Saskatchewan is to have provincial election this year.

Part I

What is to be done?

 

Premier Scott Moe of the Saskatchewan Party has called an election. The campaign will start  in April 2020. The election will be held before October 26.' What can we expect?

We have to keep in mind the results of the federal election held last October. In that election  Conservatives won 64% of the vote and every seat in the province. The NDP did not win a single seat. Even Ralph Goodale lost his seat in Wascana.

 In the provincial election in 2016 the Sask  Party won with 62% of the votes and 51 seats. The NDP won 10 seats with 30% of the votes.Over the past few years public opinion polls in Saskatchewan have shown support for Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party to be around 55%. Given this we are going to experience another solid conservative victory. There seems to be no possibility that the NDP can win the election. They could win10 seats again. But they cannot give us the opposition we need.

Most of us know that there is a climate crisis. This includes the Premier and the Sask Party caucus. They just choose to support the oil and gas industry. We also know that all our political leaders are failing to do what the scientists say is necessary to preserve the world as we know  it. So how can we use the  election to promote the real change we need?


A Bit of Saskatchewan History

the NDP got 50% of the votes and a large percentage of seats in the elections of 1971 and 1991. But once in office they were substantially different. Alan Blakeney's government in 1971 introduced a broad .democratic program identified as part of the Keynesian welfare state.  Social programs were expanded. Progressive  taxes were introduced . Business taxes were raised .Resource royalties were substantially increased.

 In addition the Blakeney government started to take some control of natural resource development.  This included partial ownership of the oil and gas, potash and uranium industries.

When the NDP government was defeated in 1982 the new Conservative government under Grant Devine  hired key people from Margaret Thatcher's government in Great Britain and began to introduce the new free-market policies advocated by big business . However this radical new program encouraged the development of a strong extra parliamentary resistance.

The NDP in opposition promised if  elected to return to the progressive policies of the traditional CCF- NDP. However the new leader of the party was Roy Romanow who had always represented the right-wing of the party. He had been impressed by the move towards the new liberalism [neoliberalism] by the Labour governments in Australia and New Zealand.

When the NDP won a major victory in1991 the conflict immediately began.Romanow chose for his inner cabinet supporters of the neoliberal policy change. As we know, the social democratic parties all follow the tradition of the right-wing parties which is rule from the top down . The leader sets the policy and everyone else follows. From the time of the first budget this was very clear.
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The general dismay that resulted was seen in the  major decline in party memberships, public opinion polls and even in the number of people who turned out to vote. The party was able to get reelected in 1996 but after the election in 1999 Romanow was only able to stay as Premier by forming an alliance with the Liberal Party in the legislature. When Romanow decided to step down as premier,  his successor, Lorne Calvert, continued the same neoliberal policies.

My friend and colleague Phil Hansen has described this in his book Taxing Illusions. He  points out that the Blakeney government was following the pattern of the Keynesian welfare state and its supporters in the farm and labour movements. The value system was based on equity and democracy and was rooted in the North American farmer-labour populist movement: cooperatives, credit unions and the failed push to expand democracy through the initative, the referendum and the recall. In Canada there were the marketing boards for farm products.The trade unions pledged "solidarity forever" and "an injury to one is an injury to all."

In contrast  the Romanow government promoted the ideology of the new liberalism. Everyone should pursue their own self interest and not worry about the rest of the community. This was also the ideology of the business community which wanted the free market system without government interference.

Some will remember that during the period of the Romanow government they were consistently voted the best government in Canada by the Fraser Institute. When  the Romanow government shut down 50 rural hospitals and pushed the resident seniors out into  the street with no place to go, the NDP seemed to have permanently lost most of rural Saskatchewan.

But the climate crisis is real 

                 Regina students join world strikes in 2019.

                        

Climate Watch says Canada is first in the world in per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Others say we are among a handful of states at the top.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Furthermore, we take no responsibility for the greenhouse gas emitted from our fossil fuel exports. In Canada 54% of the emissions come from fossil fuel combustion; 29% come from transportation; 8 percent from agriculture; and 7.5% from non-heavy industries.

The Romanow government had two major environmental accomplishments. First, in 1997 they got the legislature to unanimously condemn the UN conference at Kyoto on climate change. Second, they made carbon capture and storage in partially depleted oil wells their central policy on this issue.

