(Submitted photo/Wendy Sekulich)

By Aaron Schulze

Humboldt-Watrous NDP

Humboldt-Watrous NDP nominee Wendy Sekulich campaigning on improving rural services

Sep 28, 2020 | 9:53 AM

Following a 31-year career as an educator in northern Saskatchewan and Saskatoon, Wendy Sekulich is turning her eye to provincial politics.

The Métis woman from Saskatoon, whose family farms near Kenaston and does business around Watrous area was named the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party’s (NDP) nominee in the Humboldt-Watrous riding. Sekulich said she’s always been passionate about Saskatchewan’s people and politics, and if she has concerns or issues, she’s willing to stick her neck out and do the work.

“We need a rural voice… being out in the rural really fascinates me how disconnected we’re getting,” Sekulich said. “The internet is a big pet peeve of mine, and I’ve actually gone all the way to the [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] because our internet kept going down and they kept charging us for it.

If we wanted it fixed, we had to pay mileage for them to come out here. We’re becoming disconnected from the mainstream, and communication is one of them.”

Other issues Sekulich suggested that damaged rural communities are the shutdown of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company in 2017 and some rural emergency rooms continuing to be shut down amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

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The two big priorities for Sekulich are education and healthcare, with the latter hitting close to home.

“Even with our seniors… when you go into long-term care, it’s a crapshoot where you’re going to end up,” she said. “I had to be the voice for my dad. When his dementia kicked in and he had to go into a care home, he was in a private one, after going all the way to the minister’s office to get the proper assessment done for him, being that he was a level four. He could have ended up anywhere away from his home community.

“Our family’s loved one in Bladworth ended up in Kyle. The husband in his 80s needs to wait for someone to give him a ride to see his wife. We need to build the communities again and get our services back to where they need to be.”

Across the isle is the Saskatchewan Party’s Donna Harpauer: Humboldt-Watrous’ Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and the Government of Saskatchewan’s Minister of Finance. Harpauer won the Watrous riding for the Sask Party in 1999 and then Humboldt in 2003. After the riding dissolved, she won Humboldt-Watrous in 2016.

Ridings involving Humboldt and Watrous have gone to the Sask Party in every general election since 1999, but Sekulich remains optimistic of a change to orange.

“I believe in what the NDP stands for and the people of Saskatchewan,” Sekulich said. “I think Saskatchewan needs change and we need to get back to the people of the province and making the province strong.”

Because of the ongoing pandemic, Sekulich intends to reach out to Humboldt-Watrous residents via video conference, email, and telephone.

The 2020 Saskatchewan general election is Oct. 26.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow