Battlefords constituency in its southeast corner.

The 2003 race in Cut Knife-Turtleford was a relatively close one between the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP. However when all the ballots were counted, Mike Chisholm had defeated John Vinek of the NDP, 3,130 votes to 2,505. The percentages of the vote were 48 percent to 39 percent, respectively. However in 2007, Chisholm rolled to a 30 percentage point win over the NDP. Chisholm is not seeking re-election, and the Sask Party candidate this time is Larry Doke, a councillor from the resort village of Metinota. The NDP candidate is Bernadette Gopher. There is a very good chance there will be a Liberal candidate in this seat this time,and given the recent electoral history of this seat, a Western Independence Party of Sasaktchewan candidate is likely here too. The Green candidate is Vinessa Currie, was also the Green candidate in Cutknife-Turtleford in 2007.

While in the past the NDP were very competitive in portions of this seat, it is not clear how the fortunes of the New Democrats will play out here this time. The party has nominated an active local candidate, but the party's provincewide polling numbers are being dragged down by the unpopularity of NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter. Thus is it easy to predict an easy Sask Party win here again this time. However if for some reason NDP fortunes happen to rebound around the province, evidence of an NDP revival would begin to show up in a seat like Cutknife-Turtleford.

Constituency Profile: Rosetown-Elrose

Rosetown-Elrose constituency map, courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

for more information on the Rosetown-Elrose constituency, please click here.

The current constituency of Rosetown-Elrose has had its current boundaries since 2003. Before that it had been called Rosetown-Biggar since 1995, and Rosetown-Elrose before that to 1975. Prior to 1975, Rosetown and Elrose had been separate constituencies going back to the early history of the province.

In 2003, the MLA for this seat was Elwin Hermanson of Beechy, Leader of the Saskatchewan Party. Hermanson had been a Reform Party MP from 1993 to 1997. Hermanson failed to lead the Sask Party to government in 2003, but was re-elected in Rosetown-Elrose with over 63 percent of the vote. Hermanson retired in 2007 and is now with the Canadian Grain Commission. In 2007 the new Sask Party MLA for Rosetown-Elrose became Jim Reiter of Rosetown. Reiter was an RM Administrator prior to his 2007 victory. Reiter is a rising star in the Wall Government, having served as Minister of Highways and Infrastructure since 2009.

Reiter won 71 percent of the vote in Rosetown-Elrose in 2007. All of his opponents last time were parachute candidates from outside of the constituency. If Reiter similarly faces no serious opposition this fall, and that will most likely be the case, it is possible that Reiter could capture 75 to 80 percent of the vote this time, or more.

Constituency Profile: Weyburn-Big Muddy

Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency map, image courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

For more information about the Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency, click here.

It is kind of hard to describe the voting history of the Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency. Sometimes it acts like a swing riding, and other times it doesn't. We'll give you the background information, and let you decide for yourself what kind of a seat Weyburn-Big Muddy truly is. 13 individuals have earned the privilege of being the MLA for this constituency since 1908. The very first MLA for Weyburn was a Liberal, Robert Menzies Mitchell. He was the MLA from 1908 until 1919. Mitchell was trained as a physician in Ontario and moved to Saskatchewan in 1899 and opened a medical practice in Indian Head. Mitchell later moved to Weyburn and opened a drug store there. The Soo Line employed Mitchell as a quarantine inspector from 1901 to 1902. From 1904 to 1907, Mitchell was Mayor and Weyburn and was also Chairman of the local school board. Mitchell served as Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature from 1917 to 1919. In 1919, Mitchell resigned as an MLA when he was named Superintendent of the Weyburn Mental Hospital.

After Mitchell, Charles McGill Hamilton was the MLA for Weyburn from 1919 to 1929. In the famous 1929 election, Weyburn elected a Progressive Party MLA named Robert Sterritt Leslie. Leslie was the Minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Weyburn. During most of the years that Leslie was an MLA, he was Speaker of the House. The Liberals recaptured Weyburn in 1934 and again in 1938, with Hugh Eaglesham and George Crane serving as the MLAs.

In 1944 Weyburn underwent a seismic shift in its politics and elected a pugilist and Baptist preacher named Tommy Douglas as its MLA. Douglas also happened to be Leader of the CCF and at that time became Premier of Saskatchewan. Douglas would remain the MLA for Weyburn until 1961 when he resigned as CCF Leader and Premier to become the first Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. In the 1961 by-election held to replace Douglas, the seat was re-captured by Junior Staveley of the Liberals. Staveley was the Mayor of Weyburn, and his by-election win helped propel Ross Thatcher and the Liberals back into power in 1964. However, when Thatcher and Liberals rolled into power, Staveley was not among the victorious MLAs. Staveley was defeated in 1964 by Auburn Pepper of the CCF. Pepper was the long-time MLA for Weyburn after that with successful re-election in 1967, 1971, 1975 and 1978. In 1982 Pepper was swept out of office like most other NDP MLAs by the Tory juggernaut. Pepper was replaced by Lorne Hepworth, who would become a leading luminary in the Devine Government. Dr. Hepworth served in cabinet, including the prestigious posting of Finance Minister. Today Hepworth is President of CropLife Canada. In 1991 Hepworth was defeated by Ron Wormsbecker of the NDP, a laywer. In 1995 Wormsbecker was succeeded by fellow New Democrat Judy Bradley, who had previously been the MLA for Bengough-Milestone. Bradley served as Minister of Highways and Transportation in the Romanow Government until her defeat in 1999 by Brenda Bakken-Lackey of the Saskatchewan Party. Bakken-Lackey was re-elected in 2003 but quit in 2006 to pursue non-political opportunities. A by-election was held in Weyburn-Big Muddy lain June of that year that saw newcomer Dustin Duncan clobber Saskatchewan Liberal Leader David Karwacki, 49 to 27 percent. It was an event that helped fuel the collapse of the Liberals and further entrenched the Saskatchewan Party in rural Saskatchewan. Duncan was re-elected in 2007 with over 60 percent of the vote.

