The Liberals have brought out the heavy-hitters in their party in their bid to get leader Ryan Bater elected in the Battlefords.
Friday the party welcomed one of its former leaders, Ralph Goodale, to the Battlefords. The Wascana MP and former federal Liberal cabinet minister joined Bater for a meet and greet with Liberals at their campaign office on 101st Street. He then joined Bater at a media conference on economic issues before spending the rest of the day campaigning with Bater in the community.
Goodale is not the only big name Bater is rolling out in the days before the vote November 7. Plans were also in the works to bring in Justin Trudeau, Liberal MP from Papineau and son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Trudeau is expected to join Bater in the Battlefords Thursday. Trudeau and Bater are also planning a reception at the Remai Arts Centre in Saskatoon from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
The Liberals said the appearances of Goodale and Trudeau are giving their campaign momentum heading into the final days of the race in the Battlefords. Bater is taking on incumbent Len Taylor of the NDP, Herb Cox of the Saskatchewan Party and Owen Swiderski of the Green Party.
Arrival of the two high-profile Liberals also keeps up with a steady stream of visits from the leaders of the other parties, with the NDP's Dwain Lingenfelter having been to the Battlefords twice already and with Premier Brad Wall already here once for a policy announcement on health care during the second week of the campaign. Health Minister Don McMorris joined Wall for that event.
The Saskatchewan Party was expected to step up their campaign activities this week in the Battlefords, with Premier Wall expected to make a visit to the riding for a luncheon event Thursday.
At the Liberal press conference Friday, Bater and Goodale talked about the Liberals' policies on reigning in spending in Regina. They cited figures claiming NDP promises would mean 24 per cent more spending in 2011-12 while Sask. Party promises would mean 19 per cent more. According to the Liberals, their own policies would see government expenditures rise only three per cent over five years with an $884 million reduction in the first year.
Bater decried what he saw as spending based on one-time resource revenues. He also called the spending promises made in the campaign "horrendous."
"We are now into the biggest spending era in Saskatchewan history," said Bater.
During the question and answer session that followed, Bater dismissed any suggestion the spending was needed to stimulate the economy.
"If there was any province in the country that didn't need stimulus money it was Saskatchewan," he said.
Bater took the province to task for a focus on "megaprojects" and infrastructure spending during a time when the province's economy was "red hot." He said the province was competing with the private sector for labour and material, and suggested it was driving up the cost of infrastructure.
"The costs of those buildings has gone up dramatically because government was competing with the private sector," said Bater.
Goodale added there was "very little lasting legacy" to show for the spending, calling the stimulus "ad hoc."
Bater said at the news conference he was happy to have Goodale with him because it was a similar situation in 1986, when he ran as leader, with resource revenues being spent as fast as they were taken in. Bater described Goodale as the "one sole voice of reason" in that election.
Goodale, who led the provincial Liberals from 1981 to '88, added another hoped-for comparison to the 1986 campaign by pointing out "the Liberal leader got elected." He pointed to his own victory in Assiniboia-Gravelbourg in that vote.
"Ryan has an enormous opportunity to swim against the tide," said Goodale, saying Bater had a chance to be a "voice that speaks out for plain common sense" in Regina. Goodale also spoke about the value of having a third voice in the legislature compared to having a legislature that was either dominated by one party or polarized between two parties.
"The legislature needs a person of that calibre," said Goodale.
Goodale was in a similar situation to Bater when he led the Liberal party, which did not hold a seat in the legislature from 1978 until 1986 when Goodale was elected.
As for advice he would give Bater this election, it would be "stick with it, stick to it, you're on the right track. This is a constituency in this election that could very easily produce the same result as Assiniboia-Gravelbourg in 1986."
Goodale noted the focus in the 1986 election was similar to Bater's in 2011 as Goodale also directed his efforts towards winning a seat in the legislature.
What was not mentioned was the Liberals were running far fewer candidates this time compared to 1986. Apart from Bater, only eight other Liberals are running in Saskatchewan's 58 ridings, including one in Regina and seven in Saskatoon.
The Liberals say the strategy of focusing almost entirely on the Battlefords has freed up Bater from criss-crossing the province and has allowed him to concentrate his efforts on the Battlefords. Bater said he's been out of the riding only one day - to attend the Saskatchewan Teacher's Federation forum in the first week. The rest of the time was spent in the Battlefords campaigning, he said.
When asked if this risked putting him out of sight from the provincial media, Bater said the opposite was true and that his party made the TV supper-hour news every day during the first 10 days.
"The beauty of modern technology is that you can do interviews almost anywhere," said Bater, who credits release of the platform on the first day of the election as having allowed the party to get a lot of provincial attention.
