Populist impulse, pragmatic values analyzed through history of Saskatchewan politics

As a former journalist covering Saskatchewan and Alberta, Dale Eisler has long believed the political and economic transformation of Saskatchewan is one of the more interesting and under-reported stories in Canada, and he was motivated to contribute to a fuller view of the province’s history.

“As someone who came of age in the late 1960s, I witnessed and, in some cases, covered as a journalist many of the events that I believe were critical factors in the province’s transformation,” says the senior policy fellow at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina.

Eisler’s new book, From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transformation, identifies April 26, 1982, as a tipping point in the political history of Saskatchewan when the province changed its political loyalty from the New Democratic Party to the Progressive Conservative Party.

“There were not many public polls in 1982,” says Eisler. “During the campaign, it became clear that a political shift was under way. But it wasn’t until the final week that the scope of the groundswell became evident. At the beginning of the campaign, the PC party had internal polls that showed them that a majority was within their reach. In the final days, the NDP vote began evaporating.”

While to the rest of Canada, this change in political stripes may have seemed sudden, Eisler fleshes out the influences of prior national and global events that led to Saskatchewan’s political sea change and eventually to the creation of its present-day Saskatchewan Party.

“What my book attempts to do,” he says, “is thread those events together using a longer-term and broader view that also considers how populism has been a powerful force for change and remains so to this day. It uses the lens of populism more than ideology to explain the last 50 years.”

Eisler notes, “Saskatchewan people are, at their core, pragmatic, having a strong sense of community and conservative instincts. Those values are rooted in the province’s history and have been a fuel for populist politicians to emerge.”

He emphasizes that this populist impulse remains strong, and needs to be acknowledged and managed carefully by political figures who are committed to bringing people together, rather than dividing them.

Eisler expects that From Left to Right will appeal to anyone interested in the evolution of Saskatchewan and the role that politics has played in its transformation.

“Politics has been the dominant force shaping the province and its identity,” he says. “So hopefully, it will provide a bit of a road map showing how Saskatchewan has gone from the birthplace of the CCF-NDP, to a bastion of the conservative Saskatchewan Party.”

Politicians and political advisors may also gain valuable insights from this book.

“Political and economic change happens gradually over many years, driven by events that are often global in nature and beyond the scope of a provincial government or political parties,” Eisler says.

“The challenge for parties is to recognize change and adapt to it. Too often parties are ideologically rigid and seek to resist change, rather than reconciling themselves and their beliefs to the new reality that is beyond their ability to prevent from happening.”