EVERY Province Has Had A Female NDP Leader

True, but even progressives in rural SK are somewhat conservative when it comes to race and gender. There was always a concern you couldn't get a majority with a woman leader. And there was, for many years, an old boys' club that rooted out ambitious women and upstart young men, which is why the SK NDP is in the state it's in now. Hopefully there will be some strides made as the renew, but odds are the next leader will be male.

And we just went down to the co-op and noticed there is only one woman on the eight-member board. So no, putting it down to women not running, or there only being few options is not an explanation or a justification. It is everywhere.

Given that, it is kind of hard to believe that we wound up with a majority of women on our city council. But again, the fact it happened this time doesn't erase that reality.

Mighty Middle wrote:

There will be a Saskatchewan NDP Leadership race next year. That is why the video ends with the words

"It's Time"

I'm well aware. I also personally know at least one woman who is being called on to step into the race. She'd be great, but I'm not sure that the NDP membership or the general population of Saskatchewan is ready to elect her.

Yes, the SK Liberals preferred implosion to being led by a woman. They still haven't recovered from the self-immolation.

(self-delete. dupe post).

Have you got a particular woman in mind, here?  And, for the record, are you a New Democrat yourself?(I've always thought your posting name was an indication that you vote Liberal).

I don't think that's helpful. They need to shed some old baggage, and Nettie, while an otherwise awesome candidate, was part of the old guard.

Quote:

But if we were to choose a Thatcher (margaret, not Ross) or a Clinton would that really be an accomplishment?

That's an excellent question.

Surely, female politicians should be allowed to hold a diversity of opinions and policies, but somehow the left likes to put an asterisk beside names like Thatcher and Gandhi and other women who "aren't REAL women".

Again TB, I agree completely that it is a problem. One that goes way beyond just party politics.

Where I stop short is saying that it is something particular to the prairies. I think it is a mistake to leap to those kinds of assumptions about any region. And more importantly, it does nothing to help solve the problem. It just makes some people defensive, and others thinking they don't have the same problem.

Being in the city I might be inclined to think myself more progressive than people in the country. That would be a mistake, and not just because we have had the benefit of a lot more awareness and opportunity when it comes to these issues. Again, it is not a competition for who is better. We all have work to do.

I think racism and sexism is much more prevalent in the rural areas than the cities all over Canada. The challenge for the prairies is the higher ratio of rural to urban. I don't care if it makes people defensive - doesn't make it less true. 

TB. I'm not saying don't call it out. I'm saying don't assume we're any better in the city, or in another province just because we might be a bit further ahead. And while I think urban centres have better resources and support networks for women, beyond that I'm not sure it is all that much better. Certainly it should be way better than it is, given what urban people are exposed to.

I think I may have mentioned our last MP - Lynn Yelich - lost her nomination before the last election. The party decided to toss over a 15-year MP and cabinet minister - of state for foreign affairs, and western development -   and go for a sport broadcaster who had no political experience, but the important credentials of having a penis.

And you'd think at least he would know something about sports, but not too long after getting in, he said this:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/waugh-comments-female-athletes-1...

So no, the city isn't all that much better.

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Quote:

But if we were to choose a Thatcher (margaret, not Ross) or a Clinton would that really be an accomplishment?

That's an excellent question.

Surely, female politicians should be allowed to hold a diversity of opinions and policies, but somehow the left likes to put an asterisk beside names like Thatcher and Gandhi and other women who "aren't REAL women".

Le Pen comes to mind as a current example, although she is unlikely to win the presidency this time around.

Timebandit wrote:

True, but even progressives in rural SK are somewhat conservative when it comes to race and gender. There was always a concern you couldn't get a majority with a woman leader. And there was, for many years, an old boys' club that rooted out ambitious women and upstart young men, which is why the SK NDP is in the state it's in now. Hopefully there will be some strides made as the renew, but odds are the next leader will be male.

Before becoming an MLA for Point Douglas, Kevin Chief unsuccessfully tried to win Winnipeg North for the NDP after that seat became vacant when Judy Wasylycia-Lies ran for mayor. A big reason Chief was not successful in his campaign was due to people not voting for him because of his race. I still don't think him running was a mistake, and even if I knew  for sure that someone else would have  won that seat for the NDP, I still wouldn't have prefered that person over Chief. Racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and queerphobia are very unpleasant realities of life in this country, but the only way to move forward is to challenge those prejudices head on. Brandon had never voted for a female mayor, then Shari Decter-Hirst won. No major city had ever elected an openly gay mayor, then Winnipeg voted for Glenn Murray, and supporters and critics alike generally kept their opinions related to the job he was doing. Michelle McHale organized a Pride celebrations in Manitoba's Bible Belt, and she continues to courageously challenge the deep-rooted homophobia in the Steinbach area.  To roll over is not an inspiring message, especially to people in those rural communities suffering from that kind of prejudice. Go forward, pick your best candidate, and make your case based on merit, and you may be surprised by how many people join you and say, "it's about bloody time!" Your leader may even emerge from these communities, so don't write anything off.

Hell, maybe with a bit more support, out queer kids from places like Winkler, Morden, or Steinbach wouldn't feel as if taking their chances on the streets of a major city is the best shot they have.

MM. maybe the people of Saskatchewan should make that determination and not you. And for the record, only two women have ever run for the leadership of the SNDP, Nettie Wiebe and Deb Higgins. The NDP has its strongest history in Saskatchewan than in any other province in Canada. Historically, there were very strong and high profile male candidates to assume the role of the next leader of the party unlike in other provinces where the NDP was never as dominant a party. Roy Romano had so much respect for Linda Haverstock that he appointed her as the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, a position that she rightly earned and deserved. I would rather have a strong male candidate than a female candidate just because she is a female. I voted for Nettie Wiebe for party leader only because I felt that she was the strongest candidate of the bunch at that time. Ryan Meilli will likely be the next leader.

New poll shows SNDP with a 9% lead in the polls over the SP.

Misfit wrote:

New poll shows SNDP with a 9% lead in the polls over the SP.

And the Saskatchewan NDP doesn't even have an actual leader right now!

What I found most interesting was that support for the parties was tied outside the 2 big cities. Certainly the NDP would win a majority of seats, I don't think their vote is that concentrated, but I wonder where those rural seats would come from.

I think you'll see a lot of blowback against the Wall government over the grants-in-lieu debacle - smaller cities, like Yorkton, who normally go conservative have been hit incredibly hard by those cuts and are very unhappy right now.

i hadn't heard anything about grants in lieu. looked it up and wow.

Yorkton has a 58% loss by Walls dumping of this.

when the tax payers in the cities get their new assessments it's going to hit home.

are he cities nd large towns going to fight this in court? from what i think i read is this is a long standing activity beyond when it was officially put into law in the late 90's.

At this point I htink they are just going to throw all their energy into pushing their agenda through, since they know they are going to lose next time. Much the same as the Filmon tories did in Manitoba when I left there. In a way that makes them a lot more dangerous.

Though we are moving away from the original topic of this thread.

Are there any prospective female candidates waiting in the wings? There always seems to be some buzz around Danielle Chartier - does anyone know if she's in the mix? What about the other female MLAs in caucus?

I know Ryan Meili has declared again. Will the third time be the charm?