What are the polls telling us?
November 3, 2007 | 11:16 AM
Saskatchewan's CanWest newspapers released an election poll Friday suggesting the Saskatchewan Party has a lead of more 20 percentage points over the NDP among decided voters. Is the 16-year rein of the New Democrats about to end or will they be able to turn things around by Nov. 7? And whither the Liberals?
RELATED STORY: Sask. Party has big lead: newspaper poll
Comments: (32)
I have to completely agree with Cameron in regard to the coverage on poll numbers. We have switched over to the CTV coverage- what's up?
Posted November 7, 2007 10:27 PM
Hey, you should explain on the air why you have tons of people working on color commentary yet can't spare one person to update your numbers. Maybe you should take a look at CTV, instead of having 6/49 polls reporting, they have 49/49. Get your act together.
Posted November 7, 2007 10:17 PM
Hey CBC - Costa should add the actual declared
winners on the bottom of the screen to give viewers a more realistic idea as to who is leading.
Posted November 7, 2007 08:36 PM
Mark from Toronto, before you get too carried away publicly masturbating over Tommy Douglas you should check out his masters thesis, The Problem Of The Subnormal Family.
He heartily endorses sterilization as the solution to all sorts of society;s problems.
His views on homosexuality and unwed mothers are, well, slightly less than enlightened.
Posted November 7, 2007 08:12 PM
Calvert is a crook. Vote Danny Williams buddy out of office!
Posted November 7, 2007 06:26 PM
Gord, the Sask Party is made up (mostly) of former PC members. Nice try on saying they aren't Grant Devine PC's though.
Conservatives! It's all about the marketing.
Posted November 7, 2007 05:17 PM
Well, if I lived in Regina/Saskatoon I'd vote NDP too.
But living rural, what have the NDP done for us?
The highways are a joke.
They amalgamated health care and school districts, so now we have less teachers, our kids travel farther, and we have more administration to adminster big areas. That was efficient.
Meals are prepared for our local *big* hospital in Regina and shipped down the #1. How many staff did we lose rurally over this policy?
SAMA - the biggest joke of all. In 1997, we had a major reassessment. So now we have a lot of tax levied on farm land, people in small towns might pay $40 to $100 worth of education tax. They also increased the taxes of our local grain elevators. The end result of that one was to close them all, so now we can ship our product down those wonderful highways to the next biggest centre, mostly cities. That's efficient too.
The NDP have done us a world of good out here. Not.
Posted November 7, 2007 11:20 AM
Mark, the NDP are going to do just what your whithered Leafs did last night, lose and lose big!!!!
Posted November 7, 2007 09:46 AM
To think that the NDP have risen to a level that affords them the ability to walk on water, or in other words, “be perfect” would be silly, as nobody is perfect. On the other hand however, to assume that the Conservatives could come in and improve the lifestyle for every citizen in this province would be optimistic to the point of foolishness. Somebody mentioned something earlier about the distribution of wealth and how the NDP are good at re-distributing it – the fact is, it’s a good thing. A lot of people are unaware of the fact that the top 500 richest people on the planet have more money than the remaining people combined and that is not a good thing. We need a good socially conscience government that can look after everybody and not just the corporate elite.
The trend in the past few years has been to move from Alberta back to Saskatchewan. Why is that? Perhaps the Conservative grass on the Alberta side wasn’t as green as everybody thought is was. Perhaps the Conservative ideology has driven the price of everything up so far that people are finding it hard to purchase things like a home. Let’s face it, the prospect of been tied to a half million dollar mortgage for 40 years is not my idea of a quality lifestyle. Under the NDP, (While not perfect), Saskatchewan always has and will continue to be the best province to live in. That is a fact that is known all across Canada.
Posted November 7, 2007 08:43 AM
The people of Saskatchewan must know that you are considered to be the moral conscience of Canada... respected for being the home of the "Greatest Canadian" Tommy Douglas, having no foreign industry induced daylight savings time, a limited , reasonable growth , respect for heritage ,a reasonable pace of life and a strong collective connection to the land.
For these reasons the rest of Canada implores you to re-elect the NDP, our Nations party of conscience.
In these times where our Federal Government is commited to an unjust occupation of a third world nation,displays a weak and delayed response to the globally pressing climate crisis, continuosly weakens our federal reserves and powers when serious poverty,housing,transit,social and
ecological woes beset us and a continues to erode Canadian culture and soveriegnty over our resources through an irresponsible
covert action of deep integration with the U.S. We all need the people of Sask. to help save our nation...please . for Canada, vote NDP!!
