(submitted photo/Fred Lackie)

By Glenn Hicks

election 2020

Local Buffalo Party candidate talks cops, energy and independence

Oct 21, 2020 | 8:15 AM

Fred Lackie says he’s voted for over 40 years and has never been involved in politics, but now believes it’s time to do so for the future of the province and his grandchild.

Lackie, who worked for over 20 years in the forestry industry before spending the last two decades running his guide outfitter business at Candle Lake, is the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan candidate in the Saskatchewan Rivers riding. The party was initially formed as Wexit Saskatchewan in March before a name change in June.

“It doesn’t matter which party it is, just before an election they make all these promises, but I say to myself ‘you had four years in power, why didn’t you do these things before?’” he told paNOW. “You look at the state of the country financially, I just want to do something for the young people of the province.”

The Buffalo Party is campaigning for several measures aimed at severing links to Ottawa including the removal of the National Transfer Payment Program, as each province needs to ‘learn to work within their means’, as the official platform states. They also want to keep three coal-fired carbon capture power plants in the south saying it should not be up to Ottawa to dictate Saskatchewan energy policy.

‘At one point they were the Sask. Party’s pride and joy, now all of a sudden they’re being shut down …it’s probably influence from the federal government,” Lackie said, claiming the power plants’ future existence doesn’t suit Ottawa. While Carbon Capture and Storage continues at these power plants the provincial government has not committed to further expansion of the technology.

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Separation

Perhaps the biggest item on the party’s advocacy list is that people have the right to vote for independence from the Confederation of Canada.

“If the people of Saskatchewan at some point decide they want a referendum on separation then the Buffalo Party would support that. It shouldn’t be the politicians but the voters to decide that,” Lackie said.

Policing

Rural crime is a key factor for Lackie and another key element of the party’s focus is the removal of the RCMP from the province and the launch of a Saskatchewan Police Force.

“The members [of a Saskatchewan Police Force] don’t have to be transferred somewhere else every three or four years like the RCMP, so they can be part of the community and become trusted. Even the people they have some trouble with get to know who the members are,” he explained.

Lackie said the ideal result of next week’s election would be for the Buffalo Party to become the official opposition to hold the government accountable and he’s promising to be unlike other politicians.

“We’re all about doing what we can do for the people of Saskatchewan. I’d be the first person to say that I’m about as far from a typical politician as you’re going to get,” he said.

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For all things election – provincial and municipal – head to our special election section.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow