On Nov. 14, the five remaining candidates for the leadership of the Saskatchewan Party, and with it, the position of premier, filed into the Days Inn in Estevan for a 鈥淣ext Premier Luncheon.鈥� The sold-out event was admirably put on by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce.
It was the first full day with a reduced slate 鈥� Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Gord Wyant, Scott Moe, Alanna Koch and Ken Cheveldayoff. The day before, Rob Clarke dropped out of the race. His candidacy was the definition of 鈥渇lash in the pan.鈥� He was the last to join in, on Nov. 15, well after much of the forma debates had already taken place. In less than a month, he was out, throwing his support behind Ken Cheveldayoff. It was a very expensive dalliance, as it cost $25,000 to jump in, never mind the expenses.
Four of the five candidates on hand worked the room, going around to each table, shaking hands, meeting new people and catching up with those they knew. For whatever reason, Scott Moe was the last to arrive, just before things were about to begin, so he missed out on the networking.
I had made the effort a few months before in sitting down with each of these five candidates, in person, for half an hour, to interview them about their energy policy for Pipeline News. I gave them a list of topics I would be covering beforehand, since this was likely going to be the most intensive interview they would have on energy during the campaign. As a monthly paper, it鈥檚 impossible to keep up the daily ebb and flow of a campaign like this, and for the most part, the energy issues have been static (the cancellation of the Energy East pipeline being the exception). We had already printed the series of stories, each about two pages in length, before Clarke had entered the race, and his short-lived candidacy meant there would be no interview later.
You can find all stories at pipelinenews.ca and by searching for the candidate鈥檚 name.
During these interviews I made the point of telling each of them how truly tough things have been for the oilpatch in the last few years, because I think it鈥檚 an important message for any new premier to hear.
As these candidates made their way to Estevan this past fall, I did as best as I could to attend their meet-and-greets, getting to three of them so far. What was interesting was I did not see any overlap between the attendance between the meet and greets I attend for Gord Wyant, Ken Cheveldayoff and Scott Moe. I would have expected a lot of the local SaskParty supporters to check out several of the candidates, but of those three sessions, that had not been the case.
The chamber luncheon was a good opportunity for those people to come together and see all five candidates in action. Each had give minutes to answer three local, pertinent questions on clean coal, tax reassessment and health care.
For several, this was their third time in Estevan, so far, in this campaign. All had made it at least once before. One noted the had put on 31,000 kilometres. Another said 34,000, so far. Koch pointed out that the day before, she had successfully made it to each and every riding in the province.
I have never seen so many candidates working so hard in a campaign like this. Not even close. As soon as the Estevan luncheon was over, all five were on the road again to make it for a similar supper in Yorkton, with it鈥檚 chamber of commerce, that very evening. Each took their own path, and Cheveldayoff got there by way of Weyburn, which was a roundabout way to say the least. I know this due to his Facebook video posting that afternoon.
While they are campaigning hard, they are not campaigning against each other. There were a few signs of that in the media with regards to questions about the Weyburn debate, but none of that came up in Estevan. I saw no elements of animosity or conflict between these candidate, and very little in the way of contrasting themselves from the others. Zero negativity. For all the miles (or kilometres) they鈥檝e been putting on, the spark has been in their vehicle鈥檚 engines, instead of between each other.
From what I鈥檝e seen, all five remaining candidates have been all-go, no-quit. How no one has had a coronary yet is beyond me.
That may be because the prize is tangible. It鈥檚 not the leadership of the party, and then in a few years, an election and hopefully a win and formation of government. For each of these, on Jan. 29, they鈥檙e the premier, should they win, with two years left in the mandate.
Will the campaign get nasty towards the end? I guess we鈥檒l see.
