New NDP leader faces challenges
Meili brushes off unity issue, will ready party for face-off with Moe
Saskatchewan New Democrats will look to unite behind new leader Ryan Meili.
Fifty-five per cent of the 10,837 ballots cast went to the Saskatoon Meewassin MLA, giving Meili a favourable margin over his lone competitor, Regina Rosemont MLA Trent Wotherspoon.
Having been trounced in the last provincial election — and three byelections earlier this month — by the Saskatchewan Party, the path ahead for Meili is a challenging one.
First he will be tasked with uniting a 12-member NDP caucus, that largely supported Wotherspoon, in the Legislative Assembly behind him.
Meili, perceived as a lone wolf with untested leadership skills, held a casual meeting with caucus members shortly after being named leader. Everyone involved is saying the right things: the race is over and it is time to come together and work to defeat the Sask. Party.
Asked how concerned he was about caucus unity, Meili said he wasn’t because the leadership race “set the tone” of respect.
“I don’t think we’re going to see that kind of division,” he said.
The roughly 500-strong crowd at the Delta in Regina on Saturday was largely pro-Wotherspoon; understandable considering he has been an MLA here since 2007 and thus very clearly had home field advantage. The droves of thunder-sticks cheering Wotherspoon on earlier in the day went silent as Meili was named victor.
But Meili is not concerned party members — notably union members who exclusively supported Wotherspoon — will be divided after the race.
“Everyone is a part of this next phase. This is not for one team, or one group of the party, it’s for everyone,” he said, adding the invitation is “wide open” to everyone in the province to “invite more and more people to share their ideas.”
Beyond the challenges of unity that Meili largely brushed off, he will have to combat being defined by the Sask. Party as a carbon-tax loving, hard-left socialist.
True or not, the perception exists that the NDP took a strong step to the left with Meili’s victory.
Meili calls such an assessment “pretty superficial” and “a bit over simplified.”
Much of the Sask. Party ’s attacks on Meili have, and will continue to be, centered around his position on a carbon price.
The newly elected leader said Saturday “carbon pricing is a model that works” but it has to be done in a way that protects producers and trade-exposed industries while keeping life affordable for Saskatchewan people.
With about a week before the start of the next session, Meili’s team will have little turnaround time before meeting these challenges.
Upcoming plans for the Legislative Assembly sitting appear to be hinging in part on the NDP becoming more a government in waiting and less an Official Opposition.
“We move quickly beyond opposition,” he said, adding the party “need(s) to not wait until a few months before the next election” to present NDP ideas to the public.
On the next election, where the party will look to move beyond its three previous showings, Meili said, “We’re in it to win it.”
“We can not allow the Sask. Party to continue doing the damage that they’re doing.”
A family physician and published author, Meili has twice previously run for leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, in 2009 and 2013, losing both times.
He lost by just 46 votes five years ago. Meili, 42, was eventually elected in a byelection early last year, winning back the Saskatoon Meewasin seat for the NDP after the death of Roger Parent.
Saturday ’s convention ended the NDPs third leadership race in the decade since Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party stormed to victory in the 2007 general election.
Dwain Lingenfelter was elected to replace former Premier Lorne Calvert as party leader in 2009, only to resign shortly after the NDP was clobbered — and he lost his seat — in the 2011 general election.
After almost two years under an interim leader, the party elected Cam Broten as its permanent leader in 2013. He resigned following the 2016 general election, in which he lost his seat as the Sask. Party won another majority.