By Kellah Lavoie

Meeting encourages voting, asking candidates questions

Oct 2, 2011 | 8:23 AM

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and Save Our Saskatchewan Crowns, are trying to get people to think about what they want from their government leading into this year’s provincial election.

They hosted a meeting in Prince Albert on Wednesday night to get people talking.

“We’re getting together with folks, workers and community members, to talk about issues affecting our province,” said Cara Banks, member of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Political Strategy Committee.

She said they are ramping up meetings with the election just around the corner.

Issues that have been coming up as they tour the province are health care, education, economy and environment, she said.

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“We are getting a lot of feedback from people about the struggles they are having right now in Saskatchewan.”

“We are hearing from a lot of workers that are upset about having their rights stripped away by essential services legislation and people who are unhappy about the wage mandate of the government for our public service,” Banks explained.

It was a main concern of one attendee, who asked that his name not be used.

“(My) biggest concerns is privatization, I am a strong union person and I don’t believe that privatization is best for our province, and I believe that is where our government is headed,” he said, adding his other big concern is education.

He said people need to stand together against the government if they want to see change.

“Sitting back and saying that the direction our government is going (is wrong), it’s not the proper thing to do, if you’re not willing to get involved and to step out and help out then it is basically a waste of time.”

Kim, another person in the crowd, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, was largely concerned about the potential privatization of Crown corporations.
“They make a lot of money and they answer to the public of Saskatchewan,” she said.

She said the best way to get the word out is education.
“How they’re doing it, why they’re doing it, what they think they’re going to get out of it,” she said are important things to know. “But once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

“People are really engaged in a discussion about what direction they want to see the province go,” Banks said.
“We are trying to fundamentally encourage people to vote in the upcoming election and not stay home, even though they have these concerns, they need to get out there and mark their ‘X’.

“Part of holding our government accountable in an election is definitely voting, but also when candidates come to your doorstep, here are some questions that you might want to think about asking them, and find out where the various candidates stand on the issue.”

klavoie@panow.com