Wall scores big with electorate...

This is from the Star Phoenix(Saskatoon) According to the article the wolf in sheep's clothing has failed to come out as yet. However, the article itself shows the wolf has already lied and is in fact attacking labor with legislation the party denied it would present. The Party has also purged the ideologically impure from boards.
Wall scores big with electorate...for now..

Tuesday » March 18 » 2008

Wall scores big with electorate

Randy Burton
The StarPhoenix


Tuesday, March 18, 2008


Former premier Lorne Calvert recently gave the Saskatchewan Party a failing grade for its first three months in office.

It said one thing before the election and did another afterwards, which warrants a failing grade of F, Calvert said. In particular, he pointed to the Sask. Party's performance on the labour file.

Indeed, there can be no arguing with the fact that Wall said before the election essential services legislation for organized labour would not be necessary and then brought in a bill anyway. Nor is there much disagreement the government is going about labour reform in a ham-handed fashion. It hasn't been pretty to watch.

Yet Wall's problems with unionized workers appear not to have hurt him in the public eye. To the contrary, on the eve of the government's first budget there is a view that the Saskatchewan Party is on the right track.

An internal poll conducted for the government recently shows the government is still enjoying a honeymoon with voters.

Provincewide, the Saskatchewan Party now has the support of 54 per cent of the public, which is three percentage points more than it won in the Nov. 7 election. Meanwhile, the NDP's support has fallen off by four points to 33 per cent.

Perhaps more significantly for the governing party is voter preferences in the two major cities. In Saskatoon, the Sask Party now has the support of 49 per cent of decided voters, up six points from the election. The NDP in Saskatoon is down three points to 39 per cent.

In Regina, the Sask. Party has made even larger gains. The Angus Reid poll shows 46 per cent of Regina voters now favour the Sask. Party, a nine-point improvement over the election results. Meanwhile, the NDP's Regina support has dropped by seven points to 40 per cent.

The leaderless Liberals are down everywhere, polling at only eight per cent provincewide.

The poll, (a portion of which was obtained by The StarPhoenix) was conducted Feb. 25-28 with a sample of 1,194 people, and carries a statistical margin of error of 2.8 per cent.

So what does this say about the Saskatchewan Party, other than they haven't had the opportunity to alienate too many people yet?

One conclusion that can be drawn is this: So far, people like what they see of Premier Brad Wall. He is more popular than his party and outpolls his rival on competence ratings by a factor of two or three to one.

What Wall appears to have done is eliminate the fear factor the NDP has long tried to construct around the Saskatchewan Party. Those who keep track of such things will recall the NDP's last gasp of the campaign when it dropped flyers throughout the province featuring the disembodied heads of Grant Devine and Brad Wall bobbling over a field.

The caption read "Cuts, privatization, corruption. Do we really want to risk it all again?"

Apparently we do.

So far, at least, Wall has not announced the privatization of health care, has not sold off any Crown corporations and has not slashed the minimum wage. In short, the "wolf in sheep's clothing" has yet to come out of the weeds.

The consensus would now seem to be Saskatchewan is moving towards a level of prosperity it has never truly experienced before.

In many ways, this is not so much different from where we were six months ago except for one crucial difference. Right or wrong, there was a perception then the province was doing well in spite of the NDP. Its preoccupation with political survival seemed to trump whatever economic good news came along. By contrast, the Sask. Party appears to be benefiting politically from an improved economy.

While nothing of substance has changed since the election, the mood of the province has shifted perceptibly. There is an air of new possibility about Saskatchewan that the new government is benefiting from. This has manifested itself in ways both big and small.

For example, the February auction for gas and oil exploration rights smashed all previous records, bringing in $197 million. This has more to do with $100 oil than it does with Brad Wall, but he is basking in the reflected glow of the resource boom.

On the health-care front, the government has been able to score a big win with the recruitment of 300 nurses from the Philippines.

On a more personal level, you will soon to be able to brew your own wine and beer in supply stores.

This is something that has been available to residents of B.C. and other jurisdictions for years but for some unknown reason, the NDP would not allow it here.

Like the nursing recruitment strategy, the question you have to ask yourself is why nobody in government thought of it before now.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008








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