THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
VOL. 93 | NO. 39 | $4.25
REDUCING SPRAY DRIFT | P68
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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ELECTION 2015
How the West was won Analysts say rural votes swing on populist principles, rather than left or right wing policies BY ROBERT ARNASON BRANDON BUREAU
For most of the 1980s, the Progressive Conser vative party didn’t have a prayer in the federal riding of Yorkton-Melville. PC candidates in the elections of 1980, 1984 and 1988 garnered only 35 percent of the vote and
finished a distant second behind NDP MP Lorne Nystrom. Two decades later, in the 2000s, the voting pattern in northeastern Saskatchewan swung extremely to the political right. Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz received 63 to 68 percent of the votes in the riding, winning elections in 2004, 2006 and 2008
without a bead of perspiration because NDP candidates only received 19 percent of the vote. A vote shift of more than 30 points in just 15 years is remarkable and represents a wider phenomenon in Western Canada. In the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s and reaching back to the 1930s, the NDP and other parties
had a fighting chance in rural ridings, particularly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. However, in the last 20 years the Reform party, Canadian Alliance and the Conser vatives have owned rural and agricultural regions in the West, coasting to victory with margins of 15,000 to 20,000 votes.
Jim Farney, a University of Regina political scientist, said Tory domination is more complicated than voters moving collectively to the right. He said the Conservatives have taken advantage of the rural affinity for political populism. SEE NDP, PAGE 4
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Experts predict rural voters will remain loyal to the Conservative party this election. | WILLIAM DEKAY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
Wet weather sets back harvest in Sask., Alta. Almost 40 percent of western crops are not harvested because of poor weather conditions BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM
A reader tweeted this photo from his field near Saskatoon on Sept. 17. “Hello sunshine! Please stay a while so we can get going on this #harvest15!” FOR MORE READER PHOTOS, SEE PRODUCER. COM/2015/09/HARVEST-15-PHOTO-PROJECT/ | ROB MAKOWSKY PHOTO
Persistently cool, wet weather during the last part of August and the first two weeks of September has thrown a nasty curveball at prairie farmers who still have crops in the field. As of late last week, about 40 percent of total western Canadian acreage had yet to be harvested. Most unharvested acres are in central and northern Saskatchewan and northern Alberta, where wet weather has caused delays. In those regions, rain has washed away realistic hopes that yet-to-beharvested cereals will qualify for top grades. “It’s pretty frustrating,” said Jeff Mathieson, who farms between
Humboldt and Watson in central Saskatchewan. “There’d be at least 75 percent of the crop still out in the field in our area (as of Sept. 16) and field conditions are extremely wet.… These aren’t the worst conditions we’ve ever had, but this is probably the most water we’ve ever had in areas where there is good crop to harvest.” Mathieson said low spots that produced above average yields on his farm are now sitting in at least 25 centimetres of water. Machines that have big rubber are still able to operate in the area, but harvest progress is slow and the number of abandoned acres is mounting. SEE WET WEATHER, PAGE 3
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u xhHEEJBy00001pzYv.:^ SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240
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