Talk:List of premiers of Saskatchewan by time in office

Canada: Saskatchewan / Governments / History

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"Mandates" or "Elections Won" ?

There's been some leisurely back-and-forth over the name for the last column on the table. Should it be "Mandates" or "Elections Won"? I'm firmly in the "Elections Won" camp, for a few reasons.

First, "Elections Won" is clear and reasonably objective. Readers know right away what that means. By contrast, what does "Mandates" mean? Is it just a fancy word to mean "Elections Won"? Well, if that's what it means, why not just go with the unambiguous "Elections Won"? Frankly, if all "Mandates" means is "Elections Won" , then it's a Peacock word, a fancy word that sounds impressive. "Elections Won" is clear, and if that's all that's meant, then we should use it, not "Mandates".

But wait! Maybe "Mandates" means something other than "Eleection Won" so we should use it. Okay, but what does "Mandates" mean, then? Well, it's a term some politicians and political scientists use to show that a government has popular authority and legitimacy. A "popular mandate", if you will. Okay, but that's a somewhat subjective meaning. How can you tell that a politician or a government has a "mandate"? "Well," says the poli-scientist, "the people have shown their support - a mandate!" "How did the people show their support?", one asks. "At the polls!" says the poli-scientist. "They gave that leader and party the largest share of popular vote and a majority of seats in the Assembly!" "So, they won the election, then? Why not say 'Elections Won'?"

My point, then, is that if "Mandate" is just a fancy word for "Elections Won", it fails as both puffery and obscuring the objective fact of elections won. If it's something more than a fancy word for " Elections Won", we need to know what that is - to me, if it's something other than "Elections Won", it sounds subjective, which could intrude on NPOV, unless we have a clear definition. And finally, not everyone who reads Wikipedia articles will be familiar with the parliamentary system. Some may think "Mandate" has some special parliamentary meaning. Since it doesn't, that's another reason to use the neutral and clear term, "Elections Won" Mr Serjeant Buzfuz (talk) 20:41, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]