Jim Lemaigre. (Facebook)

By Nigel Maxwell

Byelection

Former RCMP officer aims to win vote in northern Sask. byelection

Jan 5, 2022 | 5:00 PM

The Sask. party candidate in next month’s Athabasca byelection, believes he can be a strong advocate for First Nations people, and help bring the north in line with other self-sustaining areas of the province.

Jim Lemaigre has almost 14 years experience with the RCMP, and is currently the program manager for First Nations and Indigenous policing, under the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety. Lemaigre who has also served one term on council in his home community of Clearwater River Dene Nation, told paNOW he was approached to run, by First Nations leaders.

“They said they were looking for a candidate for the Sask. party and they said that they thought of me, based on what they had known of me,” Lemaigre explained.

The byelection, scheduled for Feb. 15, was needed after former longtime NDP MLA Buckley Belanger resigned. Belanger ran for the Liberal party in last Federal election, in the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. He would end up finishing second, with roughly 4,500 fewer votes than Gary Vidal.

Attracted to the Sask. party’s polices on investment and the economy as a whole, Lemaigre said people relayed to him a desire to have representation from the sitting government. If elected, he said he would focus on issues such as improving roads, and creating opportunities in health care, education and the economy.

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“So become self sufficient just like the rest of Saskatchewan and I know there’s opportunities for economic growth that I think the northwest can benefit from,” he said.

The NDP candidate in next month’s byelection, will be La Loche Mayor Georgina Jolibois. Also from Clearwater River Dene Nation, Jolibois was an NDP MP from 2015 to 2019.

While in Ottawa, she sponsored a private member’s bill for a new holiday which eventually became the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation first celebrated Sept. 30 this year.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell