Battle is on for hearts of voters in the province

Moe trumpets infrastructure, while Meili eyes classrooms

As if it wasn’t evident to provincial voters before this past week or so, the choice they will have a year from now between the NDP and the Saskatchewan Party could not be more stark.

Well, they are similar in that they are both already making a direct appeal to the hearts of voters. They are, however, taking very different routes.

On one side of the legislature last week you had the Sask. Party providing about $1.9-billion worth of hype for its grand new bypass — the biggest highway project in Saskatchewan history. A project on time and on budget.

Well, the bypass is on time and on budget if you want to ignore initial needs assessments that would have limited the cost of this project to around $500 million. (And that might be a leap of faith, if we find in decades to come something wonky with the maintenance agreements that are currently untested by time.)

But last week’s opening was wrapped around the very people-oriented notion of preventing traffic fatalities stemming from the significant traffic flow problems accompanying the burgeoning populations of White City and Emerald Park east of Regina, rather than the NDP’S portrayal of the bypass as a vanity project all about the Sask. Party’s interest in leaving behind costly monuments.

Contrast this with this past weekend’s Saskatchewan NDP convention — in which leader Ryan Meili unveiled his party’s “people first” approach, where the clear emphasis is directly addressing the public sector shortfalls, including a commitment to a 24-student cap on classes from kindergarten to Grade 3.

While acknowledging “there’s no question, we’re the underdogs in this race,” Meili told reporters the NDP has an advantage over a “tired” and “entitled” Sask. Party government. He suggested the Sask. Party’s only ideas seem to be massive capital spending on building projects like the bypass, which he argues result in far too much Saskatchewan taxpayers’ money going out of country. (To that end, Meili also promised on the weekend a Saskatchewan-first procurement policy, which could fly in the face of interprovincial trade agreements.)

There couldn’t be a bigger contrast between the NDP and the Sask. Party than one party spending money on classrooms inside the cities and the other spending money on a bypass around the city. But while it seems a contrasting approach, there’s little doubt Meili and the NDP are also striving for a similar emotional impact with their policies.

Clearly, one of the reasons the Sask. Party government has not committed to teachers’ demands to limit the size of all classrooms — instead offering teachers comparatively generous two-per-cent-a-year salary increases — has to do with the likelihood that such salary increases are far less than the costs of all the extra hiring that would be required to achieve a maximum 24-student-per-classroom situation. (That Meili’s promise on the weekend only extends to K to Grade 3 classrooms seems a rather telling admission that even the Opposition sees that guaranteed limitation on every classroom as cost-prohibitive.)

Nevertheless, doing the best we can for our kids is also an issue with strong emotional impact. Both parties are trying to achieve the same thing with different approaches — one party is obviously emphasizing betterment derives from investing in entities, while the other sees betterment derived from hirings. It can be argued both approaches have merit.

However, what may be even more important is each party’s ability to appeal to voters beyond the obvious target audience.

Consider the NDP’S emphasis on local contracting — in contrast to the public/private partnerships (P3) approach of the Sask. Party — as a means of appealing to those who believe local job creation should be a critical issue on the 2020 ballot. Or consider Premier Scott Moe’s talk of a new Prince Albert hospital as a further demonstration of how capital infrastructure investment benefits the lives of people in the same way a bypass does.

The battle for Saskatchewan voters is on ... although the two sides may be taking very different paths to voters’ hearts.