Posted November 6, 2007 08:50 PM
Eric? A few errors investing our money? Nah, they deliberately drove honest hardworking people into bankruptcy to save their own hides. That was certainly not in their best interests, was it?
They have lost way over $300 million on the Meadow lake mill, they have lost over $200 million in terrible out of province investments.
They have lied about balancing the budgets.
Is lying about the budgets in our best interests?
For some reason the NDP cannot run a business unless they have a monopoly, and even then they frequently fail.
It must be something about their roots and the Regina manifesto where they vow to destroy capitalism. Even Janice MacKinnon, the former ndp finance minister admits that the ndp are good at redstributing wealth but terrible at creating wealth.
Posted November 6, 2007 08:09 PM
Wes you are right the sun will come up and all will be fine. Eric you are living in some sort of fantasy land, Grant Devine is gone so is his entire group, he cannot hurt you or any one in Sask for that matter get over it. Using your own example about which party hurt you the least you surely have to realize the Sask Party has never been in power so they never hurt you at all. How can you be so astronomically short sighted as to paint the Sask party with the Grant Devine conservative brush. Its people like you that justify that type of behavior that are truley and sincerly the scariest ones of all. You are actually so afraid of change that you will do or say anything to promote your socialist attitudes.
Posted November 6, 2007 03:29 PM
Stan, did not the Sask. party MLA for Cannington Mr. Dan Deautramont say a few weeks ago that if elected that the crowns would be history and did not Brad Wall come running to do damage control, so my comment as to scary people in the Sask. party is only scare mongering in your eyes, to others its a reality. Having said that the sun will still come up Thursday morning no matter who's elected, the great part about living in a democracy is that we can voice our opinions and not agree with each other which makes for some lively debates. I know one thing this guy will vote tommorow and then head up north to do some hunting and forget about politics, have a good one.
Posted November 6, 2007 01:59 PM
Gord and Stan:
What people are forgetting is political parties are not perfect, and it is incumbant on us to choose the party who has harmed us the least.
I would rather support a party that made a few errors in investing taxpayer's money (in our best interests, I might add) than a party whose mentor's only real legacy is plagued with scandal and fraud.
Scott:
I think what Todd was refering to was the way the "first-past-the-post" voting system has lead to the discrimination of voters if they do NOT support the "correct" party, and how it misrepresents voter intentions. Please read things more closely.
Posted November 6, 2007 12:30 PM
Its shocking to see NDP supporters bringing up Grant Devine. Its a testament to how bad a job the NDP have done. If the NDP is so great why don't they run on they're record rather than try to use scare tactics. The NDP record speaks for itself, worst roads in the country, highest taxes in the country, longest medical waiting lines in the country (the road between Saskatoon & Calgary is getting worn out with Sask people looking for health care, long list of money losing ventures like the Meadow Lake pulp mill,the potatoe scandle, where are the ethonol plants that the NDP promised to build at Belplaine, the new bridge in PA promised in the last election. While the NDP supporters are blind to these facts hopefully there is enough people in Sask that can see the NDP for what they are and remove them from power.
Posted November 6, 2007 09:30 AM
Wes, I see you cannot deal with the facts and have to rely on scare mongering to push your agenda.
Posted November 5, 2007 09:11 PM
Before he ran for the Conservatives in 1991, Brad Wall worked for John Gerich - an MLA who had served as Associate Minister of Economic Development in the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative government led by Grant Devine. For those who may not remember, Gerich was involved in the biggest political corruption scandal in Saskatchewan history, in which dummy companies provided receipts for false expense claims. Sixteen Conservatives were eventually convicted, including Gerich who was convicted of fraud in 1997 for taking money illegally from his MLA's communications allowance. He was sentenced to 2 years in jail and fined 12,000 dollars. (it's all on Wikipedia - just type in John Gerich).
Point is - a name change from Progressive Conservative to Sask Party is not enough to give this voter confidence in Wall's integrity. These are scarry times indeed.
Posted November 5, 2007 06:26 PM
Keep the NDP. Right wing parties, or rather "wrong wing" parties do not have the interests of all but rather the elite! Alberta and BC are proof of that!
