After getting a taste of politics at a young age, Allan Arthur has decided to throw his hat in the ring one more time.
Arthur was named as the NDP candidate for the Souris-Moose Mountain Constituency during a nomination meeting last Wednesday at the United Mine Workers Hall in Estevan and will take on incumbent Conservative candidate Ed Komarnicki in the May 2 federal election.
The former mayor of, and current resident, of Qu'Appelle says he has been a long-time supporter of the NDP and is excited to step back into politics.
"I've been an NDP'er since the Romanow age," he said in a recent interview with The Mercury. "The more I got into it I realized I actually was NDP just as far as my left of centre stance on most things and then I ran for mayor (of Qu'Appelle) in 2006 and won that. I was 27 at the time, pretty young and inexperienced so it was a pretty good learning curve.
"I was going to run provincially in Indian Head-Milestone but I lost the nomination to another guy by a couple votes and then I got a call the next week to see if I wanted to run in Souris Moose-Mountain and it seemed like a good opportunity."
Employed as the southeast sales rep for a Regina based coffee company, Arthur said he is familiar with the constituency and the issues facing it. He said the major issue in southeast is proper representation from Komarnicki, something he pledges to change should he get elected.
"The region is growing by leaps and bounds but it seems the representation isn't following that sense of unbounded expansion and idealism," Arthur said. "(Komarnicki) is just following the lead of Stephen Harper and sort of doing his bidding. He isn't the voice I felt of the people of the riding, and I want to get that voice back.
"What we are hearing is not only the left wing with the usual right wing gripes, we are hearing a lot of right wing disgruntlement. Some of the old Reformers aren't happy with the way things are being done. I don't think he is listening to his fellow Conservatives, let alone anybody on the left or along the centre who wants to say something contrary to his beliefs. It seems he kind of has blinders on and he is taking orders from Harper in Ottawa and that has to change. It has got to be riding based and then you go from there. If you don't listen to the people of the riding, then what are you doing there?"
Arthur said when he first looked into the idea of running in Souris-Moose Mountain, he didn't even know who Komarnicki was, something he feels sums up the representation issue.
"I am pretty acute (sic) on politics in Canada and Saskatchewan and I didn't even kow who Ed Komarnicki was."
The 32-year-old, who is scheduled to be married on April 30, said he is also concerned about what he described as the sense of corruption that the Harper government has displayed of late.
"I have a small town mayor mentality where you went in there, didn't get paid very much, or at all, and you took a lot more flack, but you were there for the people because you felt that you do better than the last guy and do well for your town, or your riding for that matter.
"That may sound naive but that is really what I go with and we'll see how it flies."
Although he works a full-time job, Arthur said he plans to be very active on the campaign trail, a major departure from the 2008 election when the NDP, as well as the Liberal party, ran a parachute candidate. He also doesn't expect there to be a backlash for what many perceived as a slight to the constituency.
"At the nomination meeting everyone was very positive and very excited (for the campaign). We might get a bit of flack back but I don't think it will be a big deal. I am ready to go and we'll just give it everything we've got."