This time there will be no Liberal candidate in Weyburn-Big Muddy. In 2007 Colleen Christopherson-Cote still managed to win over 12% of the vote for the Liberals. It is also a seat where the NDP were late in nominating a candidate this time. At the time of the publishing of this feature, no NDP candidate was listed for Weyburn-Big Muddy on the party's website. The Greens also haven't nominated anyone in this seat yet. Without a Liberal candidate this time and given the extreme popularity of Premier Wall and the enormous unpopularity of Dwain Lingenfelter, Duncan could end up winning 75 to 80 percent of the vote in Weyburn-Big Muddy this time.

Constituency Profile: Kindersley

Kindersley constituency is marked in red on this map

For more background on Kindersley constituency, just click this link.

The voting history of the Kindersley constituency goes back 99 years and includes a colourful cascade of politicians from across Saskatchewan's unique political spectrum. The first MLA elected in the Kindersley constituency was in 1912. He was William Motherwell, Saskatchewan's first Minister of Agriculture. Motherwell was the provincial Liberal Agriculture Minister from 1906 to 1917. Later Motherwell went on to become the federal Agriculture Minister in the Mackenzie King government. The Motherwell Homestead near Abernethy in east-central Saskatchewan was Motherwell's base of operations. After Motherwell went to Ottawa, Kindersley became dominated by agrarian socialist politicians. In a 1919 by-election, Wesley Harvey,  Farmer-Independent candidate was acclaimed in Kindersley. Harvey went on to win the seat over the Liberals in 1921 with over 72 percent of the vote, this time as a Progressive MLA. In 1925 the Progressives won Kindersley again with Ebenezer Whatley as the winning candidate. Whatley was re-elected in 1929 and became part of the infamous Anderson coalition government. Whatley didn't even bother running for re-election in 1934. Kindersley was then won by Louis Hantelman of the new Farmer-Labour party. This was one of the five seats won by Farmer-Labour in the pivotal 1934 election that saw the Liberals win a landslide government and every member of the Anderson government defeated. The Farmer-Labour Party went on to become the Saskatchewan CCF. Hantelman later served for Canada in World War 2, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. Donald Laing of the Liberals won the new Kerrobert-Kindersley in 1938.

In 1944, the voters of Kerrobert-Kindersley joined most of the rest of Saskatchewan in electing a CCF MLA as part of the historic Douglas landslide win. The triumphant candidate for the CCF was John Wellbelove. Kerrobert-Kindersley remained a strong CCF seat through the Douglas years, with Wellbelove being re-elected in 1948, 1952 and 1956. Wellbelove retired in 1960 and was replaced by CCF MLA Eldon Johnson. But in 1964 the Liberals finally won Kerrobert-Kindersley with Bill Howes as the winning candidate over Johnson. Howes was re-elected in 1967 but was narrowly defeated in 1971 by New Democrat Alex Taylor. This would mark the end of the era; it was the very last time the CCF/NDP ever won this seat.

In 1975 the new Kindersley riding was won the by Liberals one more time. The winning candidate was Neil McMillan, who was just in his 20s at the time. Today McMillan is the President and CEO of Claude Resources, a Saskatchewan-based gold mining and gas and oil exploration company. For years after McMillan narrowly lost the Kindersley riding in 1978, it was speculated for years that McMillan was the great "dauphin" of the Saskatchewan Liberal party, that some day he would return to claim the Liberal throne, rebuild party and restore its former power and glory. However McMillan never made the move. Probably his ideal time to have done so would have been in 1989, when Lynda Haverstock came on the scene. In any case McMillan has had a very successful private sector career, and likely has no regrets about returning to save what became a lost cause.

