Fred Bradshaw (Left) is representing the SaskParty, while Rod McCorriston (Right) is representing the NDP in the 2020 provincial election. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff & Facebook/Saskatchewan New Democratic Party)

By Mat Barrett

Carrot River Valley - 2020 Election

Carrot River Valley candidates talk election campaign

Sep 30, 2020 | 4:10 PM

With less than a month to go until the Saskatchewan provincial election, candidates across the province are out making their cases to be chosen by the electorate.

In the Carrot River Valley Riding, Sask. Party representative Fred Bradshaw is looking for a fourth straight term as the Member of the Legislative Assembly in the riding, while Rod McCorriston is looking to take things over for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the region.

The Carrot River Valley Riding has been in Sask. Party control since 1999, and Bradshaw has been MLA since the 2007 general election when he received almost 62 per cent of the votes. Bradshaw would receive over 75 per cent of the votes in the next two elections. When asked about his confidence, Bradshaw told northeastNOW these types of things are never guaranteed.

“October the 26th is when we will know if the people of the province have confidence in us or not,” he said. “But I think that we’ve done, if the people take a look at it, we’ve done a good job within the province.”

Bradshaw won the Sask. Party nomination in June 2019, defeating Terry Youzwa.

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Meanwhile McCorriston, who was selected as the NDP candidate in June, believes that the rural Saskatchewan voters have almost been forgotten.

“They feel that their votes have been taken for granted over the course of time,” he said. “We’re not seeing any improvements out here in rural Saskatchewan, it seems like the cities are getting all of the announcements, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot happening out here in Saskatchewan.”

McCorriston highlighted a number of topics he wants to cover as part of the election, namely health care, saying that the SaskParty isn’t admitting there’s a problem but the NDP have a plan to address it. He also mentioned roads needing to be fixed, including Highway 23 from Crooked River to Carrot River. McCorriston also touched on the Saskatchewan Transportation Company that was shut down in 2017.

“We’re looking to bring that back in some form,” McCorriston said. “Because we can see the hurt that it’s caused to rural residents out here in Carrot River Valley.”

Bradshaw highlighted the 10 year growth plan that was released in 2019, mentioning growing the population to 1.4 million, creating more jobs, and getting a balanced budget.

“I think the people of Saskatchewan want to see a prudent government who’s going to work on getting the province moving forward,” he said. “And we have that plan.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is also a topic on many politicians’ minds, and more specifically, how to recover from it. Bradshaw said Saskatchewan is in a good spot when it comes to ability to recover from the pandemic.

“Not only have the people of Saskatchewan done very well at containing it,” Bradshaw told northeastNOW. “But also, financially, we’re better than a lot of the other provinces going into it. And when you look at our trade end of it, I think that this is going to really help in Saskatchewan to help move Saskatchewan forward.”

Bradshaw noted that a balanced budget was set to come prior to the pandemic, and they’ll work to get back to that soon.

McCorriston said to balance the budget, the Sask. Party wants to make deep cuts, but the NDP is hoping to invest back in the province.

“We need to grow ourselves out of this mess,” he said. “By creating more employment, and hopefully spin off in regards to our Renew Saskatchewan plan.”

The Renew Saskatchewan plan sees the NDP putting solar panels and thermal energy into Saskatchewan.

Voters head to the polls on Oct. 26.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6