As I finished watching the election coverage on Monday night, I couldn’t help but have some sympathy for Cam Broten and the NDP. Taking on Brad Wall and the Sask Party is much like the late 1980s and early 1990s when Mike Tyson took on all-comers for the heavyweight boxing title.
Provincially, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see a left leaning party emerge under a different name and replace the NDP and be a viable alternative for people who don’t support the SaskParty; much the same way the SaskParty was created and it meant the demise of the provincial Conservatives. This is three elections in a row where the NDP has been disappointed by their showing and even I have to admit to being surprised they didn’t do better this time around. I expected them to claim 15 or so seats, but it looks like they haven’t made any ground at all over the last four years.
There was some debate by the talking heads on television about what makes Brad Wall so likeable. I have my own opinion on this and I think it comes down to the fact Wall comes across as a regular guy just like most Saskatchewan people. He isn’t snotty, he doesn’t speak in abstract terms that nobody can relate to. In his speech Monday night he was personal and personable. He singled out specific people that a lot of us have heard of. In my case, it was George Wilson of GW Construction in Buchanan. George is the 93-year-old business owner who says he’s too old to retire. Wall is also humble and made sure to stress that the election win is an opportunity to serve, rather than a victory to govern. He also gave solid props to Broten and the NDP. The winning speech was, simply, classy. It’s something Justin Trudeau could learn from as he, six months later, is still slagging Stephen Harper. Give it up already. You won the election. Harper is old news. Do your thing and quit acting like a school girl constantly comparing herself to her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.
I don’t follow Alberta politics all that close, but the message I seem to be hearing is that ever since Rachel Notley took over as Premier, that province has gone even further south than it was previously and people are saying she’s making it even more difficult for them to escape their hard economic times. In fact, I think, the reports we are getting out of Alberta are scaring potential NDP supporters in other provinces and chasing them to other parties when they go to vote. Manitoba’s NDP government is on shaky ground and it’s, fully expected, they will be turfed later this month by the electorate.
One thing I was very impressed with over the course of the election campaign was how smart Saskatchewan people are. During the federal election, Canadians were, greatly, influenced by left leaning media and as the reports became more and more pro-Liberal, you could see the polls start to swing more into the Liberals’ favor. That did not happen in this provincial election. Murray Mandryk, who writes for the newspaper in Regina, was so pro-NDP that I thought he could be on the party payroll. As a television analyst Monday night, I was thinking if the broadcast extended another half an hour, he may actually shed real life tears.
The role of the media has changed so much in a short period of time. When I worked full-time, you would never (outside of an editorial) show even a glimpse of which Party you support. That’s all but gone now. The main stream media, predominantly, leans to the left. The ones that lean to the right (Rebel, Sun) are so non-credible in their reporting that it does a tremendous amount of damage to Conservative based outfits.
I have one final thought on the media and how it’s influenced, but this has nothing to do with the election. Last week, there were a number of outlets who reported, heavily, on the issue of the concussion lawsuit filed by former players against the National Hockey League. Sportsnet, which paid big money to broadcast the NHL for the next number of years, stayed far away from this story. It’s never been more clear that the NHL has total control over the journalistic content on Sportsnet. While this is another nail in the coffin for people hoping to get the ‘news’ as opposed to the ‘public relations sunshine’, it isn’t something that we shouldn’t be expecting. I look no further than my own career in the media. I was muzzled, as many people know, almost from the get-go when I arrived in Yorkton to work on the radio. Reporting on a prominent businessman in trouble with the law was a no-no. Opining about something that a potential advertiser wasn’t happy with would result in sanctions to the announcer. So, I don’t blame the Sportsnet reporters. In fact, it must be, incredibly, frustrating. But, at the same time, just admit you are a shill for your boss and have no choice about it. To suggest otherwise is insulting to the viewer and lessens the credibility even further.
Nice person mentions this week: Alex White (great time in Saskatoon over the weekend, we need to do that more), Susan Allary, Juanita Polegi, Ron Inkster, and Kris Joyce.
