Leaders spend more time in Saskatoon than in Regina

Regina not visited as much during last wave of tour dates before election

Saskatoon has been getting

REGINA a touch more love than Regina from the two major party leaders, as their tours bolt up and down Highway 11 to tilt the most competitive races their way.

The NDP says it's seeing tough seats in Saskatoon getting tighter, but the Saskatchewan Party says the landscape in both cities looks much like it did in 2016.

NDP Leader Ryan Meili has appeared at campaign events in Regina on nine days during the formal writ period, compared to 12 days in Saskatoon.

That includes drive-in concerts in both cities.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe has held five formal campaign events in Regina and eight in Saskatoon, plus a separate day's visit to the neighbouring Martensville-warman constituency.

His tally includes what his party called “Big Honkin' Rallies” in Regina and Saskatoon that were intended to charge up volunteers for the final push to election day.

Jim Farney, head of the politics and international studies department at the University of Regina, said the discrepancy could signal that the parties view Saskatoon ridings as a touch more competitive, with both looking for an extra push to get over the top.

He said leaders' tours are about attracting media attention in key markets, while energizing party activists.

But COVID-19 has made it harder to bring together volunteers, so

Farney thinks the media angle is the bigger driving force this year.

Sally Housser, an NDP spokeswoman, noted that Saskatoon is Meili's home base and scheduling aims to allow overnight visits with his young family.

But strategic calculations aren't far from her mind.

“Saskatoon is where we really started to see numbers move over the last week,” she said.

“There's a couple more seats on the menu that we're excited about: Eastview and Churchill-wildwood.”

She said the party views those as “tight races” and is directing its resources accordingly, though both big cities are obviously high priority.

At Moe's Regina rally on Thursday, a senior Saskatchewan Party operative played down any strategic considerations to Saskatoon's edge, while noting they're watching the same races that were in play four and a half years ago.

Angus Reid's October opinion survey suggests the NDP lagged by 10 points in Saskatoon.

Regina was neck and neck. But the parties do their own research and could be basing their calculations on riding-by-riding numbers.

By any measure, the lion's share of battleground seats are in Saskatoon and Regina. So it's no surprise the Davidson Tim Hortons has gotten plenty of party patronage; Housser places the coffee count at 25 visits and well over 100 cups so far. But Moose Jaw and Prince Albert also have competitive seats, so detours cannot be avoided.

Meili has held Moose Jaw events

at least four times during the campaign, always visiting the closely contested Wakamow seat. Moe has visited the city twice, splitting his time between Moose Jaw's two seats. Prince Albert has been honoured with three appearances from each leader during the writ period so far.

Farney noted that both those cities have relatively independent media markets, making them an important stop to attract coverage for locally focused messages.

“Strategically, I think P.A. and Moose Jaw are the two places where the NDP'S got a chance to break out of the big cities,” said Farney.

Moe's team noted he plans to stop in all of Saskatchewan's four largest cities again over the weekend.

But rural Saskatchewan hasn't been totally neglected. Meili made a swing up to the far north to visit two very safe ridings.

He made a stop in Indian Head-milestone, one of about five more rural ridings his team is targeting for a strong showing.

His tour is planning on stopping by Last Mountain-touchwood on Saturday in tandem with a Regina visit, before heading home to Saskatoon for Sunday.

Moe has visited Lloydminster and Arm River once, and the Battlefords twice. The first two are rock solid for the Saskatchewan Party, though Battlefords is on the NDP'S rural priority list.

Meili has made at least four visits to his own riding of Saskatoon Meewasin.

According to Housser, he has gone out door knocking there about once per week. She believes the Saskatchewan Party is targeting the constituency in a bid to knock off Meili. His challenger, Rylund Hunter, was the MC for Moe's second Big Honkin' Rally.

“They are throwing a lot of resources at it, but I'm not super concerned,” she said.

Both leaders are planning to spend election night in Saskatoon.