Deep thought

It's an absolute mystery where Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party got the impression they're entitled to dictate how they're covered and what questions they'll deign to answer.

On non-goals

The combination of Paul Merriman's appalling use of poll numbers as a measure of COVID success - followed by Scott Moe's feckless response - has rightly been the subject of plenty of criticism. But it's worth a reminder that there's nothing new in either of their messages - such that those criticisms are properly seen as addressing structural problems with the Saskatchewan Party, not personal foibles or slips which can plausibly be minimized.

Let's remember after all that Moe's own reaction to public awareness of the coronavirus was to use it as an excuse to hold a snap election. And even after that plan fell apart, the Saskatchewan Party gleefully attacked Ryan Meili as "Dr. Doom" for attempting to have the government take COVID-19 seriously, delayed and minimized any response to the coronavirus in order when it wasn't convenient for their own budget message...and bragged about polling results which were supposed to show a romp in the making. 

So there's absolutely no air of reailty to Moe's attempt to spin Merriman's message as being a one-time mistake. To the contrary, it fits perfectly into the Saskatchewan Party's longstanding pattern of behaviour prioritizing polls and political interests over the lives of Saskatchewan people.

But the more important part of Moe's attempt at damage control is this:

Moe said he doesn’t know if there is a measure of success when it comes to tackling the virus.

...

“I don’t know that that’s a measure of success … the answer to that question. What are people going to recall when they talk about COVID in two years is something that I most certainly am thinking about today,” said Moe.

“How do you measure success (against) a virus that we are still sorting out, trying to learn?”

Of course, one answer would be to compare Saskatchewan to jurisdictions which have actually been successful in fully containing COVID-19. And there's no reasonable explanation as to why Moe has chosen needless viral spread and human suffering over real public health measures which would be far better for people and the economy alike.

But even if we assume Moe is incapable of the type of leadership necessary to defeat COVID-19 entirely, one of the issues consistently raised by Meili and the NDP has been the need for clear objective standards and thresholds to inform our reaction to the spread of the virus.

At times, we've received that from the chief medical health officer Dr. Shahab. But it appears that even nine months into a pandemic, Scott Moe still can't even conceive of the possibility that we could set defined markers of our success (or lack thereof) in responding to COVID-19.

Needless to say, a government's refusal to accept that it's even possible to define success makes it virtually certain that we'll make no meaningful effort to achieve it. And that only figures to set the stage for many more abject failures to come.

On missed opportunities

There has been plenty of commentary and analysis about the results of Saskatchewan's provincial election - including some discussion on the theme of an overly risk-averse NDP campaign. But I'll follow up with one specific example of what may have been missing from the party's message.

One of the key ideas promoted by Ryan Meili over nearly a decade as a leadership candidate and public figure has been the concept of SaskPharm, giving effect to the familiar and already-mooted idea that there should be public ownership of a supplier capable of meeting the need for medicine where the private sector fails to deliver (whether within reasonable price parameters or at all). 

And as recently as June of this year, the NDP's caucus included the concept in its COVID recovery plan (PDF). But come election time, the NDP's platform omitted any mention of SaskPharm. 

Unfortunately, that fit into a broader pattern of only tinkering around the edges when it came to economic issues. 

The NDP was willing to direct substantial amounts of money toward an SGI rebate and the removal of the PST on construction labour. And it planned to reinstate a number of lost entities such as STC, and industries such as the film sector. But very little in its economic message even hinted at any plans beyond restoring the province to its economic mix circa 2007.

That then caused problems in responding to the Saskatchewan Party's constant demand of slavish devotion to the oil sector. When it came time to answer as to what sources of jobs and economic development might be available for Saskatchewan once the rest of the planet wised up to the imperative to shift away from fossil fuels, the NDP unfortunately left ready-made possibilities off the table. And that made it far too easy for voters to accept they should stay on an unsustainable path, for lack of any specifics as to what alternatives might be available.

What's worse, the omission of SaskPharm from the election came at a time when we've become acutely aware of the dangers of relying on foreign and corporate suppliers for the medication and other supplies we need to stay healthy in the midst of a pandemic.

