Politics at the End of Winter: Bill’s Right On Blog (Opinion)

Saskatchewan Legislature – Photo by Bill Stevenson

A couple of interesting things about the Greens in Saskatchewan, they have an articulate leader in Victor Lau and a new growing interest in their party as demonstrated by the recent flurry of contested nominations for candidates.

The current policy void being created by the lack of NDP opposition to the popular Saskatchewan party government seems to be prime conditions for growth if a political agenda could gain traction through an alternative popular policy development. But I wonder if the Saskatchewan Green Party can rise to this challenge. Certainly they are organizing their political machine by early nominations similar to Brad Wall kicking off the Saskatchewan party nomination process, this in contrast to the provincial NDP who don’t seem to have thought about the next election at all.

Indeed the lack of an agenda seems to be the opposition conversation right now. Cam Broten has taken the brunt of this criticism as repeated columnists have suggested that his inability to find a rally point for opposition focus is leaving a bad taste in many of his supporters mouths. In addition, the political game master of this province Mr. Brad Wall himself takes great pleasure in keeping Cam off balance by defending workers affected by the Potash Corp shut down last year (a social issue normally taken care of by the NDP), the casino deal with FSIN (pitting the traditionally supportive First Nations against the NDP) recently and now beginning the election nomination process two years early (when the NDP are more focused on the next federal election and have not thought of provincial politics).

It will be further interesting to see if the Greens can take advantage of this disarray and get a couple of candidates elected in the next election. With the SaskParty continuing popularity and dropping polls of the NDP a strong push could make the Green dream a reality but what I question is the viability of a Green platform. The main kicker I see is the Guaranteed Income Supplement, admittedly it’s a great way to eliminate poverty but I fear it will foster dependency on the government.

Turning the Saskatchewan Crown Corporations into Co-operatives  and sharing the profits every year with the population seems absolutely inspired but I feel will do more to train people to become even more reliant on government handouts. I have to wonder, if sharing is the name of the game then how far away would resource sharing be? I’m not convinced it would be confined to aboriginal communities but may also be stretched out to everyone again. As an opposition to government I think the Greens may show some much needed life to the normally interesting sport of Saskatchewan politics unlike the currently floundering and grasping at straws NDP.

– Bill Stevenson, Bill’s “Right On” Blog