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But what Doherty and the Sask. Party seem to really be defending is the old federal government system under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives that rewarded/subsidized governments for simply using P3 models (see: Regina sewage treatment plant) — whether the concept made any practical sense or not.

Doherty denies his government is “stuck” on P3s for ideological reasons, but the lengths his government has gone to demonstrate P3s work suggests quite the opposite.

In fact, Premier Brad Wall seems to be swinging the Sask. Party hard to the right, just months before the April 4 vote.

Be it his government’s push for liquor store privatization or his recent caution onfederal Liberalplans to quickly bring thousands of Syrian refugees to Canada (after being among the first leaders last summer to call on Ottawa to do more) or his hardline oil-sector support before and during the Paris climate summit, or Doherty’s pronouncements on P3s and the CPP, this is a government marking its right-wing territory.

It’s odd timing for any government, given that in the months before an election most governing parties go out of their way to demonstrate how inclusive they are. Making it even odder is the fact that elections across the country this year — including that national vote we had on Oct. 19 — suggest an electorate that’s moving to the left.

Wall and the Sask. Party’s defence of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) dictates on the CPP, Harper’s view on P3s or even pandering to the right’s view on Syria at a time when the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way is a curious political strategy.

We’ll know about four months from now whether it was the right approach — or the one that gives the NDP the opening it has needed.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post.