2008: The Road to Renewal

The holiday season is a great time to reflect upon the past year and look ahead to the year before us. As we begin to focus on the excitement and anticipation of a brand new year, we should also take to the time to look back at 2008.

The word “grassroots” gets used so often in politics that it has almost become meaningless. Many political parties, in the aftermath of defeat in an election, often cite the need to rebuild the ‘grassroots’ of their party’s organization. We were no different in identifying that need after our defeat in the 2007 Provincial election. However, we have been very different in how we have been paying more than pay lip service to this effort.

The first few months of 2008 were a period of introspection about our party, our electoral misfortune, and the future. Whether alone, in small groups, or at party events, many members openly discussed and debated the best approach with which to move forward. Hundreds of informal conversations across the province were resulting in a myriad of new ideas and different approaches coming forward- everything from how to organize local constituency associations to the ideological direction of the party.

While we were getting very good at identifying what ‘should be done,’ we still needed to identify who would execute these big ideas. There is an instinct to ‘look up’ to the leadership in organizations to make decisions and get things done. That is a natural part of organizational behaviour. However, our party had a leadership void and the race to find a new Party Leader had not yet been announced. As time passed it was becoming more and more clear that if we were going to rebuild our party, we would need to empower ourselves as party members and start the renewal effort using our own initiative. As the party that has historically championed personal initiative in Saskatchewan we would need to show that internally as party members.

The road to renewal began by formalizing what had been casual conversations for the first four months of the year. On May 5, a group of members eager to see talk turn into action hosted a renewal workshop in Saskatoon that attracted about 40 members. The premise of the meeting was simple: members inviting members to come together and openly discuss our party’s situation and begin forming an action plan to rebuild.

We began by heeding the wisdom of philosopher George Santayana; “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The workshop started with an hour- long presentation and examination of the historical trends of the party’s fortunes for every election since 1905 including seat counts, popular vote, success relative to the other parties, and fundraising. This provided an effective foundation for discussion and was followed by a lively discussion about our current situation and the factors that have historically led to our success.

We then enjoyed a presentation from Lynn Stephens, a former Liberal MLA and Cabinet Minister from British Columbia who was part of the team that rebuilt the BC Liberals after being shut out in 3 consecutive elections in the 1980s. Lynn shared many stories of the road to renewal for the BC Liberals and some very wise advice: develop a strong message and stick with it. She made it very clear that it is difficult to organize a political party without a strong, consistent message for people to believe in.

The workshop concluded with a discussion of the party’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Everyone was encouraged to speak their mind- nothing was off the table and there was no such think as a ‘silly’ idea. We covered a wide range of issues including organizational structure, engagement of youth and the aboriginal community, our status as a unitary party with the Liberal Party of Canada, lack of identity with voters, policy development, and how to differentiate ourselves as distinct and unique to the other parties in Saskatchewan.

Optimism was very high after the workshop. Hearing about the BC Liberal experience and how they were able to turn their fortunes around combined with open discussion about our own party’s future increased morale considerably. Excitement about a new, refreshing approach of an empowered membership driving a stronger party with a stronger message was infectious. It was unanimously decided that very day to reprise the workshop in Regina one month later.

Considerable debate emerged between workshops about the ‘message’ of the Saskatchewan Liberals and how best to articulate our philosophy to the rest of the province. In early May the Leadership Convention was announced for November 14-15 and it was generally believed that the race would provide an opportunity for candidates to express different adaptations of liberal values. However, waiting for the Leadership race to start was not going to stop the grassroots renewal effort that was gaining momentum.

The Regina workshop was held on June 2nd and was very similar to the Saskatoon workshop with the exception of Lynn Stephens presentation. There were many new faces at the workshop, although the total number of people who attended was again about 40. Many of the same issues that were identified at the Saskatoon workshop were also identified in Regina, with particular concentration on the party’s message and the need for membership input into the party’s policy development process.

One of the highlights of 2008 for me was June 25th. It was the day that I announced my intention to seek the Leadership of the party. The decision to enter the Leadership race was largely based on the same philosophy as the grassroots renewal effort: that the success of the party was based on an empowered membership and the role of the Leader is to provide the membership a voice. The style of Leadership I offered (and continue to offer) is that of servant- leadership that would encourage more openness, accountability, and transparency within the party and, by extension, the party would champion those values in the province.

