REGINA – The Saskatchewan election is the home stretch, and over the final week of the 27-day campaign Global News will profile different political party leaders in the province.
On Wednesday Teri Fikowski sat down with Green Party leader Victor Lau to discuss his party’s platform and plans for the future.
Q: In this final week of the campaign, what is the message you’re trying to get out to voters?
A: I think the main thing for us is to get a high voter turnout. We’ve always said we want the new government, whether it’s us or another party, to have a good mandate so we’re encouraging everyone to get out and vote. I think usually a higher voter turnout means a vote for real change and that’s what we’ve been offering and I think if people are ready for a Green Party government, we’re ready to serve.
Q: You’ve been serving as the leader of the Green Party since 2011. Is the party taking a different strategy this election compared to back then?
A: We’ve tried to diversify into other fields. We’ve always been open to new ideas but this time we’ve really focused on that. It’s not to say we don’t have an environmental component, a component of sustainability but we want to really show that we’re a party of real change. We are talking about Medicare expansion, Pharmacare, and guaranteed income. These are real solutions that would eliminate the problems instead of every four years trying to deal with the problem reoccurring year and year again.
Newfoundland’s done it, Ontario’s done it. I think in Saskatchewan it’s time to eliminate tuition.
Q: One area that you’ve touched on is fiscal responsibility. The SaskParty has forecasted a deficit so how confident are you that the Green Party could balance the budget?
A: That’s something we’ve approached in the Access Communications debate. We’ve said, ‘why is the government focusing on a deficit budget this election year and then promising a second deficit, which also contravenes their 2009 provincial legislation they passed in terms of no deficit budgeting?’ We feel by working with the citizens with what’s called a participatory budget making budget. We can find the cost savings, we can find the way to defer projects and narrow the gaps small enough that we could probably eliminate the first deficit. And certainly I don’t know how the government cannot bring forward a budget now but also project into the future a second deficit. I think it’s highly irresponsible for them to do that.
Q: There are some big promises in your platform, one being phasing out tuition costs for students. That’s obviously a high cost, with balancing the budget how would those two go hand in hand?
A: We would open the entire budgeting process to the citizens. Our whole entire platform for real change is premised on the idea that citizens want that. But if we find citizens want certain parts of our platform pushed off into the future we’re prepared to work with them on that. Having talked to students and parents of students in the education system, I think that is a priority. Many people want that education so they can go on to better paying jobs. We feel it is a priority for people. Newfoundland’s done it, Ontario’s done it. I think in Saskatchewan it’s time to eliminate tuition.
Q: Tell us something about yourself that perhaps people don’t know about Victor Lau.
A: I’m a family man. I recently was a business owner, we bought our pet sitting business in 2008 and we have a lot of fun with people’s pets. I’m still a unionized worker at Superstore. I’m an ordinary guy born and raised in Saskatchewan. I love the Roughriders even though I’ve been seen t be wearing a Calgary jersey, but that’s because a friend of man passed one on to me when they won the Grey Cup.
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