Enjoy the ride boys and girls !

I hope my " good friends" in the Sask Party enjoy life at the top. One year in power in Saskatchewan. Because you meet the same people on the way down as you meet up . As you meet them on the way down they are not as nice as they were on the way up.
Sask. Party convention chance to celebrate.

Gathering is the first since 2007 election win

James Wood, The StarPhoenixPublished: Friday, November 14, 2008

REGINA -- Riding high a year after its provincial election victory, the Saskatchewan Party's annual convention this weekend in Saskatoon is expected to be a love-fest and not a slug-fest over policy.
This will be the first convention since the party took office and the tentative agenda urges delegates to "share in the glory of the Saskatchewan Party in power."
"We haven't gathered together now for about a year-and-a-half, so I think people will want to celebrate the win and enjoy each other's company," Premier Brad Wall told reporters at the legislature this week.
Unlike the convention in February 2007, which focused exclusively on election preparedness and where no policy was discussed, there are 16 policy resolutions that will be discussed by the delegates.
But with the resolutions raising issues such as expanding SaskTel's cellular phone coverage, analyzing the use of plastic bags, expanding wind power and increasing the high school graduation rate, Wall said the resolutions did not take an "ideological approach."
There are resolutions calling for the enshrinement of property rights in the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights and asking the government to take the constitutionality of the gun registry to the Supreme Court.
After taking over as leader in 2004, Wall made a concerted effort to move the small-c conservative party to the centre, including a major policy overhaul a year later that left in the past issues such as abortion or Crown corporation privatization.
Wall said he's not worried about a disconnect between the party and some of its members once the celebrating is over.
"I think the members of our party
. . . increasingly so now that we have this solid base in urban Saskatchewan, reflect the values of Saskatchewan people. And I think they like the fact that Saskatchewan is going to continue to move forward economically, that we're going to lead the country, but we're also going to take care of those most vulnerable in the province," he said.
NDP deputy leader Pat Atkinson noted only three Sask. Party constituency associations had actually submitted resolutions for consideration and wondered whether that reflected on the health of the party underneath the surface.
"I think in the past, leading up to the election for several years, they were discouraging resolutions because they didn't want to do anything that would raise concerns in the public and so now we have a group of people that are in government and I would suspect, based on our own experience in government, that party people have all kinds of ideas and suggestions for public policy," she said.
"Unless you can keep everybody in the tent in terms of public policy, those people go away."
University of Saskatchewan political studies Prof. Joe Garcea said the Sask. Party no longer has the "right-wing bias its previous incarnations had."
Ideology has declined overall in politics and all parties' primary interests when it comes to conventions is "managing the convention in such a way as to not raise any issues that will create a certain image of them in the public mind. They want to stay away from issues being raised that are considered radical in some way, shape or form."
The convention will be held at the Sheraton Cavalier hotel. It will also see the election of a new party president, planning sessions for the next convention and a dinner with speaker Pamela Wallin.
jwood@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)