Pity poor Greg Gallagher. Last week, the president of the Saskatchewan Liberal Association, not for the first time, had to issue a statement explaining where the provincial party stands on a question of public policy, in this case forced amalgamation.
Normally, expressions of public policy would be the job of the leader. In this case, however, in an issue which has gripped the public imagination like no other since the first round of health-care reform half a dozen years ago, the Liberal leader was all over the map.
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Jim Melenchuk said on the one hand that he is opposed to forced amalgamation but on the other that, if the government were to introduce a forced amalgamation bill, he would vote for it.
Gallagher, in his news release, says “Liberals across Saskatchewan have been calling and urging their MLAs to use their influence in government to block any attempt at forced amalgamation and instead come up with a common sense alternative that is amicable to everyone.”
There is more than a small sense of desperation in Gallagher’s words.
This forced amalgamation debate and the hysteria it has engendered could be stopped in its tracks if one of two things were to happen: Either the government could say that forced amalgamation is not an option or Melenchuk and his Liberal cohorts could leave the coalition, leaving the government in a vulnerable minority situation.
Melenchuk and company are not likely to walk.
They appear to be enjoying too much the fruits of power available on the government side of the house. If they but knew it, they would have more power sitting outside of government.
Just after the two reports recommending forced amalgamation were made public, premier Roy Romanow said he will wait for the report from public hearings on the Garcea report that recommends a province with 125 municipalities.
Municipal affairs minister Clay Serby at the same time was projecting a report before the hearings were even concluded.
One Regina columnist has suggested that Romanow has taken Serby to the woodshed and he is now singing a different tune. There is little public evidence of this, however.
As with the health-care debate of yore, rural communities and rural municipal officials are in the vanguard of the attack.
Complaining about what is on the table, however, is not good enough.
In coming days, municipal government associations will hold emergency meetings. One result of those meetings had better be an alternative plan that will help to put an end to what Gallagher calls “the rumors and fear mongering.”