It's not clear that the next election will offer quite the same natural intersection between an immediate need, and an already-developed policy proposal which can serve as the focal point for Saskatchewan's economic development. But I'd argue that the NDP needs to put in the effort laying the groundwork for an economic vision which offers a clear choice of something better - lest voters wrongly believe their only option is more of the same.

PINNED POST: On advance preparation

I've noted before that Scott Moe's spring election posturing prevented Elections Saskatchewan from putting together a full postal balloting system for this fall's provincial election. And I haven't yet heard of any municipalities going to a full vote-by-mail balloting system for their subsequent votes (though I'd be interested to hear if any are trying).

But that doesn't mean voters can't cast a ballot by mail - only that they'll need to be prepared well in advance in order to do so.

With that in mind, here are links to the mail-in ballot application processes for...

- Elections Saskatchewan (Application deadline has passed)

- City of Estevan (November 9)

- City of Martensville (Application deadline has passed)

- City of Meadow Lake (Application deadline has passed)

- City of Melfort (November 9)

- City of Moose Jaw (Application deadline has passed) 

- City of North Battleford (Application deadline has passed)

- City of Prince Albert (Online deadline has passed, November 9 in person)

- City of Regina (November 9) 

- City of Saskatoon (October 30 online, November 8 in person)

- City of Warman (Application deadline has passed)

- City of Weyburn (Application deadline has passed) 

Note that the timing of an application will be crucial. In most cases cities should be receiving applications by now, meaning that the primary concern is to make sure applications are sent in time to be received by the deadlines above.

Other cities including Lloydminster and Yorkton have approved of mail-in balloting processes, but don't appear to have detailed information available online. I'll update with links as they become available.

[This will be a pinned post throughout election season - I'll plan to update it as registration windows open and close.]

On asymmetrical warfare

In the wake of this week's U.S. elections - featuring a closer-than-expected contest for the presidency, and down-ballot results which look to disappointingly leave substantial power in Republican hands - there's been an outpouring of commentary criticizing the money that was put into campaigns which ultimately lost.

If there's a lesson we can draw from a broader set of political results, though, it's about the need for all-of-the-above politics - rather than an assumption that a single form of winning support can be counted on to make up for a lack of others.

In the U.S., the division between the air war and the ground war was stark. In the presidential race as well as major congressional battles, Democrats were able to pour loads of money into ads. 

But Biden's initial reluctance to pursue door-knocking at all, combined with a lack of effort to reach communities where it appears particularly important to win and turn out support, looks to have been a major factor behind some of the most disappointing results. And the assumption that text alerts and phoning would make up for a lack of in-person contact looks to have been thoroughly flawed.

That's particularly so since the Democrats' greatest successes look to have come in areas where ad blitzes from above (boosting voters' motivation) were paired with grassroots canvassing (which converted that motivation into turnout).

It appears that a similar dynamic also may have applied in Saskatchewan's provincial election - though the problem for the NDP arose on the former front.

Here, the prospect of an opportunistic snap spring election call in the midst of a pandemic always seemed particularly egregious given the Saskatchewan Party's reserves of corporate donations. The prospect of the government locking everybody indoors, then using its cash reserves to drown out all competing voices through electronic media, looked like about the most unfair and self-serving starting point one could imagine.

The election eventually took place on schedule, and COVID receded somewhat over the summer. As a result, the opposition parties were eventually able to get out door-knocking - albeit with some restrictions which did make communication more difficult. And on election day, the NDP was in its familiar situation of being able to reach target voters with a thorough ground game in priority ridings. 

But by that point, the party was fishing in a depleted and uninterested pool. Large numbers of mail-in ballots and advance voters proved to be more the result of a shift in turnout rather than an increase. For citizens who had seen far more government messaging than contrasting perspectives in the course of the campaign (particularly with what should have been major news going unreported through mainstream outlets in that time), it figures to have been relatively easy to decide that the pandemic offered a valid excuse to stay home. And the result was that the NDP's support on election day fell well short of what the polls suggested.

In sum, neither an air-war approach without a well-thought-out plan to engage with voters in their communities, nor a strong ground game in the face of a massive advertising disadvantage, is likely to represent a recipe for victory. But by the same token, the answer isn't to criticize the people who have built up one or the other, but to ensure the causes we support have enough of both to succeed.

