NDP flaunts fresh faces at convention
REGINA — When it comes to a cliché in the male-dominated world of politics, kissing a baby is up there.
At the Saskatchewan NDP convention over the weekend plenty of babies were being kissed, but rather than being staged for the camera, they were real family moments.
Jesse Todd, NDP candidate for Saskatoon Eastview, put it down to the changing face of the provincial NDP.
His seven-month-old son Avery spent the weekend hanging out with NDP leader Cam Broten’s baby daughter, Gudrun.
All weekend, Todd said with a chuckle, people jokingly asked him, “Hey, whose baby is that?”
“There have been lots of pictures,” Todd said.
“It’s going to be fun to share it with him when’s a bit older and say, ‘This was your first convention.’”
More than 20 families at the convention took advantage of the free daycare, which ended up overflowing with kids.
Todd said that signals a “drastic change” from the old, “predominately white male party.”
“You notice with all the new candidates that the majority have young families, and it just shows the party has changed drastically in the last few years since (Broten) has taken over,” Todd said.
More kids, more young families, a diverse cast of candidates — half of whom are women — “everyone brings something interesting to the table,” Todd said.
Broten highlighted that notion of fresh faces and diversity during his speech to delegates Saturday and as he spoke with reporters throughout convention.
“This government is increasingly old and tired,” he said.
Referencing Premier Brad Wall’s cabinet shuffle last week, Broten said Sunday “they’re shuffling around the old deck of cards, the old boys. When you look at the candidates we have, on average they’re younger candidates with diverse backgrounds.”
If Broten is going to use the old and tired argument, government may well revert to its insinuation of an NDP leadership rift, which Saskatchewan Party MLAs like to bring up in debates and question period from time to time.
But they might find it a little harder to make that case now, after Broten won 98 per cent of ballots in the annual leadership review vote Saturday morning.
Broten doesn’t “hold a lot of hope” for that, though, saying “we’ve seen more bellowing, more hollering” from government of late.
“At the same time, with this government we’ve seen more creeping entitlement, more dismissiveness ... where they take things for granted, take support for granted, and that rubs people the wrong way,” Broten said.