Mandryk: Moe’s Poilievre endorsement cools Western separatists heat

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Surprise. Surprise. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is voting Conservative.

Well, not really a surprise. Moe is a Conservative. And his Saskatchewan Party is Conservative.

Long gone is the notion that the Sask. Party is (or ever was) an amalgamation of old Progressive Conservatives and Liberals.

This is now the provincial wing of the federal Conservative Party with three ex-government MLAs (MPs Corey Tochor and Warren Steinley and favoured Souris-Moose Mountain candidate Steven Bonk) all running as Conservative candidates.

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Some would argue Moe’s endorsement simply dispenses with the phoney pretence of separation between the provincial and federal parties.

But … surprise. Surprise. Scott Moe is now telling everyone else to vote Conservative, too.

This is surprising because even premiers and prime ministers directly affiliated traditionally subscribe to the quaint notion that you put partisanship aside during election campaigns so that you can better work with whomever wins.

There’s good reason for such political etiquette — especially now when we all need to come together to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs and determination to make Canada the 51st state.

Even without Trump’s existential threats, federal and provincial governments — including ones that disagree — must work co-operatively on everything from child care to trade to whatever lies around the corner, especially if it’s as serious as another pandemic.

Unfortunately, after seven years of increasingly upping the anti-Justin Trudeau/federal Liberal government rhetoric, Moe just can’t seem to tone it down.

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So, six months after Moe’s brief post-election message of humility — “there’s a tone that needs to change — that starts with me” — the Saskatchewan premier is now doubling down in the waning days of this federal campaign.

In Moe’s recent social media post he said his hometown of Shellbrook “feels a million miles away” from Ottawa because the federal government “has turned its back on this part of the country.” This goes beyond his norm.

It subliminally justifies Western alienation-separation feelings, recently reignited by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning prior to his True North Strong and Free conference that Moe and many other Sask. Party/Conservative members attended.

On the eve of the conference, Manning wrote in the Globe and Mail on April 2: “Voters, particularly in central and Atlantic Canada, need to recognize that a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession — a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it.”

After Manning’s remarks on separatism, Moe was already ominously warning a Liberal Mark Carney win means “we are going to have a significant problem moving forward.”

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So we should have seen Moe’s endorsement coming. It fits Moe’s true nature, the current political climate and Pierre Poilievre’s needs.

Because he is running to become prime minister, Poilievre has had to walk a narrow line between simply saying another Liberal term is bad for the country and sometimes sounding like he’s appeasing Western/alienation sentiments.

Moe now obviously has no such qualms announcing Carney is bad for Saskatchewan and bad for Canadian unity and that you should vote Conservative.

This is highly valuable to Poilievre, who needs to counter the Liberal message — one buttressed by the opinion polls — that this election is about Trump and that Carney is best suited to handle the Trump threat.

Those same polls note a Liberal surge — supposedly, even in urban Saskatchewan. This is why Liberals are now spinning the notion that the Conservative leader is finally making late campaign stops in Saskatoon on Thursday and Friday.

More likely, Saskatchewan’s big cities just happen to be where Poilievre can now attract big crowds for the final campaign push of the Conservative narrative that the polls are wrong and it’s really his party with all the momentum.

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Moe has happily joined that push.

But what happens if the polls are right and Carney wins?

Well, expect even worse relations with the federal Liberal government … but that may be the least of our problems.

Instead of toning down the alienation sentiment, Moe’s endorsement will fuel it. And the Saskatchewan premier seems comfortable with that.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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