YORKTON - With a provincial election just over a year away the legwork for New Democrat leader Carla Beck is already under way.
Beck said in the last six months she has put countless kilometres on her car, and the 12 NDP MLAs have been doing likewise laying a foundation for next fall’s election.
That effort behind the steering wheel brought Beck and Regina MLA Aleana Young -- Opposition Whip and the critic for Economy and Jobs, Immigration, Trade and Export Development, SaskPower, Energy and Resources, and Forestry – to Yorkton Wednesday.
While most people attending the Yorkton Summer Fair were there for entertainment Beck and Young were talking about the job ahead to form government next fall.
While Beck noted it will be a big step to go from 12 MLAs to forming government, that is her goal.
“I’m impatient and we’re not running for second place,” she told Yorkton This Week, then added she is not “under any false pretenses about how much work is in front of us (the NDP), but we’re working hard to form government in 2024.”
So what does Beck see as the biggest barrier to a possible NDP win next fall?
“Time is the biggest challenge,” she said, adding it takes time to organize and it takes time to get the party’s platform put to voters.
In that regard Beck and Young are believers in the personal touch of candidates talking directly to voters one-one-one.
Young said Saskatchewan has always been a place where direct contact has mattered, and added it always will.
Beck said direct contact builds trust and allows candidates to share the party vision, and to listen to individual concerns.
“You can’t build that level of trust . . . without being eyeball-to-eyeball,” she said.
As for concerns, Beck said, “affordability is the number one concern,” followed by health care and community safety.
And, there are concerns that after nearly 16 years in power the Saskatchewan Party is losing touch with what the people of Saskatchewan want, added Young.
“They get to feel like this government isn’t listening,” she said.
Locally in Yorkton that work includes finding a candidate. While nominations are happening in various riding's, no one has announced intentions here.
The right person is somebody who wishes to give back to their community by serving as an MLA. Who wants to build something for the future, said Beck.