[Edit: fixed & added wording.]

On flight risks

It's long appeared likely that while Scott Moe has tried to claim sympathy based on the lasting effects of having caused a deadly vehicle crash, the main lasting impact was an all-too-justified belief that he'll be protected from consequences no matter how much damage he does. And that theory only seems to have been confirmed.

But if there's any upside to be found, it's that unlike his predecessor, we shouldn't have to worry about Moe hanging around once he's crashed the province. Instead, the history that's coming to light suggests that once he realizes he's caused damage that he can't explain away, Moe will flee the scene and claim to have wiped his memory at the first opportunity.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Resource Movement offers a handy primer on wealth taxes (and the value of applying them).

- Jean-Benoit Legault reports on new research showing that pregnant Inuit women are exposed to significantly more contaminants than their counterparts elsewhere.

- David Climenhaga discusses how generations of conservatives have warped any discussion of energy issues in Western Canada by vilifying the National Energy Program and anybody even tangentially associated with it - even when that means blatantly lying to the public. But Simon Enoch notes that with the rest of the world moving past any acceptance of petropropaganda and austerity politics, this year's Saskatchewan election may have been the last one under the province's current conventional wisdom. 

- Meanwhile, David Sirota and Andrew Perez report on the oil industry's embarrassment at its own actions, as one company going bankrupt is setting a precedent by attempting to conceal its political donations from the bankruptcy process.

- Finally, Angus Reid finds overwhelming support among the Canadian public for a universal pharmacare program. And Saad Ahmed makes the case to build our drug manufacturing capacity in order to assure that supply limitations don't prevent people from getting the medicine they need.

On bigger pictures

There are still plenty of important results to be finalized in Saskatchewan's election campaign, and I'll have more to say about specific aspects of the campaign generally. But for starters following a disappointing election night, I'll offer a comparison to another election with a similar feel to it.

When a federal election was called in 2008, it seemed to present a golden opportunity for the NDP. The Cons had managed to trash Stephane Dion beyond repair, but couldn't make Stephen Harper seem remotely appealing (especially as he tried to minimize the pain of an ongoing recession). And both major national parties appeared to have given up on major gains in Quebec where opportunities seems to be opening up for the first time.

From there, the NDP's campaign had some successes in theory, including a clever play on the Cons' "strength" rhetoric, a memorable ad campaign, smart plans to highlight an attempted push into contention for government , and a stark contrast between in economic philosophy between itself and the government. And there was at least some polling which raised the prospect of massive breakthroughs.

But the hope for historic improvements gave way to a mixed bag of results The NDP managed slight increases in seats and vote share, while winning important beachheads. But the failings weren't limited to falling short of expectations: in the context of a disengaged electorate, it actually saw a drop in total votes at a time when that had direct financial implications for a party.

And so there was plenty of commentary to the effect that the NDP would never achieve that campaign's ambitions - or that at the very least, it should roll the dice on a new leader to try to shake things up. 

Needless to say, the party was best served rejecting the advice of the doomsayers.

The Saskatchewan campaign just concluded likewise saw a painful disconnect between a well-thought-out campaign which seemed to have been generating momentum, and the final results (recognizing those aren't yet in). 

And it's especially frustrating that election-day turnout was both low, and unusually tilted toward an incumbent party. But at the same time, it makes some sense that the public health risks associated with the election, combined with the Sask Party's flood of demotivational advertising, may have kept voters from making the effort to cast a ballot for change.

To be sure, there will be a need to reassess what worked and what didn't. But let the 2008 federal result offer a reminder that one-time disappointment can lay the groundwork for progress to come.

Sunday Afternoon #skvotes Links

The latest from Saskatchewan's provincial election campaign as election day approaches tomorrow.

- A new poll shows the race tightening significantly, including with the NDP holding a significant lead in Regina. But in case anybody thought the coverage of polling would be equal depending on what's being found, this one is being reported accompanied by the Sask Party's spin - while the first public poll which was relatively close to its findings has apparently been disappeared entirely. 

- Meanwhile, Morgan Modjeski reports on the voters who are losing the ability to participate due to a lack of preparation for the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. 

