MANDRYK ON BYELECTIONS,

We are back to the business of the public’s business, although one might think some Saskatchewan politicians’ interests lie elsewhere.

Even before MLAs returned to the second sitting of the 28th Saskatchewan legislature, newly minted Opposition Leader Ryan Meili — someone who has been an MLA for only a year and who had yet to take his seat as Opposition leader— suggested we end matters with a general election,

New Premier Scott Moe quickly rebuffed Meili’s notion of a premier “unelected by the province” by noting the Sask. Party’s “strong (2016) mandate to govern,” and the $25-million price tag associated with a general election. He made valid points.

Meili was likely only exhibiting the bravado one expects from a new opposition leader.

However, given that Meili’s 12-member New Democratic caucus still faces a 36-seat deficit in the current 61-seat legislature (former Sask. Party MLA Kevin Doherty’s seat is now vacant because he has returned to the private sector) and that NDP candidates were just slaughtered in three rural byelections, one might question Meili’s political logic.

Even more critically, the priority of Meili, the NDP and all MLAs should be fixing the government’s financial mess without doing further damage to either the economy or service delivery.

An unnecessary $25-million general election in which the NDP’s best outcome would be a few more seats would seem unhelpful.

Lest we forget, people are elected to office for reasons other than advancing their own political causes/agenda/careers. Of late, the actions of some government members in particular suggest some may have lost sight of this.

Before any governance business could commence Monday, MLAs had to choose among Danielle Chartier, Mark Docherty, Glen Hart, Delbert Kirsch, Warren Michelson, Eric Olauson and Colleen Young as successor to former Speaker Corey Tochor.

It is healthier to have an elected Speaker, but let us consider why this plum job opened up halfway through a legislature — Tochor’s successful bid Saturday to unseat current Saskatoon University MP Brad Trost as the federal Conservative candidate in the riding in 2019. This will produce yet another byelection in Tochor’s Saskatoon Eastview constituency to follow the now-needed byelection in Regina Northwest to replace Doherty. There may be another byelection in Regina Walsh Acres, where current MLA Warren Steinley is also seeking the federal Conservative nomination in the Regina-Lewvan riding.

In review, less than two years into this legislature we’ve already had five byelections with estimated and/or actual costs of: Saskatoon Meewasin, $378,000; Saskatoon Fairview, $390,000 to $400,000; Kindersley, $405,000; Swift Current, $399,000; and Melfort, $393,000. And these costs are separate from the “severance” of one month’s basic MLA salary for every year served to a maximum one year’s service — regardless of whether you quit or are defeated. That means $92,817 to each Brad Wall and Bill Boyd to quit, for a total of roughly $340,308 in MLAs’ severances in addition to the nearly $2 million in byelection costs since the 2016 general election.

Add the potential severance costs of another three departing MLAs — Tochor, Doherty and Steinley ($193,000, conservatively estimated) — plus another $1.1 million for three byelections.

That rings up $3.6 million in byelections and severances. (By way of information, taxpayers shelled out $1,057,884 for 13 MLAs defeated/retired in the 2016 vote to add to the $25-million election cost.)

Let us be fair and acknowledge that a one-month-per-year of service ( brought in by the Lorne Calvert NDP government) is industry standard. Moreover, tragic deaths and life realities sometimes make fulfilling that four-year commitment an impossibility. (Two of the byelections, sadly, were brought upon by the deaths of Roger Parent and Kevin Phillips.)

But specific to those now leaving for other business and/or political opportunities or simply because chances in their city seats don’t look good, severances don’t work quite that way in the real world. Most don’t get them when they just quit or get another job.

Maybe they should be dealing with the problems they helped create.