Oilman for NDP

With Lorne Calvert calling it a career, the most prominent name being mentioned as a possible successor to the NDP leader is Dwain Lingenfelter, vice-president of Government Relations with Calgary-based energy company, Nexen Inc.  The smooth-talking former Deputy Premier under Roy Romanow appeared on CBC Radio’s morning show with Sheila Coles this morning.  Lingenfelter gave very strong signals that he will return to Saskatchewan to contest the leadership. And wouldn’t that be ironic if he does so, given the recent rants about western oil companies by national NDP leader Jack Layton.  One can well imagine what the provincial NDP might be saying had the Sask Party fielded a leader who had been working in the Alberta oil patch for the past several years.

Whoever leads the NDP, he or she will face a formidable challege in rebuilding the party’s image in rural Saskatchewan.  Conservatives hold a powerful edge on the farm, both provincially and federally in our province.  Lingenfelter still has a farm in Saskatchewan and his center/right status in the party may favour him over other candidates in reaching out to rural voters.

If he declares, will Lingenfelter also have to reach out to his son, Travis?  When he was 18 years, the younger Link attended the 2006 Sask Party convention where he said his father’s party did not appeal to him.

Higher and Higher

The NDP Opposition was asking today about the Saskatchewan Party’s call to give drivers a break on gas prices.  As reported by the Leader-Post, the Sask Party in 2005 argued the province should cut the 15 cent a litre gas tax by one cent for every dollar the price of oil goes above US $60 a barrel. Now in government — and with oil topping US $120 a barrel — the Sask. Party said cutting the tax remains a possibility but is not a priority.

NDP Defections

There has been a second notable defection from Saskatchewan NDP ranks since the party was defeated by the Sask Party last fall.  The NDP’s election planning co-chair, Carol Teichrob, has thrown her support behind the Conservative candidate in the federal riding of Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar. Teichrob, a longtime NDP stalwart, served as Education and Municipal Affairs minister in the Romanow Government.

The Star Phoenix’s Randy Burton reports that Teichrob has a strong personal connection to the Tory candidate but that she was also frustrated and surprised by some of the NDP campaign decisions last fall.  Teichrob couldn’t figure why the party insisted on running a negative campaign when the provincial economy has never been better.  

A few months ago, Joan Beatty who was re-elected as an NDP-MLA, jumped to the Federal Liberals and then ran unsuccessfully in a bye-election in a northern Saskatchewan seat.  Beatty plans to run for the Liberals again in the next federal vote.

Playing Hardball

What is Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall thinking? He now plans to sue the Canadian Press for a story headline about the controversial videotape released earlier this week by the NDP.  The headline in question: “Tape with Sask Premier and Tory MP has racist, sexist, homophobic comments: NDP.” 

I’m no lawyer but this legal gambit is a huge stretch!  Why does he want to draw further attention to this matter?  The first dumb thing the Conservatives did in ’91 was take pictures of the frat boy party and then leave the videotape lying around.  The second dumb thing was this threat by Wall! What’s next? Will the Sask Party sue the NDP for copyright infringement?

Note: On Monday, Premier Wall disclosed he would not pursue legal action against the Canadian Press.

A Devine Perspective

Former Saskatchewan Premier Grant Devine has dismissed the babblings of his Conservative staffers from 1991 as just plain dumb and stupid.  However, he has declined to comment on Tom Lukiwski’s highly offensive remarks about gays.  I am not surprised by Devine’s apparent reticence. 

Under Devine’s leadership, Saskatchewan Conservatives claimed theirs was the party of family values, a philosophy which did not embrace homosexuality.  Was Lukiwski’s utterance just an inadvertent, isolated comment or was it reflective of intolerant beliefs deeply held within the Conservative movement at the time?

Former CBC Saskatchewan journalist Gerry Jones authored a book about the Tory fraud scandal ‘SaskScandal – The Death of Political Idealism in Saskatchewan.’  Gerry offers this perspective of the events of the past week:

The Tom Lukiwski controversy is shining new light on what some would describe as a dark period in Saskatchewan’s political history. While Lukiwski’s choice of words are seen as shocking and unfortunate, the views behind them were common in the Saskatchewan Conservative Party ranks during the 1980’s and 90’s.

In 1987, Grant Schmidt, who served as the Minister of Human Services in the Grant Devine Government, called homosexuality a “deviant lifestyle”. He said employers should have the right not to hire homosexuals.  He also argued that homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt children. Schmidt was even given an award by a Committee to Protect the Family, and was cited for his position on gays and adoption.

Schmidt, of course, was in step with his boss, Premier Grant Devine, on condemning homosexuality. Devine was thrust in the national spotlight because of his comments when MP Svend Robinson declared his homosexuality in 1988. Devine compared homosexuals to bank robbers. He said he hated to think a Member of Parliament could stand and promote such a lifestyle with young people watching. He said he could say the same thing about bank robbers.

Spring Spending Spree

Today’s Op-Ed pages took note of the dramatic role reversal of Saskatchewan’s political parties in the wake of yesterday’s provincial budget.  Months ago, who was predicting the Sask Party would deliver a budget with such significant hikes in program spending with the Opposition NDP knocking the Government for minimal tax cuts?  Does anyone still remember those early ‘dire’ warning by the Sask Partiers about the state of our finances?

In its editorial, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix concludes the Government has opted for the status quo, saying it “covered its political promises without delivering a significant change in direction that one comfortably could believe would prepare this province not only for growth but any economic eventuality.”

The Regina Leader-Post applauded the budget’s  sizeable investment in ‘infrastructure’, saying the Government is off to a solid start.

Columnist Murray Mandryk mused that “the student may have now actually supplanted the master with its capital infrastructure initiative.”  What, asked Mandryk, is there for New Democrats to criticize?  His counterpart at the Star Phoenix, Randy Burton, observed that spending is no longer a dirty word for the Sask Party.  Burton offered the following, “…while the NDP can’t do it, in some ways this is a budget that could be more easily attacked from the right than the left.”

The Prince Albert Herald commented that the Government seems “to have forgotten its pledge to aid staggering education education property taxes.”  But on balance, the paper said the budget seemed to craft a good direction.

The Moose Jaw Times Herald hailed the budget as a “pretty good one” for Saskatchewan. In particular, the paper noted the budget’s reference to a renovation plan at the Moose Jaw Union Hospital. Even though there are few details, the paper said “Brad Wall had kept his word.”

And in a final strange twist, the news aggregator National Newswatch, carried a story headlined “Saskatchewan Party goes on spending spree.”  The source for the story:  The Victoria Times Colonist. Huh?