Tim Banman photo

Jorja Nikiforuk and Lucas Nikiforuk, along with volunteers and supporters, helped Wildrose candidate Shayne Saskiw open a campaign office in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. Saskiw has been taking advantage of the warm weather to knock on doors in the constituency asking for support.

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VIDEO: Wildrose launches campaign headquarters in St. Paul

Lac La Biche – St. Paul Wildrose Party candidate, Shayne Saskiw, opened his St. Paul campaign office in St. Paul on Saturday, backed by supporters and family. The office is located at 5133 50 Avenue across from 7-Eleven.

Jorja Nikiforuk and Lucas Nikiforuk helped Saskiw cut the ribbon to officially launch one of three offices planned for the constituency. The party plans to open an office in Lac La Biche next week and a part time office in Two Hills.

While Premier Alison Redford had promised a fixed election date, opposition parties do not know when the election will be called and have to be prepared for one, said Saskiw. Saskiw said he is taking advantage of the warm weather to do as much door knocking in the constituency as possible.

“It's been a very good positive reaction. The number one issue that people are having right now is power bills,” he said.

Power bills have increase by 40 to 50 per cent for many people from last year, he said, adding, with the announcement of $16 billion in additional transmission lines, power bills could double or triple. If the lines are for export to the United States, they should pay for it, not Albertans, he said.

Saskiw has been door knocking in St. Paul, Two Hills, and Myrnam recently, and plans to spend some of the upcoming week in Lac La Biche and Plamondon.

“We've seen a dramatic change in the last two months. Things are really picking up here,” he said. “We're doing this full time. We've got a ton of volunteers.”

Topics Saskiw has heard while door knocking include health care and the lack of long term care for seniors. Saskiw said he wants to see more long term care and fewer seniors staying in hospitals because of a lack of long term care. Long term care is a third of the cost of a hospital bed, plus it has better services, he added.

Other issues include the Alberta Health Services decision to centralize food delivery, which sends pre-packaged food and “barrels of soup” to all the hospitals in the constituency.

“I've talked to many seniors. They throw a lot of it away. It doesn't taste good and there's no cost savings,” said Saskiw.

Another major concern Saskiw has heard in recent weeks is with the provincial budget and the fifth consecutive Progressive Conservative deficit.

Wildrose members have signed a “no tax increase” pledge, he said. “Unfortunately, the PC government won't sign onto that.”

The “election budget” aims to win favour from people with a seven per cent increase in operational spending, he said.

“This is geared, in our opinion, to try and sway favour with people through massive, massive spending increases.”