Romanow defeats Zazelenchuk in Saskatchewan legislature race (11/09/86)

Romanow defeats Zazelenchuk in Saskatchewan legislature race

by Michael B. Bociurkiw

SASKATOON, Sask. - Saskatchewan's general election took place here October 20 with the political resurrection of one Ukrainian politician and the defeat of another.

Roy Romanow, 44, of the pro-labor New Democratic Party (NDP), regained the seat he had lost by only 19 votes in 1982 to Jo-Ann Zazelenchuk, 28, the candidate from the ruling Progressive Conservative (PC) Party.

The two candidates ran against each other in the predominantly Ukrainian electoral district of Saskatoon-Riversdale, in the wheat-growing province's largest city.

For some Ukrainians here, the race in Saskatoon-Riversdale between Mr. Romanow and Ms. Zazelenchuk has become a symbol of the Ukrainian community's political progress in a region of the country - the prairie provinces - where Ukrainians could make significant gains in races for positions in city hall, the legislative assembly and the House of Commons.

For example, in the month of October prominent members of the Ukrainian community were elected in municipal races in Edmonton and Winnipeg. On October 20, Laurence Decore, the former national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, was elected in a landslide victory to a second term as mayor of Edmonton.

Mr. Romanow, attorney general and deputy premier from 1971 to 1982, unseated his opponent by more than 3,000 votes, and will more than likely go on to assume the leadership of the NDP from Allan Blakeney.

Unofficial results gave the PCs 38 seats, some by only a handful of votes, the NDP, 25, and the Liberals, one. The standing in the Legislature at dissolution was: 49 Conservatives, nine New Democrats, two independents and four vacancies.

Although the NDP captured a larger share of the popular vote, the Tory win arose from a quirk in the electoral system, in which there is a lower population in the rural ridings.

Ms. Zazelenchuk appeared headed for defeat within minutes after the election results started pouring in from the two flickering television screens in her campaign office. By 9 p.m. on election night, Mr. Romanow's numbers surged, turning a tight race into certain defeat for his opponent.

The 31-day campaign locked the Conservatives in a neck-and-neck race with the NDP. A poll in early October gave the Tories a nine-point lead over the NDP. But the New Democrats narrowed that gap, particularly in the urban ridings, in the closing days of the campaign.

Throughout the campaign, Mr. Romanow conducted what was known to NDP strategists as the "B" tour - a whirlwind visit to more than a dozen cities and towns that emphasized the Saskatoon lawyer's barn-burning oratory and made-for-television charisma.

There was speculation among the political pundits that the NDP could have increased its popularity significantly with Mr. Romanow at the helm of the party.

Indeed, a poll commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on the eve of the election indicated the NDP would have increased its popularity by six percentage points if Mr. Romanow had been leader.

Mr. Romanow is 16 years younger than Mr. Blakeney, a former Rhodes scholar. The 61-year-old former premier had difficulty matching the television skills of Mr. Devine, 42.

Mr. Blakeney has given no indication when he intends to step down from the helm of the NDP. When Mr. Romanow was asked by reporters on election night whether a leadership review is on the horizon, he said that "it's up to Mr. Blakeney, of course" to decide his own political destiny.

Said Mr. Romanow after winning his seat in Saskatoon-Riversdale: "It's been a terrific experience in meeting everybody in the Riversdale constituency. I'm going to really commit myself to redouble my efforts. That's what it's done for me, but it's also done a lot more in terms of learning about Saskatchewan."

Speaking to a large crowd of campaign workers at a Saskatoon labor union hall on election night, Mr. Romanow vowed that his main objective is to "work hard as a full-time MLA (member of the legislative assembly)" in Riversdale.

Liberal candidate Bernie Droesses was quoted in a news report as saying that a lack of support from the PCs for women candidates was what really debilitated Ms. Zazelenchuk's chances of re-election.