Saskatchewan leads the country in per capita greenhouse gas emissions: 33% comes from the oil and gas industry, 23% from farming, and 20% from the Saskatchewan Power Corporation. The Saskatchewan Party, following the Romanow  government, is basically in denial about  the serious threat of climate change.

In 2015 the countries of the world agreed to act on issues of climate change. The goal was to keep the temperature of the planet below an increase of 1.5 degrees.But to do this governments had to seriously address the issue. The UN scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a strong warning in September 2019. Governments were basically not taking any serious action. This scientists declared that government leaders needed to be five times more ambitious. In response, at the end of the year,  Prime Minister Trudeau announced a 30 year plan.

Part II:   What can we do?

We need action on climate change. We also need a new opposition party in Saskatchewan. All around the world, and particularly in Europe, the social democratic parties are in decline. In France, Italy and Germany they are starting to disappear. Since they have appropriated the neoliberal agenda they have nothing different  to offer from the parties of big business.

Here in Canada we have seen how quickly the NDP government in the Alberta under Rachel Notley became the defender of the oil firms working in the tar sands. In British Columbia John Horgan's NDP government is giving major financial subsidies to private corporations who want to increase fracking for natural gas, build a pipeline across the province,  freeze the gas and ship it to Asia.  It is time for the Green option.

The Saskatchewan Green Party is still committed to the Global Green principles of ecological wisdom, social justice, participatory democracy,  nonviolence, sustainability, and respect for diversity. In 2013 the Global Greens added community-based economics and decentralization. In 2018 the Saskatchewan Greens made a commitment to the  just transition program for people working in industries dependent on fossil fuels.

      The platform of the Saskatchewan Green Party for the 2020 election should stress the following. If elected we will:

[1] Endorse the Leap Manifesto. We agree that the oil in the tar sands must stay in the ground if we are going to protect the planet.

[2 ] Endorse the Green New Deal for Canada. Both of these programs outline a variety of projects that should be undertaken.

[3] Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It is time to end colonialism in Canada. This begins with the right to self determination. They may choose their own form of government and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

[4] The Green Party believes that in a democratic country housing is a basic human right. Given  the gross inequalities in Canada and the steady increase in jobs that do not provide a living wage, this issue can only be resolved by a major investment in public rental housing.

[5] There has to be a major shift to ecological farming and a shift to decentralization. This requires significant planning and government support. Agriculture can be extended to northern Saskatchewan. Young people who want to farm  would be helped.

[6] How would we finance this program? First we would legislate that in Saskatchewan individuals  and businesses can no longer use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes. If you live or work in the province, or operate a business or a farm here, you must pay our provincial taxes. We would go after the millions of dollars that Cameco owes in back taxes.

.[7] Second, we would establish a democratic task force to look at how our resource royalties and taxes compare to those in other countries with similar commodities. From my own research   I would expect they would find that in all cases our royalties and fees are near the lowest.I would suggest that a Green government raise our resource taxes up to the median rate and go from there.These revenues would be shared with our First Nations.They would have to decide what to do with them.

[8] A Green government would want to return to a Keynesian tax policy where taxes are progressive and based on ability to pay. Years ago the Kenneth  Carter Tax  Commission proposed eliminating tax breaks which benefited investors.

Green party issues:

[1] The Green Party of Saskatchewan needs to amend its constitution to create a youth branch. The NDP has had one for many years. Today young people are very active on the issue of the climate crisis. Some may be interested in being in a political organization. They would have full autonomy.

[2] The Green  Party of Canada  has announced that there will be a leadership convention in October to be held in Prince Edward Island.This is completely unacceptable. Travel costs would greatly limit participation. Should Greens be encouraging people to take long distance air flights? The GPC should be looking at electronic alternatives.
                    
For more on Saskatchewan and social democracy:

[1] Lorne A. Brown, Joseph Roberts and John W. Warnock. Saskatchewan politics from left to right '44 to'99. Regina: Hinterland Books, 1999.

[2] John F. Conway, the Prairie Populist, George H. Williams and the Saskatchewan CCF. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2019.

[3 ]Bryan Evans and Ingo Schmidt. Social Democracy after the Cold War. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press , 2012..

