Leadership convention March 9 | 11,000 party members will decide who becomes official opposition leader
The race for the Saskatchewan NDP leadership is down to three candidates after Regina economist Erin Weir withdrew last week.
Weir publicly threw his support to Ryan Meili, a Saskatoon doctor who placed second behind Dwain Lingenfelter in the NDP’s 2009 leadership contest.
Weir said he and Meili have similar views on key issues.
Meili was also running ahead in the race.
“Some of the issues that really established common ground be-tween Ryan and I came to the fore in the last few debates and they were quite important in informing this decision,” Weir told reporters Feb. 20, referring to a series of all-candidates forums held around the province.
Read Also
Verticillium may undermine canola blackleg resistance
University of Manitoba research finds verticillium stripe in canola can break down blackleg resistance, creating challenges for disease management and yield protection on the Prairies.
Some preferential ballots are already in the mail, but Weir said he didn’t expect his decision would affect the overall result because of the one-member, one-vote system.
“It’s only a minority of ballots that have been cast,” he said.
More than 11,000 party members are eligible to vote for Meili, Saskatoon MLA Cam Broten or Regina MLA Trent Wotherspoon.
Party officials said few of the ballots had been returned as of last week. Most were expected to arrive this week, ahead of the March 9 leadership convention in Saskatoon.
The winner will lead the official opposition, which has just nine seats in the legislature — four in Saskatoon, three in Regina and two in the northern constituencies.
All three candidates agree there is significant work to do to rebuild the party in its traditional base of rural Saskatchewan.
Cam Broten grew up in northern Saskatchewan and Saskatoon and comes from strong NDP roots. His grandfather, Hans Broten, was an MLA in the Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd governments and then in opposition.
Educated in international studies and political science, Broten worked as a health policy analyst with the provincial government and then the Saskatchewan Medical Association before he was elected to the legislature to represent Saskatoon Massey Place in 2007 and again in 2011. He is married to Ruth, and they have two daughters, Ingrid and Clara.
Broten said the new leader has two tasks in rural Saskatchewan: rebuild the party and strengthen the region.
“On the party side, we recognize we haven’t always done everything perfectly,” he said. “There’s a need for humility.”
On the agriculture side, he said there is a need to revitalize the family farm.
His agricultural platform includes stronger local food markets, more organic farming, a better crop insurance program, feasible intergenerational farm transfer and more opportunities for farmers and rural communities to produce power. He also calls for better tracking of indicators such as food exports versus imports, farm debt to asset ratios and input costs.
Broton said foreign acquisition of farmland was raised during the all-candidate debates. There is a need to make sure the current farm ownership legislation is enforced and perhaps strengthened, he added.
Ryan Meili , a Saskatoon doctor, grew up on a farm near Courval, south of Moose Jaw, and said he saw first-hand how political decisions can change farm life.
Meili said rural discussion should focus on the province’s options for enhancing the quality of rural life, such as enabling easier succession and assisting with economic development in small communities.
He said a rural outreach program at the party level could help build consensus within regions.
“From there, we could come up with a mechanism to develop a platform so people see their ideas reflected,” he said.
Meili also raised the issue of farmland ownership, saying people regularly mention it to him.
An assessment of who owns the land and the ramifications of that ownership is needed, he said.
He favours rewarding landowners for conservation efforts and carbon sinks, and advocates more public research to develop farming methods and crops that will be needed as the climate changes.
He also promotes more organic and local food production and renewable on-farm energy production.
He said some farmers are already talking about the need for local marketing co-operatives in the absence of the CWB monopoly. Co-operative solutions can improve the livelihoods of farmers and communities, he added.
Last year Meili published a book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy.
He and his wife, Mahli, have a son, Abraham.
Trent Wotherspoon was raised in Regina and has represented Regina Rosemont since 2007.
He said the NDP has lost its strong relationship with rural voters, but the values that drew people to the party haven’t changed and will bring people back.
“If we’re going back to our solid roots of being common sense and compassionate, community minded, a sense of co-operation, these values still exist in rural Saskatchewan and we should be there and ready to work right across this province,” he said.
Wotherspoon, who is a teacher, has committed to establishing a council on agricultural competitiveness that would advise a leader and premier on issues such as input costs, transportation and farm support programs.
He said the province should be better at finding solutions for producers who have to deal with decisions they didn’t make, such as CWB reform.
For example, he suggested the three prairie provincial governments work together to keep the shelter belt centre near Indian Head, Sask., in public hands.
Wotherspoon also flagged farmland ownership as a concern that people have raised, and he said there should be some onus on buyers to provide proof that their capital is not from foreign sources.
He said there is a role for the province in helping remove barriers to local food production, storage and distribution. Like the other two candidates, Wotherspoon believes in more organic production and renewable energy production.
He is married to Stephanie, who is also a teacher.
