Political scientist says name change doesn’t address core issues for Sask. Liberals

A political scientist believes the issues with the Saskatchewan Liberals go further than a name change.

Over the weekend, the party voted in favour of a name change and a rebrand.

Dr. Charles Smith, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, wonders if the rebrand is about changing the name or becoming something more substantive.

“Rebranding doesn’t really address the core reasons as to why a centrist party may or may not be successful in Saskatchewan in 2023,” Smith said Monday.

The Liberals haven’t had an MLA in the Saskatchewan Legislature in more than 20 years. In the 2020 provincial election, the party ran just three candidates and got only 355 votes for 0.08 per cent of the popular vote.

Smith said he thinks the concern for the Liberals is where they can draw support and what the issues are they can run on that are not already being addressed by the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP.

According to Smith, the provincial Liberal party lacks the capacity of running candidates in every riding, the organizational structure and the candidates.

“When you start doing the math, they just don’t have the ability to grow and expand in the current moment,” he said. “One of the things that we need to address is what do they offer? What is it that they want to be and offer to Saskatchewan residents that is not being offered by the two main parties today?”

He added those are harder questions to answer.

“Until we get those policy ideas (and) until we get some of those fundraising numbers, it’s just impossible to predict how they will be successful,” Smith said.

He explained there’s nowhere to go but up for the party.

“Maybe this is a small step towards relevancy but maybe not,” Smith said.

He said now the next step for the party will be defining itself.

“This is a long-term project,” he said. “It can’t be seen as a quick fix, and just changing a coat of paint on the old house is not going to change the fact it’s an old house. It has to be something far more substantive than a name change.”

He said if the Liberals can come in with new ideas that can get people excited, that’s one thing, but just changing the name doesn’t change the issues that people have.

“The landscape is shifting but it’s not quite clear what it’s going to look like,” Smith said.

The Saskatchewan Liberals will conduct a public name search organized by the party over the next several weeks.