There is not much left of old Progressive Conservative party in Saskatchewan.
It's been that way since the split on the right, although that split would be more accurately described as the PCs being a small chip shaved off the mighty poplar tree trunk that is the Saskatchewan Party.
When the PCs went into hiatus in 1997 upon the formation of the Sask. Party, the right wing of provincial politics - as NDP detractors suggested was happening - simply united under this different name. While the Sask. Party did initially attract a sprinkling of right-wing Liberals (Rod Gantefoer, June Draude, Ken Krawetz and Bob Bjornerud) and while a few more ex-Liberals (Laura Ross and Rob Norris) have joined since, there is no dispute that the Sask. Party is the undisputed home of the conservatives in this province.
Those that remained - or perhaps better put, returned back to the old PC fold - largely did so for personal reasons rather than philosophical ones. Former PC cabinet minister Rick Swenson initially joined the Sask. Party, but parted ways after losing the Thunder Creek nomination to Lyle Stewart. Former PC and justice minister Grant Schmidt won the Melville-Saltcoats nomination fair and square prior to the 1999 election, but has his win overturned by the Sask. Party hierarchy who wanted Bjornerud instead.
A few other lesser-known PCs have stayed true blue, so to speak. Nevertheless, the Saskatchewan PCs today are very much today a sliver of a splinter of right-wing politics.
However, the chance of the two parties ever reuniting is virtually non-existent now. The bitterness over the split has deepened - much of it, over a $3.4-million trust fund the new-old PCs laid claim to after their coming out of hibernation in 2005. According to PCs allegations from press conferences and their lawsuit now filed in civil court, the fund's original trustees were allegedly connected to the Sask. Party.
And the PCs' distaste for the Sask. Party recently deepened last month when Swenson received a letter from Sask. Party Speaker Dan D'Autremont informing the PC leader that he and Schmidt will no longer be allowed in the legislative building without the accompaniment of legislative security following their every step. (As former MLAs, Swenson and Schmidt are permitted to go in the Chamber whenever the legislature is sitting. All other active politicians and party leaders have had free access to the building as visitors and use that access to talk to political reporters.)
So why are Swenson and Schmidt now deemed a security risk? Well, according to D'Autremont - twice elected a PC MLA, himself - the two gave false information to security on their last visit to the building on Dec. 15 when they didn't inform the commissionaire that they intended to talk to reporters in the legislature's rotunda. Other political party leaders are not required to get permission from security before talking to journalists who work in the building.
Add to this petty squabbling, the fact that the PCs' legacy has been questioned for decades. The NDP - who, as government, did have to contend with the massive debt the PCs left behind - took every available opportunity to remind the public of the ample evidence of PC government incompetence and corruption. What has been less discussed over the decades are the PC government's successes that include the building of two upgraders, a fertilizer plant, and the privatization of the resource Crowns that are now successful businesses like PotashCorp and Cameco.
However, some 30 years after Premier Grant Devine's PCs stormed into office in 1982 with the biggest majority government in the province's history, Devine's successors aren't even allowed to freely visit this very public building.
It's been a strange and ugly feud.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
