No one has impressed this baffled and bemused Western beer gang
ROY MacGREGOR,
REGINA -- For 15 years they've been getting together Fridays to work out the world.
They are a half dozen or so men who talk about everything on Coffee Row in the morning, and again in the late afternoon over draft beer at a small pub on South Albert. They are so familiar with each other that some of the jokes are numbered to save time, valuable time to spend on what is, invariably, the main topic of the day.
Politics.
They say this federal election will be decided by the Angry White Man, a demographic they largely belong to -- men over the age of 50 -- but which they do not believe they are part of, simply because they see themselves as less angry than bemused, and at times baffled.
Baffled, in the first place, by the election call.
"It just might be a mistake to campaign in December," says Ted Boyle, a former provincial government worker who is now a consultant. "They should stay out of people's faces until January, when everybody's broke and bored.
"It's hard to find anyone around here who's all that interested, apart from expressing absolute cynicism and disgust.
"I'm certainly not going to open my door to anyone who looks like they're either campaigning or a Jehovah's Witness -- you can practically see the dollar signs flying out of the house."
"If this election is held on a day when it's 40-below," adds Brian Banks, an educator, "say 40-below all the way from Edmonton to Fredericton, then you could see turnout dip below 50 per cent. It doesn't have far to drop to get to that. And then what would you have? A minority government elected by a minority of Canadians?"
One week into the election, these men are decidedly unimpressed. They see the Liberals holding back to go hard, once again, with the scare tactics that the West is convinced delivered Ontario last time. They say -- but not very convincingly -- that such scare tactics will not work again.
They see the sponsorship scandal as relatively insignificant to them. "What's so unique about Gomery?" Banks asks. "This has been going on for the past 50 years -- the only difference is, these guys got caught."
"I hear organized crime is complaining about being tied to these guys," one of them jokes, and the table pauses momentarily to laugh.
Perhaps next Friday, a new number will simply be called out to save time.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's call for a reduction in the GST is something they say they have to admire, even though as educated men -- one or two of whom have campaigned in the past for the New Democratic Party -- they disagree in theory with attacking this particular tax rather than reducing others.
As for same-sex marriage and Harper's seemingly deliberate intention to raise the subject early in the campaign, they can only shake their collective heads.
"Those issues," says Boyle, "are all losers, except for that constituency that's already with them. All the Angry White Males are already onside anyway -- so what's the point?"
"I think," adds Al Walker, a provincial civil servant, "that a much bigger issue is 'no-sex' marriage."
The table erupts in laughter while Walker tries, vainly, to argue he meant his comment seriously, that there is no political party addressing the very serious issues of dysfunctional families and psychological counselling -- but he has no chance.
They find inspiration nowhere. They sit and talk about long-ago Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas and former Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker and even the leaders of only a generation back -- former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau -- and they find the current crop of leadership sadly lacking.
"She's been on a downhill slope," says Banks.
All are convinced that, for a province like Saskatchewan, a minority government is a must. Ralph Goodale, the minister of finance and only sitting Liberal from the province, is welcome to keep his Regina seat, but they prefer that the remaining 13 seats divide in whatever way best keeps the federal government on notice.
Saskatchewan, they feel, has had the short end of the federal stick for far too long. There is, they say, next to no federal presence in the province, the direct opposite of what they see when they travel to other parts of the country.
"There's a direct money line east," says Boyle.
They talk about various federal initiatives in Saskatchewan and find little to celebrate.
"Well," says Banks, "We do have the Grasslands National Park now. That's something."
"Grass?" asks Walker. " 'Something' because they protected some grass?"
"There's more than that," says Banks. "There's a species of owl there. And the prairie fox."
"And snakes," someone shouts. "The government protects snakes there."
"Yeah," Boyle laughs. "That's where they keep their actual snake pits."
rmacgregor@globeandmail.ca
Posted at Monday, December 5, 2005 EDT 
