Provincial politics can be dirty — and always have been
Old hostilities are taking new forms in Saskatchewan. Murray Mandryk offers an analysis of social media's role in churning political turmoil this election.
However nasty we may think this 2020 Saskatchewan election campaign has been, it's likely worth recalling that politics here has never been considered a pleasant stroll in the park.
Political lore includes tales of old members of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) supporters being called communists as they were chased out of farmyards. Whiskey bottles were tied to posters of Ross Thatcher (implying he was a drunk), even though the diabetic Liberal premier abstained.
And then there were all the hostilities from the Grant Devine Progressive Conservative era that included the window in a vehicle in front of his Albert Street home in Regina being shot out just prior to the 1991 campaign.
Politics in Saskatchewan — a place divided between those who supported the first social democratic government, those who didn't and those of both sides who think it's their inherent right to run things — has always had its edginess.
It's quite likely 13 years of Saskatchewan Party has only hardened the edges rather than softened them.
A Postmedia poll conducted in partnership with the Angus Reid Institute on the week of Oct. 8-13 — a week in which both main parties unveiled deficit-plagued platforms — revealed that the Sask. Party had a whopping 27-percentage-point lead with 60 per cent of the popular vote among decided and leaning voters compared with just 33 per cent for the NDP.
That the sampling further showed Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe enjoyed the confidence of 56 per cent of voters compared with just 31 per cent for NDP Leader Ryan Meili might even fuel the anger of some.
Of course, not all the 2020 campaign has been under-the-table or nasty.
Consider the cordial nature of the Oct. 14 leaders debate where neither Meili nor Moe appeared outwardly hostile, easing moderator Molly Thomas's task of reining in arguments and making for a discussion widely praised for being reasonable and productive.
Admittedly, there were strategic reasons both might have wanted to appear to be level-headed when directly speaking to voters.
Also, neither Moe nor Meili are perceived to be angry or volatile ... although the same can't be said for many in the province who refuse to follow their leaders' lead.
On the day Moe called the election, anonymous social media posts emerged with innuendoes and accusations surrounding Moe's 1997 car crash that killed Jo-anne Balog — an incident to which Moe previously publicly acknowledged.
However, the story quickly gained new life after the online postings were brought to attention of Balog's sons, who said they had no previous personal knowledge that Moe was the other driver. That was followed by Moe being forced to reveal previously undisclosed 1994 charges for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident (charges that were eventually stayed) in advance of a story that was about to be published by a leftwing online media source.
The central NDP campaign denies any involvement in these stories and, when asked after the debate, Meili stated he didn't raise them because he wanted to talk to voters on other matters more important to them.
But others clearly supportive of the NDP have had few qualms about taking square aim at Moe. And some on the other side are as eager to get personal with Meili or other NDP candidates. The party's Canora-pelly candidate Stacey Strykowski has registered a complaint with the RCMP over threatening anonymous communication and vandalism to her campaign office.
University of Regina department of political science head Jim Farney agreed “there's always been nasty element to campaigns.”
However, social media and changing attitudes may have added new things to the mix.
“Being angry seems a legitimate political position,” said Farney, who believes there is clearly a spillover from U.S. politics.
What may be intriguing about Saskatchewan's 2020 campaign is that it's demonstrating that such outrage and nastiness isn't just a tool of Donald Trump loyalists or right-of-centre conservatives with grievances — sometimes rather personalized — towards a Justin Trudeau or a Ryan Meili. “I think it's a tool that isn't necessarily ideological. It can go either way,” Farney said. “It is a populist tool.”
There is also the added layer of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying economic uncertainty — an emotional driving force for some, regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum.
“People get angry when they are afraid and there's lots of good reason to be afraid right now,” Farney said.
However, the U of R prof says what's going on online might simply be just another form of what's always happened in the shadows of sometimes rough and tumble world of Saskatchewan politics.
Back in the day, it was unlikely there was a centrally coordinated effort to tie whiskey bottles to Ross Thatcher posters. Nor did any campaign ever tell supporters that they are within their right to chase an opposing canvasser out of their farmyard or do something illegal.
But some do get passionate about politics and step over the line.
Farney thinks some of what we are now seeing online is a similar anonymous expression that parties and central campaigns aren't aggressive enough — something that's existed in our politics for years.
“(Some feel) both parties are so far off base you might just get out there on your own and do your thing,” Farney observed. “I think the Twitter stuff we saw is almost the guerrilla warfare version of that ...
“If you are freelancing, you don't much care about the consequences.”
The political scientist said we should careful not to assume all such expression outside the formal parties or in social media forums outside mainstream media is bad.
Recent movements — the LGBTQ+ rights movements, the feminism movement and the Black Lives Matter protests — all began as angry and often anonymous protests, he said. “Over 20 years, you produce change.”
But the ease in which people can now communicate has seemed to put a new twist on the old Saskatchewan tradition of ugly campaign politics.
Being angry seems a legitimate political position.
... People get angry when they are afraid and there's lots of good reason to be afraid right now.
JIM F ARNEY, department of political science head, University of Regina