Longtime North Battleford businessman Harry Zamonsky says he is running for a seat in the Legislature in 2020 for the Progressive Conservatives because he is “concerned regarding the general drift, to the left, of the political spectrum.”
“The whole world seems to be going in the leftward direction where the governments are the answer to everything, in exchange for giving up our freedoms.”
Zamonsky describes himself as a lifelong PC, going back to the years when he “used to lick stamps” for Premier Duff Roblin in Manitoba.
He has backed the PCs in every election — save for a couple of elections where he says he made the “colossal error” of voting for another party.
Zamonsky has also been on the ballot a few times before, running for the legislature twice and once for Parliament for the PCs. He is currently the provincial party’s treasurer.
He is supporting his party’s 14-point platform which calls for smaller government, reducing taxation, eliminating PST on goods were the taxes already collected such as retail vehicles, creating a manufacturers tax credit, providing a green portfolio for investors as a choice of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, introducing legislation that prevents elderly couples from being separated in long term care, legislation for parental approval of medical procedures for minors, support for the current power grid, more money for mental health and addictions, introducing land-based learning as an extracurricular in all schools aimed for Indigenous students, and other policies.
“All governments, no matter how good they think they are doing, eventually fall out of favour,” said Zamonsky. “We who have sustained the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan hope to keep the name present and known to the public that there is an alternative, and when the time comes there will be younger candidates and candidates that will be combative and produce the kind of results the electorate expected.”
What would your approach be for Saskatchewan to deal with and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic?
“Well, I think Mr. Moe is doing a terrific job and the people of Saskatchewan are doing a terrific job. It’s an insidious little creature, the bug called ‘COVID’. We have to cooperate and we have to understand that there are times and places that we have to adjust our behaviour to accommodate our attempt to eradicate this.”
What issues do you see as main priorities for The Battlefords if elected?
“One of those priorities which is primarily for a particular segment of the population … introduce land based learning as an extracurricular in all schools. It’s rather obvious with our population of First Nations people that their children should be given a fair chance in our schools and this is an absolute must.
“As far as Battlefords are concerned we need to, in order for the community to expand ... manufacturer tax credits: encourage manufacturers to set up in the province by providing a business tax incentive.
“I am aware that this is a very tough task because every community in Canada wants manufacturers, and/or business expansion. But you know, we are located in a reasonable area - we have highways coming from every direction and we are a very effective collection centre for agriculture. I think that the manufacturing should be in the obvious area which is agriculture, and we should deal with the agricultural industry to see where we could expand and produce markets for the commodities that our erstwhile farmers are producing.
“There are people who have concerns and I would be prepared to listen to absolutely everybody and give everybody a fair hearing.”
