LAKELAND — Within the federal Lakeland riding, eligible voters will be able to pick one of six candidates to represent the region in Ottawa as the next Lakeland Member of Parliament for the federal election taking place on Sept. 20.
Residents casting a federal ballot in Athabasca down to Thorhild, Lamont and Vegreville, to Vermilion, Lloydminster, Bonnyville and Whitefish Lake and everything in between, including St. Paul and Smoky Lake, with see six candidates listed for their riding.
Running again to hold her parliamentary seat is Shannon Stubbs for the Conservative Party of Canada. Candidates running against Stubbs in the 2021 election include Kira Brunner representing the Green Party of Canada, John Turvey will represent the Liberal Party, the Maverick Party will be represented by Fred Sirett, Des Bissonnette will represent the New Democratic Party (NDP) and representing the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) is Ann McCormack.
People’s Party of Canada
Ann McCormack is a former pharmacist who lives in Clandonald with her husband on their family farm. She is running as the Lakeland PPC candidate.
Having parents who were actively engaged in Alberta politics, McCormack found that her political values aligned with the People’s Party of Canada after seeing the party leader, Maxime Bernier, speak during two separate events.
“I thought that the PPC values were something that I could stand up for,” McCormack said. The PPC focuses on Canada’s need to radically decentralization power and money from Ottawa in order to give the provinces more power over how money is spent and how resources are managed, which is a sentiment she shares.
One topic that McCormack feels needs to be urgently addressed are the increasing COVID-19 vaccine mandates for certain employees. “I am absolutely in favor of informed consent, if you wish to, you've done your research and you want to take a vaccine... but if you do not wish to take that vaccine, to inject something into your own body, you should have the right to say no. My employer does not own my body. The government does not own my body. School boards do not own my children,” she said.
For McCormick, “The COVID mandates are the most urgent, and second to that is the prosperity for Alberta. We've got to take control of our finances — both of those are probably the most urgent on my list of 16 really important points that are on those PPC policy guides which are easily accessible online,” she says.
New Democratic Party
Des Bissonnette, an artist and an energy labourer from Lloydminster, is now the NDP’s candidate running for the Lakeland riding
Taking her first big dive into politics, Bissonnette describes her background as a working-class citizen.
“I've never really been able to save any money or get ahead. That was what motivated me to get into (politics). Being a working-class person who has been struggling pretty much my entire adulthood and seeing younger people than myself who are in their early 20s, coming into the workforce and seeing that they're dealing with the same issues that I'm dealing with now, I figured — it’s time to change things.”
Working since she was 14-years-old in various positions ranging from food service, retail, housekeeping, support worker and now within the energy sector, Bissonnette says the three words that describe her priorities are “People over profit.”
“What I am running for and what I personally believe in is making sure that Canadians, and especially working-class Canadians, are supported and have access to things like dental care, pharmacare mental health support,” said Bissonnette.
Another key focus for Bissonnette is a safe and sustainable transition to green energy.
According to Bissonnette, she will push for “(A transition) that prioritizes energy workers and specifically energy laborers like myself, who work in the oil fields, and prioritizes them for education support and then jobs in the renewable sector, so that Alberta can diversify itself and we can have a strong future where we're benefiting the environment positively and still supporting our families.”
Maverick Party
Fred Sirett, the candidate for the newly established Maverick Party, is keeping busy as he transitions from his position in the energy sector in LLoydminster into semi-retirement and politics.
After struggling with who to vote for in the last election, Sirett said none of the major parties felt as though they carried his best interests at heart, leading him to join and support a new party.
"(The Maverick Party) is the only West regional federal party, and as such it isn't compromised by central Canada's agendas,” he says.
With the goal of making five specific constitutional changes to benefit the Western provinces, Sirett says, “the simple answer is that we are solely focused on winning greater autonomy for the West — and the first step of that would be to elect the MPs that will represent the West's best interest.”
For Sirett, addressing myths and stigma around Alberta oil production is a top priority.
“I don't think the central Canada people really understand how efficient the western oil production is,” he explains. “It seems like we're shutting the West down and everybody seems quite justified in that. But if you don't get the oil from the West, who we are ultimately importing it from are countries that don't have the same standards."
As a Westerner, Sirett says he is proud of the fact that Canada and Alberta are among the top in the world for oil production and processing. “We are the best at being clean, safe, and environmentally friendly and that is often missed. So, for me it's about championing that.”
Liberal Party
John Turvey is a college economic teacher in Lloydmnster and joined the political sphere in 2015 due to a personal opposition of Stephen Harper's policies. He is now the Liberal candidate for the Lakeland riding.
According to Turvey, his role as a Liberal candidate in the predominately conservative leaning riding is to support the Party, whose policies and platforms he thoroughly agrees with.
“For all intents and purposes, the Lakeland is unwinnable for Liberal candidates, but for the purposes of serving democracy, it's critical that we have representation from each party in each riding in order that local Liberals can register their political preferences,” he says.
Turvey’s platform highlights an “urgent need for a completely different approach to move Canada forward that integrates a sustainable way to address climate change, a way to address inequality within society, and a way to do all that and still promote economic growth, as well as responsible fiscal management.”
Pointing to the Liberal’s $10 a day childcare program, he says “the wealth of Canadians has tripled in the last 60 years due to the involvement and participation of women in the labour force... as they came into the labour force Canada prospered immensely, that can continue, we can continue to prosper more by freeing up more women if they choose to enter the labour force.”
With a focus on economics, Turvey believes the Liberals’ political policies will translate into long-term real sustainable economic growth and social progress, bolstered by their approach to health security and inequality.
“I think more politicians should talk economics because that's what it's all about,” he says.
Conservative Party of Canada
Federal Conservative incumbent Shannon Stubbs is looking to represent the federal riding of Lakeland for a third term as its Member of Parliament.
First elected in 2015 and then re-elected in 2019, Stubbs said the concerns being addressed in the last campaign are still first and foremost with residents in the Lakeland based on what she has been hearing on the campaign trail.
“The concerns are consistent with what have been the priorities for the vast majority of the time that I’ve served as a Member of Parliament, although I would say, escalating and elevating now because of the many decisions of the past year and a half that has put small businesses into real struggle and contractors and self-employed people. Overall, there’s a real anxiety growing about people’s personal and family financial future,” Stubbs told Lakeland This Week while making a campaign stop in St. Paul on Aug. 27.
Stubbs said across the Lakeland constituency she is also hearing ongoing concerns about escalating crime and whether government is doing enough to combat that.
Stubbs said there seems to be little appetite for an election as the country continues to navigate its way through the pandemic and drought conditions have brought about a crisis situation for many rural areas.
“Right now, where I live on my farm out near Two Hills, farmers and rural people are concerned about the severe drought and the terrible harvest. I find over and over on doorsteps why are we having this election right now?”
Asked about how the Conservatives are performing nationally in the polls heading into the Sept. 20 election, Stubbs is optimistic.
“It looks like its tightening nationally, which is hopeful for all of us. Especially it looks like the gap is starting to close in Ontario and that’s good to see. But things happen at lightning speed in elections, and I know it’s cliché, but I really only will know what will happen on election day,” she said, adding “I think part of people looking seriously at Conservatives across the country really does have to do with people wanting to see a party that is actually talking about economic recovery and where Canada goes from here.
Green Party Candidate, Kira Brunner, did not respond to Lakeland This Week by publication.
*With files from Clare Gauvreau
