That was quite an interesting battle royal to determine our province鈥檚 next premier, wasn鈥檛 it?
I watched the coverage of the Saskatchewan Party convention on the local CTV station on Saturday evening, which took place from Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.聽 Odd how it didn鈥檛 take place in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan and the home of the legislature itself, but I digress.
I thought the process to get to the eventual winner and the next leader of the province was entertaining, and it provided some classic nail-biting and eye-opening moments, the likes of which perhaps can only be matched in the final moments of any big sports showdown.聽 It went in different voting rounds, with the intent to whittle down the result to the final two that would determine the winner.
Tina Beaudry-Mallor鈥檚 rather swift exit from the numbers was interesting.聽 Other candidates had votes in the thousands, whereas she was taken out with less than 300 votes to her name.聽 Was it a clash of ideals between her vision of the province and voting party members, perhaps?聽 We鈥檒l never really know.
Once it came down to Gordon Wyant, Ken Cheveldayoff, Scott Moe and Alanna Koch, things really got interesting.聽 The next one to go was Wyant, and depending on whom you asked, that was either a surprising result or a foretold one.聽 Cheveldayoff was next on the chopping block, and that seemed to surprise a number of urban figureheads who had 鈥楥hevy鈥� picked to win, or at least come in second place.
The battle really came down to Alanna Koch and Scott Moe.聽 In the early rounds, Koch had the lead in votes with Moe riding her coattails, but that soon changed as he closed the gap.聽 Finally, in the fifth round of vote tallying, it was decided that our next premier of Saskatchewan would be鈥︹�cott Moe.
So what does this mean for the province?聽 What does the future look like?聽 Are we in for 鈥淢oe better blues鈥� or 鈥淢oe sunny days鈥�?
I think it鈥檚 too early to tell right now, though if you鈥檙e a keen follower of provincial politics and stand by the values and vision of the Saskatchewan Party, perhaps you鈥檙e already excited about the possibilities under Moe鈥檚 leadership.聽 Or you鈥檙e dreading the future ahead because your beliefs fall under another party, and that鈥檚 okay too.聽 While it鈥檚 great that people can approve of a government鈥檚 actions on any number of topics or issues, it鈥檚 just as if not more important to hold our elected officials accountable, and that鈥檚 the job of the Official Opposition.
I have to admit though that I *did* find it kinda funny how the provincial NDP caucus already had a produced video clip ready to be uploaded to social media virtually the second that the race had been won, berating Moe for doing this or that.聽 Twenty bucks says that they had clips ready to go for all of the candidates.
Personally, and without proclaiming my allegiance to any political party (because I have none), I think that we鈥檙e in solid hands with Scott Moe.聽 I was able to interview him back in October just after he鈥檇 announced his campaign for leadership, and in our half-hour talk, I got the sense that he鈥檚 someone who sticks to his guns and has a vision for our province that has the possibility to take us to the proverbial 鈥減romised land鈥�.聽 Now whether he can steer the ship to pull that off is another story, but I think it鈥檒l be an interesting journey.
As for the outgoing premier Brad Wall, what else can be said about his impact and legacy?聽 Ten years in any position is a feat in itself, but I think that length of time in the biggest leadership position in Saskatchewan speaks volumes about Wall鈥檚 contributions to the province and where he took us as a collective people.
As for where Scott Moe may take us, I hope the road has few bumps and that he continues to fight for us in the same way that our previous leader did.
Hopefully, Saskatchewan is in for some 鈥淢oe better days鈥� ahead.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
