What has followed is already more intriguing than the leaders’ debate … or at least it’s already more dramatic and nasty.
For example, live and in-person on Wednesday night, NDP Leader Carla Beck seemed rather tense and uncomfortable, in stark contrast to the more relaxed Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe. Perhaps it looked different through the TV lens of a provincewide broadcast. Perhaps it wasn’t even a bad look.
Alas, one good line does not a great debate make. And the less experienced and more ponderous NDP leader could surely have landed more decisive blows, given all of Speaker Randy Weekes’s allegations of Sask. Party MLAs bullying, making racial slurs or bringing firearms into the legislature.
Strangely, even Weekes’s “enough is enough” line didn’t come up in the debate. With the number of Sask. Party MLAs who packed it in before the election call, Beck likely passed over the ready-made opportunity to say “Even your own members are saying ‘enough is enough.’ ”
But maybe missed opportunities before a provincewide TV audience aren’t as big a deal as we think.
Again, it can’t be stressed enough that it’s foolhardy to assess any leaders’ debate immediately. It takes a good day or three to see how the debate has landed with the public.
Moreover, it’s often what spills out after the debate that’s even more intriguing than the debate itself. And judging by the day after the debate, things are about to get more dramatic … and nastier.
“Scott Moe has gone too far. It’s time for change,” said Hanna, who cited both the teachers’ contract fight in which he has been active and Bill 137, the pronoun law, that he says demonstrates this is no longer the moderate, right-centre party Brad Wall tried to build.
Hart echoed Hanna’s sentiments, adding that Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre breaking the law on the carbon tax collection and a new legislative security force are signs of a government that went too far. “It’s not the party I was elected to. They have changed dramatically and moved to the right,” Hart said.
Docherty added that he too felt pressure as Speaker and was dismayed at the religious intolerance of at least one MLA, who insisted on having an open Christian bible on his desk while a Muslim Imam gave the blessing on Throne Speech day.
However, the former Regina Coronation Park MLA said his “enough is enough” moment came last year when the notwithstanding clause was used “to further subjugate young people who need our help” because they had been kicked out of their homes by parents not understanding their sexual identity.
Why? Well, evidently there was an incident at a Balgonie school alleged by one anonymous parent that ran in a right-wing publication, written by a reporter who was recently the Saskatchewan United Party’s communications director.
On this basis, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill called for a policy change on debate day.
Post-debate, Moe and the Sask. Party are doubling down — a move Beck described as “weaponizing vulnerable kids” to score political points after losing Wednesday’s debate.
This campaign is just starting to get interesting … and perhaps a lot nastier.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Our websites are your destination for up-to-the-minute Saskatchewan news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and leaderpost.com. For Regina Leader-Post newsletters click here; for Saskatoon StarPhoenix newsletters click here