Sask. Party debate short on controversy
Supplied-question format keeps back-and-forth to a minimum
SASKATOON The Saskatchewan Party’s executive director is defending a leadership campaign debate that left the audience restless and failed to address one of the biggest scandals in the party’s 20-year history.
Held at the party’s annual convention on Saturday, the debate found the five candidates vying to replace outgoing Premier Brad Wall address carbon pricing and health care, among other topics, but not controversial land deals at the Global Transportation Hub.
Tina Beaudry-Mellor mentioned during the debate that the GTH was part of the reason the party has struggled to shore up support in urban ridings, and Gord Wyant told reporters afterward that it is one of the subjects most party members want him to address.
But the party’s longtime executive director Patrick Bundrock said the questions asked at this and two earlier debates were submitted by party members and “chosen across topics of relevance” for the same members, and that all five have previously addressed the scandal.
“There’s still three more debates to go. (We) haven’t ruled out anything yet,” Bundrock told reporters following the debate, which generally featured broad agreement between Beaudry-Mellor, Wyant, Ken Cheveldayoff, Alanna Koch and Scott Moe.
Moe told reporters he and the other candidates are addressing questions on an enormous range of topics — including the ongoing RCMP investigation into the GTH land deals — every day as they travel the province in search of support.
Asked whether the format, in which candidates responded to 10 questions and were able to use a limited number of “interjections,” should be changed to allow for more robust debate, Bundrock said he didn’t think so.
“I thought the format has worked extremely well and we’re beginning to see more of the interjections happen, but … you have five great candidates all talking to the same pool of voters and who agree, probably, on 90 per cent of the issues.”
That was evident on Saturday, as each of the candidates worked to distinguish themselves from the others without straying too far from their basic fiscal conservatism policy positions designed to appeal to the party’s voter base.
“I think we all have to remember we’re all colleagues on that stage and, at the end of this, we all have to be pulling on the same rope because we’re all members of the same party,” Wyant told reporters, echoing comments made by the other candidates.
There were, however, a handful of new ideas presented at the debate.
Cheveldayoff suggested that the province could consider consolidating health care, education and social services into a new ministry aimed at improving the lives of children.
Speaking with reporters afterward, he questioned the viability of it.
Koch, meanwhile, told reporters that the province should consider reopening the discussion about using Saskatchewan-mined uranium to fuel nuclear power plants once a new generation of small-scale reactors is sufficiently well-developed.
Beaudry-Mellor suggested that MLAs be expected to spend more time in their constituencies knocking on doors, while Wyant proposed moving the party back toward the political centre.
The Sask. Party’s next debate is scheduled for Nov. 16 in North Battleford.
The party will elect its new leader at a separate convention in Saskatoon on Jan. 27.