Tough times may redefine Wall government
For as much as we fuss and bother over political philosophy, what truly defines a government is how it deals with the issues of the day.
Of course, sometimes the philosophy and the times coexist in a symbiotic way.
The social democratic approach of Tommy Douglas’s Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) — born in the Great Depression — might very well have been right for a time when this province was in desperate need of both infrastructure and economic equality to deal with basic needs.
Maybe another government with a different philosophy also would have been able to provide rural electrification or relief for families weighed down by the cost of private medical care. But the 20-year tenure of the Douglas-Woodrow Lloyd government surely tells us it was a government in sync with the times.
In a similar vein, it may not have been just coincidence that the Saskatchewan Party — product of a merger of right-wing Liberals and the old Progressive Conservatives, with a heavy emphasis on ridding the province of the NDP philosophy of government interventionism — came along when it did.
When the Sask. Party was born in 1997, Saskatchewan was transitioning from its roots as an agrarian economy — historically dominated by small farmers, who were rapidly disappearing with the demise of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool as a co-operative — to one driven by rising oil revenue.
But it wasn’t until the 2004 arrival as Sask. Party leader of Brad Wall — someone who could be trusted to guard at least some of the province’s traditional values, like public ownership of utilities — that this coalition of right-wingers was considered by voters to be fit for power.
This is the reality of politics, where governing parties with aspirations of extending their tenure are required to reinvent themselves and adjust to Saskatchewan’s ever-changing socio-economic realities.
Come Tuesday, Wall encounters a very different reality — a new legislative session and term in government that will be less about “business as usual” than about dealing with a new phase in Saskatchewan’s economy.
Consider the news that southern Saskatchewan now qualifies for extended employment insurance benefits in places like Weyburn and Estevan that — not so very long ago — had virtually zero vacancies because of the oil boom.
In the wake of the March federal budget, Wall complained that southern and west-central Saskatchewan — hit hard by oil-sector layoffs — were not among the 12 economic regions eligible for a five-week extension of EI benefits. At the time, the baseline unemployment rate in these areas was not high enough for a longer period.
Well, the sad news is that these regions in Saskatchewan now qualify — a hollow victory for Wall, whose government prided itself on growing the province’s population and workforce.
The June 1 budget will be all about contending with an economy that’s reflecting this ugly downturn.
Program spending cuts will be required to contend with stagnant/dwindling government revenue. The even sadder reality for Wall’s government is that this might not necessarily be a one-year thing. All signs point to our deficit problem as being a structural one.
But for Wall’s government, a Saskatchewan economic downturn should be seen as an opportunity to show it can contend with the bad times — as well as the good.
Admittedly, this will require Wall’s government to demonstrate the kind of good judgment and contrition it hasn’t always shown.
Cutting Saskatchewan’s Film Employment Tax Credit, for reasons that history has demonstrated were largely philosophical, was not wise. And the more recent decision to subsidize startup SkipTheDishes — a move in which the economic benefits remain dubious — borders on the bizarre.
But necessity has a way of focusing a government. And voters tend to be more understanding and forgiving than one thinks.
Wall’s talk of “transitional change” in health-care administration or other areas need not be feared if the proposed change is well thought out and fair-minded.
This is an opportunity for the Sask. Party to prove it’s more than just a “good-times” government.
Really, it’s what all good governments must do.