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| Last updated at 2:56 AM on 27/06/07 |
Politics beyond the overpass 
THE TELEGRAM
The Telegram
This isn’t political science at all, not even the reading of the voting tea leaves — just a question about tactics and politics and how the various parties decide their electoral toast is buttered.
It will be interesting to see how the province’s political parties play our place in Canada in the upcoming provincial election.
And the most interesting part of that will be where and when and in front of which audiences the provincial Conservatives will try to play the Newfoundland and Labrador nationalism card.
And an upcoming election, it certainly is.
If nothing else, a fixed election date of Oct. 9 has meant the formal campaign has begun months before it normally would.
After all, Premier Danny Williams had a campaign whistle-stop in Labrador today, with just enough time for a highway paving announcement and a sod-
turning, so things are clearly underway. The plans for campaigns are clearly in operation, and the strategies pretty much set.
To get back to the Canada card.
You could be facetious and say that governments vote with their wallets, and the fact that the province has just issued a tender for 5,000 Newfoundland and Labrador flag lapel pins, versus just 3,400 pins with both this province’s flag and the national banner, is somehow telling, suggesting proto-separatist leanings.
And given the current frosty relations between Premier Danny Williams and the federal government, there will no doubt be calls for a “strong mandate” to “show the feds we’re united and we mean business.”
In reality, though, chances are that what we’re likely to see and hear will probably depend on the audience being addressed.
After all, toying with separation sells differently in different parts of the province.
In Labrador, the idea might well be a complete non-starter: after all, the very issues that Newfoundlanders raise about Confederation — lack of respect from a senior government, lack of representation and the siphoning off of the value of natural resources — are legitimate concerns for Labradorians in the way they are treated by our provincial government.
In other rural parts of the province, while letters to the editor and open-line shows give a clear picture of discontent with federal policies, there is still a clear and pragmatic recognition that federal dollars are turning an economy that the provincial government doesn’t have the gas to run.
In all likelihood, the most strident message about autonomy and being masters of our own house will come in the urban centres, primarily St. John’s, where there’s just more — more time, more money, more jobs — and where voters have fewer concerns about whether their next job will be in Alberta.
All in all, this will be an interesting election to watch.
Look for Stephen Harper to be cast as the straw man, and the real opponent, for the province’s Conservatives.
But watch also how carefully they watch both their audiences and their messages. And don’t be surprised if the message depends on which part of this province you call home.
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27/06/07
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