opinion
Unfortunately for Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative leader Bill Boyd, the conservatives that are leading the polls in Saskatchewan don’t have a capital “C.” The fiscal conservatives that appear headed for victory in the June 21 Saskatchewan election are the RND party (Romanow New Democrats), whose main current claim to fame is having balanced the budget after years of freewheeling overspending by the big-C types.
Admittedly, the RND are slowing their cost-cutting, promising spending cuts of a paltry $10 million per year. But, having achieved a balanced budget through such painful measures as rural hospital closures, they might be entitled to coast for a while.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
(Saskatchewan’s RND should not be confused with the ideologically-opposite Rae New Democrats in Ontario, whose bizarre politics and irresponsible deficits have done almost as much as federal NDP politicians to discredit the party across Canada. Ontario news media have long been predicting defeat of Bob Rae’s government in the June 8 Ontario elections.)
If the two provincial elections do in fact turn out as predicted, it will be good news for Alberta premier Ralph Klein and other government leaders who are trying to balance budgets. Such results would be a clear sign that voters today want financially responsible government and no longer want to be bribed with their own money.
That might also put more pressure on prime minister Jean ChrŽtien to speed up his slow-motion, gradualist approach to reducing the giant annual federal deficit.
One area the Saskatchewan election won’t do much for, however, is agriculture. Two headlines in our last issue summed up the situation well: “Saskatchewan election brings out party similarities” and “Agriculture not an issue in provincial campaign.”
That may seem surprising for a province whose economy is so dependent on agriculture, but it reflects reality. Agriculture is largely under federal jurisdiction, depending on the national government for such things as support against unfair U.S. export subsidies.
There is a significant provincial role in activities like encouraging agricultural diversification, but the various parties all support that role. Perhaps most importantly, the farmers and businesses that are leading the way into everything from new crops to exotic livestock to new processed products are generally doing it through their own hard efforts, without seeking major government grants.
It’s actually refreshing, for a change, to have an election where agriculture is not a burning issue, where no politician is out to make radical changes in farm programs.