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board offers its take on the election, with a notable perspective as to the relatively small differences in promises between the two main parties (though the assumptions and values behind the platforms still represent major differences).

- Jen Quesnel, Winter Fedyk and Tammy Robert offer their latest take on the campaign. And Robert also discusses the failings of both Scott Moe and the media to deal with the aftermath of his fatal vehicle collision, particularly as the family affected searches for answers.

- Finally, Doug Cuthand rightly argues that we need our political leaders to deal with the continued blight of racism in Saskatchewan.

Update: Another poll shows the race tightening. PressProgress points out the corporate elites and lobbyists funding the Sask Party. And Jason Hammond offers ten of the many reasons why the Sask Party shouldn't be kept in power.

Sunday #skvotes Links

News and notes on election eve in Saskatchewan.

- Julia Peterson reports on a record number of new COVID-19 cases in the province yesterday, while CKOM reports that Saskatoon's Lighthouse shelter has joined the lengthening list of outbreak sites. But Stephanie Taylor reports that Scott Moe's closing message includes the horrifically irresponsible declaration that he's not going to consider another lockdown no matter how devastating the outbreak gets.

- Finally, while plenty of people have already voted (and good news that some polls which had been slated for closure will be operating after all), there's once again reason for concern that people who act more responsibly than Moe in the face of the pandemic will lose their votes as a result. 

- Arthur White-Crummey reported on the NDP's Regina rally as a high-turnout, high-energy push for a change for the better.

- Murray Mandryk's closing analysis somehow manages to bothsides any attempt by the victims of Scott Moe's fatal car crash to ask for answers as being just the same thing as violence and vandalism directed at an NDP candidate. 

- Finally, CUPE examines how the Saskatchewan Party's austerity and privatization end up being counterproductive even as a matter of counting pennies - to say nothing of their devastating impact on people's lives.

Saturday #skvotes Links

 A roundup of news from Saskatchewan's provincial election as the last day of advance polling begins.

- Crystal Palmer writes about her observations and experiences losing someone close to her to an utterly broken addictions and mental health system. And Gillian Massie highlights the how the Saskatchewan Party's excuse for a suicide reduction plan - consistent with its pattern for most social policies - is designed to do the bare minimum for the sake of appearances rather than meaningfully improving outcomes. 

- Murray Mandryk sets out a few of the questions which haven't been fully answered over the course of the campaign - though it's telling that the list largely involves areas where the NDP has offered well-thought-out solutions while the Sask Party has avoided providing straight answers. 

- Safe Schools Saskatchewan publishes a letter from a new teacher frustrated with the appalling state of the province's education system. 

- PressProgress points out which Sask Party candidates bring anti-choice baggage to the election - with Scott Moe ranking as just the most prominent of an extensive list.

- Glenn Hicks reports on Glen Poelzer's prediction that the NDP will emerge with a substantial increase in seats - though how far that goes of course depends on people's voting choices over the next few days. 

- Finally, the Leader-Post and Star-Phoenix editorial boards advocate for voters to grab a mask and take health precautions, then go to the polls.

Death by a thousand cuts

With the choice for many voters in Saskatchewan's election coming down to the question of whether the Saskatchewan Party's claim not to have cuts or fee hikes in the works can be believed, it's worth noting that it hasn't managed to live up to that standard even within the campaign itself.

Within an election period in which access to home care is a major issue, we've learned that the cost of existing care is being hiked by hundreds of dollars for seniors without money to spare. (And the closest there is to an excuse is the concept that the province is once again trying to ensure that it, rather than citizens, takes the benefit of any increase in available federal support.)

While Scott Moe has made spurious claims about future taxes, one of his cabinet ministers has opened the door to road tolling - and even Moe's initial response was to signal a willingness to discuss the idea if somebody else were to bring it up. (That's hardly reassuring given the track record of privatized tolling schemes as a corporate cash cow.)

And most damningly, in the middle of a pandemic, the provincial government seems to have decided to scrap its previous measures to ensure that homeless people can be isolated while being screened for COVID-19 - needlessly risking the health of everybody involved in providing shelter to the people who need it most. 

