All of the area’s leading politicians were in full force at the Power Hour on Friday.
The Power Hour was the new Chamber event designed to replace their annual State of the City/Town address. It was held at Western Development Museum and employed the same award-winning “Power Hour” format that was used by the Chamber in Peterborough.
This Battlefords event secured the participation of six area political leaders: MP Rosemarie Falk, MLA Herb Cox, North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater, Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman representing Mosquito and Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs, and Chief Wayne Semaganis representing Little Pine and Battlefords Tribal Council.
Questions were posed from audience members on a number of topics. One was on what advice they would give to those considering elected office, considering they are under a microscope from social media and elsewhere.
“Embrace it,” said Leslie, who said he regarded criticism from social media as “a way to improve myself.”
“If you’re interested in running for public office, go for it, don’t let it stop you, don’t let it scare you,” said Aguilar-Antiman. She added they have no control over how anyone acts so “you’ve just got to take it with a grain of salt and keep going.”
Cox pointed to staying “true to your own values.”
“Follow your own heart, do what you feel is right and to hell with everybody else,” Cox said.
Falk agreed “just do it, put your name on a ballot,” and pointed to the importance of “continuing to be kind, and being real and letting people see your heart.”
Semaganis says he doesn’t worry too much about what people say and added he isn’t on Facebook and Twitter.
“If it’s a serious enough issue to come and discuss, if you’re serious about it, come and say it to me face to face.” said Semaganis. “Don’t try and sound smart to the rest of the world on social media.”
“Internet trolls are an issue.” Bater said. He also noted that while he had a thick skin, there was an impact on family members to see those statements on social media.
“My advice is to prepare your family,” said Bater.
Several other issues were raised at the event. Here is a look at some of the other highlights from this year’s inaugural Power Hour:
Trade:
One question suggested that there was a growing perception that Canada was "an increasingly hostile jurisdiction to do business”, and asked what the provincial government was doing to ensure Saskatchewan business get product to market and remain competitive.
“I totally disagree with the premise of a ‘hostile’ environment’ for business”, responded Cox, saying “I think Saskatchewan is a great place to do business.” He noted there would be some incentives in the new budget coming up, pointing to the province’s Growth Plan.
Falk had a different take. “I think there are certain policy implementations, forcible implementations that the federal government is doing that is hurting business and investment,” she said, pointing to federal policies such as the carbon tax. Falk said also wanted to see c-69 (the pipeline bill) and C-48 (the oil tanker ban) repealed.
Semaganis gave the First Nations perspective: “if you can’t have your federal and provincial governments working together, and there’s First Nations governments, that’s the real problem. All levels of government have to work together.”
“The government of Canada has never really worked at trying to have a good relationship with First Nations,” said Semaganis.
Battlefords Regional Community Coalition:
A question was posed on how to improve the relationship between all levels of government on the stage.
“That’s an easy answer because we’re already doing it”, said Bater, pointing to the Sacichawasihc Relationship Agreement. He spoke positively about the coalition’s goal to align the four levels of governments to “start to address our challenges in a coordinated way.”
A differing view came from Chief Aguilar-Antiman, who noted Mosquito reserve did not sign on to the agreement.
Their reason behind it, she said, was because “we have treaties. We have nation-to-nation relations before even treaties. So if I’m going to work with any of the chiefs, they know that I could go to them and knock on their door and work with them any way possible. And the two mayors as well are well aware that if we’re going to work with them, we’ll go and meet with them.”
“I don’t need that agreement to do that business,” said Aguilar-Antiman.
Party lines:
Both Cox and Falk were asked about whether there were times they followed the party line ahead of listening to the people who voted them in.
“I think it is my responsibility as the member from Battlefords-Lloydminster to represent the people that place me there,” said Falk, who added there are free votes as well as discussions in caucus. “ I don’t know if I have been in a situation yet.”
Cox’s response spoke to Sask Party government policies that applied to the province as a whole. “I’ve never had a case where something that was good for the province wasn’t good for the Battlefords,” said Cox.
Super powers:
One of the most humorous questions was the very first one posed at the Power Hour: each one was asked if they could choose to have super power which would it be, and why.
Bater – To have “super speed” like the Flash to get anywhere quickly
Semaganis- “My time as a chief, I thought that was awesome, but I’d like to be a mayor so I could be called ‘Your Worship’”.
Falk- To “be able to read people’s minds to understand motive and intent.”
Cox- “To be multiple people. Just think of the havoc that I could wreck.”
Aguilar-Antiman- “Blinking my eyes and someone disappearing that I don’t like.”
Leslie – “I coached girl’s sports, hockey, volleyball, other things – so the movie ‘What Women Want’, I would love to be able to read women’s minds. My wife, my daughter, having 15 people on a volleyball team… I would love to read their minds, yeah.”
WEXIT Party:
The final question brought out some of the most animated responses of the whole event: their thoughts on the group WEXIT applying for official party status.
Leslie: “I hope the government calls an election early next week so that they don’t get official party status in time.”
“I’m cautious to even comment on it because it’s something far from reality,” said Cox. “To me it’s not a factor.”
Falk pointed to federal policies as to blame. She said it “saddens me that we’ve gotten to this state, and instead of moving forward we’re moving backward.”
“It’s very funny that we’re all running to the treaty people now to help save Canada,” said Semaganis
Semaganis added there was “lots to learn about how this country was founded,” and pointed to the Treaty 6 agreement to share the resources.
“In that spirit of sharing and living together I would ask all of you to be mindful and acknowledgeable of how this country started, and whose generosity allowed it to start.”