The team that came together for the Leadership campaign was closely aligned to the grassroots renewal effort and we wasted no time in spreading the message of an empowered membership across the province. The month of July was spent traveling Saskatchewan meeting with members and hearing from them their ideas and hopes for the party. We encouraged everyone to share their thoughts openly and to stand up and be heard within the party.

On July 26th another renewal workshop was hosted in Craik. This workshop was different than the first two in that it concentrated on building an action plan around two issues identified in the first two workshops: policy development and our status as a unitary party.

The workshop resulted in the development of a policy development process that would see the resurrection of the party’s Policy Committee co-chaired by an elected Policy Chair and the Party Leader. The committee would include all nominated candidates to ensure that candidates have input and are well versed in party policy, and any other stakeholders identified by the Co- Chairs. In order to ensure that party policy was reflective of the needs and desires of people of Saskatchewan and not special interest or lobby groups, the committee would proactively seek the advice and input of stakeholders from outside the party in different policy areas. Local constituency associations would be encouraged to draft policy resolutions important to individual communities, and all resolutions developed by local associations and the policy committee would require ratification by the membership at Policy Conventions.

The second result of the Craik workshop was the drafting of a resolution to debate the creation of two new Liberal associations in Saskatchewan: one for our Provincial party and another for the Federal party. Keeping with the philosophy of discussing issues ‘head on’ in an open manner, we debated the merits of our unitary status. It was agreed at the workshop that our status as a unitary party is a fundamental identity issue for our membership. Therefore, it was important for our membership to debate, discuss, and make a decision. Each and every member would have their say on the issue at the upcoming Leadership Convention in November.

Our Leadership campaign fully endorsed these two decisions and we were excited about how the approach was gaining traction. People who were attending the workshops were being heard and we were starting to change the corporate culture of the party. Momentum was building as we headed into August and our campaign was back on the road traveling Saskatchewan.

I was acclaimed as Leader- Elect of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party on August 15th, which resulted in a change of focus of our efforts. While the campaign to win the Leadership of the Party was essentially over, the campaign to rebuild the party was just beginning. The momentum generated by this event put even more wind in our sails as we continued to travel throughout rural Saskatchewan to hear from our membership.

One week later on August 22nd we hosted a breakfast in Saskatoon where as Leader- Elect I presented a vision for Saskatchewan’s economic fortune based on what we had been hearing from our membership. Many people in the province were concerned about the overzealous government spending that was anticipated as a result of a large budget surplus generated by natural resource revenue. You can read about it here.

The remaining months of 2008 have been spent continuing the renewal effort. The hard work associated with this cannot be underestimated. While many political leaders will from time to time host events to speak to their members, it is our view that this does little to engage people. In order to truly rebuild the party we need to ask ourselves the hard questions and be unafraid of the answers. Since August we have been picking up the phone, getting in the car, and speaking to members on an individual basis. All of us have been doing so on a volunteer basis on evenings and weekends. This also includes me in my role as Leader- Elect as I continue to have full time responsibilities as General Manager of the Battlefords Regional Economic Development Authority until March 2009.

One of the questions we ask is “Why are you a Liberal?” This has been an easy question for our members to answer. Liberals believe in our Party because it was founded on a philosophy of personal and economic freedom for the individual in society. We are the champions of free enterprise and Saskatchewan’s social conscience. We do not need to re- invent the tenets of liberalism in Saskatchewan- we simply need to be able to spread those values throughout the province with a strong, clear message. Most encouraging is how many non- members we have spoken to also identify with the liberal belief system.

The Leadership Convention originally scheduled for November 14- 15 was postponed until February 20- 21, 2009 due to the Federal election this past Fall. This event will be a turning point for the party. The hard work associated with grassroots renewal will culminate at the Convention as we discuss and debate policy alternatives, clarify our message of prairie liberalism to the people of Saskatchewan, and celebrate an empowered membership. The hard work over the past year will result in a stronger member base, a stonger message, and a stronger party.

The road to renewal is long and winding, and around each bend is another opportunity for each of us as members to stand up make our voice heard.