A long-time member of the Conservative Party of Canada is running for the upstart Canadian Future Party in Souris-Moose Mountain.
Lyndon Dayman, who farms in the Windthorst area, is the first-ever candidate in the southeast riding for the party, which was formed last summer. According to the party's website, it has 18 candidates running across the country.
Dayman was one of six candidates who sought the Souris-Moose Mountain nomination for the Tories in 2014, and was defeated by Robert Kitchen, who went on to become the riding's MP for nearly a decade.
Dayman was on the Tories' riding association board as recently as last year, and publicly questioned the nomination process in Souris-Moose Mountain that saw Steven Bonk become the party's candidate for the next election.
"I'm very much a grassroots guy, and I can't let that stand, so I decided to run against him," said Dayman.
He was also a voting delegate for the Conservative Party at every convention since the party's inception in 2003, and was part of the party's policy and constitution committee at one time.
Dayman believes he could be a good representative of the riding if he were to be elected. The party is new, it is forming some policies, and it has yet to have an electoral district association board.
"I'm looking forward to a policy convention where we can reach some of them, but the whole idea is each EDA will pick its own priorities, and that's me. Let's hear from the people in this constituency and take the ideas back to Ottawa," said Dayman.
The party was preparing for an election in October, which is when the vote was scheduled to take place, but new Liberal Party leader Mark Carney called a snap election six months early.
"We didn't have an AGM [annual general meeting]. We were just talking about it when they announced an election, and we decided we can't be having an AGM and setting up a board and campaigning in a short election," said Dayman.
Dayman also likes the stances the party has brought forward to be tough on crime. He said many of the people responsible for much of the crime are repeat offenders. He also believes the party has a better approach to handling tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Out here, we produce oil, we produce grains, we produce potash and we produce all kinds of minerals, and the Americans are going buy those even while Trump is going to be taxing his people to use them," said Dayman.
His foray in the 2014 nomination race taught him there are many young people who aren't engaged in politics. He also recognizes it's a big riding that has become even larger with the addition of the Assiniboia area for this election.
The Conservatives view Souris-Moose Mountain as a safe seat, he said, but Dayman recalled that when changes were made to the riding before the 1993 vote, the Liberals' Bernie Collins was elected.
"I'm a Conservative-minded protester, and I'm hoping to pick up enough protest votes that would do that again. I think I can appeal to NDPers who are disgruntled with [leader] Jagmeet Singh keeping [former prime minister] Justin Trudeau in power, and Liberal supporters that are disgruntled with the way the Liberals are trying to kill our economy out here."
Also in the field are Steven Bonk of the Conservative Party of Canada, Aziz Mian of the Liberal Party of Canada, Sheena Muirhead Koops of the New Democratic Party, independent candidate Travis Patron, and Remi Rheault of the Green Party of Canada.
They are vying to replace Kitchen of the Conservative Party, who announced last year he would not seek re-election.
The election day is April 28.
