I hope that election season 2009 is not marred by negative campaigning.

To me, voting is exciting because it’s an opportunity to participate in our democratic process. Yawn, right? Wrong.

The Douglas Park By-election is shaping up to be a hot race, and ReginaStreets is on the trail. September 21, 2009 is voting day, and we’ll be following with a watchful eye on the candidates. Stay tuned

While I am looking forward to watching this race unfold, I’m feeling a little bit let down by the preliminaries.  The Saskatchewan Party’s site contains a particularly troubling quote that may signal the tone for this election.  Peterson was quoted as saying, “The NDP vision is focused on the past, with leadership that represents a time in Saskatchewan’s history when both the economy and population were shrinking.”  I don’t think that the Saskatchewan electoral system needs negative campaigning, especially when there are so many constructive things to say about our constituency.

I live in Regina Douglas Park and am especially interested in hearing about some troubling trends in our constituency.  Our area has been particularly hard hit by the condo-ification of Regina and when I vote, I will vote with housing in mind.  We are a young constituency, so I am also quite interested in hearing how our candidates feel about higher education in our province.

The most interesting part of the whole statement is that almost exactly two years ago, a poster named Kathleen Peterson wrote the following on a CBC web page:

This sort of message does not resonate with me. I do not like it when politicians try to “frighten” me instead of talking about their own policies. To me, this says that “the Sask Party is even worse than us, so you better vote for the lesser of two evils” — hardly a good reason to vote for any party. I am insulted by the implication that I am so uninformed and so simple in the head that I need to be “scared” into voting for the incumbent party. The NDP need to change the record — this one is getting boring.

While there is no way to know if they are, in fact, the same person, I would be inclined to cast my vote for the Kathleen Peterson who posted on the CBC’s site.  She made some brilliant points that resonate strongly with me.  While they make for great sound bytes, negative politics are incredibly boring and are likely part of why so few Canadians choose to vote.

Please candidates, run for office on your policies, not on  your personal attacks.  Once you are elected, you will have plenty of time to insult your colleagues during question period.

This by-election is incredibly important to me as well.  In my wildest dreams, this by-election will emerge as an opportunity to discuss important issues.  An election is not only a chance to vote, it is a chance to get provincial politicians to go on the record and talk about important issues like the environment, the social deficit, affordable housing and economic development.  Because of the importance attached to this particular by-election, the Regina Douglas Park race will be a great barometer of Saskatchewan politics and of the direction of Saskatchewan political parties.

If you live in Regina Douglas Park, please make a commitment to vote in this important by-election.  If you do not like any of the political parties, or if you do not think they represent your point of view, you have two choices.  Either spoil your ballot or run as an independent.  Abstaining from the vote is not a legitimate form of protest.

This will be a very exciting by-election and I cannot wait to watch it unfold.  Best of luck to all the candidates!

So far, the election seems like it will be another interesting one.  Victor Becker Lau has already come out swinging, pointing out four major issues that affect the constituency.  In Becker Lau’s mind, nuclear power, poverty, affordable education and electoral reform are going to be key issues in this by-election.  Larissa Shasko (Leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party) fired a well-timed salvo at the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, stating that “A two-party system between the NDP and the SaskParty is failing the environmental and social aspirations of the people of Saskatchewan.”

To his credit, Dwain Lingenfelter has done his best to come across as a statesman, a role which Lorne Calvert never seemed quite comfortable accepting.  On the Provincial N.D.P’s web site, Lingenfelter diplomatically noted that, “many people, such as farmers, students, working men and women, Seniors and the economically-challenged are not seeing that prosperity.  We will be the voice of fair and equal treatment.” Decidedly N.D.P., that statement has a certain ‘third wave’ voice that seriously reminds me of something Roy Romanow would have said.

It will be very interesting to see who will get the Sask Party nomination and what will happen during the run-up to the election.  While Regina Douglas Park is considered prime N.D.P. territory, the Saskatchewan Party will certainly try to send Lingenfelter packing.  A Saskatchewan Party win would be a major blow to the New Democrats and to Dwain Lingenfelter.  Be sure to watch this space (or subscribe to our RSS feed) to keep track of this race – it is going to be a good one!