Lori Carr
Lori Carr has been looking forward to the provincial election campaign, which is now underway.
Carr, who is the candidate for the Saskatchewan Party in the Estevan constituency, said she was ready when the election was called on March 8. She hopes to keep the riding in the hands of the Sask. Party.
Since she won the party’s nomination in March 2015, Carr said she has been busy attending as many events in the region as possible.
“I have actively started door-knocking and visiting businesses,” Carr said in an interview with the Mercury.
She has also opened a campaign office on the ground floor of the Beefeater Plaza, and she has established her campaign team.
The majority of people she has spoken with have told her they are happy with the direction that Premier Brad Wall has taken the province since the Sask. Party was elected to be the government for the first time in 2007.
She expects the economy will be a big issue throughout the campaign.
“You can’t control the price of oil, but you can try to mitigate everything as you go along,” said Carr.
Complacency won’t be a problem, either, she said. Carr vowed she wouldn’t take anything for granted in the next four weeks, even though the riding has been represented by Doreen Eagles, a Sask. Party MLA since 1999. Eagles is retiring from the provincial legislature.
“The best advice I have heard is from … Doreen Eagles, and that is ‘You have to run like you’re in last place,’” said Carr. “I’m treating this absolutely no differently. I know that we do have very strong support in the Estevan constituency, but that’s still not going to prevent me from knocking on every single door I can knock on.”
If she is elected as the next MLA for the riding, Carr said she would work hard and provide a voice for the constituency.
Carr is currently a member of Estevan city council. She said she will continue to be part of council until the date of the election, and she won’t take a leave of absence during the campaign. If she is elected as Estevan’s MLA, then she will resign her council seat.
She has also taken a leave of absence from her work at Assante Wealth Management during the election campaign.
The provincial election will take place on April 4.
Cameron Robock
As the provincial election approaches, the NDP, with the most diverse candidate team in Saskatchewan in all 61 constituencies, has gotten its priorities in order and has come forward with the values and goals it will promote to the Estevan constituency.
NDP candidate Cameron Robock has a broad variety of different priorities, as he prepares for the coming election, with an overarching goal of increasing the quality of life for Saskatchewan residents and doing the best work possible with taxpayer money.
A major issue Robock wishes to address is the need of a full-time emergency room doctor at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Robock described local wait times for emergency rooms in Estevan as in need of improvement. He noted he will do something about that, if elected.
“Have you ever gone to the doctor and had to wait two to three hours, because the doctor had an emergency, or had to go in, and cover or help with an emergency?” asked Robock in a phone call with the Mercury. “That’s why I want to do something about that.”
Robock said he wants to see the local emergency room “treated like a proper ER, with an actual triage and frontline assessment, rather than people waiting for hours.”
Robock described himself as an advocate for seniors’ care, and plans to support and vouch for the Energy East pipeline project, if elected as MLA.
“I worked in the oilpatch for many years. I have a lot of friends (in the oilpatch), and I don’t want to see them lose jobs,” said Robock. “Let’s get that pipeline in.”
Another issue about which Robock is passionate is water quality. He noted that he is very critical of water quality in areas within the southeast, which he believes is not adequate, in many cases.
“We’re not a third world country. Why do people in so many areas, even southeast Saskatchewan, have water problems?” said Robock. “They can’t drink the water, and in some places, they have to put vapour rub underneath their nose in order to take a shower without getting sick.”
Another issue Robock wishes to address is the licensure of all terrain vehicles. He believes it’s unfair to rural Saskatchewan residents that all-terrain vehicles cannot be licensed.
“One can plate a dirt bike, one can plate a snowmobile, but one can’t plate a quad? I have a little bit of a problem with that,” said Robock.” We have so many rural areas and so many people with quads, nowadays. It’s not just a recreational vehicle, but you can’t put a plate on it. That just doesn’t make sense.”
Robock acknowledged he is in for a challenge, running in a conservative riding, but contended that running provincially is different than doing so in a federal election.
“With federal, they’re more focusing on who they want as prime minister,” said Robock. “With provincial politics, people tend to focus more on who will represent them.”
Paul Carroll
The revitalized Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party wants to establish a foothold in the provincial legislature and their Estevan constituency candidate Paul Carroll feels it’s a doable challenge to bring true-blue Conservative supporters back into the fold.
In the meantime, he’ll be out campaigning hard with an experienced team.
“The PCs want to be a solid opposition, a true right-of-centre party and if we can get four to six seats, and we feel confident we can, then it sets the stage for better things to come,” Carroll said. The PCs will be fielding about 20 candidates this time around, after the party went on hiatus over a decade ago.
“We’d like to see the traditional conservatives here return to their roots. We have a platform that should appeal to them with a pro-business, job-stimulation platform.
“We see the debt and deficit situation as a double-edged sword. A short-term deficit is acceptable when necessary, but how in the heck did the provincial debt grow so large so quickly? The Sask. Party is using P3 models as a backup, all they’re doing is giving us long-term debt to a contractor instead of a bank. We’ll have to pay the higher interest rates.”
Using otherwise wasted heat resources from power plants to grow a Saskatchewan greenhouse business, such as concepts like the Shand Greenhouse, is an economic and job growth plank in the PC platform that would probably begin right in Estevan, said Carroll.
Another area where big improvements could be made is in health care, where the Sask. Party has “a less than stellar record. They’ve had eight years to address the problems the NDP left them. What we got is a system of health regions that are top heavy in administration.”
On the business front, Carroll said he felt he held an advantage over the other candidates. “I have worked for and with regular people, I’ve been an owner and manager of a small business and I’ve worked within the large business world, so I can bring those experiences to the table, I don’t think Ms. Carr or Mr. Robock can say the same. I look forward to the all-candidates’ night debate on March 17.”
Carroll said the PC Leader Rick Swenson, is one who has no problem in grasping the concept of running a province with all its challenges. He figures he’s on par with current premier Brad Wall.
“Wall has been pretty good going to bat for Alberta and Saskatchewan nationally, but what about equalization right here in Saskatchewan? What about southeast Saskatchewan? We needed to get some equalization action here and didn’t see much compared with what we put into the economy. This could be a great campaign. I’m looking forward to it.”
Green change
The Saskatchewan Green Party’s candidate in the Estevan constituency is Branden Schick.
Party organizers said they worked diligently in their attempts to find a local candidate to replace their regular stalwart representative Sigfredo Gonzalez, but were unsuccessful this time around. But, with the intention of making it a full slate of 61 candidates, Schick, a Regina-based supporter agreed to allow his name to stand as their last-minute representative in the local constituency this time.
Due to time and other constraints, Schick will not be appearing at the all-candidates’ forum planned for March 17.
Gonzalez, who has been the Green Party candidate in both provincial and federal elections in the past, said he wasn’t certain he would be available for this campaign since he had been making plans to return to El Salvador for a visit.
Liberals find a candidate
There will be a five-candidate field in the Estevan constituency for the upcoming provincial election.
The Liberal Party of Saskatchewan posted on their website during the weekend that Oscar Karkabatov would represent the party locally in the election.
No other details on Karkabatov were immediately available, and he could not be reached for comment.
The Liberals didn’t have a candidate in the riding in the 2011 election. Their last candidate in this constituency was Tim Seipp, who carried the Liberals’ colours in 2003 and 2007.
As of Monday evening, the party had 57 candidates confirmed to run in the provincial election, to be held on April 4.
