Saskatchewan’s rural-urban gap is widening. A poll released last week by the province’s Saskatchewan Party showed that, if an election were held now, the governing NDP would have the support of 40 percent of the voters while the Saskatchewan Party would have 34 percent support.
What I find disturbing is the strong regional divisions which the poll shows. The Saskatchewan Party is the party of rural voters, where it enjoys 51 percent support, while the NDP has the support of 52 percent of urban voters.
The NDP has 30 percent support in the rural areas, according to the poll, and the Liberals 16 percent. In the urban areas, it is the Liberals who are second, at 23 percent, with the Saskatchewan Party running a poor third at 13 percent.
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Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson said in a news release that the voters are responding well to his party’s message of lower taxes, safer highways and quality health care.
Well, the rural voters are.
Party member Bill Boyd admitted the Saskatchewan Party has a lot of work to do in the cities, especially Regina and Saskatoon, but said that he believes they will “come along as the message of lower taxes starts to take hold.”
Part of the problem, of course, is that the Saskatchewan Party’s policies appear to favor rural Saskatchewan. While health care is of concern across the province, much of the real anger over health reform, and most of the losses, still rest in rural Saskatchewan.
Everyone drives Saskatchewan’s highways, but again, the state of the province’s roads and highways is seen as more of a rural than an urban issue.
The Saskatchewan Party, as befits its opposition status, has been vocal about the government’s lack of farm aid in what is seen as a crisis situation.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that this will appeal to rural voters, while urban voters, without the proper background and understanding of the crisis, will naturally side with a government being cautious about
“handouts.”
As it stands now, unless there is a massive shift in voter intentions, the next provincial election will see a split Legislature, with a largely urban party on one side and a largely rural party on the other.
A serious split like that would not be in anyone’s best interest.
A party of the middle ground is desperately needed.
