During the past couple of provincial elections I’ve witnessed and written about in the west, a lot of politicians have seen their credibility damaged by what they said. With assorted gaffes, photos of the wrong person at the wrong time and Facebook posts, there is a litany of ways a person can sabotage their political ambitions.
I can recall a few moments of foot-in-mouth syndrome that have resulted in some bad optics and in some cases, the destruction of their credibility.
On his way back to Regina from Fort Qu’Appelle, Don McMorris, former deputy premier and cabinet minister, proved that a person’s actions can have the same toxic effect on a person’s political career as saying or writing something awful and ill conceived.
McMorris was charged with impaired driving a week ago, and resigned from the Sask. Party caucus very quickly after. This comes from a man who held one of the most important positions in our government, privy with Wall’s inner circle of politicians, and in a sickeningly ironic twist, was the minister responsible for Saskatchewan General Insurance (SGI), and the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA). Can anyone say bad optics?
People have been remarking in the media already about how a potential conviction could have negative consequences for on his career.
Could have? It already has had those consequences.
If the charges weren’t poisonous enough, McMorris did what he did in Saskatchewan, the province with one of the highest rates of impaired driving in Canada. That’s beyond bad optics. As you can already see, there are layers of irony to this
Lou Van de Vorst, a man who lost several members of his family to an impaired driver, made an interesting point when he spoke to the media about the debacle. He said that someone like McMorris, who is probably intimately familiar with the galling statistics relating to impaired driving in Saskatchewan, has dealt a blow to the credibility of the Sask. Party, with what amounts to staggering demonstrated hypocrisy.
Not only that, McMorris, being close to Wall, likely had a hand in the government’s plans to privatize liquor sales — a move that Mothers Against Drunk Driving has claimed will make liquor more accessible.
There are programs running all over the province, reminding people, time and time again, of how unacceptable it is to court disaster by driving while impaired. McMorris himself helped spearhead a provincial awareness campaign with that intended end, in May. Our own police, in Estevan and the southeast have been laboriously battling impaired driving, with traffic stops and education, and a program of their own they carried out over the winter.
All of this, only to see someone who is the biggest figurehead in the whole thing screw up.
It’s a real slap in the face to everyone, by Mr. McMorris, someone who should be the biggest champion in the ongoing struggle to reduce those statistics, when he goes and perpetuates the problem.
Although Wall is disappointed with McMorris, he’s spoken about bringing McMorris back into the Sask. Party fold down the road, pending McMorris’ ability to “avail himself in terms of counselling and support.”
Unqualified as I am to provide any sort of advice on political strategy and protocol, my suggestion to Premier Wall is as follows: don’t.
As much as I hope McMorris gets the help he needs, his place is not in a position of political prominence anymore. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the people in the constituency he still serves (only now as an independent MLA) are.
Circumstances of what he did taken into account, associating with McMorris is bad news for the whole party. Association with him at this point, would be as healthy as sitting too close to radioactive waste.
Wall and the Sask. Party have been, and continue to be pretty popular among Saskatchewanians. Why jeopardize that? Having to kick out someone as important as McMorris was damaging enough.
With that Husky oil spill up north, the Sask. Party is already dealing with a good chunk of bad press. With that mess going on in the background, as Wall battles to promote pipelines as the safer alternative to transport oil than by rail to the rest of the country, the last thing the Sask. Party needs is the albatross of a disgraced member of its cabinet hanging around its neck.
You’re cut off, Mr. McMorris.
