NOTLEY’S NDP TRIUMPH
Wall could learn from Alberta election
SASKATOON — There may be lessons for Premier Brad Wall in this week’s NDP election victory in Alberta, political experts say.
It is risky to relentlessly trash the opposition and to ignore public concern about climate change, said John Whyte, professor emeritus in political and international studies at the University of Regina.
“Everywhere in politics now, in America and Canada now, climate change has been lifted from obscurity to almost top of mind,” Whyte said.
“A lot of Albertans said it’s not stupid to be hostile to the facilitation of huge consumption of dirty oil.
“That Albertans will vote for a person who’s hedging their bets on oil transportation is clearly a sign that people have doubts about whether this is a sustainable basis for an economy or a sustainable project for a political community in the modern world.”
Daniel Beland of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan observed that while the Green Party didn’t win a single seat in Tuesday’s election, many environmentalists voted for the NDP.
“They expect some change. They expect some action,” Beland said.
Wall may find himself isolated among provincial leaders because of his unflagging confidence in the oil, gas and coal industries and his refusal to help alternative energy sources get a foothold, Beland said.
“I think this is crucial. I think that Wall is one of the only premiers that is not on the same tune as the other premiers.”
Whyte said he finds it “strange” that Brad Wall, whose ear is finely tuned to public sentiment, can’t hear the public concern about climate change and the effect of Saskatchewan’s reliance on coal burning energy.
“He doesn’t hear that, I guess, because it’s not quite loud enough.”
Whyte said he thinks Alberta voters were unimpressed with Premier Jim Prentice bashing Rachel Notley’s inexperience and intimidating them with the spectre of rampant socialism under an NDP government.
He said he sees Brad Wall doing the same sort of thing with regular snide remarks about the previous government, instead of the modest position he used to take. The Saskatchewan Party government has been lucky, Whyte said.
“I don’t think that will work for him forever. I think it’s playing with fire to conduct a sustained trashing operation for a politician ... It might act for a warning and I think he’d be wise to go back to his more gracious personality.”
Wall appeared to do just that on Wednesday, when he called Notley to congratulate her.
“You can’t take away anything from a campaign that goes from just a handful of seats to a sizable majority,” Wall told reporters.
Wall said the election shows that nothing can be taken for granted.
“The lesson in Alberta for all parties is, big turnarounds can happen in short order,” he said. “That’s a message that I think resonates here in Saskatchewan.”
Wall said he doesn’t believe Notley’s NDP political stripes will play a large role in the relationship between the two provinces.
“What’s good for Alberta is good for Saskatchewan, typically,” he said.
The Saskatchewan NDP’s Cam Broten was equally congratulatory of his Alberta counterparts.
“It was quite the thing to watch,” he said. “It drives home the point that life and politics can be certainly unpredictable in the course of a few months.”
Broten said Notley demonstrated the value of a good campaign.
“It shows that people are open when they hear a positive message, that they want to have campaigns and us as politicians to focus on the things that are bread-and-butter issues, that are at the heart of families doing well.”