Jobs and the environment are perennial concerns for many Saskatchewan voters. They’re also key issues for Adam Josephson.
But as he vies to become the first-ever Green Party MLA in the northeastern riding of Cumberland, he admits he’s a long shot.
“I don’t believe I have a great chance of winning, but I’m hoping to change some hearts and minds,” says Josephson, a welder who lives in Regina, well outside of the riding.
Josephson stresses the importance of employment opportunities for the vast riding, whose major centres include Creighton, La Ronge and Pelican Narrows.
“I actually come from a small town and I know that that sort of thing is important around the smaller centres and with the First Nations,” he says.
On the environmental front, Josephson believes the province should help communities build renewable energy sources.
“That should be one of the government’s primary roles, is to protect their people and their people’s future, and that’s kind of a big thing,” he says. “With climate change, it’s not going to really matter who’s running the show if there’s no show to run.”
Josephson’s concept includes connecting First Nations in the riding with research and development vis-à-vis renewable energy.
“It would create jobs and help everyone out in the long run,” he says.
“Even as far as research and development, I think there’s jobs there and then there’s jobs in the construction of the different power-generating utilities and jobs in maintenance and all of that.
“We have the technology and the availability. We can start moving away from things like nuclear and coal and other things. And I think that there should be some investment from the communities and from the people for starting [research and development] projects like that, [and] there should definitely be some investment from the government because that kind of [investment], I believe, pays off in the long run.”
Josephson also favours increasing the focus on hydro, solar and wind electricity.
He has never been to the Cumberland riding but hopes to do “some sort of campaigning” to ensure voters know that the Greens are an option on Election Day next month.
While Josephson would relish the chance to become MLA, he says he’s also a realist who knows that is unlikely. Not only has Cumberland never elected a Green Party MLA, the same is true for all of Saskatchewan.
The Greens’ main objective this election, Josephson says, is to get the word out about the party.
“We’re going into it with the attitude we’d like to win, but most of us are under no illusions that our chances are great,” he says. “But we are giving it our all anyways. We are trying, because we see things that we think should be getting done differently and…we would like to push for those kinds of ideals.”
A married father of one, Josephson says he was drawn to the Green Party because of its consistency.
“I’ve always liked what the Green Party stands for, generally speaking,” he says. “For the most part they’ve decided on their ideals and they don’t change them. You [don’t] see that a lot in politics, especially during elections and campaign speeches.
“The Greens, what we’re trying to do, is help. We’re trying to make the world a better place, essentially, not to sound too idealistic. But that’s what interested me is, I liked what they stood for and how they went about it.”
That said, Josephson acknowledges that on one contentious issue at least, the Greens have changed their tune.
“I know we used to be for a carbon tax and now I know we’ve kind of taken a stance against it,” he says. “We’ve sort of seen not only public opinion on that, but that there are other options as well. There may be even better options.”
Josephson says his party aligns closely with the Liberal point of view but tends to lose potential supporters because it is not widely understood.
If more voters knew about the Green Party and what it stands for, he adds, they might honestly consider voting Green.
Voters in Cumberland and across Saskatchewan will get that chance on Monday, April 4.
The Reminder will continue to follow the candidates and campaign developments in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba, whose election will be Tuesday, April 19.
