Calvert calls Saskatchewan election

This election was expected. Polls in the Spring put the Saskatchewan party almost 20 per cent of the NDP in the popular vote. It may be difficult but not impossible for Calvert to overcome that spread. Good economic conditions are no guarantee that the electorate will not seek change. The NDP barely squeaked through the last election. This material is from the Globe and Mail.

With economy up, NDP poll numbers down, Calvert calls election
JOE FRIESEN

October 11, 2007

With commodity prices soaring, rising real estate values and all the buzz of a booming economy, the people of Saskatchewan haven't seen good times like these in 30 years.

But if the polls are anything to go by, they're poised to send Lorne Calvert's NDP government packing and elect the Saskatchewan Party for the first time.

Mr. Calvert announced yesterday that an election will be held on Nov. 7, almost four years to the day after he pulled off an improbable come-from-behind victory that gave the NDP a two-seat majority, 30 to 28, in the provincial legislature.

"Saskatchewan is booming and people are coming home to a prosperity unprecedented in this province's history," Mr. Calvert said yesterday.


"We have taken this prosperity and begun returning it to the people of Saskatchewan," he continued, citing the largest income-tax cut in the province's history and a 2-per-cent cut in the provincial sales tax.

"Is it really time to put all of this at risk for the sake of change?"

The NDP has held office in Saskatchewan since 1991, first under Roy Romanow, and for the past six years under Mr. Calvert.

The sober, thoughtful Premier, a former United Church minister, is opposed by Brad Wall, a charismatic former political staffer and disc jockey who will be running his first campaign as Saskatchewan Party Leader. The Saskatchewan Party, conservative in outlook, was formed by MLAs from the rump of the Progressive Conservative Party along with some Liberals in 1997.

Mr. Wall made it clear yesterday his candidates will be running on a platform of change.

"With all of the opportunity currently before the province of Saskatchewan, does the province of Saskatchewan want four more years of Premier Lorne Calvert and a tired, worn-out NDP government?" Mr. Wall said. "We won't be fooled again."

Polls conducted in the spring showed the Saskatchewan Party with a lead of more than 20 percentage points over the NDP, but since those polls were done, the prices of wheat and other commodities have reached 30-year highs. Uranium, potash, oil and gas are all booming, and the city of Saskatoon was named the country's fastest growing economy, with real estate prices up more than 57 per cent in the past year.

Ken Pontikes, a political studies lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan, said the election will likely be closer than the polls suggest.

"It's not an ideological battle, it's about forming government. The parties tend to be fairly close in terms of the major philosophical issues."

The campaign is expected to be won or lost in the cities, as most of the rural seats are solidly on the side of the Saskatchewan Party.

Former premier Allan Blakeney, who led NDP governments from 1971 to 1982, said the main question is whether the voters want change or a steady hand at the tiller.

"The other issues will be the usual: the state of the health-care system, which is always a lively topic, the development of resources, royalty levels and the royalty take, which has become an issue in Alberta, and the equalization scrap with the federal government," Mr. Blakeney said.

The Saskatchewan Liberal Party, led by David Karwacki, has no seats in the legislature, and will be hard pressed to win any this time.

"I think it's going to be a blowout. I think people think this government is done," Mr. Karwacki said in a radio interview. "Our objective is to be the Official Opposition."