Sask Party - Hugh Nerlien
Hugh Nerlien is the Saskatchewan Party’s candidate in the Kelvington/Wadena constituency.
He is from Porcupine Plain, growing up on a farm in the area. Nerlien has moved all over western Canada including stops in Calgary and Edmonton before moving back to his roots to run a small business in Porcupine Plain.
He has been interested in politics most of his adult life following it very closely.
He says he is a good candidate to become the next MLA for the constituency because he can relate closely to the constituency since he currently lives there, he also grew up there and he also owned a business there. He also has a number of family members who work in health care, education, and small and large business.
Nerlien says he has done a number of doorstep visits to constituents in the area and says he has heard that they are generally happy with the direction of the Saskatchewan Party. The constituents are asking Nerlien and the Saskatchewan Party to continue to work on the things that are important including the economy in particular, where they want to see the overall growth in the economy continue to stay on track, says Nerlien.
People also ask about health care issues, education issues and highway issues, which Nerlien says are all very important issues and he intends to continue to make investments to keeping moving the province forward.
“The issues that we hear about on the doorstep are all very important issues to us as a family and we’re very pleased to be able to represent the constituents of Kelvington/Wadena and go forward on their behalf,” says Nerlien.
NDP Saskatchewan - Danny Hiscock
Danny Hiscock is the New Democratic Party candidate for the Kelvington/Wadena constituency. Hiscock was born in British Columbia, before moving to Germany where he served as part of NATO. He moved to Saskatchewan around 1997 and has lived in the province ever since.
Hiscock currently works for the Horizon School Division where he serves as a councillor.
He decided to run for the first time as an MLA because he became frustrated with the lack of services available to local communities. He says there is a shortage of support services in mental health, social services, family programs and services for families with special needs and says a lot of times he hears about people or families needing to go to larger cities to receive the services they need which is either a financial burden or in some cases not financially possible.
He plans to help try to bring back those services and supports to all the communities.
“We want economic growth in our communities, we need to have the services in our communities first.”
He says he has spoken to a number of people who were considering move to the area until they found out that it did not have the support systems needed for their family. So they started looking somewhere else.
“If we don’t have services for kids that are autistic or whatever, they’ll go somewhere else.”
Hiscock has experienced a number of hardships in his life including living on the street at an early age and not learning how to read until his adult life. He feels those hardships make him a great candidate for the constituency.
“I’ve done a lot of things and I’ve been a lot of places and I think I can bring that to help advocate for families and for youth and for seniors.”
Hiscock says if he is elected as the next MLA he will have a constituency office that feels more like a kitchen table.
“I want people to feel that they can talk to me about what’s going on and that I will go to bat for what their concerns are.”
Saskatchewan Liberals - Bernie Yuzdepski
Bernie Yuzdepski is the Saskatchewan Liberal Party’s candidate in the Kelvington/Wadena constituency.
Yuzdepski grew up in Saskatchewan and has represented Saskatchewan in mixed curling where he won a Canadian championship in 1978. Due to the success of that team, they were inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.
He has also worked in a variety of different levels of provincial government.
Yuzdepski decided to run in this election to give the voters of his constituency the opportunity to have a liberal candidate to vote for.
Through his experience in sports Yuzdepski knows how to build a team as well as how to talk to people and how to help people out, says Saskatchewan Liberal Party Vice-President Roman Todos who spoke on Yuzdepski’s behalf.
The Liberals are looking to create a stronger, more diversified economy.
“With such a resource driven economy…it’s time to diversify it,” says Todos.
They are also looking to change the current education system. The Liberals would like to see post secondary school students’ debts reduced and would like to provide stable funding for all schools from Kindergarten to grade 12.
The health care industry is another important aspect of the Liberals’ plans as they plan on bringing some leadership to the portfolio. The lean project is a major point of contention with Todos and the Liberal Party and they would like to look into some alternatives for it.
“Because it’s not working in Saskatchewan,” Todos said.
Reducing the size of government is also important to the Liberal Party, says Todos who feels that there are currently too many MLA’s for the province and would like to see that number reduced.
Green Party of Saskatchewan - Owen Swiderski
Owen Swiderski is the Green Party candidate in the Kelvington/Wadena constituency.
This is Swiderski’s second attempt at running for provincial politics after running for the party in the Battlefords constituency in 2011.
Swiderski decided to run for a seat in the Saskatchewan legislature in 2011 because he felt that there was no candidate that shared the same views or opinions he did.
“Most of the people you get to choose from are lawyers or public servants but not much choice when it came to someone who’s farmed or drove truck or done the common mans occupations… I felt I understood my fellow man better than a lot of these other candidates.”
Part of the understanding process, says Swiderski, comes from the Green Party’s platform regarding participatory democracy.
Swiderski’s plan is to poll the public on every issue so they have a greater say in what happens in their constituency.
“I think there’s a big gap in understanding what the public wants to what their elected representative is giving them and I think that that is there because of the lack of communication, lack of understanding.”
Swiderski believes that serving the public is his most important job and says he would serve them in the best way he could. He noted a situation during the last election where he was asked about bringing a coal plant to North Battleford.
While he admitted that he would try to talk them out of wanting one, if they truly wanted it he would do what he could to deliver one.
“If that’s what the constituents wanted then I would be obliged to do that for them… if I didn’t then I wouldn’t be doing my job as a representative.”
Participating in politics is really important to Swiderski, who says that it should be important to everyone. He compares it to home or work life, if you do not participate in either it is not going to work out too well for people he says.
“Our democratic system is the same way…we need to take care of it and we all need to participate.”
Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan - Tim Atchison
Tim Atchison is the Progressive conservative candidate in the Kelvington/Wadena constituency.
Atchison was born in The Pas, Manitoba and moved to Kelvington in 2008 before relocating to Lintlaw where he currently lives.
Atchison decided to get into provincial politics after speaking with representatives of the conservative party. He says originally he was a little apprehensive about becoming a candidate but after speaking with his children he decided that he wanted to give it a try.
He feels that the residents of Saskatchewan need more elected representatives to be “working class” people that have struggled in life and have had to work themselves up.
The representative needs to know what it takes to survive in Saskatchewan and the cost of raising a family.
Atchison owns a saloon in Kelvington and has a good understanding of the liquor laws.
He says that while Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party might be doing a good job for the province of Saskatchewan he knows that they are not being completely honest about the move to privatize the liquor industry in the province.
Making the liquor more private in the province is going to result in a large increase in taxes, says Atchison.
Atchison plans on helping to revitalize the small communities and will look to push for tourism.
“Saskatchewan’s got lots to offer. Let’s start using it,” he said.
Atchison is a big believer in the working class citizens of both his constituency as well as the residents of Saskatchewan and plans on working towards helping them.
“The demin built this country now the suits are killing it. It’s time we take it back,” he said.
Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan - Walter Hrappsted
Walter Hrappsted is the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan (W.I.P) candidate in the Kelvington/Wadena constituency. Hrappsted was unavailable for comment. For voters looking to find out more about the Western Independence Party’s platform they can visit; http://www.wipsk.com/platform.htm.
