False Expectations: Politics and the Pursuit of the Saskatchewan Myth

Norma Hall is a historian who specializes in colonial era settlements in
Newfoundland and Manitoba at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Dale Eisler, currently based in Ottawa as assistant secretary to the
Federal Cabinet, Privy Council Office, has written extensively on
Saskatchewan politics, public policy, and government. With this book, he
gives us a personal assessment of Saskatchewan’s political economic
history “through the lens of myth and expectations Saskatchewan people
have for themselves and their province.”

Eisler counsels the people of Saskatchewan to step back, let go of the
conventional idea that the province has a particularly stellar destiny,
and undertake a new and critical evaluation of what exactly reaching its
full potential might mean. He questions whether “development” is a
rational goal or a chimerical grail. He argues that promises, propagated
in support of political economic agendas, ought to be interrogated and
separated from supporting myths, which soothe the heartstrings but cloud
the head.

As proof, Eisler examines the foundational myth of the “promised
land” propounded with the National Policy; the belief that a “better
society” could best hostile outside political economic forces after
the Dirty ’30s; and subsequent enthusiasm for apparently conflicting
panaceas such as medicare, crown corporations, and foreign investment.
The problem, as Eisler sees it, is that collectively the people of
Saskatchewan have been too eager to believe that the province, as a
special place, is necessarily destined to attain economic success equal
to, and even beyond, that enjoyed in competing locations. He asserts
that difference and disappointment figure in Saskatchewan history too
prominently to support a collective identity as pre-eminently
innovative, “best west” people who equitably share an eminently
sustainable way of life.

The book is worth considering as a counterpoint to more celebratory
depictions of Saskatchewan-based achievements. As Eisler acknowledges in
its opening pages, not everyone will agree with his perspective.
Ultimately, individual readers will decide whether the author
effectively resolves his own contentions, or constructs a conundrum.