In 1978 Kindersley voters brought their constituency into a new chapter in its history when they entered the Tory fold. Bob Andrew of Eston was elected as the new MLA and went on to be re-elected in 1982 and 1986. Andrew was a high-profile cabinet minister in the Devine government, having served as Minister of Justice. Andrew quit in 1989, and the Kindersley constituency remained vacant for the next 2 years. In 1991, former Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Lynda Haverstock had first considered running in the Kindersley constituency, but was unwisely talked out of it by the swarm of lawyers that surrounded her (and later ended her political career). Instead, Bill Boyd of Eston would go on to win a close contest here in 1991 and has mostly been the MLA for Kindersley ever since. In 1994 the wily Boyd became leader of the Saskatchewan PC Party and went on in 1995 to salvage 5 MLAs in a miraculous and well-run election campaign. In 1997 Boyd became one of the original 8 MLAs to form the Saskatchewan Party. In 2002 Boyd quit as MLA and was replaced in a by-election by Jason Dearborn of the Saskatchewan Party. Dearborn was easily re-elected in 2003, but drew unwelcome attention to himself. In 2007 Dearborn did not seek re-election, and Boyd returned. Today Boyd is the Minister of Energy and Resources, and of Intergovernmental Affairs. He is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and influential ministers in the Wall Government, and may yet become Premier of Saskatchewan some day.

Too few women involved in Saskatchewan politics

Government Affairs Minister Laura Ross, image courtesy of www.cbc.ca/sask

Why are there so few women in Saskatchewan politics? The Sask Party has just 10 women nominated as candidates for this fall's election, the New Democrats have 14, and the Greens have 19 and counting.

At the end of the day, maybe women see better opportunities outside of politics. It might also be the case that women in politics have to be tougher to survive than men. After all, men in politics are never subjected to having appearances commented on, among other things.

Constituency Profile: Estevan

Estevan constituency in red, image courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

For more information on Estevan Constituency, just click this Elections Saskatchewan link.

The first time Estevan constituency was contested was in 1908. The first MLA was Liberal George Alexander Bell. He would be re-elected in 1912 and 1917. In a by-election held in 1918, the Liberals kept Estevan with Robert Dunbar as the new MLA. Dunbar was re-elected by acclamation in 1921. Estevan had another new MLA by 1925 in the person of James Creighton. By 1929 the Liberal MLA for Estevan was Eleazar Garner. The Conservatives would first win Estevan in a 1930 by-election with David McKnight as the winning candidate. The by-election was triggered over allegations surrounding the 1929 vote count in the riding. By 1934 the constituency was now called Bromhead and the Liberals won back this seat with Norman McLeod being the new MLA. In 1938 the constituency was re-christened Souris-Estevan, and McLeod was re-elected. But the Liberal hold on Estevan was ended in 1944 by the CCF sweep of the province. McLeod was crushed by Charles Cuming of the CCF in that historic election. It marked the first time that the Liberals had lost Estevan in a general election. The Liberals came back to win Estevan in 1948 with John McCormack as the winner. McCormack was re-elected in 1952. In the 1953 by-election in Souris-Estevan, the Liberals did not run a candidate, and Robert Kohaly of the PC Party easily defeated the CCF. But by 1956 the CCF won in Souris-Estevan again with Kim Thorson as the winning candidate. But Thorson went down to defeat in 1960 when Ian MacDougall of the Liberals took back the riding. MacDougall was re-elected in 1964 and 1967 but was defeated in the 1971 general election by Russ Brown of the NDP and again later that year in a by-election by Thorson.

The modern constituency of Estevan has had many boundary incarnations since 1908. The modern voting history of Estevan more or less begins in the 1975 general election when Bob Larter of the Tories won this seat by almost 2,000 votes over Thorson. The PCs had been shut out of the Saskatchewan Legislature since the Great Depression, but the party began a huge comeback in 1975, and Estevan was one of the 7 seats that were won this time. Larter was easily re-elected in 1978, but was gone from the Legislature by 1980. In the 1980 by-election, Jack Chapman of the NDP beat PC Leader Grant Devine by about 80 votes. the Liberal candidate was Ralph Goodale. Chapman went on to serve in the Blakeney Government until he was defeated by Devine in a rematch in 1982. Devine went on to be easily re-elected in 1986 and again in 1991. In 1992 Devine stepped down as PC Leader and didn't run for re-election in 1995. Larry Ward won a close 3-way fight in Estevan for the NDP in 1995, but lost in 1999 to Doreen Eagles of the Saskatchewan Party. Eagles has not had a close contest since first winning in 1999 - in that election she won with almost 47% of the vote over the Liberals, with Ward finishing third. By 2003, the Liberal vote had started collapsing in Estevan, which helped boost Eagles to over 51% of the vote. In 2007, Eagles cruised to 66% of the vote after the NDP vote cratered in the constituency. Without a Liberal candidate in Estevan this time, and given the strong oil and gas activity underway in the Estevan area, Eagles could win Estevan again with 78 to 80 percent of the vote or more. Estevan is solidly in the Saskatchewan Party camp and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, if not longer.

NDP promise to open 750 long term care beds

Here is another health care promise from the Saskatchewan NDP for the November 7 provincial election.

Health care is a touchy subject in Saskatchewan politics. That said, one wonders where the money will come from to fulfill all of the health care promises being made by the political parties. Health spending already represents roughly 45% of the provincial government's annual budget.

Rural health delivery remains a big challenge for the Sask Party Government

So says Health Minister Don McMorris. What do you think should be done to improve the delivery of health services in rural Saskatchewan?