Jumping the gun

Those interested in formal politics consistently bemoan the decline in voter interest evident in pretty much any North American or European ‘democratic’ country you can think of.

Manitoban provincial elections have not escaped this downward trend, for a host of reasons more numerous and debatable than I care to go into.

But, on the heels of a slight increase in voter turnout for the 2010 municipal election (47.1% this year compared with 38.2% in 2006), it seems as though the provincial election of 2011 (to be held on October 4) might turn out to be more interesting than any provincial election has been in years.

Though a PC victory wouldn’t change the political landscape of Manitoba too drastically - let’s face it, the NDP are a sorry example of a social democratic party - there is a chance that a death-blow may come to former Premier Gary Doer’s NDP dynasty.

At least, that’s how both the government and the opposition have been acting of late.

It’s far too early to tell how much of the assertive rhetoric espoused recently by PC leader Hugh McFadyen is justified, but it certainly did seem weird to come across a NDP attack ad aimed at McFadyen and his party last week - a full 11 months prior to the election date.

Yes, Greg Selinger will be running a rookie campaign as leader, but one would think the NDP should more confidence in their 36 seats in the legislature than is implied by such a pre-emptive strike.

At any rate, the PCs seem to be more confidant, much earlier, than they were in 2007, when a series of weird promises by McFadyen et al. demonstrated their uneasiness with taking on the NDP machine.

For an examination of one of the biggest early election issues, the decision over Manitoba Hydro’s Bipole III project, check out Andrew Podolecki’s comments article in this week’s Uniter, which will hit newsstands on Thursday.