[4]Phil Hansen. Taxing Illusions: Taxation, Democracy and Embedded Political Theory.  Halifax: Fernwood Books, 2003.

[5] John W. Warnock,  Structural Adjustment of Capitalism Comes to Saskatchewan. Regina:  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Regina office, 2013

John Warnock is retired from teaching political economy and sociology at the University of  Regina. He was a founding member of the New Green Alliance and has been a long time political and social justice activist in Saskatchewan. He has been an  ecological farmer, and was an organic gardener for many years . He built a house on the farm and later renovated three others. In 2010 his closest friend and housemate Susan bought a quarter section farm near Bulea,  Saskatchewan, and they began transforming a small horse barn into an off the grid green residence. However, in the winter 0f 2016-17 doctors diagnosed John with ALS. John is now in a nursing home and the farmhouse sits with 10% left to do to finish the transformation.

A flax crop. Not like the ones the family grew in County Donegal.

Farmhouse and lentil crop.

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool No.1

A Second Look at the Recent Canadian Election.

 

Trans Mountain Pipeline Protest

Five parties won seats in the election. Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives were able to get a majority of the seats. Many people attributed this to strategic voting.  But a second look reveals the deeper issue. The  five parties who won seats share of similar view on the overall nature of  the Canadian political economy.

First none of the  five parties see anything wrong with the fact that the general direction of the Canadian economy is determined by large corporations and their financial associates. None of the five parties  find anything wrong with the free-trade agreements even though they have virtually destroyed the automobile industry in Canada. The free-trade agreements all see Canada naturally as a primary producing and exporting country and our  fate is to import manufactured goods.

From time to time one of the parties will note that the inequality of wealth and income in Canada is getting more and more skewed.  But none of them are willing to propose that we go back to the progressive income tax, wealth taxes  and corporate taxes that we used to have during the period of the Keynesian  political economy. None of them are even willing to propose that we shut down the off shore tax havens used by wealthy individuals and corporations to avoid paying taxes in Canada. Yet a recent poll done for the Toronto Star found that 94% of Canadians want these practices made illegal in Canada.

Most of the parties see the housing crisis as the inability of young people to buy a house without major financial support from their parents. Yet everywhere you look there are people sleeping in the rough and communities across Canada are having a hard time dealing with the impromptu tent cities that are popping up everywhere. The fact of the matter is that probably the bottom one third of Canadians by income can not find appropriate housing. The only way for the government to solve this problem  ls to build significant amounts of new rental housing for the poor and those with low income. That means going back to the basic democratic ideal that housing is a basic human right.

Then there is the fact that none of the parties would stand up in opposition to anything that the US government says we should do.  Whenever Washington calls on us to bomb somebody we always say yes..Not even the Green party will say no.

Is there a climate crisis The young woman from Sweden says to read the science . But it seems in Canada our political leaders do not believe the science. Canada is number one in per capita greenhouse gas emissions but the small carbon tax being implemented now by Canadian governments is a sick joke. I would have thought that Canadians cared more for their children and grandchildren than they show. None of the political parties are willing to endorse the Green new deal for Canada not even the Green party .

The  original New Deal in the United  States ended the  depression and created hundreds of thousands of very good jobs. Similar programs now around green energy and conservation might even allow the indigenous population of Canada to break away from its historic position of marginalization and poverty. 

There is much talk of reconciliation in Canada. But this has to start with Canada and our political parties recognizing the United Nations declaration on indigenous rights and that begins with the right sovereignty over traditional lands which were occupied by the indigenous populations for thousands of years before European settlers arrived . But none of the parties  are willing to do that.  This would give indigenous peoples and nations the right to determine their own economic development.

Canada’s five parties have basically agreed with the neoliberal revolution that began with the election of Margaret Thatcher’s government in Britain in 1979 and then Ronald Reagan’s government in the United States in 1980.   In Canada Brian Mulroney’s government was elected in 1984. 

The new political economy was not limited to formally right-wing parties. It was not long before it spread to the social democratic parties as well, beginning with Sweden in 1982, Australia in 1983, and New Zealand in 1984. The new policies included major cuts to all  progressive taxes, cuts to social programs, deregulation, and privatization of state owned assets. This came with a broad attack on organized labour. The push for “free trade”  was to come a little later.  

There was no political party in the recent Canadian election to oppose this broad agenda.