When does history become history in politics?
How much time should go by before a government stops criticizing the track record of its predecessors?
In question period Tuesday, Education Minister Don Morgan cited a 1993 speech from then NDP finance minister Janice MacKinnon.
That was his response to a question from today’s NDP opposition about current education funding and the tight budgets school divisions are struggling to manage.
It was a glaring example of a pretty common tact taken by the Saskatchewan Party government during question period, where today’s concerns raised by the Opposition NDP are often answered by government with a criticism of yesteryear’s.
The NDP hasn’t formed government in Saskatchewan since 2007.
Morgan suggested his answer was to point out some of the struggles the current government is dealing with are challenges governments of the past have had to deal with as well.
“We’re going through some tough economic times, we’re making some difficult decisions and during the NDP’s time, they had some difficult economic decisions to make as well,” he said.
Asked whether or not we should expect to hear critiques of the Tommy Douglas NDP/CCF government, Morgan — who is recognized by many for his sense of humour — said, “I don’t know if I’ve got anything from the 1940s or not, but I’ll be checking.”
The NDP’s Trent Wotherspoon is hoping that was actually a joke.
“In many ways, it’s just the dismissive approach we see from government on many fronts,” he said in response to Morgan’s 1993 reference.
Calling the method a “blast from the past” and dubbing the day’s proceedings “throwback Tuesday,” Wotherspoon likened the approach to Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant blaming the team’s current struggles on Kent Austin, who held the same job 23 years ago and last coached the team in 2007.
“(The government) can focus on what they want,” Wotherspoon said. “Most Saskatchewan people, if they’re watching that behaviour of finger pointing back to the early ’90s, would dismiss it for what it is.”