To suggest voters hold grudges might be a little unkind.
Nevertheless, there are times when a policy or personality does have a profound and lingering impact on the voter psyche. And the impact of that policy or person makes it a little harder to forget and forgive.
Just how long rural Saskatchewan voters' memories are is now being put to the test in two recent political developments.
The first is the 20th anniversary of the closure of 52 rural hospitals and the Plains Health Centre on the outskirts of Regina that was built to serve Â鶹ÊÓƵern Saskatchewan rural clientele.
Admittedly, the hospital closures have not been the only problem in the NDP's bad relationship with rural Saskatchewan.
Eleven years earlier in 1982, the then Grant Devine Progressive Conservatives swept all but two rural seats. And four years later in 1986, the NDP won just three seats, suggesting the NDP's rural relations have been troubled for quite some time.
That said, then-NDP-premier Roy Romanow's government that closed those rural hospitals in 1993 managed to elect a sizeable rural caucus two years later in the 1995 general election.
Even back in 1993, voters showed a tremendous capacity for forgiveness ... or at least a willingness to assess the options. That voting options 20 years ago boiled down to a choice between New Democrats and candidates for the Progressive Conservative, whose former MLAs were then being paraded through the courts during their caucus fraud scandal.
But when you ask rural voters who did not elect an NDP MLA in 2011 and have not elected more than two or three MLAs in every election since 1999 what it is they don't like about the NDP you will get a list of long-standing grievances. You will hear about deteriorating highways, closure of agriculture centres, holding the 1999 election in the middle of harvest and ending the GRIP contract in 1992.
But the thing you will hear most about is the 1993 rural hospital closures. And even though voters will acknowledge the need at the time to address the debt left behind by the PC government, you will hear resentment of how the deficits were fought on the backs of rural Saskatchewan - perhaps as punishment for voting NDP in the past.
Moreover, with many rural residents still struggling with their health care needs, the impact of the 1993 hospital closures goes well beyond a grudge. There are daily reminders of this decision.
Similarly, unpopular government policies are sometimes attached to a single name. One such name in rural Western Canada is "Trudeau".
Some 45 years after his father Pierre Elliott Trudeau became Liberal leader, son Justin's recently landslide election as current federal Liberal is again stirring up not-so-dormant memories in rural Saskatchewan.
Of course, there are other reasons why federal Liberals are unpopular in rural Western Canada. In fact, the legacy of Jean Chretien/Paul Martin federal Liberal governments that included the long gun registry likely burns a little a little brighter than Pierre Trudeau policies of 30-plus years ago.
One might even think current-day frustrations with either the policies NDP Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair or Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government would far exceed whatever memory Westerners have of Pierre Trudeau.
That said, Pierre Trudeau policies like the National Energy Program did have a profound impact on the Western psyche and are still relived in today's issues like the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline. Meanwhile, other unpopular Trudeau policies like bilingualism, centralized government and even the metric system brought to us by the elder Trudeau are still with us.
Yes, Justin Trudeau was a mere child when much of this happened and it may not be completely fair to judge the son by the father.
But the reality is, certain policies and political figures do have a lasting impact.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