A well-oiled Romanow campaign machine might have also put the NDP candidate ahead of his Conservative opponent. Mr. Romanow, for example, had 500 campaign signs posted in the first five days of the campaign compared to Ms. Zazelenchuk's 200. His door-to-door campaigning this time around contrasted with the 1982 race, when he spent six days of every week on the road for the NDP, and only one day door-knocking in his constituency.

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A weary Ms. Zazelenchuk, unwinding in her sprawling campaign office after a last-minute swing through her Saskatoon constituency, said in a pre-election interview with The Weekly that she was surprised at the amount of time Mr. Romanow spent during the election pounding the pavement for the NDP outside Saskatoon.

"I find that surprising - especially considering he lost in 1982." said Ms. Zazelenchuk. "If it was me, I would maybe sit more close to home and say: 'Sure I would like to do that later but my priority is my own constituency.'"

The former real estate agent admitted that she found it difficult running against Mr. Romanow, who after more than three years away from the legislature, still enjoys widespread popularity and a high profile.

Said Ms. Zazelenchuk: "It is more difficult running against someone who has a high profile, especially because Mr. Romanow gets more media attention locally."

Saskatoon-Riversdale, nested in the southwest corner of the city, has a strikingly visible Ukrainian presence. The main street that cuts through the area is lined by two Ukrainian gift shops, a Ukrainian credit union, at least two Ukrainian-owned meat stores, two Ukrainian churches, and a drive-in restaurant that specializes in Ukrainian food.

Ms. Zazelenchuk's campaign headquarters was located in the heart of the Ukrainian district. She shared the top floor of an office complex with the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, and her neighbors included the O and O Ukrainian drive-in and St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church.

About 15 percent of the constituents in the predominantly blue-collar riding claimed to speak Ukrainian at home during the latest census poll. Ms. Zazelenchuk, who admits that her Ukrainian language skills are not as good as she would like them to be, brings her father along on the hustings to communicate better with Ukrainian voters.

Ukrainian-speaking voters were also vigorously courted in other parts of the prairie province. The NDP, for example, ran radio advertisements in Yorkton, where there is a large pocket of Ukrainians.

The residents of this part of Saskatchewan have grown accustomed to having one of their own represent their interests on all three levels of government. Justice Minister Ray Hnatyshyn represents part of Riversdale in Ottawa, and Saskatoon Alderman Morris Cherneskey is a strong voice for Ukrainians in city hall.

But while the Zazelenchuk-Romanow race may go down as an important benchmark in the history of Ukrainian Canadians, it has not become a crusade for Ukrainian issues. No Ukrainian groups publicly came to either of the major candidates with a list of demands.

Most of the debate concerned problems endemic to urban Saskatchewan, chiefly the troubled farm sector and the need for jobs and economic development. What are considered "Ukrainian issues," such as increased funding for the Ukrainian-English bilingual program, stayed largely in the background.

Ms. Zazelenchuk, a soft-spoken woman who enjoys door-to-door campaigning, was active among PCs at the University of Saskatchewan, when she decided to run for the party in Saskatoon-Riversdale.

The Progressive Conservative representative said one of her biggest accomplishments during her term of office was the establishment of a constituency office. "The former MLA (Mr. Romanow) had this same opportunity but chose not to do so," Ms. Zazelenchuk pointed out in her campaign literature.

Mr. Romanow has already announced that one of his main priorities is to set up an office in the constituency.

Mr. Romanow is the son of Ukrainian immigrants who made a futile attempt at farming in the 1930s. After establishing himself as a Saskatoon lawyer, Mr. Romanow was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature in 1967.

In 1970, Mr. Romanow ran for the leadership of the NDP, losing to Mr. Blakeney by only 58 votes.

While out of office for the past four years, he has been busy on the lecture circuit and practicing law in Saskatoon. Mr. Romanow has appeared frequently in front of Ukrainian audiences, and was involved in a Canadian project on the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine.

If Mr. Romanow goes on to replace the aging Mr. Blakeney as leader of the NDP, as is widely expected, he could very well emerge from the next election as the first premier in Canada of Ukrainian origin.

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