Conservative MP Gary Vidal more focused on riding than ‘selfish’ election

Earlier this week, longstanding NDP Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger announced he planned to resign from his role in the provincial government in an effort to acquire the federal Liberal nomination for the Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River riding.

Belanger cited his decision to pursue this role rose from his observation that residents in Northern Saskatchewan weren’t receiving adequate assistance from the provincial government, adding the federal government intervened and provided for the First Nations.

“In those desperate, trying times people were really fearful because COVID-19 was not understood,” Belanger said. “In those darkest times, the federal government came along and offered those supports and a lot of people were very, very happy with that.”

In response to opposing political parties starting to assemble their rosters ahead of an election, Vidal stated he, along with others in his party, are prepared to offer change to residents across the country.

“The other parties are starting to put people in place in this riding, that’s fine. If he actually calls an election on Sunday, I know our party is ready, I know my team is ready, and I know the residents of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River are ready for a change in government,” Vidal shared.

Vidal called the move to send the country into another election ‘selfish by the Prime Minister,’ citing the struggles Canadians have faced over the last year and six months in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He was given a mandate two years go by Canadians to work with the parties in the House of Commons, and that’s not good enough for him. He’s too entitled, he wants full control rather than to work with people in other parties. We need a government that wants to get stuff done, and that’s what we’re offering.”

Federal focus on combatting climate change

A new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been labelled as a ‘code red for humanity’ by its authors, and the UN’s Secretary-General suggested the report should signal the end for the coal and fossil fuel industries.

Saskatchewan Environmental Society director Peter Prebble stressed the urgency of the issue of climate change, saying residents in Saskatchewan should hold their political leaders accountable and demand a solution to climate change in exchange for their vote in the next election.

“Basically, the public needs to say this is a vote-determining issue,” Prebble said. “If they don’t, then politicians will pay less attention to it. People need to say, ‘listen, human civilization and its future is at stake; acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is critically important to us.’”

Vidal explained he has been visiting several communities in his riding throughout recent months, gathering feedback and listening to concerns from residents and leaders. He shared residents had expressed a greater concern for job creation and economic recovery compared to the issue of climate change.

“One of the things we consistently heard in the last three weeks is the fact that many small businesses in Northern Saskatchewan are having a real hard time getting people to work right now. Our party’s offered an economic recovery plan, and at the center of that, jobs is the focus. We need to get people back to work and get our economy rolling. We can deal with a lot of the other issues when we have an economy that’s thriving as prospering and then we can address a lot of the issues.”

He added he acknowledges the issue and the importance of addressing it sooner rather than later, sharing the federal Conservative Party has put forward a plan of their own.

He also mentioned the party would work with provincial governments on a more localized climate plan and support their endeavours as they have more knowledge on how the provinces can make an appropriate response.

“The Province of Saskatchewan has introduced a plan that has been rejected by the federal government, even though it’s very similar to a plan that was accepted for Eastern Canada. So the fact that the Liberals have rejected the Province of Saskatchewan’s plan is an actual snub of the people of Saskatchewan compared to those in Eastern Canada,” Vidal stated.

“We would work with Saskatchewan on their plan, and even though we’ve offered a very credible plan-up, we would definitely want to work with the provinces and accept the path that they choose because they know more about their jurisdictions as a province than we do as an Ottawa think tank.”

If the news of a request to dissolve parliament comes to fruition on Sunday, Canadians can expect to return to the polls on September 20.

Complete with files from larongeNOW, paNOW and Canadian Press.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp

by Elliott Knopp

Conservative MP Gary Vidal more focused on riding than ‘selfish’ election

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