As students head back to classrooms and the rest of us prepare to greet autumn by doing the things we do to gird ourselves for winter, our thoughts also turn to the reality of a provincial general election.
The fixed election date means we all know how this campaign is going to roll out in terms of time lines, if not strategies.
November 7 is the date and from what we've seen so far, it's going to be a two-party contest.
Anyone who had thoughts that the Liberals, Green or Conservative parties were going to take a serious run this time around, can sit back and relax. Once again their campaigns will be reduced to token representations.
For the most part, it appears as if Saskatchewan's residents are happy enough under the guiding Saskatchewan Party and strategic analysis from political pundits place them firmly in the driver's seat this time around. In fact, there is talk about a landslide scenario developing.
Any time you have one political party completely dominating, it generally spells disaster unless there is true democratic leadership at the helm, a benevolent despot if you wish. Otherwise, you get a political machine that gets arrogant and willing to run roughshod over any opposition and eventually, the general citizenship, with an attitude of entitlement.
That's what the Sask. Party may have to combat come November 8. At least that's the picture we see developing so far heading into the serious part of the campaign.
Saskatchewan has economic stability and a growing population. But of course, with those, come corresponding problems.
What we don't have, as we've come to learn during the past few months, is a decent mental health system and facilities. We also don't have enough room for our prisoners. Our jails are double booked and space that used to be designated for rehabilitation programs is being used for housing inmates.
We don't have a decent addictions treatment regime either from what we've learned and we don't need to get started on the woefully wimpy efforts we've received in addressing housing and physician or health care shortages, both in southeast Saskatchewan and province-wide.
In recent months we have witnessed our premier out-socialize the opposition NDP with projects and concepts that bear scrutiny and possible acceptance. It has become obvious that Brad Wall has received the messages and in a true Saskatchewan spirit, he appears to be setting his sights on providing some of the infrastructure needs, even if it means out-socializing the socialists.
We have a province that showed some courage in moving forward with a green agenda while their federal counterparts retreated to the "we don't know what to do right now" side of the picture.
Saskatchewan is a province with low unemployment, plenty of job opportunities, an education system that requires some repairs, but is generally accepted as being superior, and a province that is trying mightily to correct some huge infrastructure items that have suffered from years, if not decades, of neglect.
We expect to see Opposition leader Dwain Lingenfelter, the veteran campaigner, keep the heat on during the entire campaign. His NDP have the campaign funds in the bank, they have a long-standing membership structure and they have ideas they wish to explore with the electorate.
Once again it seems as if Saskatchewanians are heading into a fall season that will be filled with some exciting campaign rhetoric and a typical no-holds-barred battle.
We look forward to listening and learning.
