The election was tight, the NDP came out on top, though only barely. The Liberals were hurt as much by the NDP’s negative campaign as the Sask Party - I think that a lot of people who would have voted Liberal otherwise were scared by the NDP into voting NDP or risk the Sask party winning. It’s kind of sad, seeing as from what I saw of the election information, the Liberals were the only ones who had a platform, and ran a clean campaign (I won’t count the Green Party ;-)). Guess that’s the way of politics though.

Now I’m going to be controversial.

I wear a shirt and tie to work every day (pants too.) When I first got this job, I didn’t care for the dress code overly much. After having been here for three and a half years, I have found myself being in favour of the dress code.

Here’s where the controversy comes in. Our Mayor attempted to institute a policy where anyone coming to see him in his office would have to wear a tie/business attire. There was a great hue and cry from everyone that this was discriminatory. The idea was to provide such attire for anyone who didn’t have it on the way in the door. I’m not 100% against the policy. Seriously. If I were to walk into someones office wearing shorts and a Tshirt, while they were in a finely tailored suit, I’m at a disadvantage.

Our Mayor, say what you will about him, dresses well. That’s to be expected of someone who has been in the menswear business as long as he has been.

I don’t think the policy was in place to discriminate, which is what some of its opponents seem to think. The purpose was to return respectability to the office of Mayor. Six times as many people voted for him than voted directly for the premier of the province, and yet there’s an inherent lack of respect for the office, as evidenced by people showing up in his office wearing shorts and flipflops.

All that said, rescinding the policy was the correct move. The people spoke, and the Mayor listened. If only all government officials were so accommodating. If I were to have a meeting with the Mayor though, I’d put on a suit anyway - even though I know it wouldn’t be as nice a suit as the Mayor’s, just to be on an even footing right off the bat.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Curse you, magic beans!” - Homer