(Photo: Doug Racine, acquired via Facebook)
The federal election is only a few weeks away with advance polls opening between April 18 and 21 and election day set for April 28.
MBC Radio News has reached out to all four candidates running for MP in the Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River riding with interview requests.
Below you will find the transcript and audio from the interview MBC News had with NDP candidate, Doug Racine.
*Note-At the time of publishing this article, MBC News has either been in the process of scheduling interviews with other Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River riding candidates or hasn’t heard back on interview requests.
MBC News: So, I guess just to start off, Doug, what made you want to run-in this federal election in the northern riding of Desnethe Mississippi Churchill River, and why did you choose to run for the NDP?
Doug Racine: Well, I’ve I certainly, over my lifetime, I’ve always identified with the core principles that the NDP stand on and, you know, and basically that’s looking after the workers and looking after, those people that are that you know have struggles in life and so the NDP have always been there and that’s the way I practiced law for twenty five years and that’s how I those were the kind of guiding principles that I used in the practice of law. So, you know, I spent twenty five years in the practice of law and I was, you know, went to the Court of Appeal of, you know, on different cases in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan and I had twelve years of military service and, I think I had expected changes as much as I could as a lawyer and I want to transfer those skills now to go to Ottawa and fight and represent the constituents of this riding.
MBC News: And what kind of plans do you have to create sustainable economic opportunities that balance environmental protection with economic growth in Northern Saskatchewan and especially for indigenous communities in the region?
Doug Racine: Well, I think that you can’t talk about economic development in the North without talking about housing. I’ll just give a couple of quick examples. There’s an 80-bed care unit going in in La Ronge, and there’s no housing for the hundred or so employees.
So how are you going to do economic development if you don’t have proper housing? So, I think the first key is that we have to, because there’s a housing crisis here. There’s a lot of homeless people here, in the North, and we have to look after them and we just don’t have the housing to do that. But there’s another serious problem in regard to housing and that is that the government programs, are standard across the board, but they don’t work in the North and I don’t have to prove that to anybody in the North because, there’s just a terrible lack of housing and everybody knows it. So, these programs have to change.
On reserve housing, you know, I think that we have to start looking at the standardizing housing that is for example, once a house once a household reaches six people, that’s it, you have to build another house. And I think that we have to start looking at the funding on that basis. Because it’s not working right now. We have overcrowding, we’ve got tuberculosis, it’s leading to health problems. And if you want a healthy industry, you have to have healthy communities. So, and I think that’s the first big step in, in economic development, in the North. It’s housing both on reserve and off reserve.
MBC News: And when it comes to resource development in the North, how will you work to ensure that indigenous communities are being properly consulted and have a fair share in those projects?
Doug Racine: Well, there’s a couple of things I spoke yesterday with, the PAGC, Prince Albert Grand Council, and their two or three big concerns were the fact that the natural resource transfer agreement that happened in 1930 has restricted the access of First Nations, having any control over their resources. So, I think that we have to take a look at that. That’s got to, you know what I mean? Those discussions have to be held. And, you know, quite frankly, in general, there’s some real success stories in the North.
And, and, you know, some partnerships and stuff like that. And those have to be those have to be fostered. But I think that what we have to do is that we have to start looking at putting revenue resource sharing on the table and start talking about that. One of the impediments to these resource companies is, of course, having trained workers. And I’ve visited the Nortep campus.
And what’s really interesting is that there’s, you know, in order to train people to work in these mines and work in these resource extraction places, you know, they have to have specialized training. And part of the problem is that for example for Nortep is housing. How do you get students out of the North when there’s no place to put them or they don’t have proper daycare? You know the daycare lineups, for example in La Ronge, some people are waiting up to six months or a year for a daycare spot. So how do you know that these problems really work against industry and work against the people of the North because they can’t get the training they want.
So, and certainly everybody sees it as a problem but again look, the Liberals and Conservatives, you know, we have the last Liberal/Conservative decade or maybe twenty years that they’ve been in power and nothing’s changed. In fact, it’s got worse. And I think that I think we really have to work on providing a community that can support education that’s going to take these workers into these mines, and into these resource extraction areas.
