There's been a slight decline, but the Harperites would STILL sweep the board in Sask if an election were held today.
Why have they become so freaking Alberta-like in federal politics?
Why has federal Tory support STILL not collapsed in Saskatchewan?
Mon, 2009-09-07 17:13
#1
Why has federal Tory support STILL not collapsed in Saskatchewan?
Mon, 2009-09-07 17:30
#2
There's been a slight decline, but the Harperites would STILL sweep the board in Sask if an election were held today.
Why have they become so freaking Alberta-like in federal politics?
Because, like the years with another western P.M., Diefenbaker, or to a lesser extent, Joe Clark, Saskatchewan voters want to show support for a Conservative leader from the Prairies.
But just like when the Grant Devine government took over in 1982, the federal NDP started gaining considerable support federally.
That's one reason why I think an election should be avoided this fall.
Mon, 2009-09-07 18:31
#3
Then again, Brad Wall has been leading a Sask. provincial government for months now that is, if anything, to the RIGHT of Devine's 1980's PC government(even to the right of Colin the Killer). So shouldn't the effect you speak of have already begun to happen?
Also, in 1979, the Tories only carried Sask by six percentage points in the popular vote(41.2% to 35.8%) In 1980, it was even closer, 38.9% to 36.3%.
Mon, 2009-09-07 18:48
#4
Rural voters supporting the right wing seems like more of a world-wide phenomenon today than it was 30 years ago. They are never going to support the "why should I sell your wheat" Liberals, so that nice
young man from next door, is all the right wingers have left.
Mon, 2009-09-07 19:26
#5
I'm not a Trudeau admirer(at least not on economic policy)but, to be fair, when he made that speech, didn't he actually do kind of a socratic or Jesuitical argument with himself and end up concluding that he SHOULD, in fact, sell their wheat?
Mon, 2009-09-07 23:31
#6
Sounds like something Trudeau would have done. There isn't much Liberal-friendly media in the province to correct the hostile spin it has been given. And like all of Canada, there is no NDP-friendly media.
It is my understanding that the rural ridings that support the NDP in other parts of Canda have many woodworkers, and miners. Pure agricultural ridings are extremely fallow soil. There are people here that know much more about the province than I do.
Tue, 2009-09-08 04:39
#7
Part of it has to do with how the ridings in Saskatchewan are set up. There aren't any purely urban ridings and that makes it hard for the NDP to win even in federal ridings where it has provincial representation.
Fri, 2009-09-25 19:36
#8
I agree that rural areas have been moving to the right for years, so the anomaly that was Saskatchewan is finally dissipating. I also agree with Doug's point. But you have to remember that Devine and Mulroney where both really incompetent and had extremely corrupt governments', which obviously played a huge role in fuelling the NDP resurgence of the 1980's. Wall and Harper are not in the same league of incompetence and corruption as Devine and Mulroney.