It's still up in the air whether we will have a spring federal election, but the NDP in the area have their candidate ready, just in case.
Glenn Tait won the NDP's nomination in Battlefords-Lloydminster Saturday at a nomination meeting held at Unity's Legion hall.
Tait's nomination ends a lengthy candidate search period for the local party. The NDP riding association has had a search committee in place actively looking for potential candidates over the past number of months, with two potential candidates expressing interest.
In the end, though, Tait was the only candidate to stand for the nomination at Sunday's meeting, and he won by acclamation.
Tait now has the task of trying to knock off federal agriculture minister and Conservative MP Gerry Ritz in the federal constituency, whenever that election is held.
The party has an uphill climb, having finished a distant second to Ritz in 2008 with 25 per cent of the vote. But on a positive note, it was also the best NDP result in the riding since 1997.
Tait told the party faithful in his nomination speech that he intends to fight hard.
"Don't ever think we can't win," said Tait. "And don't ever think it's going to be easy even with the heaps of ammunition we have."
Among the federal initiatives Tait and other NDP members expressed concern about at the meeting was the Comprehensive European Trade Agreement that Tait said was being touted as increasing Canadian-European trade.
"What it really is is a patent protection act which will funnel more of your and my money into huge multi-national corporations like Bayer, Merck and Monsanto," Tait said.
Tait also expressed concern about the costs to farmers for moving freight, saying the railways are able to earn an extra $200 million a year over and above what they are supposed to earn.
"That is a lot of cash leaving the prairies every year that doesn't have to," said Tait.
The nomination of Tait comes as little surprise to political watchers, as he has been actively involved in the NDP as a former provincial candidate and as the federal riding association's president over the last number of years.
The Meota-area farmer has also been active in the National Farmers Union, and has political experience sitting on both the Meota council and the Battlefords school board.
His nomination comes amid swirling election speculation, with many political watchers pointing to Jim Flaherty's upcoming budget as a possible trigger to a potential May election.
Tait says he doesn't know if there will be an early election, but acknowledges he's been listening to the election speculation.
He believes the timing of the next election will be "all up to the Liberals. They say they're going to vote against the government, but they may vote against it but not show up in enough numbers to actually make the budget fall. So who knows, it's wide open."
As for rumours the NDP might make a deal to support the budget, Tait believes it could be a possibility for the federal caucus "if we can get a little concession on these huge corporate tax cuts that aren't really necessary."
He was careful to point out, though, that he can't say what the federal party was going to do just yet.
Tait said he was prepared to go to the polls if a snap election is called.
"I am ready. I'm ready to go right now."
The guest speaker at the gathering was Yens Pedersen, a former provincial NDP party president and leadership candidate who is running provincially in Regina South. Pedersen has ties to the riding, having grown up in the Cut Knife area.
Pedersen spoke on preparing for the next election and on ways the NDP could counter the Conservative message and get their own "progressive values" message across.
"I wanted to let the people of Battlefords-Lloydminster know why it's important to win this riding," Pedersen said.
Pedersen expressed confidence the NDP can gain votes at Conservative expense, in spite of the odds.
"What I can say I think the Stephen Harper government is as unpopular as ever," said Pedersen, and expressed the belief the prime minister was not popular even with his own supporters.
But Pedersen made clear he wasn't about to deliver any "false hope" about the chances of the NDP in the riding, acknowledging the "odds are against us." The western portion of the riding, in particular, had been in the hands of Conservatives of one stripe or another since 1974.
Despite that, he stressed it was important for members to fight hard in the riding despite the odds. Pedersen noted that even in the western portion of the riding there were still many New Democrats, noting there are about 5,000 NDP voters who could be counted on for support.
Tait also acknowledged the long odds, but adds "we are a significant factor in this riding. We are a very solid second place, and as I said before, we are gaining with every election."
