As we move closer to the Federal Election on September 20, West Central Online is continuing its profiles of candidates in the region. Next up is incumbent Jeremy Patzer of the Conservative Party for Cypress Hills-Grasslands. 

This your second election. How does this differ from the first one you took part in back in 2019? 

“In a lot of ways, the election feels the same. People are very frustrated with the lack of ethical government that we have in in place right now and the lack of accountability. And there are people who are just ready to see a change, they're tired of the Ottawa knows best approach that we continue to see. And, people are just ready for a new government.” 

Is there anything your particularly happy that you were able to aid in bringing/doing for the riding? What have you been unable to get done at this point? 

“There's one particular issue that I was able to work with a constituent on, and that was on changes to get Clare's Law to be able to be used and be able to lobby the Justice Minister and had meetings with the RCMP and with crisis shelters to be able to do some work on that. And we're able to see the RCMP get the necessary changes internally to be able to use Clare's Law, which is extremely important. It's about protecting people from domestic violence and it just gives the RCMP one more tool to using and combating that so, to see the changes done on that was really positive, really uplifting. 

We're able to get a couple of emergency debates on the Keystone XL pipeline and all the Enbridge Line 5 to really highlight the incompetence of the government. The lack of urgency that they showed of those projects, and just how easily they stood by while those projects were either cancelled or in the Enbridge Line 5 case, they more or less ignored it. It’s in some court proceedings right now in the United States about whether the lines should keep running or not. 

The one thing I haven't been able to do is actually table a private members bill and that was something I was working on. I was very close to being able to table that, so with Parliament being dissolved for the election here it is going to reset the orders. So, I Will have to wait and see where my private Members draw ends up, but I've got a great bill dealing with interoperability for agricultural manufacturing, I'm looking forward to being able to present that and talk further about the benefits of manufacturing. What that means for agriculture in Saskatchewan, but also for the small towns that benefit from having these companies in their communities.” 

Why are you running for the Cypress Hills-Grasslands riding again? 

“I feel like there's a lot more that needs to be done to really represent rural Saskatchewan and rural Canada. You always see government prioritizing these big urban projects, and these small towns. These real communities that really, are the lifeblood of what it means to be from Saskatchewan. And they just quite often get ignored or just kind of left by the wayside. So, it's really to bring that real perspective that encompasses obviously the ag sector, and the Oil & Gas sector, but it's really bringing that rural perspective and hopefully being able to do it from the government side this time around instead of the opposition ranks, but that is my focus and that will always be my focus is bringing that perspective.” 

If elected, what would be a top priority for yourself over the next 4 years?   

"Kind of building off of that (perspective) so, we can support these small towns a lot of ways. Like I was saying with the oil and gas sector, that provides a lot of employment opportunities for people, a lot of farming has a big source of employment as well too, and it's just supporting those jobs. Telling the good stories about the positive benefits that they provide to the rest of the country, and just telling that story. 

Also continue to work on the broadband issue. That's something that I've talked about at length in Parliament, is continue to bring awareness to that and just how urgent the need is out here in rural Saskatchewan to make sure we have quality access to broadband. And also, bringing common sense to firearms laws here in Canada, that's another big one for me as well. And I like our plan that we have about fixing the classifications for firearms, so that's based on the function of the fire and not just an arbitrary political decision.” 

Anything Else you'd like to discuss that important to you? 

“The rural issues are very important to me, and I’ll continue to always apply that rural end to the decisions made in Ottawa.” 

The federal election takes place on September 20th.