Supporters of the provincial Liberals were in Battleford Thursday with an eye towards gaining more First Nations votes in the upcoming election.
The event at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall served a dual purpose. It served as a campaign launch and fundraising event for Dexter Gopher, the Liberal candidate in the Battlefords.
But the Battleford event also provided the Liberals an opportunity to release their province-wide First Nations and Métis platform for the upcoming provincial election on April 4.
Liberal leader Darrin Lamoureux was there to speak about those policies aimed at addressing aboriginal issues.
The party’s proposals, now up at the Liberals’ website, include consultations with the federal government and the First Nations and Métis Federation to strengthen First Nations and Métis communities; building healing centres to house inmates in First Nations communities; creating a $3.5 million First Nations and Métis economic development fund for young entrepreneurs; developing a First Nations and Métis Federation-owned pipeline system; constructing additional refineries and connect these to a pipeline to the Port of Churchill; and partnering with the First Nations and Métis Federation to establish a northern Saskatchewan rail line moving commodities to the Port of Churchill.
“We shared a policy today about empowerment,” said Lamoureux in speaking with the News-Optimist.
“We shared about how, with the provincial government working with the federal government in consulting the First Nations and Métis Federation that we could really empower every community so we could be a strong province.”
Lamoureux indicated policies aimed at developing the North would be key priorities for his party.
“There’s lots of east and west highways. When is the north and south roads going to be getting built? When is the north and south pipelines getting built? When is the north and south rail lines getting built?”
The Liberals also supported consultations with First Nations and Métis Federation to encourage communities on sovereign land to become energy self-sufficient through solar and wind generation, with the ability to sell excess renewable power into the provincial grid.
The event in Battleford was organized on relatively short notice, but drew a good crowd of supporters, many of whom were from outside the riding.
Among them were more than half a dozen Liberal candidates, as well as several current and former chiefs and councillors from area First Nations. Among the chiefs there to lend their support was Little Pine Chief Wayne Semaganis, Sweetgrass Chief Lori Whitecalf and Saulteaux Chief Kenny Moccasin. The emcee was former FSIN Chief Lawrence Joseph who ran and almost won for the Liberals federally in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River last fall.
Former Battlefords-Lloydminster federal candidate Larry Ingram was also there, and on hand from North Battleford council were councillors Ray Fox and Ryan Bater. Bater was the Liberal leader in the last provincial election.
It is already apparent the Liberals will mount a far more competitive effort across the province than in 2011, when they ran nine candidates and got less than one percent of the vote. As of Friday the Liberals’ website listed 39 confirmed candidates, with more expected.
Lamoureux, running in Regina Pasqua, said the Liberals have been ramping up election preparations since the end of the federal election campaign last fall.
“We decided we were going to get aggressive and not wait to the new year to get things rolling,” Lamoureux said. The efforts included several candidate meetings and nominations, policy meetings and other election readiness initiatives.
Most recently, the party has been releasing its platform to the public in advance of the campaign, in an effort to engage voters and get them talking about Liberal policy ideas.
“We want to be first, we want people knowing exactly what we stand for,” said Lamoureux.
“We want to really get the conversation started throughout the province where we believe the province should go.”
It was only recently announced that Dexter Gopher, a member of Saulteaux First Nation whose work experience had taken him to Alberta and British Columbia, would be the candidate in the Battlefords where he is taking on Herb Cox of the Saskatchewan Party, Rob Feist of the NDP and Josh Hunt of the Green Party.
One of the concerns Gopher expressed at the meeting was with the Saskatchewan Party billboards featuring Premier Brad Wall, which carried the party’s tag line “Keeping Saskatchewan Strong.”
“When he’s asking the federal government for $156 million dollars, after all these years of boom, how is that keeping Saskatchewan strong?” Gopher said.
He was encouraged by the turnout at the Thursday night meeting and by the show of support from First Nations leaders.
“It sends a strong message that real change is wanted,” said Gopher.
Lamoureux was dismissive of the NDP’s effectiveness in opposition, saying they “didn’t want to rock the boat and didn’t want to give alternative policies” to the current government.
“Mr. Wall had his own ticket for the last eight years. We see what his ticket did. His ticket has basically spent any money that was raised through increased growth and increased revenue, and we have nothing in the kitty now. So now we’re going with over $4.5 billion dollars of the debt, which he says is $700 million. I challenge him to look at the crown corporations – that’s the true number of what our debt is at.”
Lamoureux said Thursday his party intends to run a full slate and will not stop looking for candidates until the March 17th deadline.
The Liberal leader also wants to be included in the provincial televised leaders’ debate scheduled for later in March, but says he has not been invited.
“I’m asking everybody to be aware of the fact that we haven’t been invited,” Lamoureux said. “I think it’s an injustice to democracy. I think that what we bring as a Liberal party and the great team that we’ve put together is real choice. And so for that reason I hope I’m included in that debate.”
