Lingenfelter opens campaign office

With September upon us the race for the upcoming provincial election is going to heat up.

Locally that is already starting as New Democrat leader Dwain Lingenfelter was in Yorkton last Tuesday to officially open the campaign headquarters located on Broadway Street West for candidate Chad Blenkin.

Lingenfelter said he enjoys taking part in such events as it is a way to meet local media, which remains an important outlet for getting the Party's message out leading up to the Nov. 7 vote.

"Ninety per cent of politics is local," he said, adding that might be even more true this election where having good local candidates listening to local issues will be critical.

Lingenfelter said while there are issues which are provincial is scope, health care and highways as examples, local voters are also talking about what they see happening in their communities.

"In Yorkton they're saying housing is a big issue. They are asking what is your party, what is Chad Blenkin going to do," he said.

Lingenfelter said people in Saskatchewan have always had two attributes he admires.

"They understand their politics and they have the right football team," he said with a smile.

With the campaign having been on for several months, Lingenfelter said he is seeing some shift in issues provincially.

"They've changed in terms of importance," he said, adding, "health care continues to be the number one issue in the province," with concerns about waiting lists, and access to doctors as the biggest issue heading toward the election.

But personal income, and the distribution of wealth in the province has gained momentum as an issue, along with housing with fears regarding accessibility to affordable housing, said the NDP leader.

Statistically housing numbers from 2007 to 2010 declined, said Lingenfelter.

"The problem in getting greater," he said, noting population growth is demanding more houses.

Another area where people in Saskatchewan are falling behind is in terms of personal incomes.

Statistics Canada recently released showing "average in Saskatchewan going up only one per cent (over the previous year)," said Lingenfelter. " More and more families are coming to me and saying they can't make ends meet

"There's a sense we need to do a better job of wealth distribution."

The issue of wages is made worse, said Lingenfelter, because minimum wage has not risen regularly meaning "the poorest of the poor have had their wages frozen."

That is not the case for health region administrators seeing large wage increases, or the CEO of the Potash Corporation seeing his wage climb 150 per cent, he said.

Even in Yorkton Lingenfelter said he is hearing of a tale of two cities. There is growth, and some sectors such as the professional trades are busy, but if you are working at big box stores, or restaurants, or even teachers and health services personnel wages aren't going up at the same pace as the cost of living.

"That dynamic in the province is not what we're used to," offered Lingenfelter. He said people understand in a tough economy everyone has to struggle through it, but now they are "sort of left out of the boom too."

While wages have climbed only one per cent across the board in Saskatchewan, Lingenfelter said utilities, housing and food have risen in the range of 10 per cent.

The combination is squeezing many people in Saskatchewan, leaving some people needing to seek "less adequate housing or reducing the quality of food for their children," to keep bills paid, said Lingenfelter.

Lingenfelter said minimum wage needs to be increased regularly at least to match the increase in cost-of-living, adding health services workers and other provincial contracts need the same inflation meeting increase "and a little bit more."

"If you're suffering through a boom time, when are you supposed to catch up?" he asked.