Richard Nelson has tried twice to become a federal Conservative candidate for MP. Without luck, he has given up on federalism and is now running for the sovereigntist Buffalo Party in Saskatchewan in Cut Knife – Turtleford..“The more I learned about the Buffalo Party’s ideas to demand a fair deal for Saskatchewan, the more ‘at home’ I felt,” Nelson says in his party bio..In 2017, Nelson sought the Conservative Party nomination in Battlefords-Lloydminster abdicated by former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. A year later, Nelson sought the CPC nomination for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. The winners, Rosemarie Falk and Gary Vidal, currently sit as MPs..“The only challenges we ever seem to face in this riding generally come from the east of us,” Nelson told the Western Standard. “Electing a full slate of Conservative MP’s from Saskatchewan hasn’t changed those challenges a bit. And electing a full slate of candidates of Sask Party MLAs, or nearly full, hasn’t hasn’t changed it either. So I’m just frustrated and looking for a change.”.Nelson reached out to Buffalo Party Wade Sira and became a supporter of the new party..“It’s secession if necessary, but not necessarily secession. So that is looking for ways for us to be recognized within our confederation in a regional or a provincial way that’s a lot more bearable than the current relationship we have…nobody’s saying we want to separate for sure. We are saying we want to explore the idea.”.Nelson says the Trudeau government used “slight of hand” when it coughed up money to clean up abandoned wells. He said the federal program shuts down abandoned wells, instead of orphaned wells. The former category is a potentially productive well that is caught up on its leases, taxes, and royalties, but it is laying dormant, perhaps because the company has gone bankrupt..“In fact, it’s [an] active oil field. It’s active energy assets that we’re abandoning. I don’t think any single job is worth that. It’s just the wrong direction and our provincial government supported it wholeheartedly, and I believe the NDP supported it wholeheartedly too. So if you’re not with Moe, the only way to go is Buffalo.”.Nelson believes the provincial state of emergency has lasted far too long. He says the focus should be on manageable levels of hospitalization, not positive test results..“We should be looking to open up sectors entirely and then evaluate how many hospitalizations have occurred as a result,” Nelson says. “If it’s an acceptable number we need to look at the next industry and the next industry because what we’re witnessing is the huge handover of market share from local business to multinational business that we’ve ever seen in our lifetime.”.Nelson faces an uphill fight in Cut Knife – Turtleford. Larry Doke was re-elected as the riding’s Saskatchewan Party MLA in 2016 with 5,765 votes, leaving the NDP’s Danica Lorer a distant second with 958 votes. This time, Ryan Domotor will run for the Sask Party, and Matt Fedler will represent the NDP..“I’ve actually been extremely surprised by the reaction at the door and by telephone. I’ve had people calling me. They want to donate. They want the sign. They want to support the party publicly,” Nelson says..“We are pitching ourselves as a credible opposition, not just a disruptor. And we really feel like the support for NDP is at an all-time low, that Ryan Meili doesn’t really connect with Saskatchewan voters. Jagmeet Singh certainly doesn’t. Propping up the [federal] Liberal government is the worst way to make friends in Saskatchewan right now.”.Nelson says no one has to worry that a Buffalo Party vote will send an NDP candidate to the legislature because the new party won’t run candidates in the two major cities. The platform will be released next week, but Nelson offered some teasers..“We’d like to make Saskatchewan the best place to invest and to operate here in Canada and in all of the world. We would like to create a program that would help young entrepreneurs start up in the province and also young farmers. We know that that is an industry that is very prohibitive for anybody to start up in but certainly a young family. They just don’t have the financing available.”.The Western Independence Party ran in the riding in past years. John Nesdoly received 66 votes in 2007, while Josiah Rise received 174 in 2003..Lee Harding is the SaskatchewanCorrespondent for the Western Standard
Richard Nelson has tried twice to become a federal Conservative candidate for MP. Without luck, he has given up on federalism and is now running for the sovereigntist Buffalo Party in Saskatchewan in Cut Knife – Turtleford..“The more I learned about the Buffalo Party’s ideas to demand a fair deal for Saskatchewan, the more ‘at home’ I felt,” Nelson says in his party bio..In 2017, Nelson sought the Conservative Party nomination in Battlefords-Lloydminster abdicated by former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. A year later, Nelson sought the CPC nomination for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. The winners, Rosemarie Falk and Gary Vidal, currently sit as MPs..“The only challenges we ever seem to face in this riding generally come from the east of us,” Nelson told the Western Standard. “Electing a full slate of Conservative MP’s from Saskatchewan hasn’t changed those challenges a bit. And electing a full slate of candidates of Sask Party MLAs, or nearly full, hasn’t hasn’t changed it either. So I’m just frustrated and looking for a change.”.Nelson reached out to Buffalo Party Wade Sira and became a supporter of the new party..“It’s secession if necessary, but not necessarily secession. So that is looking for ways for us to be recognized within our confederation in a regional or a provincial way that’s a lot more bearable than the current relationship we have…nobody’s saying we want to separate for sure. We are saying we want to explore the idea.”.Nelson says the Trudeau government used “slight of hand” when it coughed up money to clean up abandoned wells. He said the federal program shuts down abandoned wells, instead of orphaned wells. The former category is a potentially productive well that is caught up on its leases, taxes, and royalties, but it is laying dormant, perhaps because the company has gone bankrupt..“In fact, it’s [an] active oil field. It’s active energy assets that we’re abandoning. I don’t think any single job is worth that. It’s just the wrong direction and our provincial government supported it wholeheartedly, and I believe the NDP supported it wholeheartedly too. So if you’re not with Moe, the only way to go is Buffalo.”.Nelson believes the provincial state of emergency has lasted far too long. He says the focus should be on manageable levels of hospitalization, not positive test results..“We should be looking to open up sectors entirely and then evaluate how many hospitalizations have occurred as a result,” Nelson says. “If it’s an acceptable number we need to look at the next industry and the next industry because what we’re witnessing is the huge handover of market share from local business to multinational business that we’ve ever seen in our lifetime.”.Nelson faces an uphill fight in Cut Knife – Turtleford. Larry Doke was re-elected as the riding’s Saskatchewan Party MLA in 2016 with 5,765 votes, leaving the NDP’s Danica Lorer a distant second with 958 votes. This time, Ryan Domotor will run for the Sask Party, and Matt Fedler will represent the NDP..“I’ve actually been extremely surprised by the reaction at the door and by telephone. I’ve had people calling me. They want to donate. They want the sign. They want to support the party publicly,” Nelson says..“We are pitching ourselves as a credible opposition, not just a disruptor. And we really feel like the support for NDP is at an all-time low, that Ryan Meili doesn’t really connect with Saskatchewan voters. Jagmeet Singh certainly doesn’t. Propping up the [federal] Liberal government is the worst way to make friends in Saskatchewan right now.”.Nelson says no one has to worry that a Buffalo Party vote will send an NDP candidate to the legislature because the new party won’t run candidates in the two major cities. The platform will be released next week, but Nelson offered some teasers..“We’d like to make Saskatchewan the best place to invest and to operate here in Canada and in all of the world. We would like to create a program that would help young entrepreneurs start up in the province and also young farmers. We know that that is an industry that is very prohibitive for anybody to start up in but certainly a young family. They just don’t have the financing available.”.The Western Independence Party ran in the riding in past years. John Nesdoly received 66 votes in 2007, while Josiah Rise received 174 in 2003..Lee Harding is the SaskatchewanCorrespondent for the Western Standard