By any measure, 2011 was a far more active political year than usual in the Battlefords.
It is highly unusual for the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government to all hold elections in the same year.
Yet that was exactly the case for North Battleford residents who went to the polls May 2 to vote in a federal election, Sept. 14 for a municipal by-election to fill a vacant city council seat and Nov. 7 in the provincial election.
The outcomes of each vote could not have been more varied. The federal vote saw the re-election of a long-time MP and cabinet minister in Gerry Ritz. The new city councillor elected in the municipal vote turned out to be a long-time familiar face in Brad Pattinson, a 15-year council veteran. It was the provincial vote that produced the biggest changeover, as veteran New Democrat MLA Len Taylor was defeated by Herb Cox, who now represents the Battlefords in the legislature for the Saskatchewan Party.
There was also some change in area representation as Cut Knife-Turtleford saw the retirement of one longtime MLA in Michael Chisholm, to be succeeded by Larry Doke. And Rosthern-Shellbrook saw change of a different kind as MLA Denis Allchurch was toppled for the Saskatchewan Party's nomination by challenger Scott Moe, who went on to win the election in the fall.
Without question, 2011 was Election Year in the Battlefords.
Still, what was most remarkable about the year was how unexpected most of these elections were. While the provincial vote Nov. 7 was well known before the year started, the municipal vote was a surprise due to the sudden departure of a sitting councillor. The timing of the federal vote was also a moving target.
There had been rumblings of dissatisfaction from the opposition parties going into 2011. There were stories the three opposition parties, fed up with the policies of Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government, might band together and defeat it in the House of Commons in the spring.
The catalyst came in March when the government was cited by speaker of the House Peter Milliken for contempt of Parliament. Milliken had determined the government had broken house rules by failing to respond to opposition requests for information on the costs of their programs, particularly on their crime bill.
A budget brought down March 22 by finance minister Jim Flaherty drew further fire from the opposition, with all its leaders pledging to defeat it: the Liberals' Michael Ignatieff, the NDP's Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois' Gilles Duceppe.
The reaction to the budget sealed the Harper government's fate and assured Canadians a trip to the polls. However, "contempt of Parliament" was cited in the non-confidence motion brought down in the House of Commons just a few days later.
That motion passed March 25 by a margin of 156 to 145, sinking the Harper minority government and plunging Canada into its fourth federal election in seven years.
The race in Battlefords-Lloydminster was a foregone conclusion from the outset, as federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz sought to win a sixth term in what has been a safe Conservative seat for several years.
The NDP provided the main competition in the riding, nominating long-time party activist Glenn Tait, a Meota-area farmer, before the writ was dropped. The Liberals nominated Jordan LaPlante while the Greens countered with veteran campaigner Norbert Kratchmer.
It was a far less bumpy ride for Ritz in 2011 than it was in 2008, when he took opposition heat over jokes he made during the outbreak of the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis crisis that year.
This time it was Ritz who was on the attack against the opposition, and in particular the prospect of an NDP-proposed cap on trade program. During the campaign Ritz said the proposal "scares me more than the coalition," referring to talk of a possible NDP-Liberal coalition government.
His comments were likely directed at voters in the rest of the ridings in Saskatchewan, which the Conservatives were seeking to hold onto against the NDP. In the end the Conservatives swept 13 of 14 Saskatchewan seats and Ritz easily won personal re-election over the NDP with 66 per cent of the vote.
Nationwide, the era of minority governments ended in Ottawa as Conservatives formed a majority government. In a major shift, the NDP became the official opposition on the strength of sweeping gains in the province of Quebec.
Both the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois were decimated, with their party leaders, Ignatieff and Duceppe, losing their seats and resigning as leaders after the election.
It did not take long for the Harper majority to flex its muscles. With Ritz back in office as agriculture minister, he was finally able to push through the House of Commons what the government had long sought: an end to the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk monopoly.
The historic vote to end the Wheat Board's monopoly passed final reading in late November and gained royal assent in December. The Canadian Wheat Board refused to give up the fight, though. They took the Harper government to court and a federal judge ruled against the government saying they had failed to consult farmers in moving ahead with legislation. The Wheat Board also sought an injunction to stop the changes later in the year, but failed to stop the legislation from receiving royal assent.
Other government efforts included moves to end the long gun registry, passage of omnibus crime legislation in the Commons, as well as reintroduction and passage of a 2011 budget widely similar to what the government had brought down before the election.
As for the newly-entrenched official opposition, New Democrats suffered an unexpected and staggering blow when leader Jack Layton died of cancer in August.
The party was plunged into a leadership contest, and the Battlefords and area were part of that race as leadership contender Romeo Saganash took his campaign to North Battleford in October. The vote to select a new national NDP leader, in which local New Democrats will be casting ballots, will be taking place this coming March.
