Meili’s attack on Moe ushers in new/old era of Sask. politics

Think back to the start of this session in March when newly minted NDP Leader Ryan Meili demanded Premier Scott Moe disclose their shared “points of agreement.”

Now, fast forward to Tuesday afternoon at the Saskatchewan legislature when, during Executive Council 2018-19 budget spending estimates, a caustic Meili quipped that “by the time (Moe) is done his answers, we have forgotten what the question is ... apparently, so has he.”

Meili went on from there, saying Moe’s “showboating for 10 minutes at a time is getting embarrassing.”

This isn’t to applaud bad behaviour by the alleged grownup occupants of the legislature. Nor is it agreed that Moe was unreasonably obfuscating or “showboating ” — clearly not the Saskatchewan premier’s style.

It is to suggest, however, the era of detente Meili ushered in three months ago is now over — potentially a positive development for Meili, but not so much for Moe.

“The members opposite ... say hello as they’re getting their (legislative cafeteria) meals, when they know that their decision has been to get rid of the cafeteria services,” Meili said Tuesday, berating the Moe government’s decision to put government building food services up for private tender.

“Instead of the lunch line where they’ve been working with us for years and years (cafeteria workers will be) on the unemployment line. Where’s the moral compass? How do you look them in the face? How do you look at yourself in the mirror?”

This is not to revel in the return of nasty politics in the legislature, but it is noteworthy.

It has been a long time since any NDP opposition showed not only a demonstrable passion for its own philosophical beliefs, but also a willingness to take on a popular Saskatchewan Party leader. At times, it appeared the NDP feared taking on former premier Brad Wall.

Some will question the effectiveness of Meili’s aggressive strategy, especially when it comes to a debt-plagued government finding ways to keep costs down. Meili needs to be more careful than most about being seen as too radical for mainstream Saskatchewan voters.

But Meili isn’t trying to appease voters who want to see all government services privatized, or even those who oppose his view that the minimum wage should be hiked to $15 an hour as soon as possible.

It’s about an opposition creating the political narrative that government has one standard for its friends and another standard for the rest of us — a theme as old as the 105-year-old Legislative Building itself. Done right, it tends to work. And it did seem effective in the context in which Meili delivered it. After a session of hammering Moe’s government on the Global Transportation Hub and the Regina bypass, Meili went on to tie Tuesday’s estimates to political donations.

Meili noted that 53 major Sask. Party corporate donors received a combined $100 million in government contracts. He also pointed out that of the $2,707,414 the Sask. Party received in individual and corporate donations, $217,785 (eight per cent) came from out of province.

It also came after Meili raised other entitlement issues, including the fact that former Wall deputy minister and Sask. Party leadership candidate Alanna Koch has been collecting her $267,948 annual salary since April even though she no longer works for government.

Let us be clear that Koch is entitled to severance (the money she received will be subtracted from the package, says Moe), and that those government contracts the NDP raised were granted through open, public tender. Oldstyle opposition politics is often as unfair as it is nasty.

But let’s also recognize that Meili’s new narrative does resonate in the context of cafeteria workers potentially losing their jobs. Add to that problems former economy minister Bill Boyd has created with his environmental act convictions and recent suggestions government officials were calling him or his associates regarding his private business interests — accusations Moe admitted Wednesday were “troubling.”

Clearly, Boyd — and maybe a few other issues — are making Moe uncomfortable. Suddenly, Meili has made the legislature a lot less fun place for Moe.