Posted November 5, 2007 02:37 PM
Todd feels like he was slapped in the face for voting Liberal, sounds good to me. The last time the Liberals put anyone in the legislature they sold out the people who put them there to further their own self interest and prop up the NDP. The province wanted change in 1999 but the Liberal's prevented that from happening.
Posted November 5, 2007 11:16 AM
Stan refers to the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, if it was up to the CTF they would have every worker making minimum wage while corporations & businesses rake in huge profits which is the same ideology as the Frazier Institute both of which the Sask. Party refer to on a regular basis. In my first post here I said I hoped there were more level headed people than scary ones in the Sask. party, obviously Stan is one of the scary ones.
Posted November 5, 2007 10:27 AM
It's scary to think that if the NDP it's self, would have held Calvart accountable for his out of control spending (vs. Rowmano)and debacles (spudco & channel lake) at the last leadership review, they may have been able to avoid the elector it, doing so for them! particularly if they would have moved to the centre with J.McKinnon.
Posted November 5, 2007 08:54 AM
Calvert's record on fiscal managment is far from good. Janice McKinnon did a lot of good things in tough times and deserves a lot of credit, but since then Calvert has run budget deficits, though he lies about that. He has increased spending at unsustainable rates.
It's no suprise that McKinnon left this government in disgust after making the hard choices.
Check with the Provincial Auditor or the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to see how Calvert has misled the people of Saskatchewan with his magical Fiscal Stabilisation Fund.
Posted November 4, 2007 08:28 PM
Actually, randy, even if the NDP won all the seats in Regina and Saskatoon, and nothing else, that only puts them at 22 seats. There is NO WAY the SaskParty could win 65% of the popular vote and LOSE because the NDP won 22 urban seats, as you've suggested. It's numerically inpossible. The NDP relied on the north, as well as Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and others for their 1-seat majority in 2003.
What we're talking about here is MEANINGFUL CHANGES to an ancient voting system, which means Proportional Representation needs to be on the agenda (If you aren't sure what that is, check out www.fairvote.ca to find out). If the Liberals attain 14% of the popular vote, they get 14% of the seats, not 0. I would not only encourage Todd to take up the cause, but ALL of us. Our time has come.
Posted November 4, 2007 01:16 PM
i am a new voter and i did lots of research to make an informed decision on wednesday.
as a supporter of the liberal party, i dont like the way our voting system turns our elections into a two way race. 15% of us voted with karwacki last time and all we got was a slap in the face. the greens were in evenworse shape. i think john is correct we need a voting system so that the seats the parties get are proportional to the overall vote they got. otherwise i feel like i shouldnt even bother.
Posted November 4, 2007 12:32 PM
Jacquie, not all prescription drug plans are covered in the first place under this so-called "formula", so to think that you will instantly benefit with $15 drugs needs to re-examined. You may be shocked one day if your prescription doesn't fall under the formula. The people this plan will benefit are the insurance companies, which they would gladly continue to cover seeing that it is the government would would be paying them, so to think the the insurance companies will all of a sudden "deinsure" is flawed thinking. If I was the insurance company, I'd be voting NDP too.
A universal drug plan is a joke. There is no means testing whatsoever. They only people who would truly benefit are those on low income and the BIG BAD INSURANCE COMPANIES -- big bad corporations people in this province love to hate. Now, on the flip side, do you honestly believe that someone who is earning $100,000 a year really need this plan? I would think not.
If you are so gung-ho on voting NDP, let me ask you the following questions: Is this drug plan a means to help repair net population decline since Calvert became Premier? Does it make you easily forgive this government for the way they treated the malicious prosecution of Richard Klassen or the payout of $275,000 to Murdoch Carriere? Or what about recently released Stats Can job numbers that show Saskatchewan having the second worst job creation next to Newfoundland-Labrador? Have you ever wondered why throughout this entire campaign, the NDP had FAILED to run on their record of 16 years in government?
On November 7th, I would love to throw all of the above away.
Posted November 4, 2007 11:56 AM
In response to Randy's comments. Having lived in Alberta for about a decade now, I've seen both sides of the fence. There is no single political party that has it right.... The NDP haven't developed SK's natural resources quickly enough and that is their major short coming in my estimate.... The PCs and the NDP could honestly learn something from each other... The NDP are all for strong social infrastructure, which is very important, and the PCs are pro business which keeps the money flowing....
