It's the beginning of a new era in Saskatchewan politics. Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party rode to a convincing victory in yesterday's provincial election, capturing 37 seats to the NDP's 21. For the second consecutive election the Liberals were shut out of the legislature.
The SaskParty ran a safe campaign, tapping into a desire for change among the electorate. The "Hope vs Fear" mantra was particularly well-received. Now, the heavy lifting begins for Wall's crew as they begin the transition to power and - more importantly - living up to the expectations they've created for themselves.
The NDP simply ran out of gas in this campaign. 16 years is a long, long time for one party to hold power. Last night's defeat should launch a serious renewal process for Saskatchewan's "natural governing party". This party desperately needs new ideas and new blood. If not, then they can expect another butt-kicking in four years.
The Liberals? Well, quite frankly, they've become irrelevant in this province. That process started when Lynda Haverstock was dumped as leader after the 1995 election, and picked up steam the night of the 1999 provincial election, when leader Jim Melenchuk decided to enter into a coalition agreement with Roy Romanow and the NDP. The subsequent results speak for themselves.
As for me personally, I'll be watching VERY CLOSELY to see how the new government rolls out it's Enterprise Saskatchewan economic development plan, and what impact that plan has on the existing provincial department of Industry and Resources. Interesting times!
3 comments:
We can only hope SIR has its 'economic development' mandate removed. It is just a bunch of ineffective bureaucrats trying to play in a field of entrepreneurs who can't be bothered with the the impediments created.
I get that. But, if that happens, where do you place the regulatory responsibility? Do you funnel it into another department, like justice or finance?
If it stays with SIR (or whatever that department morphs into), but you remove any economic development responsiblities, don't the bureaucrats become even further removed from the entrepreneurs doing the heavy lifting?
Having said that, I understand (and have often heard) the frustration faced by members of the business community who feel the outgoing regime was hindering, rather than helping, economic development.
Again, interesting times.
All I know is who wasn't in power when the Riders won their last two grey cups.
Kudos to Chad Land. He just made the Warriors a very much better team. With the two big trades today he has served notice that the Warriors are going to be a force and a genuine contender to win the division. They were very good trades involving top notch players.
The Pats on the other hand have traded for Cody Gross, Kraus and whatever. If the team we see is the finished product, we are not memorial cup bound.
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