OUTLOOK - Trevor Reid, running for the nomination of Saskatchewan Party MLA for the local Dakota-Arm River riding, hopes to secure the vote of supporters when the nomination meeting is held on Thursday, April 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the town hall in Davidson.
A meet-and-greet was held in the court room of the town offices building in Outlook on Thursday, March 28, where Reid, who lives just south of Saskatoon in the RM of Dundurn, introduced himself to residents and spoke of his viewpoints on a number of issues facing both the local riding as well as the province.
With over five years served in municipal government as a reeve for the RM of Dundurn, as well as over 25 years experience in matters involving business, land development, home building, real estate, project management, and governance, Reid currently serves as the Director of Operations for an application software company that operates at Innovation Place at the University of Saskatchewan.
"I've always had a passion for governance and government, and followed it as much as I can," he said, speaking to this reporter. "It led myself into being the Reeve of the RM of Dundurn for five and a half years, elected to two consecutive terms. That was a really good experience and I really enjoyed that. We had a great council at the time and we were able to get lots done. At that time, we were the fastest-growing municipality in the province, which took a fair bit of time to make sure that we did it right and correctly. We also redid the official community plan for within that area to make sure that things in development and the increase in population was done correctly."
Reid says that being able to help people and being in a position to help facilitate change and decisions is what made him decide to enter the provincial political arena.
"A passion for helping people would be the big thing," he said. "Being able to listen to what peoples' concerns are and having the ability to take it forward and push that message through to the other members of government to make sure that their voices are heard."
Issues surrounding the medical field as well as education are what Trevor is hearing from those that he speaks to on where the province is headed. He says that it's important to remember that key issues can affect different parts of Saskatchewan in different ways, and those kind of factors need to be taken into account by decision makers.
"Things that are being faced by rural Saskatchewan is a big one," he said. "Irrigation is one that I'm hearing a lot of feedback on, as well as education and the school boards. Making sure that education funding is available, and as we know, there's a back-and-forth situation going on right now that I'd like to see resolved in a manner that works for both parties, and I think that's doable. Medical is another big one, especially for rural Saskatchewan. School and medical are completely different issues when it comes to larger centres than in smaller Saskatchewan centres, so we have to make sure that those considerations are taken into account when we look at how money is allocated and spent, and we can look at each area specifically as to what their needs and wants are, and then facilitate it that way."
Reid's experience and his promise to push hard for the things that Dakota-Arm River people wish to see and fight to combat the issues that face the riding are reasons why he believes constituents should vote for him on April 11.
"Experience would be the first one," he said. "I work hard, I'll move hard, I'll push hard, and I'll listen. At the end of the day, the people of the Dakota-Arm River constituency are the most important people in the province of Saskatchewan, in my opinion. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that their voices are heard, and they'll be taken to Regina and together, we'll make this constituency one of the better ones in the province."
