By Dr. JOSEPH GARCEA (PhD), Professor, Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan. He teaches courses on governance and public policy, and his research and publications focus in the areas of immigration, integration, and citizenship.
 joe.garcea@usask.ca 

Mr. Adrian Aquino, Graduate student, Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan. His research interests primarily focus on issues of diversity and the politics of identity in the global era.
 aca135@mail.usask.ca

Diversity has been a salient value in Canadian political discourse for much of recent history. Over time, its prominence has increased but the increase particularly in recent years is due to a variety of factors rooted in global, continental, national, and sub-national levels. What is significant and clear is that diversity has become an increasingly multifaceted rainbow-like and chameleon-like phenomenon, composed of a multiplicity of dynamic elements that have the capacity to change their forms, colours, temperature, and temperament for a variety of reasons. Diversity manifests itself frequently in many forms and many fora, ranging from mundane uneventful aspects of life to the highly dynamic and significant eventful historical events.

The purpose of this chapter is primarily to examine and analyze the following aspects of the 2020 Saskatchewan provincial election: 

1. The stances on diversity adopted by the six competing provincial parties during the campaign based on their platforms on their respective websites;
2. The diversity among candidates running in the election; and
3. The diversity among winning candidates in the election.

Party Stances on Diversity

Across the platforms of the six parties in contention, immigration and diversity were generally described as desirable and valuable for the community. The principal differences among the parties were their beliefs in the kind of value that immigration brings. Broadly speaking, parties on the left-of-centre tended to frame immigration as an intrinsic good, meaning that they believe the primary benefit of immigration is the advancement of pluralism that it brings to communities. Parties on the right-of-centre, the Saskatchewan Party being the dominant representative, tended to frame immigration as an instrumental good, highlighting the economic benefits of attracting highly skilled workers and professionals.

Throughout their campaign, the Saskatchewan Party focused primarily on the fiscal incentives of immigration, while paying comparatively less attention to its social benefits. Although the party voiced its support for attracting more immigrants to Saskatchewan, its reasons for doing so were invariably framed in economic terms. Diversity as a social value, and the intrinsic benefits of immigration, was hardly discussed in the party’s official platform, or in its statements to the press.^[i] Indigenous issues, in contrast, occupied more of the party’s attention during the campaign. According to its official platform, the Sask Party has committed to continue providing financial support and to introduce new investments in the areas of health care, skills development, access to education, and suicide prevention programs.

In contrast to the incumbent party, the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) campaign focused principally on the intrinsic social benefits of diversity, while paying comparatively less attention to its material dimensions. The NDP has been active in advocacy efforts to promote tolerance of diversity in various communities, establishing bodies such as its Cultural Diversity Committee to further such ends. Although its platform promised to enact policies to support the growth of diversity in the province—such as making it easier for newcomers to immigrate with more family members or to have their foreign credentials recognized—the NDP noticeably lacked any proposals to enact broader change in the province’s approach to immigration. Interestingly, the approach of the NDP to Indigenous issues bears great similarity to the Sask Party plan: both parties affirmed the importance of continued reconciliation, and both stressed the need for increased funding and better service provision for Indigenous communities.

However, the party that demonstrated the most nuanced and attentive approach to diversity this campaign season was the Green Party. Although the other smaller parties in the race—namely, the Buffalo Party, the Liberals, and the Progressive Conservatives—paid little to no attention to issues of diversity throughout their campaign, the Green Party indicated the most progressive stance in terms of diversity issues over all other parties. In its platform, the party asserted that human diversity and ecological biodiversity are both essential in creating a society that works in harmony with nature. It should also be noted that the Green Party is the only party in this election to have had a female leader. 

Table 1: Candidates

Table 1 illustrates the degree of diversity in each party’s cohort of candidates, in terms of gender and ethnicity.^[ii] The Green Party and the NDP paid the most attention to issues of social inequality throughout the campaign, and this is reflected in the even balance of men and women among their candidates.

Table 2: Winners

Table 2 provides a breakdown of the diversity profiles of the elected candidates, excluding the five ridings that have yet to be called at the time of writing.^[iii] Of the 56 winning candidates, 14 were women, and seven were Indigenous or a visible minority. Surprisingly, however, women accounted for the majority of elected NDP MLAs.

Conclusion

The results of the 2020 provincial election indicated that diversity in Saskatchewan has been flourishing in recent decades, albeit mostly within urban areas.

In 2001, only 26 per cent of the 21 ridings in Saskatoon and Regina had a female representative, and all were occupied by persons of Caucasian heritage.^[iv] After the present election, 45 per cent of the ridings are now led by a female MLA, and four ridings have elected an Indigenous or visible minority representative. However, diversity was much less apparent in the 35 rural ridings, 77 per cent of which elected a white male MLA. These signs seem to indicate that more attention needs to be paid to the rural-urban divide when discussing how diversity can be promoted in the province.

References  

[i] Daniella Ponticelli, “Saskatchewan political parties differ on importance of candidate diversity.” Global News, October 17, 2020.

[ii] Daniella Ponticelli, “Saskatchewan political parties differ on importance of candidate diversity.” Global News, October 17, 2020.

[iii] Brendan Ellis, “Sask. Votes 2020: Results for all 61 constituencies.” CTV News, October 27, 2020.

[iv] Joseph Garcea, “Representation Deficits in Regina and Saskatoon.” In Electing a Diverse Canada: The Representation of Immigrants, Minorities, and Women, eds. Caroline Andrew, John Biles, & Erin Tolley. (UBC Press, 2009), 156-180.

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