Federal campaigning finally arrived in the west central region last week. Two candidates made stops in Rosetown. 

At the elks hall the Maverick Party's Diane Pastoor held a townhall meeting. She delivered a speech introducing herself and why she felt western Canada needed better representation. Originally from B.C., Ms. Pastoor has had a long career in the agriculture sector. Having grown up on dairy farm she now raises chickens with her husband and four daughters. As a result Ms. Pastoor has served on the boards for Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan and of Canada.

While her speech at the town hall touched on her agriculture roots, it also highlighted the fact that she used to be  involved with the Conservative Party. She served in the riding's Electoral District Association. Opting to run for the Maverick party was essentially born out of seeing how Conservative M.Ps have their 'hands tied' by needing to stick to party talking points.

"They need to win in the east, so they must stick to their talking points," She said. 

The Rosetown stop is just one of many Ms. Pastoor is scheduled to make in the riding over the next few weeks. The candidate is hoping to have conversations like the one held in Rosetown at locations around the riding until election day.

"The campaign trail has been really good. My EDA, before I was even nominated as a candidate, they had already started promoting the Maverick Party. We've been trying to travel to as many places as we can.  We've got town halls booked, probably two or three nights a week until the election. We're trying to reach out to as many people as we can."

During the town hall, questions were being asked of the candidate but not all of the answers were coming from her. Ms. Pastoor encouraged impassioned Maverick organizers to also address the crowd's questions and concerns. The effect caused by this meant the town hall felt like a talk that can often be caught at kitchen tables around Canada. It's a sentiment Ms. Pastoor is aiming to achieve has she hopes it will spur further conversations at actual kitchen tables.

"We're always happy to meet as many people as we can. Because we know that the best discussions are going to come from the people that go home and talk to their friends and their family members. Meeting in coffee shops. And sometimes small groups can be better because people are more open to ask questions," Ms. Pastoor said after the meeting had wrapped. "We feel really confident that the people that we have talked to have been very receptive to us and very positive. The concerns we hear are generally all the same. From vote splitting, vaccine passports, these same concerns everywhere we go. But everybody likes our platform, so we’ve been happy."

While the Maverick platform contains many elements that could be classified 'fiscally-conservative' at the centre of their message is the 'Two Track system' to ensure Western Canada is provided a better deal. It's a plan that the party hopes will lead to more equitable dealings for the western provinces, and doesn't necessarily mean separation.

"When we go to Ottawa, we want to have options and we want to say look... This is why we’re unhappy. Nobody really wants to separate, we don’t. We love Canada, we’re true Canadians. That’s who we are. We don’t really want to go down that path. What we really want is to be treated fairly and to be treated equitably just like Quebec is, or anybody else in the East," Ms. Pastoor added. "Would be so bad to be a nation within a nation, because that’s what Quebec is. They haven’t left Canada. They just have the autonomy amongst themselves as a province. Sure they have more population, but we have the landmass, the resources, the finances, the people. Western Canadians are fantastic people. We can get lots done, but we have to do it together. There is nothing wrong with us wanting to have a nation within a nation."

Canada heads to the polls on September 20th.