New Democratic Party candidate for the Battlefords-Lloydminster riding Erik Hansen is honoured to be fighting for a seat in parliament this election. Hansen was born and raised in Unity but moved to Alberta in 1974, where apprenticed in the heavy equipment parts trade. During his time in Alberta he did spend some time being politically active, specifically in the City of Edmonton.

Hansen got more and more into politics throughout the years, but puts the recent affordable housing crisis that has plagued places like Alberta as one of the main reasons for choosing to get involved. Hansen belonged to a group in Edmonton called “Albertans For Affordable Housing”, and while it didn’t go very far, he was very involved.

“I actually spoke to the City of Edmonton on the subject,” recalled Hansen, “At the time I had moved from Hinton and I was going to move back to Edmonton with the work I was doing at the time. I found the price of housing was so insane, and that's when they were at their peak almost in Alberta, and I said no at my age I can’t do this because I don’t want to dive into further debt.”

This trickled down to Hansen eventually moving back to Saskatchewan, though he did find a suitable living arrangement for the rest of his time in Alberta, just further reinforcing how insane the price gouging has gotten.

“I was living in an apartment that was family owned, and they owned four apartment blocks. My one-bedroom apartment was I think $280 furnished,” stated Hansen in disbelief, “Did you get that? And how inexpensive it was? They never had a vacancy, ever.”

It disgusts Hansen how the corporate owned options around him charge an arm and a leg in comparison for roughly the same space, and that they are the ones that often received subsidies despite their vacancies. He doesn’t agree with these people getting rewarded for failing to reduce the price on their housing options.

“Instead it’s the person that’s giving the most vulnerable a place to live is the one having to pay full rates, when they are doing a service if you know what I mean?”

‘Big business’ and its power is something the NDP and Hansen both oppose, as it is believed a more balanced approach towards things is the only way forward in order to move on as a society. As a westerner, he empathizes with topics such as climate change and how to approach it in the oil industry. The same type of sentiment cannot be shared when it comes to the distribution of power and wealth.

“Another little statistic I learned is that over the last 40 years, $47 trillion has transferred from the bottom half of society to the very top,” said Hansen referencing a Rand Corporation study, “How many people could that have fed? It could have fed people of the world for I don’t know how many years. A lot of that money is in off-shore bank accounts they don’t even pay tax on. Are we that sad of a society that we can’t afford to pay our fair share of taxes?”

As mentioned Hansen is honoured to be apart of federal politics, but it isn’t the first time his political activism has gotten him involved. Along with lobbying through the housing group back in Edmonton, Hansen also made some noise in Unity back in 2008 when a regressive base tax was pitched for the community. His work there would subsequently get him elected to Unity Town Council.

Perhaps the most interesting example of his activism, however, is one of his most recent pitches made back in Edmonton concerning the Northlands Ice Coliseum. Hansen approached the city with his idea of changing the stadium into low-income housing, transitional housing, or housing for the homeless. He believes it would not only house a ton of people, but also help save on the environmental degradation that tearing the old building down would cause. The nearby transit system also makes the idea good one according to Hansen. At last estimate he recalls a $25 million cost estimate for the tear-down of the building, one he suspects has not gone down anytime soon, and something that will certainly cost taxpayers.

Election night is set for September 20th.