Are we really ready for this?
Are we truly prepared for a 78-day federal election campaign?
Apparently so, according to the brain trusts in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In Canadian terms, this will be a very long campaign and in Saskatchewan terms, well, it will be an extremely long campaign. We say that since there doesn’t appear to be many real burning issues to address within this region that will cough up big changes in traditional support.
The majority of Saskatchewan’s 14 assigned MP seats currently belong to the governing Conservative party. Just as this province has done in the more recent past, there could be slight deviations in the count. We have seen it when a few more Liberals, other than their party standard-bearer Ralph Goodale, and, on occasion, a few New Democrats surfaced to spoil the right-wing power sweep.
There could be renewed interest in a campaign right here in Souris-Moose Mountain with a new name representing the Conservatives with Dr. Robert Kitchen accepting the torch from incumbent Ed Komarnicki who has built a solid recognition and voter base in the southeast sector of the province. Komarnicki husbanded and grew that support carefully throughout his tenure.
Kitchen, therefore, may have decided advantages, but don’t expect the newly minted candidate to take any of this historical support for granted. The last federal election and the more recent Alberta provincial election results serve as a reminder as to what happens when positive outcomes are assumed and presumed rather than earned.
The Conservative candidate will be waging, what we expect to be a lively campaign, against the NDP’s selected representative Vicky O’Dell, who also has a few advantages in the form of name recognition in many areas of this wide-ranging constituency and a background in public service.
If the NDP strategists determine that Souris-Moose Mountain is worth a full-out effort, then some financial and physical support will follow.
If not, then the regional electorate can expect a Conservative steam-roller result, once again, since it has become obvious the Liberal Party will, again, be providing a token candidate to contest the southeast region. Souris-Moose Mountain may, again, see a parachute Liberal candidate, who will fill out the nomination form, making it an official representation and may perhaps make a token appearance or two to indicate he/she actually does exist, and then, disappear into the woodwork.
This may be a sad, but true commentary on the state of that political entity in a constituency where Liberals once held sway and provoked action.
There is also an expectation of a Green Party candidate, who, like the Liberal representative, will be filling out a slate but will be handicapped by a lack of funding and the recognition factors among the general population.
As we see it now, on the immediate front, it will probably be a two-person contest, but only if the challenger’s team decides to make it a fight.
If not, then be prepared to be bored if you are a political junkie who thrives on campaign activities and rhetoric. It could be a long haul.
