The New Democratic Party’s (NDP) shadow MLA for this riding Yens Pedersen discussed some issues that concern the Estevan NDP Constituency Association during the local association’s annual general meeting on April 6.
Seed royalties were among the main topics addressed during the meeting.
“The federal government, the Trudeau government, and the seed industry are trying to basically impose, or make it so the seed companies can collect a royalty on every tonne of crop that is sold and make it so the farmers can’t reuse the seed that they grow on their own farms without paying a royalty for that,” said Pedersen.
The party got some petitions on the issue signed during the Estevan meeting. Pedersen also noted that he’s been hearing similar concerns all across the agricultural portion of the province with a lot of farmers being upset with the current federal policies. As a critic for agriculture and environment, Pedersen will be taking the information he receives during local meetings back to the NDP caucus to make sure that the party knows what sort of feedback they receive throughout the province.
Even though the relationships with China and canola bans are a federal prerogative, Pedersen outlined that the provincial party is strongly concerned about not only the canola farmers, but also about the difficulties the agricultural sector is facing in general.
“We’ll continue hammering the federal government when it comes to things like making sure that there is rail service, that farmers get adequate rail service in Saskatchewan. That’s one of the reasons why the NDP has been supportive of the pipelines, because that oil is, unfortunately, taking up the capacity on our rails, so it’s harder for grain to get to market,” said Pedersen.
The coal transition and future development opportunities for Estevan were also discussed during the meeting. This problem is not as widespread across the province as other issues.
“The one thing that may be more unique to Estevan and some other communities is the concern about the future of the coal and coal plants. And it makes a lot of sense. It’s a pretty big part of the Estevan economy,” Pedersen said.
At the meeting, they talked about the importance of making sure that workers, their families and the surrounding communities are supported through the transition and making sure that there is an actual financial support plan in place, so Estevan remains a healthy community.
“One of the things that Ryan Meili and the NDP has been talking about is that Estevan is also the sunniest place in Saskatchewan, so there is a lot of potential here for solar energy, there is potential for geothermal. I don’t know the details, but I’ve been told there is potential to actually convert the power plant to burning biomass,” said Pedersen.
“I don’t know if that’s realistic or not… But NDP wants to make sure that Estevan and area community is supported through this transition.”
After the Estevan meeting, Pedersen was planning to attend the Swift Current’s NDP gathering to collect further perspectives on the current issues of concern in rural parts of the province. At each meeting attended not only does he listen to the local reports, but he also lets those present know what is on the agenda in other areas.
It’s hard to predict when and if the seeds planted during such local meetings would bear fruit, but Pedersen makes sure he brings it back to the party.
“Basically what I do with this feedback is I report to our caucus and we use that to figure out what … our platform looks like for the next election, what issues we raise in the legislature.”
The next NDP representative to come to Estevan will be the Saskatchewan party leader Ryan Meili, who plans to visit the Energy City on May 6.
