The brand-new Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan is fielding candidates in several ridings in this election and one of them is Cut Knife-Turtleford.
Richard Nelson is running as the party’s candidate there. The Prongua resident plans to put forward a message that it is the Buffalo Party that will stand up for the interests of the West.
Nelson, who holds a political studies degree from the University of Saskatchewan, is no stranger to politics. He previously ran for Conservative nominations in Battlefords-Lloydminster in 2017 — losing out to Rosemarie Falk — and then in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River where he lost to Gary Vidal, who went on to win the election.
What Nelson found after the 2019 federal election was that nothing had changed for western Canada or Saskatchewan.
“We worked very hard to make a change in this country,” he said of his Conservative involvement.
“We worked very hard to have the West recognized once again in our Parliament, and you know how that turned out. We sent a full slate of Conservative candidates back to Ottawa and still we are in the same position we were in before, with our energy sector being shut down and frankly our entire economy shut down and we have a provincial government that has walked in lockstep with the Canadian Liberal government the entire way. They’ve shut our economy down with the rest of the Canadian economy.”
Nelson was particularly annoyed with the Sask. Party’s imposition of the state of emergency during the pandemic, particularly with the province’s continued low COVID-19 numbers. “It doesn’t justify a state of emergency, it doesn’t justify the lockdown of our economy. A lot of people are sacrificing a lot and I don’t know how we justify that to them.”
The Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan is the organization that grew out of WEXIT Saskatchewan, a group that had advocated secession of Alberta and Saskatchewan from Canada.
The renamed party has taken a less hard line stance towards that idea now, supporting a broader policy that stands up for the region while voicing support for a referendum.
Nelson describes the party’s stance as seeking recognition within Confederation, whether that be through an elected Senate or whatever — and if not, they are willing to seek secession.
Why was Nelson attracted to the Buffalo Party?
“The more I learned about the Buffalo Party, the more I felt at home,” he said.
He did admit he was worried at first about the idea of independence, until he spoke with the leader about what that meant.
“He explained to me that independence can mean a lot of lot of things in Canada,” said Nelson.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean outside of Canada. It can mean secession; it can also mean inside of Canada.”
Nelson said the truth is “we have our own culture — the prairie culture. We come from pioneers. We grow grain, we dig coal, we mine potash and we extract energy. Those are things we do. And there may be those places in Canada where those things are less popular. But the fact of the matter is that’s the history of our province, that’s the reality of our province. Turning our back on our actual economy for an ideological reason doesn’t make sense. The actual pain that’s causing people in this province doesn’t make sense and that’s where people are feeling disconnected with our government right now.”
Nelson also accuses the Sask. Party government of leaving the carbon tax issue up to unelected courts. “The fact of the matter is that our resources are a provincial asset, and if our legislature doesn’t have an opinion on that, I think they’ll find that the people of Saskatchewan do.”
What the Buffalo Party ultimately represents, as far as Nelson is concerned, is a policy “looking for a fair deal for Saskatchewan.”
“It’s time, I feel, we step up and demand better, and I want to be part of that change.”
What issues do you see as main priorities for Cut Knife-Turtleford if elected?
“I hope all candidates tell you that economy is number one ... Microeconomy is happening, people are buying milk and eggs every day, that’s working. What’s not working is investment, creation and any new money coming into our system — not even tourist money.
“We can circulate our little bit of money around for a while, that works, but at some point in a growth economy, as capitalism is, you need new money coming in.”
“Our goal, as a party, is to make Saskatchewan the most economical place to invest and do business anywhere in the country... anywhere in the world. That would truly make a difference.
What would your approach be for Saskatchewan to deal with and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic?
“It is very important that we recognize first that the Buffalo Party first and foremost will always stand for the health and safety of Saskatchewan citizens, and that we understand the importance that our primary care facilities have the resources and staff they need to deal with the pandemic. Having said that, we live in a province that has literally crushed the curve. We have kept our infections extremely low...
“The point of controlling the spread of COVID-19 is an always have been to our health system from becoming overwhelmed. The only number that tells us whether our health system is overwhelmed or not is hospitalizations. And in this province we have not had a time when hospitalizations exceeded our resources and ability to deal with them.
“So how do we justify six months of a state of emergency? The people of Saskatchewan have not had a chance to weigh in on whether the state of emergency holds utility or not.
“We really need to justify to people based on hospitalizations and the resources we have within our health system as to why we are still restricting some industries.”
