Aggressive use of social media will make for a nasty election

Even before the days of social media, elections were a harrowing time for voters attempting to sort truth from reality so they could make as informed a choice as possible.

However, the spurious spin one gets away with on social media is a game-changer for politicians.

Expect to see the bulk of the 2024 Saskatchewan election fought in your social media feeds. It won't be pretty ... not that campaigns ever were.

Back in snail-mail days, before the internet 30 years ago and certainly before the rise of social media in the last 15 years, you'd usually have to wait for campaign literature to reach your mailbox to get your spin out.

But in today's social media, politicians know they can get away with any fleeting social media post to underpin their narrative before the world moves on to the next thing.

Of course, both opposition and governing parties are using this hit-and-run tactic. But conservatives are better at it.

Consider the federal opposition Conservatives' “Axe the Tax,” in which leader Pierre Poilievre has done a rather remarkable job of convincing Canadians that carbon pricing is destroying both the nation's economy and family households.

The Liberals will lose the next federal election because they have failed to establish their argument that 80 per cent of Canadians get more back in carbon pricing rebates than they pay in the tax.

But why have they failed so miserably?

Well, puzzlingly, some of the greatest gains Poilievre has made are among the under-30 crowd who spend more time on social media than older demographics. It's equally surprising that middle to lower income earners seem equally convinced they're suffering harm from the carbon tax when studies point to the fact that it's such groups that benefit the most financially.

Chalk it up to the Conservatives' relentless campaigning that more effectively uses social media — something that clearly hasn't been lost on Premier Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party.

Admittedly, social media is but one of the tools Moe has used to fight the carbon tax, including the courts, his own legislation and now breaking federal laws.

Each sitting day of the legislature sees the Sask. Party government present a position that prays the “Ndp-trudeau government” remove the carbon tax that is one of the “main causes of affordability issues” in Saskatchewan. Again, we have long been in campaign mode and the facts have never got in the way of a good campaign.

But the big difference today is Moe's use of social media, where he has announced every recent development in the carbon tax fight. Why? Because he can get away with saying things he couldn't get away with saying elsewhere without being challenged.

For example, in a recent post on X, he said premiers “respectfully asked” Trudeau for a First Ministers' meeting but were met with a “snarky” reply. Setting aside the fact that Trudeau did long ago need to meet with the premiers on this issue, it's more than a little ironic Moe would be accusing any other politician of social media snark.

It isn't just the carbon tax.

Now popping up on Moe's social media is a meme in which he accuses the former NDP government of having a nine-per-cent sales tax compared with the six-per-cent sales tax under the Sask. Party today.

The NDP did massively hike the PST to nine per cent 31 years ago to deal with deficits and the debt left behind by the previous Progressive Conservative administration, but it was lowered to five per cent well before the NDP were voted out in 2007.

It was Moe's Sask. Party government that hiked it back to six per cent in 2017 and broadened it to include restaurant meals, junk food and entertainment tickets two budgets ago.

But Moe is wagering that most won't fact check this social media post before he moves on to the next post that underscores his narrative that the NDP can't be trusted.

Expect a lot more of this as we move toward the fall vote.