WEYBURN - Four of the five candidates running for the seat of Weyburn-Bengough presented their stance on a variety of issues, at the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce’s election forum on Wednesday evening at the Weyburn Legion.
Taking part in the forum were Mike Weger for the Saskatchewan Party; North Hunter for the Saskatchewan Green Party; Rose MacInnes for Sask. United Party,and Andrew Shanaida of the Buffalo Party. Seth Lendrum of the NDP did not attend.
A number of questions were posed from the chamber related to business and the economy, and some pre-submitted questions from the public were posed, some related to youth interests.The Chamber started taking questions from the floor, but cut it off early with a number of people lined up wanting to pose questions. Moderator Monica Osbornwould not allow any further questions, saying they ran out of time, and angered a number of people when she said the public had until 9 p.m. to talk one-on-one with the candidates, almost a half-hour later.
Among the chamber’s questions were issues of nuclear and alternative-energy power sources, and where the various parties stood.On nuclear power, Weger noted that Saskatchewan has one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, and they have plans to introduce small modular nuclear reactors.
MacInnes said Sask. United has a “Sask first” policy for businesses, and said nuclear energy development is still a long way from reality in Saskatchewan.
Hunter said the Greens are very concerned about the impact nuclear reactors would have in using up water supplies, which would in turn be a problem to agricultural producers in this province if their water supply was put in jeopardy.
Shanaida said Saskatchewan needs to be smart about nuclear energy, particularly for products that can’t be produced in this province, and planning where the reactors are to go is also critical.
In regard to other forms of energy, Hunter said, “It’s time for a new green deal for Saskatchewan,” and one aspect of this is to make sure all vehicles in this province are hybrid, with a goal to having them all be electric. She also feels that resurrecting public transport modes, such as train service and the STC bus service, would also help provide transportation and people won’t need to worry about rising gas prices at the pumps.
For the Buffalo Party, Shanaida said they would question where the push is coming from towards such energy sources as wind and solar energy.
“I’m not saying all these options shouldn’t be looked at, but we have a lot of resources that are being suppressed,” he said.
Weger pointed out that the Clean Electricity policy of the federal Liberals and NDP is unrealistic for Saskatchewan, as they want all current electricity-generating plants that use coal and natural gas to be shut down by 2035. He noted the severe economic hurt this would cause this province, with losses of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
Currently 86 per cent of the electricity generated is by coal and hydro, and SaskPower is working with independent power producers to produce electricity through wind and solar projects, Weger added.
MacInnes said wind farms, for one, are detrimental to the environment and are not efficient, as can be seen in Alberta where they ran into a lack of power in their grid because of a reliance on wind energy.
"I’m an environmental technologist, and I find wind and solar is the largest farce,” she said, noting wind in particular takes out valuable farm land to put up“monstrosities” wind turbines.
In discussing how to attract economic investment to the constituency, Weger touched on issues related to Weyburn’s proposed wind turbines.“Your local MLA must have the ability to look at all options, and they can’t be influenced by those who yell the loudest. You have to do the work and research the facts. An MLA has to be willing to compromise and put their beliefs aside when they are committed to represent all residents,” he said.
MacInnes said the Sask. United Party wants to establish a Sask First Bank that would encourage investment in developments, and support agriculture and oil and gas without relying on Ottawa.
Hunter replied that the emphasis should be on education and health care, to ensure there are educational opportunities to train and learn here and to have good health,and lower high school dropout rates.“A healthy worker leads to a healthy economy,” she said.
The Buffalo Party would work to create jobs and foster economic growth, by reducing red tape that keeps businesses and industries away, said Shanaida, and thereby make Saskatchewan the best place to invest and do business with.
