The New Democrats are now ready to go with candidates in the Battlefords and Cut Knife-Turtleford ridings.
The party held a joint nomination meeting for the two ridings in North Battleford on Tuesday night, where they nominated Rob Feist for the Battlefords and Danica Lorer for Cut Knife-Turtleford riding by acclamation.
Both candidates had to go through the screening process by the party in the past few weeks, and they both formally accepted their nominations at the meeting held at Third Avenue United Church.
Now both Feist and Lorer must get their campaign teams together for the upcoming April 4 provincial election, with the campaign period only a few weeks away.
NDP leader Cam Broten was among the contingent of party members at the nomination meeting Tuesday and he was excited by the candidates and by the enthusiasm of those present.
Broten said he was “so pleased with Rob and Danica, our candidates in the Battlefords and Cut Knife-Turtleford.”
He called them “two strong individuals who love this region and will be fantastic voices for the people of these constituencies.”
The NDP are closing in on completing their full slate of candidates across the province. Broten said he is “thrilled with the team province wide that we have,” with almost-equal numbers of male and female candidates and a large portion of Aboriginal and visible minority nominees as well.
It is little surprise that Feist, a North Battleford lawyer, would stand as the party’s nominee. Feist has been active in NDP circles for a while, serving as president of the Battlefords-Lloydminster electoral district association.
His background includes extensive involvement with the Royal Canadian Army Cadets, which includes a full-time captain’s position with the Canadian Forces as area cadet officer, managing the army cadet program across central Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
He’s handled a wide range of files in his law job, something he pointed to as preparation for becoming an MLA.
“Every day as a lawyer I talk to people who are facing difficult circumstances, having trouble paying their mortgages, having trouble making ends meet,” said Feist.
“I certainly think we need a change that puts more priorities on Saskatchewan families, that puts more resources where they matter, right here back in Saskatchewan as opposed to pumping things away to foreign corporations.”
Feist says he sees the economy and the province’s finances as a big concern.
“The economy is going to be a big one,” said Feist.
“I think that it is important to build a strong Saskatchewan economy and really look at what we’re doing as far as the deficit choices that we’re making. Certainly the Saskatchewan Party has brought back a deficit and that concerns me. If we are going to run a deficit, I think we should be very concerned about the choices we are making, looking at waste, decreasing waste and dealing with that.”
Feist also said it was important to look at the crime issue in the Battlefords.
“Certainly there are social problems here in the Battlefords that everyday people face and deal with, and there is simply no attention paid to it by our provincial government.”
The Battlefords seat is one with a long history of NDP representation, most recently by Len Taylor until 2011.
But it was Herb Cox of the Saskatchewan Party who dislodged Taylor by over a thousand votes last time.
Feist realizes it will take a major effort to beat Cox, the current environment minister, this time. He said the NDP would push forward ideas on health care and on better solutions for families, adding that is what people want to hear in the province.
“It’s going to be hard work as we go about selling our vision for a better Saskatchewan for the people of this province,” said Feist.
The NDP nominee for Cut Knife-Turtleford is a familiar one for readers of the News-Optimistand Regional Optimist.
Danica Lorer was the paper’s long-serving Maidstone-based contributor.
She also wrote for the Maidstone Mirrorand has been a freelance writer and professional storyteller for over 15 years, qualities she says will be an asset as an MLA.
“I met a lot of people all throughout the region and everybody has a story to tell and I think we really need to listen and we need to move forward co-operatively,” said Lorer.
“We have so much in this province that we have the capacity to be the greatest province in Canada. I think it’s the greatest place in the world to live, and we can make it better.”
As for her priorities, Lorer said “health is really important, education is really important, arts is really important.”
She said the creative industries are important and pointed to government’s scrapping of the film and TV tax credit as an issue.
Lorer is unfazed about the challenge of unseating incumbent Larry Doke in what has been a traditionally strong Sask. Party seat.
“I am in this to win,” said Lorer. “I am in this to bring forward an option, another voice, a voice that knows people in this region and wants to listen and wants to stand forward and speak loudly with conviction, with love for this place.”
