Paint a Rosy Picture

Murray Mandryk is concerned there may be no “real opposition” in the coming legislature. I’m not surprised that there won’t be. The Green Party of Sask. has been campaigning on that expression, and that has probably not been noted in Mandryk’s paper or elsewhere in the SK media. The fiction presented to the SK people throughout the campaign, with the help of the Sask Party and SK NDP, has been that this is a two-way race, when really it’s a democracy with 6 parties, and an independent candidate. Every voter has at least three options on their ballot, but every breath from the media is Sask Party vs. NDP. The silent message from our journalists is that the Greens are not fit to be considered.

The “real opposition” to the governing parties of the last 20 years is the Green Party of Saskatchewan, they are the clearly rising party of the province, while the Liberals and the NDP are in sharp declines. Perfectly fit or otherwise, that’s the decision of the electorate, who is getting incomplete information from the media. Unfair media coverage during an election is regulated by the Elections Act, because it’s well known that the media impacts perceptions about political parties. If a party isn’t given a fair shake by journalists, they are quickly dismissed by others, rightly or wrongly.

When the media ignores the real opposition, and picks a failing party to go head to head with the widely popular Wall persona, why do you think the Sask Party is polling as having an easy cruise to a blowout majority? Link’s reputation has been ruined not only by his actions, but by a well funded smear campaign run against him in the run-up to the election. Wall’s reputation has people buzzing about him being in line for Conservative Party leader (Prime Minister). Making the campaign NDP vs. Sask Party delayed the Greens, Liberals, and PC’s chances to 4 years from now, and harmed the democracy in our province.

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Additionally, if the NDP are reduced to 1 seat or less, the criteria for the TV Leaders Debate again will change. Unless the TV producers are okay with having Brad Wall debate himself, while taking single questions from hopeful opposition leaders and premiers-in-waiting. Move the goal posts; you’re good at it TV consortium!