I moved to Alberta just before deregulation of the utilities.... No one here wanted it except the politicians... So why did they do it? Who knows, but my thought was the hidden agenda that many politicians have to help their big business buddies. And PCs seem to be more guilty of that type of behaviour than the NDP.
If NONE of the Sask Party members were left overs from the Devine era, You could make an argument about it.... But Devine and his cronies left a really bad taste in my mouth, and I would never trust a party that embraces members from Devine's corrupt regime... Why do you think the Sask Party came into existance? Many of the same members, but a different name to try and shake their past....
I did move to Alberta for economic prosperity, you're right there.... But to be honest, and I've said this to many Albertans... A monkey could be running Alberta and it would prosper because there's so much oil revenue... So I don't credit the PCs with Alberta's prosperity so much.
Perhaps it's time to start a new party.... Perhaps we could call it the "Balanced" party.... It doesn't have to be one way or the other... Why can't we be pro business and pro social infrastructure at the same time? A healthy, educated society makes for a good work force...
I guess what it comes down to is I trust the NDP to do what's best for the social interest as a whole (acknowledging they need to work on business/resource development)... I don't trust the Sask Party because of the Devine PC members that blatantly stole from all of Saskatchewan 15-20 years ago.
Posted November 4, 2007 11:28 AM
If the people
of Saskachewan reject the NDP on Nov. 7th there goes a Universal [note the word UNIVERSAL] drug Plan. Think about this. Can you afford your own drugs or the insurance company that might de-insure?
This is a plan we share with the rest of Canada.. It is the right thing to do!.It is the Saskatchewan Way!..
Premiers Romanow and Calvert's New Democrats for 16 years have provided us with good, trustworthy government, all the while under the burden of Wall's and Devines's legacy of cynicism, mistrust and $15B debt.
DON'T THROW IT ALL AWAY Nov 7th.
Jacquie Christenson in Saskatoon
Posted November 4, 2007 09:42 AM
John has it right the way the seats are set up the cities put in the government [regina,saskatoon ] the sask party can have 65% of the vote but the ndp just have to win by 1-10 votes in each riding in the two major cities and they are in power again.heaven help us! And wow ex-resident in alberta if things were so good here for the last 16 years why are you in alberta where things are so bad. hard to answer right.
Posted November 4, 2007 08:58 AM
Once again, I must wag the finger at our antiquated and prejudiced voting system. I don't know exactly what percentage of the vote the SaskParty will get if they win the election. What I do know is that a majority government can be formed with as little as 39% - 40% of the popular vote. Most majority governments elected national and provincially will have more than half of the electorate voting AGAINST the "ruling" party. 55% of voters actually voted against the NDP in 2003. Expect something similar this time.
We must remind ourselves that until we have a voting system that creates proportional results, our legislature will NOT reflect how people actually voted.
It is my prediction that a SaskParty government (or NDP for that matter) will likely NOT have an actual mandate. Their "majority" will be a false one.
Posted November 3, 2007 11:27 PM
Here is my predicted outcome folks;
SASKPARTY--35
NDP--------23
LIBERAL----00
ANY OTHER GUESSES OUT THERE?!
Posted November 3, 2007 10:45 PM
Um.... I lived in Saskatchewan during the Grant Devine era.... My friends who still live in SK keep telling me the Sask Party has a shot at winning this election!!!
Um hello!!!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't the Sask Party made up of a significant number of former Devine PC members? Wake up people.... The wolf is just wearing a different disguise this time....
Having said that... The NDP need to start capitalizing on the wealth of natural resources that Saskatchewan has....
Easier to try and fix the NDP, who did a decent job of cleaning up after the Devine fiasco, than to open the door to the wolf again....
Posted November 3, 2007 10:11 PM
As a long time supporter of the NDP I must admit the government will change on Wednesday. The scary part is how many seats will the Sask. party win, one only has to look into the past and know that a government with a huge majority is usually not held accountable for their actions except at election time. There are some scary people in the Sask. party hopefully the level headed ones out number the scary ones. Not to many governments survive for 16 years especially through the lean years of the 90's with all the Federal transfer cuts and tax increases. Kline of Alberta holds the record in re-elections but with all the wealth in that province it did'nt take a rocket scientist to govern the province. I know this is Calverts last election whether he wins or loses, thats probably good as the NDP need a new look with new idea's so that they can defeat the Sask. party on Nov. 7, 2011. (Wall did promise set elections every 4 years didn't he?)
Posted November 3, 2007 12:07 PM