MBC News: And another concern for Northerners is a lack of transportation and infrastructure development. How would you work to improve those areas, kind of including roads, facilities, and Internet access to help better connect the North?
Doug Racine: Right. And I think that it’s a matter of priority and, you know, we kind of dip into provincial jurisdiction when we’re talking about some of this stuff. But certainly, I am ready to work with the MLAs of the North and, and to look at these, different types of things.
For example, we need more cell towers, right across the North. And I think that, if the federal government could help with something like that, we would. One of the other big challenges is when the Conservative government canceled the bus service across the province. It really had a huge impact on the North, and I think that that needs to be bought back. And and the thing about public transportation is that there isn’t any public transportation that pays for itself.
It’s all subsidized right across Canada by the federal and provincial governments. And I think that we have to take another look at that and get those bus services up and running because it means that people can stay in the communities. You know, they can go out and get cheaper groceries. They can get, they can go out and visit with friends. They can get their medical appointments, stuff like that.
So, I think that, you know, if you, as far as infrastructure is concerned, it’s, you know, buses. And I have one more thing about infrastructure. All these housing programs that the federal government has don’t work in the North. It costs six times six times the amount than it does down South to develop a lot to build a house, right, or put sewers in. And that’s not reflected in any of these federal policies. So that’s all got to change.
MBC News: And access to health care in the North is also quite limited and especially in indigenous communities. And we haven’t really seen that area improve in quite a few years. What steps would you take to help Northerners have better access to health care services and facilities?
Doug Racine: Well, for starters, let’s just take, for example, that this care home, this 80-bed care home, apparently there was a daycare that was going to be added to that and that’s been canceled. And there’s no housing attached or near for the, you know, for the workers. So, we have to think about that. You know, a lot of these remote, First Nation communities don’t have the housing, and and they don’t have the facilities for staffing. And I think that we have to try and make it more attractive for health care workers to work in the North.
And, and that means that, we’ve got to have childcare, and we have to have to have housing. I also believe that there’s one other thing that I think that the federal and provincial governments could do and that is that, and I’m gonna go back to training, is that, it’s really hard to retain, medical staff. But if you train people from the North, they stay in the North, and you’re not having to recruit. So, I think there has to be a huge investment in the training of nurses and doctors and, radiologists and you know, all those types of trades. You know what I mean?
We have to train Northerners to stay in the North, and I think that’s going to go a long way in making medical services available to these communities.
MBC News: And this goes along with health care, but mental health and addictions are another growing concern in the North and in indigenous communities. So, what kind of measures do you think are necessary to take to improve mental health and addiction services in the North?
Doug Racine: Well, again, you know what I mean? We don’t have the infrastructure or support systems for our mental health workers, whether it be on reserve or off reserve in places like La Ronge and Pine House and everything else. And we have to really double down on making sure that the funds are there to support these workers and, and train these workers. In fact, I was at Nortep the other day. They have a wonderful program, for mental health workers. And, again, you know, it’s hard for them to take these courses if they don’t have the housing and the daycare spots for you know what I mean, for people to, you know, to participate.
So yeah, I think it has to be doubled down and I think it’s something that the governments have been ignoring, both federal and provincial, and it can’t go on any longer. We, people are losing family members every day up here in the North, and I know it’s also very bad in the major urban centers in the South. But again, you know, where it’s gonna take some really, some real resolve to work with the province and to work with, the MLAs, to turn things around because it’s quite obvious, that we’re in a crisis situation, you know. And the other one thing I want to add is that I don’t believe that the RCMP have been provided the resources to respond to a lot of these crises. And I think that we should take a look at policing, you know.
PAGC, they want to they want they want their own police force, and I will support that 100%. The well-trained police force, operating, you know, with PAGC members, who can sympathize with and perhaps even know a lot of the individuals they come into contact with, could really make a difference. So, yeah, those are some of my ideas.
MBC News: And, I know housing has been a key component of this conversation, but can you really double down and kind of tell me how you would work to improve housing shortages in the North and as well as housing conditions in northern and indigenous communities?
