Murray Mandryk: 2021 has changed little

By Murray Mandryk

It is difficult to argue with Premier Scott Moe on one point:

This federal election did prove to be rather pointless … if you simply consider elections as a measure of the public desire for change.

Or at least, this appears what the final results (such as they, with slow counting due to COVID-19 and mail-in ballots) seem to suggest:

The Liberals finished the night with 158 seats or 32.2 per cent of the popular vote (the lowest ever by a governing party) — almost identical to their 2019 total of 157 seats and 33.1 per cent.

Similarly, the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) totals of 119 seats and 34 per cent were remarkably similar to its 2019 numbers of 121 seats and 34.3 per cent, popular vote.

And so it goes down the line: the Bloc Quebecois, 34 seats and 7.8 per cent compared with 32 seats 7.8 per cent in 2019; .the NDP, 25 seats and 17.7 per cent this year compared with 24 seats and 16 per cent in 2019; the Green Party, two seats 2.3 per cent compared with three seats and 6.6 popular vote in 2019 and; even the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) was again shutout of seats, although it did increase its popular to 5.1 per cent, nationally, from 1.6 per cent in 2019.

For the less-than-bargain basement cost of $610 million for Elections Canada to run the 2021 federal campaign —$108 million more than in 2019 because of COVID-19 protocols — we got pretty much what we had.

Certainly, it appears we got exactly what we had here in Saskatchewan with all 14 seats remaining in the hands of the Conservatives.

While pre-election hype suggested there would be close races in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River with former long-serving NDP MLA Buckley Belanger carrying the banner for the Liberals and in Regina Lewvan and Saskatoon West with the NDP making a push, none of that came to fruition. (Saskatoon West turned was closer, but it appears as of today that even the mail-in ballots won’t make that much of difference.)

Nor did the much-vaunted PPC surge make all that much difference. The roughly five-per-cent loss of vote for the Conservatives in Saskatchewan was roughly equal to the PPCs’ gains here. But it wasn’t enough to make a difference in what Moe called the most “pointless election in Canadian history.”

Sadly, one thing that certainly didn’t chance much is the politicking.

There surely seems to be evidence that voters very much thought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have been dealing with other matters like the pandemic instead of campaigning for a majority. (Remember: This election was Trudeau’s choice — one caused by a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons.)

But there is also something truly odd about Moe’s contention now that Trudeau should have instead spent the campaign “properly funding Canada’s chronically underfunded health system, working with provinces to increase vaccination rates in some of our hardest-to-reach communities.”

During the campaign, Moe wouldn’t even respond to Trudeau’s concerns about COVID-19 cases sky-rocketing in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

So if Moe had serious concerns about Ottawa not doing its part to help Saskatchewan with its hardest-to-reach Saskatchewan communities, why didn’t he say so during the election?

Elections are the precise time to talk about such matters. Moe was very vocal about the carbon tax and other matters in 2019 campaign. Why would he be silent in 2021 campaign during a pandemic?

Exactly what help Ottawa did he want from Ottawa? Isn’t vaccine distribution a provincial responsibility?

Didn’t Moe’s Health Minister Paul Merriman say during the campaign that the Saskatchewan Party government wouldn’t be implementing added measures to encourage people unwilling to be vaccinated to get the shot?

It seems a lot of politicians have missed the election-night message from Canadian voters that they are tired of politicking.