Moe's byelection suggestion is disingenuous

Twenty-five years ago, a group of Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAS began talking about forming a new party.

Eight MLAS — half elected as PCS, the other half as Liberals — with help from federal Reform Party operatives, formed the Saskatchewan Party in 1997.

The eight defectors became the Official Opposition that fall, sending both parties under whose banners the eight MLAS were elected on paths toward oblivion.

None of the eight sought a byelection under the new party brand, so voters who opposed the change in allegiance were forced to wait two years until the next provincial election in 1999.

So you might expect a Saskatchewan Party premier would be the last person to suggest the need for a byelection over such a defection.

Yet that's what Premier Scott Moe did last week when he proposed independent MLA Nadine Wilson resign her Saskatchewan Rivers seat and seek re-election in a byelection after she asked a question in the legislature Moe deemed inappropriate.

Wilson, who was elected four straight times in the constituency with the Saskatchewan Party, declined and said she intends to stay.

Moe offered up the example of Buckley Belanger, who resigned to run in a byelection in 1998 when he jumped from the Liberals to the NDP in the wake of the Saskatchewan Party's birth.

The premier conveniently ignored the eight 1997 defectors who declined to do so and are now hailed as his party's pioneers. They served a full two years before facing voters.

Then, when Moe was elected party leader in 2018 and became premier, he also rejected the need for an election, saying at the time, “We have a strong mandate to govern.” Voters waited nearly three years after Moe became premier for an election.

Nobody had voted on the merits of a Moe-led party in 2016 when the Saskatchewan Party was re-elected under Brad Wall. Wall bolted in 2017 after unleashing an unpopular austerity budget.

One can certainly argue that elected politicians who switch parties or choose independence, or parties that swap leaders, should immediately face voters for their verdict. But Moe and the Saskatchewan Party lack the credibility to make that case, given their history.

Someone could just as easily suggest Moe should call a general election, since he's acknowledged his government imposed unprecedented policies like vaccine mandates that were absent from his 2020 election platform.

Plus, Moe lifted pandemic measures amid record COVID-19 hospitalizations and infections and then shut down daily reporting. Undoubtedly, many voters would like to weigh in now.

And Wilson left the Saskatchewan Party caucus over misrepresenting her vaccination status, surely a mandate few could have anticipated prior to the 2020 election.

Yet perhaps Moe's byelection suggestion has less to do with his beliefs in democracy and accountability than it does his obsession with the province's far right and fear of losing votes.

Wilson has appeared during the last week as a speaker at events held by the Saskatchewan United Party, a fledgling political party, according to its Facebook page, but not one that has yet obtained official party status.

Also appearing at these events are former Saskatchewan federal Conservative cabinet minister Gerry Ritz and former Saskatchewan Party MLA Jason Dearborn.

The speakers include Nadine Ness, the leader of the group Unified Grassroots that tried unsuccessfully to stop the province's vaccine mandate in court.

This new entity seems poised to supplant the Buffalo Party as the vessel for ongoing rural rage and far-right dissatisfaction with the Saskatchewan Party government.

The social media post advertising the party's events includes a photo of parents walking their daughter toward a bright light, looking like they're strolling happily toward The Rapture.

The event topics include “civil liberties,” “family first,” “putting Sask first” — you can never have enough firsts — and, of course, an unnamed “upcoming crisis.”

Despite the goofiness, this movement has two years to gain support and drain support before the next election, and Wilson would be key. That's likely why Moe suddenly believes in byelections.