REGINA — New Democratic Party leader Carla Beck is heading to a community near you sometime in the next three weeks.
Just one day after winning the leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP, Beck announced the launch of the party’s Building to Win Tour.
Beck stood with her team of MLAs on the steps of the Legislature to announce the tour plans, shortly after holding her first caucus meeting.
“Tomorrow, we start our three-week tour that will take us to every corner of this province. We will be meeting with folks in their places of work, in their communities, sharing their stories and vision of Saskatchewan that works for all of us.”
Some of the places they plan to hit include Regina, Roche Percee, Prince Albert, Shellbrook, Moose Jaw, Wakaw, North Battleford, Onion Lake, Biggar, Batoche and others.
Beck said she wants to “hear from people about how to make our province a better place, a province that brought the world medicare, a province that time and time again has shown its resilience, where neighbours help neighbours,” said Beck.
The NDP hopes to reach out to groups beyond their own party base to “rooms we have not been in for a long time,” said Beck.
That means meeting farmers, ranchers and power plant workers who might not have voted NDP recently.
“I’m not sure we’ve been branding cattle for a long time,” said Beck. “Meeting with the workers down in the southeast around Shand, all of those pieces.
The new leader believes people are receptive to the NDP's message in a way they were not before.
“This is so clear to me that people are listening in a way that they weren’t listening in 2020. They’re looking for change. I think our job is to get out there and make those connections and show them that we are inviting them in, that we are the alternative to the Sask. Party. A lot of people think that this province, and I share this, is going the wrong direction. We’re going to get out there and talk directly to them.”
She highlighted issues such as affordability, with gas prices a particular concern.
Beck cited the importance of going out and meeting with people as informing them on the top issues when they come back to the legislature in the fall.
“Our job is to represent the people we serve, and if you don’t go out and listen to people, I don’t know how you bring those priorities forward. I think that anything we do in the house, whether in opposition or government, needs to be connected to the real life hopes and dreams of people in this province. It needs to be informed by the things that keep them up at night, by the things they want for themselves and their families, and that’s why this outreach is so important.”
The new leader also noted the importance of going out to different areas including the rural ones where the NDP doesn’t have a lot of representation.
“There isn’t a community that’s off the list in Saskatchewan,” said Beck. “If you’re looking for change, if you’re frustrated by the direction this province is going in, if you feel like you have a government that isn’t listening, which we’re hearing from a lot of people, you’re invited to have a conversation, find that connection and we’d love to build solutions with you.”