At around the same time that the federal election was occupying attention in the spring, some major changes were coming in North Battleford city councillor Rhonda Seidel's professional and personal life.
She had accepted a position with SaskTel in Swift Current, and her move to the southwest city brought a sudden end to her tenure as a first-term city councillor.
As a result, North Battleford had a vacant seat in council chambers to fill, with a by-election called for Sept. 14.
There was plenty of interest from would-be councillors who filed their nomination papers. Seven names ended up on the ballot: Krista Crockett, Morley Dickson, Dianne Frank, Greg Lightfoot, Brian Maunula, Thomas Schwab and a former 15-year council veteran, Brad Pattinson.
Despite some active campaign efforts, including lawn signs from Lightfoot and Maunula, the familiar Pattinson name on the ballot proved too much for the others to overcome.
When votes were tallied, Pattinson won with 620 votes, easily topping the 304 votes garnered by the runner-up Maunula.
It did not take long for the "new" councillor to make an impact. Among other things, Pattinson proved to be a welcome ally for Councillor Trent Houk, who no longer had to go it alone on a variety of issues he supported at council meetings.
Both Pattinson and Houk strenuously opposed city policy changes that brought in a $5,000 residential down payment grant program for affordable housing, which he called "redistribution of other people's wealth."
Pattinson was far more successful in bringing forward a resolution approving Reclaim Outreach Centre's proposal for a permanent homeless shelter in the community, and he also successfully pushed forward proposed stop signs for the Lawrence School area to address the issue of speeding in school zones. In all, council chambers saw revitalized debate and some shifts in priorities upon Pattinson's return.
The final election battle for 2011 was the provincial election Nov. 7, and with the Battlefords being a main target of all three of the political parties it promised a lively month of visits and attention from party leaders and prominent politicians of every stripe.
NDP MLA Len Taylor was heavily targeted by both the Saskatchewan Party's Herb Cox and the Liberal party leader Ryan Bater, with Owen Swiderski of the Green Party rounding out the field of candidates.
The lead up to the vote saw Premier Brad Wall come to North Battleford twice, once to visit the aging Saskatchewan Hospital in June, and then the second time in August to announce the government was going ahead with plans to replace it with a new Saskatchewan Hospital. The government advanced $8 million to Prairie North Health Region to move ahead with the detailed design.
That announcement took the steam out of what was potentially a major campaign issue for the NDP and Liberals in the riding - although both those parties insisted this was still not a serious commitment as it still did not commit full funding to the project.
During the campaign, NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter made two appearances in the riding. The first was to open Len Taylor's campaign office during the first week, as well as to promise the elimination of the small-business tax. Next door in Cut Knife-Turtleford, Lingenfelter committed the NDP to making a resource revenue sharing deal with First Nations.
Lingenfelter also joined Taylor during the second week of the campaign to make a further announcement on the NDP's mental health care policies, which included their own commitment to a new Saskatchewan Hospital.
Liberal leader Ryan Bater ran a vigorous campaign in the Battlefords, with the entire Liberal effort in Saskatchewan devoted to getting the leader elected in his own seat. During the campaign Bater received help and support from federal MP Ralph Goodale who campaigned with him.
Bater also took time to have some fun, playing with his band Jackwagon in the fundraising Barnstorm in the Battlefords music event at Agrivilla just prior to the election call.
Premier Brad Wall made two stops in the Battlefords to help Herb Cox in his campaign. The first was a policy announcement outlining the Saskatchewan Party's health care platform. The second was a luncheon event at the Tropical Inn just days before the election.
While the election across the province was expected to be a Saskatchewan Party blowout, the competitive race in the Battlefords remained interesting to the very end. In the end, it was Cox who rode the Sask. Party wave to victory in the Battlefords, winning by over 1,000 votes over Taylor.
Across the province, the Saskatchewan Party wound up with 49 seats to the NDP's nine, with party leader Lingenfelter losing his seat on election night.
It was also a sad night for Bater and the Liberals, who ran third in the Battlefords and gained less than 1 per cent of the vote across Saskatchewan.
By year's end, Cox was sworn in along with fellow Northwest MLA newcomers Larry Doke from Cut Knife-Turtleford and Scott Moe from Rosthern-Shellbrook, as the legislature sat for their December session of the legislature for the first time since the election. The NDP also had a new interim leader in John Nilson going into an expected leadership contest in the new year.
The political year of 2011 proved to be a very active one all around for politicians in the Battlefords and area.
By contrast, 2012 should be quieter, but only a little quieter. After all, there will be municipal elections this fall.