Doug Racine: Well, again, you know, it’s all about it’s all about in this case, you know, if I’m elected and I end up in Ottawa, it’s about educating everybody in the, at parliament. You know what I mean? And if, and that means and that means, telling their story and letting people know just how bad it is, in Northern Saskatchewan. And I think through educating the members of parliament and, and do you know what I mean? Maybe a little bit, you know, and it may require a little bit of elbows up, just to put that on the forefront of the agenda in Ottawa.
And that it can’t be ignored any longer. I think that if anybody, you know, if you end up in Ottawa, that’s going to be your number one job, is to make sure that that housing funding comes north. And I want to say this again, the federal programs are not working here, and it’s obvious. There is no housing in La Ronge, for example.
We have tremendous overcrowding on reserves. We’ve and it’s so bad that now tuberculosis is making a comeback. And so, it’s a crisis and it needs to be treated like a crisis and I think that that message needs to go to Ottawa.
MBC News: And if elected and if you do end up heading to Ottawa, how will you ensure that treaty rights are respected and upheld by the federal government?
Doug Racine: Well, I think that one of the things that, you know, working twenty-five years as a lawyer for, you know, different indigenous communities and everything else, there’s a couple things that we need to do. We need to start talking about revenue resource sharing so that these reserves in northern communities have the funds to fix housing, that they have the funds to facilitate healthcare workers and get them trained, give them trained. It appears that a lot of the tax dollars that are real realized by our resource extraction bypass places like the PAGC reserves, bypass La Ronge, bypass Ile La Crosse, bypass La Loche and Pine House and Cumberland House and Sandy Bay, they you know all those tax dollars bypass that and they end up in either Regina or Ottawa and it doesn’t appear that those tax dollars are coming back. So, I think we really need to take a look at at some tax fairness, and, and making sure that the Northerners have the resources to deal with their problems at a local level.
MBC News: And with the ongoing trade disputes and tariff concerns between Canada and The United States right now, how do you plan to protect the interests of Northern Saskatchewan and indigenous businesses that kind of rely on cross border trade?
Doug Racine: Well, here’s the one thing that you notice in regard to, Scott Moe’s approach and, and, and Carney’s approach, the Liberals approach. What you’re what you’re witnessing is that those two levels of government are going there and speaking on behalf of all Canadians, but what they’re forgetting is that there’s a third level of government. There’s the First Nations, and the First Nations and their treaties form the backbone of this country, and they need to be included in those discussions, and they’re not. They’re being pushed out.
And I think that has to that has to end. And if I go to Ottawa, I’m going to make sure that you know what I mean? That, First Nations, Metis, Northerners, you know what I mean, are part of the solution and not considered by these, conservatives and liberals as part of the problem. And I might remind you that in 1812, the British were, when The United States attacked us in 1812, they were getting their butts kicked until the First Nations came in and secured the land that eventually became Canada. And I just want to remind you that there was that was, some of those bands are here in Saskatchewan, Standing Buffalo and Wahpeton, and they still have their eighteen twelve medals, from that. So, I think that, you know, First Nations people need to be part of this made part of the solution instead of being instead of being pushed out. So, I think in that way, if they are part of the solution, that means that they can stand up for their stand up for the treaties. Right? And, of course, I’ll stand up for the treaties, but the First Nations need to be at the table.
MBC News: And kind of lastly here, Doug, a common concern for some Northerners is a feeling of being forgotten. So if elected, what would you do to ensure the voices of Northern Saskatchewan are elevated in Ottawa?
Doug Racine: I think that there has to be a lot of energy and resources. Again, and I’ve said this earlier, to educate the other members of parliament and the other parties.
I think that not just educate them, but to convince them that healthy communities means a healthy province. Healthy communities mean a healthy Canada. You know what I mean? And that they have to understand that honoring the treaties strengthens Canada, not weakens it. And so there we have to double down on the fact that the treaties need to be honored.
Metis traditional territories need to be honored, and and we need to move forward like that. And so it’s gonna be I think you have to convince the other governments and the other members of parliament that it’s a win win situation for for everybody. And I think if you can convince them that. And the other thing I just want to say this is that too often these communities, their voices are lost. And it’s going to be a major challenge for any, member of parliament in Northern Canada to get to all these different locations, but you have to do it.
You have to keep that communication levels between all those communities and reserves open at all times. And I think that, that has to be a prime concern if you’re gonna be a member of parliament in Northern Canada.