As liberal in Saskatchewan at times I feel very lonely but I am hopeful that we can rise up. The ideas of the provinical liberals are needed because we need a balance between the left and right, no matter how much of a shift to the middle these guys claim to be doing.
Both the leaders of the SK party and NDP are talking about the past, the 80's . We need to see their plan for the future and neither Wall nor Lingenfelter seem to have any plan.
As liberals we are working to find out what the people want, so it is going to be a long road. As a party we have got a lot of new people involved in the process. That is good. The change of direction and getting new ideas will take a long time. It is like growing a plant, you need to water it and nurture to make it grow into something you are proud of. So look at this story and ask youself this question. It is time to have our voices heard . I want to be part of something new. It is a great time to become a liberal in saskatchewan . So this why I am liberal: I like the idea of helping to rebuild the party and for my voice be heard and the leadership of a new leader who is not afraid to try new things, even if these things turn out to be the wrong direction. We can learn from these mistake. The old boys are gone and new people with new ideas and ways of doing things. The process will take time. This by-election is one small play in the big football game and there is a lot of game to be played yet. As one of my heros said Winston Churchill.
" The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Liberals at low ebb in byelection wake
Party candidate managed just 2.6% of Riversdale vote
By James Wood, The StarPhoenixSeptember 23, 2009 8:24 AMBe the first to post a comment
No one was quite prepared to bury the Saskatchewan Liberal party Tuesday after a dismal byelection showing, but pundits and politicians from other parties said the Liberals are at an historic low ebb.
And the Liberals' decline as a strong third party is expected to be a long-term factor in a provincial political scene dominated by the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP.
Liberal Eileen Gelowitz, a high-profile nominee as a former Saskatchewan Party candidate, received 107 votes -- or 2.6 per cent of the vote -- in Monday's Saskatoon Riversdale byelection. In the other byelection, in Regina Douglas Park, the Liberal party fielded no candidate, just as it did in the Cumberland byelection last year.
Those results followed two general elections in a row where the party failed to win a seat and which saw its popular vote share drop from 14 to nine per cent.
But Liberal Leader Ryan Bater, who won the job by acclamation in 2008, said the byelection results, while disappointing, aren't a signal to give up.
Instead, they show the need to develop party organization and policy.
"I knew what I was getting into. I knew we were at a low spot when I became leader. We're still there. I'm 31 years old and I committed to the long-term rebuilding because that's what it's going to take. You don't just turn a party around in six months," he said in a telephone interview.
"We have to do the work to be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when we're on the up-cycle."
Bater also dismissed any concern about being displaced as a third party by the Greens. The Liberals edged out the Greens in Riversdale while the Green candidate captured seven per cent in Douglas Park in one of the party's best showings ever.
Voter turnout was relatively strong by the standard of byelections -- with 56 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots in Saskatoon and 62 per cent in Regina. In contrast, the Cumberland byelection had 37 per cent turnout, the 2007 Martensville byelection saw 45 per cent and the 2006 Weyburn-Big Muddy vote saw 69 per cent. The 2001 byelection that elected then-premier Lorne Calvert in Riversdale also had 56 per cent turnout.
The NDP retained both seats on Monday at vote levels similar to the results in the 2007 general election, but the Sask. Party vote shot upwards. Bater believes that is more a reflection of Liberals not coming out to vote than defecting, but the Sask. Party has been quick to claim it won over former Liberal supporters.
"There's certainly a lot of merit in this notion that the Liberal vote that existed . . . came to us," said Premier Brad Wall on Tuesday.
"The Liberal vote is falling and in those areas we saw a surge in support for our party."
Wall said it's very dangerous for any political party to write an obituary for a rival but he's hopeful the vote results were the culmination of a trend started by the 1997 founding of the Sask. Party by Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAs.
He said voters are not sure what the Liberals stand for, noting Bater's message of "free enterprise" and "personal liberty" is a significant change from the party's 2007 efforts under then-leader David Karwacki to supplant the NDP as the centre-left alternative to the Sask. Party.
NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter said after Bater's decision to focus on Riversdale, the byelection result "doesn't bode well" for the Liberals and may bring about a new strategy from the party.
"The Liberals are a big brand name, they've been around a long time and I don't expect they'll go away. So I would expect some soul-searching from the Liberal party over the next weeks and months. Maybe you'll see something different coming forward from them," he said.
David Smith, the University of Saskatchewan professor emeritus who has studied the Liberals extensively, said there has never been much room for third parties in Saskatchewan.
The current climate is particularly inhospitable for the Liberals as the NDP and Sask. Party have converged toward the political centre.
"Parties do revive, or resurrect," he said.
"I would never say never about the Liberal party in Saskatchewan. That being said, at the current time, as far as being a competitive force in provincial elections . . . it's really caught between these two very strong political parties."
Harper Lied In The House
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Check out @LeslieCBC’s Tweet: What the PM said then, and how it stacks up
against evidence submitted in court: @pnpcbc #Duffy fact check #cdnpoli
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8 years ago