There is no question that Saskatchewan’s NDP are bringing up legitimate government spending issues — big spending issues and small spending issues.
Whether it’s the $1.9 billion spent on the Regina by-pass, the highly questionable $103,000 an acre costs Global Transportation Hub (GTH) land or even the recent controversies over how much Premier Scott Moe is spending on travel, these are issues any good opposition should be raising.
And hey are important issues because they are about holding government to account on behalf of everyone.
You may recall a highly successful Saskatchewan Party opposition of more than a decade ago that vowed not to be the kind of government that picks winners or losers or wastes money on pet projects or frivolous travel.
Well, as so often happens with aging governments that have been in power for a while, time has a way of causing you forget what you believed in opposition.
You start to justify a few too many exotic trips like Moe’s trip this month to India or justify some bad spending choices. In the case of the GTH or the by-pass, you may even see government throwing good taxpayers’ money after bad.
Sometimes, if they are bad enough and if there are enough of these issues, they can contribute mightily to unseating a government.
After a 16-year-run, the last NDP administration fell victim to the Spudco scandal and a series of others spending missteps.
They say elections are for governments to lose. That said, most of the time, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.
While governments plagued by scandal and debt and deficits do get voted out, as was the case of the Grant Devine Progressive Conservative government in 1991, there still has to be a viable alternative.
To replace a government, Oppositions must have alternative ideas and plans that are not only different from what the current government is offering but also ideas that are more pleasing to the voter.
It is here where NDP leader Ryan Meili and the NDP clearly needs to step up.
In fairness, it’s still two years before the next election because the Sask. Party has now extended this term to four years and seven months. It would be a tad early for the NDP to be releasing an exact platform.
But one might think after 11 years of wandering the opposition wilderness, we might be getting a broad, general understanding of not just what the NDP opposes but also what it stands for.
So far, what the NDP have mostly provided is opportunities for the Sask. Party government to tee off on the Opposition for be indecisiveness. Consider this Justice Minister Don Morgan response in question period last week:
“Mr. Speaker, the members opposite, they ask: travel, don’t travel; carbon tax, no carbon tax; drill, don’t drill; leave it in the ground, take it out of the ground; pipelines, no pipelines,” Morgan charged in the assembly Monday. “Mr. Speaker, they are all over the map. I can tell this to the Leader of the Opposition. He’s going to go the same way as (former leaders Dwain) Lingenfelter and (Cam) Broten. I can see a hat trick coming up.”
Of course, Morgan was engaging in a little politics. But Saskatchewan voters do want their governing party to take decisive stances on key issues like the carbon tax and pipelines.
One thing Meili is proposing is a plan to steadily replace existing Saskatchewan pipelines on a scheduled basis.
Energy Minister Bronwyn Eyre called it a “hare-brained scheme” that would cost taxpayers $50 billion. She added it was also completely unnecessary because the pipelines are regularly inspected.
If the NDP are to make inroads, they need to offer solid ideas — not just criticisms.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