Needless to say, if this is what Moe's government does when it's trying to look presentable to voters, we can expect a new term in office to make the 2017 bloodbath budget look like a mere paper cut. And voters shouldn't fall for the trap of giving the benefit of the doubt to a government which continues to demonstrate its lack of interest in good governance.

[Edit: fixed typos.]

Friday #skvotes Links

While advance voting continues to shatter Saskatchewan's previous records, there's plenty of new information for people still making their decision.

- Julia Peterson reports on Elections Saskatchewan's warning that the tens of thousands of mail-in ballots won't be counted until after election day - meaning that many results could remain up in the air for at least a few days after Monday. 

- Arthur White-Crummey offers a comparison of the track records of the most recent NDP and Saskatchewan Party governments - showing the latter relying on resource price- and debt-fuelled growth for its few advantages. And Murray Mandryk rightly recommends looking at the facts rather than partisan advertising to evaluate the competing claims.

- CTV has posted interviews with each of the party leaders, including Ryan Meili, Naomi Hunter, Scott Moe, Robert Rudachyk, Wade Sira and Ken Grey.

- CBC News examines how our climate breakdown has received far too little attention within the election campaign (particularly going beyond power generation), even as it's a regular topic of political discussion and debate.

- Zak Vescera reports that the Sask Party's failures to respond to the province's HIV crisis have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while also pointing out how poverty feeds into its spread. And Poverty Free Saskatchewan offers its recommendations to finally eliminate poverty in the province - with a needed first step being to reverse the cutbacks and clawbacks regularly imposed by the Sask Party.

- Finally, Juliet Bushi discusses the need for the next provincial government to recognize and address systemic racism and inequality.

On personal choices

It remains clear that the victim of Scott Moe's careless driving isn't about to give up on finding out what happened - even if the local media continues to operate under Moe's orders not to so much as ask questions.

But if Moe is avoiding questions about the crash itself, here's a simple one he should have no problem addressing when it comes to Steven Balog's search for answers. 

The information Moe has requested from the RCMP will almost certainly include what would be considered personal information about Moe. And Moe's consent - or lack thereof - figures to have a substantial impact both on how long the request takes to process, and how much will actually be released. 

So if Moe refuses to speak to Balog until it's politically convenient, is he at least prepared to consent to the release of records about the crash? And if he demurs in helping at least to that minimal extent, can anybody see his apology to the cameras as anything but a cynical ruse?

Thursday #skvotes Links

Over 40,000 voters went to the polls in the first day of advance voting. But particularly for the many people who haven't yet cast a ballot, here's the latest from Saskatchewan's election campaign.

- Laura Sciarpelletti reports on Elections Saskatchewan's warning that it's facing a shortage of poll workers - making it all the more important that people who have the ability to do so get to the polls early.

- Nicholas Frew reports on the grades provided to Saskatchewan's parties by OUTSaskatoon and Saskatoon Pride - with the NDP ranking at the top, and the Greens just behind. And the Provincial Association of Transition Housing and Services grades the NDP with an A for its plan to deal with interpersonal violence - while lamenting that no other party has bothered to respond. 

- Meanwhile, Danielle Chartier discusses the desperate need to strengthen Saskatchewan's mental health care system.

- Murray Mandryk offers somewhat of a reminder of the 2017 Sask Party budget which began their current term in office. But it's worth noting that the well-justified public backlash was based not on Mandryk's deficit-scolding, but based on the callous slashing of services - and as others have pointed out, SaskForward provided an indication of the choices involved:

- Finally, Adrienne Ivey discusses a few of the issues seen as most important to rural Saskatchewan, while pointing out how their impact is felt throughout the province.

On failing health

The news that Jason Kenney's UCP has approved a resolution demanding privatized health care - coupled with Kenney's refusal to reject the concept - has been rightly recognized as a dangerous development in Alberta. 

But it hasn't received much attention yet in Saskatchewan's provincial election campaign. And there's significant reason for concern that the same attack on universal health care may be coming our way as well if the Saskatchewan Party gets the chance.

That arises partly out of its determination to follow the UCP wherever it goes, no matter how destructive and irrational for Saskatchewan.

But it's also telling that Kenney's fig leaf in response to the privatization resolution wouldn't apply to Moe and the Sask Party. 

