The former Sask. Party cabinet minister is warning against another fractured vote as he campaigns to become Saskatoon’s next mayor.
Gord Wyant stumbles a bit when he’s asked about his political philosophy.
“I’m not a conservative, but by the same token I’m a fiscal conservative,” said Wyant, who resigned as a Saskatchewan Party MLA and cabinet minister in the spring, in an interview last week. “I believe in balanced budgets and I believe in living within your means.”
The low-key Wyant smiled and agreed it’s “fair to say” his former party is less popular now in cities like Saskatoon, where the party won eight of 14 seats in 2020.
The self-described “corporate lawyer” easily won his seat with more than 60 per cent of the vote four years ago.
“The party was formed by Liberals and Conservatives and I’ve said this on many occasions, that I think the party has drifted to the right and away from some of the core principles that the party was founded on,” Wyant explained.
You may not have actually heard the soft-spoken Wyant say that publicly before now, even if it might have seemed obvious. He declined to say for whom he intends to cast his vote in Monday’s provincial election.
That contradicts Moe’s assurance at the time that all of his cabinet and caucus supported the measure, which included invoking the Charter’s notwithstanding clause. Wyant had twice voted in favour of the bill.
“I also have a social perspective,” Wyant said last week. “I’m more to the centre, a little bit to the left, so that’s how I want to be identified.”
Opponents of the pronoun mandate may well wonder why he failed to speak up a year ago, while Saskatchewan Party supporters may also view him skeptically.
A week after he entered the mayoral race, a blog on the Campaign Life Coalition website seized on his stated opposition to the pronoun bill in a post titled: “Stop Gordon Wyant.”
The post warns about his mayoral bid, calling him a “dangerous man” and “a fierce enemy of parental rights in education” with “an undying devotion to transgender ideology.”
Conversely, organizers of Saskatoon’s Pride parade asked Wyant to stay away this year — along with any MLA who had voted for the pronoun bill — even though he had participated in the event dating back to his time as a Saskatoon city councillor.
With Clark opting against a bid for a third term, Wyant is sending a similar message, warning against another fractured vote with Atchison and 2020’s fourth-place finisher Cary Tarasoff running again.
And his campaign office is located on 20th Street in Saskatoon’s west-side Riversdale neighbourhood, which he chose because the area is facing “challenges,” he said.
That also reflects Wyant’s campaign, which is facing challenges to prevent another fragmented vote.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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