Sunday, February 03, 2013

#skndpldr Roundup

As expected, the last week has been a relatively quiet one in the Saskatchewan NDP's leadership campaign - representing the break between membership recruitment and voter contact. But there have been a few developments worth noting.

Most obviously, the latest debate took place in Yorkton. Scott has already posted his thoughts, while Twitter coverage at the time was offered by Stephen Moore (with a particular focus on Trent Wotherspoon) and Paige Kezima.

But the development which figures to have the most impact on the balance of the campaign is Ryan Meili's 9 + 1 message: rather than allowing other candidates to take the lead in talking about what it means to elect a leader from outside the Legislature, he's making a highly visible pitch to the effect that the NDP should be looking to build strength beyond its MLAs. And the message looks like a fairly strong one on point - though there will be somewhat of a balancing act need to avoid distracting from Meili's broader vision and policy themes in responding to what's ultimately a relatively minor strategic consideration.

Meanwhile, Wotherspoon looked to answer some of the holiday musings about Cam Broten's relative success in influencing events in the Legislature by speaking out about the treatment of Provinicial Auditor Bonnie Lysyk by Sask Party MLAs. But I'd think that it's even more telling to see the response of the MLAs involved - who tried to excuse their disrespect for Lysyk by saying they don't know what her job actually is:
Scott Moe, one of the Sask. Party MLAs on the committee, said after the meeting members were acting on their own.

"The questions that I saw in there were more around the scope of the auditor's office and what exactly the office does and questions you might expect from fairly newly elected members in there."
As a bonus for Wotherspoon, he looks to enjoy an opportunity to follow up on the first new cycle as the Public Accounts Committee revisits the same terrain this week.

Finally, while Meili and Wotherspoon earned plenty of attention with their most recent public interventions, Erin Weir's latest should have received more. Obviously any news about PotashCorp's low royalties paid in 2012 fits with Weir's campaign message - but the minimal revenues coming in from the extraction of resources by a highly profitable private operator is also highly significant as a matter of provincial public policy.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:05 p.m.

    I feel that your analysis of the 9+1 is way off mark unless you are referring to as a gaffe. Meili who has no idea what its like to sit in the legislature is going to decide whether or not he will run for a seat to be in the legislature without consulting caucus who have to then fulfill his role in the legislature. His inexperience has really shone through in taking this type of stand and not feeling the need to work with the caucus to make this type of decision. This decision affects the caucus most and I hope that a leader would work with them to make a decision such as this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:22 p.m.

    Good day! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site?

    I'm getting tired of Wordpress because I've had
    problems with hackers and I'm looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

    Take a look at my page; hardwood flooring

    ReplyDelete