One-upped

The main criticism of the leadership debate schedule announced by the Saskatchewan NDP earlier this month was the lack of any northern event. And it didn't take Dwain Lingenfelter long to propose a forum in La Ronge - but scheduled for after the membership deadline to participate in the June leadership vote.

Now, Ryan Meili and Yens Pedersen have gone a step further by organizing a joint forum to be held before the already-scheduled debates:

NDP Leadership Candidates Ryan Meili and Yens Pedersen have jointly organized a public leadership forum in La Ronge for April 14, 2009. Northern Saskatchewan was not included on the original leadership forum circuit organized by the party's office.

Pedersen and Meili agree that the people of Northern Saskatchewan deserve an opportunity to hear from all of the candidates. The NDP leadership election will take place on June 6, but memberships must be purchased by April 24, 2009 to be eligible to vote. Pedersen and Meili agree that a public forum before the April 24 deadline offers Northerners full participation in the democratic process, rather than what could be seen as merely token consultation...

The April 14 Leadership Forum will be held at the Kitsaki Hall, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Candidates Deb Higgins and Dwain Lingenfelter have been invited to the April 14th forum but have yet to confirm their attendance.

Getting the obvious out of the way first, it would seem clear that it's for the best if the NDP can indeed have a full northern forum in advance of the membership deadline. And I'd expect the Meili/Pedersen forum to take precedence as the candidates' best opportunity for a northern debate - based on both the agreement of multiple candidates, and the improvement in timing. But why stop there when one can speculate about how it will affect the dynamics between the candidates?

To start with, the joint announcement may raise some eyebrows as to the cooperation between two competing candidates - particularly ones who thus far have seemed to be targeting the same pool of potential voters. But it's worth being cautious in reading too much into the Meili/Pedersen cooperation on the forum.

As the two candidates with less name recognition to date, they both likely have the most to gain from exposure to a wider range of people. And with the front-runner in the race having already proposed an event on his own, it seems likely that it would take agreement from more than one of the contestants for another proposed event to eclipse Lingenfelter's.

That said, it may be worth watching whether Higgins and Lingenfelter will hedge on any commitment to attend. For both, adding another event at the front end of an already-grueling debate schedule might be seen as a risky bet. And for Lingenfelter in particular, there's some danger that he'll be taken as admitting that his own proposed event was inadequate if he participates in the Meili/Pedersen one instead.

But then, both would presumably also see a significant danger in being the lone candidate not to attend. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if both avoid committing one way or the other, figuring that each is relatively safe to sit it out as long as the other does the same.

We'll find out soon just how Higgins and Lingenfelter choose to respond to the Meili/Pedersen forum. But however important the event itself proves to be, the more interesting result may be how it precipitates cooperation and opposition among the candidates as the campaign continues.