ESTEVAN - One of the candidates to be the next MP for Souris-Moose Mountain was in Estevan on April 11 for a meet and greet.
Steven Bonk of the Conservative Party of Canada spoke to a crowd of more than two dozen people at the Days Inn. After providing the audience with his background and touching on his experiences in the cattle industry and international trade, he spent 45 minutes answering questions from the audience.
Bonk noted he travelled throughout North America and worked in Australia in the cattle industry while in high school and university. He also spent a decade working in Europe before returning to Canada and working in the livestock sector.
Bonk was elected as the MLA for the Moosomin riding in 2016, and spent the next 8 1/2 years in that role, holding several cabinet posts.
He was also the Saskatchewan co-captain, along with Andrew Scheer, for Pierre Poilievre's successful leadership bid for the Conservative Party.
"Working with Pierre, I realized really quickly that boy, there's not too much I don't see eye to eye with … that guy. His vision for Canada, what we could be, what we should be, what we will be again, is the reason I decided to take a run at federal politics."
He became the Conservative Party's candidate last August in a contested nomination.
Bonk noted a lot of people are really nervous about what they're seeing in the polls, with the Liberals passing the Tories for the lead, but Bonk cited the party's internal polling. In places like Greater Toronto or Atlantic Canada, they have very good numbers, and Bonk said they are on the cusp of a majority.
He views this as the most consequential election of his lifetime, and everyone he spoke to at the Estevan event knows the importance of the election.
The question-and-answer session covered numerous topics. Some he deferred an answer because they were provincial or municipal matters or the issue hadn't been covered in the party's platform yet.
Topics ranged from gun control to taxes, local representation to energy.
On gun control, Bonk said Poilievre would repeal the rules brought in by the Liberals during the past decade.
"It just makes no sense that a legally acquired firearm can be confiscated by the government," said Bonk.
The person who asked the question noted he had 250 firearms that became prohibited overnight. He has a licence to have them.
"Most of the gun crime in Canada, almost all of it, in fact, comes from gangs from illegally-acquired firearms in the United States," said Bonk.
If Bonk is elected, it would be just the second time in 40 years that the riding's MP wouldn't be from the Estevan area. Bonk said he would maintain that connection with the Estevan area.
"I served as an MLA for the past eight years for all of the communities. In fact, to be honest with you, I feel a little bit bad for my home community, because I actually had to ask for a bit of a free pass from them, because they knew I was so busy everywhere else.
"But if I'm elected in this constituency, I'll do my utmost to represent everyone equally, fairly and to the best of my ability."
Bonk noted he and Estevan-Big Muddy MLA Lori Carr spent a decade fighting the federal Liberals on jurisdictional overreach by the feds. That includes energy and environmental policies.
Bonk cited the potential of the Canada-First National Energy Corridor announced by the Tories early in the election campaign.
"This energy corridor, it's going to unleash production of our resources like we haven't seen," said Bonk. "We have some of the best producers, some of the most innovative producers in the world. All we need to do is create the environment for them to just take off and boom here."
The trade war with the U.S. has exposed some of the cracks that exist in the Canadian system, he said, and Bonk believes Canada needs to be more self-sufficient.
On the taxes front, Bonk said Poilievre has promised the largest income tax cut in Canadian history with a 15 per cent decrease.
The federal election is April 28.