Kenney's response to the resolution has been to say that he's operating under an electoral mandate which "guaranteed universally accessible and publicly funded health care". 

Let's leave aside for the moment how little respect Kenney and his ilk normally have for the constraints of such a mandate, including in his government's well-documented attacks on health care workers. Even if one assumes that voters can feel comfortable about their health care system when a government has promised to maintain its universality, the Saskatchewan Party's platform (PDF) offers no reassurance whatsoever. 

While it cites past spending and offers a couple of extremely narrow funding promises (p. 20-21), Moe's platform offers not a word about keeping health care public or universal. Nor does it include any additional resources to help an already-strained public system.

In fact, to the extent it references the choice between public and private operations, it defends the privatized MRI system which has failed to maintain any reduction in wait times while drawing resources away from the public system.

And of course, we know from bitter experience how eager the Sask Party has been to use the aftermath of an election to impose jarring and damaging changes in the health care sector - following in Alberta's footsteps despite its own disastrous experience - based on the theory that it never promised not to do so.

The result is that while we haven't seen much direct debate about the future structure of Saskatchewan's health care system, Moe's platform seems calculated to allow for full-scale privatization. And we should be wary of the risk that Saskatchewan's patients will again serve as guinea pigs for the plans of Alberta conservatives.

Update: And while we're taking note of the UCP's erosion of universal health care, they're also also downloading treatment costs onto patients for the sake of minimal savings. And once again, nothing in the Sask Party platform commits to avoiding that type of step.

Wednesday #skvotes Links

Nearly 63,000 voters have applied for mail-in balloting packages, and those who haven't are being encouraged to go to advance polls over the course of this week. So with many people casting their ballots, let's take a look at the latest from Saskatchewan's provincial election campaign.

- Ashleigh Mattern reports on the message from experts that people need to take responsibility for limiting the spread of COVID-19. But with Scott Moe once again showing his disregard for the most basic of public health precautions while insisting that schools don't need to bother following standard rules, it shouldn't be surprising that barely half of the province intends to get vaccinated once the option is available - though that is a large enough group to elect a more responsible government in the meantime.

- John Quiggin discusses how renewable energy is already reaching the point of being too cheap to meter (which was once wrongly assumed to be possible with nuclear power). And David Roberts points out how geothermal energy - one of the NDP's priorities for technological development - may soon put 100% renewable energy within reach while also using putting skills acquired in the fossil fuel sector to good use.  

- Meanwhile, PressProgress reveals that while the Saskatchewan Party was pretending to be neutral and removed from the Co-op refinery lockout, it in fact offered to use provincial resources to ensure more draconian action against picketing workers. 

- [Updated to add:] CUPE examines the impact of the Sask Party's privatization of services, and finds that it results in our paying more to get less.

- Jaris Swidrovich writes about the need for full and inclusive sex education to reduce mental health and suicide risks (particularly among Indigenous youth).

- Finally, Josh Sigurdson takes note of the need for additional action to eliminate poverty in Saskatchewan. And Heidi Atter reports on the Saskatchewan Disability Income Support Coalition's recognition that people with disabilities are being left with grossly insufficient supports from the province.

On negative contributions

I've previously noted how the Saskatchewan Party's platform diverts money to the people who need it least. But it's worth taking a closer look to see exactly how little Scott Moe is willing to put into even his supposed priorities when one examines how much of the Sask Party's plan consists of federal funds.

In 2017, the federal and provincial governments reached an agreement on funding for home/community care and mental health and addictions services, including the following chart of estimated federal funding in those areas:

So how does that compare to the Sask Party's budget and platform? 

On paper, its largest planned investment in any social program is $18.4 million annually starting in 2021 for home care and long term care aides. But keen-eyed observers will note that their campaign promise is less than what the federal government has already promised to contribute to the cause.

And mental health and addictions offer an even more stark picture. 

The costed items in the Saskatchewan Party's platform include a grand total of zero in new investment. And its attempt to take credit for past actions again includes less in funding for services than the amount provided by the federal government: barely $11 million in new funding for 2020-2021, and the continuation of under $4 million aimed at mental health supports in Northern Saskatchewan in particular.

