I love Manitoba, even lived through 3 Winnipeg winters in two years but why is it that Saskatchewan is always lumped in with our neighbour in national opinion polls?  Survey after survey provide regional breakouts for B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec but not Saskatchewan. Indeed, there is always the ubiquitous Man/Sask, sometimes denoted as the Prairies by certain pollsters. 

Some tall foreheads, long forgotten, once proposed re-drawing our economic and political boundaries into an entity called Saskatoba, or was it, Manewan?  That’s as likely to happen as Jack Layton becoming our next Prime Minister. Don’t get me wrong, Manitobans are lovely folks but there are differences between us and them, especially politically, but it’s difficult to discern from those national polls.

A Toronto Star/Angus Reid Poll shows the federal Conservatives are supported by 33 % of respondents; the Liberals, 30 %; and the NDP at 20 %. Regionally, the Tories are far ahead in Alberta with 58 % support compared to the Liberals at 20 %.  Then, there is a column titled ‘Prairies’ which is clearly reserved for Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It reveals that the NDP are favoured by 46 % of voters while the Conservatives draw just 32 % support.  I suspect the strength of the NDP comes disproportionately from Manitoba but  wouldn’t it be nice to know for sure.

You may have heard of another recent Angus Reid poll , the one which showed Canadians get especially upset about people who cut into line, don’t clean up after their dog and show no respect for their elders.  Look a little deeper and you find that people in the Saskatchewan/Manitoba grouping are the least upset about these facts of life.  In fact, they’re the least likeliest to be perturbed about people who ‘complain too much.’  Just a guess, but I’m thinking the number would be even lower if Manitobans were excluded. After all, we have little to complain about in Saskatchewan unless the survey is taken in the middle of winter.