The Sask. Party candidate in Athabasca said he is looking to provide a voice for northwestern residents in government.
Kelly Kwan is a Métis, Dene speaker from Turnor Lake, who has been teaching since 1989.
He said the North has faced many challenges and tragedy over the years, and now is the time to improve the lives of residents.
“Being the opposition for the last number of years, I just got frustrated with our voices not being heard by the governing party. And then one day, I thought to myself, we just got to be a different way of trying to get things done in the north and trying to get our needs met and improve the lives of our constituents or people,” Kwan said
“I thought maybe why not join the governing party, at least will have a voice within the government. I always feel that it’s, it’s easy to be opposition, you can do is criticize the government for what they should or shouldn’t be doing.”
Kwan admits that this is his first election, but that he’s looking to build relationships, which he thinks will be vital to improving the prosperity in the North.
“We need to improve the living conditions and the quality of life for all residents in that constituency. We also desperately need infrastructure like highways and hospitals and we need better services. We need more opportunity in terms of economic development, jobs, job creation. I think a lot of our social issues, mental health, wellness and health, suicides and incarceration rates it all stems from not having opportunity to be employed and having self worth within ourselves,” Kwan explained.
“I’m hoping that I can be the catalyst to uniting that and bridging that gap and having engagement with government with community leaders. We have to take ownership ourselves in the north, we got to start uniting and all those First Nations and municipalities and the Métis Natons.”
Kwan stated he sees too much negativity in politics, compounded with personal attacks. He’s hoping to foster positivity among his colleagues if elected, asserting that positive cooperation will best accomplish improving Northern conditions.
“That mindset of negativity, it’s going to be a tough battle, but I’m hoping with all that I am that I can help people see things. That togetherness and your unitedness and cooperation works best. And like I said, we all want what’s best for our people, the province and humanity and people got to start thinking like that,” Kwan said.
Kwan is challenging NDP candidate Buckley Belanger.
(Photo: Kelly Kwan (left). Courtesy of Facebook.)