Dear Saskatchewanians, about the election . . .

I completely understand that many of you don’t like Justin Trudeau, since he doesn’t always seem to consider prairie interests when developing his political policies, but how could you vote for a conservative candidate in this past federal election?

Do you honestly believe that Andrew Scheer would be a better individual to govern our country? Did you vote Conservative simply because Scheer is from Saskatchewan, or did you strategically vote Conservative with the hope of removing Trudeau from office?

To be clear, I am not a fan of Trudeau and don’t support all of his decisions and policies, including not pursuing electoral reform. However, I would much rather have Trudeau as prime minister than a conservative leader like Scheer.

I have followed this election and its outcome very closely through the news and the Canadian satirical TV show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Through all of this, I have seen and heard enough unflattering info and horrible behaviour exhibited from Scheer to convince me that he is not someone who deserves to govern our country.

I don’t know how many of you have kept up with the election coverage, but I am sure that if many of you had, you likely would have voted differently.

I will admit that Trudeau has acted improperly and inconsiderately in the past, especially with his blackface scandal, but at least when asked about it, Trudeau acknowledged what he did was wrong and apologized, which is more than can be said about Scheer.

Throughout Scheer’s campaign, his main method for gaining support was not by outlining any solid or detailed plans for improvement, but rather by putting Trudeau down and consistently presenting himself as a direct contrast. I understand that politics can be dirty and messy, but maybe more time should be spent on developing a strong political platform, rather than putting down your political opponent.

In the aftermath of this election, it has come out that an individual was hired by the Conservative party to create false and negative ads about Trudeau, which were based on lies. However, when asked by news reporters about the situation, Scheer consistently avoids the question, indirectly answering, “we don’t make comments on any contracts that may, or may not have existed.” As Mark Critch stated on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, “this is only something guilty people say.” There either was a contract, or there wasn’t.

Unfortunately, this is not the only thing that Scheer refuses to be honest about. He also lied about his previous work experience as an insurance broker. This statement is a major embellishment, since the reality is that Scheer was simply a clerk selling license plates in an insurance office.

While I used to think that Trudeau was a poor public speaker, always muttering “umm,” Scheer is ten times worse. Not only does he fail to actually answer the questions he’s been asked, but he also has extreme difficulty speaking French – an important skill for a leader of a bilingual country like Canada. Additionally, Scheer is not a great debater because he is unable to argue his points clearly or calmly.

I don’t know about all of you Saskatchewanians, but transparency, honesty, levelheadedness and strong public debating skills are qualities that I not only want, but expect in an individual who is running for prime minister.

Despite all of Scheer’s negative qualities, the Conservatives still managed to gain so much support from our province, winning all 14 ridings, which is something I am unable to comprehend. How could you, the people of our province, vote for a party whose leader displays such poor behaviour and actions, especially when there is a better alternative in the New Democratic Party?

Although the NDP may have been a bit over ambitious in their one-year approach to setting up pharmacare, their political platform demonstrated plans to address and improve some major problems affecting Saskatchewan residents including increasing the low provincial minimum wage, eliminating high tuition fees and interest on student loans and extending health coverage for pharmaceuticals.

Additionally, the NDP has strong leadership with Jagmeet Singh, who is someone I would actually trust to govern this country. Singh is honest, genuine, level-headed, a great public speaker and promotes his party by outlining their improvement plans, rather than putting down his political opponents.

With all this in mind, why not vote NDP?

I realize that historically only the Liberals and Conservatives have held governing power in Canada, but that doesn’t mean that it has to stay this way forever. There are other political parties, and they should be given a chance to show what they are capable of, especially since we have seen what Conservative and Liberal prime ministers have done and neither have brought results everyone is pleased with.

For future elections, I sincerely hope that people vote for the party who will best work toward solving and improving the issues that affect them. Politics shouldn’t always be something to complain about, but rather something that exists to improve our country for the better. However, how can we expect politicians to act according to this concept if we can’t even consider this when we cast our ballot?