Clarke’s Sask. Party leadership bid might provide needed shakeup

Former MP isn’t shy about criticizing shortcomings of the current regime

Maybe we should at least wait until the Saskatchewan Party’s Nov. 24 deadline to see if Rob Clarke is officially in the leadership race before pronouncing what — if any — effect the former Conservative MP might have.

Candidates get into leadership races for various reasons — not the least of which is to make a statement or raise their own public profile for future endeavours.

The Sask. Party’s $25,000 entry fee ($15,000 of which you can get back, but only if your name is on the final ballot) is a big deterrent to running for the above reasons. In a process that will produce the premier of the province, the Sask. Party has set parameters to make sure you are in it to win it.

But whether Clarke wins or even runs may be less significant than his vital message that it’s high time for serious reflection by the other five leadership hopefuls and the party about how they are being perceived right now. If the Sask. Party ever gets serious about the notion that Premier Brad Wall’s government needs some fixing right now, that would truly be — as Clarke described himself — “the NDP’s worst nightmare.”

Consider that the last eyebrowraising thing said by a candidate came in August from the blip campaign of Jeremy Harrison, who never provided the needed signatures or cash to be on the ticket. Harrison — the one-time adamant defender of the Global Transportation Hub in which he saw “no wrongdoing” — announced he would dispense with the GTH and would have fired both former economy minister Bill Boyd and current economy deputy minister Laurie Pushor for their handling of the GTH land-purchase negotiations.

It was a conversion that came far too late. Within a couple of days, Harrison’s leadership bid was in ashes and his support was thrown behind Scott Moe. It served as a warning to all other Sask. Party hopefuls about the cost of being “too critical” of the Wall administration that you were part of and defended.

But maybe this is where Clarke — the former Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River MP from 2008 to 2015, member of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and former RCMP officer — could at least provide this party with a valuable service.

Clarke’s launch of his Sask. Party leadership candidacy bid Wednesday was peppered with words like unchecked “scandals,” “insider deals” and “intolerance” in a campaign that — if it truly happens — will be all about the need for a Sask. Party outsider to clean up the mess.

“The (provincial) NDP will win more seats in Saskatchewan unless we hit the reset button on the party and the government,” Clarke said at his news conference. “All the candidates in the race are talking about renewal, but they only represent more of the same. I’m (the) only true outsider in this race, the only candidate capable of delivering renewal and building a bigger and better party.”

The supposed NDP’s worst nightmare has quickly become the NDP’s nightmare before Christmas ... or so it seemed after Thursday morning’s question period in which the NDP’s first question was all about Clarke’s view of “scandals” and “insider deals” on the GTH. And that was before the Opposition even got to more Thursday morning questions on Education Minister Bronwyn Eyre’s initial views on the content of First Nations education that Clarke described Wednesday as “derogatory and hurtful.”

You get the picture. If Clarke is in this race — and we will see in a week if he provides the necessary 250 signatures from 25 ridings plus the upfront cash — he might shake up this Sask. Party country club.

But that might not be all bad. Clarke happens to be right that there have been far too many dog whistles to the party base that haven’t been particularly productive for the party. Nor has Wall been great at getting ahead of the debt and scandal.

It would be healthy for all if someone hit the reset button. Perhaps Clarke could be that person.