The four candidates to succeed Lorne Calvert as leader of the Saskatchewan NDP faced off last night at Western Christian College. Around 200 party members and others listened as the four responded to written questions submitted by those in attendance. 

The questions covered many important issues, and the general response of all four seemed like a repudiation of the neoliberal Blairite policies followed by the NDP governments of Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert, who were in power in Saskatchewan between 1991 and 2007.

The candidates
    By all accounts, the leading candidate is Dwaine Lingenfelter, who has returned from a stint in Alberta with Nexen Inc. to seek the position. Lingenfelter was first elected an MLA in 1978 and served as a cabinet minister in the NDP government headed by Allan Blakeney. He was very prominent in the Romanow government, as a key cabinet minister and Deputy Premier.

    At the meeting Lingenfelter argued that what a candidate brings to the party and the province is most important. He stressed that he was an active farmer, former minister of agriculture, regularly meets with farm leaders, and would be able to win back the many seats lost in rural Saskatchewan.  He has the support of many of the sitting MLAs.

    Deb Higgins is the only candidate who holds a seat in the legislature. First elected in 1999 she has served in Calvert’s cabinet. She is trying to separate herself from the neoliberal  policy direction of the Calvert government, advocating a serious attempt to end poverty, to help women and families by expanding child care services, and do more in the area of affordable housing.

    The other two candidate are young, articulate and want to see a new direction for the NDP. Both are very strong in the area of energy policy and other green strategies. The Romanow-Calvert governments followed the Alberta Tories in this area. In 1997, it will be recalled, the NDP government brought a resolution to the legislature denouncing the Kyoto conference on climate change and insisting that any Canadian policy on the reduction of greenhouse gasses only require voluntary action by major polluters. It passed unanimously.

    Yens Pederson is a lawyer from Regina, who just missed getting elected in 2007, and who was elected president of the party at the last convention. But he is best known for his and his family’s long history of strong support for the National Farmers Union.

    Ryan Meili is the least known of the four candidates. He is a doctor from Saskatoon who has worked in the North and on social justice issues. He has a strong group of supporters in Saskatoon, including Nettie Wiebe, Peter Prebble and Don Kossick.

Some differences were evident
    The four candidates agreed on most issues raised at the Regina meeting. There were a few differences expressed. Yens Pederson was the only one to raise the question of provincial role in natural resource extraction, arguing that we need to regain control of the natural gas industry, privatized from Sask Power by Tory and NDP governments.  He was the only candidate to raise the issue of the threat to our water supplies from climate change.

    Lingenfelter was the only candidate not to endorse the introduction of anti-scab legislation. He raised the question of sharing resource royalties with Aboriginal people, a position that the NDP held in the 1991 election but then rejected. He argued that we should mobilize First Nations in the north to build affordable housing for the whole province.

    Meili argued that the province should create a Crown corporation to produce and sell generic drugs. This was a major proposal advanced by the New Green Alliance in 1998.

Nuclear power
    The key issue of the day is the question of nuclear power, which is being supported by the Saskatchewan Party government. It should be remembered that the Calvert government was also keen on this development.

    Lingenfelter pointed out that all CCF-NDP governments, beginning with Tommy Douglas, were strong supporters of uranium mining and the processing of uranium in the province, and this is still party policy. He said he was not taking a position on the need for a nuclear power reactor, arguing that this had to be carefully weighted with all the alternatives. He is a strong supporter of geothermal energy production. Higgins took the current position of the NDP caucus, that we need a complete examination of all the various alternatives to nuclear power and coal.

    Pederson argued against any nuclear power for the province, saying there was no need for it, as there were much safer and cheaper options available. This view was echoed by Meili, who argued that nukes are too expensive and that there is no advantage to processing uranium in the province. We also need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out coal fired generation. He drew the strongest applause of the evening when he said it is time for a major shift to a decentralized system of energy production and use.

A new vision
    All of the candidates stressed in their summations that it is absolutely necessary for the NDP to advance a policy direction that is clearly different from the Saskatchewan Party. In the necessary renewal of the party there is a need for a new long term vision. The thrust of the debate indicated that this requires a break with the policies of the Romanow and Calvert governments. The current world Great Recession has demonstrated the failure of the pro-business neoliberal policies of the free market, free trade and tax cuts for the rich. . 

Comments

Thanks Written by pelliott on 2009-04-27 13:20:25 Thanks for the report, from someone who wasn't able to attend.

Other forum reports Written by headtale on 2009-04-27 14:24:50 The Accidental Jurist has a report on the Regina forum  (and lots more coverage of the race on his blog)

more Regina leadership forum reports Written by headtale on 2009-04-27 14:29:14 I also did a blog post about the Regina forum and have various posts on my blog about different aspects of the campaign.

Look Written by Don Narine on 2009-04-27 16:21:52 Point in case: We DON"T need a another party who wants to do the same dumb crap as the rest of the facists. We need leadership who'll expose them and offer up profitable alternative visions for this province. If Lingenfelter is in - I'm out. Yes to YENS...

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