One of the candidates in the Sask. Party leadership race visited Estevan on Monday to meet with party supporters.
Gordon Wyant was at the Days Inn’s Taylorton Room to listen to concerns from the public and to share his priorities during a speech to the audience. He also answered questions from the public.
Wyant has been the MLA for Saskatoon Northwest since 2010, and held the prominent posts of attorney general and minister of justice before joining the leadership race. Among his other cabinet posts was the minister for SaskPower.
While in Estevan, he voiced his support for the carbon capture and storage project at the Boundary Dam Power Station.
“I think there's some great potential for further expansion of carbon capture,” Wyant told the Mercury. “It certainly enhances the economy in this area as far as the further use of coal for generating electricity in Saskatchewan.”
Wyant said he is a believer in advancing technologies that allow the economy to thrive.
“I think we have to look at that technology, and as that price comes down, make sure it’s economical, but I’m a big fan of carbon capture and sequestration,” said Wyant.
Countries from all over the world are looking at CCS technology, and that is illustrated in the number of tours that have happened at Boundary Dam in the last three years.
Wyant is pleased with the leadership campaign thus far. He claims he has travelled 15,000 kilometres over the past 1 1/2 months, and he says he has met with a lot of people.
The stop in Estevan was part of a tour of the southeast that also included time in Weyburn on Monday.
“We’ve been hearing lots of local issues,” said Wyant. “We spent a lot of time travelling to the SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) regional meetings, and at those meetings, we heard a lot of local issues. We heard a lot of local issues around water and waste water.”
Wyant was looking forward to discussions regarding the local economy, the importance of the oil and gas sector, and issues associated with federal government measures, such as the carbon tax and the small business tax that will impact the economy.
Wyant said he is opposed to the carbon tax, because it would have a dramatic impact on the oil and gas sector in Saskatchewan. As attorney general and minister of justice, he was responsible for leading the legal case against the federal government’s plan to impose a carbon tax.
“I think we have good legal grounds for taking the federal government to task in the event they impose the carbon tax on us,” said Wyant. “We’re going to continue to be very, very aggressive with our opposition to the carbon tax.”
The carbon tax and the small business tax changes were two of the seven priorities for federal-provincial relations that he released last week. He wants to see the province get a fair deal on equalization when the formula is up for re-negotiations in 2019, with natural resource revenue removed from the equalization formula.
He also called on the federal government to legalize marijuana based on sound public policy and safe distribution. Wyant wants to push for an honest discussion about pipelines, work to ensure Saskatchewan receives what he views as fair federal infrastructure funding, and support efforts to strengthen trade agreements.
Wyant has been a public supporter of the federal Liberal Party in the past, and was a party member until recently. He decided to drop his membership because of his pursuit for the Sask. Party’s leadership.
“Our constitution talks about not having any affiliation with a federal party,” said Wyant.
He doesn’t expect his past Liberal affiliations will hurt him among stronger conservative supporters. After all, the Sask. Party was a coalition of four Progressive Conservatives and four Liberals in 1997.
“People need to be reminded of that, and need to be reminded of our guiding principles that founded this party, and use those to build on what we’ve built on the last 10 years in government,” said Wyant.
He points out that everyone who was part of the establishment of the Saskatchewan Party was a fiscal conservative who wanted a smaller and a less intrusive government, while being socially conscious and providing necessary services.
As for his speech, Wyant told the audience he has been meeting with business leaders, community-based organizations and individuals. He views this leadership campaign as a great opportunity for renewal for the party.
“We're not just picking a new leader of the Saskatchewan Party, or a premier, I very much believe that this is about the future of our province,” said Wyant. “I also believe that as a province, we've just only scratched the surface when it comes to the potential.”
Wyant has five T’s for his campaign: talent, trade, technology, tolerance and transparency. He wants to lead a party and a government that capitalizes on the abilities of the province’s people, leads a modern economy that focuses on trade and technology, emphasizes acceptance of people, and recommits to openness with the taxpayers.
“Those five T’s are going to guide policy development as we move forward,” said Wyant. “I think that vision is going to help drive our economy, and after all, it’s the economy that really drives all we do.”
He also wants to encourage investment and innovation across all sectors with new growth tax incentives, and develop with industry the tools to encourage what he called “economic gardening” within the province, while encouraging the development of new industries and encouraging existing industries to relocate to Saskatchewan.
“I want to make sure that we continue this retreat from our reliance on cyclical commodity prices by encouraging ongoing diversification based on those five T’s I talked about,” said Wyant.
Wyant said he is also looking forward to the first debate that will happen on Thursday night at Swift Current. All of the candidates have great ideas, and he wants to hear what they have to say.
