The Green Party is hoping to resonate with northern Saskatchewan in next week’s provincial election.
Cumberland candidate Michael Lessard says the Green perspective on protecting the land is in line with aboriginal values.
But Lessard’s big message to northern voters isn’t to vote for him – it’s to vote at all.
“I feel that we as the northerners need to get organized so our voice can be heard just as it was in the federal election, and it can be heard in the provincial election,” he said.
The final countdown for the April 4 provincial election is on, and northern Green Party candidates – Lessard and Athabasca candidate Max Morin – are pushing for voters to choose them as an alternative to the two leading parties.
Morin is running with a focus on the issues of ending uranium mining, developing a new northern development policy, and banning nuclear power and nuclear waste from being located in Saskatchewan.
The Greens rely largely on candidates who don’t actually live in each constituency, to make sure the Greens are on each ballot.
But both Lessard and Morin live in the north.
There was a bit of candidate shuffling before Lessard stepped up as a candidate, with two different men named.
The leadership of the Green party’s Victor Lau inspired Lessard to take on the role, he said.
“Like Victor I’m a man of vision and I’m a stepping stone. I just really feel that I can put forward the Green Party’s attitudes, initiatives and the changes – the real change that we need in northern Saskatchewan,” he said.
The Green Party has been planning for a full slate of candidates since late 2014. Most of those are parachute candidates.