Subdued Sask. leaders' debate unlikely to sway voters, experts say
Political watchers say Scott Moe, Carla Beck played it safe
The Saskatchewan leaders' debate was a low-key affair that likely did little to sway voters to either party's side, say experts.
Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe and NDP Leader Carla Beck walked away from the debate relatively unscathed, said Daniel Westlake, a University of Saskatchewan political studies professor.
"I'm not sure either party had an advantage of pulling more voters to either side, and I'd be surprised if this moved the polls or the voters from where they were prior to the debate," Westlake said during Wednesday's post-debate panel discussion on CBC News.
No risks: Leaders stuck to scripts
Both leaders kept to familiar talking points they've used since the campaign started, Westlake said.
"I think both parties feel relatively comfortable with the messages they're getting out," he said.
"On the NDP side, they're comfortable that they've done enough to attack the Sask. Party record to pull some voters over. But the Sask. Party is probably feeling that they're holding on to enough of their rural base and urban base. Neither party leader feels like they need to push more than what they've pushing the last few weeks."
- Watch more Sask. election coverage, including full news conferences, on CBC Saskatchewan's YouTube page.
The debate likely won't drastically change fortunes for either party, Westlake said.
"I suspect this leaves us where we were before the debate," he said. "It probably means more votes for the NDP, but I'm not sure it's enough to make Carla Beck premier."
Both leaders were exceedingly cautious during the debate, Postmedia columnist Murray Mandryk said during the post-debate show on CBC News.
"Neither one of them seem to be taking a huge amount of chances. So there wasn't the fiery exchanges that I think you might want to see," he said.
Mandryk said the debate did not finish with a clear winner.
"I don't necessarily think that Carla Beck accomplished quite as much as some hoped she would. And she had to probably do more in this debate than Scott Moe did," Mandryk said.
"I don't ever think there's ever clearly a winner or a loser in most debates unless somebody horribly stumbles. And I don't think either one of them did that."
The morning after
On Saskatoon Morning's post-debate discussion, political watchers described the performances as restrained but respectable.
"I don't think there were any major blows. I don't think there's any major hits," said Charles Smith, a University of Saskatchewan political studies professor.
"I thought it was sort of just a low-key debate that probably won't be remembered much beyond last night's discussion."
Both leaders performed well, but Moe might have slightly bested Beck, said Greg Poelzer, a University of Saskatchewan professor in the school of environment and sustainability.
"It's been 17 years in government and obviously some rough spots over the last few years, but if a leader and incumbent can come out reasonably unscathed, which I think [Moe] was reasonably unscathed overall, I think I give him a slight edge."
Poelzer said Beck performed best when going off script, such as her response to the moment Moe linked the provincial NDP to the federal NDP party and its pact with the Liberals.
WATCH | Scott Moe introduces federal politics into a provincial election debate:
"Up until that point, I thought she was too scripted and too safe in her delivery. And she came out of that scripted comfort zone, as it were, and was fired up," he said.
"I thought it worked especially effectively for her and showed a different side to her that she could take on the fight, whether it's with other provinces or the federal government."
He said Moe did well to keep calm and on script during the debate.
"He was being extremely cautious, extremely disciplined as a strategy," Poelzer said.
"The risk for Scott Moe, I think, was an overly heated moment and if it played out poorly, that could be very costly in the cities. He didn't have that kind of a moment."
Former MLAs offer debate takes
Ken Krawtez, a former Sask. Party MLA and cabinet minister, said the leaders offered two competing visions for the province. He said Moe maintained a positive outlook about a strong economy and growing province.
"From Carla, I heard doom and gloom – the province is bad, there are so many things wrong with the province. If there are so many things wrong with the province, why would you have 250,000 more people coming here?"
Former NDP MLA Yens Pedersen said Moe relied on the accomplishments of former premier Brad Wall and avoided talking about his own record. He said Moe's strategy was about avoiding real issues.
"Every time he utters the word 'Trudeau' he distracts attention from his record," Pedersen said during the political panel.
"The other thing that works very well is talking about things that were 20-plus years ago, in some cases 30 years ago. The things he talks about in the NDP record were things that happened when most of the NDP MLA's that were just in the Legislature were still in grade school."
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