By Spencer Sterritt

ELECTION 2016: Sask.Rivers candidates working through the long haul

Apr 3, 2016 | 11:13 AM

It’s been a long road for the Sask. Rivers candidates, literally, during the 2016 provincial election. NDP candidate Lyle Whitefish and SaskParty incumbent candidate Nadine Wilson have had to criss-cross their sizable constituency numerous times in the quest to knock on every door.

“It’s overwhelming,” Whitefish said. “We try to spread ourselves as best we can and try to get to the doorstep and try to listen to as many people as we can.”

“You have to be focused,” Wilson said. “You have to have a great team surrounding you. We challenge each other to keep going.”

Both candidates will press on during the final weekend of the campaign, exactly as they have been.

“I want to try to hit as many people as possible,” Wilson said. “I’ve found they still want to be listened to.”

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Both Wilson and Whitefish said the people they’ve talked to are mostly concerned about the economy and cuts.

“In Sask. Rivers there’s a lot of closures to education facilities in the North,” Whitefish said. “And of course short staffing in a lot of the elders care homes.”

Whitefish has run campaigns before, through the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, but said the provincial election was “eye-opening” for him.

“This is a whole other ball game. I’m educating myself, and people I’ve been talking to have been educating me. I hope I could be successful because I’m very concerned about so many of our communities in rural Saskatchewan.”

This is Wilson’s third time running in Sask. Rivers. “What I’ve learned is the act of serving in public office is powerful. It changes the quality of life for all Saskatchewan people, and if you can change one person to have a better quality of life, it’s very meaningful as an elected official.”

Polls open Monday, April 4.

ssterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit