Meili faces struggle to find Saskatchewan’s middle ground

NDP must strike the right balance between economic development and social needs

Saskatchewan elections are fought between the left and the right, but it’s more complicated than that.

One big nuance is that the leftright schism is actually a product of shifting needs — either economic development or social needs or a troubling combination.

For example, the rise of the CCF during the Great Depression was driven by the need to address severe social issues, but the longevity of Tommy Douglas during the rising prosperity of the late 1940s and early 1950s was about Douglas having to adjust to Saskatchewan public demand for some level of competence in budgetary and economic management.

The following decades through the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s saw constant shifts in not only the economy but also in the public view of what economic measures and social policies were necessary. And there is never a consensus on what combination is right, complicating matters even more.

There is no doubt that current premier Brad Wall has been one of the best at both recognizing the subtle change and adopting/ selling policies seen as the right ones for the time ... although past economic prosperity was certainly helpful.

But with oil uncertainty pushing Saskatchewan to the cusp of economic change, the polls now suggest a growing frustration with the Wall government. This affords massive opportunity for the NDP, but also requires it to present a new leader who can demonstrate that he or she gets that ever-teetering balance in Saskatchewan politics.

“The NDP has to provide something that is bold enough to attract people’s attention, but it has to do it in a way that doesn’t freak people out,” said Saskatoon Meewasin MLA Ryan Meili, the only officially declared leadership candidate. “That’s a fine line to walk.”

Making that line even finer for the NDP — and Meili in particular — is the concerted effort by Wall and the Sask. Party to ensure Saskatchewan people are nervous that Meili’s perceived left-wing views will not afford the province the balance it always needs.

Having your opponents define you as unreasonable is another Saskatchewan political reality. And those who assume Wall is being unfair in attempting to define Meili by his views on support of the federal NDP’s Leap Manifesto or carbon pricing should recall the concerted 16-year effort of the former NDP government to define Wall and his predecessor as too radical-right for Crown-corporation-supporting Saskatchewan.

Asked about it last week, Meili said he did “like” a tweet supportive of the Leap Manifesto a year ago but wasn’t in Edmonton for the party vote, and sees the document as one that wasn’t written with Saskatchewan’s interests at heart.

Meili says where he and Wall do differ is the value of a carbon tax as an economic tool that could actually be helpful — especially to those in rural Saskatchewan who have been hit by the economic downturn and now the budget.

The NDP leadership candidate said he recognizes how tough it will be for him and the New Democrats to make inroads in Sask. Party-solid rural Saskatchewan, but added that he and his party are already recognizing things Wall and company are now missing. “It (rural Saskatchewan) is really a tapestry that can’t just be covered with one green Rider flag,” he said of rural issues that vary from area to area and community to community.

For example, during a recent NDP caucus outreach to Rocanville, Meili said he and other NDP caucus members heard stories of struggles like drug addiction and family breakdown, issues being experienced by this community even during a time of prosperous potash mine expansion.

As a doctor, Meili said he has been trained to seek solutions based on outcomes, and hopes to take that approach to leadership.

Of course, that’s easier said than done in a place like Saskatchewan, where the view of public needs is constantly shifting.