Voting day for electors in the province of Saskatchewan, including the Wood River constituency, will be on Monday, April 4, with this election boasting of a record number of candidates province-wide. This is the time when voters need to come out and make a difference by casting a ballot and determine the course of the next government for the Province of Saskatchewan.
A number of issues of importance have been raised by the candidates, and the time has now come for each eligible voter to make a decision on which party and/or candidate to support. In Weyburn-Big Muddy, the candidates whose names will appear on the ballots include Dustin Duncan of the Sask Party, Barry Dickie of the Green Party, Glenn Pohl of the PC Party, Karen Wormsbecker of the NDP, and Dylan Hart of the Liberal Party.
Some voters have made up their minds already, but every voter should take the time to consider what the important issues are (especially what is important to them personally), where the parties stand on those issues, and who the candidates are. In a democracy, it is not only the right but the moral obligation of every adult to take part in the process and vote for the candidate of their choice, and to research who the candidates are and what the parties stand for. Make an informed choice by knowing what important issues are at stake and what each of the parties are saying about them.
The question is, will Weyburn-Big Muddy constituents have a better turnout than the last election? In the 2011 provincial election, 70.1 per cent of the eligible voters, or 6,860 of the 9,784 who were eligible to vote, came out to cast a ballot.
It would serve for longtime residents to know that for many of the new residents of the province, voting was a privilege that they didn’t have in their country, or else elections involved violence or intimidation. What Canadians enjoy as a freedom is an amazing privilege for many people who arrive here from other countries. On a historical note, the women’s vote in Saskatchewan has only existed for a century, as they were granted the right in 1916 in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Don’t take democracy or the privilege and right to vote for granted. Freedoms such as these were hard-fought by many who came before, and is a precious freedom that many in the world wish they had. On April 4, take a moment to visit your local polling station, consider your choices, and cast a ballot. In this way, the residents of Saskatchewan will get the government they want. — Greg Nikkel
