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Election an opportunity for a meaningful conversation

On the eve of last week’s election call, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe talked about this campaign as one that will either mend or further tear the fabric of our nation.
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On the eve of last week’s election call, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe talked about this campaign as one that will either mend or further tear the fabric of our nation.

“This is the crossroads that we are faced with this fall: Do we want to move forward as these regions of Canada, bickering amongst one another talking about who’s closer with the federal government?” he told the Regina Leader-Post’s Arthur White-Crummey.

“Or do we want to actually set our differences aside and move forward as one strong nation, as a nation that is really proud of one another and proud of all our regions of Canada and how we create our wealth?”

In a federal election campaign expected to be nasty — made much more so by the echo chamber that is social media — Moe’s words should resonate with us all.

Polite political conversation has often ended with “they’re all the same” or “they’re all bad.”

It was always good form for those who subscribed to the bygone notion that religion and politics to provide answers with which all could agree.

Well, in this era of social media, it polite conversation doesn’t much exist anymore.

Tune into FaceBook or Twitter and one quickly discovers no shortage of hardened political opinions that aren’t to be dissuaded by reasoned conversation.

While the Internet and the social media craze it spawned was supposed to be the great democratizer, one obvious problem is the way it seems to confine people to their own silos where they choose to only listen to others who share their views and with whom they always agree.

It’s why they call social media an echo chamber and echo chambers can be a dangerous places when people living in them insist on hearing only what they want hear. It is as unhealthy as allowing your kids to eat only what they want to eat.

This takes us back to the bigger issues Moe is talking about during this election campaign — the notion that we are at a crossroads and that we need to set partisanship and personality aside and start thinking about how to build a country.

If ever we needed critical thought and respective, meaningful debate, now would seem to be the time.

This is not say that voters shouldn’t have strong convictions — especially, when it comes to what they think is right for themselves and others in their areas.

In areas like rural Saskatchewan where dwindling town, small city and farming populations are a reality, it’s more important than ever for people to stand up and have their voices heard.

That said, Moe isn’t talking about sacrificing core beliefs this campaign. Or at least, that certainly isn’t what he intends to do.

“I’ll call ‘em as I see ‘em, and the same will hold true through the federal election campaign,” Moe said in the Leader-Post interview.

That said, the Saskatchewan Premier noted there is a need to “recognize provincial plans” including “strong action in our specific regions” on issues like climate change.

Obviously, he was referring to his government’s own opposition to a national carbon tax and how a country can be divided because regions don’t understand each others economic interests.

Surely, this has been one of the true frustrations driving Western alienation the past four years.

But it cuts both ways, requiring those of us out West to understand during this national election campaign that those in other who have their own interests that may be different than our own.

Elections must always be about ideas — some of which you may disagree but all of which deserve to be respectfully heard.

As Moe said, it’s the only way to move forward as stronger nation.

Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.