Voters in La Ronge were able to meet and chat with federal Conservative Party candidate Gary Vidal on Monday.
Vidal didn’t give a formal speech and instead talked with citizens as they arrived.
He said this is part of his campaign strategy in the race for the Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River riding.
“I think we’re just over 6000 kilometres (travelled) and today, I think we hit our 17th and 18th community in the last 14 days,” he said. “We’ve been out and all over just getting on the doors, talking to people, doing things like we’re doing tonight.”
Vidal said the conservative party, if elected, will give northern Saskatchewan people an expanded tax credit.
“One of the really big things that’s coming down is our party is offering an expansion to the northern deduction tax credit, which is going to have a significant impact for everybody living in northern Saskatchewan,” he said.
Vidal said COVID-19 hasn’t affected much of his campaigning, however he hasn’t been able to travel to regions with rising COVID-19 cases.
But he said he’s helped those communities during his term as MP and will continue to do so.
“Look at what I’ve done already,” he said. “The Minister of Indigenous Services has many times said, ‘Gary, look at the great advocacy you did for, for example, the people of La Loche when they had their outbreak early on in the process.’ We were on the minister’s doorstep constantly, advocating for the needs out there. We took, I think, 15,000 masks up there when masks were hard to come by.”
Vidal is running against NDP candidate Harmonie King and Liberal Party candidate Buckley Belanger.
Voters head to the polls Sept. 20.
(PHOTO: Gary Vidal. File photo.)