The Melfort New Democrats have officially opened their campaign office, but for candidate Lorne Schroeder, what’s interesting is what he’s finding out on the streets.
“We have been door knocking and discovering a lot of interesting things,” he said at the opening Feb. 12. “The first day, I discovered that poverty isn’t just a number, it has a face and it broke my heart to see the poverty that we have right here in this Melfort constituency.”
He said cuts to education and other services that keep young people out of poverty is denying them the opportunity to survive and flourish in the economy.
Schroeder’s is the second campaign to open its office, which is located kitty-corner to Melfort City Hall at the old Northeast Source for Sports building. Todd Goudy, the Saskatchewan Party’s candidate, opened his campaign office in the
Melfort Mall Feb. 2, with Scott Moe, the new premier, as a special guest.
While Schroeder didn’t have any major New Democrat dignitaries at the event, leadership candidate Trent Wotherspoon came to door knock with the local candidate during the Feb. 3 and 4 weekend.
Schroeder said he’s also seeing a lot of disillusionment at the doorstep.
“A lot of people don’t even want to go out and vote because they say, ‘what’s the point? Nobody’s listening. There’s no point in voting,’” he said.
Yet at the same time, he said he saw a lot of citizens that want the province to work and had a lot of ideas on how to do that.
“We need to be listening to people instead of the top-down, circle of power in Regina telling us what to do and making decisions for us,” he said. “We need to consult with the grassroots people who the services are being provided for, for their answers and their solutions to problems.”
The candidate said the government has increased education property taxes, but is putting the revenues into general coffers instead of education. He said the government has cut programs that help citizens become employable and find work. The New Democrats want to reinstate them.
Schroeder also had something to say about the verdict given at the Gerald Stanley trial in North Battleford.
“I just want to encourage people that we do have hope. The issues that we’ve seen in North Battleford are real and they’re just the tip of the iceberg.”
He said there’s a need for true reconciliation between First Nations and non-First Nations people.
“If we don’t come together as one, if we don’t respect each other and treat each other with dignity, our province will never achieve its full potential.”
