#skndpldr Roundup

With official forums on hold until January but the holiday lull not quite yet here, Saskatchewan's NDP leadership candidates have been fairly active over the last little while. So let's take a look at the latest developments.

- The latest fund-raising numbers are available here, and charted by Alice below:

What looks most noteworthy from November is a push by Ryan Meili in both fund-raising and expenditures. While his campaign has trumpeted its continued lead in donations, Meili also outspent his competitors substantially for the latest month, leaving him as the only candidate to end November with less cash on hand than at the start.

As with Trent Wotherspoon's early expenses that put his campaign into a deficit position, it will be worth watching whether Meili's spending produces measurable results. And if it doesn't, then Cam Broten may be in the best financial position for the second half of the campaign based on his lead in net revenue along with his large amount of spending room.

- Meanwhile, Meili also received a poetic endorsement from Lon Borgerson. But I do have to wonder whether it's too late in the campaign to move beyond poetry slams into the realm of epic rap battles.

- On the policy front, Meili unveiled his policy proposals on the environment, which notably goes beyond relying on SaskPower as driver of power conservation, and includes the observation that industrial users should be included in conservation efforts by being required to pay their fair share for power use. And Erin Weir's pension proposal includes a move at the provincial level to reverse the federal Cons' attacks on Old Age Security.

- Finally, Weir also offered another timely suggestion, responding to CNOOC's takeover of Nexen by noting that our royalty regulations should avoid allowing businesses to reduce Saskatchewan's royalty share by manipulating prices.