How NDP Leader Carla Beck and Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe define themselves may be key to the 2024 election.
This election call igniting Saskatchewan’s 30th general election is about as important as a call can get.
But when it comes to determining who governs us for the next four years, how the major party leaders define the issues, their opponent and themselves may be even more critical.
In this regard, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe continues to hold a decided advantage because his platform as premier in the last four years has allowed him more opportunities to craft those definitions.
However, after more than six years as premier in a government that’s been in office for 17 years, Moe faces the adage that familiarity breeds contempt.
Recent polls suggesting the NDP have gained 10 percentage points on the Sask. Party perhaps imply that a growing number see Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government as deliberately deflecting attention from its shortcomings in health care, education and economic development.
One big problem is the government’s failure at nuance.
Humility has previously been this government’s strength. Boasts of a strong economy and solid health-care delivery hardly reflect everyone’s experience. Trying to convince people of something they know not to be true misses the opportunity to humbly suggest that Saskatchewan may have fared reasonably well after a two-year worldwide pandemic.
And issues of message delivery begin with who is now delivering the message.
Gone are better, more likable communicators like Dustin Duncan, Gord Wyant, Don Morgan and Donna Harpauer. Taking their place are Jeremy Harrison, Jeremy Cockrill and Bronwyn Eyre.
The latter points have also hurt how we now define Moe.
That said, the same poll shows few people know Carla Beck and even fewer have any idea what she stands for. Beck only registered a 31-per-cent negative rating, but the surveys suggest that many think she lacks strength and effectiveness.
After having only four Saskatchewan NDP leaders in the first 60 years of the province’s existence (all of whom became premier), Beck enters this race as the fourth consecutive new NDP leader after an election loss.
Many voters know less about her than they know about the record of the last NDP government. Again, Moe has effectively driven home the point about the provincial and federal NDP being tied to the federal Liberals.
Beck has hardly had the time or resources to ease concerns. Last week — a week before the election — she was in front of the Chamber of Commerce to plead a case that the provincial party doesn’t support the carbon tax and won’t raise taxes.
Two years into the role, there’s been little time for Beck to account for the shifting nature of the NDP during 17 years in opposition — especially in the wake of previous leader Ryan Meili taking the party to the left.
It may come down to a race to see who best defines themself.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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