The description of past actions tries to gloss over those failures by claiming capital and other expenses as mental health funding - including the new North Battleford hospital, which is hardly anything to be bragging about.

In sum, when it comes to actually providing services, Scott Moe is trying to claim credit for passing along less than the province is receiving from the federal government. And that dishonesty about who's paying for systems which are already failing in advance of an election offers nothing but reason for concern about what will happen if Moe stays in power.

On balancing acts

I've previously made note of the problems with media coverage of Saskatchewan's provincial election, including its consistently echoing and amplifying false Saskatchewan Party talking points about budgeting. But let's take a closer look at what the parties have promised on their face - and how irresponsible the Saskatchewan Party's position actually is. 

To start with, anybody who bothers to read the NDP's platform (PDF) rather than assuming that Saskatchewan Party propaganda must be taken at face value will find this (emphasis added):

We’re concerned about the provincial deficit, but we’re we’re also worried about the deficits in our schools, our hospitals and the bank accounts of ordinary Saskatchewan families. Going forward, we will work with an expert panel to plan our path back to balanced budgets, including setting targets for net debt-to-GDP ratio and a focus on the investments that will deliver the most growth and the greatest long-term savings.

So even for the most blinkered deficit scold, it's false to say the NDP hasn't accounted for a path back toward balanced budgets. What it has done is to say that it will chart that path based on a responsible analysis, informed by experts, as to when and how to get there.

Needless to say, this is in stark contrast to the Saskatchewan Party's choice to set a date without a plan, paired with conflicting promises:

The Saskatchewan Party has a plan to balance the budget by 2024, and that plan is on track. Balance will be achieved through a strong economic recovery and a growing economy, without tax increases or reductions in programs and services.

In other words, the Saskatchewan Party's supposed fiscal discipline literally consists of nothing but a magic asterisk. 

If the bare hope of a spontaneous recovery (unsupported by any intelligent governance) doesn't pan out such that it's impossible to balance the budget on an arbitrary timeline without cutting services or raising taxes, Moe refuses to say which of his promises he'll break. 

And unlike the NDP, the Saskatchewan Party doesn't have any interest in putting in the work to seek out expert advice as to how provincial budgets are best managed. Which raises every reason for concern that they'll once again follow their historical pattern of cutting twice, then measuring once. 

The question of how to prioritize and reach a balanced budget thus represents just one more area where Moe is trying to use bluster to shut down any possibility of reasonable policymaking. And voters who don't see through the ruse are all too likely to end up on the wrong end of grinding austerity when the confidence game falls apart.

On opportunism

When Scott Moe first heard about the coronavirus, he smelled opportunity. And that can take many forms.

No, Moe didn't call the spring election that he initially planned. But he did take the opportunity to prevent Elections Saskatchewan from pursuing a modernized voting process or a full mail-in balloting system for the election date set for this fall.

And here's part of the fallout from that opportunism:

In-person advance and election day polls cannot be held safely within Peter Ballantyne First Nation communities due to a COVID-19 outbreak, says Elections Saskatchewan.

...

Extraordinary voting will be offered to residents of these communities, but residents must apply within the next two days.

“This will be your only opportunity to get a ballot,” Elections Saskatchewan said in a statement.

...

Residents — members and non-members — of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation communities must call Elections Saskatchewan at 1 (866) 351-0040 before Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. to apply for extraordinary voting.

And who's affected in particular? 

Well, the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has about 5,700 members, including ones in the communities of Southend, Deschambault Lake, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay, Amisk Lake, Sturgeon Landing and Kinoosao who will be prevented from voting normally. And the 2016 results (PDF) show those communities supporting NDP incumbent Doyle Vermette (see p. 86-89) - with the combination of advance polls and regular polls providing a margin of over 500 votes in a constituency won by about 1,700 total.

In other words, the direct result of Moe's cynical and callous view of COVID-19 is the risk of disenfranchisement of thousands of voters - and potentially an electoral advantage for Moe's party. 

Hopefully it will be possible to get voters registered in time to avoid any disruption. But having seen what flows from Moe's view of the opportunity raised by a pandemic, Saskatchewan's voters should respond by taking their own opportunity to elect a better government.