Unmaking Saskatchewan

We're back with a new cohost. In this episode Alex and John break down the results of the federal election in Saskatchewan. We answer the question of whether there was a Liberal surge (spoiler: no), examine the NDP collapse across the province, and consider the party's past attempts at rebuilding and whether it could be viable in the future (also no).  (Note: we had some audio issues! We appreciate your patience!)

Scott Moe became leader of the Saskatchewan Party (and premier of the province) in 2018, after a hotly contested (and often unpleasant) leadership race. Considered "centre right" and someone who was likely to keep close to the party's status quo, Moe has instead marched the party (and the province) steadily rightward.  Read more: https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/ https://breachmedia.ca/in-saskatchewan-poilievre-allies-with-tycoons-who-treat-province-like-fiefdom/

In 1999 Brad wall was elected for the first time as a Sask Party MLA. Within 8 years, Wall would be premier. A free market capitalist and charismatic salesman, over the next decade Wall would weave a new narrative for saskatchewan to understand itself, changing the province's political culture forever.

In the 1990s Saskatchewan was in almost as dire a position as it had been during the Great Depression. The province was on the verge of bankruptcy, people were leaving in droves, the PC party was collapsing under the weight of the fraud scandal, the Liberals were in freefall, and the NDP, led by Roy Romanow, was slashing services to the bone. The collapse of the PCs and Liberals, coupled with the NDP’s hard right turn away from everything it had ever claimed to stand for created the conditions for the rise of the party we live under today. First in a three-part series on the Saskatchewan Party.

In 1982 Saskatchewan elected the second Conservative government in the province's history. By the time the dust settled nine years later the province is $12 billion in debt, 12 members of the Devine government are convicted of fraud, and the Progressive Conservatives cease to exist as a political force in Saskatchewan ever again. Alex talks with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Saskatchewan director Simon Enoch about the Devine era and its legacy, which haunts the province to this day. Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskatchewan.